Chapter 2

Jen and I met during our junior year at the University of Washington, where we were both making our way through the business school. To this day I can still remember when she came into that classroom.

I was sitting with my head bent over my notes from my earlier economics class. People were filing in and finding places to sit when the five-minute warning bell rang. I sensed someone standing next to me, and looked up into the most beautiful blue eyes I'd ever seen.

I was mesmerized for a moment, but eventually noticed that an elegant eyebrow was raised in question, as a wide mouth with brilliant white teeth smiled somewhat teasingly at me.

"What?" I said cleverly.

I'm sure she was used to having this affect on males. To her credit she was kind enough to repeat herself without implying I was a moron.

"Are you saving these seats for anyone?" she asked, gesturing at three empty chairs around me.

"Uh, no, no, I'm not."

"Great! Then if you don't mind I'll save a couple for some friends of mine. Their class before this one is half way across campus, so they'll be coming in at the last minute. My name's Jennifer by the way," she said, extending her hand after she'd sat in the chair next to me.

I'm sure I grinned like a lunatic as I took her hand. I began to release her, but she held on, and with that same smile asked, "And you are?"

"Oh! I'm sorry! I'm Gerry. Gerry Higgins. That's Gerry with a G." I realized I was babbling and clamped my mouth shut.

"It's nice to meet you, Gerry. We're in the same econ class too," she said, gesturing with a nod of her head at my econ lecture notes. I was surprised, since the lecture hall for that class held over two hundred people. She saw my puzzlement.

"You were the smart guy up front asking all the questions, right?"

My God, was this girl ever going to let me regain my balance?

"I don't know how smart my questions were, but yeah, I did ask a few."

"I'm glad you did. I couldn't believe he was going to dismiss us early without saying anything about how his grading system worked."

I nodded. "I was just happy his English was so good. I'd heard the econ department is full of Indian geniuses that no one can understand."

She chuckled, and then stood up to wave at a couple that had just come though the door.

I was able to regroup a bit as I looked up at her. She was a curvy girl, not overly slim; a classic and lush hour glass shape. She had broad hips, a narrow but not starvation diet waist, and a sizable but proportional chest.

Her broad mouth and large oval eyes gave her the look of a dark blonde Sophia Loren. I sensed that the subtle changes of expression I'd seen so far were only the surface of a very deep pool.

I didn't want to take my eyes away, but I managed it as Jennifer introduced her late arriving friends.

"Gerry, this is my boyfriend Larry, and my sorority sister, Debbie."

Larry had the look of a handsome 'big man on campus, ' tall and blond, dressed like an Abercrombie and Fitch clothing model, a huge Kirk Douglas sized crater of a dimple in his chin. He even had real pennies in his penny loafers.

He defused my immediate snob assessment, giving me a friendly nod and handshake before sitting in the seat in front of me. It came as no surprise that Jen had a boyfriend. We'd only just met, but I couldn't help but think Larry was a lucky guy.

Debbie sat next to Larry, slinging her backpack onto the desk with a loud thump. Then she bounced up and extended her hand to me with an open and friendly smile.

She was a pretty and athletically shaped brown eyed brunette, about five foot four, and quickly proved to have a very high energy motor. With her natural perkiness and somewhat small size, I quickly concluded she must have been the cheerleader that was thrown high in the air back in high school.

Debbie was alluringly feminine, but when she moved... it's hard to describe. It was as if her body was so taut and toned that it was nearly bursting through her skin. When she moved, no body parts wiggled or bounced. The overriding impression was of... agility and power. Her body looked so firm and strong while still feminine, it was unavoidably captivating.

She returned to her seat after introducing herself to me, but hopped up several more times to jump and wave at other people she knew. No one could resist smiling at her, and I was no exception. I noticed Jen looking at me as I watched her, laughter in her eyes.

The professor called the room to order. In his introductory remarks, he said group assignments were part of the class, and that we were to form groups of four to work together.

Jennifer immediately reached out and put a gentle hand on my arm.

"You'll join us, won't you, Gerry?"

How could I refuse?

During that quarter I got to know my study group threesome. In fact we worked so well together that the girls insisted we keep it going, which we did into our senior year.

Larry was... a good guy. Everyone said so. "Larry? He's a good guy." He exuded genial confidence and unshakable good humor. He rarely offended anyone and effortlessly enchanted many.

If Larry had been born a girl, he might have uncharitably been called 'a pretty face;' as in... form over substance. Larry wasn't stupid. But consciously or not, his good looks and likeability projected more depth than was actually there.

I came to think of Larry as the character Chance the Gardner in Jerzy Kosinski's novel "Being There." Through appearance and favorable circumstance, people willingly took on a deferential attitude towards him.

Which was fine... but unlike the fictional Chance, Larry came to expect others to defer to his ideas and opinions. The longer you knew Larry, the more visible his vanity became.

My awareness grew not only from observing Larry, but from watching Jennifer as well.

When Larry said something that was just too pompous to be overlooked, Jen would act puzzled and re-state the point he'd made — only much more tactfully.

Under the guise of asking for help to understand the point, she gently nudged Larry towards better presentation of his ideas. I admired Jennifer's kindness, helping her boyfriend while protecting his ego.

I could tell she knew I'd caught on to what she was doing. She would even wink at me conspiratorially after her interventions.

Jen and I had a lot of common interests, from books to movies to music. After I got over being tongue-tied by her beauty, Larry and Debbie had many opportunities to roll their eyes while we blabbed away about some weird tangent to whatever the assignment was.

I admired her positive attitude - about everything in life. She drew people to her like a magnet, and I was no exception. Everywhere she went, people would smile and wave at her as if they were bosom buddies, and she responded in kind.

Smart, kind, friendly, beautiful; other than that... I wasn't impressed.

Debbie organized many of the social events of her and Jennifer's sorority, notwithstanding her being a serious student. The combination made her a whirling dervish of activity.

At that point in my life I wasn't looking for a serious relationship. I'd had a long term sweetheart in high school, and we'd parted painfully when we went to different universities; I didn't want to do that again.

By spending study time together, Debbie and I became close enough that I knew she wasn't looking for a serious relationship either; she didn't have time! Knowing that about each other might have been why Debbie let her guard down around me.

One day Larry and Jennifer were late for our study group, so Debbie and I were chatting as we waited on the steps of Larry's fraternity. After watching several couples come and go from the house, we found ourselves repeating a conversation we'd had a few times before: commiserating about our love lives.

"It pisses me off when guys assume I'm an air head, just because I'm in a sorority and like to have a good time."

I smiled in sympathy. In fact she was one smart cookie.

"Yeah. I seem to get it the other way. People think because I study hard and get good grades that I don't know how to have fun. I seem to attract girls that are working on their 'Mrs.' degree."

Debbie laughed. "Well, that wouldn't be me. Don't get me wrong, I like guys and I like to date. I just can't line up my crazy schedule with anybody for more than a couple days at a time."

The conversation was following our usual script to that point. Until...

"Although," Debbie said teasingly, "if a guy as smart as you asked me out..."

My eyes momentarily widened. Debbie blinked a couple times herself, surprised at what she'd said.

"Oh, hey, I didn't mean, you know, I wasn't suggesting..."

Attempting to rescue her from embarrassment, I turned my nose up in the air and interrupted her, saying archly, "Ridiculous. Why would someone as sexy as I am deign to date... an air head?"

She gasped briefly in surprise before giving me a hefty smack on the shoulder. It was no soft girly smack, either. She had previously corrected my guess that she'd been a cheerleader in high school. Volleyball and soccer were her things, and my shoulder tingled in appreciation.

"I am not an air head! I just don't have the time for a boyfriend. Guys aren't okay with seeing their girlfriends once a week... or not at all. Except... well, except the dumb horny ones."

I smiled understandingly, but still said haughtily, "Yes. Most boys are like that. But I am a superior horny man."

Debbie smiled enigmatically. "But... I can't ask you out."

"Why not?"

"I can't say."

"Can't say because you don't want to?"

"I can't say."

"What if I want to?"

"Want to what?"

"Want to ask you out."

"Do you?"

"I can't say."

This earned me another resounding smack on the shoulder. I realized I shouldn't tease her anymore if I wanted to continue using my left arm.

"I guess if you don't have the guts to ask, you'll never know," she said challengingly.

"Fine! Debbie, would you like to catch a movie this weekend?"

She grinned, but then turned serious. "Gerry... isn't there someone else... you've got your eye on?"

I raised my eyebrows at her. "Well... no. I don't have my eye on anyone else."

Was that skepticism I saw for a passing moment?

"And you're not looking for a wife?" she probed. "A 'Mrs. you?'"

"Nope."

"And you wouldn't mind having a low maintenance girlfriend you don't see every day? Or even every week?"

I smiled broadly. "No, I wouldn't mind having a low maintenance girlfriend. As long as I get to, you know... maintain her, now and then."

She burst out laughing, and I joined in. After our laughter died down, she sat staring at me with a playful smile on her face. Then it looked like she'd make a decision.