(Trust) Falling For You, page 2
Chapter Two
Samuel tossed his bag on the queen-sized bed nearest to the bathroom and quietly appraised the space. Two beds, two chests of drawers, two nightstands with two lamps. No television, but that didn’t matter. He had downloaded a few episodes of House M.D. on his laptop, but had plans to format an article, and finish up two syllabi this week. If he had trouble falling asleep, he’d let the wry-humored Dr. Gregory House lull him to deep slumber. Samuel had always felt a sense of ease when the sociopathic doctor solved tough medical cases after forty minutes of hand-wringing.
He’d need some sense of ease if he was going to share a cabin with Yolanda Watson for a week. He didn’t dislike her… she just made him extremely anxious. She was a ball of loud chaos wrapped in a pretty package. When confronted by her presence, it was her beauty that made his speech measured, and sometimes stilted. She had a habit of arriving late for their committee meetings, wearing jeans and t-shirts that accentuated her curvy body. The top of Yolanda’s head came to his chin, but Samuel wouldn’t dare call her small. Her big personality and loud laughter also set his nerves on edge. People immediately forgave her tardiness when her smile lit the room. Not only did their colleagues love her, but their students sang her praises. “Professor Watson brought us donuts for finals week!”
Samuel had never had the desire to reward his students with sweet treats.
But he wished he could loosen up around them in the same way that came so naturally to educators like Yolanda. Samuel knew how to do two things: Teach American History and write. Every semester, he worked hard to contribute a chapter to an edited volume, publish an article, or attend a conference. Anything to prove to the administration that he could pull his weight. As soon as Craig hired him, he sought tenure with tunnel-vision. Job security after a hundred grand in student loan debt was a powerful motivator, but ensuring that he’d never be as poor as he was as a kid ultimately drove him.
Samuel had lived his life in a constant state of hyper-vigilance that made it difficult to form attachments to people. What if they pulled the rug out from under him and he was without a job, homeless, and had to return to Gary, Indiana the place he worked so hard to escape? That’s why he kept his head down, proved himself at his university, and stayed on the straight and narrow.
But now, his peaceful week would be threatened by a woman he was certain didn’t like him. Every time she saw him, Samuel could tell Yolanda was trying not to roll her eyes at his insistence on order.
While he stood in the middle of their small Fox Cabin, there was a knock at the door before it swung open. Yolanda stood at the threshold, wearing a pair of denim shorts rolled at the knee and a white t-shirt that read “I Fought The Law.” She’d tied her voluminous black curls up with a red bandanna, as if she was ready for an outdoor adventure. “Hey,” she said.
Samuel took a deep breath before speaking. “I already chose a bed.”
Her frown told him he’d misspoken. “Okay?” She rolled her bag inside, made note of his claimed space, and tossed her stuff on the other bed.
“I drink a lot of water before I go to bed,” he explained, as if it was necessary. “I go to the bathroom several times a night.”
This didn’t earn him a response.
He dug his hands in his pockets and walked to his side of the small room. “I suppose I should tell you now; I like to go to bed at ten pm. So if you don’t mind turning off the light, that would be—”
Yolanda paused while unzipping one of her bags. “Excuse me?”
Another misstep. Samuel cleared his throat and tried again. “I’m just saying that I work better with a routine bedtime. And if you wouldn’t mind indulging me, I’d really appreciate it.”
Her large dark eyes swept over him in such a critical fashion, he was tempted to shut the fuck up. The imperious arch of her black brow made him both fearful and aroused. The way she twisted her full mouth and planted a fist on her curved hip, made him take another deep breath. Even irritated, Yolanda was still cute as hell. Was he allowed to think about his roommate like that? Stay professional, Sam. “I don’t go to sleep earlier than one am.” she said.
“Right…”
“Let’s get this out of the way, Sam,” she said as she returned to her suitcase. “I had expected to have a cabin to myself so I could let it all hang out in the Wisconsin woods. I have a backlog of terrible reality TV on my laptop I was going to watch until I fell asleep in the nude. But come to find out, there’s a leaky pipe in the Rabbit Cabin, and I’ve now got a roommate. So, Rhonda is sick for nothing.”
Samuel tried to digest everything she said, desperate not to get hung up on the part where she’d planned to be nude in the Fox Cabin, but what came out was nonsense. “Who’s Rhonda?” he asked.
She sighed. “Philosophy department. Don’t you know anyone outside of History?”
Honestly, he didn’t.
“What I’m saying is, we’re the oddballs who got stuck in a co-ed bunking situation,” Yolanda continued. “I don’t even know how Craig thought this was a good idea.”
Samuel was also surprised how easily their boss paired them. “I assure you we can have boundaries, even in a space as small as this.”
She paused from her messy unpacking and sighed. “You’re right,” she said. “It’s just a week. We’ll be fine.”
He gave her a resolute nod. “We will.”
But he could already tell by the way she unpacked that Yolanda Watson was a messy person. There was no system to the way she organized her bag; she balled her shirts and shorts up under textbooks and folders. In the meshed zip compartment of her bag, was a strip of gold-foiled packets… Condoms? Sam blushed and quickly averted his gaze to something on his side of the room. What on earth did she expect to get up to this week? Unless Yolanda was the kind of person who never unpacked her bags after a trip. A full unpacking was something Samuel did immediately after every conference.
She threw her unmentionables into the top drawer of her dresser and let the rest of her clothes idle on her bed. She hurried past him, into the bathroom where she spread her hair and beauty products on every square-inch of their shared counter. He buried the urge to tell her how she could organize the various tubs of moisturizer into a better system. Perhaps he’d work on it when she left the cabin.
Once she exited the bathroom, she clasped her hands together and gave him a quick once-over. “Are you ready to go to the main lodge?”
“You want to walk together?” he asked.
Yolanda suddenly looked shy about the request and he felt foolish for asking the question. “We don’t have to, I just thought—”
“—No, no, of course we can walk together,” Samuel said, mentally cursing himself for sounding like a weirdo. He was only surprised because he got the sense that Yolanda didn’t want to hang out with him any longer than necessary. “Yeah, let’s get going.”
He locked up behind them and followed her in the general direction of a larger building where their bus parked upon arrival. When Yolanda got to her group of friends, she immediately attached herself to them. His History colleague, Julia, wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close to whisper something in Yolanda’s ear. Whatever it was, it made her hiss “Shut up.” He couldn’t help but think they were talking about him, but Samuel brushed it off.
As soon as they entered the main lodge, their dean and his secretary, Joanne Stuber, were at the front of a large hall standing before the dinner buffet. “Everyone take a seat and we’ll get started,” Craig announced. “Joanne and I are just gonna talk about what’s expected from you all this week.”
Yolanda and her friends claimed a table near the back. She turned to him and asked. “You wanna sit with us, bunk-mate?”
Samuel was surprised again. “Okay, yeah,” he said. He chose the chair next to her, so she sat between him and Julia. Peter from Theology and Chris from Communications were also at the table. In his four years at Franklin University, he hadn’t talked to the two men outside of university events. He’d at least been introduced to Peter’s terrible Jesus jokes, but Samuel hadn’t engaged in small talk.
The elderly man from the bus drop-off had also appeared at the front of the room. “I’m Gus Kelly and I’m supposed to welcome you to Redstone Retreat, so uh… welcome. I’m gonna give you all a run-down on the rules while you’re here, so listen up.” He ran his hand down his white beard and gave the room a once-over before continuing. “Safety is real important to me, and your dean assured me that none of you are gonna do anything stupid like walk off a mountain. Rule one, for the sake of fire safety, we ask that you do all your smoking in our designated area, off to the side of the main lodge. The Redstone employees will supervise all campfires and bonfires. Pick up your litter and don’t leave food-stuff sitting outside of your cabins. You don’t want the raccoons and bears pestering you.”
Yolanda’s eyes widened. “There are bears?”
“It’s Wisconsin,” Peter replied with a grin. “Of course there are bears.”
She raised her hand as if she were in the classroom. “Excuse me, Gus?”
“Yes, ma’am?”
“How often do you get bears on the grounds?”
Old Gus chuckled. “If we’re careful with our trash, we don’t get that many black bears. Last one that wandered up here was two years ago, Ole Smokey, but I shooed him off without too much problem.”
That answer obviously didn’t satisfy her. She lowered her hand with a sigh.
“If you’re planning on a hike, let folks know where you’re going and stick to the designated trail markers. If you want to canoe or kayak the lake, see Martha at the boathouse for rentals and life vests. But based on the approved activities that your dean sent me, I don’t anticipate much trouble outta y’all. I hope you have fun team-building and whatnot.”
And with that, Gus Kelly took his leave.
“Alright guys and gals!” Joanne called out. “We’re going to tell you about those exciting activities we’ve planned for the first annual ‘Get Back to Humanities’ team-building retreat!” She pumped her arms to hype the crowd, but they all quietly waited for more details about mandatory activities.
Julia rolled her eyes towards the direction of their group and sighed, “Jesus Christ.”
Yolanda nudged her. “Shut up.”
“The person you’re bunking with is your ‘TB Buddy,’ and there’s plenty of awesome stuff you’re required to do together. Some of our ‘TB Activities’ will be TB Buddies only; these are exercises that you two will complete to better understand one another. The other TB Activities will be in larger groups, and I guarantee they will be exciting as heck!”
Julia groaned softly as she buried her face in her hands. “Fucking hell… TB Buddies?”
Sam could admit that TB-anything sounded ridiculous, but his anxiety ratcheted up to a nine at the thought of working one-on-one with his bunk-mate.
“I could think of a million things to call my buddy that had nothing to do with a lung disease,” Chris muttered to the table. Yolanda gave a choked laugh that reverberated throughout the large space. Joanne paused her speech to look over at their table. Samuel held his breath as she moved on to the topic: a list of events for each day. He caught something about a scavenger hunt and a hike, but the people at his table were talking over Joanne.
“Guys,” he whispered to the table. “Let’s focus up.”
Their talking halted with Peter shooting a glance at Julia before facing the front. Sam didn’t enjoy being the taskmaster of the surrounding adults. If he had it in him, he’d laugh it up alongside them. But he wasn’t socialized to have fun. Even when he was a child, he depended on order to guide him through a chaotic home life.
“So prepare yourselves for a fun-filled week of rollicking good fun!” Joanne shouted. She was met with the murmurs from skeptical academics.
“Rollicking?” Yolanda whispered.
“All right, guys!” Dean Craig jumped in. “Serve yourselves dinner provided by the Redstone Retreat. There are even vegetarian options for our rabbit lodgers!” He and Joanne doubled over in a shared laughter that made Samuel curious. There’s something going on there… But he didn’t have time to speculate about the dean and his secretary when the rest of his table rose for the buffet. Samuel followed them, hanging back as they lined up behind other colleagues.
“She didn’t exactly say what we’re going to do with our TB Buddies,” Yolanda said, grabbing a plate from the stack. “Don’t you want to know what we’re going to do together, buddy?”
Samuel took a plate and some cutlery. “I guess Joanne wants to keep it a surprise?” Personally, he hated surprises. He would have appreciated a detailed itinerary.
“I love surprises,” she said with an impish grin.
He figured. But the way she looked up at him… didn’t make him anxious. Her grin made it seem like he was in on the joke, something Samuel hadn’t been a part of in a long time. As he followed her through the buffet line, barely paying attention to what he spooned on his plate, he thought about their current situation. “I assume we’re going to get a lot closer over the course of the week,” he said absently.
Her surprised expression forced him to consider his words. He didn’t mean closer, closer. “I meant that we’d gain a better understanding—”
“—Yeah,” she interrupted. “I know what you’re saying. Like, I’ll know what your favorite color is or something.”
“Right,” he said, thankful for her save. He closed his eyes briefly and cursed himself for not thinking. “I’ll learn about your leadership style.”
Yolanda laughed. “Ugh, that’s so boring. Wouldn’t you rather know how I dress a hot dog. Am I a ketchup or a mustard girl? Do I like onions or relish?”
“How will that help our working relationship?”
She shrugged. “It’s just more interesting.”
When they arrived at the bread rolls, he chuckled.
“What’s so funny?” she asked, looking up at him. Her dark brown eyes narrowed in suspicion as her eyes settled on his smile.
He stared at her for a few seconds. “You put everything on your hot dog.”
Yolanda blinked. “How do you know?”
“Just a hunch.”
Her face softened as she rolled her eyes. When she returned to the buffet line, Samuel realized that he was still smiling at her. He quickly trained his face to something more neutral and took his plate back to the table. He told himself that he was only making conversation. If he was going to spend the week with her, he might as well be pleasant about it.
* * *
Back in the privacy of Fox Cabin, Samuel willed his body to relax.
He was in his pajamas, back against his headboard, desperate to focus attention on his computer screen where an unfinished syllabus languished. But not more than four feet away, his TB Buddy laid in her own bed. Yolanda couldn’t see his gaze flit to her every five minutes. If she had, it might have creeped her out. Which was why he needed to keep his eyes on his own screen.
But her throaty chuckle made him glance up again. She faced the opposite side of the room as she laid on her belly. Her bare feet swung back and forth in the air as she watched two women confronting each other on a reality-show. Yolanda had also changed into her sleep clothing, a pair of pink pinstripe shorts, and a tank top that read “FRANKLIN U” across her chest. His mind immediately went to her comment about sleeping in the nude. Focus up, Sam.
Awkwardness aside, Samuel continued to collect details about the woman who treated him warily. He noticed that she went to bed with her hair tied up in a large fluffy ponytail that she then wrapped in a black satin bonnet. Whatever her messy reality show was, Yolanda barely paid attention to it. Her focus was on her cellphone where she was busy swiping photos with her index finger. Samuel adjusted his glasses, which had slid down his nose, and squinted. It was difficult to tell, but the pictures appeared to be men’s photos. Was she on a dating app? Her body shook with another laugh, this one much louder.
The sound jerked him back to reality. He was staring too damn much and his syllabus would not finish itself. Samuel put his eyes back on his work and committed to fifteen more minutes of work before he rewarded himself with television. Except his TB Buddy made no effort to conceal her laughter. Whatever tickled her wasn’t about to let up anytime too soon. The next time he glanced back at her, she had rolled over on her back and was giggling at her phone. The blue light shone against her brown skin, illuminating her wide grin. “Jesus Christ, Richard,” she sighed before collapsing in another peel of laughter.
Who was Richard?
Samuel could have taken care of this distraction easily. A pair of earbuds were somewhere in his computer bag. Instead, he cleared his throat loudly. Yolanda made no sign that she had heard him. He tapped his fingers on his laptop, accepting that he wouldn’t finish his syllabus tonight. He closed his computer and slipped it back into his bag.
“Are you going to bed?” she asked.
Samuel took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “Might as well,” he said. “I can’t concentrate.”
“That happens to me all the time,” she admitted, sitting up in bed. “I start stuff all the time and then get distracted. The last time that happened to me was when I made a pizza. I put the pie in the oven and was about to set a timer, but I texted Julia instead. After that, I think I started vacuuming my apartment because I stepped on a potato chip near the couch. I completely forgot about the pizza until I smelled it burning.” She finished her story with a beaming smile.
Samuel couldn’t help but ask, “So you ruined the pizza?”
Yolanda laughed. “That’s not even the worst part. I couldn’t reach my smoke detector, so I knocked it off the ceiling with my broom handle. Oh, you know what?” She returned to her phone. “Lemme make a note to get another smoke detector because it broke when it hit the floor.”
He didn’t realize he was frowning until she stopped talking. As he scrubbed a hand down his face, he pieced her story together. Potato chips on the floor, text messages with Julia, a broken smoke alarm, and a burned pizza. “Sounds very chaotic.”
