Morbid - 185 The Weekend Comes

After lunch was Quantum Mechanics and Arnold confirmed that he wasn’t retaining the information like he wanted. He was sure that he could pass the tests and that was it. He also didn’t try to do harder, since he knew there was no point. It just wasn’t a subject for him. He didn’t tell the professor that, though. He would drop the course at the registrar’s office when the fall term was over and he would be done with it.

Arnold had English next and breezed through it. It was ridiculously easy to read the Old English literature when compared to Latin. He could even speak it when asked questions, even when they were unrelated to the quotes from the book. That impressed both his professor and the other students, Tanya’s boyfriend Richard included. Because the next day was Friday, Arnold spent the night in Janet and Pam’s room, to the delight of Janet, Pam, Dalla, and Ida.

Friday was Biology lab day, so Arnold, Janet, and Pam spent the morning working on their specimen. A musk rat. Arnold had some experience with it, since he had done his college admittance test with it. He was told in a not-so-subtle way that he had to keep his hands to himself for the important parts. He didn’t get upset, thanks to both Pam and Janet whispering in his ears that he was much better than he was when he took the test and that he could guide them to do the work for him.

Both girls took turns keeping him calm and working on the specimen and they followed his instructions perfectly. By the end of the class, they were the only lab partners to have finished the entire dissection. That actually surprised everyone, especially the professor and the lab workers. None of the students had ever completely finished off a specimen that large so quickly, not without mangling it.

“We’ll have our reports submitted by lunchtime.” Pam said, a bit angrily, and she led Arnold and Janet from the lab. “Imagine the nerve of them to tell you to not do the work you love, when you can clearly perform better than the rest of us, just because you have previous knowledge of the specimen!”

“It was completely unfair.” Janet said and shook her head. “Let’s get the reports done and submitted.”

“Arnold, make sure you emphasize that you didn’t touch it and still had the specimen done before them.” Pam spat. “Janet and I will do the same and we’ll emphasize that your superb teaching skills allowed us to perform beyond our own expectations.”

Arnold nodded and they left the biology building to enter the next one that had an empty classroom for them to use. They had the reports finished in only half an hour and brought them back to the biology building. The professor was still there with the lab workers and they were cleaning up.

“We’re done.” Pam said and slapped the three finished reports on the desk. “See you on Monday.”

The professor stopped working and looked at them. “I’m sorry for how I handled that, Arnold.” Hamil said. “I didn’t want you taking over and doing it all yourself.”

“He has never done that!” Pam spat. “You should be thanking him for what he’s done and instead you’re stopping him from doing what he enjoys!”

“That wasn’t my intention.” Hamil said. “I’m sure that the next specimen will…”

“That’s two weeks away.” Janet said, getting into the conversation. “We don’t have to show up to next week’s lab because everyone else has to finish their specimens.” She said. “In fact, what will Monday’s class be about? The same specimen, isn’t it?”

Hamil nodded, albeit a bit reluctantly.

“Then we’ll see you in a week and a half for the next Monday class.” Janet said and took Pam’s and Arnold’s hands. “Let’s go.”

They left the lab and went to the cafeteria to eat, then had to go their separate ways.

“Arnold, I’m sorry that happened.” Pam said and gave him a kiss. “Instead of using the resource they have, they tried to marginalize you.”

“It’s all right, though. Did you see how sad the professor was?” Janet asked. “He knows he did you wrong and I bet he regrets it a lot.”

“He sure will.” Pam said. “Not having you in his class for two weeks is going to bother him so much!”

“Oh, definitely.” Janet said and gave Arnold a kiss. “Have fun when you go home and make sure you give those framed things to your mom.”

Arnold nodded and left them to go pack. Back at the dorm, Dalla was happy that he was going home again and gave him a very thorough kissing as a thank you. She had spent practically every night in the room with her mistress that week and it was something that she had thought wouldn’t be possible. Arnold deserved a proper thank you for that, so she whispered something she never thought she would say to someone she didn’t intend to have a relationship with.

“You won’t need a condom when you come back on Sunday night.” Dalla breathed into his ear. The danger of something happening made her feel very naughty and her face was red when she leaned back and gave him another kiss. “Goodbye, Arnold.”

Arnold grabbed his things and left the dorm, made his way off campus, and waited for the bus to take him home. He had no idea that his odd hours of coming and going from the dorm had made the other girls in the dorm disappointed. They hadn’t seen him for almost two weeks and their lives were just a little bit sadder because of it.

*

Annie waited anxiously for Arnold to come home. In her mind she was still prepared to get a call or a text from him that said he was busy, and yet, she almost vibrated as she waited to see him. She wasn’t sure when she had become so dependent on spending time with him and she didn’t care. She loved her precious little boy, even if he was a bit taller than her, and she wouldn’t give him up for anything.

It approached the time when he would appear and she stood up from the couch and checked her long blonde hair to make sure the waves had stayed in it, then looked at her clothes. Her blue jeans were new, fit well, and were comfortable. They were worth the extra bit of money she had spent for comfort alone. Her top was a little fancier than she normally wore at home and was a bit snug on spots. She tugged on it to try and alleviate that, then she heard the key in the door.

“Arnold!” Annie exclaimed, practically the same as she always did, and she went out to the door to give her son a quick kiss and took him into a hug. “I’m so glad you made it home.”

“I have something for you.” Arnold said.

Annie let him go and he dug into his bag. She almost gasped when he took out the framed certificate of contribution. “Oh, Arnold!” She said and held it in her hand. “I’ve been looking for something to take up some of the bare wall space in the living room.”

Arnold gave her a smile and handed her the framed report.

Annie laughed. “Thank you.” She said and gave him another quick kiss. “We can hang these up after we talk about what you did all week.”

Arnold nodded and put his bag down, then he followed his mother into the living room to sit and talk.

*

Beth had been watching almost as anxiously as Annie and she felt a little tingle down below as Arnold passed by her place and went inside his house. She knew she had it bad for her neighbour’s son and she did feel a little guilty about that. He was a fantastic lover, though. She could pretty much justify anything in her mind because of that.

She couldn’t pounce on him right away, though. She needed to be smart and try to get him to come over, then she could pounce on him. The thought made her smile as she imagined herself jumping onto him and riding him as soon as he stepped into her house.

Of course, she would have to apologize for ditching him last week. Beth regretted her decision almost immediately, then really regretted it by the time the night was over. She sighed as she remembered the lackluster food, the horrible foreplay, and the rote sex that she had to pretend got her off.

At least he kept the condom on. Beth thought. She hadn’t been in the mood at all to clean off the mess at the time, unlike when Arnold did it to her. Oh boy, she definitely didn’t mind cleaning off the mess when Arnold did it. In fact, she didn’t mind letting him finish in her mouth and swallowing it for him. She chuckled, because she wasn’t a woman that normally did things like that. It wasn’t something she liked; and yet, she did it for Arnold without question.

Maybe I can mention doing something in the morning when I go out to have my cup of tea on the porch. Beth thought and went upstairs to her bedroom. She needed to relieve some of her mounting tension before she did something stupid like going over Annie’s right now to ask Arnold to visit her.

*

Claire wasn’t bothered at all that she hadn’t seen Arnold in a while. She knew, in the back of her mind, that he could show up at any time, and that was enough for her. She almost laughed at that, because she had been going crazy for most of the summer by not having him and no real prospects to have him in the future… then he showed up out of the blue and bedded her. It was even better than she had thought it could ever be and then he said he would visit her randomly, just like she wanted.

It’s funny how the mind works. Claire thought as she took a sip of wine and absently watched the television. Just the promise of sex with him was enough to calm my libido down.

Claire took another sip of wine and smiled as she remembered the last time he had visited. She knew she would wait as long as she had to for him to visit again and she wasn’t anxious about it. If there was one thing that Arnold was, it was tenacious. He would keep his word, no matter what.

*

Francine picked Leann up at the college and they had a short make-out session. Friday nights were their date night and they thoroughly enjoyed them. Dinner, dancing, sneaking kisses in public, holding hands, and teasing a little. They were like giddy little girls as they played and had fun with each other. Neither of them had ever had so much fun with another person.

After they started dating, they had discovered that they actually liked each other as people. Mutual respect and a bit of professional adoration paved the way for them to learn more about each other. They shared interests and likes, didn’t mind long silences when their conversations ended, and touching each other was both thrilling and exciting. In essence, they clicked together.

They both acknowledged that it was because of Arnold and they wanted to thank him for getting them together. That wouldn’t happen until Saturday night, though. Tonight was their night and they were going to enjoy it as much as they always did. Or even more. They were just a little bit happier at the thought of meeting Arnold the next night and it made them more enthusiastic in their own outing.

*

The mounting evidence against Charlie Hallman was starting to become irrefutable and that pissed off his old partner, Paul Candle. He tried, desperately, to be assigned to any of the cases that were being attributed to his friend. Instead, he was actually pulled from active duty by both Internal Affairs and the chief. It was rare that they would agree on anything and Paul was ashamed that he was the cause of their cooperation.

He had heard that Olivia Tanner had been sidelined by the chief and was surprised that she hadn’t come to him to complain about it. Of course, she was up to things that the chief didn’t like, namely doing a side investigation on Arnold Strickland and the people he interacted with, so not confiding in him might be a good thing. It left Charlie out in the wind, though.

Charlie never showed up at any of their old hangouts, or even contacted their mutual friends and informants, so Paul had no back channels left to try and get a hold of his friend. They had tracked his cell phone to the glove compartment of his squad car and the search history on it was pretty incriminating.

Paul wished his fiance hadn’t told him that bit of information; but, he loved her and he would never say or do anything to hurt her or get her in trouble. Her excuse that they would be husband and wife soon and covered her indiscretion, as if they were actually married, made him laugh. It was foolish and endearing and he loved her that little bit more because of it.

All Paul could do about his friend was wait. He couldn’t interfere in the investigation or in any case that was related, which left him with absolutely nothing to do. Since he couldn’t do anything at work or in the back alleys of the city, he resigned himself to let things play out and hoped for the best. The best being that Charlie turned up at some point and turned himself in. He knew there wasn’t much hope for that and he wished for it anyway.

The only thing that Paul really wanted was to have his old partner back.

It was getting late, so he cleaned off his desk and went down to the dispatch office and waited for his fiance. She saw him and was just as eager as he was to get out of there and go home. The mood of the place had taken a turn for the worse during the week and they both needed a nice break from it. They both booked off the whole weekend and they both intended to spend as much time in bed together as possible.

*

Sarah was in Wayne’s car and she wasn’t as happy about going home for the weekend as she normally would be. She wasn’t sure why, though. Her boyfriend droned on about his physics and quantum mechanics professor and she tuned him right out. She let her mind wander and it kept going back to Arnold’s eloquence in Latin class on Thursday.

His confident stance, his command of the long dead speaking language, and his ignorance of how sexy that was, drove her a little insane with desire. She knew it was just her own personal taste and not something that a lot of people would find attractive. Still, that did it for her, and she imagined him speaking in Latin as he went down on her. She held in her shudder as she came a little.

Sarah had learned her lesson in class when she made a mess, so now she wore an extra thick pad that she usually only used during her time of the month. It caught everything and she relaxed. She needed to get a grip on her emotions soon or she was going to mess up her relationship with the great guy that Wayne was, and all for the fantasy that Arnold represented.

She knew it was just a fantasy, and for some reason, she wanted it to be real. She really, really wanted it to be real. Her eyes drifted over to Wayne’s animated face as he kept babbling about things she had no clue about and she realized that they didn’t really have a lot in common. They liked each other and the sex was great; but, there wasn’t much else to it. That was when Sarah knew she was in trouble.

They didn’t share interests, they didn’t have any classes together, and they didn’t see each other during the day, except when they managed to meet for lunch occasionally. Sarah stopped her sigh before it escaped, because she realized she was too late to reign in her emotions. She was already loosing interest in Wayne and their relationship was crumbling before her eyes. She didn’t know how to save it… or even if she wanted to.