Danny's alarm went off at 5:30 am like always. The problem was that together they had knocked Danny's phone off the back of the nightstand at some point during their marathon lovemaking only a few hours before.
"Shit."
Danny was prepared for the late night/early morning combo, he was used to it. He just felt bad that he couldn't spare Lacey the early wake up call, especially now that the alarm had been going off for three minutes straight as he rummaged around for his missing phone.
"Noo—" Lacey whined into her pillow, pulling all the blankets around her tightly.
"Got it!" Danny said triumphantly as he shimmied out from underneath the bed, "Sorry about that, Lace."
"Nnnnn!" She groaned from within her cocoon.
Danny took a shower and got ready for football practice. As he walked back into his bedroom, he spied Lacey sitting up begrudgingly, face a little puffy, hair wild. He was sure he had never seen anyone more beautiful than Lacey was right now.
"I asked for pancakes." She huffed softly, only half serious.
Danny smiled big, "I didn't forget." He walked around to her side of the bed and kissed her, giving zero fucks if she had morning breath or not, "Be right back."
Lacey watched Danny skip down the stairs, irritated at his energy and positivity. What the fuck. Her head was pounding. She poured herself out of bed and shuffled into the bathroom, peeing with the door wide open because what was consciousness anyway?
At the sink she pulled her hair back and washed her face, feeling a little more human as she walked back to the bed and sat down because she was still too disoriented to figure out what else to do next.
Her mind wandered to all the filthy things that came out of their mouths last night. He may not have drugged her, but Danny Desai was certainly a drug, and Lacey was addicted.
Ten minutes later, Danny jogged back up the stairs, tray in hand. Pancakes, mini cinnamon rolls, sausages, eggs, toast, hash browns, bacon, fruit, coffee, water, juice and Tylenol.
"Okay, I'm quitting school and just staying here for the rest of my life."
"That will be awkward when someone else moves in here next year." Danny laughed, "But for today, absolutely."
He rifled around his sock drawer and found his spare key, grabbing the remote for his tv and walked back to her side.
"These are for you. Stay as long as you like, watch tv, sleep, keep searching through my stuff, whatever." Danny leveled her with one of his charming smiles, "I've gotta get to practice and then I have a couple of study dates, homework, laundry, all that."
"You're giving me a key?"
"I would love for you to lock my door when you leave please, yes. It's not some huge deal, I'll get it back from you later."
"This is—you're a dream, D." Lacey shook her head, was this too good to be true?
Danny kissed her again, "Last night, that shit was so good." Danny did a quick scan of her body, eyes bright, face in awe.
Lacey just smiled, she felt the same way.
"Text me later." He gave her leg a squeeze under the blanket and headed out.
Lacey ate as much as her stomach would hold and snuggled back into Danny's comfy bed to sleep a little longer. Around 9 am Lacey roused again, this time feeling more rested and less like death. She took a long, hot shower and made Danny's bed. She took care of her dishes and all the pans Danny had used to make her breakfast feast before heading out to get some shit done.
Lacey walked across campus in a pair of Danny's shorts, one of his t-shirts and her heels from last night. This was by far the most fashionable walk of shame she had ever done. She made a note to bring a change of clothes to keep at Danny's place for future rendezvous, smiling as she began thinking of all the possibilities.
On the edge of campus, a Syracuse University merchandise kiosk had popped up for weekend tourists. It was close enough en route to her dorm that Lacey could see it was filled with SU football merch. She made a pit stop and paid for an SU football t-shirt with DESAI and the number ten on the back. Thirty dollars and worth every goddamn penny.
"Hey slut." Phoebe greeted Lacey when she finally made it home.
"Likewise."
"Holy shit, nice outfit."
"How was your night?" Lacey asked, completely ignoring her roast. She kicked her heels off, stoked to find out if Cole was a match.
"Cole can hang." Phoebe was cheesin' up a storm and completely ignoring the details.
"Did you catch a dick or not?" Lacey pressed, pulling off Danny's clothes.
"Hashtag my first college hook-up."
"Nice, how are you feeling?"
Lacey picked out some denim cut offs and threw on her new SU t-shirt, happy to be somewhat back to herself again.
"It was what I wanted, I have no complaints." Phoebe just stared at Lacey for a few, "Okay, listen—"
Lacey bagged up her laundry and worked to stuff her laptop and accessories into her backpack, patiently waiting for Phoebe to say whatever was on her mind. Phoebe stood and took Lacey by her shoulders, turning her around and sitting her down on the edge of her bed.
"I'm sorry about yesterday. I do want to hear about you and Danny—"
"I get it Phoebs, I thought about it and if you had bitched about a guy all night and then did a total one-eighty, I'd probably be pissed too. So, thank you."
"I don't want you to not tell me stuff, that's what roommates are for right? We're a little family here, I want to hear about it, all of it, okay?"
"Okay."
"So?" Phoebe was dying.
Lacey smiled, "I am blessed." She stood up again and slung her bags onto her shoulder.
"That's it?"
"That's it." Lacey gave Phoebe a single nod, "I've got studio time, laundry, you know the deal. Want to do dinner?"
"Only if it's the ramen in my food drawer. I'm out of funds until next week."
"Hell no. Tonight's my treat, you hooked me up last week, it's my turn."
"Deal."
Lacey's studio time was at 1 pm, not quite enough time to start and complete her laundry, so she opted to head to the library to work on some other class work until she could start painting.
The library at SU was massive. Along the entire perimeter within the building were cubby-style desk spaces that Lacey had grown accustomed to working in. The wall partitions set up in between the desks was a wonderful break from being constantly connected to everyone around her at all times and gave her the space to think clearly.
She got a cubby set up for herself and left to grab a couple books she needed to complete the work she had to do. As Lacey made her way into the bookcase labyrinth she spotted some of the football team congregating in the far corner. She scanned quickly, no Danny.
Lacey had to stay focused, this day was majorly important if she was going to keep up with the work she had to complete. Work hard, play hard, she manifested, and for god's sake, she wasn't about to mess up her play time. She tried to put Danny out of her mind and continued on in search of her books.
She heard his giggle first. Lacey crept down the row of business textbooks, getting closer to his lighthearted voice. He was happy, she could just feel it. Her heart ached a little, excited that she had this moment to experience him from the outside looking in.
At the end of the bookcase, Danny finally came into focus. He was sitting at a round table with a few others. Lacey recognized Archie, Charlie and Jo, but not the other two ladies that sat with them. She knew she shouldn't be jealous of this scene, he did tell her he had a few study dates today—but she couldn't help it. She trusted him, right? Yeah.
"You and Porter hook up?" Archie asked Danny, Lacey and everyone at the table all ears.
"You're brave." Danny challenged.
"What? I saw the way you two rushed out of there—"
Danny shook his head, "Let's talk about something else. Maybe calculus?"
"That bad huh?" One of the girls tried.
"Don't." He shut her down, "Lacey is not a subject I'm addressing, understood?" He scolded all of them.
"They're fucking." Archie nodded, dodging a notebook that Danny hurled at him, "Relax, Bro, I get it." He laughed.
One thing about Syracuse University's school color—you couldn't miss it. Danny's eyes were drawn to the bright orange shirt that was hovering nearby. He did a double take, noticing Lacey's hair first, then he saw his name and his number on the back of her shirt. He couldn't stop the smile that spread across his face, even if it were a matter of life and death.
"Excuse me." Danny said politely, standing and making his way toward Lacey.
Lacey knew she had been seen. There was no where to hide so she just didn't. She'd have to eat whatever she was about to receive and just prayed that Danny understood her as much as she hoped he did.
Danny walked right up behind her, sliding his arms around her waist and holding her tight. Lacey's heart almost exploded at his suddenly high level of PDA. She closed her eyes.
Danny was well aware that this was a library and aimed to respect the mandatory silence that was expected from its patrons. For this reason, he snuggled his face into the side of Lacey's head, his lips right next to her ear.
"Nice shirt." He complimented sincerely, the gesture making his own heart ache. She liked him.
Danny looked around them, no one was in their aisle. Staying close behind her, he walked Lacey further down so they could avoid being seen by Danny's study partners. Once safely down the row, Danny slid his hands around Lacey's hips and rubbed her through her shorts.
"Ever fucked in a library?" Danny asked, not waiting for her answer and moving his lips to suck on her neck.
Lacey's breathing was too loud. Danny reached up and wrapped a hand around her mouth, "Shhh—want it?"
Lacey nodded and tried to pay attention to how loud her panting was. This was all Danny's fault. He released her mouth.
Danny was still behind her, lips now resting on the back of her neck as he unzipped her shorts and pulled them down just enough.
"Feel that?" Danny rutted his hard junk against her backside, "That's all you."
"Wait, wait—" Lacey whispered.
"We thinking about it, or are we just doing it?" He continued rubbing her, fingers now directly pressed into the warm flesh surrounding her clit.
"Fuck me—"
Danny slipped a hand into his sweats and flipped himself out, pushing right into Lacey and sending her hands flailing out in front of her, knocking books down all over the place.
"Keep it down, Porter—we might get caught." Danny growled into her ear as he punished her from behind, "Bend your knee, let's go—" He instructed and helped to move her foot up onto a higher shelf so he could fuck her deeper, "That's it—" He huffed, "I love that you can just fucking take it—"
Lacey forgot to concentrate on the volume of her breathing, her mind completely mush at this point. Danny had to intervene and wrapped his hand around her mouth again.
"You're jealous of my study date?"
Lacey nodded her head yes.
"Good. Gives me the chance to show you that I don't fucking lie." He slammed faster, harder, "When I say you're it, Lacey, you're it."
Danny could feel the vibration of a moan hit the inside of his hand so he squeezed harder, which sent Lacey off into an orgasm without any further assistance. Danny could feel her twitch around him, causing him to finish too. He grunted his approval into her ear before quickly reassembling them both and spinning her around to give her a super big, loving hug.
"You get turned on when I talk like a total asshole." Danny giggled into her neck, "But I promise I'm not. I'm also just here to study."
"That was the hottest thing I've ever done." Lacey looked at Danny like he had awakened the dragon.
He smiled and kissed her softly, "Have fun with that mess between your legs all day." He warmed against her lips, "See you tonight? My place?"
"I'll be there." Lacey would absolutely be at Danny's place tonight, they both knew it.
Danny nodded, "Yeah you will."