Candy lay scattered everywhere as I sprawled on the living room floor of my campus apartment, surrounded by my roommates. The rug cushioned my bare back and ass. Blowing a strand of long blonde hair off my face, I reached for the Mike and Ikes.
My tank top, panties, and skimpy shorts were crumpled on the floor. It had been awhile since I’d peeled my clothes off, just for the hell of it. But I’d always liked hanging out naked, and I’d been lucky enough to find roommates who didn’t care. I’d met these girls on the track team freshman year, and we hadn’t looked back.
Jade stretched out on the couch, slim and wiry, her braids in a twist, typing on her laptop with a bag of Sour Patch Kids tucked under her arm. Maggie rattled around the kitchen, her freckles standing out under the fluorescent lights, making another pot of coffee. Irina prowled up and down the living room, her boobs spilling over her T-shirt as usual: changing the music, popping Hershey’s Kisses, and doing everything possible to procrastinate on studying.
“Just keep the sugar coming,” I mumbled.
Jade tossed me the Sour Patch Kids. “You should really be writing your paper. It’s 1 am, guys. It’s the last night of senior finals, and—”
“And I’m so done.” Irina plopped down next to me. “Come on, we all are. We’re graduating. We’ve done our time. We’re leaving…moving on…”
“I don’t wanna think about it.” I chewed on a cherry Mike and Ike as I felt around for more candy. Next week, I’d graduate with my economics degree. A week later, I’d start working as a financial analyst in Chicago. Hello, adulthood.
“And Lara’s naked.” Maggie laughed, brushing back her short hair. Taking chipped college mugs from the cupboard, she began pouring coffee. Maggie was always cheerful, with a voice that was perpetually hoarse and a long runner’s build, like me. “It’s been too long. I didn’t want to say it, but dating Nathaniel was making you bo-ring.”
Irina reached over to give me a tummy rub. “Poor baby had a bad breakup.”
I closed my eyes, enjoying the feeling of her soft hand on my bare belly. That first day of track practice, I’d been surprised to meet Irina, who didn’t have anything close to a runner’s build. Girl was all curves and didn’t care how much she bounced. But she had endurance; I’d give her that.
“Two fucking months,” I groaned. “That’s how long I made a fool of myself, thinking we were on the same page. While all Nathaniel’s friends knew he’d cheated on me with his ex during spring break in Mexico. And one of them decides to tell me yesterday…yeah, like that, Irina.”
“I know.” Even with my eyes closed, I heard the grin in Irina’s voice.
“He should have been spending spring break with you, not his ex,” Jade muttered from the couch.
I shrugged. “He’d bought the tickets months in advance. All his friends were there. I had plans too.”
And I was trying not to care, but even worse than the cheating was the coverup. I liked things out in the open. No hiding, no lying, no secrets.
“Let’s make it better.” Irina’s voice came from above. Icy fizz on my belly jerked my eyelids open. She shook the last drops of a can of Pepsi over my skin.
“Jesus.” I pushed half-heartedly at her wrist, squirming under the prickles of cold liquid. “Let me suffer in peace.”
Irina tossed the can aside. “You said ten minutes ago that you wanted to drown in sugar. I’m just giving you what you want.” Maggie laughed, bringing in coffee. Jade rolled her eyes.
“Not literally,” I protested. Irina tickled my ribs, and I grabbed her hand.
“Get a room, you two,” Jade grumbled, tapping keys.
“Lara doesn’t want to get a room,” Irina said innocently. “She wants to talk about Matt. Her secret little crush while her boyfriend was off cheating.”
I batted at her long, curly dark hair. Irina had a talent for reading minds. She also had a talent for getting people out of their clothes. We’d hooked up once sophomore year, and I could only blame the first few kisses on tequila shots. When she wanted something — or someone — Irina was hard to resist. I remembered being that way too, once. It was fun. Fun and far away.
“Matt who?” Maggie perked up. “You’ve been holding out on us. Matt Brown?”
“Nah.” Jade reached down for the Hershey’s kisses Irina had dropped. “Matt Sanchez for sure.”
“Nope.” I shook my head. “Matt Papadakis.”
“Ohhhhh.” Understanding broke across Maggie’s freckled face. “In his pajama bottoms?”
“Mm-hm.” Matt always wore plaid pajama bottoms around campus. With his easy smile and half-closed brown eyes, he looked like he was on the verge of falling asleep. But his comments in Fiction Writing class told me he was sharper than that. His broad body was all teddy bear. I’d tried not to let the crush get out of hand, even though things between me and Nathaniel had been going south for awhile. “He’s just so…fuckable. Yummm… ”
“Someone’s eyes are glazing over,” Irina teased.
“I can get behind that.” Maggie settled cross-legged on the couch by Jade’s feet, sipping coffee.
“Why don’t you? Lara in front, Maggie behind.” Irina’s hands moved in a completely unnecessary gesture. “Make a Matt sandwich.”
“Uh-uh.” I picked at the foil on a Hershey’s kiss. The chocolate was half-melted because the night was so damn warm, and the AC in our apartment was broken. “Matt’s mine. He wouldn’t go for that anyway. The guy just screams “wholesome.” Like a tall glass of milk. And he has such a sweet smile…”
“So call him.” Jade dangled her phone in my face.
“God, no. I barely know him. I just broke up.”
This spring, I’d had room in my schedule for one fun class and signed up for Fiction Writing. The class made a good outlet as little spats with Nathaniel turned into big fights. Matt Papadakis sat across from me. He was just so damn cute. Quiet in class. His comments were to the point, and he didn’t talk to hear his own voice — unlike me. But what got me was every so often, I’d catch him watching me with a look of burning curiosity. When I’d meet his eyes, he’d quickly look away.
I still had his feedback on my short story: It seems like there’s a lot more to your main character than meets the eye. An untamed wildness, hiding, just waiting to come out. Is she a shadow of her former self?
I’d stared at the typed words. Next class, I’d asked him if he wanted to have lunch in the student union.
He’d said yes. But the whole time, it felt like sitting with your middle school crush in the cafeteria. We’d smiled over our burritos, made eye contact that skated past each other, brought up topics that lasted a few sentences, and ended up sharing a brownie in awkward and hovering silence. Matt was shy, that much was clear, but I’d never been known for keeping my mouth shut.
I didn’t suggest lunch again. I felt guilty because of Nathaniel, who’d been getting busy in Mexico. And I felt even guiltier after I’d folded up Matt’s notes on my story, pushed them under my pillow, and rubbed my hard clit to a cascade of orgasms while I thought about him between my legs. Asking me to let out all the wildness. Saying he wanted to get wild with me.
“Come on, Lara, call Matt,” Maggie sing-songed, pulling my attention back to the living room. She set down her coffee cup on the rickety end table. “Give me five minutes and I’ll find his number.”
“Let her be.” Pushed her dark curls back, Irina pitched the bag of Sour Patch Kids across the room. “She just broke up. She needs something different. She needs to reclaim who she really is. Truth or dare, lady?”
What was that feeling? Oh, yeah. My heart beating faster. I’d missed that. “You know the answer.”
“Okay.” Irina jumped up and opened the front door. “Out.”
“What? Jesus. Have you forgotten the part where I’m naked?” I sat up, looking around for my tank top. The breeze outside tightened my nipples into puckered buds. Sweat clung to all my curves. My pussy tingled, just from thinking about Matt for two minutes.
“Nope.” Irina winked at me. “Remember last time? Feels like so long ago.”
“We were juniors,” I groaned. “And I was a lot drunker.”
“So you’ll remember more this time.” Irina stretched up one arm to pose against the doorframe, beckoning to me with the other. Jade stared from the couch, the bag of Hershey’s Kisses dangling from her hand. Maggie was getting a gleam in her eye. “You can do it, Lara. Just run to Jackie’s and back without stopping.”
“Right, ’cause that’s just what I need to end college with a bang: getting arrested. Again.”
“You can outrun the cops,” Maggie chirped.
“Why are we having this conversation?” My skin prickled. My pussy was pulsing. My whole body said, why aren’t you outside yet? “I’m starting my job next week, and I’d like to keep it. I need a clean record. I’m older and wiser now.”
Irina eyed the Sour Patch Kids on the floor. “Well, you’re older. We’ll follow you. Don’t worry. We’ll all be there, keeping an eye on you, making sure you get there.”
Maggie jumped up, clapping her hands. “Go! Do it!”
Irina grabbed my clothes, tossing them on top of the bookcase.
Jade shut her laptop, rolled off the couch, and offered a hand to help me up. Her eyes darted from Irina posing at the open door, to Maggie cheering, to me in my naked glory. Jade was shy, but there were reasons she hung out with us. She liked the edge too, when she let herself.
“Lara, if this is too much—” she began. She looked nervous, but eager too.
“Fuck that,” I snorted. I squeezed her hand and let go.
Looking left and right out the front door, I took off at a sprint toward Jackie’s Snack Shack. The one 24-hour place in our small college town, where you could buy chips, cookies, condoms and Corona any time, day and night. Behind me, the girls whooped and cheered.
“Quiet,” I hissed over my shoulder.
The stairway was empty. Outside — empty. I darted down the steps, out of the pools of light from the street lamps.
Running outside naked, past midnight, feeling the sticky air on my bare skin, feeling my breasts bounce, pounding barefoot down the pavement, sent my adrenaline shooting through the roof. The risk jolted my body awake. My friends were right. I hadn’t felt this alive in…forever.
The last time I’d streaked, I really had been come close to being arrested. Two cute cops had stopped me, produced a shirt from somewhere, and given me a lecture. They’d both been under 30 and doing their damnedest to act professional.
“Just don’t let this happen again.” The older one had practically wagged his finger at me. “For your own safety, along with public decency.”
I’d apologized contritely and said it was just a midnight mistake. When I’d gotten back to my room hours later, after the party ended, I’d slid into bed and imagined the cops chasing me all over campus while I outran them. Catching me, finally, when my legs started to give out. Driving me to the police station, totally naked and handcuffed. Taking me into a private room and stroking their dripping cocks as they stared at my exposed curves. Running their hands all over me until I shuddered through one orgasm after another after another, for as long as they wanted me to.
I’d come unbelievably hard that night. But not as hard as I came the night I slept with Matt’s notes under my pillow.
Shit — a motor rumbled close by. I swerved behind the waist-high bushes, still running, flipping my long blonde hair over my breasts. My heart thumped, and I was definitely wet now. The nerves and excitement hardened my nipples and sent pulses of need through my bare pussy. From somewhere up the block, I heard my friends giggling.
The car slowed, then picked up speed and vanished down the street. Wiggling out from the bushes, I sprinted around the corner and dashed up the sidewalk.
Further ahead, two blocks away, the front door to Jackie’s Snack Shack stood open. Light streamed out into the dark night. People lingered outside, swigging coffee and procrastinating on studying.
Not happening. Way too exposed. Instead, I veered down a side street, trees rustling overhead, aiming for the alleyway behind Jackie’s.
This was crazy. This was amazing. My feet thudding down the road, the asphalt warm and sticky, on the lookout for broken glass and gasping with silent laughter. The houses were dark, the windows shuttered. But every part of me felt awake now.
A glance over my shoulder told me Jade, Irina, and Maggie were keeping pace, fanning out in a slow, unconcerned jog behind me. Unconcerned, except for Maggie’s hand waving me to go, Jade’s wide eyes, and the low whistle from Irina to get my attention.
“What are you doing?” Irina hissed. “Taking us this way? You’re supposed to go to Jackie’s.”
“I’m going to her back door.”
“Yeah, ’cause you’re dirty like that.”
“Cheater,” Maggie sang.
“No, this counts.” Jade was giggling again.
I turned over my shoulder to shush her. Never stopping, never slowing, and as I rounded the corner to the alley, facing front too late, I ran smack into a broad body.
A firm body. A male body, in a T-shirt that dragged its softness against my breasts. My nipples puckered to hard points in the damp air.
I leaped back. So did he. Plastic grocery bags dropped to the ground with a thunk.
“Oh my God.” I blinked at the cans of Red Bull rolling across the asphalt, utterly naked and utterly aware of it. “I’m so sorry. Look, you dropped your bags, and, uh, I’m naked, and—” When I looked up, I met a pair of brown eyes. Unusually wide-awake brown eyes. “Matt! Hi!”
Not Matt Brown. Not Matt Sanchez. Matt Papadakis — staring at me. As usual, his dark hair was sticking up like he’d slept on it. His eyes traveled quickly down my bare breasts, the slight curve of my stomach, the cursive script tattoo on my lower belly, and the little strip of blonde hair on my pussy. His gaze came back to my face with an effort.
“I hope there was nothing breakable in here.” Moving past him into the alley, I knelt down and reached for the grocery bags on the ground, gathering up spilled food. Fruit bars and bags of Pop Chips were scattered everywhere. The kind of snacks that were sort of healthy. Like I said, wholesome. “I’m really sorry about that. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
I looked up at Matt, wide-eyed. Then I let my gaze go to the famous plaid pajama bottoms. That was a definite boner. My mouth began to water.
“Don’t worry about it.” He shook his head as I stuffed cheese sticks back in a bag, blinking rapidly like he couldn’t believe this was real. “I was just, uh, picking up some snacks for finals.”
He held out a hand to help me up. Fuck, I was getting wet. Matt’s eyes did a quick flick to the vee between my legs again, and I wondered if he could see the moisture welling as I bent one long leg to stand. I took my time. I could swear his breathing was getting more rapid.
Finally on my feet, I moved against the brick wall edging the alleyway. Matt stood in front of me, his back to the alley. I glanced past him. Irina, Jade, and Maggie huddled together in a dark doorway, watching us eagerly.
“Thanks.” I was still holding his hand. He didn’t seem to be in a hurry to get it back, either. “I, um, I really appreciate it.”
“Lara?” Matt squeezed my hand. He felt so good and steady. He was looking at me now — at my face. “Is everything okay? What are you doing out here like this?”
“My friends dared me. They promised to keep an eye on me.” And were they ever. All three of them openly took in the sight of my bare curves, Matt in his T-shirt and pajama bottoms, and our linked hands. Irina flashed me a thumbs-up, Maggie made shushing gestures, and Jade looked ready to start giggling again. “One final streak before graduation. Something to spice up our last week of finals. I was supposed to run to Jackie’s and back without stopping.” I held his gaze, my whole body prickling. “I guess I lost.”
“I’m sorry. I made you lose.”
“It’s okay.” I touched his elbow lightly . He was really trying not to stare. “I think I was lost already.”
Brown eyes blinked at me. “I’ll give you my shirt.” He let go of my hand and pulled his well-worn T-shirt over his head, revealing his bare chest. Nice. Very nice. Broad and firm with a little softness, just the way I liked it. Dark hair dusted his pecs and trailed down his abs.
“You’re a teddy bear.” I smiled at him.
“Uh… thanks.” His eyes moved very quickly to my breasts, then away. “That’s me. I’m just so cute.” His cheeks showed a faint flush. He was smiling back, but he sounded sardonic now. Maybe Matt was dealing with his own heartbreak.
When he held out his shirt to me, I stopped him with my hand on his. “You can look.”
“I— okay.”
He looked. This time, he didn’t try to keep his eyes on my face. They went all over my body. I squeezed my thighs together, trying not to squirm. He was really staring. A very, very obvious erection tented his pajama pants.
“You’re beautiful,” he murmured.
“Beautiful how?” I teased.
“Everything flows. Everything fits. Your breasts are really beautiful.” He looked hypnotized. “Perfect handfuls.” Touch me, Matt, I thought at him. “Your nipples are so puffy.” He seemed to be in a trance. “You look really turned on. Are you turned on?”
“Yes,” I whispered.
His eyelids flickered. His bare chest was just asking to be caressed. The bulge in his pajama bottoms looked so inviting.
“What a cute little belly button.” His gaze stroked my stomach. Touch me. “Nice tattoo. Your skin looks so smooth.”
“It is, Matt…”
“Is it?” He looked up and grinned. Fuck me, Matt had the cutest smile. His brown eyes crinkled at the corners.
“You can keep your T-shirt.” I held my breath. “But don’t put it back on.”
Touch me.
For a second, nothing happened. Over Matt’s broad shoulder, I saw Maggie, Irina, and Jade staring avidly at us, clustered in the dark doorway. Maggie was grinning from ear to ear, Irina’s full lips were pursed like she was blowing a kiss, and Jade’s eyes took up half her face.
Maggie shook her head exaggeratedly in Matt’s direction. The message was clear: leave the shirt off.
Slowly, he dropped his T-shirt on one of his grocery bags. I watched it fall.
“You can touch,” I whispered.
He looked stunned. I expected Matt to run away himself, right past my friends watching every move from the doorway.
Then one light finger touched my cheek, moving to trace my lips. Sweet. There were reasons why I’d slept with Matt’s notes under my pillow. I hadn’t been wasting my time crushing on him.
“Mmmmm,” I breathed when his fingers teased my neck. Brown eyes darted between my face and my bare curves. When he ran a fingertip over my collarbone, I shuddered and lifted my breasts toward him, asking for more.
“You’re so nice, Matt.” His finger trailed down my chest, sliding over the slope of my breast, until he traced the puckered skin of my puffy nipple. My breath caught. “You feel so good.”
More fingers slipped over my breast in a rush. A thumb rubbed my nipple to aching hardness and just kept rubbing. A hand cupped my other breast, caressing the sweaty curve.
“Don’t stop,” I whispered.
Matt stared at me, his gaze halfway between shocked and lustful. “This is so crazy,” he whispered. But his fingers pinched down on my pink nipples until I squirmed. My thighs were soaked, and my pussy pulsed with excitement. “Anyone could see you. Anyone could see us.”
A car’s engine revved on the main road outside. Voices and laughter drifted from Jackie’s open back door, further down the alley. All three of my friends nodded, emphatically.