More Things In Heaven And Earth
Everyone within several feet of us stopped dancing. I realized the scream must have come from very close by, and I whipped my head around to find the source. It didn’t take long. Whitley lay on the floor a few feet away sobbing and clutching at her right leg. Her knee looked wrong. I couldn’t think of a better way to describe it. It just looked… wrong.
“I think she’s dislocated it!” I heard Taylor cry out from where he knelt on the floor next to her.
I grabbed Zac’s hand and pushed past the people milling about, gawking at her. I realized that nearly the entire room had to come to halt; even the music had stopped as everyone clamored to see what had happened.
“Whit! Are you okay?” I cried, looking down at her.
She shook her head and, between sobs managed to say, “N-no. It really fucking hurts. I h-had surgery on it a couple years ago. Fucking dance classes.”
“We need to get her to the hospital,” Joseph said, his voice startling me as I realized he was standing just to my side.
Taylor looked up at him with annoyance and snapped, “She’s not gonna be able to stand, Joey!”
“Make her a splint out of something so she can! I don’t know, can’t we pop it back into place?” Joseph asked, hands on his hips.
“No!” Whitley screamed. She looked at Taylor, her eyes pleading. “Please, please don’t try. That’s what doctors are for. Just get me off the floor somehow and get me to the ER.”
Isaac stepped up and said, “I’m parked pretty close. I’ll bring my car around into the fire lane and you guys can figure out how to get her to it, okay?”
We all nodded, but we looked terrified. None of us seemed to be able to figure out any way to move her and it was obvious that she wasn’t going anywhere under her own power. Some of the other theatre people were gathered around, debating on different materials they could use to craft a splint, but none of them sounded like anything we could easily find in a gym. Things were looking altogether hopeless and Whitley’s sobs were getting louder and louder by the second.
Zac let go of my hand and stepped confidently forward. He leaned down to Whitley and said something to her that I couldn’t hear. She still continued to cry, but she nodded apprehensively. Then Zac slipped his arms around her, one cradling her back and the other around her thighs, being careful not to touch her knee. In one smooth motion that seemed as easy for him as picking up a pencil, he lifted Whitley off the floor. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, but I think it was more for her own comfort than because she feared he would drop her.
I followed behind him as he made a path through the crowd and toward the gym doors. I was amazed by how little he seemed to be exerting himself. I knew he was strong, I had felt the muscles in his arms and his strong back and shoulders, but this was ridiculous. Apparently I was falling for a superhero.
We soon reached the outside of the gym and I could hear the music coming back on, strains of it following us through the doors as they closed. A large black SUV, the fancier and newer version of a Jeep Cherokee like my own, sat waiting in the fire lane, its engine still running. Isaac, Melissa and Taylor stood outside of it, with the back door open and waiting.
“Damn, Zac. I didn’t know you had turned into a jock at college,” Isaac said, trying to lighten the mood a little.
“Marching band is good for something. Just help me get her in here, alright?” Zac replied, coming to a stop in front of the door. “Here, take her legs and put them in the car.”
Taylor gently took hold of Whitley’s legs and guided them into the backseat. Once her legs were inside, Whitley was able to let go of Zac and scoot herself the rest of the way into the seat.
“Thank you so much, Zac,” she said, reaching back out of the car to give him a small sideways hug, then motioning for someone to shut the door.
Taylor slammed the door shut, then rushed around to the other side. I wasn’t sure how he was going to fit in there with her spread out across the seat, but I was glad to see he was concerned about going with her. Melissa hopped into the passenger seat and left Isac standing with me and Zac.
“Should we…” I started say, then trailed off as I remembered the two cups of spiked punch.
“You guys can stay here, I think we’ve got it covered,” Isaac said. “Besides, I can smell the alcohol on you guys. Lay off the punch, alright?”
Zac giggled a little, but then straightened up. “We’re probably not gonna just go back and keep partying. I think we’ll leave here soon.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I think I’m done with the dance. Make sure you guys call us later and let us know how she’s doing, alright?”
“Will do,” Isaac said, then gave Zac and pat on the shoulder and walked on around to the driver’s side of the car. The door had barely slammed shut before he had the car in drive and was peeling out of the fire lane toward the street.
I took Zac’s hand in mine and turned to walk back into the gym to get our things. Justine and Joseph stood by the door, their hands and arms piled down with coats and purses, some of which I could tell belonged to us.
“Hey, we figured you guys were just about ready to leave too,” Joseph said, carefully sipping a cup of punch.
“Yeah, we were just coming to get our things. You think Whitley will be okay?” I said.
Joseph shrugged Zac’s jacket off his arm and handed it to him. “I don’t know. If it’s just dislocated, she’ll be out of the hospital before too long. She’ll be on crutches and pain meds, though.”
Justine held out my purse to me and I accepted it. “Crutches? Oh no! How’s she gonna do the play?”
“She probably won’t, but that’s still better than any other scenarios,” Justine replied. “So we’re gonna walk to that diner down the street and get something to eat. Do you want to come with?”
I looked up at Zac and he shook his head.
“Nah, I think we’ll just go back to the dorm. I’m thinking I had a little too much punch already,” I replied. And truthfully, I had. The adrenaline of dealing with Whitley’s emergency had begun to wear off, leaving me feeling a little dizzy and very blurry around the edges. I had a feeling Zac felt quite similar.
“Yeah, we’re gonna go back and get some sleep,” Zac said. “See you guys later.”
“Alright, bye,” Joseph said.
Justine gave me a knowing smile and waved goodbye, then trotted off behind Joseph. I slipped my hand into Zac’s, hoping to anchor myself a little bit, and said, “Well? Back to my room or yours?”
“Yours. Evan’s always bringing girls back to the room and it gets a little awkward,” he replied. With a wiggle of his eyebrows, he added. “Besides, we know Justine won’t be there.”
“You scoundrel!” I squealed, with false alarm.
“Madam, do you think I meant country matters?” He replied, feigning innocence, then winking at me.
I sure as hell hope you do, I thought to myself but only laughed and smiled at him as we began walking down the street back to Johnson. It wasn’t a fun walk in heels, but at least the little bit of alcohol in my blood kept me from being terribly bothered by the chill in the air.
We made it back to the dorm in what seemed to be no time, but I figured that was the alcohol talking, too. As we stood in the elevator, watching it tick off the floors, Zac finally broke the silence between us.
“So, I saw you talking to Donovan.”
Horrible timing, Zachary. Absolutely horrible.
“He started it,” I said, realizing too late just how childish that sounded.
“What did he say?”
The elevator bell chimed and I stepped off in front of Zac, not looking at him as I began fumbling in my purse for my keys.
“Well? I know he said something.”
“Just some stupid shit about being upset that I was at the dance with you and not him,” I finally replied. “Not that he was surprised, of course.”
“Wait, you mean he asked you?” Zac said, sounding shocked.
I looked up from my door where I had been attempting to turn the key. “Yeah? He did. So what?”
“You said no?”
Finally the key turned and I flung open the door, but didn’t enter the room. Standing in the doorway, blocking Zac from entering too, I replied, “Of course I said no. He made a big deal out of all this bullshit with you, which is why I broke up with him, and then he just assumed I would go to the dance with him.”
I could tell by the look on Zac’s face that I hadn’t worded that particularly well. I thought about trying to backtrack and say it again differently, but the damage was already done.
“Wait – what?” Zac asked. “Bullshit with me? What – bullshit?”
“I umm… I mean, he kept bugging me about us. I didn’t mean you were bullshit. I meant he’s full of bullshit. Kept going on about thinking there was something between us that I was lying to him about,” I finally managed to choke it all out, stumbling over nearly every word.
Zac walked me into the room and shut the door behind us, locking it as well.
“Then the boy is more observant than I gave him credit for,” he replied, chuckling a little.
I sat my purse down on my desk, then looked back up at Zac. I began picking the bobby pins out of my hair and said, “I guess. He isn’t really that dumb, I don’t think. Just a little self-absorbed.”
He nodded. “And he knew that we were…”
“No, he thought that we were sleeping together,” I said, cutting off whatever Zac had been about to say. My hands were already filling with pins; nearly thirty of them had come out already and I could tell there were still many more.
He took a few big steps toward me, shrugging out of his suit jacket and letting it fall to the floor. “Well, personally, I think we ought to be. Sleeping together, I mean.”
I blushed and continued picking the pins out of my hair, feeling the curls starting to fall around my neck and face. There must have been nearly sixty of those pins. “But wouldn’t that just prove Donovan right? I would hate to do that.”
Zac appeared to be contemplating it, then put his arm around my waist and said, “You’ve got a point. But in this case, I think it’s alright. We just won’t tell him about it.”
I dropped my handfuls of bobby pins as Zac closed the gap between us and kissed my lips hard. He tangled his hand in my hair, sending the last few pins tumbling into the floor as well. His tongue snaked out to run across my lips and part them gently. I didn’t require any more prodding than that to give him access to my mouth. He tasted sweet and a little tangy, like the punch.
When he pulled back from our kiss, I stood there trembling, wanting more. I shook out my hair to loosen all the curls and make sure the pins were all gone. I imagined that I looked like a mad woman, with giant curls jutting out from my head at strange angles, but it didn’t seem to bother Zac. He wrapped his hands around my waist like when we danced, and pressed his lips to my neck, kissing and sucking at the flesh there. His fingers danced across the fabric of my dress, then began to tug at it, pulling the fabric up. I tried to slip out of my shoes without losing my balance and sending us toppling into the floor.
“I dunno about you, dear,” I whispered against the side of his face, “but I am not nearly sober enough to do this standing up, so I think we should make for the bed.”
“That’s a great idea,” he replied, pulling away from my neck for just long enough to say it, then kissing up the side of my face as he walked us toward the bed.
We toppled onto the bed in a tangled heap of limbs, my dress already inching well up my thighs thanks to Zac’s hands. I tugged at the buttons of his shirt, trying to free them as quickly as possible without ripping one. I finally managed to undo them all and pushed the shirt down off his shoulders. Zac pulled away from me and sat up long enough to remove the shirt fully and I took the opportunity to grab the front of his pants and undo the button and zipper. With the fabric barely loosened I could already see his erection straining to break free, and I smiled.
He blushed, obviously following my eyes and knowing exactly what I was smiling about. “Tor, can you promise me something?”
“Depends,” I replied, confused by his sudden serious tone.
He ran his hand up and down my side, making me shiver. “Just promise me you’re not going to cut this short. I don’t think my patience is going to hold out much longer. You’re the only thing keeping us apart now.”
I sighed, partially because of the chills his fingertips were giving me and partially because of the blow his words had dealt me. I knew he was right, though. I had always been the big obstacle in our path. “I promise. I want this… all the way.”
“Really? There’s no way we can go back from this and pretend we’re just friends,” he replied.
“Fuck being friends. It’s overrated.”
Zac grinned and pressed his lips to my neck again. He ran his hand down my side, pausing to cup my breast through the dress, his fingertips grazing across my nipple. When I gasped a little, he ran his hand on down my side, and continued inching my dress further up my thighs. He nibbled harder at my neck and I gasped louder. While I was distracted by that sensation, he slipped his hand into my lacy panties. This time, my response was somewhere between a gasp and a moan. Almost against my will, my hips rolled against his.
He took this as encouragement and slid his hand out of my panties to pull them off and fling the little slip of lace across the room. His hands slid up my thighs again, tugging at my dress like he wasn’t really sure what to do with it but wanted it gone. I pushed against his chest a little so he would give me room, and sat up.
“Help me, Zacky…” I said, grabbing his hands.
At first he looked at me quizzically, then realized what I meant and reached around to feel the zipper of my dress. Once he had lowered it about halfway, I was able to wiggle the dress down my body and shove it off the side of my bed. With the dress gone, his hands began traveling all over my body, exploring every inch of new flesh revealed to him. I tugged harder at his shirt and pants until he finally took the hint and removed them.
Like they were pulled by magnets, his hands found my flesh again as quickly as possible. I slid my hands down his back and under the waistband of his briefs, pushing them down until I could reach no further and he was forced to wiggle himself the rest of the way out of them. Then we lay there for a moment, feeling all of our flesh pressing together. He was warm and soft, but also firm – not skin and bones, but with a comforting firmness and weight that made me feel loved and protected.
His hands ran up and down my chest, cupping my breasts and kneading them, tugging at my nipples until I could make no sound but small squeaks of pain and pleasure mingling together. Zac ran his left hand up and down my thigh, then between my legs again, slipping it up and down my slit even more tentatively than before. He pressed his finger past my entrance, feeling it slip easily into the wetness growing for him there.
When I moaned in pleasure at the feeling of his finger inside me, he all too quickly pulled it back out. He raised himself back up and glanced down at our bodies. “Umm, if we’re going to see this thing through, I should probably get a… a condom.”
I nodded. “There’s a bag of them in my top dresser drawer.”
“A whole bag? Damn, woman,” he said, jumping up and scurrying across the room.
“The RA handed them out to us after we moved in. I wasn’t really planning on having a use for all of them.”
Zac stared down at the bag, which contained a wide variety supplied by the campus nurse, taking his time to select one that struck his fancy. Finally, he turned back toward the bed. “I mean, I’m only one man. But I’m willing to try using all of those if you are.”
I laughed, not even feeling self conscious at all about joking around with him while we were both completely naked. Somehow, that just seemed to suit us. He climbed back onto the bed and knelt between my legs, his brow furrowing as he tore the condom package open and carefully rolled it on.
He leaned down and pressed his lips gently against my cheek, then whispered in my ear.
“Are you ready?”
“Oh god, yes,” I whispered my reply, my voice more hoarse than I expected it to be.
He needed no other encouragement. Slowly, teasingly, he guided his penis into me. He was larger than I had realized and I felt myself stretched to accept him, but in the best way possible. The warmth of it filled me and I relaxed around him, wrapped my arms and legs around him encouragingly.
Zac pressed his face into the side of my neck and slowly began to thrust into me. As I whimpered and moaned against his hair, he built speed. We kissed sloppily, our lips crashing together and our tongues fighting for dominance.
Beneath him, I arched my back, wanting to feel even closer to him yet knowing it wasn’t really possible. We were touching in every way we could and yet it didn’t seem like enough. He filled me with this yearning that wouldn’t seem to subside, this ache just growing and growing deep inside me. I raked my fingernails across his back and listened to the beautiful sound of his moan, feeling his lips against my cheek as he did so.
This was the best feeling. This was the moment I wanted to last forever. The yearning continued to grow until the ache began turning into a cool, tingly burn, starting from deep inside me and radiating outward. It washed over me, leaving me feeling like I was sinking under the weight off this unbearable feeling, this sheer pleasure. I cried out and wrapped my legs tighter around Zac’s thighs, pressing my nails further into the flesh of his back. He moaned again, the sound growing and morphing into a full on growl.
My vision subsided for a moment, and when it returned Zac lay panting on my chest and my legs lacked the strength to stay wrapped around him. Every part of me tingled with a sort of electricity and I didn’t want to move an inch. If I didn’t move, we could stay locked in this perfect moment for eternity, I thought. But I knew that was silly.
Zac made the first move. I could tell he didn’t want to, but he slowly withdrew from me and rolled over to lay on his back next to me. He lay still there for a moment, then slowly pulled himself off the bed to throw the condom away. He tossed a few articles of clothing onto the bed and sat down next to me to put his briefs back on. I fumbled to pull on my panties and the wife beater which actually belonged to him – the very one he had worn that night. It still smelled like some fancy cologne mixed with his soap.
But I didn’t need to smell it. I had the real thing right there. I grabbed his arm and pulled him to me, nuzzling my face against the side of his, in the nape of his neck. I couldn’t think of anything to say, so I just sighed and placed a small kiss against his skin, tasting the salt of his sweat.
He placed his hand against my face, turning it upward so he could look me in the eyes, then he kissed me on the lips. The kiss was soft and gentle, the perfect goodnight kiss between lovers. When we parted, I scooted down to press my face into his bare chest.
He wrapped his arms tight around me and sighed. “We should dance more often.”
I couldn’t have agreed more.