A heavy fog begins to lift from my hazy brain as I slowly return to the waking world. Consciousness comes in flashes.

I'm laying in the back seat of my car, someone else is driving, and light from the streetlamps blaze and fade as we pass by.

Darkness.

The car is stopped as a door to the back seat opens. I squint as a large figure crouches down to my level. Lean, muscular arms reach for me, gently guiding me out of the car.

Darkness again.

I hear a click as the figure, who's now got me in their arms bridal style, unlocks the main door of my dorm hall with my ID card. I turn my heavy head to look up at their face and my brows furrow in confusion.

"Pretty boy?" I ask in a slight slur.

The guy that bumped into me, the one that Ferris deemed my pretty boy, glaces down at me as he moves us through the hall. He quirks a questioning, but amused looking brow at my identification of him.

"That's a new one." He says quietly. "But I'll take it." The left corner of his mouth twitches up in a playful smirk. I suddenly want to kiss him there.

He shifts me in his arms as he hits the call button for the elevator. I'm thankful when the doors open to an empty lift, in fact the entire hall seems derserted, a result of students either being in bed or out at parties. I grimace as memories of the party flash back in my head. How could I have been so stupid? I thought I was playing it safe with soda, I should have known better. I was about two minutes away from being just another college statistic.

I'm pulled from my rumination as my...rescuer? savior? asks, "Which side of the room is yours?"

I look around, I must still be pretty out of it, I didn't even realize we had left the elevator. I nod toward the side with sketchbooks on the desk and color swatches taped to the wall. The dark room is shaded in tones of black and blue, with the only light coming from the moon beams shining through the window. I think it's just a half moon tonight, but the cloudless sky allows enough light into the room for us to see.

He sets me down carefully on my bed, laying my head against one of my many pillows. He moves a stray hair away from my eyes with a gentle brush of his fingertips. His palm lingers for just a moment at my cheek. Just long enough for me to have the urge to turn my cheek into him and heave a contented sigh at the safety I strangely feel come over me. But then he pulls back and takes a step away from my bed.

The distance allows me a better look at him. He's still dressed in his darkwash jeans, but I'm surprised when I realise he's shirtless. I glace down at myself, a black, button up hangs loosely off my body. He literally gave me the shirt off his back.

"Do you want this back?" I tug at the hem of his shirt I'm now wearing. "I can change into something else."

"Don't worry about it." He shakes his head. "How are you feeling?" He asks as he pulls my desk chair out and sits a respectable distance away from my bed. I hate it. For some reason, the closer he is, the safer and more whole I feel. Which I also hate because I like to not be dependent on others, but tonight he was there for me, like somehow he knew I would need him. Though I'm sure it's just a right place, right time scenario.

"Honestly, I feel pretty stupid." I answer him as I rub a hand over my tired face and move to sit up a little.

"Hey, take it easy." He softly urged as he moved like he was ready to catch me at any moment. He was looking at me with caution, as if I were made of glass and could easily shatter in an instant. But I'm stronger than he thinks, no matter how much of a damsel I seemed to be tonight.

"I'm fine." I hold out a hand to pause his movements and finished adjusting myself into a sitting position. I settle my back against my pillow propped againts the small headboard built into the bedframe. He eases back into the chair and takes a steady breath then lets it out.

"You're not stupid. If anyone should feel stupid it's that idiot at the Frat house."

"Ugh." I grimmace. "If I ever run into that guy again, I swear I'm gonna knock his lights out."

His brows shoot up in surprise and an amused smirk graced his mouth. Oh that mouth. I could be looking at anything else, his smooth chest, his toned abs, his strong arms that carried me so effortlessly. But I just felt so hung up on his mouth. I wondered how his lips felt, what his tongue tasted like.

"Well, you seem like your head is definitely clearing up." He said with a smile. He stood slowly and motioned toward the door. "I uh- I should probably let you get some sleep."

"Don't go!" I said all too quickly and he turned his sight back to me. "I mean, would you stay a bit? I don't really want to be alone right now." God, I sounded like some needy little girl who's afraid of the dark, but I really didn't want him to leave. The idea of him disappearing through that door right now pained me for reasons I couldn't quite grasp.

He glanced back at the door, that evil door, the one thing threatening to take him away from me at this moment. Then returned his look toward me, a flash of questioning behind his eyes before he seemed to make up his mind and say, "Of course."

He reaches for the desk chair at the same time as I scoot over to one side of my bed.

"Will you sit with me?" I ask, almost afraid to watch for his reaction, but in reality I can't seem to look away. "I know how uncomfortable that chair is. And there's enough room here for the two of us."

In all actuality, the dormitory beds were pretty narrow, but I wanted him close. Or did I need  him close? Regardless, after a moment of hesitation, he accepted the invitation and moved toward the bed.

"I'll stay until you fall asleep." He clarified as he sat next to me, reclining slightly against the pillows. The old bed creaked under his added weight. There's a small space between us, a couple inches, it feels like miles.

"I um...thank you, for being there tonight." I say quietly into the silence of the dark room. I feel him turn his head toward me.

"You don't need to thank me for that." He says.

"I feel like I should." I turn to meet his eyes. The moonlight makes the green of his iris glisten. "If you didn't show up when you did-" I trail off as I feel moisture in my own eyes. I look to the ceiling and will the tears away. I will not cry because of some desperate asshole. I take a shaky breath and blow it out as I work to steady my emotions.

"I shouldn't have drank anything. Or at least, brought my own water or-"

"Hey." His hand moves to cup my cheek, forcing me to look back at him again. He looks into my eyes and says with determination, "What happened tonight, or almost happened, was not your fault. That guy is trash. People like him don't deserve people like you, that's why he stooped to such low means to get your attention. You deserve to be with someone who's honest with you."

I watch his mouth as he speaks, feeling hypnotized by the movement of his lips. If the night had panned out the way Ferris and been envisioning, I'd have been wrapped up in this man's arms hours ago. Instead, he's comforting me like I'm a wounded animal. As he cradles my face, I feel myself leaning closer to him. I think he's leaning in too. I just need to know how his mouth feels against mine. Need to have a better memory of tonight, to wash away the soiled ones.

Our lips are just a breath away and I feel my pulse quickening, I wonder idly if he can feel it beating beneath his palm. My eyelids flutter closed and I move forward the last inch to be met with, nothing. There's nothing but empty air as he turns his face away from me and lowers his hand, placing it back by his side.

"I'm sorry." I say, partly confused and mostly embarrassed. "I told Ferris you'd never be interested in someone like me, but I guess, in the moment...I thought maybe, there might be something-" I sigh and groan, "Just forget it."

God I'm such a fool.

"What? No. It's not that I'm not interested. I mean, you're beautiful. It's not like I don't want to kiss you or, do other things. It's just, I-I can't."

He thinks I'm beautiful? I hope the darkness of the room conceals my blush. I feel my face begin to heat as his words take affect on me.

"Why not? Do you have a girlfriend?" I ask tentatively, almost afraid to hear the answer.

"No, it's not that. It's um," He takes a breath as if trying to find the best word and settles with, "personal."

"Personal?" He nods as I ask, "Like, a religious thing?"

He smirks like I just told a bad dad joke. "Something like that."

We fall into a slightly awkward silence as this information sinks into me. He thinks I'm beautiful, he wants to kiss me, and more? Even though I'm dying for a more detailed explaination of why he won't, or can't, I decide not to question it further. Instead, I wiggle myself down into a comfortable postion on my bed and cautiously curl into the side of him. I worry he'll pull away, but he doesn't. It's only when I feel his strong arm drape carefully around my body I fully relax. I guess this will do for now. At least I can be near him. I let my eyes fall closed and drift off into peacefull sleep, comforted by the warmth of his body next to mine.