Morbid

Doris had just finished talking to one of her girls when Arnold came into the dorm building. “It looks like you didn't work up much of a sweat. What did you do?”

“I tried dumbbells, a leg press machine, jogged on a treadmill, and walked for an hour.” Arnold said and Doris nodded. That was exactly what she had heard.

“Did you meet anyone interesting?” Doris asked.

“No.” Arnold said and hit the button for the elevator.

“You didn't?” Doris asked, a little surprised.

“No.” Arnold said and stepped into the elevator.

Doris gave him a wave as the doors shut. “Chrissy, I thought you said Cheryl was there today.”

“She was.” Chrissy said. “She was helping him on the weights and the leg machine.”

“Huh.” Doris said and smiled. “Thank you for checking for me.”

“You covered for me by calling me in sick when my boyfriend showed up to surprise me.” Chrissy said and gave her a big smile. “That's worth some running around and keeping an eye on your favorite guy.”

Doris laughed and her chest jiggled, then she picked up an open box of chocolates and held it out to her. “Get your butt back upstairs.”

“Ooo! Thanks!” Chrissy said and took a chocolate and popped it into her mouth and ate it. “You always buy the best chocolates.”

Doris grinned. “Go ahead and take another.”

“You're the best!” Chrissy said and took another. This one she ate slowly and went up the stairs. It wasn't worth waiting for the elevator to go up only one floor.

*

Arnold walked out of the elevator and was greeted by the same scene he had passed earlier. He didn't ask the girls why they tended to gather in the hallway to talk, and he wasn't curious about it, either. He accepted it as normal, since it was always like that.

“Hi, Arnold. Did you work out some?” One of the girls asked and he nodded. Of course, that got everyone's attention and they all saw his arms were popping and a few really liked the sight. They said hello and waved, and he returned the same greetings, then he reached the end of the hallway and opened his dorm room door. He left it open like everyone else and he pulled off his t-shirt and tossed it into the laundry basket.

“Hey, he's doing it again.” One of the girls whispered to her roommate and took out her cell phone to start recording. “Oh, there goes the jeans.” She said, almost in a moan as Arnold bent over. “Look at that butt!”

Her roommate laughed softly because everyone in the hallway watched Arnold undress. “His girlfriend is a pretty lucky g-oh, my god!”

Arnold's underwear quickly followed the jeans into the laundry basket and he walked over to the bathroom, completely naked, then he turned around to shut the bathroom door... and gave everyone a great view of his front.

Every single girl blushed at the sight.

“Very, very lucky.” The roommate said and they all nodded.

Arnold stepped out of the shower fifteen minutes later and dried off, wrapped the towel around his waist, and opened the bathroom door. Six young women were jostling for the front position just outside of his door.

“Hi!” The one in front said when she saw him and everyone stopped trying to push her out of the way to get in front. “I'm going to watch some television and relax on the couch. Want to join me?”

“I thought we agreed to make the offer together!” One of the girls in behind said.

“We're not all going to fit on my couch.” The girl in front said. “One of you can and the rest can sit on my bed.”

“Okay!” The other five girls said.

“So, how about it?” The young woman in front said to Arnold. “You have to work tomorrow, so a nice day of relaxing on a couch should be just right for you.”

“Okay.” Arnold said and walked over to his dresser and grabbed a clean pair of underwear.

One of the girls took out her cell phone and the one in front pushed it away.

“Not now.” She said and turned to watch Arnold as he pulled off the towel and put on his underwear. He grabbed a normal white t-shirt and a pair of black shorts that stopped at mid-thigh and put them on as well. He grabbed his keys and cell phone from his jeans and walked over to the door. The six girls scrambled to get out of his way and he shut and locked the door.

Arnold didn't have a belt loop to hook the keys to, so he held them in his hand and put his phone in his pocket. He followed the girls down the hall to a doorway about halfway towards the elevator. Inside was a nice sized room with a bed, a couch, a small refrigerator, and a huge television on the wall. He stared at it and the girl who owned it smiled.

“I watch a lot of television.” She said and sat down on the couch, then she pat the spot next to her. Arnold took the cue and sat a bit away from her, to her brief disappointment, then he laid down on his back and rested his head on her lap. All six young women caught their breath, then there was a brief heated argument among the other five over who got to sit under his feet.

“Take turns, for god's sake.” The girl with Arnold's head on her lap said and turned on the television. “I swear, they can't control their impulses sometimes.” She said with a chuckle and put it on a channel that played romance movies all the time. When Arnold didn't protest or say that he wanted to watch something else, she left it there. A girl lifted his feet briefly and slid onto the couch to sit under them and let them rest on her lap.

Now that the television was on, Arnold watched it and his breathing started to slow down as he took long and even breaths. The other girls sat on the bed nearby and there were a couple of them in the hallway that took pictures and video. The girl at his feet couldn't help herself and started to gently stroke his calves. The girl whose lap held his head saw her and raised her eyebrows, then she smiled and looked down at Arnold's calm face.

His girlfriend really is lucky if he does this for her. She thought and envy burned inside of her. She didn't let that rule her actions, though. She resisted the urge to pet his head, even though his blonde buzz-cut begged her to rub it. She was also very tempted to bend over a bit more and kiss him. She wasn't sure if she was turned on more by the way he had used her as a pillow and relaxed or by the fact that she thought he was gorgeous.

The other girls took turns sitting under Arnold's legs and rubbing them and they all sat there and watched Arnold while he watched television. Of course, he wasn't actually watching it. He had zoned out like he always did and stared blankly at the screen. They all stayed there until lunch time when someone in the hall mentioned getting food for lunch.

“Ah, dammit.” The girl whose lap Arnold was using as a pillow whispered as Arnold stirred.

“Lunch time.” Arnold said and looked up at her. She nodded and he rolled slightly and sat up.

“Aww. I just sat down.” The girl on the end of the couch said.

Arnold ignored her and stood up, stretched and delighted everyone that was looking at him, then he walked out of the room and went to his dorm room to get dressed in his casual clothes. He put on a shirt and left it unbuttoned except for the cuffs, took off his shorts and grabbed another pair of jeans. They were loose fitting and he used a belt to hold them up, put his cell phone in the pocket and hooked his keys to the belt loop.

Arnold grabbed his wallet from the dresser drawer and saw the pile of take-out menus on the kitchenette table and the Chinese food place was on top. When he left the dorm room and locked the door, the brunette next door stood there in a strapless bra and high-hip underwear.

“Hi, Arnold. Where are you going?” Emily asked.

“To eat lunch.” Arnold said and walked by her.

“What?” Emily asked, a little confused. She expected a destination, not what he was doing.

“Chinese food.” Arnold responded and walked down the hallway.

“Want some company?” One of the half naked young women asked when he reached the elevator.

“You aren't dressed to go out.” Arnold said and pushed the button for the elevator.

“G-g-give me ten minutes!” She exclaimed and ran back to her dorm room and went inside.

“Ha. More like half an hour.” One of the other girls said and looked at Arnold. “Are you waiting for her?”

“No.” Arnold said and the elevator opened. “I'll be back before she's ready.”

“Oh? Is the place that close?” She asked.

“It's a ten minute walk from here.” Arnold said and stepped into the elevator.

She put her hand into the door of the elevator and caught the closing mechanism. “There's a good Chinese place that close to the campus?” She asked, completely surprised.

“Yes.” Arnold said.

“I want to try it.” She said.

“Me, too!” “Me! I'll go!” “Let's all go!”

“Arnold, I promise that in ten minutes, a lot of us will be ready. Will you please wait for us and we can all go with you?” She felt that he was going to say no with such a feeble plea, so she used her trump card. “I'm just a girl that doesn't know much about the area.” She lied. “Please wait and show me where the restaurant is.”

Arnold stepped back out of the elevator and she beamed a smile at him and touched his arm briefly, then she whipped around and looked at everyone.

“Ten minutes or you'll be left behind!” She said and ducked into her room and shut the door.

“Oh, shit!” A few of them exclaimed and nearly everyone else disappeared into their rooms and their doors slammed shut. It was eerily quiet in the hallway with only Arnold and two other girls. Arnold made eye contact with them and one of them shrugged.

“I'd like to go; but, I don't like Chinese food.” She said as an explanation, then she poked the other girl with an elbow.

“I'm not like the others. I can see what you're doing. You're playing us all off each other to see who you can seduce later.” The second girl scoffed. “Unlike them, I'm not swayed by your great body or your easy-going attitude.”

“You're not swayed by his great body?” Her friend laughed. “I think someone is lying through her teeth!”

“He could be a compete asshole and none of you are even concerned about it!” The second girl said as she looked at her friend. “He could be a rapist... or even a serial killer... and he could be planning to do us all or kill us all in our sleep! Or both!”

“JANET!” Her friend yelled. “That's a horrible thing to say! Especially to his face!”

“I didn't say it to his face.” Janet said in her defense.

“He's right there! He can HEAR you!” Her friend said and pointed. “Use some common sense, you idiot! If he was anything like what you just said he was, who do you think will be the first one he gets rid of, huh?”

Janet gasped and turned her head to look at Arnold, who stood there by the elevator and stared at her. “I... I... I'm sorry! I misspoke! I don't think you're a serial killer! I was only saying odd things that came to my mind and it just slipped out. It's not what I think at all! It's not!” Janet said loudly. “It was just a possibility that you could be!”

“By that reasoning, he could be a super hero with a secret identity and he's just wasting time here while he fights crime at night or on the weekends.” Her friend said and shook her head. “I didn't think you would automatically assume the worst of people.”

“I don't.” Janet said. “I really did just blurt that out.” She said with a red face from embarrassment. “I didn't mean it. Not really.” She looked at Arnold. “I'm sorry I said those things about you.”

Arnold didn't say anything and counted in his head. When he reached ten minutes, he reached over and pushed the button for the elevator. It took a minute for the elevator to ding and the doors opened... just as several of the dorm room doors.

“We... made it!” The one that asked Arnold to wait said, slightly out of breath, and she walked over to the elevator with her roommate and six other girls from other rooms. “Whew! I've never gotten ready that fast before!”

“You should have skipped the concealer.” Her roommate said with a smile as they all stepped inside the elevator with Arnold.

“Bite your tongue!” She responded, then they both laughed.

“I think I have my skirt on backwards.” One of the others said and that made a few of them laugh.

“Wait!” A girl jumped out of her room with a pair of jeans in her hand and ran towards the elevator.

“Should we?” One asked.

“Another five seconds won't hurt.” Another said.

The one by the buttons hit the door open button to keep them open.

“Thanks!” The last girl said and moved off to the side and stepped into her jeans. “The damn clasp on my bra broke and I had to get another one.”

“Hey!” Another girl said and hopped out of her room with her legs caught in her pants and a half buttoned blouse. “Hold the elevator!”

“Sorry! We can't wait!” The one by the buttons said and hit the door close button.

The girl in the hallway tried to hop towards them, tripped and fell on the floor, then she looked up at them. “Nooooo!” She said and reached towards the elevator with a forlorn expression on her face.

“Bye!” A couple of the girls waved to her as the elevator doors closed.

“I feel bad that we had to do that.” The one at the buttons said.

“We couldn't make Arnold wait longer than we said.” The first girl said. “I would want you to leave me behind if I had been late, too.”

The other girls looked at her and she laughed.

“Yes, really.” She said. “But, we made it, so we better enjoy it on behalf of everyone else that didn't.”

All of the girls nodded their heads and the elevator stopped at the next floor and the girls in front held their hands up. “Sorry, we're full.” They said together and the one next to the buttons hit the door close button before the girls waiting in the hall could react.

“That was close.” One of them said in relief and a low chuckle came from the others. They made it to the lobby without stopping again and Doris had a surprised look on her face when Arnold stepped out of the elevator with eight girls around him.

“Arnold, what's going on?” Doris asked, slightly concerned.

“I'm going to eat lunch at a Chinese restaurant.” Arnold said.

“And the girls?”

“I'm showing them where it is.” Arnold responded.

Doris nodded. She couldn't tell him to ask them if they thought it was a date, not in front of them, then she laughed mentally at the thought. Would any of them think it's a date with so many others around? She asked herself. “I'll see you when you get back.”

Arnold left the dorm building with eight nicely dressed and attractive women around him. They all started talking about different things and a couple of them talked to him and asked him questions. He answered them frankly, as he always did, and they found out a lot about him for the ten minute walk to the restaurant.