ANYTHING

After what happened during my week of time travel, I became a light sleeper. To this day, I still can't sleep quite as well as I used to before going to Blackwell. Not if I'm alone, anyway.

Anyway, one night, I woke up to my name being called from somewhere outside my door. Was Kate having a nightmare? Was she trying to wake me up? I practically jumped out of bed and opened the door. There was no one out there.

"Max," the voice repeated, and I immediately identified its source now that I was outside my dorm room.

I crossed the hallway to inspect Victoria's door. It wasn't closed, and through the crack, I heard her call my name, this time with some urgency. Heedless of consequence, I obeyed my curiosity and slowly pushed the door open.

Victoria was lying completely naked on her bed, legs wide open and bent at the knees, one hand working furiously between them. Her other hand was… Her other hand was around her own neck, fingers digging slightly into the delicate flesh. In that single moment, understanding dawned on me and my world tilted on its axis.

I tried to talk but couldn't get the words past the lump in my throat, so I swallowed and tried again. "So, this explains a lot."

Victoria yelped cutely, which was quite unexpected, and scrambled to cover herself with the sheets. "What the fuck? Get out!"

"You get out!" Lame, I know, but it worked.

She spluttered. "You can't throw me out of my own room!"

"Perverts don't deserve rooms."

The look of indignation on her face was overshadowed by her silence. I approached the bed and sat down. "Lie down on your stomach across my legs," I said, sounding far more confident than I felt.

After a few seconds, Victoria moved to obey. She didn't protest with either words or actions. My heartrate quickened with anticipation, and by the time she was lying on my thighs, it felt like my heart itself wanted to break out of my chest. Since I was wearing only sleeping shorts, I could feel her skin directly. It was far warmer and smoother than I expected, although, admittedly, my nerves were probably wreaking havoc on my senses.

I began by running my palm along her back like one might caress a cat. At first, Victoria tensed under my touch but she soon relaxed and even began making little sounds of contentment. I then moved on to lightly raking my nails along her spine. This made her shudder deliciously.

Once my nerves settled slightly, I said, "Since when?"

She turned her head away from me. "Since when what?" she replied sullenly.

I gave her a good slap across the buttocks. I didn't go all out, as hurting her wasn't my intent, but I tried to make sure it was strong enough to smart. Even through the brief contact, I noticed the elasticity of the muscle, strong yet yielding under my palm. I had never seen her, but rumors said that Victoria went out on morning runs before classes often enough.

When she placed her palms on the bed, I feared for a second that I might've gone too far. She settled down again after a second, though. "Day one," she muttered.

"Wow." I resumed caressing her back.

We carried on like that for a while, the gears in my head turning.

"Wait, did you bully Kate to get my attention?" I finally said.

No response. I lifted my hand toward her ass. She tensed. Still, she didn't say anything, so I spanked her twice.

To my surprise, Victoria let out a shaky breath before replying with an airy, "Yes."

That prompted my next question immediately. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

She simply nodded. I spanked her twice more and this time she made a sound closer to a suppressed moan.

Emboldened by the situation and recent discoveries, I grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled her head so she was facing me. "You're a bad person, Victoria. And what happens to bad people?"

"They get punished," she replied without hesitation.

I tightened my grip on her hair. Again, not hard enough to hurt badly, but hopefully hard enough to get my point across. "You're going to tell me how best to punish you, because…" I pondered for a second. "Well, because I have no idea what to do next." I thought honesty would probably be the best course of action even in those strange circumstances.

Looking back on what happened that night, I'm now certain that it was the right choice, especially considering what I learned later on about this type of sexual play.

Victoria avoided my gaze, and given the shortened distance between our faces, even in the darkness I could see that she was blushing profusely. "If I were you," she began, clearing her throat, "I would make me kneel, forehead to the floor, and step on my head, telling me everything I deserve to hear."

The surprise must've shown on my face as I released her hair, because she quickly stood up in all her naked glory and tried to backpedal. "Or—or whatever else you want is fine!" She was gesturing wildly with both hands.

"No," I said immediately after looking at her panicked face. "It's okay." I paused. "Just give me a minute, okay?"

She nodded and remained where she was, standing expectantly in front of me, completely exposed.

Several thoughts ran through my head, and despite the added difficulty of trying to organize them with a beautiful naked girl distracting me so, I came to the conclusion that I should do as she asked without judgment or prejudice. After all, she had asked for it herself. I was no expert, and trying to figure out where this behavior originated, or whether her raising under her parents had anything to do with it, was pretty much pointless conjecture.

"Get on your knees," I commanded, this time feeling much more confident, which reflected on my tone.

Victoria complied immediately. However, she stopped at that.

So, that was how things were going to be, I quickly realized. "Forehead to the floor," I added.

Once she was prone before me, I placed my foot on the back of her head. I didn't apply any pressure, though. The point wasn't to hurt, just to convey.

"Victoria Chase, you've been a raging bitch to everyone around you. You acted like an absolute cunt toward Kate Marsh, who didn't deserve it in the least. Even dogs deserve better than you. Hear that? You're less than a dog. Now you have to swear to do better."

She said nothing, so I applied a little pressure on her head to prompt her.

"I swear to god I'm going to do better from now on," she replied obediently.

The geeky mind works in mysterious ways. What came out of my mouth at that point, which would later be remembered with much laughter, was the following. "Don't swear to god, swear to me."

Fortunately, I assume that given the atmosphere at the time, neither of us took much notice of what was said beyond the words themselves.

"I swear to you, Max, I'll do better."

I removed my foot. "Get up. I think a reward should follow. Right?"

Victoria nodded. I lied down on her bed and patted the space beside me. Once she was resting alongside me, I pulled the covers over us. "Are kisses and hugs okay?" I offered.

She nodded and I saw tears brimming in her eyes. Without thinking twice, I pulled her tightly against myself, one arm around her neck and a hand pressing on the small of her back. When I felt her body shake with sobs, I tried to soothe her by whispering in her ear and caressing her back.

After she finally calmed down, I cupped her face with both hands and began kissing her all over. I kissed her cheeks, the tip of her nose, her forehead, her chin, and finally planted a chaste one on her lips. The single contact filled me with need, so I tilted my head and pressed my lips against hers once more, seeking a deeper kiss. She answered immediately.

Soon enough we were exploring with tongues and I was pushing my hips against Victoria at the same time I pulled hers toward me by the small of her back. The sensations that such bumping produced were beyond delicious. There was nothing else in my mind but the girl in my arms and relishing our touches. Our loud moans were what finally startled me into awareness.

I placed a hand between our faces, fingertips against her lips. "We should slow down."

She sighed. "I know."

I moved, probably because I wasn't too comfortable by the end of our make out session, I don't remember now, but Victoria misinterpreted it.

"Don't go," she said with a note of fear in her voice.

There was no point in giving explanations. I simply smiled and nodded. That was the night I learned that being with Victoria helped me sleep with an exquisite unconsciousness.

The following morning, I woke up to find Victoria already awake and observing me intently.

Her serious expression made me reconsider what happened last night. "Should I go now?" I said, fearing that she regretted what happened.

She smiled gently, an expression I had never seen on her face before. "I would do anything for you, Max. Anything. My body is yours, my heart is yours, everything I own is yours. There's just one condition."

"And that is?"

"Don't leave me."

I smiled too. "I won't."

It was a nice moment. Nothing more needed to be said. As a story, that is the perfect point for an ending. However, life isn't perfect, and to my eternal shame, I opened my mouth. "Anything?"

Victoria raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Someone's mind is running wild with perverted thoughts."

I felt my face quickly approaching the point of combustion. "N-no. I meant—" I waved my hands in front of me.

"Well," she said, a pondering expression on her face, "anything except, you know, number two things."

My brain grinded to a halt. "You mean?"

"Yeah, I'll drink me some special Max-made water, why not?"

I rolled away from her, grabbing all the sheets to safely cocoon myself. Going fetal, I did my best to hide my face, wishing the bed would just swallow me whole. Meanwhile, Victoria's guffaws practically echoed within the small room.

FIN