Rules 10 - Rumors

The morning sunrise slowly lulled Noah awake. He drifted in and out of sleep, smiling when he felt Rachel slowly cuddle against him. Her arms wrapped around his waist as she buried her face in his chest, gripping him tightly. He brushed his hand gently through her hair, his heartwarming at the sound of her soft snores.  

The room was uncomfortably hot, and the heat caused their skin to stick together. But Noah didn't mind. It brought them closer together, it made him feel safe.

He felt as though he could stay in this moment forever.

Then the door to his room burst open with a loud thud. Noah looked over to find his roommate, Frederick, standing in its frame.

"Sorry, hope I wasn't interrupting anything," Frederick said in an overly soft tone. The voice fit his soft body and disheveled appearance. He pushed up his thick-framed glasses as he watched Rachel slowly begin to wake up.

Noah instinctively sat up and covered Rachel's bare skin with his blanket, she took the blanket and pressed it around her chest as she also slowly came to.

"Hey Rachel," Frederick said with a smile.  

"Hey Fred," Rachel said back, still half asleep as she began to search for her dress.  

"Looks like you two had a fun night together," Frederick said.

"Don't make it weird," Noah grumbled. He knew Fred was harmless when it was just them. Fred was a shy, kind, and funny guy who loved computer science nearly as much as competitive gaming.  It was easy to talk to him, and Noah genuinely saw him as a friend.

But when Rachel was around, it only took him seconds to devolve into a horny degenerate.  

"Could you give us a minute?" Noah asked. Frederick's eyes slowly shifted over to him.  

"Hmmm? Oh, yeah of course. Don't worry about me, do your thing." Frederick remained where he was and smiled. Noah frowned.  

"Fred, can you leave the room so we can get dressed?" 

Frederick let out a long and agitated sigh.  

"Fine..." Frederick mumbled something under his breath that Noah couldn't hear, but he disregarded it as the door closed behind him. He looked over at Rachel who had just finished putting her dress on.  

"What time is it?" She asked sleepily. Noah grabbed his phone from the nightstand.  

"A little past nine," He said.  

"Oh god, I'm late for class." Rachel fumbled out of bed, Noah couldn't help but smile as she wandered around the room aimlessly to collect her things.  

"I don't know if showing up to class in that dress is the best idea," Noah said. Rachel looked down at herself before letting out a warm laugh.

"Good point. Do you think I could borrow a hoodie and some joggers?" 

"Of course," Noah said with a smile. He slid out of bed and walked over to the small closet next to his desk, pulling out a hoodie along with a pair of grey joggers. "Here, these are my smallest pair." 

"Thank you," Rachel leaned forward and kissed him gently on the cheek. "How's my hair?" 

"Uh..." It looked like Rachel had been electrocuted.  Noah failed miserably at containing his smile.

"Oh god, is it that bad?" She asked with a laugh.  

"It could be worse," Noah said, laughing along with her. She quickly hopped out of her dress and into Noah's clothes, walking over to the small mirror he had hanging on the wall.  

"Oh my god, it's a rat's nest. A ponytail will have to do I have absolutely no time. Do you think you could grab my books for me and drop them off when you get a chance? I'm already ten minutes late." Rachel tied her hair up as she spoke, Noah watched in complete awe as she did so.  

The gentle motion of her wrists, the way her hips swayed playfully as she tried to hurry herself along. Every one of Rachel's actions made Noah fall in love with her even more.  

"Of course," He replied gently. "Your class is in the science building, right?" 

"Yes, modern anthropology in room 223. I'll be in the back like always." She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Thank you," She said softly before kissing him on the cheek once again. As she pulled away, Noah grabbed her and pulled her back in for another kiss. His heart fluttered as her soft lips pressed against his, and as they parted, Rachel placed her head on his chest.  

"Wish I could stay with you all day," She said.

"You're too much of a rule follower to ditch class."

"Ugh, you're right. The guilt would crush me. Ok, I really should get going!" Rachel opened the entry door, finding Fredrick waiting patiently on the other side. She gave him a polite nod before turning back to Noah. "Thanks again, love you!" 

"Love you too," Noah said.  

"Love you three," Frederick added awkwardly. Rachel ignored him, giving Noah a final wave before heading down the hallway. Frederick laughed at his own joke as he shamelessly stared at Rachel's ass.

"Man oh man, she really is something..." Frederick said more to himself than to Noah. Fredrick sauntered into the room and sat on his bed. Noah didn't acknowledge him as he continued to get dressed and gather his things.

"Not even going to wash the sex off you, huh?" 

"Jesus Fred, we talked about this," Noah said.

"What? I'm not saying it's a bad thing! I'd be doing the same if I had a sweet treat like that... I wouldn't leave her alone for a minute, and she'd be begging me to stay with her every night." 

Noah looked at Fred, dumbfounded, and watched as his roommate placed both his hands over his head with a triumphant smirk.

"Why do you have to be so fucking weird around Rachel? You know that kind of stuff makes her uncomfortable." 

"I didn't say it in front of her this time! I was good. I was good right?"

Noah didn't answer. Fred leaned forward.

"Wait, do you think she's mad at me?" 

Noah shook his head and sighed. "I got to go, are we still on for that gaming session later with Cody?" 

"Nah, Cody dropped out." 

"He dropped out? Like of college?" Noah asked. Frederick pushed up his glasses and nodded slowly.  

"Not everyone can handle the big leagues, champ. Cody headed back to his small town where things were more his speed." 

"Right, well, I hope it's a better fit for him." Noah had to admit, he envied Cody somewhat. He had a love-hate relationship with his hometown. But there were definitely days he missed the slower life.  Especially given all the events involving Jack and his friends.

"Yeah, I guess so. That does mean we're going to be down a player for a while. One less wolf in our pack," Frederick gave an all too serious salute. Noah cringed.  

"We'll figure that out later. I got to go." Noah made for the door.  

"Before you go, you might want to know that some rumors have been spreading," Frederick said, Noah froze at the door.  

"What?" He asked.

Frederick closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall with a guilty smile.

"There's rumors spreading about you and Rachel. Big rumors," Frederick said. Noah felt his heart sink in his chest. There was no way people had heard about Jack and Rachel already.  How could they?

He had to know the extent of the damage.

"What are the rumors?" He asked. Frederick smirked.  

"You know... spicy stuff." 

"Like?" Noah pressed.

"Didn't you just tell me to not get weird about Rachel? Let's just say that I might need to start attending more parties..."

Noah's mind flashed back to the previous night. Tracing over images of Rachel being manhandled by Jack and his friends. Remembering the moans she made as Jack fingerbanged her.

"I've got to go." Noah left the room quickly. He heard Fredrick start to speak but was down the hall before he could catch what Fredrick said.  

This wasn't good. If word had gotten to Fredrick's group of friends, then that meant a good part of the campus was talking about it as well.  

Noah's mind raced, his pace quickening without him realizing it. He mindlessly walked to Rachel's dorm, gathering her belongings before delivering them a fog. Her smile was a welcome respite, but the rest of Noah's journey was filled with sweltering worry as he made his way into his class and sat down.  

He glanced around the room. Were people looking at him more? No, it was just in his head. He needed to calm down. Surely things weren't as bad as Fred had made them out to be.

"This seat taken?" 

Noah looked over, immediately frowning when he saw Mike staring back at him. His clothes were too tight, but Noah couldn't decide if that was because of his muscles or because Mike bought clothes two sizes down. Mike did look good though. Most of the women in the classroom also seemed to agree, glancing at him regularly.  

"You're in this class?" Noah asked.

"Uh, yeah. Wait," Mike opened his phone and checked it. "Yeah, this is the basic math one right?"

"Yeah, basic mathematics."

"Cool cool, yeah this is me then." Mike smiled stupidly.

"It's just... well I've never seen you in class."

"Oh yeah, that's because I don't usually go. It's like... why bother you know?"

"Right..."

"So, can I sit here?" Mike asked again.

"Oh, yeah. Go for it." Noah said.  

"Cool." Mike threw down his bag and slumped into the chair, his aftershave bleeding into Noah's nostrils. "No Rachel today?"

"She's never been in this class," Noah said.  

"Huh... wait really? I thought for sure she was." 

"Nope," Noah said flatly.

"Huh, weird." Mike appeared disappointed. Noah wondered if Rachel was the only reason why he had decided to show up to class today.  

The lecture started. While Noah tried his best to keep focused, Mike's presence made it impossible to do so.  Noah glanced over at him several times, not surprised to find that Make hadn't bothered bringing a laptop or notebook. Boredom won over Mike, and Noah began to see him lean towards him.

"So uh... I guess you guys had a lot of fun last night, huh?" Mike tried to whisper, which really just translated to him speaking with a raspy voice at normal volume. Noah glared at him.  

"Keep your voice down," He whispered.

"Sorry man," Mike replied, his voice still at the same volume, albeit raspier. "Just want to make sure things like that can fucking happen again, you know?" 

So he knew, fuck, that meant all of Jack's crew knew what had happened. Noah felt his heart begin to race.

"Look, it was a one-time thing, alright? Jack and Rachel had their little session, but that doesn't mean it's going to be a regular occurrence." 

"Wait, she did something with Jack?" Mike's voice grew louder. Several other students looked back at them in annoyance.  

"Wait, you didn't know?" 

"No! I was talking about the balloon-popping game man. Are you fucking telling me Jack got it first?!"

Shit, Mike really didn't know. Noah's face flashed beet red, he wanted to sink into himself.  

"Forget I said anything," He said.  

"Dude I can't you said it! Does that mean... holy shit... does that mean I can fuck her too? Is that a thing now?" Mike's voice carried across the room like a heavy blanket, Noah sunk into his chair with every passing word.  

"Please Mike, let's just drop this alright?" Noah felt shame and excitement swirl in his chest. His mind returned to that evening, when Mike had thrown Rachel over the couch and dry humped her like an animal. He was ravenous, primal.  

Noah couldn't help but wonder what he'd do if he got Rachel all to himself.

"I would fucking pay you for a chance with her dude. Wait no... not like that... I'm just saying like I really want to fuck her." Mike's voice boomed.

The professor stopped his lecture and cleared his throat, staring at Noah and Mike with disturbed annoyance. Noah looked back at him, his heart sinking further when he saw countless eyes staring back at him.

"Sorry!" Mike said, raising his hand. The professor let out a tired sigh.

"Just learn to keep it down, Michael. Some people are here to actually learn," The Professor said dully before continuing his lecture.

Noah went back to his writing, sweat forming on his brow as he tried to pretend like his conversation with Mike had never happened.

He just needed to focus. Focus on basic mathematics. It was a level 100 course, it was easy. Noah just needed to keep his pencil moving. He saw Mike shuffling through his bag out the corner of his eye, heard him tear a piece of paper from his notebook, and then saw his beefy hand slide a note across his desk.  

Did they smash?

Noah stared at the note, then slowly looked up at Mike with a blank expression. Mike mouthed the question slowly to him. Noah glanced back down at the note and wrote a response.

No.

He slid the note back across the table. Mike scratched his head before frantically scribbling onto the paper.  

Well, can I smash?  

Noah wanted this to stop. He had drawn enough attention to himself and Rachel.  

No.

Mike let out a audible grunt of disappointment.  

What did they do??

I'm not entertaining this.  

Come on, u can tell me

Work on your work.

Another audible grunt of disappointment. Mike finally relented, returning to tapping on his desk while the class lecture wrapped up. As soon as it did, Noah stood from his desk and made his way out of class. He wasn't surprised to find Mike following closely behind him.  

"Hey Noah, wait up!" 

Noah let out a long sigh, "Mike, I'm not going to tell you anything, alright?" 

"Fine fine I won't push it. It's just... you know.. this is big fucking news." 

"It's not that big," Noah corrected.  

"Well, not as big as me, that's for sure," Mike laughed at his joke while Noah grimaced. It was like Rachel put a spell on people, no one was immune to turning into wild animals around her.  

"I'm getting to my next class now Mike," Noah said flatly.  

"For sure, we'll talk more later, cool?" Mikes said.  

"Yeah... sure." Noah walked out onto the campus plaza. His sense of worry flooded with every glance he received.  

The reality was slowly setting in. Rachel was gaining a reputation, and it was only a matter of time before that came back to bite them. The part Noah didn't want to admit was somewhere deep inside, he knew this was what he wanted.