College classes came to an end and Arnold didn't. He kept going, to Cissily's surprise and delight, right up until it was time to go to supper. Cissily saw what time it was and told him to stop. Arnold did so and once again, cleaned himself and her up so they could get dressed. Cissily had been smart and had taken her jeans and panties off this time, so they were only chilled and not damp like they had been the last time.
The two of them left the basement storage area and went back up to the lab, then put the new inventory list into the desk drawer. Cissily left a note to tell the professor that both the lab and the storage inventory were done, then she and Arnold left the building to head to the cafeteria.
Cissily talked about what her plans for the weekend were as they waited in line to get their meals. When they reached the counter, a different woman was behind the counter and she looked out of place.
“Where's Mabel?” Arnold asked as the woman handed him a random plate of food that he didn't ask for.
“She's sick or something.” The woman responded. “NEXT!”
Cissily took the next plate with a frown. “I asked for the...”
“I don't care.” The woman spat. “NEXT!”
Cissily tapped Arnold's arm and pointed to the counter, then she put her plate on it. He did that as well, then she grabbed his sleeve and pulled him out of line. To everyone's surprise, she didn't curse at the ignorant woman and led Arnold over to the table where Amy and Maxine sat alone.
“Can you believe this shit?” Cissily asked and waved at Maxine's and Amy's half-eaten plates of food.
“She's the only one working. What else are we going to do?” Maxine asked. “We have to eat.”
“Well, I'm not eating here.” Cissily said. “Arnold, do you have anything at your place or should we order out?”
“I have some food left.” Arnold said. “I'll need to go grocery shopping soon.”
“We can go tomorrow after classes, just like the last time.” Cissily said.
“Okay.”
“Let's go see what you have to eat.” Cissily said.
Amy and Maxine watched Cissily and Arnold leave the cafeteria together to head to his dorm.
“Is it just me, or did Cissily just invite herself into Arnold's dorm room for supper?” Maxine asked.
Amy had noticed that, too.
“She's playing with fire.” Maxine said and looked down at the food she didn't order and sighed. “I should have asked to go with them.”
The other girls that normally sit with them came over.
“Did we miss anything?” The black girl with the dreadlocks asked as she sat down. “Besides the ignorant bitch serving people?”
Amy gave Maxine a look, as if to tell her not to say anything, then shrugged. Maxine smiled and told them about Cissily and Arnold coming in, their conversation, and then leaving quickly.
“I thought she said we weren't allowed to flirt or make passes.” The black girl said.
“Yeah.” One of the others said. “How come Cissily gets to invite herself over to his place for a cozy little dinner date?”
All the girls at the table caught their breath, because they hadn't realized that was what it could be viewed as.
“No one tells his mother or anyone else.” Amy said and they all nodded in agreement, even the girl writing the sociology paper.
*
“Hi, Ma!” Cissily said loudly when she and Arnold entered the dorm lobby.
“Baby girl!” Doris responded and came around the desk. She gave her daughter a hug and Arnold saw that they were almost the same height. “What are you doing here?”
“The cafeteria lady is off sick and some bitch is pawning off all the bad food on the students.” Cissily said. “I asked Arnold if he had anything to eat.”
Doris chuckled. “You can just go home and grab something.”
“No fucking way!” Cissily said with a laugh. “I'm finally going to see his dorm room.”
“You know that it's the same as Fareena's.” Doris said with a shake of her head.
“No, I don't.” Cissily said with a grin. “Arnold lives there, so you know it's not covered in bras hanging everywhere.”
Doris had to laugh at that. “I think we're all guilty of that at some point.”
Cissily laughed as well and looked at Arnold. “I used to wear Ma's bra as a hat when I was a girl!”
“He did not need to know that!” Doris kept laughing.
“We better get up to the room. I'm starving.” Cissily said. “Oh, and we can take inventory after we eat and see what you need to pick up tomorrow.”
Arnold nodded and they walked over to the elevator and pushed the button.
“Arnold, don't forget you're coming over for supper tomorrow.” Doris said.
“What?!?” Cissily turned around and looked at her. “Why didn't I know that?”
“Because you're going out with your friends.” Doris said. “I'm taking the night off and making him a nice birthday dinner.”
The elevator door opened and Arnold stepped in.
“Ma...” Cissily started to say.
“Don't have too much fun with him.” Doris said with a smile.
Cissily stepped into the elevator and the doors closed. “That shows what you know, Ma. We've had a lot of fucking fun.” She whispered and looked at Arnold's face. “We have, haven't we?” She asked and he nodded. “Damn right we have.” She gave him a huge smile, then laughed softly. “Four condom's worth, too!”
The elevator doors opened and Cissily almost burst out laughing at the loud collective gasp from all the girls in the hallway when they saw her.
“Relax, bitches!” Cissily said as she and Arnold walked down the hallway. “I'm only here to have a bite to eat and help him find out what to get for groceries tomorrow. It's not a date, so pull your panties out of your tight ass cracks!”
The girls stared at her as she passed by. Cissily fought her instincts to call them all sluts and whores as she made sure that she waved at each and every one of them.
“I think they think they own you.” Cissily said when he opened his dorm room door. “If looks could kill, I would have been dead as soon as I stepped out of the elevator! Ha ha!” She said and stepped by him. “Hey, this is nice.” She said and opened the closet. “You still have some of Kelly's things?”
Arnold nodded. “I don't know if she's still going to be living here or not until classes start.”
“That fucking sucks.” Cissily said. “You can't even look for another roommate until then, either.” She closed the closet and looked at the two nice computer setups. “Nice VR rigs.”
“I haven't had a chance to play since Kelly was here.” Arnold said and started taking out things to make a quick meal. Thanks to Janet's help, they were simple and easy to prepare, so he did up enough for two people. “I'm going home this weekend, too.”
“Are you going to see Kelly?” Cissily asked and walked over to the kitchenette and sat down.
“We're supposed to meet up with our friends.” Arnold said.
“That's probably going to be awkward.” Cissily said. “I'm tempted to tell you what to do; but, that might make things worse and even more awkward.”
Arnold stopped what he was doing and looked at her for a moment, then kept prepping the meal.
“You should bring someone else with you or fuck another girl in the group.” Cissily said and heard several gasps from the hallway. “It's the only way Kelly will know for sure that it's over between you.”
“Doing either of those things will hurt her feelings.” Janet said from the doorway.
“That's usually what happens when people break up.” Cissily said and stopped herself from cursing at the interruption. “If she doesn't see that both she and Arnold have to move on, she's never going to get over him.”
Janet huffed. “Do you know what happened between them? Do you even care?”
Cissily laughed. “Honestly? It doesn't matter how they broke up. Not even a little bit. All that matters is that they did.”
“They could get back together and be boyfriend and girlfriend again.” Janet said.
“No.” Arnold said. “We can be friends and she can live here; but, I won't hurt her anymore.”
Janet walked over to him and barely stopped herself before she hugged him. “That's what I told your mom, that you didn't want to get back together with Kelly. She said she's still going to try and fix things between you.”
“I know. She told me that, too.”
Janet gave in to her urge and took him into a hug. “I'm sorry you're stuck trying to deal with this mess by yourself.”
“Come home with me this weekend.” Arnold said.
“WHAT?!?” Cissily exclaimed.
“You know a lot of what's going on. I want you there with me.” Arnold said and ignored Cissily's shout.
“A-Arnold, I... are you sure?” Janet asked.
“If what Cissily said is true, then having you there will let Kelly know she needs to find someone else.”
Janet couldn't refuse such an honest plea for help. “I'll try my best to help her understand.”
“Thank you.” Arnold said and kissed her.
Cissily sat there and watched with an open mouth as Arnold gave Janet the kiss she thought she was supposed to get for helping him.
Janet broke the kiss and eased her hold on him. “If you need me to help shop tomorrow, let me know.”
“Okay.” Arnold said and Janet left without looking at Cissily. Arnold finished cooking the quick meal and put a plate of it in front of Cissily and sat down to eat himself. Cissily had remained quiet and ate the food without tasting it, then when they were done, they did a quick inventory and made a list.
“See you tomorrow after class.” Cissily said without inflection and left his room. She walked down the silent hallway and pushed the button for the elevator, stepped onto it, then pushed the button for the ground floor.
“She looks pissed.” Cynthia said with a smile when the elevator doors closed. “Nice going, Janet.”
“I didn't do that to piss her off.” Janet said. “I went to help Arnold.”
“Anything that helps keep her away from him is fine by me.” Rachel said from across the hall. “We all know you're going to treat him fairly.”
Janet's face flushed red. “Um... thanks.”
“Ooo, there goes the suit!” Daisy said and everyone turned to look as Arnold stripped off for them.
“Ahrnold!” Rebecca said loudly. “Are ya gettin' a shower, too?”
“Yes.” Arnold walked over to the door of his room and started to shut it.
“Aww.” Someone said sadly and the door clicked shut.
“Way to go, Billy!” Someone said.
“I wanted him to invite me in!” Rebecca said.
Janet chuckled and went into her room. Nope, they don't understand him at all. She thought, then she started to rummage through her clothes. She needed a couple of nice outfits if she was going home with him on the weekend. Oh, god. She thought. I'm going home with him this weekend to meet his friends!
Janet started throwing her clothes around to find the perfect outfit to meet his friends with.
*
That evening and most of the next day passed without incident. Cissily was surprisingly civil to Arnold, considering she had been robbed of both a kiss... which he had never give her, despite them having had sex a bunch of times... and a weekend trip where she could have helped him get over his girlfriend.
Mabel was back at the cafeteria counter and she greeted Arnold as she always did. She didn't even blush as she handed him his chosen meal with a smile. Angela tried not to sulk as Arnold served himself with the soda again and he paid for his meal.
Arnold sat with Amy, Cissily, and their friends at the table and everything seemed to have gone back to normal. They ate lunch together and had a normal conversation, and no one mentioned Cissily eating supper with Arnold the day before. Cissily was also not inclined to mention it, because of the way it had turned out.
“I can't wait for tonight.” Maxine said. “I've been waiting to see this band for months!”
“It should be a good time.” Amy said. “Don't forget to meet at Cissily's place at suppertime.”
“We're dressing up, too.” Maxine said. “The guys are gonna be all over us tonight!”
“It's too bad it's not the weekend, or we'd have free drinks all night, too.” Amy said, a little sadly. Ciccily stayed quiet and didn't say anything.
Lunch ended and they went to their respective classes and Arnold went back to work. He had to create a spreadsheet for the specimen inventory to reflect the paper one he and Cissily had made the day before and then enter all the information. It took a lot longer this time, because he was doing it all by hand and he was all alone. When classes ended, he saved up his work and put it away, then left to meet Cissily at his dorm.
Cissily showed up a few minutes later and parked in his spot. “Come on, get in.” She said. “The front. I'm not a chauffeur.”
Arnold climbed into the front this time and she pulled out of the parking lot and drove to the grocery store. Since Arnold now had a list, they blew through the entire store as he grabbed everything that he needed. It actually surprised Cissily at how efficient he was and they were out of the store and loading the groceries into her trunk before she realized it.
“I almost can't believe that happened.” Cissily commented as she closed the trunk. “I've never been through an entire grocery store that quickly before.”
“If you already know where the things you want are, you don't waste any time buying them.” Arnold said.
“It's a good thing I can't flirt with you, then.” Cissily said and they climbed into the front seat of the car. “I would have been teasing you and making you grope me the whole time.”
“Why?”
“Because it's fun most of the time, especially if he knows you're doing it and likes it, too.” Cissily said and drove them back to the campus. “I already told you that I like how you grab my tits so well.” She said. “If you grabbed my ass sometimes, I might like that, too.”
“I grabbed it when we fucked.” Arnold said and she chuckled as she pulled into the parking lot.
“I meant just a casual groping, like you did with my chest before we started the specimen inventory.”
Arnold nodded and they got out of the car. He took most of the bags in one go, since there wasn't as big of an order this time, and Cissily took the rest. They went inside and said hello to the replacement dorm mother, then went up in the elevator to drop his groceries off.