Chapter 15: A Southern Belle, a Surprise Proposal, two Cheerleaders, an Old Flame, and a Girl Back Home, Part III

October 1981, Madison, Wisconsin

I grabbed my clothes and slipped out of the room and down the hall. I found the shower and nobody saw me go in. I was glad because I didn’t want Gene to hear about what had happened, nor have any of Bethany’s friends ask difficult questions. I showered, dried off, and dressed and walked back to Bethany’s room. I was there before the girls and noticed a distinct odor. I saw some incense sticks on Pam’s desk and I lit one and sat down to wait for the girls to return.

About five minutes later, Kathy and Bethany came into the room, giggling. Bethany pulled out an electric blow dryer, and the girls made sure their hair was completely dry, then handed it to me. I’d never used one before, but quickly dried my hair as well.

“Good idea on the incense, I bet it reeked in here!” Bethany said.

“I kind of liked it,” I grinned, “but I figured you didn’t want Pam to smell it! You probably want to wash those sheets as well.”

“I’ll do that later. I’ll just change them now and put them in my laundry bag. It ties shut, so it should be OK.”

She quickly changed her sheets and then we headed down the elevator and walked the short distance to Rocky Rococo’s. We walked in and I saw a guy who had to be Gene. He was just about my height, had sandy blonde hair, a medium build, and wore wire-rimmed glasses. My first thought was that he was a nerd, which fit with Bethany’s description of him being a bit shy. She went over to him and he stood up and they hugged briefly and exchanged a quick kiss.

“Gene, this is my best friend Steve and my second best friend Kathy.”

“Hi, Gene,” I said, shaking his hand.

His handshake was firm. Kathy greeted him as well.

“Hi, Steve. Nice to meet you. Bethany has told me all about you!” he said with a smile.

“Lies. All lies!” I chuckled. “Don’t believe a word she says!”

The girls laughed.

“It was all good, Steve. I mean that,” Gene said. “But first, grab your pizza. The Hawaiian pizza is awesome.”

“I’m sorry, but that just sounds gross!” I said. “I’ll stick to pepperoni!”

The girls agreed with me, so I ordered three pepperoni slices and one Hawaiian, along with four Cokes.

“Where in Colorado are you from?” I asked Gene.

“Boulder. You’ve probably never been there, I guess.”

“Actually, I have. In August of last year, to visit a friend of mine who’s an ice dancer. It seemed like a pretty nice place.”

“It is. Do you ski?”

“I do, but not very well. I learned to ski in the Austrian Alps.”

Over the next hour, we got to know each other, and I was pretty confident that Gene was a good guy and that Bethany had chosen well. He was someone I thought I could potentially call a friend. I could tell that Kathy approved as well from her body language and the smile on her face. I felt a slight pang of jealousy when I realized that if I gave my approval, Bethany was likely to sleep with him. I pushed that feeling down hard and fast, because any indication of it would likely make Bethany reticent to go through with it. I had to give her only positive vibes.

Around 1:15pm, Gene told us he had to go, but he’d see us for dinner. I was sure that Bethany had arranged this so that we could talk. We shook hands and he and Bethany hugged and she kissed him goodbye. We walked back to the dorm and went to Bethany’s room.

“I approve,” I said simply.

“Really?” she said, almost giddy.

“Bethany, he’s someone I think I’d choose for a friend, though obviously I want to get to know him better. He seems like a nice guy. You don’t need to hear it from me, but curl his toes for him. Screw him silly. Whatever words you want to use,” I chuckled.

She jumped into my arms and hugged me.

“Thank you!” she whispered, “Thank you.”

“My work here is done!” I chuckled, then added, “On to Evanston!”

“Evanston?” Bethany asked.

“I want him to meet Kurt!” Kathy said with a grin.

“You’re really OK with this, Steve?”

“Yes, Sweetheart. I’m OK with it. You need to do this. For you. When you can do this, you’re recovered. You’re Bethany Krajick, a self-confident, hot, sexy cheerleader. Josh Benton no longer matters. You can do this, Bethany. It’ll be great. Just tell him what you need and if you have to teach him, teach him.”

She flung her arms around my neck and kissed me at least a dozen times all over my face.

“Will you wait here?” she asked with an impish smile.

“How about Kathy and I take a walk, have some coffee, and come back in two hours? Will that be long enough?” I chuckled.

“Yes,” she said with a smile.

“Does he know?” I asked.

“Nope!” she giggled.

I took Kathy’s hand, and we left Witte hall and walked towards downtown Madison. We found a small coffee shop and sat down and ordered coffee, which the waitress brought right away.

“That was the sweetest thing you could do, Steve Adams. You’re a fantastic friend. She really did need your approval. And now, I think, finally, she can live her life for her, not dependent on you. She’s been too dependent on you since Freshman year. But she needed what you gave her. You two were never going to marry; there was something missing. I can’t put my finger on it, but maybe it was her dependency. When she comes back, she’s going to be a changed woman.”

“Thanks. And I agree. She’ll always have a special place in my heart. I once told her I wanted her in my life forever, and I do. We both knew deep down it wasn’t marriage. Now I know what it is — a deep abiding friendship.”

“I hope we can have a friendship like that, well, close to that. You’ve done something similar for me, though I didn’t have as bad of a problem as Bethany did. I tried to find love by letting guys stick their dicks in me, which made me feel dirty and degraded. Then I tried that with you and you refused. Then I made that stupid mistake. You forgave me. And you showed me how it was supposed to be. I don’t feel worthless any more. I had to get away from Milford, just as Bethany did.

“You always told me that the problem was the clique, and you were right. I purposefully looked for someone who was not a jock! Kurt is pretty much a nerd. He’s average looking, and stocky, as I said. Back home, I would have been teased mercilessly by the cheer squad for even talking to someone like that. It’s why I didn’t act on my crush with you, too. And that was the biggest missed opportunity of all missed opportunities! But I learned.

“When I was with Kurt, and we were kissing, I felt like I do with you. I took his hand and put it on my boob, and it felt really good. He pushed downward, and I was really nervous when his fingers went under the waistband of my sweats and over my panties. He was so gentle, and he knew exactly how to rub me. Like you, he didn’t expect me to do anything for him. When I came, I was so happy I cried. He was so confused and I tried to explain it to him, but I couldn’t be as open as Bethany.”

“So what happened?”

“I told him I was happy. That the tears were tears of joy. Tears of joy because I’d been looking for someone like him for a long time. What I was really looking for was someone like you, but I couldn’t tell him that. I think I found him. Not quite like Bethany did, though.”

“What do you mean?”

“Come on, Steve. Tell me you didn’t notice the similarities between the two of you. Not close enough to be brothers, but maybe cousins.”

I chuckled, “OK, OK, there’s some passing resemblance in terms of general looks! I take it from your description you didn’t go that route?”

“Correct! That would be a little weird for me. But if that’s what Bethany needed, that’s fine. Anyway, once I stopped crying, we kissed some more, and he took me home. I wanted to be with him, but I knew I wasn’t quite ready. And that was because of you. I don’t mean that in a bad way. I had to talk to you first. I could never, ever do anything that would hurt you or cause problems for you. And you were so understanding, like you’ve always been. You were more concerned about what I needed than what you needed, just like when we’re in bed. That’s why I crossed that line with Bethany earlier. You’ve done so much for me that I wanted to do that for you. I assume you liked it?” she smirked.

“That was one of the hottest things I’ve ever seen! You really stepped outside your boundaries there. Thank you.”

We drank our coffee and a refill before walking hand-in-hand for an hour, then headed back to Witte. We called Bethany’s room, but she wasn’t there, so we sat down in the lobby to wait. About ten minutes later, she came bouncing into the room with a huge smile on her face. She took my hand and asked Kathy to wait for us.

Bethany led me outside and around the corner of the residence hall. She turned and grabbed me and hugged me tight. I felt her hair was damp and smiled. She kissed me on the cheek and stepped back, holding both my hands.

“Bethany, you’re positively beaming. You seem happy!”

“I am. I was so nervous, but he was gentle and caring and loving. It was perfect, Steve. It was everything I needed. He’s everything I need.”

“You seem like a new person!” I said happily.

“I feel strange,” she said. “I mean, I’m happy, I really enjoyed it, but I feel strange because it wasn’t you.”

I pulled her into my arms.

“I know, Sweetheart. That’s OK. Next time, I don’t think you’ll feel that way. I assume that there will be a next time?”

“Oh yes! Absolutely!” she gushed.

“Good. Sweetheart, please remember one thing — I love you and I’ll always love you. You call me whenever you need something and I’ll be there. No matter what. No matter when.”

“I love you, Steve. Thank you. For everything. Let’s go back to Kathy.”

“You bet!”

We walked hand-in-hand back to Witte Hall and then went up to Bethany’s room with Kathy. About twenty minutes later, Gene came into the room and he and Bethany sat on her bed with their arms around each other. I felt another pang of jealousy, but suppressed it quickly. It hit home that Bethany had enjoyed an intimate relationship with someone other than me. This was good for Bethany, and I only wanted the best for her. I couldn’t give her what she wanted, and I felt a little guilty about that, but it looked like things worked out in the end.

We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out, then went to dinner about 5:30pm. Around 7:00pm, Kathy and I headed back to Chicago. We got to Evanston just before 10:00pm and Kathy took me to her room. She called Kurt, and he came to her room to sit with us. He shook my hand when he came in and sat down with Kathy on her bed with his arm around her. She looked a bit uncomfortable, but I smiled at her. We talked for about thirty minutes before I said I needed to get home to get to bed.

“I’ll walk down with you,” Kathy said.

We walked out of her room and then down the stairs to the first floor.

“He seems like a nice guy,” I said. “I didn’t get to talk to him as much as I did, Gene, but I think you’ve made a pretty good choice. He won’t be wild, but I think he’ll do whatever it takes to please you. I bet he’s never had a girl as sexy as you are pay attention to him in his life!”

“Thanks,” Kathy replied. “I’m not Bethany, and I can see you know that by the way you answered my unspoken question. She needed your approval. I just needed you to be comfortable with my choice so that you feel that I’m safe and cared for. I know that’s important to you. Are you?”

“Yes, I am. I think you’re in good hands,” I smirked. “Especially with what you told me.”

She smacked me lightly on the shoulder and then pulled me into a fierce hug. She gave me a soft kiss and parted her lips to allow our tongues to touch briefly. She, unlike Bethany, was comfortable in showing me that she was still interested should the circumstances arise. Bethany had to make a clean break. Kathy was making sure that the link was still there.

“Thanks. I’ll call you. And I’ll come visit you. I like the peace and quiet of your apartment. Can I sleep on the couch?”

“Absolutely. You can sleep in my bed if you want. I can always sleep with Elyse. I don’t think she sees you as a risk to her secret. Heck, if you want, bring Kurt along. I suspect a biochemistry major could use some peace and quiet as well!”

She hugged me again, “What would I do without you?”

“We’ll never find out the answer to that question, Red,” I said, giving her a new nickname.

“You are bad! But I always liked that about you. And you aren’t referring to the hair on my head, are you?” she smirked.

“No ma’am! I’ll really miss that shocking red pubic hair! And sticking my tongue in that smoking hot cheerleader pussy! But that’s not for me now. Go upstairs and kiss your boyfriend, or whatever else you want to do!”

I kissed her on the cheek and headed back to my car. As I was driving home, I realized I still had to have a talk with Elyse. It was going to be a long night. As I drove south on Lake Shore Drive, I collected my thoughts and reflected on what had happened. Two of my longest-term friends and lovers were in the hands of other guys. And that was a good thing. Of course, there were still other girls that I had to figure things out with — Kara, Karin, Joyce, Jennifer, Tatyana, and Stephie. My life wasn’t simple, at least not yet. I wondered if it would ever be.

It took me a few minutes to find a parking spot because it was late on Sunday night and everyone was home. I found one about a five-minute walk from the apartment. When I let myself in, I found Elyse asleep on the couch. She had been waiting up for me and had nodded off. I slipped off my shoes, hung up my hat and jacket, and went to the couch. I gently kissed her forehead, and she stirred.

“You’re late, Honey,” she said with a smile.

“Sorry. I ended up staying in Madison longer than I had planned and then I stopped in Evanston for half-an-hour or so.”

“What time is it?”