The next three days at the college passed in a similar fashion to the day before. There were a lot of students taking biology as a prerequisite course, just over four hundred in the entire college, and a good portion of them needed to make appointments to finish their specimens. Fortunately for Amy, none of them wanted morning or weekend appointments, which meant that they all wanted afternoon and evening appointments and Arnold got to do them all.
By Friday at four o'clock, Amy was off for the weekend and Arnold still had three more appointments and seven students to help. The bad part about Arnold working so hard all week was that he was needed to come in on Sunday to help the professor prepare for the next day. Since Hamil was teaching Arnold directly, Amy wasn't required to attend.
For the first time in her life, Amy actually felt a little guilty about someone else doing all the work, even though as the second assistant, it was Arnold's job to lessen her workload. It wasn't the fact that he was doing it, what bothered her was that he did it without complaint or even suggested that he would complain about it. He did it all, everything she asked, and never questioned her decisions.
Amy was actually shocked that he wasn't going behind her back and talking to anyone that would listen, about the massive workload he had been tasked with by both her and the professor. She had kept a close eye on Arnold's interactions with the professor as well. Even there, Arnold never mentioned being upset, being overworked, or even that he was unhappy with her or the situation.
Arnold stayed quiet and did his work and that was that. It kind of unnerved Amy, because everyone would make some kind of complaint at some point, even about some little thing that didn't matter, just because they could... and he never did. Not once during the week, or when she told him that he needed to work Sunday, did he say no or that he was too busy. Not once.
Amy sat on Cissily's couch and sipped on a beer as she thought about everything and wondered if there was anything she could do about it. Do I want to do anything about it? She asked herself. This last week has been great for me. Lots of time off, no extra curricular work, and no deadlines to meet. She thought. The only problem I have... really... is Arnold.
“What the hell are you thinking about so hard, Fareena?” Cissily asked and plunked down onto the couch beside her. “Your 'resting bitch face' is making me nervous, and I love you.” She said and pointed at the redhead with an unopened beer can. “You're scaring the shit out of Maxine, though.”
“Huh? What?” Amy blinked her eyes and looked at her.
“Hello? Earth to Fareena! Come in, Fareena! You're spacing out! Nooo!” Cissily said loudly.
Maxine laughed. “Houston! We have a loopy space cadet! Request permission for revival!”
“Deploy water cannons!” Cissily said and both she and Maxine shook their beer cans slightly. “Fire!”
“WHA-AHHHH!” Amy yelled as both girls opened their beers and sprayed her face with foam. “You fucking bitches! I'm going to kill you!” She said and put a thumb over her own beer and shook it hard to spray the both of them back. All three of them started laughing and carrying on, tossed some chips and popcorn at each other and made a huge mess, then they grew tired and sat back down.
“You're both lucky I only own cheap shit.” Cissily said with a laugh. “Fuck, you're messy!”
The three of them laughed and drank the last of their beers, and Maxine went to the refrigerator to get three more and handed them to her friends.
“Thanks.” Amy and Cissily said and the three of them popped the beers open and took a drink.
“Now that you're calmed down, tell us what's got your panties in a twist.” Cissily said.
“It's nothing.” Amy said.
“I just opened this beer. Don't make me throw it at you already.” Cissily took a big swig of it and emptied half of it. “There! I can throw it now.” She said and hefted it up to throw it at her forehead.
“Okay! OKAY!” Amy said and held a hand up to block the shot, in case Cissily really did throw it. “I don't need a headache before getting drunk!”
Cissily nodded and took a normal drink as she waited for her friend to tell her what was bothering her.
“It's about Arnold.” Amy said.
“Oh, that poor bastard.” Cissily said. “He's working his ass off to support his mother, doesn't have a house to go home to, and can't get laid because his girlfriend moved away!”
“What?” Amy looked at her. “What did you say?”
“He's got to have a serious case of blue balls...” Cissily started to say.
“No, no! About not having a home to go back to!” Amy nearly yelled.
“One of the girls at my work table today told me about it. She said she was there when he got the news a few days ago.”
“Oh, my god.” Amy said as the guilt started to drag her down and she gripped her beer can tightly.
“What is it?” Cissily said in a serious tone and moved closer. “Fareena, tell me.”
“You're right. He has been working hard all week and he even did all those appointments in the evenings.” Amy said, her voice had a touch of sadness. “He's still doing them, actually.”
“Yeah, and?”
“He's not complaining about it.” Amy said and took a drink. “No matter what the professor and I ask him to do, he does it without question.”
“Is he doing it half-assed?” Maxine asked and took a drink of beer.
“No, he's doing it perfectly.” Amy said and took another drink.
“Then what's the problem?” Cissily asked and drank.
Amy gave her a deadly look. “What did you say two weeks ago when I asked you to help me clear out the old specimens?”
“I told you to go fuck yourself.” Cissily said.
“Yes, and what did you do the entire time we were doing it?” Amy asked.
“I was helping of course.”
“You were bitching and complaining the whole time, too.” Amy said. “Guess what Arnold doesn't do?”
“You! Ha HA!” Cissily said and took another drink to finish off her beer. “Damn, I need another one.”
“Here.” Maxine said and handed over her beer. “I'll get new ones.”
“Thanks.” Cissily said and took a drink. “Ahhh. Good stuff.”
“Cissily, he doesn't complain and stays quiet. He doesn't grunt, or moan, or make odd noises when working. He does it all silently and never says anything even close to a complaint. He does all the physical stuff in the lab, by himself, and he's so damn efficient that he has everything ready before I'm ready for it!”
“Somebody sounds jealous.” Maxine said and came back with three cans of beer and put them on the coffee table.
“I'm not jealous! I'm... unnerved! Yes! His work ethic is great. No, it's fantastic like the professor said. It's just... if I wasn't there to see him working, you could almost say he was doing magic.”
“Like that first morning when he surprised the professor by having everything done before we got there.” Cissily said and Amy nodded.
“The professor told me later that he was disappointed when he thought Arnold was late, and then found out he had come in early to get the work done and was delighted.” Amy said.
“No, it's more like... a jilted lover.” Cissily said. “She's being replaced in the eyes of the professor as his favorite and she doesn't know how to handle it.”
“That's... not true.” Amy said, unconvincingly. “He's just impressed that Arnold is working out so well as a part of the department, considering he just started.”
“Uh huh.” Cissily said and finished off her beer and took a new one from the coffee table. “So, what are you going to do about it?”
“What can I do?” Amy asked. “He really does fit in well and everybody likes him.”
“No wonder.” Maxine said. “Have you seen some of the photos of him floating around?”
“What photos?” Cissily and Amy asked at the same time.
“You two need to get your heads out of your asses and look around sometimes.” Maxine grinned.
“Shut your cake hole.” Cissily said and took another drink.
“I think the alcohol is affecting your brain already.” Maxine said and took out her cell phone. “That was a horrible comeback, even for you.”
“Yeah.” Cissily looked at the beer can in her hands. “You kill brain cells and I love you anyway.”
Maxine chuckled and handed her the phone. “Look at the Adonis in Pose.”
Cissily took the phone and looked at the image and it took her a few seconds to register. “Holy fuck.”
“Lemmie see!” Amy said and leaned over Cissily's shoulder. “No, that... it's not real. Is it real?”
“Yeah.” Maxine said. “The video is even better.”
“THERE'S VIDEO?!?” Amy and Cissily yelled and Maxine laughed as she took the phone back and brought up the video, hit play, then handed it back to Cissily. “Feast your eyes on the spectacular.”
Amy and Cissily sat there in silence and watched Arnold as he stripped in front of a hallway full of women.
*
Kelly had been shaken when she received a text in the middle of the day from Arnold and he asked her what her views were on jerking someone off. Luckily, Annie was right there and saw Kelly's reaction and took the phone.
“I got this.” Annie said and typed the responses needed to keep Arnold's behaviour in check. She put the phone down and rubbed Kelly's back. “It's okay. He's not doing it. It was just a discussion over lunch with the lab workers.”
“Oh, thank god.” Kelly sighed. “What a thing to talk about out of the blue!”
Annie chuckled. “You thought he was in the middle of something, didn't you?”
Kelly nodded.
“You know the restrictions you gave him. He's not going to do anything without telling you.”
Kelly sighed. “I almost don't want to know, you know?”
Annie laughed. “You think I do? He's my son!”
Kelly opened her mouth, looked at the phone where Annie had just discussed masturbation, then laughed. “Okay, you got me there.” She said and took her hand. “Thanks for doing that for me.”
“What are friends for?” Annie asked. “Now we need to talk about what we are going to do on the weekend.” She said. “There's no chance that the house will be done by then.”
“I doubt mom will be as accommodating if I ask Arnold to stay here, too.” Kelly said.
“Should I book a hotel for two days?” Annie asked. “An actual hotel I mean, not the flea circus I first stayed in.”
“You should only need it for one night, unless you want access to the room first thing in the morning on Saturday, then you'll need it for two nights. No, it'll be three nights if Arnold stays to get the last bus on Sunday.”
“That's going to cut into my spending money. I also need groceries...” Annie started to say and Kelly squeezed her hand.
“Let's leave the decision until Friday, then we can worry about what to do.” Kelly said.
They waited the three days and were lucky they had, because Arnold called and said that he needed to work on Sunday. Annie and Kelly were both relieved that he wasn't coming to visit, since it deferred their problems for another week, then they were sad that they wouldn't see him for just as long. They told him to be good and to stay safe, that they missed him, and they would see him next weekend even if they had to go there to do it.
*
Arnold woke up on Saturday morning and climbed out of bed. He didn't have to work, so he didn't have to get dressed, either. When he opened his room door while only wearing a pair of shorts, he saw that the hallway was the same as it was during the week. A bunch of girls were hanging out near their doorways and talking, half naked like always, except that none of the girls had anywhere they needed to go and were in no rush to change that.
“Hi!” “Hey, there!” “Morning, Arnold!” Most of them said at the same time. A few of them waved and he said hello and waved back.
“Are you going anywhere for the weekend?” One of them asked.
“I have work tomorrow.” Arnold said.
“Oh, that sucks.” She said. “Only one day off all week! I'd be pissed!”
“I like my work.” Arnold said.
“Well, that's a relief.” Emily said as she came out of her room. She only wore a pair of panties and a bra in the hopes to gain his attention. “I hope they pay you well.”
Arnold shrugged, because he didn't have any other job to make a comparison in pay except for working for Claire.
“Do you have any plans for today?” Emily asked.
“No.” Arnold said.
“That's going to be boring sitting around the dorm all day, isn't it?” Emily asked.
Arnold thought about it and nodded, then he walked back inside his dorm room and over to where he had put his cell phone beside his bed and dialed the register girl. “Hi. I'm going to be bored today. Yes. Okay.”
Emily's mouth dropped open in shock as Arnold made a date with someone else right in front of her, pulled off his sleeping shorts, then he grabbed a pair of jeans that were fairly tight and put them on. He picked up a bright blue sleeveless t-shirt and pulled it on, which left his arms completely bare, and he grabbed his keys and hooked them to the belt loop on his jeans. He walked over to his open door and stepped out, locked and closed it, then walked down the hallway.