And the last second was the moment that Oz slipped fully back into serious mode, as if none of that ever happened, leaving me the only one who was totally red-faced. Well, except the guide.
I glance at Oz out of the corner of my eye as we walk down a hall within the building, trying to figure him out. I want to be subtle and not stare outright, but I need to know. He doesn’t look like he’s having any kind of… trouble. Not the kind of trouble that I’ve heard about guys having.
He’s walking perfectly fine, and from here I can’t see any kind of bulge in his, ahem, pants department. And what I felt earlier was… well, I don’t have much experience in terms of size, but it didn’t feel small.
Which means it must have disappeared completely. Probably the moment I told him I was a virgin.
I’ve ruined everything.
I’m so disappointed in myself that I can barely concentrate on what the tour guide is saying as we walk down the hall. He’s explaining the purpose of the building and what goes on there, but I can’t concentrate. I’ve made such an idiot of myself. Not just in front of Oz, which I never expected to go anywhere anyway, but in front of my potential future classmates as well.
Imagine if we do end up in the same classes. How will they look at me? They’ll probably tell everyone about what happened, and it will follow me everywhere I go. Like being in high school all over again, where one stupid rumor can ruin your whole year.
I thought I was getting away from all of that. But what if I’m not? What if I just ruined my chances of having a good start here?
I trail along after the tour feeling miserable the whole way around. Oz was right – once we leave that first building, the rest of the facilities seem much newer. There’s a lot that sounds interesting and even exciting, but I can’t bring myself to get hyped up about it. I can’t even think of any questions I want to ask, not even when the tour guide keeps prompting us to ask him whatever we want to know. It’s like everyone else is having the tour, and I’m just being forced to stand with them.
We’re getting closer to the end of the tour – and my humiliation, I hope – as we pass into another building that looks a little older. Not quite as antiquated as the first one, but it’s definitely been here for a while, although a lot of the furnishings inside seem new. The tour guide is explaining loudly to the group, his back to us as he walks, about how the college has put a lot of money into keeping the equipment and rooms upgraded so that everyone can enjoy the level of education they deserve.
And I nearly cry out in surprise when Oz grabs my hand and pulls me to the side so forcefully, I almost fall over.
I do stumble, but I find myself landing in something hard and soft at the same time – and in complete darkness.
What?
Okay. It takes me a moment, but my scrambled brain puts a few things together. One, the thing I stumbled into is Oz himself, his body catching my weight fully. Which leaves us pressed up against each other again in some kind of awful parody of what we were doing earlier.
And two, the darkness is because we’re now in another room off to the side of the hall we were in before, and Oz has closed the door.
As my eyes quickly adjust, I realize it’s not that dark in here after all. There’s enough light spilling through the cracks in the door that I can see Oz’s face, even if dimly. But then again, it is just inches away from mine.
I draw a breath and move back, righting myself back on my own two feet. I reach out to the side without looking and hit my arm on something – a shelf, I see when I turn and look. A shelf full of cleaning products.
We’re in a janitor’s closet.
“What are you doing?” I whisper because I have no idea why he dragged me in here or why Oz is looking at me with a glimmer of a smile playing on his lips.
“I remembered this cupboard from when I was a student here,” he says, keeping his voice just as quiet as mine. “I can’t believe it’s still in use. Lucky me, though.”
“What?” I say, still feeling like I’m trying to catch up. “Why are we in a closet?”
He snickers lightly, and we’re still so close that I feel his breath stirring the hair that hangs beside my face. Then his fingers come up to brush it aside, and I feel myself shiver. “I couldn’t wait any longer.”