Chapter 7

Vicki and Brittany were giving us a ride back to school. We waited at Ronnie's house, with Janice fussing over us like we were going off to war or something.

I told Ronnie about what happened at Sarah's house, leaving out the part about how fucking him had messed up Susie's head. Ronnie said I was crazy for not banging Sarah while I had the chance. I also told Ronnie that I was going to break up with Vicki.

"Oh, shit. Don't do it until we get to State or we'll be walking," Ronnie said. "Assuming you're still breathing of course. Vicki will be pissed."

"I know. I'll wait until we're back, but I've got to do it today. Sorry if this messes stuff up with Brittany," I said.

"That's okay. It was getting kind of old anyway," Ronnie replied. Janice sat down between us on the sofa.

"I'll drive you boys to school if it would help," she said.

"Thanks Janice, but I might as well get it over with. What's the best way to break up with a girl?" I asked. She reached over and started stroking my thigh.

"There's no good way to do it. But don't mince words or break up half way, that never works," she said, thinking. "From what you said about this Vicki I'd say you should lie like crazy. Tell her you can't give her what she deserves and that she's too good for you. And don't say a word about this Susie."

"Or you could tell her that your dick got shot off in a hunting accident," Ronnie said, grinning.

"Nope, it's still there," Janice said, rubbing me higher. Then she got up and started packing up the sandwiches and snacks she was sending with us for the ride.

"I'm sure going to miss you boys," she said. "It'll be quiet around here. Hey, did I tell you I got a job?"

"A job? Doing what?" Ronnie said, frowning.

"Down at the bird sanctuary where I've been volunteering. The director said they could use someone in the office. It's part-time and doesn't pay much, but it'll keep me busy."

Ronnie nodded. "That's good. Maybe you'll meet someone."

Janice laughed. "Trying to fix me up already? Not likely, but we can hope."

A car horn honked a couple of times out front.

"That'll be the girls," Janice said. We all stood up. "If it's okay, I'll say goodbye to you two in here," she said, walking to me first. She kissed me, with lots of tongue, while she groped my butt with both hands. Then she repeated it with Ronnie.

"Now go! And call me when you get there. Love you both!" Janice said, wiping away a tear. We headed out the door lugging our stuff.

"Good luck with Vicki, Austin," she said as the door closed.

Vicki had already climbed into the back seat so we could sit together. I'd been hoping the girls would stay up front. Vicki was wearing a green sweater and jeans, and I had to admit that she looked great. As soon as I sat down she climbed halfway into my lap.

"Give me a kiss, big boy. I missed you," she said, and shoved her tongue into my mouth, groping for my tonsils. Vicki was rubbing her tits against my arm and I could tell that she wasn't wearing a bra - she wasn't going to make this easy. I kissed her back, not enthusiastically but I didn't want to be rude. Especially since Ronnie and Brittany were making out in the front seat. Brittany was going to let Ronnie drive.

"What did you do over the break other than jack off a lot?" Vicki asked. Ronnie backed the car out of the driveway and drove past my house.

"Worked mainly," I said, glad to get Vicki back into her own seat. Thank god for seat belts or she'd have been in my lap the whole way. Doing stuff with Vicki seemed weird, especially since I knew I was going to dump her.

I was worried that Vicki would ask a lot of questions about Cooties because she knew about Sarah, but instead she went on and on about what she did over Thanksgiving. Dumb stuff about shopping and seeing her friends mainly. By the time we got onto the Interstate she was telling me how much her parents wanted to meet me, and saying that they were expecting me at Christmas. Vicki had it all figured out. I'd go home with her and stay there through Christmas morning, and then we'd drive to my place and stay with my family for a few days.

"We'll see, Vicki. We've still got exams to finish," I said, a sick feeling settling in my stomach.

"It'll go fast. And don't worry, I already told my mom and dad that we're doing it. They said you can sleep with me in my room. Are your parents going to be cool?" she asked.

"Shit! You told them?" I blurted. The only good thing about this whole mess was that I wouldn't have to face Vicki's old man.

"Yeah! I can't wait to get you into my bed. It'll seem so naughty - the same bed I've slept in since before I had boobies."

Despite everything I felt a hard-on developing. I couldn't help it. And Vicki noticed it.

"Oooh! Is that for me?" she cooed, then grabbed my cock and started squeezing it through my jeans. She eased over until my arm was nestled between her tits and started sucking on my neck. Vicki's head slid toward my lap and she began fumbling with the snap on my jeans. I could see Ronnie looking at me in the rear view mirror, his eyes asking what the hell was going on.

"What are you doing, Vicki?" I asked, stiffening.

"I never blew a guy in a moving car before," she said, moving on to my zipper.

"No way! Someone will see," I protested. There were cars all around us.

"Fuck them! Like they've never seen it before?"

I could hear Brittany giggling in the front seat.

"Stop it! And I mean it," I said, pulling her hands away and refastening my jeans.

Vicki sat up, looking shocked.

"Fine! You don't have to be such a jerk about it. I was just trying to be nice," she said, scooting toward the window.

Vicki didn't talk to me for the rest of the trip, even though I tried to apologize. Then when we got to the dorm she marched inside pretending like I wasn't yelling for her to wait up. Brittany was a little friendlier to Ronnie, telling him to call her later.

"What are you going to do?" Ronnie asked, as we tried to find a place for the new lamp he liberated from his dad's study.

"Go down there, I guess. She's already pissed off at me so how much worse could it get?" I said. Ronnie rolled his eyes.

"I think that's what Lizzie Borden's folks said about her," he said.

I laughed, but not very hard, and I tried to remember if Vicki had anything in her room that she could chop me up with.

"That was fast. How did it go?" Ronnie asked.

"Depends on your point of view," I said. "Since I wanted to break up with her, I guess good. Vicki dumped me."

"Huh?"

"Yep. As soon as I walked in she told me to hit the trail. Said she never liked me anyway, and was sick of my whining."

"What about Brittany?" Ronnie asked. I shook my head.

"Sorry. She told me to tell you to eat shit and die," I said.

"Oh well. Easy come, easy go," he replied.

After that I spent a lot of time thinking about how I could get back together with Susie. Unfortunately she wasn't around much and I didn't want to go down to her room because I wasn't sure what to say to Brenda.

On Tuesday I knew that Susie had a class in the Earth Sciences building right after mine, so I waited around for her. When she saw me she looked like she was thinking about running away or yelling for the cops, but instead she just stared at me.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"I want to talk to you, Susie. I... miss you."

She laughed. "Oh, please. What, are you looking for someone to fuck? I hear Vicki dumped you."

"No, it's not like that!"

"Like what, then? I know about Jessica, Austin. She called me to gloat. And I know about Brenda too. If you were going to bang my roommate, did you have to do it on my bed? Don't you dare tell me you missed me! I can't believe I actually liked you for a while!"

Susie's voice kept rising as she spoke and by the end it was loud enough to attract a small crowd. And she was crying when she turned and ran out of the building. I felt really crappy after she left, and it wasn't just because people were staring at me...

HHuh

HHuh?HHH

Being dateless gave us a chance to catch up on our classes. None of the women in the dorm were talking to us and I had a feeling that Vicki was spreading rumors. From the looks we were getting, I was guessing that they had something to do with sex with farm animals or harboring terrorists, or both.

The only nice part of the whole mess was that Ronnie and I were spending a lot of time together again. He had enough to think about with the problems at home, and I understood all that better than anyone else could. His dad kept calling Ronnie trying to butter him up, and saying that the stuff about all the girlfriends was a lie. Ronnie figured it was because of the divorce, and that his dad was trying to do a little damage control.

And Janice would call because she was lonely and depressed. Luckily I could help with those calls. Janice had started her job, and liked that a lot. Even though it was only supposed to be part-time she stayed most of the day as a way to avoid being at home alone. A couple of times she asked me to talk about sex while she played with herself until she got off. I guess she was pretty horny and felt funny asking Ronnie to help her.

One night we decided to go up to the library to study. Ronnie needed a book for one of his classes and we felt like getting out of the dorm. Neither of us had ever been there before so we walked around for a while, checking it out.

We found a quiet room with comfortable chairs arranged around small tables and I settled in to study while Ronnie looked for his book. There was only one other person in the room, a cute girl with short black hair. I kept looking at her trying to figure out where I'd seen her. When Ronnie got back, I noticed him looking at her too.

After about an hour the girl got up and came over. She stood next to our table with her hands stuck in her back pockets. For a little girl she had impressive tits.

"You guys were there, right?" she finally asked.

"Where?" I said, still trying to place her.

"That party, the first week of school."

And then it hit me. It was Connie, the girl who won the drinking contest at the Delta Omega party and then ended up on the wrong end of the gang-bang. No wonder I had trouble remembering. Her hair had been long and curly then, and she had clothes on now. Connie saw the recognition in my eyes.

"I thought so. You were in the background, in one of the pictures," she said, looking really serious.

"What pictures?" Ronnie asked. Connie smiled, but still didn't look happy.

"You mean you haven't seen them? Everyone else has, they're all over the Internet."

I just shrugged. I didn't know what to say, and Ronnie looked as uncomfortable as I felt.

"So, did you fuck me?" Connie asked. We both shook our heads.

"We didn't! I swear!" I said. Connie frowned.

"Why not?"

"It didn't seem right. You were really out of it. We aren't Delta's anyway, we were only there because some guy invited us," Ronnie said. Connie looked at us like she was trying to decide whether to believe him. After a minute she sat down at our table.

"Thank you," she said, like we'd done her a big favor by not taking advantage of her. Then she started to cry.

"Hey, it wasn't your fault," I said.

"Nobody made me drink all that beer. I should have known better."

"Yeah, but it was a big set up. And with the crowd yelling and all you didn't have much choice," Ronnie said. I nodded, feeling really bad that we hadn't tried to help her.

"You look different now," I said. "You cut your hair. It looks good, but it was really pretty when it was long."

"I wanted to look different," Connie said. "It didn't help though, too many people knew about it. At first I tried to laugh it off - you know, people chanting 'I think I can, I think I can' when I walked by, and making stupid train noises. Now I just ignore them."

We talked to her for an hour, and opening up about it seemed to make Connie feel better. She was nice, and smart - she was planning on being a doctor. What happened at the fraternity party really messed things up for her. None of the sororities would even talk to her and Connie's boyfriend back home dumped her when he heard about it. She was thinking about transferring to a different school when the semester was over because of all the teasing.

When it was time for us to leave, Ronnie told me to go back without him.

"I think I'll stay and... study some more," he said, then looked at Connie.

"That would be nice," she said.

Ronnie stayed at the library with Connie until it closed then walked her to her dorm. He studied with her the next three nights, and they went out on both Friday and Saturday night. On Sunday morning he was walking around acting goofy, as happy as I'd seen him in a while.

"How's it going with Connie?" I asked. Ronnie grinned.

"Great! I like her a lot," he said. I waited a minute, hoping for more information.

"So, what are you guys... doing. I mean..."

"I know what you mean, Austin. Not much. Well, I kissed her a couple of times, but I don't want to push her."

"Good. I bet Connie's had her fill of guys who just wish they'd been next in line at the Delta house," I said.

"She even got calls from guys who were there who wanted seconds," Ronnie said.

"Shit!" I said. Sex was sure a lot more complicated than I used to think.

"What about you?" Ronnie asked.

"Huh?"

"What are you gonna do about Susie?"

"What the hell can I do? She hates my guts."

"I don't think so. I think she's just really mad at you and that's different. I saw the way she looked at you at Jessica's party."

"That was before she found out about Jessica and Brenda."

On Monday morning I was walking to class when I heard someone yelling my name. It was Brenda, about a half a block behind me, running. She moved pretty well for a big girl. I kept walking - Brenda was about the last person I wanted to talk to.

"Austin, please! Wait up!" she yelled. I slowed down, and at the next corner I waited for her.

"Thanks!" she said, trying to catch her breath. I started walking again.

"I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry. About Susie finding out. I'm not a very good liar," Brenda said, panting.

"It's not your fault, Brenda. I figured that Susie would find out. I'm the one who should be apologizing to you."

"What do you mean? I'm the one who seduced you, Austin!" she said.

"Huh?

"Of course! It wasn't very hard, but that was my plan the whole time. Why do you think I kept giving you beers? I told Susie that, too."

"Thanks. But it doesn't matter. I screwed everything up," I said, kicking at an empty Coke can. "I'm a moron, I don't deserve her."

Brenda was staring at me, her mouth open a little.

"You really care about Susie, don't you?"

"Well, sure. Why wouldn't I?"

"I don't know. You don't seem like the type. Don't get me wrong - I like you and you're really cute, but I didn't think you cared who you were with. You know, Easy Austin, the good time guy."

I stopped walking. All of a sudden I didn't feel like going to class.

"I guess I had that coming," I said. My eyes were watering, and when I brushed at my cheek it was wet. Stupid allergies.

"Damn. I... forgot something, Brenda. I've got to go back and get it," I said.

As I turned to head back, Brenda was still standing there watching me.

"Okay, Austin. Nice talking to you," she said.

It didn't help matters much that Connie was over at our room that evening. I was studying, but I couldn't help watching them. They popped popcorn and played cards, but mostly they just talked. Connie seemed to be loosening up, laughing easily and often at Ronnie's dumb jokes. And I saw the way they looked at each other all the time, all gooey and happy. They didn't touch much, just a hand on a shoulder or knee every so often, and brushing against each other like it was supposed to be an accident.

It would have been easier if they'd been all over each other. Instead it reminded me how great it was just being with someone you really liked, even if you weren't fucking them all the time. That was how it was with Susie for a while. Me watching TV while she read a book with her head in my lap. Or taking a nap together after class, with all our clothes on. And talking - I really missed that.

About nine I decided that I needed a break.

"I'm going to head out for a while. Too much studying fries the brain," I said. Both Ronnie and Connie looked nervous all of a sudden. I knew that Ronnie worried about being alone with her - not that he was thinking about doing anything, more that he was afraid that she thought he was.

"We could go, too," Ronnie said, starting to get up.

"No. We don't have to. I mean, if you don't mind," Connie said, looking at Ronnie.

"I don't mind," he said, looking relieved.

"I'm glad we got that sorted out," I said, grinning. I grabbed my jacket, just in case I decided to go for a walk. When I left, Ronnie and Connie were still sitting on the floor looking at each other.

I went down to the lobby, still not sure where I was going. I just knew I had to get out of our room for a while, both because all the sexual tension was driving me nuts and because I figured that the lovebirds could use some privacy.

I decided that I didn't feel like walking so I picked up an old copy of SI and crashed on one of the couches. It was a college football preview for the season that was almost over, but it was funny to see how wrong they were. I was almost finished with it when someone bumped my elbow. I looked up - it was Brenda, carrying a loaded laundry basket.

"Hey, Brenda," I said, focusing on the magazine again.

"Sorry about today. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings," she said.

"Didn't hurt my feelings. Like I said, I deserved it."

"I'm still sorry."

"Don't worry about it."

She shifted the laundry basket a little, putting the weight on her hip.

"You doing anything?" she asked, then smiled. "I mean anything important?"

"Nah."

"I've got another load in the dryer but I've got to put this stuff away and make a phone call. Could you go watch my machine? I got three pairs of my best panties stolen last week," Brenda said, shifting the basket again. It looked heavy.

I sat up. "Sure."

"You're a sweetheart. Last dryer on the left," she said, heading for the elevators.

The laundry room was down one floor, so I took the stairs. Stealing a girl's underwear out of a dryer was pretty low but it didn't surprise me. One time when we were in middle school Ronnie was supposed to be taking care of these people's cat on the next block while they were on vacation. They had a teenaged daughter who was really cute. Let's just say she was short a couple of pairs of panties when they got back. I still had them.