I'm so not ready for this test, Kate thought to herself as she marched toward the library. It was the middle of the semester, the thick of it, and her roommate clearly did not take her studies as seriously as Kate did. Therefore, the library would be her safe haven, the place to study without blaring music, random laughter due to Netflix, or the smell of food that drove her to distraction. Luckily, the library wouldn't close for another three hours, which was just enough time to get some serious, hard-core studying done for tomorrow morning's exam.
Walking into the library, she made her way to the creepier upper floors to hopefully find an empty table or study room. Unfortunately, the library at Stanford was never empty, so she had to settle sitting on the other end of the table from this kind of cute guy. He glanced at her as she sat her bag on the table and she tossed a smile at him, unpacking the essentials: water bottle, laptop, notes, and earphones. Everything was going well for about an hour until she switched her headphone from her right to her left ear (she only wore one while studying) and heard someone breathing rather loudly.
She looked at the dude sitting across and down from her at the other end of the table as if to say Hey, man, I'm trying to study. But he just stared back at her as if to say the same thing. She looked back at her laptop and shook it off. Just minutes later, though, she heard a moan. Clearly, the guy heard it, too, because his head shot up the same time hers did.
Not wanting to draw attention to them, Kate scooted to the seat immediately to her left and whispered to her table mate, "Is that what I think it is?" An awkward smile cracking her serious expression. Just then, they both heard a groan. Obviously, a couple was having a good time somewhere nearby.
"I think someone's having sex right now," he said, completely unable to comprehend what was going on. Well, he was also a little distracted by this random girl's beauty. They both laughed quietly as they heard a rhythmic squeaking coming from a nearby bookshelf. Both faces scrunching, she scooted back into her own chair.
"Goodness," Kate said, finding it surprisingly easy to make fun of two strangers with this other stranger. Apparently, the couple heard them laughing because things quieted down for a while. Kate finally went back to studying, but then heard the rhythmic squeaking just a few short minutes later followed by a squeal which was abruptly cut off. Kate looked up, starting to get annoyed at the interruption when she saw that the cute boy was looking at her. She looked at him, looked at the stacks, and rolled her eyes to signify her displeasure.
Honestly, it was getting hard to concentrate. The squeaking, the moaning, the groaning coming from the obnoxious couple brought a mortifying flush to her cheeks and making her a little uncomfortable in her seat. The worst part was that the guy at her table seemed to be unable to take his eyes off her. Kate thought about getting up and leaving, but decided to just put her other headphone in, angle away from the guy, and press on.
Unfortunately, the copulating couple had other plans as they seemingly no longer cared who heard them. After one rather loud moan from the male, Kate's eyes shot of their own accord to the guy sitting across from her. As soon as he made eye contact with her, they both looked away, both blushing furiously.
Finally, in a desperate attempt to drown the others out, she spoke up. "I'm Kate."
He could barely look at her. "Rick," he shot back. "What are you studying?" The tension flowing through their conversation was nearly palpable.
"Constitutional Law," Kate said. "I'm pre-law." Moans, groans, and squeaks continued, becoming more frantic. "I really wish they would just get off already. I have nowhere else to study."
He met her eyes with a shocked expression. Maybe he wasn't used to girls being so open when talking about sex. "Uh…" he struggled. "I mean, it is really annoying."
"Yeah, so—uhm. . ." It was finally happening. The couple getting buck in the book stacks was finally finishing up, meaning they were now extremely audible, panting, and clearly saying slightly dirty things. The conversation between Kate and Rick came to a screeching halt as they held eye contact while the other couple worked through their orgasms. Rick and Kate were both too shocked and worked up to move in any way, shape or form.
When it finally quieted down and the couple left, Kate very awkwardly shifted her gaze back to her computer and continued to study for the hour she had left at the library. Rick kept pausing in his own studies to glance at her, which made her even more uncomfortable. Kate felt like she couldn't leave, but couldn't bring herself to look at Rick, either. The awkwardness was literally holding her hostage with Rick, the stranger, with whom she had basically just listened to a porno. She kept seeing his face and hearing those noises, and it was much too much. She assumed he was thinking the same thing because he kept shifting in his seat.
At long, long last, the library worker came up to their floor. Before she could speak, though, Rick and Kate both stood up, shoved their belongings in their backpacks and looked at one another for the briefest moment before walking in opposite directions without a word.