16mm class was over, which meant three hours to kill before Film Theory. I dreaded the thought of sitting out on lawn with the other students or in the cafΓ© pretending to read something. When I stepped out of the lecture hall, it had started raining. The sky was gray and dark and there would be no sitting on the lawn today.
"Not the sunniest of days," said a voice behind me.
I turned around. It was M, who was in both my classes. I was embarrassed to see him looking up at the sky next to me. I had admired his films for the last semester, but had never actually talked to him. I was much too shy.
"No," I laughed. "I can't imagine this will be a very pleasant three hours."
"I hate lunch breaks here," he said. "It's like three vacuous hours to fill with something useless. I never do anything important anyway."
"I know the feeling," I agreed. "It's pretty awful."
We both thought about it.
"If you aren't busy, you could come over to my place. I only live a couple block down," he said, smiling hopefully.
I thought about it. Maybe this would be an interesting filmmaking experience. Plus, M was gorgeous, which was also a bonus. He had a long nose with a slight bump in it and deep-set eyes, with chin-length hair that covered his forehead.
"That would be great," I told him.
We stepped out from under the overhang, our jackets over our heads.
"Sorry," he said. "No umbrella."
We ran through the campus and down the street to his apartment. By the time we got there, we were both totally soaked through our jackets and shivering in the foyer.
"It's really raining out there," I said.
"I'll turn on the heat," M told me, reaching and long-fingered hand over to the thermostat on the wall.
He led me down the hall to his room, which was small and painted olive green with paintings and movie posters covering the walls.
"I like your room," I said uneasily. "It's veryβ¦pleasant."
"I like it," he agreed. "Look, you can watch the rain on the street."
He walked over to the large window next to the bed and looked down at the puddle-covered sidewalk below us.
"I love the rain when I'm warm and dry inside my room," he told me.
"Well, neither of us are exactly dry here," I laughed, pulling a strand of wet hair from my forehead.
He smiled, turning away from the window to look at me.
"Very true," he said. "Do you mind if I change into some dry clothes? I can lend you something if you're cold."
"Of course," I said. "I can go outside for a sec while you change."
"Oh, I don't mind," he laughed. "Well, that is if it doesn't bother you."
I didn't say anything, suddenly realizing how much I did actually want to see him naked.
"I'm sorry," he said, nervously. "I guess we hardly know each other. Great, now I sound like a sleaze. I promise I didn't mean anything by it."
"I don't mind at all," I told him. "As long as I can change too. I'm soaked!"
He looked relieved.
"Of course, of course," he said, relaxing slightly.
He opened a drawer and handed me a t-shirt and a pair of boxers, grabbing some for himself as well.
"I can put our wet clothes in the dryer while we wait," he said. "That way we can get them wet again on the way back to school." He laughed.
"Exactly," I agreed, smiling at him.