Chapter Thirteen
“You okay?” Conrad asked when he got back from class. About a week had passed since our sexathon, and I swear parts of me were still sore. Since then Conrad had hovered and waited on me hand and foot.
“Yeah, I just have this stinging sort of cramp in my side.” I rubbed the spot on my abdomen where it stung.
Conrad plopped down next to me. “Maybe gas.”
“Probably.”
“You seem so down. Want a massage?”
“Really?” I asked. I know it wasn’t the case, but I had doubts that Conrad wanted to carry on with all the touching and kissing. What if he was just humoring me? He could’ve had anyone, but he seemed to want me.
“Yeah, roll onto your stomach. Maybe lying on your stomach will help with your gas pains.”
“All right.”
Conrad straddled me, and his weight on me made my cock twitch, but I had to cool it on the sex for a while.
“Oh God, right there,” I said as he kneaded my lower back. “But ugh, lying on my stomach is making me feel sick.”
“Sit up before you barf.”
“Okay,” I said, sitting up and leaning against the headboard of my bed. “I think I’m going to take a nap.”
Conrad stroked his thumb over my cheek. “Okay. Let me know if you need anything.”
The next few weeks went from about the same with a bit of stinging and cramping in my abdominal region to me feeling sick half the day, and when not in class, all I wanted to do was sleep. But Conrad was always right there making sure I was all right.
“Hey, we’re all going out. Want to come with?” he asked. And by we, he meant Jill and Margo. The four of us got along quite well and had begun hanging out on a pretty regular basis. Well, that’s when I wasn’t napping.
“Nah. I’m super bloated and really tired.”
“Sure?” Conrad asked, slipping on a T-shirt.
“Yeah,” I said, placing my hand on my abdomen.
“You are bloated. I actually see some stomach there.”
“Yeah, so go. I’m so sleepy.”
“Okay.” He walked over and kissed the top of my head and took off, and I lay on my side and fell asleep.
My appetite also grew. When I finished eating, I’d eat again.
“Are you seriously going to eat all of that?” Conrad asked, pointing to my food tray as we sat down at a table in the main dining hall.
“Yes,” I said, looking down at my burger, pizza, stack of cookies, fries, and chips.
“Since when do you eat burgers?” I tended to lean toward healthier foods. If I ate meat, it was generally skinless chicken breasts.
“Since now,” I said, taking a chomp.
I shoveled down my food, and Conrad watched with wide eyes as I licked the crumbs off my fingers.
“What’s for dessert?” I asked, patting my stomach.
Conrad got up and grabbed me some extra cookies.
Over the next few weeks, I began to worry about Mason. He always looked like he was about to get sick. Whenever he wasn’t in class, he slept, and he constantly complained of gas and cramps.
When I was in class, my mind always went back to him. Wanting to run back to our room and see how he felt that day. If I could do anything for him.
We weren’t officially a couple or going out even, but somehow, we were together. I did claim him as mine after all. We began hanging out with Jill and Margo a lot, but it always felt the most comfortable when it was just Mason and me.
And that in itself felt like something big for me.
When only months before I couldn’t even say out loud that I liked men and now I wanted to spend all the time I could with one.
And I wanted to make love to him.
What we did a bit back brought us closer together, but it was just raw unleashed sex. I wanted to make slow, passionate love with a man, with Mason, my best friend, and who maybe would one day be more than that to me.
***
“And then this whole bloating thing,” Mason said, rolling to his side to look at me. We lay next to each other in my bed, cuddling and kissing.
“Maybe it’s some intestinal thing like irritable bowel syndrome.” I lay my palm on his stomach. “Because that is a pretty round little stomach you have going on.”
“Stop lying.” He called me out on that one because his stomach wasn’t exactly little. In a short amount of time, he packed on some good pounds.
“You have been eating like a horse lately. Maybe you’re going through a growth spurt.”
“I could probably eat a horse right now I’m so hungry.”
“And maybe that probably explains this,” I said, poking his stomach. “And could be why you’ve been so tired.”
“Getting fat or a growth spurt?”
“You’re not getting fat.” So I might’ve stretched the truth, but he was always so sensitive when it came to how he looked. “You’re actually putting on some weight for the first time in your life.”
He glanced down at his stomach. “Looks like fat.”
“If you want to tone it up, come to the gym with me. Exercise is also good for boosting energy.”
“Maybe.”
“I can think of another way to boost your energy.” I rubbed my hand over his chest.
“Oh, really?” He smiled, and I unzipped his pants.