Harry walked slowly down the stairs to the dungeon. He'd gotten a call from Steven the night before. Milton had killed himself. Over a student. How stupid. Poor guy fell for a damn teenager! It was 6:45 am, a bit early to be at Winslow, but he hadn't been able to sleep. In fact, Harry hadn't slept well at all since he and Lauren broke up. Steven had called late, but Harry was up. It was maybe 3, 4 maybe even 4:30 in the morning. The police had just gotten Lisa to talk. Kid was pretty shaken up. Couldn't even tell them whom to call. They had to find Milton's address book.
He opened his door and put down his jacket on the chair. Then he heard a voice behind him.
"Don't I get a good morning from you?"
Oh no...please not Dana! he thought. "Dana, holy sh*t, you scared me! what are you doing here?"
"Sorry...look, I heard about Milton, and I know he was one of your close friends. Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'll be a lot better when you leave!"
"Harry, don't even start this crap with me. Don't do your whole cold, distant, I am your teacher routine, because I don't want to hear it!"
"Well, gee, whatever the princess wants..."
"Can't believe I actually worried about you! well forget that!"
"Wait, Dana... you mean you really came down to see if I'm ok?"
"Yeah, what did you think?"
"well, I don't know, Dana, with you I never can tell what your objectives are."
"Well..are you?"
"I guess so...I don't know."
"Well, baby, I think I know something that'll make you feel a lot better!" She said, sliding a hand over the waist of his pants and grinning seductively.
"Dana, can you be serious for once? I just lost one of my best friends! Do you know what that means? Do you even understand how serious this is?"
"I was being serious, Harry. You like this, I know you do!"
"That's not the issue! Stop it! I am soo not in the mood to deal with this."
"I'm sorry, Harry, I just thought that after yesterday...in here..."
"Forget about yesterday. It was wrong."
"No Harry. it was right. Ending it was a mistake. When you held me, I felt loved. You weren't in it for lust, because if you were, you wouldn't have stopped. We would have gone farther. But you just held me and kissed me and let me decide what to do. You looked at me and saw the person inside, not my body. You're the only person who's ever done that. It was the first time since that kiss that I felt really loved like that."
"Dana..."
"Just turn off the lights, Harry. It may not seem like the right time, but I assure you that it is. close the door and lock it. You'll see..."When he didn't respond, she turned off the light and closed the door, pulling down the shade and locking it. With the harsh flourescents off, all the light came through the window. He watched her in the dim light, clearing off his cluttered desk. She sat on the polished wood and took off her sweater.
Harry stared at her perfect body, seeming to shine in the sunrise's pinkish glow. he was drawn instinctually to the desk and sat beside her, his hands immediately running over her soft chest. She smiled and him devilishly and wriggled out of her skirt. Dana sat in his arms, undoing the buttons of his shirt and unzipping his pants. He took off all of his clothes and, against his better judgement, let Dana sit on his muscular stomach. She slid down his body so that her face was over his and pushed his legs apart. They laoy together on the desk, dissolving all of their pain into a string of moans muffled by each other's mouths.
Eventually, Harry and Dana stopped, staring into each other's eyes. They got dressed quickly, and Harry hit his head with the palm of his hand. But even his anger at himself and Dana for what they'd done couldn't keep him from saying "Do you always dig your fingernails in like that?" referring to the marks on his arm from Dana. They were deep and almost bleeding, and there was no doubt they would scar.
"I wouldn't know, Harry. No one's ever done that to me before..."
"So you're tellin me that..."
What, Harry, you think I'm a slut or something? I'm a flirt. There's a big difference!"
"So it was your first..."
"Yes, and your friggin desk is a sacred spot now."she said sarcastically. "Go shout it from the f*cking roof. Yeah, I am...I was..a virgin. Happy now?"
"Wasn't that the point?"
"sometimes your humour is just a little too annoying, Harry."
"Please. You know we broke every damn rule in the book, right?"
"F*ck the rules, Harry."
"I don't know. Dana, Milton died last night, and here we are doing just what he did, just what he died for...but worse. Lisa was 18...you're not."
"Now you see why it was worth dying for. And Lisa's just a whiny brat. Think what Milton missed...not that he'd get me anyway. I only look for the ones who care about me."
"Dana, sometimes your overcompensating to hide your feelings is really unecessary!"
"Well, I better go fix my makeup. School starts in 25 minutes, and I'm a wreck! you really made me sweat there, Senate!"
"Bye Dana." She unlocked the door and left him on his own to cry about Milton before his 2nd period class started. He thought about Dana for his entire 1st period free and wondered why he'd let her do that...