Chapter 14

Robin still half asleep entwined herself on Mark's sleeping body. She opened her eyes sleepily and felt her nose pressed up against Mark's bare chest. She looked up innocently at Mark's sleeping face. Mark wrapped his arms instinctively around her waist preventing her from going anywhere. Robin gingerly moved away and peeked underneath the blanket. Her face pinked as shesawthe outline of Mark's half nude body. She turned her body away in embarrassment. Still half glazed from last night's drinking; she started to wonder how she ended up in sleeping in his bed. Mark's breath was lightly tickling the back of her neck; she timidly turned to face him again. His unruly brown hair covered his eyes and she brushed it away lightly with her fingertips exposing his perfect chiseled face. Enjoying the warmth of Mark's body she cuddled closer, relaxed into his arms, and shut her eyes.

Robin woke up a couple hours later and found herself alone. She looked around and heard some movement towards a door by the bed. Suddenly she jumped up and scrambled out of bed stumbling onto the floor in the process. She tried to stand up when she saw the doorknob start to turn. Mark walked in, hair damp and beads of water still glistened on his body. He had a towel wrapped low just above his hipbone exposing his muscular body. Robin could not help herself but glance from his chest on down. She could feel her face flushed from embarrassment.

"Robin...Are you okay?"

Mark reached down, grabbed her hand, and helped her up. Robin was too embarrassed to speak, and so she nodded. She took a step backward and turned around.

"Why is your face so red?" he teased

"Um…I need to freshen up." She told him quietly as she shyly turned back around.

"Of course, let me get dress and I will find you a toothbrush, towel and some clothes."

Robin shrieked and covered her eyes when she saw that Mark was prepared to take his towel off. Mark turned around and saw Robin's hands covering her face. He chuckled to himself. He walked over to where Robin stood and removed her hands from her face.

"Robin…open your eyes."

Robin shook her head like a child.

"Robin … just look."

Robin squinted her eyes open and refused to look down.

"You are the silliest girl I have ever met. Why are you so scared to see me in boxers?"

Robin looked confused and finally looked down to see he had boxers on.

"I…I…um… thought you were naked underneath your towel." She giggled"Your towel hung pretty low."

"Do you want me to hike up my boxers above my belly button?" he asked playfully as he pulled his boxer shorts up. Robin burst out in laughter and shook her head as she pulled it down to wear it was before.

Robin ran her hand downMark's ab muscles" You're the first guy I ever seen in their underwear."

"Not even Jeff?"

Robin shook her head. Mark gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. He walked over to his drawer and pulled out some clothes. "Here. These sweats will be a little big on you but it will do. The bathroom is right there." He pointed to the room he came from. "The towels on the rack is clean and in the medicine cabinet is a new toothbrush."

"Can I ask you a stupid question?"

Mark nodded

"Did we do anything last night…I really don't remember?"

A smile started to form on Mark's lips. "Robin, you don't remember…I'm so disappointed. Our first time together and you don't remember."

Robin gulped down. "What do you mean by that? Did we sleep together?" she asked frantically.

Mark came over and pulled her into an embrace. "Hmm. Yes we did. Do you feel like a new woman?" He whispered into her ears. Robin stiffened from the embrace. Mark stepped back and saw her melancholy expression.

Robin could only stare at him. She tried to talk but her mouth couldn't sound out any words. Afraid she would cry, she closed her mouth and looked away.

"Robin...Are you okay?" Mark asked concerned

Robin shook her head and heaved a sigh. It was all too much for her to bear. She felt her herself losing all her composure. Robin started to dart out towards the door but before she reached the door handle Mark grabbed her from behind.

"No...leave me alone." Robin struggled to get out of his embrace.

"Robin, please calm down...listen."

She stopped moving. She felt Mark's hold on her loosen. Robin turned to face him. "How...I don't...remember." she croaked out as she tried not to get hysterical.

Mark started to feel guilty when he saw the pained expression.

"Robin…I was just kidding. We did sleep together but not that way. I found you fast asleep on the couch. Apparently, the girls got you drunk and so I brought you up here. I swear we did nothing but sleep. I was tempted to wake you but I didn't."

"Really…We didn't do anything."

Mark nodded

"Thank God…Please don't ever joke about something like that."

Mark started to laugh when he saw the relief wash over her face.

"I'm sorry Robin…It's just your so gullible sometimes. I guess Amanda was right, you are still a virgin."

"Am I the only virgin in this house?" she asked curiously

Mark nodded "and phobic about seeing naked people. It's a good thing you fell asleep since everyone else decided to get into the swimming pool with just their underwear on."

"What? You too?"

"No... I had a couple of beer though."

"Mark, I will never fit in with your crowd. I could never do those kind of things."

Mark gave her a warm smile. He grabbed her hand and pulled her close to him.

"I like you the way you are. I don't expect you to fit in."

"Really?" she stared innocently at his gorgeous blue eyes.

Mark nodded and bent down and kissed her."In fact, I want you to stay away from Amanda even if she tries to be really nice to you. I don't trust her intentions."

Robin furrowed her eyebrow wondering why Mark suddenly requested it. She knew she could not trust Amanda or any of his friends.

"Your friends...they will never like me. Look what happened last night. They wanted to get rid of me." she told him sadly

"Never say never Robin. You just experiencing a little hazing by the girls. It's just some form of initiation."

"I don't care to be initiated. I don't know if I want to hang with them again." She looked up at Mark sadly and gave him one more kiss before heading to the bathroom.