Author's Note: Yes, new inspiration! Yayy me!

"Ugh, I hate this door." Sandy mumbled as she threw all her weight toward the door of her dorm, trying in vain to force it open. "It does this to me all the time."

They'd been standing outside for about five minutes now, and the door wouldn't budge; the result of a long overdue maintenance inspection at the college.

"Here, I'll try. Maybe the cold is making it stick." Martin said. Sandy nodded, stepping aside.

Martin grasped the doorknob, and, using all his strength, he leaned into the door. Luckily, after a few seconds the door swung open, throwing him foward and knocking him off balance.

Moving past him and into the dorm, Sandy helped him up. "I'm sorry, I should really have that fixed. Are you okay?"

"It's not a problem, I think I'll live." He replied, collecting himself and closing the door.

A few moments of awkward silence passed between them, while she busied herself with hanging up her coat and offering him a seat at the table, and he with running through the night's events in his mind.

They'd gone with Simon and Rose for pizza at a local restaurant, and then the two couples had gone their separate ways: Rose and Simon to a movie, and Sandy and Martin to various sites in town, where she told him about college life. After a few hours, they'd decided it best to go back to Sandy's dorm and wait for Simon and Rose, rather than standing out in the cold by the movie theater. And so, here they were, standing in the same room with absolutely nothing to say to each other.

"It's really gotten colder, hasn't it?" Sandy was the one to break the silence, saying the first thing that came to her mind.

"Yeah, it has." He agreed. After yet another pause, he added "My Dad, he's in landscaping, and he's been wearing three or four layers a day to work."

"That's a lot of layers." She commented

"Yeah. We can barely wash them as fast as he wears them, and he's afraid we're gonna run out of shirts."

She laughed softly. It was too bad that most of the guys she'd dated were living on pizza, sex, and a C average. What she wouldn't give to go back to high school, where everything was simple.

Martin, however, was thinking the exact opposite. High school girls were immature, incapable of loving anything but the new blouse they'd bought at the mall, or their favorite lip stick. If only he could fast foward to being a college student, where women knew what it meant to love someone.

"Do you want something to drink?" Sandy offered, interrupting his thoughts.

"I'm good, thanks."

She shrugged. "Suit yourself."

Opening the mini-fridge next to the kitchen counter, she grabbed a can of Dr. Pepper from the top shelf, taking a napkin from the holder as she returned to the table.

"So, you used to live with Simon's family?" The blonde inquired, seating herself.

"Yeah. My Dad was serving in Iraq for about two years, and my Aunt relocated to New York for her job. The Camdens were nice enough to put me up until my Dad came back."

"Yeah, Rose told me that Simon's Dad is a minister, right?" She asked, sipping her soda.

Before he could respond, the napkin Sandy had placed next to her can of soda blew across the table toward Martin, due to an open window on the other side of the room. Attempting to stop it before it continued, Sandy stood and leaned over the table. Without realizing it, she had also leaned over Martin. A wave of awkwardness overcame her.

"Sorry." She mumbled, hoping she wasn't blushing.

"Don't worry about it." He said, trying to ignore the fact that her upper body was lightly brushing his arm.

Strangely, though, she didn't move away, and he found himself glad about it. She was pretty, he observed. And yet, she was pretty in a different way than a high school girl was. She'd had time to age that the girls he'd dated wouldn't have for another three or four years. And then, not quite aware of what he was doing, he drew closer to her.

Meanwhile, Sandy was doing the same, despite her brain fighting her every inch of the way. She really shouldn't be doing this. Martin was only seventeen. But the longing for her innocence was too strong, and it overtook her, just as Martin's arms were doing at that very moment.

The two continued to kiss. With a numbness he'd never felt before, Martin tried hard to suppress the growing feeling that he needed more. More of this, this feeling that his inner maturity, caused by years spent without a father, and even more spent without a mother,during which time he had been hardened internally by reality, could finally be met by someone. This feeling that no high school girl could provide him.

And Sandy wanted more, too. She wanted more of the compassion, which had been lost forever within most guys she dated. To love and be loved, which in her family situation she'd never really had before. Just the thought that it was possible with Martin, regardless of his youth, was not something she could pass up. She couldn't stand being unloved, be it by her parents, or her so-called friends, or even by Simon . . .

They'd moved from their adjacent seats at the table, to her bed. She felt herself sliding backwards, her head landing on one of her pillows. Martin felt himself leaning over her, much the same way she had done to him a few minutes ago.

It all happened in one incomprehensible motion for Martin. By the time he found himself on top on Sandy on her bed, he felt his fingers almost involuntarily unbuttoning her top. That's when he stopped feeling completely. Nothing else was recognizable. None of his physical actions sent alarm to his brain like they should have. Martin Brewer was detached from everything, including himself.

Something similar was happening to Sandy. Sure, she'd done this before. But this time the experience somehow stood alone. Euphoria overcame her as she realized something. If Simon saw that she was capable of being loved by someone else, then maybe he would love her, too. By that point, her senses had been overtaken by that same Euphoria, and she didn't even notice that Martin wasn't using protection.

Two hours later, Martin and Sandy lay on her bed together, each having come crashing down from their mutual highs. As he lay next to her Martin prayed that her flesh would never come into contact with his again, in any way, ever. He was nearly disgusted by her, but mostly by himself, and everything that had happened.

"We have to get dressed, Simon's going to come looking for us." He commented, glancing at the clock. It was nearly midnight; Simon and Rose must've gone to see the matinee.

"Yeah." She replied. She was livid, not at the sight of Martin, but at the sight of herself. She had just taken the innocence, and probably the virginity, of a seventeen-year-old kid. And for what? For her yearning to be loved? Yes, but not for her yearning to be loved by Martin. She had done this for Simon, for his love and affection, which she would probably never receive anyway.

As they dressed, Sandy knew that he wasn't exactly thrilled with what had happened. It'd probably be best if they never saw each other again.

Martin asked himself repeatedly why he'd done this. Had this been how his Mother and Father raised him to act? His Mother had told him time and time again that he should always be a gentleman. Was this gentlemanly, taking advantage of a girl for his own needs? Would his father, a United States Marine, who lived solely by a code of honor which he himself tried to live by as well, praise his actions tonight? Martin knew he wouldn't.

What had he done?

But Sandy's thoughts were quite different. She didn't dare verbalize them, because it more than likely that nothing would come of them anyway. However, it stayed there, in the back fo her mind, where it had been for the past half hour:

They hadn't used protection.

Okay, that's the newest ficlet! Enjoy! Oh, and please, review!-Tessie:)