Chapter 23

Denise scowled to herself as she stared at her computer organization homework. She'd run the gamut of emotions with this class in the past six weeks, going from expecting an A to hoping to get a C. Denise had signed up for the class because it was on the only hardware class offered and she'd hoped to find that it was highly technical, dealing with networking and the communication of various parts of the hardware with each other. Instead she was finding it to be a class about how the computer interpreted instructions sent through the processor. Basically the material was very dry and somewhat boring, although not terribly difficult. Unfortunately, the dry material often caused Denise to fall asleep while studying, even while she was seated at her desk, making it hard to complete her assignments. The fact that her book was last printed four years ago didn't sit well with her either.

How the hell am I supposed to learn anything when the book is describing processors that are five years old or more, she wondered angrily, glaring at her paper.

Naturally her frustration with the class and her homework stemmed from something else entirely. Since their return from Panama City, Denise had seen very little of Jack. He'd been very distracted by school and his subsequent new work schedule. Since he'd been so busy working on Computer classes, Jack now had a semester that was requiring him to take some other electives to fill out his degree. The problem was that he had only taken one science course with a lab and needed four total, so Jack was stuck taking both Physics I and Biology I this fall, along with a technical writing English class and Java programming, giving him 16 hours of classes. With his lab for Physics on Monday afternoon, the biology lab portion on Tuesday evening and working Thursday and Friday nights at the library, Jack had very little time to spend with his girlfriend. They usually met on Wednesday evening for a quick dinner when Denise got off her job in the computer lab - she'd picked up some hours as a lab monitor to bring in some extra cash - but Jack often had only a hour or so to spend with her as he would have homework to do, either writing his computer programs or doing problems for Physics.

Denise, to her credit, had not let on how much it bothered her to be only seeing her boyfriend two to three hours a week. They tried to get together on Saturday nights, but usually Jack was so dead tired that he didn't want to do anything requiring too much thought. As a result, they often rented movies and ate in. At least Jack would cook once in a while, but he usually fell asleep watching whatever movie they'd picked. On Sunday's he would spend part of the day with Denise, usually they would have breakfast, and study for a few hours before watching part of a football game and he would go back to his apartment around five in the afternoon.

Denise scowled harder as she realized that she could count on one hand the number of times they'd actually had sex since coming back from the beach. It wasn't fair, she thought, I have this great boyfriend and I'm getting laid less than when I wasn't dating at all. God, I should just take Renee up on her offer, she thought glumly. The knock on her door roused her from the beginnings of depression.

"Yeah," she called.

"Hey," answered Renee, "you ready to eat? The food is going to be ready in five minutes."

"Ok, I'm coming," replied Denise as she shut her book. Pushing back from her desk, Denise wandered into her bathroom to wash her hands before heading out to the kitchen where her roommate was in the process of finishing a stir-fry chicken dish.

Denise entered the kitchen to find that rather than stir-fry chicken and vegetables, Renee had in fact made chicken tacos. Denise shrugged and began loading two taco shells with chicken, cheese, fresh tomatoes and salsa. Once she'd filled the shells, Denise looked at her plate and decided that she was actually hungry and really needed two more tacos. She filled an additional two shells with meat, cheese, salsa and tomatoes before joining her roommate at the table. Sitting down, Denise began to methodically eat her tacos, not offering Renee so much as a smile.

Renee stifled a sigh. She knew that Denise was having a hard time with her classes and with Jack's inability to find time to spend with her. Renee was really sympathetic about the whole Jack thing since things had once again turned sour with John, but Denise was being extremely closed mouth about everything at this point. Renee didn't want to pry and was afraid that if she tried to offer a shoulder to cry on that Denise would see it as an attempted seduction. Renee silently cursed herself for opening up to her roommate a few months ago indicating her interest sexually. Renee watched Denise eat in silence for another minute or two before she acted.

"Denise," she said quietly, "are you ok?"

"Huh," mumbled a startled Denise who had forgotten Renee was sitting across the table from her.

"You're awfully quiet, I was just wondering if anything is wrong," replied Renee.

"Yes... no... I don't know," complained Denise, "everything's wrong. I'm struggling with school, Jack seems really distant, I'm horny... er that is... um..." Denise blushed furiously and concentrated on her food for a moment.

Renee giggled quietly before asking, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Denise blushed harder before answering, "I don't think so, but thanks for the offer. I don't know if you know anything about my classes, so I don't think that's an option and well, I don't have any idea if you can help me with the Jack situation as far as his being distant. I mean, no offense, but you're relationship with John is hardly a model for a healthy one. As for the other,... uh... can you just pretend I never said anything?"

Renee smiled at her roommate. "Ok I'll agree with you that I probably don't know anything about your classes and I would be the first to admit that my relationships are hardly the stuff to write home about. As for the last thing, well... at the risk of hurting our friendship, you know that I'm available as a stand in."

Denise refused to lift her eyes from her plate, studying her food, and didn't reply. Renee stood and walked around the table and touched Denise gently on the shoulder. Denise flinched slightly, but made no move away. Renee slipped her arm around Denise's shoulders and leaned down to hug the redhead.

"Denise anything that would happen between us, stays between us," Renee whispered, "I know that you and Jack aren't exactly portraying the happy couple right now and I'd like to help if I can. If you want to talk, let me know."

Renee released Denise and gathering her half eaten meal, walked into the kitchen to start washing the dishes. Denise sat for several moments feeling confused. She did find Renee attractive, that much was clear, but to cheat on Jack with her didn't sit well in Denise's mind. On the other hand, her libido was about to go completely out of control and using her own fingers just wasn't doing the trick. Denise picked at her food for a few more minutes before standing and joining Renee in the small kitchen. Denise wordlessly scraped her half-eaten meal into the garbage can and handed the dirty plate to her roommate. Grabbing a towel from a nearby drawer, Denise commenced drying the dishes Renee had begun stacking in the plastic drain rack.

"Look, Renee, I... uh... appreciate the offer. Really, I do," Denise stammered, "I... know that you find me attractive, but right now... unless things with Jack were to take a turn for the worse, I don't feel that I can... justify sleeping with anyone else. I would know, even if no one else would and that would bother me."

Renee shrugged and gave Denise a sideways grin. "I didn't mean to suggest it wouldn't bother you. I know you better than that. But let's face it. You're horny and your man isn't taking care of you. Do you honestly think that he's not frustrated too? I don't think that a guy his age can easily go from having you 3 weeks in 4 to not having sex with you at all, it's not natural."

Denise gasped, "Are you saying he's cheating on me?"

"No, no, not at all," Renee quickly amended, "I think he's probably doing a lot of whacking off just like you are. It's quicker and takes care of a need. Maybe what you guys need is a... push to get things back to normal. Maybe he's just feeling overworked and stressed about school and you need to find something to distract him for a weekend, relax him a little."

Denise looked apprehensively at her roommate, "What do you have in mind?"

"Well... we have a five day weekend coming up with fall break next week, and I know that the library is going to be closed on both Thursday and Friday. Why don't you and Jack plan to do something Thursday night. Something different than the norm for you two."

Denise nodded affirmatively, "Ok, I can see that. He would probably love a day away from everything. But what should we do? I mean, when we actually do go on dates, it's not like we have a lot of money which is why ordering a pizza, getting a six pack of cheap beer and renting a movie is standard for us."

Renee pursed her lips and thought for a moment. "Have you guys gone to see Jill at work yet?" she asked cautiously.

Denise blushed lightly, "Ummm... no, but aren't strip clubs expensive?"

Renee shrugged, "I suppose they could be, but if Jill's working there, I'm sure she could get you discounted or free passes to get in, and then you'd only have to worry about paying for a couple drinks. I should think that you could get by for about twenty bucks each."

Denise looked at her roommate for a long moment. "Twenty bucks each is an awful lot right now."

Renee shook her head, "If things are that tight for you Denise, I'll give you twenty bucks. Who knows, maybe they let escorted ladies in free like they do at the adult bookstore."

Denise's mouth dropped open, "Did you and John... uh go to... how do you know these things?"

Renee laughed at the redhead's sudden discomfort. "No, we did not. We talked about it once because I was looking up the address for a video store in the Yellow pages and the add for the adult bookstore/theater had a tag on it saying that escorted ladies were always free."

Denise regained her composure and dried the remaining dishes while Renee calmly emptied the sink and began spraying the water around to rinse the remaining soap down the drain. Once she dried the last plate, Denise began putting them in the cupboard by the sink, her mind moving a mile a minute.

"Renee," she asked softly, "have you ever been to a strip club before?"