Chapter 13: Jade

Monday, January 16, 2023

Stepping onto campus the first day after a break was an interesting experience. My winter vacation had brainwashed me into forgetting all the torturous exams, papers, and finals I went through at the end of the last semester. And worse than that, for some insane reason, walking to my physiology class on day one of the new semester, I was excited. My study group had all gotten into the same classes at the same times this year. Since baseball season was starting in a month, the non-baseball players decided to arrange our schedules to match those who played. So I would know at least nine other people in all six courses I was taking.

Fanny met me outside the building wearing warm leggings, a heavy coat, and an even cuter smile. She waved as I approached.

“How are you tan?” I asked her as I drew closer. “That is seriously not fair.”

“I know!” she answered. “I just got back two days ago from Costa Rica.”

We hugged and kissed cheeks. Fanny’s eyes twinkled brightly at me, her hint of a crush still apparent, though perhaps not as strong as it had been last semester. Maybe absence did not make the heart grow fonder in our case. She linked arms with me, and we marched into the sciences building together and found that two seats had already been saved for us by the rest of our group.

The last time I had chatted with Fanny was just after her threesome during the break. As agreed, everybody reported to me their scores. I had scored highest out of the group, but I didn’t count because I was still dating Kitt at the time. The next highest scores belonged to Drew, Phillip, Danny, and Hannah. Fanny chose Phillip and Drew.

Both accepted the invite without knowing who else was involved, only the genders of those involved, which I found pretty impressive. Everything after that was out of my hands other than telling them the place and time of the event. But oh, how I wished I could have been a fly on the wall to watch the three of them go at it. Fanny reported to me later that everything had gone very well.

Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays would be long days as I had most of my classes on those days. Tuesdays and Thursdays were much shorter as I only had a lab in the morning and Intro to Health Sciences before noon. It only took two days of class to realize that another person also happened to share my schedule: Velma.

Having all of my classes with Velma meant she and I would be working more together at the library because Marjorie, our boss, determined our work schedules based on what availability our classes gave us.

We had our first group study session on Tuesday afternoon before baseball practice. Travis was the first one to bring up the mystery threesome. “So, do we get to find out who it was?”

“Obviously not you,” Hannah said, catching my eye and giving me a covert smile.

“Maybe I’m just pretending,” Travis suggested.

“I thought we agreed to keep it a secret to avoid jealousy,” I reminded him. “If somebody wants to tell you privately that he or she was involved, they can, but nobody should reveal whether or not anybody else besides themselves were in it.”

“Or maybe we just shouldn’t even ask about it,” Phillip said.

Most everybody else nodded. Travis sighed and shook his head. “Fine. Fine. I still think we should have a system where everyone can be rewarded.”

Fanny spoke up, “What about an orgy?”

Every head at the study table turned toward her.

“I mean, starting this week, we’re all going to be hooking up with each other. I’ve had sex with at least three other people in the group. And I know I’m not the only one. What if we have an orgy at the semester’s end for everyone still on target to make the pre-med track?”

“All in favor of an end-of-semester orgy?” I asked.

Every hand went up one by one, with Gretchen’s being the first and Sarah’s being the last.

“Fuck yeah,” the cheerleader said, “Let’s get studying!”

“But we’re still doing our hookup system, right?” Travis asked.

My cheeks burned as I said, “Well, about that ... I am not sure if you all will want me running it anymore since I am now ... single.”

I glanced around the table to see expressions ranging from hungry to sympathetic. And it shocked me which faces wore the hungriest expressions. Hannah and Fanny looked at me like a medium-rare steak slapped onto their dining plates. Travis and Danny just smirked at each other.

“I am sorry to hear that,” Drew said in his deep, African accent.

“Thank you, Drew,” I said. “The issue is I don’t have any ideas or ways for us to create hookups anonymously. So unless everybody is okay with me continuing to organize them and including myself in the mix, we’ll have to go back to the drawing board.”

Travis cleared his throat. “I, for one, am very confident you will do a great job for us this semester.”

Snickers came from multiple people, and pretty soon, we were all laughing.

“Okay,” I said, “I’ll do it. But if there are any issues, please let me know.”

I was hesitant to announce I was also interested in hookups with the group because I’d had a long talk with my dad over the winter break. He had pulled me aside a few nights after I broke up with Kitt. During our chat, he said he thought I should take some time off from relationships of a physical nature to figure out who I was. He also suggested I had been sexually active for so long I couldn’t function without sexual release. I thanked him for his advice and told him I would consider it.

But the truth was, I liked sex, and it was a great way to burn off stress. I never thought of myself as needing it. And when I looked around at my study group, it was full of relatively mature people who seemed to approach it with common sense and an unemotional viewpoint. Maybe this was what I needed.

Speaking of my study group, our first study session went great. Everybody seemed to have renewed enthusiasm and energy. We already knew our strengths and weaknesses as individuals and as a group, so we were able to cater to those needs specifically. After our session ended, I headed downstairs to work.

As I logged in, Marjorie came out of her office and approached me. “Can you come to my office for a quick word?”

I followed her into the back of the library, and she closed the door behind us. “Sit.”

I took the chair opposite her desk. “What’s up?”

Marjorie was a lovely woman of about forty. When I first met her, I would have guessed she was around thirty. No kids and never married. Perhaps that stress-free life was what kept her looking younger. She dressed impeccably, highlighted her dark blonde hair every three months, and showed off her green-brown eyes with fashionable rimless glasses. She didn’t mingle with the student employees much. She stayed in her office, often reading medical texts despite being a librarian.

“I wanted you to know,” she said, taking off her glasses and looking at me, “I am considering you and Velma for the position of assistant librarian when Marcos finishes the semester. Next year will be his fourth year, and he wants to focus on boards and interviews. So, I will need someone who is around more to take his spot. He will continue to work here, but he’ll take less hours. Since you and Velma will be around for a while and both work the most, it makes sense it should be one of you. Are you interested?”

“Sure! Does it come with a raise?”

Marjorie gave me a rare smile. “Yes. And a bit more hours. Velma is also interested. I’ll keep an eye on both of you and make my decision in March or April, so you’ll have time to train with Marcos. Any questions?”

“No,” I said. “Thank you for considering me. I think I’d do a great job.”

Marjorie’s smile grew. “As do I. That will be all.”

I left the office and returned to work. Velma watched me as I left the office and returned to the checkout desk.

“How was your Christmas break?” Velma asked me. “Or do you call it winter break because you don’t believe in God?”

“I believe in God,” I said. “My break was fine. How was yours?”

Velma narrowed her eyes and answered in a snippy voice, “Fine.” Then she left the desk for the restroom.

Marcos was already studying. His dental classes had started a week before ours. He looked up at me and nodded when our eyes met. “Just so you know, I’m recommending you for the job.”

I beamed back at him. “I love you, Marcos.”

He just chuckled and went back to his studying. When Velma returned from the restroom a moment later, Marjorie popped her head out of the office and gave everybody at the desk her fakest smile. “Somebody needs to go put books back, please.”

I hated the way Marjorie stretched her please for three seconds.

Marcos looked at me and Velma. “I’ve been doing it all last week without the two of you.”

Velma grumbled. “I’ll do it.” She got up from her chair and sauntered over to the book cart. A few seconds later, she came back. “There’s at least a hundred books there. Literally. I’m not doing all that by myself.”

“It’s not my turn,” Marcos reminded her.

I wondered if Velma would deign to ask me for help. Her eyes rolled over to me, staring. “You sure you want my help?” I asked. “Are you sure you won’t catch my lesbianism?”

Marcos laughed again, his shy, quiet chuckle. Velma did sometimes go to extreme lengths to avoid touching me. “Good luck,” he hissed as I walked past him.

I stayed behind Velma as she pushed the book cart through the aisles. Velma was an adorable girl with sun-bleached hair and a great caboose displayed in tight denim, which I stared at as I followed her. She wasn’t thick like a lot of the girls who played softball. She was toned, well-proportioned, with strong legs and shoulders. Velma seemed to sense my gaze on her derriere and paused, looking over her shoulder suspiciously. I smiled innocently back at her.

“Stop staring at my butt,” Velma said in her southern drawl of an accent.

“I wasn’t,” I lied.

“I know I have a great butt. Believe me. I get told so all the time.”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“Sure...”

“Who’s the last person to tell you you have a great butt?” I asked.

“My boyfriend,” Velma said as if this new piece of information was the most obvious thing in the world. “In Georgia.”

We put books away for several minutes without speaking. I broke the silence when I asked the question which had been nagging at me. “How does anyone know if they have a great butt?”

“Excuse me?” Velma asked.

“How can you know? You can’t see it. I’ve had people tell me I have a cute butt. Is it true? Do I?”

Velma raised an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t know. I’m not a lesbian, so I’m not checking out your butt.”

I huffed audibly. “Velma, I’m not interested in you. I don’t like you.”

“But you’re a lesbian.”

“That doesn’t mean I like every girl I see!” I hissed. “Do you like every guy you meet?”

“No!” Velma exclaimed.

“Well?”

Velma responded by picking up another stack of books and marching away from me.

I watched her butt again gleefully. When we met at the cart again, I pressed on. “It’s just ... I thought you were a virgin. You know, being so hardcore Christian and whatnot.”

“I am a virgin,” Velma replied.

“You said you have a boyfriend in Georgia. The two of you don’t ... do stuff?”

“It works well for us being far apart because we’re saving ourselves for marriage.”

“Then how have guys seen your butt?” I knew the answer, of course. Bathing suits, yoga pants, tight jeans. All of them would tell a man exactly what kind of booty a girl was packing. I just wanted to hear what she had to say about it because hearing her talk about butts and getting embarrassed about it was genuinely entertaining.

“There are ... other things I can do besides vaginal sex.” Velma said vaginal sex like it was a filthy phrase. Deep purple splotches appeared on her cheeks, and her eyes refused to meet mine.

“Oh my gosh,” I said. “You’re talking about—”

“I’m saving my special place for my future husband.”

I had to bite my lip to stop myself from laughing. “That makes sense. Wow. Yeah. That’s incredible.”

Velma beamed brightly and picked up more books. “Are you a virgin? In your special place? And you can be a virgin even if a girl has put fingers or foreign objects into you. I checked with my pastor for you during the break.”

“I’m not a virgin. And for the record, I’m actually bi. Not lesbian. I had a boyfriend.”

“Oh, right. Chet.”

“Kitt,” I corrected.

“When you were dating him and your girlfriend. How did that end up? Are you with either one of them now?”

I gritted my teeth and shook my head.

“Oh. That’s not really a surprise, though. I mean, a relationship in sin isn’t likely to work out.”

I stared at my coworker before responding. “That’s rude, Velma.”

“Is it?” Velma didn’t seem sorry at all.

“It was. And for the record, I was checking out your ass.”

Velma blushed and turned around. “In the name of the Lord, please stop talking to me.” Then she hurried off with her stack of books to shelve.

She and I didn’t speak again for the rest of our shift. This was not an abnormal occurrence. Marjorie did call me into her office and reprimanded me for telling Velma I’d been “staring at her behind.” I argued that Velma had been rude and homophobic toward me, so I only said it to get under her skin. This didn’t matter. I received a written warning for sexual harassment and had to sign a form stating that any further harassment would result in termination and possible disciplinary action by the university. Fortunately, Velma also received a similar warning about homophobic behavior and language. This did not make me feel any better. I left work in a foul mood. When I got home, I fell face-first onto my bed and lay motionless for several minutes.

I was stirred when somebody knocked on my apartment door. It was Drew. I forgot that I had hooked us up tonight when sending out the connections. I opened the door and invited him inside my place. I decided I wanted to start with Drew because he was the quietest of all the guys in our group and the one I trusted most to be discreet in case this was the only time I did a hookup.

“How was your evening, Jade?” he asked politely in his African accent.

“Busy. Working. What about you? How was practice?”

Drew sighed. “Very long. Coach has us doing a lot of conditioning drills on top of the fielding and batting practices. He is determined to make it to the College World Series this year. Last year, the team reached Super Regionals and lost.”

Thinking about Drew practicing and showering afterward made me uncomfortably aware that I had not showered since this morning, and I probably didn’t smell fantastic after a day of class, studying, and work. “Would you mind if I took a quick shower to freshen up?” I asked Drew. “You can relax or help yourself to my fridge while you wait.”

Drew nodded. “Not to worry. I can play a game on my phone while waiting.”

I hurried into my little bathroom, soaped off, and dried. Before slipping into a robe, I misted myself with body spray. Drew’s face almost broke in half with his grin when I came out in a robe.

“You are very beautiful, Jade,” he said. “I have always thought so.”

My cheeks burned at his compliment. “And I have always thought you are quite handsome.”

Drew leaned toward me, his much taller body very close. He bent his head down and kissed my cheek. “And you smell very nice.”

“Do I?” The question came out in a throaty tone.

Drew whispered. “Yes.”

I shivered, but not from the cold. Then I sat on my sofa. “This is my first time hooking up with somebody I’m not dating,” I admitted. “What about you?”

“This is my second time.” Drew grinned with embarrassment but sat next to me. “My first was with Fanny and Phillip, which you helped to organize.”

“And how was it?”

He looked at the ceiling as the right words were written up there for him to spot. “Different. A little scary. But an experience. I had a girlfriend for three years before coming to America to play baseball. We tried a far distance relationship, but it ended in November.”

“A long-distance relationship.”

“Yes, that.”

“My relationship of about three years also ended in November. If your breakup was anything like mine, you must still be disoriented.”

“I thought she was the woman I would marry. Now I don’t know what direction my life will go.”

I knew exactly what he was talking about. “It’s hard to go from a sense of direction to turmoil. But it’s also a little exciting.”

“Yes. But mostly terrifying.”

We both laughed. Finding something in common with Drew had done wonders for my nerves. I looked into his face and saw a handsome young man.

“Hopefully, this exploring will help us find a little calm in the storm,” I commented, but I didn’t believe my words.

“Hopefully,” Drew said so softly I barely heard him.

“Would you like to smell more of me?” I breathed. “My only rule is no kissing on the lips. Okay?”

Drew nodded as his hands went into my robe and pushed the fabric until it slipped off my shoulders and pooled around my butt. “Yes and yes.”

He leaned down and kissed my cheek, jawline, and neck. He inhaled the scent of my hair and skin.

It was both exciting and uncomfortable sitting naked in front of Drew while he remained dressed in jeans and a hoodie bearing our university logo for baseball. Usually, he was shy and avoided eye contact, but at this moment, he surveyed my body with apparent want. I slid my hands under his hoodie and tugged it upwards. He helped me bare his chest.