My College Years Part 14
By Corbin
How life tests the endurance, patience, and sometimes faith of one young Woman.
 
**********
 
I wasn't going to rant today, but I do want to offer some advice. 
 
When one is working out at the gym, try to wear something comfortable, it's not 
a fashion show, yet I see guys/girls wearing expensive watches, rings and 
necklaces. What the freaking hell is that all about?!
 
And girls, let's make this clear, you are fooling NO ONE! 
80% of you woman at my gym are there to strut around in short-shorts 
and lounge around on equipment. I see you walk in, not a drop of sweat 
on your face and then leave the gym never having broken a sweat. And I am 
not a trainer for hire, do not come up to me asking for advice. I just want 
to get in, workout, then get the hell out! 
 
I will not name names (not that any of them are reading this), but I am 
embarrassed to stand next to friends that come in wearing red and pink 
shorts with the words "Soccer", "Sporty", "Volleyball", "Sexy" or god knows 
what printed across their ass. I do my best to mock them but they just 
don't get it. GRRRRRR!!!
 
And guys, guys, GUYS PLEASE!! What is with the whole goatee craze still 
going on? And wearing the baseball cap on backwards?
PUUHHHHHLLEEEEAAASSSEEE!!!!!  Wipe that dirt/peach-fuzz off your chin and take 
the cap off, so what if your going bald, learn to live with it.
 
Also, if you have time to read a book or watch the TV while working 
out you are NOT REALLY working out, just more people in the fantasy world of 
exercise.
  
**********

Anyway, things get pretty intense in this part as I decided to delve into a 
subject that still brings back some interesting emotions for me. Simply 
read on.

I watched the drops of sweat cling to my strands of hair and then after a 
few seconds break free and hit the tile floor of the women's locker room. I 
smiled and shook my head, watching several more drops of sweat splatter 
on the ground, although I wanted to change I was exhausted from practice 
and it felt wonderful. Physically pushing myself to new limits seemed the 
best way to tap into that feeling of being alive.
 
But the hushed voices of several women broke my daydreaming and I sat 
upright with a quick jolt, quickly forgetting about my pain and bruising. My 
heart began to pound without mercy, 'Oh fuck, this is it.' I watched one of 
my team mates close the door and lock it, the sound of another latching 
door came from behind and caused me to take a quick glance over my 
shoulder. The only other exit out of the women's locker room was 
effectively sealed off, several members of the team milled about with 
mischievous smiles on their faces, and it was Katie the Team Captain that 
had the most amused look on her face. My eyes darted around the room 
and found Nikki in the very back of the throng of girl's, she had a 
sympathetic look on her face, but I knew no help was to be found there, 
'Fuck, it was just last night that Nikki had warned me about this. She had to 
have known it would be tonight' I blinked several more times and slowly stood 
up.
 
"Are you a natural blonde Corbin?" Katie stepped forward and a burst of 
muffled giggles went up from the girls in front and behind her. It sent a 
chill up my spine.
 
"What? You know I am why?" I replied with a faint, but nervous smile. 
Which was true, I had taken showers with the girls before and they knew I 
was blonde, above and below deck. From behind her back, Katie pulled her 
left hand and set a box of on the end of bench. It only took a second to 
realize the contents, it was hair coloring and then she withdrew her right 
hand and set a bic razor down on the bench next to the box of hair color. 
Before I could even speak, Katie sneered, "You get a choice, you can 
either get a dye job up top and down below, OR get shaved, and I'm not 
talking about shaving your head." again some muffled giggles went up.
 
"What?" I took a step back but ran into the lockers and thus out of 
maneuvering room. Six girls stood, arms folded, to my right while about 
seven closed in from my left.
 
"Now, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way, what will it be? And I 
don't mind telling you, we are anticipating doing it the hard way but we all 
like that, makes the whole experience that much more exciting."
 
My heart thundered, I couldn't believe what I was seeing and hearing and 
what was about to happen. "Come'on guys, what are you talking about?" I 
nervously rung my hands together. Katie just watched without mercy, in 
fact, there was not a merciful eye in the entire group. They all had a bone 
to pick with me and my standoffish personality; I was not a team 
player but a loner although I contributed to the game and helped them 
win, psychologically and emotionally I was distant. Katie herself was semi 
attractive, with shoulder length dark brown hair that was naturally curly, 
more so in the warm, humid days. She was naturally olive in her skin 
complexion and stood about 5' 9". She was very athletic and had a small 
chest, but she was a girl that demanded respect; she was the senior 
person on the team, smart and fair. But now, all I could think was about 
how every bit of compassion and caring had left those eyes.
 
"What do you think we are going to do with that razor?" Katie said.
 
"I don't know." I clenched and unclenched my left fist.
 
"Yes you do, say it!" Katie taunted.
 
"Shave my legs?" I nervously replied my voice cracked with tension. Katie 
and the rest of the team laughed for the briefest of seconds, "No my dear, 
like I said, you get a choice; Pink pussy hair or no pussy hair, you've got 
five seconds to decide."
 
"What? What? Five? You must be kidding!" I babbled.
 
"Times up!" Katie smiled, "I've decided you're going to get a shave!" and a 
cheer of whistles and claps went up shaking me to my very core. 
 
'Oh my god, they are serious!' It dawned on me they were going to strip me 
and shave me.
 
"GET HER!" Katie yelled and lunged. Now, sometimes things move fast and 
sometimes things move slow, depending on where you stand. But in those 
one to two seconds that elapsed after Katie's charge I actually had time to 
reflect on something Nikki told me; 'Do not resist, that it would only make 
things go worse, much worse that the girl's in the past who resisted only 
ended up being further humiliated.'

'I just wish I wasn't so winded' I thought, because while I respected Nikki's 
opinion, I had decided that there was no fucking way I was going down 
without a fight!
 
Katie charged first; it happened so fast I don't think Katie even realized 
what was going on until after I deflected her attack and she was skidding 
face-first towards the tile floor, quickly she outstretched her hands and 
broke the fall as her arms and legs splattered in all directions. She hit the 
deck with a loud 'OUFF'. I think it unnerved her to be thrown aside like that, 
but like I said, I'm allot stronger then most girls.
 
"Get that bitch!" Katie sprang to her feet and spun around with a look of 
bewilderment, in just a few chaotic seconds I was already semi-sitting on 
one girl and had two more snared in separate head locks under my left 
and right arms respectively. The rest of the girls were prying at my arms 
and neck trying to dislodge me from the three trapped girls, who were 
screaming for help. The muscles lining my arms flexed and Katie knew that 
I was probably in panic mode, not realizing I was probably hurting them.
 
Nikki had taken a backseat to the whole affair, and what a spectacle it 
must have been...
 
"Watch it, that's my fucking leg!"
 
"Who's biting me?"
 
"She's choking me! GET HER OFF!"
 
"AHHH! That's my breast, watch it!"
 
"What the fuck, take her down!" Katie yelled.
 
"What the fuck do you think we're trying to do!" A girl yelled back. I had 
taken at least three girls out of commission already, rolling on the floor 
nursing their wounds. But I knew it was probably only a matter of time as 
the remaining team members organized into an all out charge, but I was 
able to break away. Standard procedure was for last years hazing victims 
to be the ones to subdue the victim this year, but so far I had discarded
them easily. Thus far that is...
 
"FUCK!" A girl yelled as her clawing fingers couldn't hold as I broke loose 
and jumped the dividing bench.
 
"You fucking bitch, I'm going to kill you." yelled Mora, the hot-blooded 
Latino of the team, as she stood nursing an elbow she just took to the side 
of the head from my escaping. 
 
"Sorry about that." I said to Mora, I was always apologetic, as my hazel 
eyes darted defensively around the room. 
 
"Your going to be so sorry bitch." Mora snapped, spit flew off her ragging 
lips, damn she seemed pissed! 
 
With a loud metal clatter, I voluntarily slammed my back into the opposing 
row of lockers to take a breather. I was free, but only for a second, my 
vision was partially obstructed by loose strands of my blonde hair, but I 
saw Katie suddenly appear to my left as she leapt up and stand on the 
bench several feet away with a smile on her face. Mora was circling in 
closer, she had this crazed look in her eyes that worried me, Mora was 
hot-tempered and I always suspected that the Latin girl never liked me.
 
"Not bad Corbin, not bad at all, but you do realize you ARE going down!" 
Katie taunted. I took a deep breath and knew that there was probably no 
way out, I was doomed, with almost ten girls closing in on me now; My 
escape was probably just luck as they did not anticipate me to struggle so 
hard. But now, many of them were smarting bruises and even a bloody 
nose and I was now anticipating the worst type of payback and scanned 
the room looking for help, from anyone, especially from Nikki. My body 
slumped against the lockers and brought my left hand up to brush aside 
some hair, 'I'm so fucked' I thought and came close to loosing it as my left 
hand trembled with anxiety. 'Loosing it' in the sense that I thought I might 
break down and cry uncontrollably, but another part of me wanted to take 
down as many girls as possible, maybe that's what scared me, the thought 
I might really hurt someone. Do I really want to hurt someone? 'Fuck them' I 
Thought 'Fuck these bitches, I may go down, but the first one or two that 
get within arms length is going to be sorry.' and I steeled my mind and 
body for the inevitable.
 
*WHAM* *WHAM* *WHAM* the fist hammered three times on the locked 
door to the room, "Someone's coming, I think it's the coach!!" Betty's voice 
cried from outside; Betty being the designated lookout I take it.
 
"What the fuck?" Katie looked around the room. The lookout was a 
formality, as they had done everything in their power to ensure privacy 
this evening. Suddenly Katie bolted down the bench from my left to the 
right and reached down scooping up the razor and hair dye product. Based 
on her queue the other girl's started to collect themselves in a somewhat 
confusing, disorganized manner. My eyes darted around the room, still 
unsure of what was happening when her heart leapt out of my chest as the 
door to her left opened and Mrs. Kinser stepped in, looking none too happy.
 
"What's the emergency that I had to come back down here." But the 
Coach's words evaporated into silence as she took in everything around 
her. Obviously, she had just stumbled onto something.
 
"I'm sorry Mrs. Kinser, someone called you down here?" Katie stepped 
around the corner and asked innocently, but the question had horrible 
consequences if some girl had indeed ratted them out. The coach took in 
the scene one more time and her eyes focused on me briefly, I was 
standing awkwardly, my back against the lockers, looking more exhausted 
then usual. "Must be my mistake." The coach said abruptly and spun 
around, several girls parted as she walked to the door, flung it open and 
walked out. The silence was terrifying as not a person moved in the entire 
room, until Katie performed a total 180 degree turn ending up looking at 
me, "Who ever had her come down her..." She didn't have to finish the 
threat, everyone already knew the gravity of being a whistle-blower.
 
"WHO ELSE BUT HER!" Mora pointed and yelled at me.
 
"Bullshit." Nikki snapped and stepped forward, "If she knew tonight was the 
night, then why would she even show up, she could have avoided this 
whole mess if she had just left practice and went straight to her room."
 
Katie nodded her head, I seemed totally taken by surprise and if I knew 
when it was going to take place, why stick around? I surveyed the room 
and found a few admiring eyes, given the massive fight I had put up, while 
a few of the more bruised girls glared hard at me, but none more so then 
Mora.
 
"What about her?" Mora raised her right hand and unwaveringly pointed at 
me, as if I was an accused culprit, waiting for execution.
 
"Maybe some other time." Katie sighed.
 
"MAYBE?" Becky called out from in the back, in shock that I might get off 
all together, Mora cast her own surprised glare from me to Katie in 
disbelief and then back to me again.
 
"Yeah, I said maybe!" Katie snapped, "We have two big games coming up, 
and we need to focus on those, so this might just have to wait." 
 
"And as for you..." Katie's voice suddenly lowered to a more normal 
speaking tone and slowly walked over to where I stood. The attractive, 
olive-skinned girl raised her right hand up and brought the blade of the 
razor even with my chin. Watching with amusement at the way my hazel 
eyes focused on the instrument that was to be employed against me and 
noticed how I shuddered when Katie pressed it gently against my chin. 
"...until we decide what to do with you 'newbie', you're on laundry duty, got 
it?" and she tauntingly tapped the razor against my chin. It was interesting 
the way the atmosphere in the gym had become a bit somber and serious. 
The most startling revelation was how I detected an immediate division 
amongst the team members, the junior and senior girls were much more 
admiring and forgiving of me, a few going so far as to pat me on the back 
as they would walk. I smiled half-heartedly in response, although I still was 
shaking all over and slightly nauseous to my stomach. But it was the 
sophomore and freshmen girls that were determined to make sure I got 
my 'comings-up'.
 
"You've still got something coming, you snot nosed cunt!" Crissy, another 
blonde whispered in my ear as she walked by, that surprised me 
to hear as I had always gotten along with Crissy, 'Why the sudden 
hostility?' But none so threatening as Mora, the feisty girl walked right 
up to me and shoved her dirty clothes and panties into my gym bag.
"I want you to wash mine personally bitch, and don't fuck'em up." Mora 
sneered and slowly reached out, taking a single dangling piece of my 
blonde hair yanking it hard, hard and quick enough to pull it out at the 
root. I grimaced a little at the hair pull, eliciting a joyful sneer from Mora 
as she tossed the strand of hair into the air which seemed to float for a 
second before slowly drifting down to the floor. Mora simply stepped 
around me, but not without a firm shoulder bump as she walked past. I 
staggered my feet to keep some balance and just looked down at the 
ground in frustration.
 
"You ready?" The voice suddenly appeared from behind. I jerked and 
turned around, Nikki was standing with gym bag in hand. I nodded 'yes', 
there was no way I was going to take a shower here tonight, I would take 
one back at my dorm room. "Give me a sec." and I began to go around 
cleaning up the locker room and collecting all of the girl's dirty uniforms. A 
few girls took the opportunity to fling them maliciously at my head when I 
got close enough, but I didn't say a word and swallowed my pride as I 
cleaned up. Nikki sat watching sympathetically but didn't help while there 
were still team members around, she knew the unspoken rules. I needed 
to carry this out myself.
 
During the walk out from the lockers, Nikki kept the pep-talk to a minimum 
as I seemed way to stressed by the whole event to probably even listen. 
 
"Where they serious about the shaving?" I suddenly asked, pausing at the 
entrance to my dorm room.
 
"I don't think so, maybe just to scare you." Nikki shrugged casually.
 
"Well it worked." I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Fucking laundry duty? 
Damn, that sucks, that really sucks!" I nervously laughed.
 
"Yeah." Nikki chuckled a little, "Nothing worse then having to pickup a 
bunch of dirty, smelly soccer uniforms. But don't worry about it." Nikki 
smiled reassuringly. But Nikki's smile suddenly faded as tears began to 
stream down my cheeks.
 
"Damn it." I sighed and my left hand came up to quickly brush away the 
tears, embarrassed I was letting the experience overwhelm me. Quickly 
Nikki stepped up and hugged me, embracing me for a few moments, not 
even saying a word.
 
"Thanks Nik." I sighed, "I don't know what I would do without you these 
past few weeks." I returned the hug with greater effort and for the very 
first time I questioned if anything between us would be the same, even 
something so simple as a hug now felt like something more.
 
Nikki's arms relaxed and she pulled away, "Thank you Corbin, for being 
my friend too."
 
Nervously I brushed my hair up over my ears and swiped her key card 
over the Card Reader to unlock the door, "Better take a shower."
 
"Talk to you tomorrow." Nikki smiled and turned away.
 
"Tomorrow." I mumbled and went inside.
 
**********

Even with that pep talk, I was fed up and pissed off for letting myself get 
dragged down recently and began lifting like a crazy woman. Arms, chest, 
shoulders, legs, and any and every muscle I could identify on a chart, I put 
it to work. I worked out about 2 hours a day, four or five days out of the 
week when time permitted. The more the girls on the Soccer team 
hazed/taunted/pushed me the harder I trained and lifted, but I could tell it 
was only a matter of time before a blow-up occurred with one or several of 
the girls on the team. 
 
It was during this time of becoming an 'athletic terror' (I don't think I really 
was, but I just like that phrase:) that I would finally met Dale face to face; 
he had just transferred and played football. In reality it was Dale that had 
frantically sought me out after seeing me that night at the bar. 
 
"Hi." I heard the voice from above as I sat on the workout bench, staring 
idly at the floor in between my reps.
 
'Fuck' I mumbled, prepared yet again to tell some guy to get lost, but my 
mouth and brain shut down when I looked up and saw Dale looking down 
at me with his sincere smile.
 
"I'm Dale." and he stuck his right hand, I gave a reluctant smile and 
reached out to take his hand. 

'Well you dummy.' I thought to myself, at least make an effort to get to 
know him. It was strange as I really DID want to get to know him.
 
"Look, I just wanted to say hi, I've seen you around school and maybe 
we'll run into each other again soon?"
 
"Have you already worked out?" I blurted out and suddenly was shocked to 
hear the words coming from my mouth, in fact I was almost up and off the 
bench but quickly sat back down, not wanting to appear too eager.
 
Dale just smiled and took my question to be an invitation. Dale and I began 
to lift every once in awhile, but like every guy, his concentration sucked, 
he would rather check out my ass, legs and tits although he tried valiantly 
not to. Yet, he seemed relaxed around me, which was a nice change of 
pace because so many guys acted inept or childish with their bantering small 
talk and stupid one-liners. It's not that Dale was naturally quiet, but he would 
rather not say anything then make stupid small talk, something that I very much 
appreciated. When he did start to open up, I found Dale to be smart, funny and 
he was gorgeous to boot, something that quickly became an issue as every single 
or semi-single girl suddenly began putting 'The Vibe' out there for him to pick 
up on. 'I'm not playing that game' I told myself, I had too much self respect to 
ever compete for a man, which seemed to spurn Dale on a bit further in my 
direction; the less I acted interested, the more he chased me. I had 
learned to play the dating game and didn't even realize I was involved with 
my first serious boyfriend at College, ironically I also wondered, 'Perhaps 
I am the one that needs a shot at redemption where socializing is 
concerned?' 
 
(Now before everyone thinks I have a swelled head, I do acknowledge 
there was allot of competition at this school, allot of gorgeous girl's that 
most likely could put me to shame. I don't know why he became so interested in 
me, well that's not fair, I have allot to offer, so why shouldn't he be 
interested in me!)
 
Dale stood 6'3" and was in incredible shape, he had to be 
agile and fast so 'bulking up' on muscles was not in his plan, all though he 
had plenty of them. Opportunity presented itself when Dale asked what I 
was doing after my morning workout; it was an opening for something 
social, so I casually sat down on the workout bench and looked across at 
him. His right leg bounced up and down nervously, Dale had heard that I 
rejected men with the ease of fly-swatting, almost in a nonchalant manner 
which could almost be perceived as being cruel. But his stress was 
overcome with relief when I shrugged and picked up my towel, "Heading 
back to my room to change, and then after that, who knows?" 
"You mind if I walk you back?" He asked.
 
"Sure." I smiled and stood to wipe down the padding on the weight bench. 
God he was nervous, it was so cute, I loved that and I loved flirting with 
him. For example, right before leaving I leaned over to pick up my gym 
bag and lingered as I bent over to collect my stuff, I knew he was staring 
at my butt but I didn't mind. Not that he was catching a peek show because 
I always wore my baggy, almost knee length track shorts.
 
That night we went on our first date we seemed to draw allot of attention 
as we walked into the establishment; Me in my long grey, form fitting 
slacks, with a black top contrasted my long blonde hair nicely. Dale looked 
extremely pleased with himself, walking into one of the local College 
restaurants with me on his arm. Although a date, if it could be called that 
because I kept him at arms length the whole night and only gave him a 
hug outside of my dorm room. (I knew he had an erection because I could 
feel it when he hugged me or there was something very big and scary 
down there.)
 
I was actually a nervous wreck on our second date, I had held Dale's hand 
on our first date, but I knew he would be closing in for a kiss on the 
second, something I had avoided the first time out. He had figured out 
that I was conservative based on my body language, again, he 
walked me to my dorm building, and he got the point when I didn't invite 
him up, once again, but he decided to make the bold move and see if things 
would progress further; "Mind if I kiss you goodnight?" He asked, I blushed 
and smiled, "Sure".
 
He leaned in and kissed me, it felt very nice, a tingle ran up my back and 
his arms went around pulling me in a little closer. I didn't even mind when 
he wanted to use his tongue (in fact I wanted him too). We french kissed 
for several minutes on the steps and felt myself leaning into him, wanting 
him to hold me, enjoying it, my body and mind suddenly spiraling into 
separate directions. Slowly I forced myself to pull away, not that I wanted 
to as I wanted to keep kissing him, it was nice different from Nikki in 
almost everyway. His mouth was forceful and probing and I allowed 
him to pursue me a little bit as my hands came up to his chest pushing a 
little. Wow, a shiver ran up my spine and now my nipples were extremely 
hard as I kept trying to disengage from the kiss. 
 
"Nice." I sighed and leaned away, "Thanks, I had a good time." 
 
"Thank you, can I call you for another date?" He asked excitedly.
 
"Why yes you may." I said in a mocking formal tone and we both laughed a 
little as my head came to rest on his shoulder while he pulled me in close.
 
(Ahhhhh thinking back on that night still brings a smile to my lips, my 
wonderful Dale:)
 
**********
 
I was starting to feel good again, actually I was starting to feel great. My 
body was in the best shape of my life, I now had strong, good looking 
muscles and was probably stronger then any girl on campus, but still not 
so strong emotionally at times. Evident when I was walking with Nikki one 
day and saw Sharon across the way in front of her Sorority house, having 
a huge social, I really missed her company.
 
On a social note, my dates with Dale were going fine, but I was stressed 
about the growing physical expectations he was having and I wished that I 
had Sharon here to talk with, believe it or not Sharon always had good 
straight forward advice about this sort of stuff.
 
**********
 
"You want to come up?" Dale asked as we pulled up in front of the 
apartment complex.  I knew I had to make a decision about what to do and if I 
wanted things to go further, up till now it had been about a month of hand 
holding and heavy kissing. 

"Okay." I said in an almost whispering voice. Nervously I ran my hands 
over my skirt as we walked up the stairs to his second floor apartment. 
'So odd' I thought, I felt so far away from home and so on my own now, 
like a grown woman figuring her way thru life. My heart pounded in my 
chest as I ascended the stairs, although I had been into the sparsely male 
decorated apartment before, this time it took on a whole new meaning as I 
knew his expectations about 'being-together' were building, but 
unfortunately, I couldn't relax which was draining all of the thrill and 
intimacy right out of me. And another odd feeling flooded thru me as I found 
myself wondering where Sharon was, and what she was doing.
 
"Would you like a drink?" Dale asked.
 
"No, I'm fine." I set my purse on the counter and nervously looked around. 
"Where's Steve?" I asked, making polite chit chat.
 
"Good question, not sure." Dale responded, typical of guys I thought, they 
failed to keep track of one another. I had chosen to wear a pleated thigh 
length skirt this evening, even with the chilly temperatures outside, but had 
a sweater on over my short long sleeve top. Sitting down on the sofa I 
leaned into him as he wrapped his left arm about my shoulder, it was 
warm and relaxing and for the first time that evening I was able to allow 
some of my anxieties to wash away. So much so, that I felt a slight nudge 
on my shoulder and blinked, my head bolting upright, "Huh?" my groggy 
voice called out.
 
"You fell asleep, do you want me to drive you home or would you 
rather stay here." He asked.
 
'There it was' I noted and tensed, blinking my eyes, I had never slept in a 
bed with a man before, even platonically. I was fearing the worse, but I 
was so sleepy and actually longed for some company tonight that I looked 
over at him to make 'a deal'.
 
"I don't mind sleeping over Dale, but no sex." I flat out said it, maybe it 
didn't come out the most diplomatic tone or way, but I wasn't known for 
being articulate where people's feeling were concerned.
 
Dale leaned back and feigned a little shock, when in all actuality I also 
detected a trace of disappointment, "Whatever you say, that fine 
with me." he hugged me and we stood up to walk down the hall to his 
bedroom while quickly he went about turning out the lights and TV. 
 
"I need something to sleep in." I looked around and Dale quickly fetched 
me some pajama bottoms, a top and walked me into the bathroom, "Here 
is an extra tooth brush, and it's never been used!" he said with a smile, I 
chuckled and nodded, "That's good to know". I shut the door and slid off 
my skirt and top, putting the flannel pajama top and pants on, it was really 
sort of cool sleeping over with my boyfriend and felt a sense of pride that I 
could call him that. 'No no no' I reminded myself, 'He is the lucky one.' I 
recited to myself over and over. Dale was already in bed, and the first 
thing that I noticed was he wasn't wearing a top, and I hoped he at least 
had boxers on under the covers. Nervously I pulled my hair back as I 
walked around the bed, "Pretty sexy, huh?" I smiled nervously as I tugged 
on the long pajama bottoms with my fingers.

"With you in them they are." Dale smiled and pulled the sheets back, I 
crawled in and snuggled up close to him.
 
"I'm glad I put clean sheets on today." He laughed.
 
"Yeah, me too." I smiled, I felt his right hand roam over my stomach and 
discreetly slip under my top, coming to rest on my bare stomach, his 
fingers tracing the outline of my abs. It felt good as I enjoyed the 
sensation of his touch.
 
"Can I see?" He asked.
 
"Oh, uhm sure." I nervously smiled and pulled back the sheets, he 
unbuttoned the bottom two buttons of my shirt to reveal my abs. Leaning 
over he kissed my stomach several times sending small flutters up thru my 
tummy, "God I love this body." He sighed and a thrill went up thru me at 
having someone pay so much attention to me even it was purily 
physical almost like he was worshipping me. And I really didn't mind it.
'Okay that's enough.' I thought, wanting to make sure things didn't go too 
far, and then I actually said it aloud and playfully pushed his head aside 
while covering up my tummy. He laughed a little rolled back over, sort of 
going with the whole thing I guess, but I could tell his male drive wanted to 
keep touching and fondling.
 
As for me, it was just an exhilarating rush to sleep over at some guy's 
House. 'My Boyfriend's place' that is, as I thought of it now. But it was just 
the idea of Dale courting me that made me feel like a pampered girl, it was 
invigorating. 'So why am I laying here, falling asleep, wondering what is 
going on with Sharon? And Nikki...and...'
 
********** 
 
"Well, I'm impressed." Nikki sighed.
 
"About?" I smiled and looked over.
 
"You and Dale." Nikki replied.
 
"What can I say." I said as if it was no big deal, trying to be a little vain 
but ended up laughing and blushing over the whole topic.
 
"Are you two?" Nikki smiled mischievously.
 
"Married?" I smirked with a sarcastic tone.
 
"I'm jealous." Nikki sighed and walked over, gently touching me on the 
shoulder, massaging my muscles.
 
"Jealous? You serious?" I blushed again and looked down at the ground, 
quickly glancing up at Nikki's eyes.
 
"A little." She shrugged, "Not sure why. I have a boyfriend too, isn't that 
odd." Nikki said, seemingly lost in thought as her left hand lightly touched 
my right arm and shoulder. 
 
I turned around and pulled Nikki into my arms, "Come here." I whispered 
and pulled her toward me. Nikki smiled broadly as we both awkwardly fell 
back onto my bed. There was an innocent joy in these moments I thought, 
I had somehow set aside my anxieties over being physical when it came to 
another woman. 'It feels good, safe, relaxing.' I thought with a smile and our 
embrace was soon replaced with a deep kiss, the most intense yet as we 
slathered our tongues deeply into one another's mouths, holding and 
kissing one another when Nikki grabbed my butt with both hands pulling 
me in tight.
 
"Sometimes I want you all to myself." Nikki sighed into my open mouth.
 
"You do?" I moaned.
 
"I do." She whispered.
 
**********
  
Dating Dale had its own new experiences that I had never anticipated for. 
The most stressful being a trip over to Dale's apartment after Soccer 
practice one day. I had shown up at a pre-arranged time, although Dale's 
car was nowhere in the parking lot, but I went up to the apartment 
anyway. Steve was there and answered the door inviting me in, now I 
didn't know Steve all that well, but he seemed like a decent enough guy. 
Steve stood about 5'10" with unkept red hair, but otherwise a fairly tidy 
person like Dale, 'Thank god' I thought as I could be such a stickler for 
neatness.
 
"You just get off from practice?" Steve asked, eyeing my soccer uniform, 
actually I watched his eyes continue to trail down towards my legs often.
 
"Yep." I said and sat down at the Kitchen table, while Steve had gone back 
into the living room to watch TV but slowly turned his attention back to me 
when I asked, "Dale running late?" while checking my cell phone to see if 
there were any messages.
 
"Just a little, he should be home any second." Steve looked over at me 
again and then cut off the TV. "You can fix yourself something to eat or 
drink if you like, just help yourself." He called out, now his full attention 
was directed towards me.
 
"Thanks." I replied and picked at a piece of tattered string coming off my 
shorts. I knew Steve had a hard time figuring me out, because of my 
typical one-word answers, I guess to him he might as well be talking to a 
brick wall. I looked up from picking at my dirty shorts and saw him 
walking towards the kitchen table, it caught me a little off guard but didn't 
give me any grave concerns at the moment. I really didn't have any bad 
vibes from being around Steve, but this was the first time I ever been 
really alone with him.
 
"You weight lift?" Steve pulled out a chair to my left and sat down. 

'Oh great...' I thought, '...is he going to grill me now?'
 
"Some." I answered and was trying to change mental gears into my 'Social 
Mode' for some conversation, if that is what he was expecting.
 
"How much can you lift and such?" He leaned forward, folding his arms 
casually in front of him.
 
"Oh, I don't really keep track of that sort of stuff, I just try and stay in 
shape." I smiled and tried to brush off the pursuit of any more question 
about that topic of conversation. Steve watched my every movement, 
even under the smudges of sweat and dirt he seemed fascinated with me.
 
"Oh come on, you don't keep track?" He scoffed at the thought, "As 
dedicated as you are, it's hard for me to believe that you don't have some 
idea." he probed.
 
I shifted in the seat a little and let out a small, indistinguishable sigh of 
annoyance, "Not really, I keep track of everything up here." and pointed to 
my forehead with a smile.
 
"So, how serious are you with Dale?" Steve suddenly shifted questions 
again, catching me off guard a bit.
 
"What?" My mouth opened with puzzlement, I understood the question, but 
was a little surprised he was being so forward.
 
"You know what I mean, I notice you've been coming over allot more, so I 
figure that you two must be getting pretty serious." He smiled and seemed 
amused that I was stumbling over my words.
 
"Well, were dating, but serious, I mean if your asking are we committed 
to dating one another, I assume yes, we haven't really discussed it in 
length." It dawned on me that it was a good point, I had never demanded 
nor asked that we date exclusively, I just 'assumed' we were at that 
point.
 
"So maybe your unsure at this point? So there might be an opportunity for 
something else?" He raised his eyebrows and totally shocked me as his right hand 
reached out, his palm coming to rest on my left knee that was folded over my 
right leg. 
 
(I am still shocked by how I reacted to Steve's forward behavior, maybe 
embarrassed when I look back on it, and I know I freaked Steve out by 
my reaction, as you will see.)