Amy hadn't been gone long. It was fine that she took off for a little while, leaving Cassandra in the quiet apartment near campus. She'd gotten the message on the answering machine just as they arrived, and Amy was extremely apologetic.

"I'm fine. Go. They need you more than I do," she'd told her. After that horrible flight up from Florida, she could use a little peace and quiet�plus they'd have lots of time to catch up in the next few days, and they'd agreed there would be no distractions. Amy was sure she'd be gone for at least a couple hours, but she'd return home as quickly as she could.

Cassandra put her suitcase in the corner of the living room, slipping out of her shoes as she looked at framed pictures on the bookcase. She recognized some of Amy's family from when they were kids growing up together, but there were a few pictures where she didn't know anyone. Roommate's family, I guess.

She pulled her book and a half-empty box of Lemonheads out of her carryon bag and curled up at the end of the futon, turning on the table lamp. She'd brought one of her textbooks along, because she'd gotten behind in her reading. She'd intended to do most of her reading on the plane, but that kid kicking the back of her seat made it impossible to concentrate. She managed to get one chapter under her belt when she heard the rattling of keys outside the door. She sat up and turned to look just as it flew open, expecting to see Amy. The tall, lanky guy thrust his hand out to catch it before it hit the wall, but he was too slow. "Crap," he said, as he peered around at the wall where the doorknob hit. He smoothed his finger along the dent it left. Stupid broken�twangy thing. I just know we're not gonna get our deposit back.

He dipped his shoulders and his heavy backpack slid to his hand. It was only as he turned, ready to fling it onto the futon, that he realized he wasn't alone. "Oh! Sorry, I�" He looked around the room, embarrassed. "I just, um�hi." He smiled shyly and offered his hand. "I'm Clayton. Are you�uh�"

"Cassandra. Cassie. Nice to meet you." She sat up on her knees and reached over the back of the futon to shake his hand.

"Hi, Cassandra. Would you prefer Cassie?"

She smiled warmly, noticing his firm grip. "Doesn't matter, really. Amy calls me Cassie, but everyone did when I was younger. Whatever you want."

He realized he was still holding her hand, and let go, his arm flopping down at his side. "Okay, I'll go with Cassandra then." She looked up at him, resting her chin in her hand after flipping her blonde hair flirtatiously over her shoulder. Wow, she's really cute. "Sorry I almost brained ya there a second ago�I kinda forgot y'all were gonna be home today." He glanced around the apartment. "Where's Amy?"

"She had a message when we got back from the airport. Something about the professor she TAs for. I didn't get it all." She turned to face him as he crossed to sit his bag in the chair opposite her, unzipping it. "She offered to take me with her, but I'm, like, so tired after flying up here. Anyway, don't let me bother you. I've got my book. I'm good."

He pulled a couple textbooks and a laptop out of his backpack, then reached in and grabbed a folder full of papers, setting it all on the coffee table. "Well, I could leave you alone, you know, if you'd rather�you know, if you want to get back to your book." He didn't want to interrupt her quiet. If there was one thing he had trouble with, it was being quiet. Especially around cute girls. Somehow he would either turn into a chatterbox or clam up entirely. He could feel himself wanting to talk to her for hours, but if she wanted him to go away�

"Oh, I don't mind some company, not at all." She sat her book on the end table and noticed a look of relief wash over him. How come Amy never told me Clayton was this adorable? He's such a sweetie. "You just look like you've got a lot of work there."

He sighed. "Yeah, but I don't wanna do it right now. Kinda sick of looking at it." He picked his backpack up from the chair and sat down, holding it in his lap. "Just came from the library. Term paper. Nothing big, but�well, I've got all my stuff together and now I just need to write the thing." He drummed his fingers nervously on his knees. "Really, the only reason I went to the library was to use their printer."

He looked up at her and saw her questioning look, as she glanced over at the printer sitting on the desk in the corner. "Yeah, I've been a little strapped this month, so when I ran out of ink for my printer, I came up with this idea. See, I did all this research online and found stuff I would have printed out here�but what I did was, I emailed all the links and other information to myself at my university account, then got on one of the computers at the library, logged on with that account, and�" He picked up the large folder from the coffee table. "And now I've got hardcopies of everything, you know, for free." He smiled proudly at her. "You'd think my grades would be better, seeing as I'm such a genius and all."

Cassandra laughed and pulled her bare feet up, tucking them underneath her. "Not a bad idea. I'm going to have to remember that when I get back to school. I can't believe how much I spend on stuff for my computer�and the paper! Sometimes I wish I'd been more interested in a field that didn't require me to write so much, you know? But I just had to be one of those academic types�and that whole paperless society thing is such crap when all your professors want to hold your work in their hands. I guess when you're more interested in the past than the present, you're not likely to be big on technology�"

"Where do you go again? University of Florida, right?"

"South Florida. The one in Tampa."

"How'd you end up down there? Aren't you from here?" He bent down to untie his beat-up brown shoes and she couldn't help but notice the way his shirt clung to his back.

"They've got a terrific Mesoamerican archaeology program. Plus, I've got a lot of family near there. And there's always the beach, although I avoid that as much as I can this time of year. Not really into that whole spring break scene. All the traffic and the drunks and the general stupidity�it's much nicer to come up here where it's quiet."

"Ah�the beach. Yeah, I don't really do that much. I know it's hard to tell by looking at me." He grinned as he gathered his books into his arms, then pushed his glasses back up his nose. Crack on yourself before they get a chance to do it for you�

"Look, the only time I go down to the beach is when there aren't many people there�and that's usually at night. I like watching the sun set over the water." She noticed his look of confusion. "Gulf side. Faces west." He nodded, and she leaned towards him, speaking softly. "Just because I like the beach doesn't mean I like�beach guys. I prefer a guy who'd rather read a book than look at himself in the mirror."

Clayton looked at his lap as he hugged his books to his chest. "So your boyfriend isn't a beach guy then?"

She smiled. "He wouldn't be�if I had one, that is. Even if I was interested in guys like that, I don't think I'd date one. Not likely someone like that would go for a bookworm who likes cleaning dirt off of old pottery, right?"

She doesn't have a boyfriend. And she likes guys who read�and don't hang out at the beach. I guess that's a good sign. "Pottery? Oh�archaeology. Right. So, uh...what kind of pottery again?"

"Mayan, mostly. I've done a little bit of field work in Honduras since I've been at USF, and I'm hoping to go to the Yucatan this fall with some friends of mine for a little vacation. We're going for the autumnal equinox, if we can time it right. I'm just dying to see the snakes on the Pyramid of Kukulkan do their thing in person." She laughed as he cocked his head to the side like a confused dog. "Oh, God�I'm just so used to being around anthropology students, I forget that regular people don't know about that. Kukulkan is the feathered serpent�like Quetzalcoatl, which is what the Aztecs called him�okay, never mind about that. See, as the sun sets on the evening of the equinox, the main staircase on the pyramid at Chichen Itza gets these shadows cast on it that make these serpents�the heads are carved at the bottom, and you only see the body of the serpent on that day�it's way cool. Pictures don't do it justice, though, you know?"

She picked up her book and began leafing through it, talking about the carvings on the pyramid, but Clayton's mind wandered. Wow, she's been to Honduras, and now she's going to Mexico? And I thought that trip to Arkansas was far away from home. Look how cute she is, and how excited she gets talking about that stuff. I love the way she holds her pinky out when she turns pages�that's so cute. She's got really pretty hands. When she turned the book towards him to show him a picture of the pyramid, she asked him a question, but he hadn't been paying attention.

"Have you?"

"Um�yeah." He nodded, pretending he'd heard her.

Her eyes lit up and she sat on the edge of the futon, leaning towards him again. "Really? Where did you go?"

He blushed and stammered a reply. "I'm sorry, I�uh�I didn't hear the question. I was distracted for a second. That was rude of me�I apologize. Can you ask me again?"

She spoke slowly, mocking him. "Have�you�been�to�Mexico?" He looked down again and shook his head, embarrassed. "Hey, it's okay. I just got caught up in my own little world there for a second. I shouldn't have expected that you'd be interested. Not a lot of people are."

He picked up the folder and his backpack and bundled them with the books on his lap, standing up. "No�it wasn't that I wasn't interested�it's just that you�um�I was just thinking about�something else." He started to walk backwards towards his bedroom. "Listen, uh�I'm gonna put this stuff away and�I should probably change. I'm not gonna get time to do laundry until this weekend, and I kinda need to wear these pants again tomorrow, so�wow, not really sure why I just told you that just now." He stopped before he got to the door. "Can I get you anything, since I'm up?"

Cassandra leaned back and crossed her legs, twirling her hair around her finger. "You go ahead. And I'm just fine." As he turned to open his bedroom door, she called out to him again. "Clayton?" He looked back at her, over his shoulder. "I'm sorry I made fun of you just now. I didn't mean it."

He smiled and went into his room, shutting the door behind him. He tossed everything onto the foot of his bed, then flopped down next to the pile. He didn't know what to think about her. It kinda seems like she likes me�but, you know, even if she does, it's not like I can�I mean, she's Amy's friend, and she doesn�t live here, and�well, she did make a point of telling me she didn't have a boyfriend. Of course, I practically asked her if she did�jeez, Clayton, obvious much?

She looked down at the picture of the pyramid, running her finger along the line of the staircase. Oh, God, he's really adorable. And those long legs are gonna kill me�.man, this is gonna be tough. I'm sure Amy wouldn't appreciate me hitting on her roommate while I'm here. But I guess there's no harm in a little flirting�Clayton's definitely the type who's fun to flirt with! Besides, how could she fault me when she knows how much I like redheads? She popped a piece of candy into her mouth, squinting as the initial sourness hit her, and flipped back to the section she'd been reading. She glanced towards his bedroom door and tried not to think about him changing his clothes just on the other side.

Clayton walked back into the room, wearing an old, faded YMCA t-shirt and grey sweatpants. As he shut his bedroom door, she looked up from her book. He felt a lump in his throat when their eyes met. Oh man, she's got such a pretty smile. He decided to join her on the futon, rather than sit far away from her in the chair, hoping it might score him some points with her.

"So, um�do you feel like doing�anything? We could watch a movie or something, you know, until Amy gets back."

She grinned and hugged her knees, crossing her feet at the ankles. "Ooh, we could�but you know, I have this feeling that if I got all comfortable watching a movie, I might not be able to stay awake. You don't want me falling asleep on you, do you?" Unless you do. "I'm up for anything that involves my brain. Otherwise I'm just gonna conk out."

"Hmm. Maybe�um�" He looked around the room, hoping for inspiration. "Maybe a game or something?" He walked over to a cabinet near the television, squatting down and looking inside.

Cassandra looked over at her carryon bag in the corner. "Hey, there's an idea! Do you know any card games?" She went to her bag and pulled out a deck of cards from a side pocket. "I always carry cards with me in case I get stuck somewhere and get tired of reading, but I only know how to play Solitaire. There was some dumb game my sister and I used to play when I was a kid, but I don't think I remember how to play it. All I really remember was that the winner scraped the cards real hard over the loser's knuckles."

He glanced over at her and saw her crawling towards him across the carpet, and tried not to look down her shirt. "Ick. That doesn�t sound like a good game." He closed the cabinet and sat on the floor, facing her. "I know how to play Hearts. I could teach you if you wanted. It's usually done with more people, but I don't see why we can't do it with two of us."

"Hearts? I've heard of that. Let's do it." She pulled off her cardigan and tossed it towards her suitcase, then handed him the deck of cards. "Show me."

He began shuffling the cards as he explained the game. "Okay, there's a whole thing with points�you know, different cards having different points, and you want to score the least amount of points�but I'm not gonna go into that yet. When I first learned how to play, I didn't know about the points, so I'm just gonna show you how I was taught, okay?" He started to deal the cards between them. "When I get these dealt, we're just gonna turn them face up for now, so I can show you how to set up your hand and which ones to play, okay?"

She rested on her left arm, sitting on one hip. "You're the boss." At least unless I think I need to take over.

Clayton giggled. "Ooh, I guess I am�maybe this will be more fun than I thought!" He winked at her, laid the last card on his stack on the carpet between them. "Okay, turn 'em over. Show me what ya got."

She turned her cards over and he leaned in to look at them, spreading them out by brushing his hand across them. She moved closer, looking at his cards. "If you get to see mine, I get to see yours, don't I?"

He looked up and blushed at the look she was giving him. "Yeah, I'll show you mine�but first we need to�"

"Finish playing cards?" She giggled and shook her head. "Sorry. Now what do I do with all of these?"

He rolled onto his left hip, propping himself up with his arm, arranging his cards with his free hand. "You're gonna want to group them�by suit, and put them in order�you know, so you know what you have. We'll be playing them by putting them down one at a time, trying to stay in the same suit, and in order�oh, but first you'll have to pass me three cards and I'll give you three, I guess. If we had more people, everyone would give three cards to the person next to them�of course, you'd want to give them ones you don't want. Oh, there's the two of clubs�that's the first card that gets laid down, so since you have it, you'd end up going first. And you need to hang on to your hearts�"

"Unless I want to give my hearts to you�I mean, when I give you the three cards?"

"Well�um�here's the thing about the hearts�you have to try to not lay them down, because you want to�" He found himself distracted by the way her hand was lightly drifting across her cards as she put them in order. "But you've got a lot of hearts there, and consecutive ones, so that's, um�you shouldn't give me your hearts."

"Awww�you're no fun." She tossed her hair over her shoulder and winked at him. "So, I put down a card, you put down a card, I'm assuming we keep trying to mess each other up�anything else I need to know?"

"Uh, yeah�there's um�every time we�well, we keep giving three cards to each other. If there were four of us, we'd pass to the right and then to the left, but with just us�well, I guess we're just gonna go back and forth." He nervously scratched the back of his neck, finding it more difficult to make eye contact. He could feel her looking at him. Amy's gonna kill me if she finds out about this.

Cassandra leaned towards him, reaching to touch the front of his shirt. "YMCA, huh? You work there, right?"

"Yeah. I used to." Their faces were so close now. He hoped she couldn't feel how hard his heart was beating with her hand on his chest. She's touching me. Oh God, she's touching me. He stared at his cards and tried to remember to breathe. "Okay�um�now, see, I've got the queen of spades, and that's a card you can't really play until�um�you know, I'm starting to think that maybe you can't really do this with two people." He could feel her hand moving towards his shoulder. "Maybe we should�um�stop."

She slipped her hand over his shoulder, running her thumb along the bare skin that was showing where the neck of his shirt was pulled to the side. "You want to stop?" she whispered.

He looked up, into her eyes, noticing for the first time how blue they were. "No."

"Me either."

He leaned forward, raising his hand to softly touch her cheek, and she closed her eyes, her lips parting invitingly as her head tilted towards his hand. He pressed his mouth to hers, moving slowly, savoring every moment. The slight taste of lemon from the candy she'd been eating, the sweet, girly sounds she was making in between kisses, the softness and warmth of her skin against his fingers. He was startled when he felt her take hold of his glasses, and pulled back slightly to let her remove them, letting his eyes close for a moment. When he looked at her again, his mouth twisted into a crooked smirk, which relaxed just as he confidently took her lips again, nearly overwhelming her.

She sat his glasses on the carpet next to them and moved closer, covering the cards spread between them. She put her hand on his knee and slid it a little ways up his thigh, stopping when she felt his muscles tensing. She then moved it quickly to his face, brushing against the light stubble on his jawline as she slipped it behind his head, pulling him to her as she gently sucked on his lower lip. She adjusted the hand supporting her on the floor to place it against his, and he entwined his long fingers with hers.

He slid his hand from her cheek to her waist, respectfully pulling back to avoid touching her breasts, as he rested his forehead against hers. He swallowed hard and exhaled forcefully. "Cassandra�"

They jumped as the door opened, moving quickly away from each other before Amy saw them. Clayton fumbled to pick up his glasses, and Cassandra tried to casually gather the cards from the floor.

"Sorry, Cassie�I took a little longer than I thought. But I picked up something for dinner to make it up to you. Oh, hey, Clayton. I didn't know you'd be home already."

He reached under his leg to pick up some cards, trying not to appear like a kid with his hand in the cookie jar. "Yeah, I didn't stay at the library very long after all."

"Didn't you have a paper to write?"

"Yeah�but I haven't written it yet. It'll get done�Mom." His sarcastic tone told her to mind her own business. He stood up and crossed his arms in mock disgust. "At least I'm not the one who invited a friend from out of town and then left her sitting alone in our apartment."

Amy went to the kitchen to put down the bag of groceries. "Ah yes�Mister Manners strikes again. Cass, you're lucky he was here to take care of you."

With Amy safely out of the room, he put his hand down to help Cassandra up from the floor, winking at her as she got to her feet. As she walked past him towards the kitchen, she brushed her hand along the back of his thigh. "Yeah, I know."