Corbin: The College Years, part 14

By Corbin, corbin@poetic.com

How life tests the endurance, patience, and sometimes faith of one young woman.

 

 

 

Pre-Story Introduction/Ranting/Venting/Rambling…

 

Some of you may be wondering;

“Corbin, why do/did you keep taking the verbal abuse from Mora?”

 

Sometimes I wonder that myself, well she was not the only one, but most definitely the worst of the lot. For a while that’s all it was and the more I went about my daily routine, the more she barraged me with taunts…so my lack of a response only seemed to infuriate her more. I think it would be fair to categorize her as becoming obsessed with needling me. However, I had a great ability to ‘tune out’ things around me so she soon became background noise, ‘Turn the other cheek’ I guess you could call my philosophy, so I did…or so I tried, but I guess people can only be pushed so far...

 

Looking back on things, I guess I have come to realize that it was mostly the girls who tried to backstab me repeatedly, more so in College. Yes, men wanted to date me and true they did not always go about conveying their sexual drive in the most discrete/respectable manner possible, but they rarely…maliciously…tried to manipulate me the way other girls did. Maybe it is the women I should be ‘tough/harsh’ towards?

Strange huh, I was such a wimp towards girls but found it easy to be so abrupt and hostile towards the guys, but all of that changed…like I said, I am a slow learner but once I come around, look out.

 

Sorry guys.

 

I wish someone more Socially astute then I were writing this…Sharon is the master…but all I can tell you is that girl’s like drama, High School in particular, but as you get older it’s a hassle…personally speaking I’ve always found it to be a hassle. Petty little trickery like three-way calling that girls use to trap each other and other bullshit…lord, the list is a long one.

 

 

“ When we were young the future was so bright
The old neighborhood was so alive
And every kid on the whole damn street
Was gonna make it big and not be beat

 

Now the neighborhood's cracked and torn
The kids are grown up but their lives are worn
How can one little street
Swallow so many lives…

 

…What the hell is going on
The cruelest dream, reality “

 

-The Offspring

 

 

 

Part 14

 

 

“Corbin please, all I’m trying to do is talk, I don’t want you to leave. I think we…or I…” he rephrased his comment ‘we’ comment when she raised her eyebrows, “…can work it out, so just please stay” He smiled, “Okay?”

 

“Okay but look,” She shook her head in dismay, “let’s not talk about this again, all right? Let’s just allow things to stay as they are and time will take care of everything else” Corbin stopped on her side of the bed waiting for his answer.

 

“That’s fine, I wasn’t trying to stir things up, but I understand it’s silly to let what a bunch of people say change anything” He sighed and pulled the white cotton sheets back.

 

“So,” Corbin let out a sly smile as she climbed into the bed, “What *are* people saying about us…or me?”

 

“I thought you didn’t care about all that stuff” He rolled over towards her with a look of shock and a smile.

 

“Doesn’t mean I don’t like a good bit of gossip now and again” Corbin punched the pillow a few times to fluff it up and rested her head back down.

 

“Well,” he smiled and reached over with his right hand, gently stroking her bicep, down to her forearms, “That we’re sleeping together”.

 

“Well we are” She smiled.

 

“You know what I mean”

 

“No, spell it out for me” Corbin looked over with an evil grin on her face, enjoying watching him squirm a little.

 

“That you and are having sex! You know, making love!” He leaned over and kissed her arm.

 

“And what else?” She said.

 

“That allot of people have never seen me act this way over anyone, so I must be totally whipped” He chuckled a little and that made Corbin smile grow wider.

 

“How many girls have you slept with Dale?” Corbin face suddenly seemed to grow a little serious.

 

“Oh boy” He groaned and rolled over onto his back.

 

“What?” Corbin turned onto her right side, propping herself up on her right elbow, “That many huh?”

 

“No, but…It’s no big deal…”

 

“How many?” Corbin flicked her fingers as to prod him along.

 

“Six” Quickly the word came from his mouth, but that was a lie…it was actually more.

 

“Wow” Corbin said, and he detected a certain amount of seriousness in her expression and tone.

 

“What? What is it?” He leaned in a more then a little concerned.

 

“Well, I don’t know, seems like allot” Corbin mumbled and shrugged, plucking at the bead sheet.

 

“Compared to whom?” Dale asked, a little put off by her apparent judgment.

 

“Well…” Corbin stretched out her long legs, shifting them uncomfortably on the bedspread.

 

“Well what? How can you judge me when you won’t open up and tell me…” Dale sat up in bed, starting to exert a little aggressiveness in the discussion.

 

“Well, compared to me, that’s a hell of allot!” Corbin said with a nervous smile which quickly faded.

 

“What? 3?...2?....” Dale shrugged and smiled, looking for some type of response.

 

“1?” He leaned in, “Come on, tell me” he prodded.

 

“None!” Corbin snapped and bolted upright to a sitting position, in full defensive mode now and wasn’t’ sure why she was so suddenly irritated.

 

“What?” He mumbled in surprise.

 

“Did you just ask me ‘What’, Are you deaf?” Corbin looked over to her right with a cocked, agitated eyebrow.

 

“I don’t…” He bit his tongue, getting ready to say that he ‘didn’t believe it’, but realized that would be unwise. “Why are you so angry?” Dale sat up and gently touched her right forearm, running his fingers along the tiny blonde hair fibers, feeling his way along until he felt the knuckles of her hand and paused. “Wow, got a few cuts there, been getting in fights?” He smiled and looked up to her face. He was relieved when a faint smile came over her mouth.

 

“No, it’s just from the turf and practice” Corbin said quietly, “I don’t like fighting”

 

“Six girlfriends? And they all put out?” Corbin suddenly turned her head to look right at him.

 

“No, only maybe four girlfriends” He sighed.

 

“So who were the other two? One night stands!” Corbin leaned away with a new tone of concern and condemnation.

 

“Come on Corbin, that’s in the past, since we’ve started dating I haven’t even thought about anyone else, let alone touched another girl” Dale stated.

 

“In the past? But we’ve been fooling around……“ Corbin spat.

 

“Just kissing! That’s all we’ve done” Dale jumped in.

 

“JUST! Just kissing?” Corbin pulled away and now stood up.

 

“Oh god” He moaned and fell back onto the bed sounding and looking exhausted.

 

“God only knows what foul junk those girls had, and you were exchanging spit and had sex with them!” Corbin raised both her hands with disgust.

 

“Oh I’m sorry, we can’t ALL be as pure and perfect as you” he said rolling his eyes, but that was a mistake. “Wait! Were are you going?” Dale sat up as he watched Corbin walk around the bed and grab her sandals and quickly slip them on.

 

“When you start taking all of this seriously, then maybe we’ll talk” She snatched her keys on his nightstand and grabbed her gym bag as he fumbled to get his jeans on.

 

“Corbin, come on, please…look…” he stood up, but she was moving too quick and turning the corner into the hallway, “…FUCK! Will you stop!”

 

“Dale look…” She stopped with her hand on the front door, “…you’re right, me coming over here probably isn’t the best thing…at least staying the night and stuff…I don’t know…”

 

“Please just stay okay, no more pressure…no more hassles, okay, you’re right…” Dale pleaded.

 

“I just want to get to my bed and get some sleep, we’ll talk tomorrow okay?” Corbin looked up at him.

 

“Look, you asked! You started that whole conversation in there and then turned it all around on me!” Dale defensively stated, his face a bit flustered with a slight hint of red as the first signs of anger came thru.

 

“I realize that I brought the whole thing up, it just all caught me off guard, it’s not that I’m blaming you for anything Dale…” Corbin sighed and came a little down to earth, “…but like you said, being as pure and perfect as I am sometimes means I act this way!” Corbin suddenly snapped, recalling his comment and pulled the door open.

 

“Whatever, fine…fine…I can’t believe your acting like such a high and mighty brat!” He snapped with impatience and irritation while taking a step back, hands firmly planted on hips as the door slammed shut. Not sure why he just called her a brat, but felt justified in saying it.

 

“ASS!” Corbin yelled back as she stormed down the stairs to her car, covering two steps at a time. “Stupid…stupid…stupid…” Corbin grumbled to herself, “…you should never have stayed over there…damn it” she got in her car and headed back to campus. “Maybe I am selfish brat” Corbin wondered as she drove home.

 

Dale slammed the deadbolt into place and paced the living room, slowly working his way back to his room…sitting down on his bed he looked over at his night stand, “11:05pm” and contemplated going back down to the bar, he knew all of his friends would still be partying. “No, fuck it!” he fumed and laid back down on his bed, frustrated and thought about waiting a few minutes and calling Corbin, in fact she was all he could think about. How a few choice words had caused her to bolt from his apartment and hoped that it wasn’t the beginning of the end between them. “No, no, better to just try and get some sleep, if you go out tonight and get plastered, you’ll just sleep in with a hang over while Corbin will no doubt be up at the usual crack of dawn and if she finds out you went back out and got drunk…that will be that…” he sighed.

 

“God Dale, you really do have it bad for this girl” He sighed to himself, feeling somewhat pathetic about how he was beginning to grovel for Corbin’s affection.

 

Corbin locked her door and barely noticed the barren bed across the room that Sharon once slept in, enough time had slipped by that it no longer really bothered her. Kicking off her sandals she snapped her cell phone into it’s cradle to recharge and noticed a flashing message icon on the display, ‘Probably Dale’ she thought but her eyelids were getting heavy and pulled the sheets up over her body as sleep came a little easier for her then her boyfriend down the street. An odd smile formed on her lips as it just occurred to her that she had just had her first fight with Dale, and wasn’t sure why she found something comforting in that…she saw many friends fighting with their girlfriends and boyfriends…and on some level it made her feel…’normal?’.

 

 

~~~~~~

 

 

Corbin blinked a few times and looked at her clock, “DAMN!” she sat upright, ‘8:00am’, “That’s what you fucking get for staying up so late!” Corbin staggered to the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face. With her head buried down in the sink as she pulled her hair into a pony tail and began washing her face a sudden knock at the door brought another flow of cursing as she swiped a towel to blot her face dry,

“What the hell…shit…8:00 in the morning…” Corbin walked to the dorm room door, decked out in her running attire.

 

“Who is it?” Corbin put her ear to the door.

 

“It’s Dale”

 

Corbin rolled her eyes and sighed, she lethargically unlocked the deadbolt and opened the door, “Dale…we can talk about this…” but she was smacked in the face with a wonderful aroma emanating from a gorgeous bouquet of roses and other flowers. His sheepish grin and bloodshot eyes told her he had not slept well and must have gotten up very early.

 

“Oh…oh wow” Corbin eyes just stayed transfixed on the wild array of red and white roses as well as half-a-dozen other flowers she had never seen before and her heart began to pound furiously in her chest.

 

“Sorry about not taking things more seriously last night…and…” Dale grinned a little more, “…for calling you a ‘brat”.

 

“Come on in” Corbin stepped back and waved him thru she wasn’t at all prepared for the way she was physically and emotionally reacting to this act. Maybe it was this masculine football player showing such a soft vulnerable side, fawning all over her with gifts and affection, all directed at her and no one else. She watched him gently set them down on her desk and she walked up to his left side, she reached around and stroked his strong back with her right hand. Dale smiled at the touch, it felt good and reassuring that his efforts were the right choice. Corbin stood staring at the flowers as her left hand came up and gently touched one of the velvety smooth red tips. The racing of her heart had not slowed and suddenly Corbin was amazed that when she went to speak her emotions got the best of her.

 

“What’s wrong?” He was suddenly asking, but his girlfriend was just standing there, her face buried into the palm of her hands sobbing, “Baby what’s wrong?” Dale asked in a more panicked tone.

 

Corbin felt him pull her in close and let her head rest on his shoulder, maybe a little embarrassed…relieved…and deeply emotional, “I don’t know why, they’re beautiful…no one’s ever done anything like this for me before” and Corbin actually felt herself cry some more into his shirt.

 

“Ohh baby” He sighed and pulled her in close.

 

“I’m so tired…” Corbin sighed as she quickly collected herself and for a flickering moment she felt like some part of her had washed away and someone different had been allowed to slip out…someone more affectionate…caring…vulnerable, as she stood feeling safe and warm within the confines of Dales’ strong embrace.

 

“I know you just want to be careful” Dale sighed and felt Corbin nod in agreement. “But I’ve never felt like this for anyone before Corbin” Dale said quietly, “Don’t freak out because I know it’s only been a couple of months”. He loosened his grip as he felt her push on his chest.

 

“I’ve really fallen for you too Dale” Corbin smiled and buried her face into his neck, a little embarrassed and surprised that she found it hard to admit that. But her subconscious had one final comment before it backed off and let the more emotional, feminine Corbin take over;

“But let me tell you…” Corbin brought her right hand up and balled it into a fist, “…if you break my heart I will flatten you” and gently nudged her fist under his strong chin.

 

Dale smiled with a blush, “If I’m stupid enough to do that, then I’ll have it more then coming”.

 

And for the first time that she could remember, Corbin felt the cautious, skeptical, tomboy side of herself slip back into the shadows as a whole other side took over. “Come here” Corbin purred and cradled his face with both hands as he tilted his head down and Corbin planted a sensual, lingering kiss on his lips as he wrapped his arms around her waist. Oh course it didn’t take long before he felt her mouth moving over his lips and could tell Corbin was deeply engaged in the moment and his male drive started to kick in, pressing into her while pulling tighter. He kept the kiss soft and not too forceful, the moment still had an emotional tenderness to it that he was enjoying while his fingers had moved down gracefully and gently cupped each of her ass cheeks. He was rewarded to hear her moan into his mouth, never had she been so responsive to his physical advances as her own hands having moved around and aggressively gripped his butt thru his jeans.

 

“I…” Corbin smiled “…have…” she spoke in-between kisses, “…to go…I’m so sorry Dale…” Corbin sighed, “…just for a run, but…but we can get together later if you want to call me on my cell” Corbin finally pulled her head back.

 

“Then I will talk to you later” He smiled and pressed his hips against hers. Corbin felt it, he had a full blown erection going on and he was pushing it right into her crotch, it felt good…her face flushed, hell! Her whole body was feeling flushed at how she was opening up and admitting that she actually could enjoy some of his advances. Daringly…she pushed her own mound back and was a little shocked that she not only wanted to feel the pressure of his crotch against her own but it felt good, evident in how turned on she was getting. Spontaneously he tilted his head down and kissed her on the lips, Corbin instantly returned the kiss as their lips touched and rubbed sensually for a few seconds before parting.

 

“Okay, well, I’ll let you go” Dale sighed, not wanting to overstay his welcome.

 

“You can wait here, I have to finish getting ready in the bathroom and I’ll walk you back down to your car” Corbin smiled before turning to walk into the bathroom. Again, his eyes traveled instantly to her rear and bare skin of her legs that peaked out between her socks and thigh length shorts. He often wondered what a pair of short-shorts would look like on her, but it drove him nuts to even contemplate, she dressed way to conservatively to probably ever find out. Looking around her room, he noticed the top dresser drawer was ajar slightly and strolled over in it’s direction. ‘Holy shit’ he inwardly groaned looking at her neatly folded panties and didn’t know why he had the intense desire to rummage thru her drawer, ‘God, it even smells good’ picking up a fragranced smell of perfume or some aroma floating out of her open drawer. He turned around, running his left hand thru his wavy dark hair, ‘Get a fucking grip’ he groaned. Dale about jumped out of his skin when the door to the bedroom opened and it took him a second to recognize Sharon standing there.

 

“Hey Dale” Sharon said and smiled, “Corbin in the bathroom?” pointing to the closed door.

 

“Yeah, how are you doing Sharon?” Dale smiled, Sharon was a gorgeous girl and it reaffirmed the theory that they traveled in packs. Sharon was definitely attracted to Dale and would have flipped Kevin for Dale in a second, but she wasn’t about to play that bitchy ‘steal the boyfriend’ game on Corbin. Yet she couldn’t resist the desire to flirt with him just a bit and over did her smiling and mannerisms, but that was suddenly broken...

 

“Hey!” Corbin suddenly appeared causing Sharon to startle out of her flirty behavior, “Wow it’s busy this morning” Corbin nervously laughed.

 

“I…I just came by to see if you wanted to get some breakfast” Sharon looked around the room at both Dale and Corbin.

 

“After I go for a run we can if you like” Corbin forced a smile, it was amazing that their timing was so bad lately.

 

“Damn, I only have…” Sharon frowned and looked around, “…maybe some other time?” she said, tired of making excuses.

 

“Sure, that’s fine” Corbin nodded, “Let’s all walk down together, I have to get a move on, gotta do that exercise thing” and she jokingly ran in place, eliciting a short chuckle from Sharon and Dale, both their laughs masked inward pain they both felt. Corbin seemed like she was becoming more detached and casual about her relationship with each of them and while Dale felt some relief that his flowers went over so well, the same couldn’t be said for Sharon who felt further anguish. Sharon took notice of the two of them holding hands on the way down and couldn’t resist speaking up, “So you two are getting pretty serious?” Sharon asked, but was annoyed that she had to ask, normally Corbin would be sharing everything with her and she wouldn’t need to ask.

 

Sharon headed back across Campus to her Sorority house, her mind swarming with ideas…thoughts…plans…strategy on how to potentially mend their once seemingly impenetrable relationship. The brunette took a quick deep breath and wiped away tear from under her right eye, taking a quick look back over her left shoulder, she saw Corbin lightly jog in the opposite direction towards the school athletic field.

‘Seems we’ve been heading in opposite directions allot lately’ Sharon’s overly dramatic mind contemplated.