At that moment, Riley reminded him of a smartphone switched to silent, no matter how intensely it was being ‘charged,’ it wouldn’t emit a single notification beep.
But that was easily fixed. With a little ‘manual’ adjustment from him, applying pressure in just the right way, the ‘volume’ could be switched back on. And once on, he knew, it would only increase, growing steadily louder. Because sometimes, the volume wasn’t up to the ‘device’ itself, but entirely dependent on the one using it.
Perhaps it was the surprisingly satisfying bowl of instant noodles fueling him, but Alex found himself with renewed energy, his stamina seeming to reach a new level.
During this round, Alex found himself needing to cover her mouth three distinct times to muffle the small, desperate sounds she couldn’t hold back.
In the end, Riley was completely drained, utterly spent, limp like a rag doll in his arms. Alex had to carefully carry her the rest of the way up onto the bed.
Completely exhausted after two such intense encounters back-to-back, Riley fell deeply asleep almost the instant her head hit the pillow.
The rest of the night passed in undisturbed silence.
….
Riley was jolted awake the next morning not by her alarm, but by the sounds of cheerful chatter drifting in from the hallway outside her dorm room. Her eyes fluttered open sleepily, trying to focus.
Then she saw him.
Alex was awake, propped up on his elbow beside her, his chin resting thoughtfully on his hand, simply staring at her with an unreadable expression.
Mortified, realizing how she must look, Riley let out a tiny squeak and instantly dove back under the safety of the blanket, pulling it tightly over her head. There was no way she was coming out.
“Hey,” Alex’s voice cut through the morning quiet. He gave the blanket near her a light pat, a soft, indistinct shape under the covers. “I need to tell you something important.”
“W-what is it?” Riley cautiously peeked just the top of her head out, her eyes wide. She kept the blanket pulled up tightly, hiding everything from her nose down, still flustered from waking up next to him.
“You know my friend? The Foreign Doctor… he really came?” Alex continued smoothly. “He flew back last night, straight from overseas. Didn’t even give him a chance to breathe after landing in the City, I had my guys take him directly to the hospital to see your grandmother.”
As he spoke, he produced a folded piece of paper, a prescription note he’d obviously prepared beforehand, and held it gently near her face.
“Here. This is the prescription he wrote up for her. Just take this to the pharmacy, and they’ll give you the medicine she needs.”
He didn’t mention that this was a copy he had meticulously rewritten. The original, scrawled by Eric Vaughn, a man who likely hadn’t seen the inside of a classroom since before grade school, was practically illegible, a childish mess of letters even a kid would scoff at. Eric’s handwriting was truly atrocious.
“The Doctor… he’s really back?” Riley gasped, her breath catching in her throat. Hope surged through her.
She held perfectly still for a second, almost afraid to breathe, terrified she might accidentally blow away this fragile piece of paper that held the key to saving her grandma’s life.
Her hand trembled slightly as she reached out, carefully taking the note from him. Slowly, carefully, she sat up in bed.
At that moment, the prescription was the only thing in her world. All thoughts of her exhaustion from the night before, the fact that she’d passed out naked, vanished completely.
Overwhelmed with relief and gratitude, she suddenly lurched forward and wrapped her arms around Alex’s neck, hugging him tight.
“Thank you!” It was the first time Riley had ever hugged him willingly, initiating the contact herself.
“Don’t worry about it,” Alex said, his voice smooth, even as one of his hands began to trace patterns on her bare back again, a familiar, inappropriate touch. “The doctor said it’s serious, late-stage liver cancer is always tricky, but he’s confident he can treat it. It’ll just take some time. And forget about the money, okay? That’s handled.”
This time, Riley didn’t pull away. Caught up in the wave of hope for her grandmother, she was surprisingly compliant.
Their intimacy stretched on, a slow burn this time, lasting until the sounds of other students leaving for morning classes faded from the hallway.
When they were finally finished, Alex was the first to move, swinging his legs out of bed. “Alright, I’ve got business to take care of,” he announced briskly. “So I won’t be able to go with you to the hospital.”
Without another word, he opened the dorm room door and was gone, leaving her alone in the quiet room.
….
Lying there, Riley needed a good few minutes just to catch her breath and let the lingering sensations fade. Her body felt heavy but buzzing.
Finally, feeling a bit more grounded, she pushed the blanket back, intending to get dressed, wash her face, and rush to the hospital with the precious prescription.
But as the blanket fell away, her eyes landed on the sheet beneath her. Her heart plummeted. A large, unmistakable damp patch stained the fabric.
Oh no.
Panic flared. She scrambled out of bed in a rush, practically tripping over her own feet to get to her cabinet and dig out her hairdryer.
Moments later, she was kneeling awkwardly on the bed, the hairdryer whirring loudly as she aimed the hot air desperately at the damp spot, moving it back and forth, praying it would dry quickly and leave no trace.
She worked frantically, but after several minutes, the patch was only partially dry, and worse, a faint but definite outline remained, mocking her efforts.
“Argh! No, no, no!” Riley wanted to scream in frustration. She was desperate to get everything cleaned up and race to the hospital, but this huge stain was a disaster. Seeing no other option, she yanked the soiled sheet off the mattress entirely and shoved it into a wash basin under the sink.
Okay, the hospital can wait a few extra minutes, she reasoned frantically. But if my roommates come back and see THIS…The thought was horrifying. There would be no explaining it away.
While the sheet started to soak, she hurried to open the window wide and unlock the dorm room door, which had remained shut all night, hoping to air out any lingering, incriminating smells.
She was furiously scrubbing the sheet, along with the clothes she’d worn the previous night, when the door creaked open. Her roommate was back.
“Ugh, what is that smell in here?” the roommate asked, wrinkling her nose as she stepped inside. She glanced around the room, clearly puzzled and slightly disgusted.
“….?!”
After a frantic cleaning session, Riley finally managed to tidy the dorm room and dashed out, heading straight for the hospital, prescription clutched tightly in her hand.