Over the next couple of weeks they spent every night together, waking up with each other in the mornings. During the weekends they didn’t spend a minute apart. They learned that they knew a lot of the same people, including Claire’s roommate Donna. Most of the people they both knew had to do with the Lost Map where Claire used to work, across the bay, a lot of which were his friends who were hired after she left. They didn’t grow up around the same area of the city, especially considering how Hollis never got to stay in one place for very long, but they hung out in all the same areas. They found that they liked a lot of the same music, books, food and ways to spend their time. Hollis was especially pleased that Claire was interested when he’d talk about cars and ask him questions about it. He didn’t try to pressure her to have sex with him. He was fine without it and knew if she was ready and wanted it she would let him know. He loved eating her pussy, though. He couldn’t get enough of it. And he loved her oral pleasures, which she was really good at.
After a week of seeing Claire almost everyday, Hollis’ friends accepted her being around. Knowing Hollis, they knew she wasn’t going to go anywhere. One day she even did their dishes and baked cookies. She would go over there and cook mass amounts of food they had lying around their house. Claire stopped going back home to see her friends over the weekends and they were calling her, asking her why. Mina was lucky if she got in some time hanging out with Claire. She’d have to abduct her after work sometimes, but she also got used to having Hollis around.
The third Saturday after Claire and Hollis met, Hollis took Claire home in the morning because he had a special project at work to fix and Mina and Claire ate the mushrooms Mina had gotten in Claire’s room. Claire had revealed that she thought she was falling for Hollis and Mina made Claire promise not to forget about her. Claire promised, and said they’re still going to move in together after the semester’s over, if not sooner. She was well over the whole dorm life thing.
Claire had to smoke a cigarette. She dragged Mina to the outside with her so they could still hang out and not be alone. They were standing just away from the door to the dorm stairwell in the dark and Hollis walked up to them. Claire, still high from the mushrooms just stared at him holding her cigarette near her face and didn’t say anything. Mina started to giggle.
Hollis squinted at Claire’s face. “Are you two high?”
“Yes,” Claire said immediately. Hollis chuckled. Claire finished her cigarette and lit a second, offering one to Mina and Hollis. Hollis accepted but Mina refused, calling them a bunch of smokers.
“I’ve been trying to call you all day,” Hollis said.
“We unplugged the phone,” Mina said.
“Ah,” Hollis said, blowing out smoke. Claire only stood staring at him. He looked at her curiously. “What are you girls on?”
Claire and Mina were both laughing now. “I’ll tell you. When we go upstairs,” Claire said to him. Hollis stood there finishing his cigarette and chuckling at the girls until both of their cigarettes were gone, then he followed them upstairs to Claire’s room. There he saw they had tacked up different scarves and other large pieces of fabrics on the walls and hanging from the ceiling. On Claire’s screen saver was a small point of light dancing around with trails and turning different colors. From the speakers was the internet radio station they listened to that let them pick their own playlists.
“Are you tripping?” Hollis asked.
“Tripping balls,” Mina said, sitting on the floor. She’d been trying to put together a puzzle of a flower field.
“We ate all the mushrooms,” Claire said. “Sorry we can’t give you any. You should have showed up sooner.”
“I would have if you called me,” he said, sitting down on Claire’s desk chair. Claire walked up to him and sat on his lap, giving him a tight hug. He hugged her back and kissed her cheek. They were getting very used to each other.
“This piece won’t fit!” Mina said. “Help me, Claire?” Mina was trying to shove the piece into the wrong spot. Claire slid off Hollis’ lap onto the floor next to Mina.
“You have the wrong piece,” Claire told Mina. They started to pick up pieces and fit them into holes when the door opened.
Donna walked in with a girl who was skinnier than her but dressed exactly the same. She looked around at the fabric hanging from the ceiling and walls and said in an annoyed tone, “What the hell is going on here?”
Claire looked up at her with a smirk on her face she couldn’t get rid if. “We’re having a party.” She turned her attention back to the puzzle.
Donna pushed some fabric aside and walked to them. She saw Hollis. “Hi Hollis. What are you doing here?” She asked, changing the tone of her voice to sound sweet.
Hollis shrugged. “Hanging out,” he said.
“I didn’t know you knew Claire. How do you know her?”
“She’s my girlfriend.”
Claire didn’t look up when Hollis called her his girlfriend but her ears perked. They hadn’t talked about having titles in their relationships, but it gave her chills throughout her body to hear.
“Really,” Donna said in disbelief. “Since when?”
“Three weeks ago,” Claire said, not looking up from the puzzle. She felt if she looked up at Donna it might be obvious that she was on drugs.
Mina hadn’t looked up from the puzzle the whole time. All she was thinking about was how she wanted Donna and her friend to leave so they could smoke pot.
Donna stood looking from Hollis to Claire for a moment, then said, “Well we only came here to pick up some things.”
Donna’s friend turned to her, “I thought we came here to-“
Donna turned to her and interrupted her. “To pick up some things,” she snipped.
Donna’s friend rolled her eyes and plopped onto Donna’s bed. They obviously had come to the room for a different reason. Donna went around her things and then into the bathroom where she sat for a few minutes, trying to get over that her nerdy dorm roommate was going out with the boy she had a crush on.
While Donna was in the bathroom, her friend Carla came over and greeted Claire, Hollis and Mina. Carla was a nice girl, much nicer than Donna. Hollis knew both girls from his friends and their whole party scene. Carla had slept with Will at one point and she asked how Will was doing. Hollis said he was doing okay. If he ever told a girl that had slept with his friends they were doing better than okay the girls would get all butthurt. When Donna came out of the bathroom she saw Carla laughing with the three of them and she yanked Carla away and said, “Okay, let’s go.” Carla shrugged, waved goodbye and left with Donna.
When they were gone Mina rolled her eyes like she always did when Donna left and took the bong from its hiding place and stuffed the bowl. The three of them smoked it and when they were done Claire made more drinks for them. She sat at Hollis’ feet and she and Mina finished the puzzle and they sat staring at it, watching the flowers swirl and wave in the wind.
After a while Claire looked up to Hollis and said, “Tomorrow’s my little brothers’ birthday party. Do you want to go with me?”
Hollis shrugged and said, “Sure.” He didn’t know how comfortable he was with meeting her family, but he figured a kid’s birthday party would be okay.
“Okay. I gotta call my brother and tell him not to pick me up at the bus station.” She used her legs to stand up and sat on Hollis’ leg, plugged the phone back in and slowly dialed her brother’s phone number. Mina looked up at the two of them and saw Hollis staring at Claire’s body sitting on his leg. Mina didn’t know what to think, if she was happy for Claire or sad for herself.
“Donnie,” Claire said into the phone. “It’s Claire. Well, I didn’t know if you knew. So? Listen. I have a ride tomorrow so you don’t have to pick me up.” She paused until eventually saying, “No. No. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She hung up and leaned into Hollis, staring up at a scarf over the window.
Later they were finishing up and Mina was falling asleep. She left to go pass out in her room and Claire and Hollis were sitting on the floor facing each other. Claire motioned for him to come to her with her finger and he crawled toward her and kissed her deeply. Without breaking their kiss Claire lifted herself with her arms onto her bed with Hollis following, where they touched every part of each other’s body, ending up naked and doing everything but making love.
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