This continues where Chapter 2 left off. I would recommend reading the first two chapters in order for this to make the most sense. Thank you all for the wonderful feedback I have received, it has been very helpful and appreciated!
*****
Dr. B liked to take the chapters out of order, so the following week we skipped right to Chapter Eight, The Physiology of Sexual Response. That was the chapter Zach had read that made him feel like he wasn't normal. I watched him from the corner of my eye during the videos, catching the hint of red on his cheeks in the faint light of the room. At least some of the information in the videos contradicted the book as people reported their real experiences to the researchers.
Once class was over, I turned to Zach after most of the other students had escaped the room.
"Zach, there's something I need to-," I began.
"Hey, Zach," Reggie interrupted, turning toward us. "I hope you're paying attention, because this is probably the only place you're ever going to get the chance to see so much
vagina
in your entire life." Tyler and Lee snickered as they glanced back at us.
"OUT!" Dr. B shouted at the three of them. Zach focused on stuffing his things into his backpack, face flaming.
"Zach-," I tried again.
"Can we just get out of here now? Please, Brinna? We can talk on the way to the library, okay?"
We were halfway across campus when I stopped and turned to him. There was something I had forgotten to consider when we'd made our arrangement together last week.
"You've changed your mind," he said anxiously, looking closely at my face. "It's okay. I-I understand."
"Huh? No. No, that's not it."
The look of relief on his face would have been comical, if he weren't also so damned adorable in his eagerness.
"It's my period," I blurted, and watched with interest as the blush swept up from the base of his neck. Regardless, he didn't drop his gaze this time.
"We don't have to do anything," he said hastily. "I, uh, could I come down to your office anyway? I can just study. I'll be quiet, I promise."
"Zach," I laughed, "you don't have to hide in the corner. I just wanted to let you know, because I just, you know, I don't like to be messed with below the waist when-"
"It's okay!" he interrupted, and I wondered if anyone was going to let me get through a complete sentence today. "I just - I just want to hang out with you. You said we were friends. Right, Brinna? Friends hang out." He bit his bottom lip. "Are you okay, though? Do you want me to carry your backpack?"
"My period didn't start right this minute, Zach," I said with a smile. "I'm fine today. It was a couple of days ago. We just didn't talk about what would happen when I'm on my period."
"We can just work on our paper," he said, now looking at anything but me.
"You are awfully cute when you blush like that," I said with a smile. I resumed walking and he fell in beside me. We walked in silence to the library.
Once in the office, Zach's eyes roamed around the room. His gaze flickered over the rolled-up yoga mats and pillow I had stuck in the corner earlier that day. I saw him swallow hard as he figured out why I'd brought them in. My desk was on one side of the room, with a computer and scanner set up on the opposite side.
"Can I check out your computer?" he asked abruptly. "I've been wanting to get my hands on it since I first came down here."
"Should I feel slighted by that?" I teased. "The two of us in this room, and
that's
what you want to get your hands on?" He grinned shyly in response. "Go on, then."
Zach played around with the computer system for a while, insisting on running some of my scanning work through, so he could see everything in action. It was fascinating to watch the intensity on his face as he got lost in his explorations. He was so focused on the equipment in front of him, I could almost be jealous. I wondered if he focused on the homework I gave him with the same intensity.
After about half an hour, he snapped out of it and turned to me, blinking.
"Sorry," he muttered, looking embarrassed.
I didn't say anything. I brushed the backs of two fingers across his cheek, and his breathing caught just a bit.
"You wanted to study?"
"Oh, uh, yeah. Yeah, study."
"You can use my desk if you want. I'll work on the scanner for a while."
When he stood up to move to my desk, I brushed against him as I went to sit down. Flirting with him was turning out to be as much fun as my usual, more direct, approach.
We worked in silence for about twenty minutes, facing away from each other, before Zach spoke up.
"Brinna? What's it like, having a period?"
"Are you sure you want to know?" I smiled, though he couldn't see it with my back to him.
"Yes. And no." He paused. "Mostly yes."
I was certain that, even though I couldn't see him, he would be blushing as I described in excruciating detail what it was like to have a period every single month. He didn't say anything beyond a soft 'oh' when I finished, and we worked quietly for a while longer.
"Brinna?"
"Yeah?"
"Um, you know last week you said-, last time w-we were here together, you..." He trailed off, and I waited patiently. "Do you have any, uh," he cleared his throat, "you know, sex toys? At home?"
My eyebrows went up. I turned to look at him. He had his nose buried in a textbook.
"If you want to talk to me about sex, I'm going to need you to look at me." I stood up. "Or maybe I should just come sit by you."
I grabbed one of the wooden chairs and sat next to him at the desk. He was still fiddling nervously with his pencil, eyes bouncing between his textbook and notebook. The tops of his ears were red.
I looked at the mathematics textbook he was studying. Everything appeared as incomprehensive squiggles to me. I took a moment to admire his ability to make sense of them.
"Zach, why aren't you enrolled at a better school?" I asked suddenly. "Not that this school is bad, but what are you doing at a little regional university? Why aren't you at some Ivy League college?"
