Gravity's Rainbow

“This is a pretty nice hotel room,” I commented as Zack held the door open for me in the Marriot. There was one bed, a wooden dresser with a TV in it, a desk, and two chairs – one swiveling, and one soft.

“Yeah, this isn’t too bad,” Zack responded, flopping down back-first on to the bed. “When we were in Paris last summer, we got to spend one night at a hotel that overlooked the Eifel Tower. Now that – that was a nice hotel.” I smiled softly, pulling back the curtains to reveal a view of the next building. I guess this hotel wasn’t anything special after all.

“I stayed at a hotel that had a pool with a slide once.” I shrugged my shoulders, knowing that my experiences were nothing compared to what Zack had seen of the world. I climbed up on the bed and sat cross-legged next to Zack, and his hand instantly began to trace patterns on my jean-clad knee.

“Do you want to stay here tonight?” Zack asked softly, his eyes still focused on my leg. I swallowed hard, wondering what that meant exactly.

The rest of the day had gone great – after our little spat, I mean. We walked around the park for a few more hours, just talking and occasionally holding hands, before I brought him to my favorite pizza place for a late lunch. Zack treated me to all the pepperoni slices I could eat (not nearly as many as he could) and I slowly began to remember all the reasons why I was attracted to him in the first place, though I had hardly forgotten.

“Um…” I muttered gently, wondering the best way to let him down. He knew I didn’t have class tomorrow morning – in the months we had spent talking on the phone he had easily committed my schedule to memory.

“We don’t have to do anything, I swear,” he suddenly insisted, and the knot in my stomach began to untie itself. “We can just talk and order room service and stuff. Consider it me paying you back for letting me spend the night in your dorm.”

A smile formed on my lips and I bent down to kiss him on the cheek. “I’d love to.”

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With my clothes in a small, meticulous pile on the floor of the bathroom, I was finally able to step into the shower without feeling like I was invading too much of Zack’s space. I was kind of worried that after I asked Zack if I could use his bathroom to take a shower, he would make some sort of comment like “only if I can join you,” but I don’t know what I was so concerned about. All he did was smile as he continued to lie down on his bed and say I could help myself to anything in his bag to wear. I grabbed a pair of his basketball shorts and the smallest shirt I could find – which wasn’t very small, but it would have to work – and made my way into the shower.

The water wasn’t as warm as the temperature of the showers at my dorm, but the pressure was certainly better, and by the time I had gotten out I felt like an entirely knew person. After slipping on my new clothes and drying my hair, I walked out of the bathroom to see Zack sitting on the bed munching on a plate of fries we had ordered from room service.

“Feel better, Paise?” He asked, and I nodded as I sat down next to him. We ate in silence for a little bit, before Zack broke the lack of conversation. “So…”

“So…” I responded, a sly smile appearing on my face.

I could tell he was trying to be nonchalant as he asked, “What did you think of the new album?”

“You know what I thought of it,” I teased gently. “I thought it was fantastic.”

He grinned, but I could tell there was more to the question that just that. “Well, what about the song I wrote for you?”

I blushed furiously, just like I did on the rare occasion whenever someone brought up the song in my presence – even if they didn’t make the connection. “I – I,” I stumbled, trying to find the right words to express what I was feeling.

I didn’t want Zack to think I was ungrateful or embarrassed – on the contrary, I was honored to have a song written for me. No one had ever done anything that special for me, and it made me feel so unconditionally loved that my heart wanted to explode into a million pieces.

“C’mon, Paisley,” coaxed Zack. “Did you like it?”

“Like it?” I exclaimed suddenly, and Zack smiled. “Zack, I loved it! I – I don’t even know. Saying that I ‘loved it’ doesn’t even describe it. It’s one of those things that you can’t put into words, you know?”

“Yeah,” said Zack softly, scooting in a bit closer to me. “I know.” The air around us was thick for a moment, before I simply couldn’t take it anymore. I grasped his shoulders in my hands and pinned him back against the pillow, my mouth hungrily attacking Zack’s. I lifted one leg over him, straddling his waste so I kissing him became easier. As I moved my lips off of his mouth and down his neck, I could hear him moaning softly. “This is a completely different side of you, Paisley,” he whimpered quietly. As I reached the spot right in between his neck and shoulders, I felt him shudder. “But I like it.”

I tangled my fingers through his hair, my mouth now placed back on his. I could feel his large hands crawling their way under my – er, his – shirt, and begin fumbling with the clasp on my bra. I didn’t say anything, instead just kissed him harder as a signal to just undo the damn thing. When I felt the clasp come off, his hands instantly made their way to my front, massaging and squeezing my chest, which earned a sharp moan from me.

I bit my lip as his hands continued to do what they did best, and every so often my fingers would inch closer to the top of his jeans. Once he sensed the location of my fingers, he stopped suddenly. “Not tonight, Paisley,” he said softly, his hands reemerging from my shirt.

“How do you know I don’t want it?” I questioned, trying to bring his hands back under my top, but he wouldn’t budge.

“Because I know you don’t,” insisted Zack, and I sighed. He was right. I rolled off of him and fixed the clasp on my bra. We both sat back on the bed, coming off of the adrenaline rush that had previously ensued. “You know what we should do?” He asked suddenly, and I looked over at him. “Figure out how to keep our relationship like that, even when I’m back in California.” I blushed quickly, an idea coming to my head that I wouldn’t dare say out loud. “What?” He asked, moving a little closer to me. “Tell me.”

“Well, I – I need new bras, and I was planning on going shopping next weekend. Maybe – maybe I’d send you some pictures?” My voice trailed off at the end, and I refused to make eye contact with him. Gosh, I was pathetic.

Zack chuckled, pulling me in closer to him. “I’ll be looking forward to those photos.”