Chapter 17: Soft and Sweet

On Thursday morning, Rachel and I went for a run around the campus grounds. Our feet are pounding the winding paths in between the dorms and classroom buildings. I like this, much better scenery than the boring walls of the Fitness Room. Rachel’s bouncing boobs are always some mighty fine scenery too.

“So, I heard Chad made up with Suzy,” she tells me.

“Oh, that’s good. Maybe he’s learned a little lesson?”

“We can only hope ... Did Chad ever tell you what happened to him a couple years ago?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“He had this girlfriend, they met in the 9th Grade. They stayed together through all 4 years of high school. Apparently, him and her were a great couple and good for each other. At least that’s how Chad described the relationship.”

“Did you know him back then? Are you from his hometown?”

“No, I grew up in the Upper Peninsula, in Marquette. Chad is from Grand Rapids, I think.”

“Oh.”

“Anyhow, they had plans to get married the summer after graduation. They were both going to attend Northbrook and live off campus, in a rental house or an apartment. The wedding was planned, invitations sent out and everything. One day, out of the blue, she told him she didn’t love him anymore and called the whole thing off. She ended up leaving to go to school in Texas and he came here.”

“Wow! Why would she do something like that?”

“I don’t know. Maybe she got cold-feet? Not ready to settle down into married life? Who knows?” Rachel ponders.

“Is it possible Chad cheated on her and she found out? He does seem to be easily distracted.”

“Somehow, I don’t think so. I think Chad is the way he is now because of what happened to him a back then.”

“Like he’s gone crazy on the opposite end of being a one-girl guy? As you told me, he wants to screw everything that walks.”

“Yeah, something like that,” she answers.

“Maybe he’s gun-shy of getting serious with another girl out of fear she will end up dumping him?”

“That’s probably the best way to sum it up. I feel so bad for him ... He is a nice guy.”

“Do you like Chad? I mean as in more than friends?” I ask.

“No ... I mean I could like him that way, but I don’t think I would ever be able to trust him. Like you said, he’s too easily distracted.”

I only know what Rachel just told me, but it’s amazing the life altering effects a failed relationship can have on a person. Maybe that girl was in her right to call off that wedding because she wasn’t ready; but to totally dump Chad they way she did? It ended up causing so much damage. Chad’s whole outlook on women and relationships was altered, and not in a good way.

“I wonder why they didn’t just agree to put-off the wedding till they were both ready?” I ask.

“I don’t know, Kyle. I wonder that too, but I try not to pry. I just listen when he wants to talk.”

“I had a nice relationship going in my senior year, with a girl named Tiffany. Right after we graduated, she went to Europe with her family for the Summer. When she came back, she was off to North Carolina to start school. It was really hard when we parted, but we agreed to stay friends and see where we are in 4-years, it’s all we could really do.”

“Sounds like you had the right idea. It’s so hard to even think of settling down and marriage until after college.”

“Yeah, that’s how it is...”

“What if she meets someone?”

“It could happen. What if I meet someone?”

“Good point,” she nods.

Rachel and I run a couple of complete laps around the campus and end up back at Everett Hall. “Well, that was a good run, you kept up great,” she tells me.

“Yeah, not too bad. I am more winded than running on the treadmill though.”

“Real running is much more of a strenuous work-out. If we get bored of this route we can always venture up and down some streets in town too.”

“Sounds good. How about Saturday we go again?”

“Okay, text me and we’ll set up a time.”

Abby and I are meeting for lunch in the Halsig Center again after my morning Economics class. Mrs. Havelina was in a better mood, if you want to call not chewing people out for looking at their phones a better mood.

We find what has become our table by the window. Abby asks me, “What are you doing this weekend?”

“I have to work tomorrow afternoon and on Sunday from noon to 4:00. Other than that, just getting some of my homework done.”

“Do you want to do something on Sunday after you’re off work?”

“Sure.”

“I was thinking maybe we could see a movie, or go for a bike ride, or even just hang out at my house. Does any of that sound okay?”

“Yeah, actually all of those things sound great. How about we ride our bikes, we can get something to eat, go over to the theater and then back to your place?”

“Perfect!”

After lunch, Abby and I work in the Study Area for an hour before the start of my afternoon class. I find that I’m not really getting much done because I keep looking up from my laptop and at her, I really like having her company. When it’s time for me to get going, I put my arm around her and we enjoy a nice kiss. She looks up at me and whispers, “I still get that tingly feeling in that place I was telling you about.”

“Me too.” I whisper back.

At the end of my shift, I grab a big bucket I found in the back room. There are about a dozen of these buckets stacked up. The floor cleaner we use comes in them, but when they’re empty, no-one throws them away, they could be useful for other things.

I ask Ted if I can take one, he jokingly replies, “Sure, take all of ‘em. No one ever uses the damn things anyway.”

In the paper-plate and napkin aisle, I grab 6 packages of 50-count plastic cups, 300 cups ought to adequately cover the floor of that room. I can’t think of anything else I might need, so I make my way to check-out to pay.

Meredith laughs and asks, “Having a keg party?”

“No, actually these are for a prank we want to pull off. We’re going to fill all of them with water and cover the floor of a dorm room.”

“Ah, yes, that’s a tried and true classic.”

“You know about that?” I ask.

“Oh, Hun, I’ve heard ‘em all. My son just graduated from college a year ago, they pulled pranks like that all the time.”

“That’s funny.”

“Do you now about the bologna trick?”

“No,” I laugh, “What’s that?”

“Hide a few slices in the air vent where no-one can see them. After a few days, to a good week, they will stink something awful. Your victims will be looking high and low trying to find where it’s coming from.”

“Oh, that is a good one.”

“The beauty of it is, whenever the air blows out, the room will fill with that obnoxious odor.”

“Thanks, Meredith.”

“Anytime, Hun. Go grab yourself a pack from the lunchmeat cooler, I’ll wait for ya.”

I never expected to be getting juvenile prank ideas from a middle-aged woman and co-worker. She came up with a good one, that’s for sure.

Friday morning, this is the day. Now, let’s just hope and pray they left their door unlocked.

“Okay, they should be gone now.” Connor tries the door, it’s unlocked. He cracks it open and says, “Hello?” into the room, just to be sure Jay or Randy isn’t skipping class today.

“Okay, the coast is clear, let’s do this. Alex, you fill the bucket up. Zach and Kyle, go get the cups. I’ll keep my eye out in the hall.”

“Before we get started,” I tell them, “I have another little something I want to leave in the air vent.” I hold up the bologna. The heat/air conditioning unit under their window is the same as the one in our room. Last night I checked ours and discovered that the vent cover plate can be easily removed by sliding it forward and lifting up. I remove the vent cover and stuff about 5 or 6 slices in the air hole around the edges. The air should still flow though just fine, only it will pick up a nice new aroma in a few days.

Alex comes back with the bucket full of sloshing water. We start dipping the cups and filling them up. This is going to take a while; I can see it now.

After about 10 trips to the bathroom to fill the bucket, all 300 cups are filled and perfectly covering their floor, I don’t think we could have guesstimated the number needed any better. This looks awesome, we’re all giggling like little kids. I take out my phone to snap a few pictures of our handiwork before we leave.

Connor steps in the room to make some final adjustments, we want to make sure to leave a semi-circle free for where the door swings-in when it’s opened, that way it won’t knock any over.

From behind us, we hear a loud, “Ahem,” it’s Adam.

“Uhhhh...” we say, as our faces flush red.

Adam doesn’t say anything, but sighs, shakes his head and walks back down the hall. I think I heard him snickering to himself, but I’m not sure.

Those guys should be getting back around 3:00, but I have to be at work by 2:00, so I won’t be around to see the results of our efforts. It’s probably for the best to be away from here anyway. Alex will be out too, he’s going to meet with his Magic club.

Get this, he asked to borrow $20 in case he wants to take Gail somewhere later, he’s already running low on cash again, sheesh! I think we’ll be passing the same $80 back and forth between the two of us until he finds work.

I remind Alex that we really need to make sure we keep our door locked when we’re not here. Those guys are gonna be so pissed. This isn’t going to be a quick clean-up for them, they’re going to have to find a bucket or run each cup down the hall to the bathroom to empty them.

I returned to the dorm at 8:30 that evening. Shortly after, there’s a light knock on the door, it’s Connor. I let him in, “Oh dude, it was fucking classic! When they came back they were shouting and carrying on like a couple of two-year-olds!”

“Really? That’s awesome! That should teach ‘em not to mess with us,” we high-five.

“They must have found a bucket in the Maintenance Room or something, that’s how they cleared it out. I stayed at this end of the hall, but could still see what was going on. Took ‘em about as long to remove the cups as it took us to set it up! Hahahaha!”

“Do you think they found the bologna?”

“I don’t know that for sure, but I would guess not. Who would expect a double prank?”

“Yeah, I know I sure wouldn’t.”

“Alright, Dude, I gotta run. I’m gonna have a few beers with my brother at his place. Wanna join us?”

“Nah, not tonight. I’m going running in the morning.”

“Okay, see ya.”

On Sunday, we’re pretty busy at work, but around 1:30 there was enough of a lull in the activity for me to take some time to straighten products on the shelves. I normally have a pretty good sense when someone is behind me, but here at the store, there are always people behind me. Usually customers doing their shopping.

Some hands appear from behind me and hug me around my waist. I turn around and it’s Abby. “Hi Kyle!”

“Hey, Abby.”

“I was just picking up a few things, I thought maybe we could throw something on the grill later.”

“That sounds great!”

“Do you like bar-b-cued chicken?”

“Sure!”

“Okay, I’m going to make pasta salad too.”

“Sounds great! You’re making me hungry.”

“I don’t want to keep you from work, but I wanted to say Hi.” She gets on her tippy toes to give me a quick smooch. I pull her to me, wrap my arms around her and give her a nice big kiss. “Oh Kyle, wow! This is nice...”

I slide my hand down her back and give her ass a little pinch. She starts giggling, reaches around and pinches mine as well.

“See you in a few hours.” She says sauntering up the aisle towards the check-outs. Now that’s a little distraction I like. Abby has been on my mind, been on my mind a whole lot. I’m happy she came to see me.

From behind me, I hear, “Either she is really happy you showed her where the sausage is kept or you’re really happy she’s chosen to do her shopping here. Which is it?” It’s Mr. Curtis, he must have just witnessed our little kissing and ass pinching session in Aisle 5.

“Oh her? She’s a really good friend of mine, I haven’t seen her in ages.” A tiny lie, but it could also be considered the truth, an exaggeration of the truth, if you want to call a couple of days, ages, that is.

“Uh huh...” he rolls his eyes, “Need I remind you about proper etiquette and conduct when interacting with customers here?”

I’m having a hard time not laughing, “No sir, you don’t.”

“Then I suggest you keep your eyes on your duties and let your hands wander on your own time.”

As he walks away, I swear I could see the hint of a grin cross his face. And did he really say, she looked happy because I showed her where the sausage is kept? Could it be that Mr. Curtis actually made an attempt at humor? Maybe he is human after all...