‘93 Til

Halloween night had to be, by far, the worst night that one could choose to study.

When Morgan had planned her study session after bombing her last Clinical Procedures exam, she had thought Monday would be a perfect, quiet day to focus.

She had laid out all of her books, and notepads then grabbed a few snacks and a glass of wine before hunkering down on the living room sofa. Even her roommate Jayda had been unusually quiet during all of her preparations. "Perfect," she had said to herself. She took a sip of wine and started reading about the exciting world of vital signs.

It was not until the first doorbell ring at around 7 PM that it had occurred to her that today was not just an ordinary Monday.

As she opened the door, a gaggle of children screamed "Trick or Treat!" and shoved bags, buckets, and pillowcases in her direction. She stood confused for a moment. Was it already October? She knew her courses in Physician Assistant school had been time-consuming, but she could have sworn it was still summer.

"Ma'am?" She looked up at one of the parents, who spoke to her. Three of them stood behind the children, visibly unimpressed by her lack of action.

"Yeah, um..." Morgan looked back into the apartment searching for something to give them. She quickly reached for her school bag and fished out a few Emory University pens she had from the counseling and dropped them in the bags. "Sorry, we forgot to get candy."

One of the moms rolled her eyes. "Then maybe don't answer the door?" The group moved down the apartment hallway in a mass of audible sighs and groans and Morgan shut the door behind her.

"Who trick or treats in an apartment building, anyway?" She shook her head. Morgan had truly never been a Halloween person. Even as a kid, she was never interested in dressing up or going out. She usually sat at home watching movies while all of her friends walked the neighborhood streets.

She could even maybe understand trick-or-treating in a neighborhood, but the old restored mid-rise apartment building she had moved into a few months ago was certainly not a place she ever assumed was child-friendly. She had not met very many of her neighbors, but she was pretty sure she was surrounded by young urban professionals and fellow graduate students.

Before she even made it back to the sofa, the doorbell was ringing again. She turned back for a moment but decided to take the ornery mom's advice. She sat back down and pulled her throw over her legs and opened her book in her lap.

Ignoring the doorbell? No problem. She needed to pass her retake exam, and if ignoring a bunch of little kids in costumes was what she needed to do, that would be easy.

She was knee deep into anesthesia techniques when the doorbell had rung what seemed like its final time. She grabbed her phone from the coffee table and checked the time. 9 PM. Most children were probably approaching their bedtime. But she knew adult Halloween fun was only beginning.

She scrolled through her texts and declined a few invites to parties that evening. Even Jayda had asked her to join her for a Playboy-themed frat party. But as much as she wanted to accompany her friend for some half-naked gallivanting around Atlanta, she knew studying was, unfortunately, her priority.

She was just getting used to the evening quiet when a familiar baseline started booming above her head.

It started quietly. But within a few seconds, the volume had ramped up to the point that the trendily exposed pipes in her ceiling were visibly shaking. The apartment was old and the walls were thin, but this was ridiculous.

She stared upwards, waiting to see if maybe her upstairs neighbor would come to their senses. The song was one of her favorites, 93 Til Infinity by Souls of Mischief. She almost could have found herself enjoying it had the decibels been reasonable. But evidently, they were trying to recreate a full concert experience in their apartment.

"This is a joke." Morgan shut her eyes and rubbed them in annoyance. There was no way she could focus with the amount of noise coming from upstairs.

She listened as the song came to an end as she stood trying to decide what to do. Going upstairs was certainly out of her non-confrontational character, not to mention this was a complete stranger. But as the next track began, she heard the volume increase and her jaw clenched.

"Fuck it." Morgan reached over the sofa and grabbed her phone and headed toward her front door. She checked her appearance quickly in her hallway mirror. She pulled her box braids up into a bun and adjusted her V-neck and sweat shorts to make sure they were appropriate, pulling the fabric over her ass. She had not dressed to be seen in public but made sure she looked less like a high school volleyball player and more like she meant business.

She straightened her glasses on her face and nodded at her reflection. With her clear makeup-less russet brown skin, large brown eyes, and button nose, more often than not people confused her for much younger than her 25 years. But the glasses did give the effect of being much more mature and self-assured.

She left her apartment and quickly ran up the stairs to the floor above hers, following the sounds of early 90s hip-hop down the hallway to the obvious origin of the music. The door of apartment 606 was all but vibrating. She knocked several times, each time with increasing force. It was obvious the occupant of this apartment could not hear over the volume of their own music.

Morgan was practically beating on the door with a closed fist when it swung open. Her fist nearly hit the man who opened the door, but he stepped back in time to miss it.

"Whoa there, slugger."

Morgan had not had a clear picture of what she imagined her upstairs neighbor looked like before she knocked on their door. But judging by the taste in music, she was not expecting what stood before her.

Mostly, she did not expect a white boy to be the listener of the old school 90s hip-hop that interrupted her night. Especially not one that looked like this. Clean shaven strong jaw, clear blue eyes, and curiously full lips. His hair was cut low on the sides but erupted into a plume of light brown hair that hung messily, but definitely purposely, in his face.

How on earth had she not bumped into this person before? How long had this practical heartthrob been living above them? Morgan still stood in a stunned silence when he spoke again.

"What's up?" He was only leaning outside the door, and the music still blared behind him. It was obvious he was not aware of the issue.

"Your music?!" She practically shouted. "I live below you. I'm trying to study and your music is really distracting."

Her neighbor smirked and looked back into his apartment. He held up a finger, gesturing that she wait a moment before he disappeared behind the door. A few seconds passed before she heard the music reduce considerably in volume.

He returned, opening the door much wider now. Morgan noticed his clothing now that his full body was in view. Clearly intentionally vintage and urban. His slightly over-sized striped Guess T-Shirt was folded at the sleeve and he wore light washed denim joggers. A little overdone, but not something she hadn't seen on campus. Fashion trends from the 90s were steadily finding relevance again.

"My bad, I didn't even know I had a downstairs neighbor. I thought you were a trick or treater." The neighbor smiled and leaned against the door frame. "You must have just moved in."

"I've been here for six months, actually." Morgan shifted uncomfortably. Now that the music was at a comfortable tone playing quietly in the background, her purpose for standing here was lessening as the seconds passed. "But it's cool, I mean... since you didn't know."

"Why are you studying on Halloween, anyway?" His question was accompanied a by a concerned look. "You should be having fun, not doing homework."

She shrugged. "Yeah, I'm not a huge Halloween person. Plus, my test is tomorrow."

Cute neighbor nodded. She wondered what his actual name was, but 'cute neighbor' would work for now. "I love Halloween. I was actually getting ready to head out to a party." He gestured behind him. "Vibing out a little before I left."

"You have good taste in music," she laughed awkwardly. "Just a little loud."

He grinned. "I'm Jason, by the way."

Jason, of course. He was every bit of a beautifully perfect Jason. Morgan smiled and shook the hand he had offered her to shake. "Morgan. Nice to meet you."

He stood straight up and raked a hand through his hair. Morgan internally gushed at how perfectly it just fell back in front of his eyes. "So, it would be rude for me not to invite my new friend out with me tonight, right? How about a study break?"

Morgan blushed at his forwardness. But she imagined boys this cute did this type of thing often. She sincerely thought for a moment about following this stranger out into the world, based solely on how attractive he was. But once again, her priorities got the best of her.

"No, I really do need to get back to studying."

His smile fell slightly, and he nodded. "That's too bad." Jason crossed his arms over his chest. "What's your test on?"

Morgan stared at his mouth as he spoke. She imagined herself sucking on his bottom lip and flushed. "Clinical Procedures... I'm studying to be a physician's assistant."

"So you're beautiful and smart!" He smirked.

Morgan could not stop herself from smiling. "Well, I'm going to head back downstairs now. It was nice meeting you." She spoke quickly and gave a short wave before turning and departing down the hallway.

"Let me know if you change your mind," Jason called after her. Morgan did not turn around. She was pretty sure if she did, she'd find herself tagging along to whatever activity Jason wanted her to.

As she reentered her apartment, she found her roommate Jayda in the open kitchen pouring herself the remaining contents of Morgan's bottle of wine. She was wearing a lacy black bodysuit and black bunny ears poked out from her mass of black curls. It was clear her costume was a mashup of things she found in her closet.

"You are not going out like that." Morgan joined Jayda in the kitchen. "You are naked."

Jayda rolled her eyes. "It's Halloween, I'm supposed to be naked." She took a sip of wine and gestured at Morgan. "Why aren't you dressed? I told you you're coming with me to the Spelman-Morehouse costume party."

Morgan shook her head. "No, I have too much studying to do. You're on your own." Jayda's eyes narrowed and she frowned. Morgan ignored her disappointment. "But hey, more importantly, did you know we had a neighbor upstairs?"

"I mean, it's possible. I never see any of our neighbors." Jayda shrugged. "Why?"

"I just met him... I went to go ask him to turn down his music." Jayda stared wide-eyed, clearly waiting for more information. Morgan continued. "Well, firstly he's fine as hell. And I think he's our age."

"Really? And we've never seen him? What's he look like?"

Morgan thought about his face and various parts of her fluttered. "Tall, brown hair, blue eyes... and his taste in music is good too," Morgan recalled his invite. "He asked me to go to a party with him."

"And?" Jayda was pulling her jacket on and gathering herself to leave.

"I have to study." The look on Jayda's face when she said this only reinforced the thought that maybe she should have joined Jason after all. "My test is tomorrow!"

Jayda shrugged. "What's one test? It's Halloween. If there is any night to do something bad, tonight is it." She moved past her friend to the door. "But that's just me." She winked at her roommate before leaving. "Happy Halloween, Morgan."

*********************************************************

Morgan had thought about her invitation from Jason and Jayda's advice for a few more minutes before ultimately deciding to sit down and study. Education was more important, right?

She wasn't even sure if she honestly believed that, but she stuck to her plan. She opened her book and began reading again. As she took notes on the chapter, she could not help but let her mind wander to her upstairs neighbor. He had been quiet since they spoke, outside of a few hard steps, she heard above her. He was probably getting ready to leave soon, she thought. Maybe she could catch him if she got dressed quickly?

Morgan shook the thought. "No," she said aloud. "Focus."

Within a half hour, she had refocused her entire energy toward taking notes. She rationalized that he was probably gone by now anyway. And maybe on a day when she was less busy, they would cross paths again.

She was nearly done memorizing the practice questions at the end of the section when she quietly heard music softly begin playing.

It ramped up slowly, but once again that familiar Souls of Mischief track was loudly reverberating throughout her living room. Emanating once again from her upstairs neighbor's apartment.

Morgan almost could not believe it. Mainly because Jason was supposed to be gone. But also because she could not believe that he would play his music so loudly again. He hadn't seemed like a dickhead, but maybe she may have misjudged him.

She slammed her book shut and tossed them next to her on the sofa. As she made her way to the door, this time, Morgan checked herself more thoroughly in the mirror.

She moved quickly, pulling her braids out of their bun and shook them loose, pulling them to the side. She pulled her V-neck down exposing a little bit more cleavage and pulled her shorts up higher on her waist. She twisted and checked her ass out in the mirror. At least she knew, this time, he would get an eyeful when she walked away.

She spritzed herself twice with an atomizer of perfume from her purse before heading back up the stairs.

Same as before, it was obvious where the music was coming from. But this time, the door swung open almost the instant she knocked.

"My favorite trick or treater." Jason's grin was equal parts welcoming and mischievous.

"Are you trying to make me hate this song?" She once again found herself smiling involuntarily. His smile was contagious.

"Not as much as I was trying to see you again." Jason opened the door wider allowing Morgan to see inside his apartment. The lighting was dim and she saw a few bottles of beer and a pizza sitting on the coffee table. "I thought maybe you would like a more chill study break?"

Morgan didn't think twice about accepting his offer this time. She followed him into the apartment and took a seat as he went to turn down the music. "I thought you were going out?"

"I was... but I had a better opportunity come along." He was over near his stereo, shuffling through CDs.

"Is that a CD player? How vintage." He turned back and made a face at her, brows knit.

"I just got it. When I copped the Souls of Mischief album." She watched him walk across the room and joined her on the couch. "You said you like them right?"

"Yeah, I hadn't heard that song in a while. I would have probably enjoyed it had I not been studying." Morgan looked around the apartment, noting its size. Unlike her own, it was only one large room, with a bed sharing a wall with the kitchen. He was obviously really into this 90s thing, as the walls were covered with posters from A Tribe Called Quest and Digable Planets.

"Well, take my copy when you leave... since you like them." Jason took a sip of his beer. "Consider it a gift from your new neighbor."

She returned the smile he was giving her. "Thanks."

"So, I'm assuming you don't have a boyfriend downstairs."

"That assumption is correct." Morgan looked around for a place to sit amongst the magazines and CD cases spread across his apartment. Realizing this, Jason quickly moved, scooping things up, clearing a space for her on the end of his bed. "And I'm assuming no girlfriend?"

"Clearly," he laughed. He moved around the bed and sat next to her. "I dig this Poetic Justice vibe you have going on." Jason reached forward and wrapping his finger around the end of one of her braids. "Janet doesn't have anything on you, though."

She couldn't help but blush at his corny comment. Honestly, he could have been reciting the alphabet and she probably would have been a blushing fool. Morgan only now noticed the small earring he had. His retro style was killer. "Flattery will get you everywhere," she laughed.

"Hopefully." His confidence was overwhelming. He edged closer to her and Morgan didn't know if the heat she felt was from her or Jason. The bed sunk next to her as his skin touched hers. "It's crazy we've never met."

"Yeah, there's no way I wouldn't have noticed you." Morgan felt slightly embarrassed at her admission, but the meager space between them kind of made pleasantries unnecessary. "But, I'm glad I'm here tonight."

Jason smiled softly before leaning forward and closing the space between them. His lips found hers and they melted into each other with a searing kiss. It was gentle at first, but the sweet pecks gained more urgency and fervor.

Jason took more control, slipping his hands into her hair, pulling her closer to him. The light tugging of her braids made her gasp, allowing him to slip his tongue into her mouth. He teased her, nipping and biting at her bottom lip, inciting soft whimpers.

He lowered her body to the bed, coming down on top of her. Jason's kisses moved from her mouth, along her chin, and down her neck. He licked and sucked the sensitive skin of her collarbone, making her body curve against his. Morgan could feel the smile on his lips at how eager and responsive she was as he teased and bruised the flesh of her throat.

Morgan was grinding herself up against him now, feeling the hard heat of his length against her thigh. She was aching for him to be inside of her, frenzied hands grabbing at his hips, pulling him closer to her, nails digging into his skin. She panicked for a moment when he stopped his movements, pulling back to look her in the eye.

But a wicked smile spread across his face. In a second, he grabbed the bottom hem of her shirt, snatching it up and exposing her breasts. The cool air shocked her and her nipples pearled, as Jason's voracious eyes looked over her body. He greedily took a sensitive bud into his mouth, sucking and licking unmercifully.

"Fuck, you taste-" Jason devoured her other nipple, the hard suction and biting causing her breathing to be erratic and explosions behind her eyes. He kissed down her stomach, tongue dipping into her navel. "You taste so fucking good."

Jason continued his way down her body, roughly lifting her pulling her shorts off of her. His ragged breaths tickled her inner thighs as he kissed his way to her throbbing pussy. She watched him as he hovered over her, placing light teasing kisses on her mound.

"She's so pretty," he spoke between kisses, mouth seemingly watering. Morgan was already bucking hard against him, but a firm hand on her stomach held her still as he continued his gentle assault. She could feel her wetness leaking out of her onto his sheets.

"Jas-" Before her pleading words even left her mouth, she felt Jason's tongue run along the length of her slit. She felt like screaming, but each stroke of his tongue brought tingles deeper into her pussy. He spread her lips apart tasting her and licking up all of the sticky arousal he had incited. The tip of his tongue found her clit, circling it and sucking it into his mouth.

Morgan was convulsing now, forcing him closer to her sex as the heat of her climax was creeping up her body, flushing her skin as he coaxed her closer to the edge.

Her eyes snapped shut, body arching as her orgasm cut through her, body shuddering as Jason continued to tongue fuck her through her release.