Chapter 44: The Big Bad Wolf Emerges

Saturday, November 16, 1985

I gave Amy a quick call in the morning. Unfortunately, I didn’t get her, but her roommate said Amy had said she’d had a great time. She seemed curious about me, but we didn’t talk long. I imagine it was the usual question: who was this guy who would date Amy? She knew I’d met Amy through Claire, though, and that apparently helped.

The first date Darla and I had today wasn’t exactly a date. It was, in fact, enough not a date that we agreed we were going to change after it.

That’s because our first date was the Arkansas game. Arkansas was coming in ranked #9 nationally and were the current Cotton Bowl favorites after they’d beaten Baylor last weekend. A&M was, as yet, still not ranked.

It was a long, defensive struggle. Each team scored one touchdown (though Arkansas’ came as a result of a blocked punt, not their offense). A&M had a field goal, while Arkansas missed a two-point conversion, making the final score 10-6.

Not many scoring kisses, but we left in a terrific mood. A&M now had what looked like an easy game against TCU, then a home game versus t.u., quite possibly to decide who went to the Cotton Bowl. That t.u. game looked to be a close one, at least this far out.

More scoring later? I think both Darla and I had that on our minds as we left the stadium and split up to go home and change.

During a quieter moment in the game, Darla and I headed off to the concession stand. Officially, it was so I could buy her a soda (and one for myself — I was thirsty — plus ones for Jas, Angie, and Paige, because why not?), but it accomplished another goal.

When we were away from the others, I said, “I wanted to be clear about something.”

“Oh?” she said.

“I’m now really dating Amy. At first, it was just a ‘talking’ date, and the second wasn’t really anything more, but we’ve now agreed that we’re really dating dating, so...”

She nodded.

“That doesn’t bother me. You were dating Linda and me at the same time in high school. Plus Jas, of course, and ... well, heck, I don’t know! It’ll be fine. I’m glad you told me, but it’s not a problem.”

“And I won’t let it become a problem,” I said. “I do plan on catching you, Miss Winton, and I can’t do that if I’m not chasing you.”

She blushed a bit, giggling, and said, “We will see. Nothing wrong with a bit of a chase, though. I’m really enjoying it!”

“Me, too!”

After changing, I picked Darla up for dinner at six, taking her to an Italian place not far from the movie theater. We again discussed potential sauce dribbling, but that also let me praise her outfit (which was a very attractive ‘naughty librarian’ sort of outfit, with a green blouse, a knee-length brown skirt, stockings, moderate heels, and her now-signature glasses and ponytail). Her complaint about Italian being bad for her waist let me remind her of how sexy she was.

She blushed considerably at ‘sexy’ and accused me of chasing her, to which I merely replied, “Guilty as charged.”

Perhaps the missed opportunity had also made her reflect on whether she was ready to give up. She wasn’t, and she made sure I knew it. There were more stereotypical signals than ever. Little flips of her ponytail, her tongue playing over her lips, holding eye contact, the occasional touch across the table, and so forth. Two years ago, it might have felt forced, but Darla had learned the game well.

I already had the green light from Jas and Angie to do ... something ... after the movie. Now I had it from Darla as well. What would depend on where things went. Home runs were out — I couldn’t offer her my best, and our first time would demand nothing less — but other things? Entirely possible.

Heck, even a serious, heated make-out session would be a major step forward, and that was well within the rules. I could certainly push at least that much, if circumstances allowed.

I hadn’t revealed our destination until the last minute. Tonight, I had chosen ‘Weird Science’. Perhaps not exactly a classic, but it had a lot of things I thought we would both like. Nerds being nerds. An extremely sexy woman both exciting and confusing said nerds. A fun soundtrack. Comedy, romance, action, and ... okay. The bras on heads thing was unlikely to matter.

Hopefully.

This was an advantage of knowing Darla well. Would Amy have liked this? No idea. With Darla, I could be nearly certain, and I would have been as certain two years ago.

And I was right. We snuggled through the movie and she seemed to have a great time.

The movie wasn’t going to light any fires by itself, but it didn’t have to. I was pretty sure both of us were fired up enough. The trick would be doing something about it.

Big Bad Wolf time.

Once we were done, she said, “So, what next?”

“I was about to ask you that,” I said.

“I...” she started, blushing.

“But, instead, maybe I’ll just lead?” I said.

She blushed, but nodded quickly, not saying anything.

I helped her into the car, then drove her back to the dorm. That was intentional. If, somehow, I was wrong, I wanted to know it first.

I wasn’t wrong, though. That was fairly obvious from the look on her face, which was ... somewhere between curious and confused.

“I thought we would go for a walk again, if that’s all right,” I said.

“Oh! Oh, yes! I like that!” she said, slightly too eagerly.

Once I’d parked, we walked along the path to the park, holding hands and talking quietly about the movie. Before long, we’d gotten back to the little bridge where we’d stopped before. As with those times, I stopped when we reached the middle of the bridge.

She looked up at me.

“I ... um...”

I shifted, pulling her into a hug, then kissing her. It started as a simple kiss, but one I didn’t break quickly. She returned it just as lightly for a bit. After some time (I certainly wasn’t checking my watch!), though, she made something between a groan, a moan, and a whimper, parted her lips, and darted her tongue against mine.

My tongue quickly came out to play, and we fell into a much deeper kiss than we’d exchanged thus far, tongues tangling and chasing, my hand caressing her back, hers clinging to me.

Even through the emotions, I needed to think, so I did. This felt like the moment to push more than I had before. Not too much, but ... considerably. As long as there were clear points when Darla could back down, it felt like she wanted the pressure. Perhaps needed it.

With that decided, I slid my hand down her back and caressed her ass. She molded herself to me a bit more tightly, so I gave her ass a fairly deliberate squeeze.

She definitely moaned at that, then shivered a bit.

We kept at it a bit longer, and then, finally, pulled apart, if only a little.

Panting a bit, she looked up at me and said, “I ... is ... um. Is ... was that...?”

“Chasing? The big bad wolf, seeing what he can catch?”

She nodded quickly, looking a little pink.

“You liked it.”

She turned redder, but nodded eagerly.

“It was, but ... well...” I said, waving my hand. “I could catch you here, but...”

She giggled, still red, and said, “We don’t want that.”

“We don’t want me to catch you too much right now at all.”

“Because...” she said, and her eyes flitted to my midsection.

“Because,” I said, nodding.

“Um ... so ... are we ... done?”

She looked, and sounded, somewhat disappointed.

“Let’s keep walking and see.”

“Oh!” she said, suddenly giving a little bounce on her tiptoes. “Let’s!”

Her hand slipped right back into mine. It undoubtedly wasn’t lost on her that I was walking back toward the car, not away from it. That also meant it was the way to her dorm, but we would get to the car first, and the car represented other possibilities.

After a bit, she said, “It’s ... I shouldn’t bring up ... but ... I mean, if anyone else had kissed me like that, and not ... I mean ... just ... let the kiss speak for itself ... Mom might have had different problems with me.”

She giggled a bit, not quite looking me in the eye.

“I’m glad no one else did.”

“Oh?” she said, squeezing my hand, this time looking me in the eye.

“I don’t mean that exactly how it sounds, I guess,” I said. “We’re good at dating, and we might be good at more than just dating...”

That got another shiver.

“But we’re not going to be a true couple, so ... I’m not saying I’m happy you didn’t get caught before...”

She nodded.

“It’s more ... knowing who had the chance, I’m glad he wasn’t patient and cautious, since we both feel pretty confident his intentions weren’t honorable.”

“Oh! Oh ... yes! Yes, I agree! He could have ... um. Well. That’s getting back to Mom’s romance novels. Those guys ... you know, the genre demands them to be honorable, in the end, but if they weren’t ... they’re good at ... getting what they want.”

“Where I intend to be honorable, but ... getting what I want is ... enticing.”

Another shiver, and what I thought was a soft moan.

“I don’t know...”

“I know. And that’s okay. We won’t do more than you know you want.”

“Which makes you honorable,” she said, nodding.

“Or not, if I’m seducing you into ‘knowing’ something you’re actually uncertain of.”

She giggled.

“You ... Linda said, years ago, that you could have talked the panties off of most of our class if you wanted, and I think she was right. And ... I mean, it’s good that you didn’t, but ... it’s ... well. It makes me feel ... warm and fuzzy ... to have some of that turned on me.”

I stopped, with us in a much less secluded spot, and pulled her into my arms again.

“Darla Winton,” I said, finding her shivering a little again, “You are both lovely and cute. You’re smart, and funny, and fun, and sweet, and ... well, I could go on. What you are is a catch. Maybe my catch, for a while at least...”

Another little shiver, and a moan.

“ ... and maybe not, but ... anyone worthy of you will realize what a catch you are. You should feel warm and fuzzy. If someone doesn’t see all of that ... if they just want to catch you because you’re a girl ... they don’t deserve to be anywhere near you. Certainly, I wouldn’t be interested in catching you if you weren’t a girl...”

She giggled at that, rather loudly.

“But that’s not why, it’s just one part of the whole picture.”

She sighed, bounced up on her tiptoes, and kissed me.

“You’re sweet ... and you’re also very good at making me think I want to get caught. Like ... right now.”

I looked around at the nearby Corps of Cadets dorms and said, “We’d put on quite the show.”

That got me a playful bop to the shoulder.

“Okay! Not right now!” she said. “You know what I mean, though!”

“I do.”

We resumed walking. I’m not sure she realized we had reached my car until it was right there. Once it was, she gave me a questioning look.

“We have a few options,” I said. “We could still go out for ice cream...”

She nodded.

“ ... or we could go to my house...”

That got a weird look, one I really couldn’t characterize at all.

“ ... or we could go ... somewhere quiet and private...”

She trembled a little at that, and I was pretty sure it was the good kind.

“ ... or, of course, we could just walk back to Krueger.”

“Um ... not the last, and ... I...”

“Quiet and private it is.”

She giggled a bit.

I opened the passenger door, helped her in — while giving her ass another squeeze — and then got in myself.

Shortly, we were on our way to a part of West Campus where they’d put in roads but nothing else. With the lights out we would be nearly invisible, and any approaching security vehicle would be very obvious.

“It’s ... um ... are...?” she said, once we’d crossed the tracks.

I reached over and squeezed her leg, high on her upper thigh, a place I hadn’t tried to touch her before. She shivered in response.

“We both know the chase will still be on after tonight. No matter how appealing it sounds, neither of us is ready for the big bad wolf to fully claim his prey just yet.”

She definitely shivered at that, a full-body shiver.

“That doesn’t mean we can’t do ... something.”

“Y ... yes.”

“On the other hand, there’s one rule. One big rule,” I said.

“O ... oh?”

“You have to keep conscious of whether something is too much. And, if it is, you need to tell me.”

“I ... um. I can,” she said, gulping and nodding.

“Good girl,” I said.

It might have been the first time I’d ever said that to an adult. Saying it felt both almost patronizing and also like the perfect thing for Darla.

Given the look on her face, I was pretty sure she thought it was perfect as well. Sometimes things work because they play into stereotypes we might like only in limited circumstances, but really like under those circumstances.

I found a secluded cul-de-sac, parked the car, turned off the headlights, released my seat belt, and scooted over to her. The back seat was really too much for tonight, both with my physical limitations and her remaining qualms.

She had her seat belt off almost as quickly, and we met in a kiss that easily surpassed the kiss on the bridge. This time, she didn’t leave her hands on my back, either. They went all over my chest and arms. She was wriggling much more, too, and her moans were much more clear and deeper.

I continued to push (both myself and her), my fingers finding the buttons on her blouse and slowly opening them, giving her plenty of time to stop me. Instead of stopping me, though, she fumbled with the buttons on my shirt, managing to open about half of them in the time it took me to get her blouse fully unbuttoned. Her hands slipped inside my shirt and, for the first time, we were both caressing each other’s bare midriff and back. That, and her bra, in my case.

She gasped very loudly the first time my hands went over her nipples, which were clearly as hard as they could get.

“Oh! Oh, I ... oh, God!” she moaned, pressing her breasts against my hands.

Again, I went slowly, hands finding the clasp to her bra and unhooking it. There was no hesitation, and once it was loose she gave a wiggle which largely freed her breasts from the bra cups.

This time it was my hands on her bare nipples. Her hands found mine, too, which was nice, if not as nice.

The next part was a total surprise. For us both, I think. My fingers trapped her nipples, rolled them, and pinched a bit. Darla gasped loudly, seized up, and then shook from head to toe. It was quite obvious what was happening, and I was pretty much stunned, notwithstanding that it wasn’t the first time I’d gotten that reaction simply from playing with a girl’s nipples.

It took her a good minute or so to get fully back under control. The car was dark enough that I could barely see how she looked, but even in the dim light I could see how red she was, and how her eyes weren’t meeting mine.

“I ... that ... it...” she said.

“Was beautiful and special,” I said, kissing her lightly.

“It ... was?” she said.