Promiscuity Ch. 4

Even as I sit in class, my mind is a total daze.  I can't get Rin, and her odd request earlier this morning, out of my head.

Does she really need something like that?  Can't she go without it?  Frankly, it's a little hypocritical for me to think that.  I've had issues with my disability, more than I can count, but I obviously have no problem taking care of myself.

Rin doesn't have that luxury.

I imagine how she might feel now.  In class, still feeling antsy after my refusal, trying hard to pay attention but completely failing.  Maybe she'll excuse herself to the bathroom, enter a stall, and begin to have her way with the corner of the toilet, clumsily trying to ease her desires on the smooth porcelain.  Maybe she'd give the handle itself a try, it's not very long but it might do the trick.  She'd keep at it, trying hard to keep her balance, trying harder to not accidentally set off the flushing mechanism, only adding to the instability of her desparate situation, but finally, just as her legs and hips begin to feel like they can't handle any more of the unnatural movement, she'll-

"ANSWER!"

The sharp sound of a meter-stick slapping against my desk at full force causes me to flinch, nearly sending me falling out of my chair.  All eyes in the classroom are on me, giggles smattered throughout.

I quickly look up at my teacher's round face adorned with a well-groomed mustache and tiny beard.  He doesn't look happy in the least.  I know from experience that he'll only make it worse if I don't look directly at him.

"Do you have an answer, Ibarazaki?" he interrogates in about as stern a tone as he ever can have.

"Um..." I try even harder to keep my eyes on him.  At this point, there's no good way to move forward with this.  "No.  I didn't hear the question," I answer sheepishly.

He makes a long, audible, drawn breath, "It must've been a pretty good daydream.  Do you want to share it with the class?"

"Um!  No!  I'm sorry!"  I quickly say, not wanting to even tempt him to try to make me do that.  The giggles in the classroom grow in volume and number, some turning into full laughs at this point.

The teacher promptly turns away from me and sits back at his desk again.  He looks at me again, and utters a phrase he's been known for, "NOT OKAY, Ibarazaki."

I feel relieved he's not planning on punishing me, deciding as he often does that his yelling is punishment enough.  On top of that, my constant blushing doesn't look so unusual in a situation like this.  Overall, it could've gone worse.

Gotta get my mind off of this.

Stop it, brain!

You too, thighs, quit rubbing together like that!  I'm still in the middle of class, for pete's sake!

Even though I try, I can't entirely get Rin out of my head.  What's going on?  Am I attracted to Rin?  I've never felt that way about another girl before.  It could be because we've spent so much time close, albeit in awkward ways, to each other in the past week, not to mention the request she gave me earlier this morning.  Did I really want to refuse?  Am I just curious, or something more?

The day continues on without incident.  After class is over, and with no idea how to spend the rest of my day, I decide to go pay Rin a visit.  I can't stop thinking about her anyway, maybe this would help calm me down.

After putting my school supplies away in my own dorm room, I walk over to the door of Rin's, giving it a knock.  "You there?  It's me, Emi." I call out.

"Yeah.  Come in.  Door's open.  Can be open," is what I hear from the other side.  I open the door and step in.

Whoa.  I could figure it's likely that Rin wouldn't be the most able to keep her room tidy, but I never imagined what I see before me now.  Haphazardly stacked buckets of paint and boxes on the verge of falling over, various colors and types of scrap paper covering most of the floor, paint supplies and food wrappers thrown around everywhere like sprinkles on a cupcake.  She's only been here a week!  How the hell did she let it get this bad already?

Rin's sitting on a chair in the middle of it all, in front of a painting consisting of odd shapes and lines, her toes firmly gripping a brush, her body leaning back slightly, her head cocked in my direction.

"Wh... what... what is this mess, Rin!?" I stammer to her out of disappointment.  "You haven't even been here a week!  Look at all of this!"

Rin turns her head back to the easel in front of her.  "Art room's being renovated, so I've been painting in here for now."

"You should try to keep things at least a little tidier, you know.  There's too much stuff lying around.  What if you slipped on something?"

Rin shrugs while she puts her brush to the canvas.  "I don't get up much."

"That's... that's not a very good answer!" I counter, my voice raised in frustration.  "Who else do you think is gonna clean it?  And anyway, you should be getting up more!"

I stop myself.  Why am I getting so worked up over this?  This isn't me.  I might be right about what I said to Rin just now, but I still regret raising my voice.  I hate cleaning my room, too.

"Um..." I scratch my cheek as I think for a second, "Sorry about that, Rin.  I'm not trying to lecture you."

"Good.  I wouldn't like that," she says plainly.

Is she upset?  I'm not sure if someone like Rin could feel mad about anything.  She still won't turn her head towards me, continuing to add more color to her artwork.  I stroll next to her as quietly as I can and lean down, putting my head between her face and the painting, looking at her with a grin.  Her eyes widen for a moment, taken aback by my gesture, then her usual aloof expression returns.

"What I meant to say when I came in," I say softly, taking this chance to look into her eyes again, "was, how are you, Rin?  How's the paintin'?"

Rin makes a partial frown, "the paint's wet."

"Well yeah, I guess that's obvious," I respond.

"No.  I mean.  Your pigtail, there's paint on it now."  She reaches her left big toe to my hair, barely touching it, then drawing it back, wiggling it in front of me, a small splotch of red on the tip of it.

"Ohh!  Ack!"  I stand back up straight and feel for myself.  "It's already all over my hair!  Ugh!"

I look at Rin, her mouth smiling, her shoulders bouncing up and down a slight bit, suggestive of subdued laughter.  I look over at her painting.  There's a few new distinct streaks of the same red color across the center now.  My shocked expression turns to one of regret.  "Agh... Rin... your painting!  I'm sorry!"

Rin's head turns back to her painting.  She stays like that for a minute or more.

"Umm... are you alright, Rin?  I'm sorry!  I ruined it, didn't I?"  My body cringes up, like I'm expecting to get yelled at.  "I know how important this is to you and I'm sorry I didn't mean to do that I was only trying to-"

"No."  Rin states without looking at me.  "It can't be ruined.  Your hair couldn't have ruined the painting, because it was meant to be there, in the end.  This is how the painting was meant to be.  This happens all the time to me.  Just, in my head.  Sometimes what it's meant to be just comes out and onto the canvas, and it is what it is.  These streaks, like spaghetti dropped from a plate, they're a part of a whole.  They're included now."  She takes a deep, contemplative breath, then turns back towards me.  "I think it looks cool anyway.  Maybe not in your hair though.  Unless you wanna be a redhead like me."

I feel relieved.  I didn't really think she'd get mad, but that she'd feel bad about it, at least.  With all my concerns alleviated, calmness returns to me.  "Maybe.  I'd probably make a cute redhead.  Don't you think?"

"I dunno.  I'm not good at picturing that.  Come here, I'll paint the rest of it and we'll see."  Rin raises her brush out at me, stretching her leg fully, as if she could reach me from there.

"Noo!  Not like that!" I squeak playfully, putting a hand on my hair, "I think hair dye would be just fine, if I were gonna do it."

Rin shrugs in response.  "Have it your way.  You should probably hurry up and clean that, then.  It'll start to dry soon."

I chuckle.  "Yeah, you're right.  Okay, I'm gonna go then.  I'll see ya tomorrow morning, as usual?"

"You know it," Rin answers bluntly, already turned to work on her painting again.

I leave her room and set off towards the shower.

Rin is something special.  A simple way to put it is 'weird'.  It's the same sort of weird when I'm around her, or when I think about her.  Optimistically, I've learned that she's a good listener, even if she pretends not to listen.  She's really neutral about whatever's brought in front of her, and wipes out any anxiety I might feel towards a situation with an unusual type of grace.  Even though we seem to have almost nothing in common, she's proven to be a lot of fun hanging around with, overall.

She's even made me forget about my... own troubles, something I'm very rarely able to do.  The events of my past aren't something I ever want to completely forget about, but it's a good reprieve all the same.  Maybe that's one aspect of my getting to know her that really touches me.

NEXT CHAPTER: http://pastebin.com/m6fiG7yR