They had been friends for years. They had first met in a college dorm when they lived down the hall from one another. They flirted and hung out throughout the year, but nothing ever serious came from it. Until the night before classes ended. Both admitted that the sex felt weird. It was hard to consider the other a good friend after that night.  They weren't a couple. But good friends fell short of their status.

Other nights followed before each left for the summer term. She went to Washington, D.C., her hometown, to intern at a policy firm. He headed for the beach and a summer of working at a dive bar at night while surfing all day. They made promises to stay in touch, but neither did.

She got back with her boyfriend, who was out of college and trying to make it as a musician. He made many an acquaintance at the beach with his surfer boy tan, blonde hair, and bright smile.

As the summer ended, she called to say that circumstances with her family would keep her away from school that fall. Her dad had suffered a stroke, and her mom needed help around the house. She got a full-time job and found an apartment with some friends that was close to her parents' home.

He returned to school. It took him two nights to realize that he missed her. The sense of school and place lost importance without her. He called that Friday to say he could get a ride to D.C. if she could meet him. She instantly agreed. They set the meetup for a nearby bar.

The moment he saw her waiting he wanted her. They skipped drinks and dinner, paid the tab for her wine, and walked the few blocks to her apartment. They began to kiss on the stairs to the third floor.

The lovers embraced with an emotion and passion that surprised them both. To feel another so closely, especially one that was yearned for, unlocked a trove of emotions that swept them both away. They had barely made it up the stairs into her apartment before clothes began to shed from their bodies.

He needed her - to touch her skin, her mouth, every space of her body. Likewise, she felt she couldn't breathe without his mouth on hers. She wanted to hold him, feel him on her body, and never let him go.

They reached the couch and collapsed in a scrum of hands moving over the other's body.

"I want you," she whispered in his ear as she kissed and bit his lobe. "I've wanted you for so long."

"I know," he said, lying on top of her. "But before we do this, there are two people we should think about."

She stopped. Her hands fell limp at his sides. She sat up on the couch.

"Are you serious?" she asked. "Are you brining up my boyfriend? I can't believe it. And what, you have a girlfriend now? When were you going to tell me?"

"What do you mean?" he asked. Genuinely confused, he wasn't expecting her to get on this topic. "I mean, I have a girlfriend, but she's back at school. She thinks I'm home for the weekend."

"God," she said. She stood up and began to dress from the clothes that lay on the floor. "Can't believe we almost did this. You have a terrible sense of timing. I forgot that about you."

"Well. I'm sorry if you think that," he said. "I didn't realize that was something that annoyed you."

"Why you bring up the people we're seeing right before WE do it?!" she asked. She wanted to throw something at him for being so dense.

"I didn't bring them up, you did!" he said, putting the last of his clothes on. He stood next to the door. "I can see this was a mistake. I thought we had something special, but I guess not."

He opened the door and was ready to walk out when it hit him.

"I was asking about your roommates. Were they home for the night?"

She looked at him and her mouth fell open. 

"They're in Philly for the weekend. It's the Blackout Dawn concert. I was supposed to go, but then you said you were coming. I gave them my ticket. THAT's who you were asking about?"

She felt foolish. He did, too. They closed the distance from one another and embraced.

"Too late to makeup?" he asked after holding her.

"Not at all."

They began again.