Chapter 7

Jack woke early on Saturday feeling the effects of a bad hangover. Friday had started well. He'd gotten up late and gone to class where he sat with Denise. They didn't have much of a chance to talk before class as she was late getting there. They talked for a few minutes and Denise had mentioned that she had to change to meet him at the gym so Jack had decided to return to his apartment. He came home, had lunch and then met Denise at the student recreation center for their work out at 2 p.m.

She'd impressed him with her physical conditioning. She did weights with him - she did lower weights with similar repetitions - and than had showed him some different abdominal exercises that he was sure would help tone his "love handles". After all that, they had gotten on the new treadmills to do conditioning. That was where Denise had impressed him the most. He couldn't keep up with her. She had run at a clip of eight and a half minutes per mile, easily outdistancing Jack over the course of thirty minutes. Jack's personal best was just under nine minutes for a mile. It had been a good workout, and Jack enjoyed it more knowing that with Denise there was none of the competitiveness that was apparent with his male friends.

Jack had gone home about 3:45 to shower with full intentions of doing homework; things didn't happen that way. Upon arriving at his apartment, he found Craig bringing a pony keg of beer and a large plastic trash can, up the stairs to set up for a party. Craig's plan was to place it in the shower behind the shower door so that it wouldn't be as noticeable if the party got busted. Groaning, Jack convinced his roommate to hold off for a few minutes so he could take a shower. Having washed away the sweat, Jack helped Craig move the heavy keg into a large plastic trashcan in the shower, and moved his valuable stuff into his locked bedroom. Jack noticed at this point that once again his other four roommates were conspicuous in their absence.

Around five, people started to show up and by six that evening the party was in full swing. Jack imbibed heavily from the keg, as did Craig and several other people. The party continued until the beer started to run out around 8:30 that evening. People left to find another party at that point, and Jack drank some water to help with his dehydration. After most of them left, Craig pulled out another case of beer that he had somehow kept cold in his room to share with the four people plus Jack that were left. A couple more guys left after having a few more beers, and the remaining partiers sat down to play cards.

Craig supplied the poker chips and cigars, Jack supplied the deck of cards and lighting up, they began to play. Over the next hour, they polished off the extra case of beer and all the cigars. The last two of Craig's friends left around midnight, while Jack and Craig polished off the last two beers. Knowing he might be suffering in the morning, Jack had attempted to alleviate his hangover by drinking several glasses of water. At nine the next morning, it was obvious that it hadn't helped. Then again, maybe it did and he was just too sick to notice.

Jack's mouth felt like it was stuffed with cotton and his head was pounding. He also had to go to the bathroom, but wasn't sure he wanted to walk that far. He rolled over in his bed to see what time showed on his clock and it suddenly flooded back to him. He had an hour and a half to get rid of his hangover and pick up Denise for their movie. Groaning in frustration, Jack levered himself out of bed and staggered to the bathroom. Rummaging around in the drawers, he found his bottle of aspirin. Grabbing four tablets, he wandered into the kitchen and poured himself a large glass of water. Having washed the aspirin down, Jack set about making himself some instant oatmeal, hoping that the soft food would help to settle his stomach. Heating the cereal in the microwave, Jack wolfed it down and headed for the shower. Behind the shower door, he discovered the now empty keg floating in the trashcan full of melted ice.

With a groan, Jack muscled the trashcan out of the shower stall to the other side of the bathroom, and turned on the water. He took as long a time as he dared in the hot shower, trying to relax the various aches that came up from his workout with Denise the previous day. Mainly his abs hurt, and there was almost no way of getting the hot water from the showerhead directed at them. Giving up, Jack finally exited the shower and took his towel to dry off.

Having shaved and brushed his teeth, Jack found himself feeling a little better. His headache was beginning to fade - it was just a little loud battle instead of a full-scale war behind his eyes - and his stomach certainly felt better. Looking at the clock, he now had about twenty minutes to pick up Denise. He had looked over her written instructions the night before and discovered that she lived about ten minutes away, but in the opposite direction from the mall where the movie was showing. Growling to himself, Jack yanked on a pair of blue jean shorts and a gray tee shirt. Finding his keys, Jack left the apartment at 10:30 and headed to his car so he could pick up Denise.

Denise, on the other hand, woke up feeling really good at 8:30. She had enjoyed working out with Jack, especially when she found out how much better her conditioning was compared to his. He had been very receptive to her suggestions regarding working his abs. He had also been very helpful to her with some suggestions regarding weight-training exercises. She had also never felt any competitiveness coming from him, and the lack of overbearing testosterone was comforting. She had never gotten to work out with a guy who didn't take offense about how much she knew. Denise had left the gym with Jack, and had come home to an empty apartment. She took a long hot bubble bath to relax and was sitting at her desk studying, in her robe, when Renee came home. The first thing Renee did was to remind Denise that it was her turn to make dinner. She hadn't planned anything and when Renee casually mentioned that John was coming, she realized that she had to get dressed again, as well as make enough for three. Grumbling a bit about being comfortable, she grabbed a pair of jeans, bra, and tank top and got decent again.

John came by around 6:30 bearing a bottle of red wine. In the meantime, Denise had decided on spaghetti with garlic bread for dinner. Being in the mood to cook, she had also made a vodka and coffee liqueur cake for dessert. The cake had just come out of the oven when they sat down to eat. John had been very complimentary about her cooking and the three of them had polished off the bottle of wine over dinner. Renee than decided to pull out a movie and she and John had invited Denise to watch with them. Having come to the conclusion that she'd done enough studying and deserved some relaxation time, as well as having a slight buzz from the wine, Denise had agreed.

The movie had been typical of Renee's taste, a lot of action, weak plot, lots of T and A, and massive amounts of carnage. Denise had enjoyed it to a point, but usually she preferred her movies to be either completely realistic or complete fantasy. When a movie tried to take itself seriously, and pass itself off as believable without being so, she usually lost interest rather quickly. However, she had enjoyed relaxing with John and Renee, and the movie hadn't been that bad. After it was over, Denise excused herself and went to her room as John and Renee decided to stay up and watch TV. Tired, she took out her lenses and crawled into bed.

Denise had been awakened about an hour later, hearing the sounds of John and Renee having sex in the living room. It sounded as though they were trying to be quiet, but not succeeding. Aroused, she'd crept across her room and masturbated with her ear to the door, quietly bringing herself off twice before going back to bed. She'd woken up again, about 2 a.m. to use the bathroom. While sitting in there, she'd found herself thinking about John and Renee and what they might be doing right now. After finishing in the bathroom, she'd stripped off her nightshirt and fingered herself off again.

Denise had finally gotten out of bed around 9 am and headed for the shower, reveling in her naked state. She relaxed under the warm spray and enjoyed the feeling of warm water cascading down her nubile body. Having shampooed her hair, Denise lathered up and shaved her legs. Checking her bikini line and armpits, she did a little touching up and then exited the shower.

She spent a long time in the bathroom preening and putting on a little make-up, before returning to her room to get dressed. Pulling out the skimpy black thong, she pulled it on. Finding the matching black demi-bra, she put it on and took the blouse off the hanger in her closet. Looking in the mirror, she noticed that the straps would show if she wore the navy blouse off the shoulders. With a perturbed look on her face, Denise took off the bra. Looking it over, she noticed that the shoulder straps could actually be removed in both the front and back. She did this and was delighted to find that the bra still fit and was now all but invisible under the blouse. Digging through her drawers, Denise located some black thigh high stockings to wear underneath the skirt - she abhorred pantyhose - and pulled them on along with the skirt to finish getting dressed. She was just finishing her make up when Jack knocked on the door.

Jack was still feeling hung over as he drove into Denise's apartment complex's parking lot. The aspirin had helped numb his headache, but his mouth still felt dried out, like he'd been in the desert for thirty days without an oasis. Determined to put on a good front, he forced a smile and walked up the stairs to Denise's apartment. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door.

Denise opened the door a moment later and greeted Jack with a large smile, "Good morning, how are you doing?"

"Honestly, I've been better," Jack replied, "but now that I've seen you, I'm deciding that I'm ok, if underdressed."

"Oh this outfit? Don't go getting changed on my account. I just wanted to look nice when you came to pick me up," Denise replied, trying to blow off Jack's discomfort while simultaneously being very pleased that he'd noticed her borrowed outfit.

"Well, I feel like I should have brought flowers or something," Jack mumbled, feeling very out of place, in spite of the fact that they were just going to a movie.

Denise laughed and grabbed her purse. She took his hand as she closed the door and pulled him towards the stairs. "C'mon, let's go, or we'll be late," she cajoled.

Jack and Denise walked hand in hand down the stairs. Jack had been a little taken aback by her forward behavior, but managed to regain his composure and remembered to open the car door for her. Once she was settled, Jack walked around the car, and taking another deep breath, settled in to drive to the theater.

Denise was very animated during the fifteen-minute drive, constantly jabbering about school, her friends and what she had done the night before. Jack contented himself with listening, or appearing to listen and trying to chase the hangover from his mind. Upon arriving at the parking lot, Jack once again held the door for Denise. She had promptly grabbed his hand and practically dragged him into the mall. Finding the theater, Denise led Jack to the guest services and requested two tickets held for Mitchell. The overworked theater employee produced them a moment later, directed them to the snack bar and indicated that the actual auditorium was to the left of the snack bar.

"Do you want to get some popcorn," asked Jack as they approached the counter, "and something to drink?"

"Yeah, let's get a big tub of popcorn with butter and I would love a diet Coke," enthused Denise.

Jack chuckled, "I love it when a girl wants diet Coke to go with thousand calorie buttered popcorn."

Denise looked hostile for a moment before she realized that he was kidding. Shaking her head, she replied, "It's not that I have to drink the diet stuff, I just like the taste."

Jack made gagging noises at her. When they reached the counter however, he ordered her a large diet with the large buttered popcorn, while getting a large sprite for himself. Denise took one look at the size of her drink and started laughing.

"I'm going to have to go to the bathroom ten times during the movie if I drink all of that."

Jack gave her an evil grin, "Oh really, and you know what else... it's got more than one stinking calorie too!"

Smacking him lightly on the shoulder, Denise found some straws and claimed her drink. Jack had to let go of her other hand to take the popcorn and his soda. Smiling, Denise led the way into the rapidly filling theater, swishing her hips a bit for Jack's benefit. An action that went all but unnoticed by the hung over Jack. Finding the last two seats that were together, about midway up the right side, Jack and Denise sat down and placed the drinks in the provided cup holders. Denise then lifted the middle armrest and placed the popcorn tub between them.

"This way I'll make sure I get some," she teased.

"Actually, you can have it all," Jack replied, "I'm not sure my stomach can take it today."

"Why not," Denise queried worried, "don't you feel well?"

"To tell you the truth, one of my roommates held a party last night and I'm kind of hung over. I apologize for not being myself."

Denise looked sympathetic. "Would you like some Advil, I think I've got some in my bag."

Jack thought for a minute, than replied, "Yeah, if it's not too much bother."

Denise rooted through her bag and pulled out a small bottle. Jack took the bottle from her and after debating for a minute, popped the top and dumped out two pills. He promptly washed them down with a large swig of soda.

"Thanks," he told her as he handed back the small white bottle, "I'm sorry that I'm in such bad shape, but I didn't know about the party until I got home from the gym yesterday. I probably shouldn't have drunk so much knowing that we were getting together today. You know how it is though, you think that just having a few to be social is ok and before you know it, it's 3 a.m. and you're drunk."

"Don't worry, it happens to the best of us," Denise responded sympathetically. She had just returned the pills to her purse when the lights began to dim.

They both enjoyed the movie, but Jack found it hard to concentrate with Denise sitting so close to him. He could feel her moving around a bit, and their hands met more than once in the popcorn tub. When they had finished it off, Jack moved it to the floor. Seeing him move it, Denise slid over a little closer, claiming that it would allow her to see better. Jack didn't say anything about her obvious intentions and slipped his arm around her shoulders. When he placed his arm, Denise immediately snuggled up against him.

The mixture of her soft flesh and her sensuous perfume was becoming intoxicating to Jack. He found that the contact of her bare shoulders under his arm, her head against his shoulder and the feel of her soft breasts pushing into his side was giving him an erection. Trying to relax, he drank more of his soda and tried to move as little as possible. As the movie was ending, Denise pulled back to her seat, causing Jack to remove his arm. They both watched the credits as the theater emptied.