Chapter 6: Pretend marriage

Andy had planned to spring a suggestion on Marilyn in church. She came alone, and suggested that they sit with Dad, which fouled up the chances. Dad, though, headed for the exit immediately after the services were over. Usually, he waited for Andy to fetch the car when they were together.

“Look,” he said to her in the hearing of people straggling out the aisles, “the season is more-or-less over. I was thinking of heading back to campus and getting a jump on the quarter. What do you think of that idea?”

“That sounds like a smart move. Why don’t we go back down together?”

“Sounds great. When?”

“How about next Saturday. I’ll tell Mom.”

“We’ll be in touch, then.” He walked her to her car, and then went to where he’d parked Dad’s car. Dad was sitting in the passenger seat, but he’d turned on the motor. He got in the driver’s seat.

“Thanks,” he said.

“Parting is such sweet sorrow. I thought you might have been longer. We’re going to a restaurant. Debby’s okay?”

“Fine. I thought I might go back to campus early. Get the books and stuff before the rush. Could you drive me to the train Saturday?”

“Certainly. Does Miss Grant need a ride, too.? Or are you two going to meet at the station like you parted at the station?”

“What makes you think... ?”

“Andy, it’s all right to think the old man is senile. It is almost mandatory at your age. It is, however, quite rude to act on that belief.”

If he was going to stay home a shorter amount of time, he had to cram the rest of the studying of the books he’d brought home into one week. The previous preparation on PDE had turned out to be helpful. He wouldn’t be as far along at the beginning of the second quarter, but he’d do all right for the first weeks. The book on designing electronic circuits was heavier slogging; he really needed to hear the lectures on that.

The grades were mailed to his home, and they came before they left. He had lucked out in Anthro and the motor course. That made four A s.

The railroad car was about one third full on the trip back, but they didn’t see anyone they knew. The girls had sent long letters to dad along with their gifts and photos. They’d finally figured out what pleased the old man. He told her about news from the letters. That led to his memories of the girls from before. He tried to get her to tell him about her history, but he suspected that he was getting a report from the shallows.

Marilyn had made 2 B s, an A (in teaching reading) and a C (in French Literature in Translation). He would have reminded her of how much her attention to Zeta cost her, if he wasn’t conscious that she’d spent time with him, too. She made much of his straight-A quarter.

They stopped at the grocery in the trip from the train station to the apartment. Marilyn insisted on carrying her books, his, and one bag of groceries up to the apartment. He carried their suitcases and the other grocery bag. He would have been willing to make two trips, but she was insistent. Once behind the locked door of the apartment, he was happy. They had a quite mutual, quite wet kiss before they’d removed their coats. She insisted on putting the groceries away before going to bed, but they stayed there for a long time. She seemed to have missed him almost as much as he’d missed her. She started cooking dinner after 11:00.

Their time was like that from then until Wednesday. Marilyn insisted on cooking meals, and she wore her nightgown and robe when she was up. He dressed to shop with her lists, but wore nothing but his robe, if that, otherwise. They got loads of studying done but spent the rest of the time in bed. Some of the bed time was spent asleep, and delightful sleep with Marilyn in his arms except when she was hugging him from behind. Some of it was spent in sex; some of it was spent in making out or simple conversation. With her there all the time, he gave up on shaving with the blade. Even though Marilyn would see him, he used the electric razor.

Wednesday noon, she left him. He shouldn’t feel deprived. They’d had nearly three glorious days of pretend marriage. Saturday evening, she called him to pick her up at the sorority. She could be with him whenever she wanted, but that seemed to break her schedule. He went and got her, and she started talking before he’d hung up her coat in the apartment.

“Remember that you said that you wanted me in your arms even if we couldn’t have sex?”

“Sure. It’s true.”

“Well, I know that the pen set wasn’t much of a Christmas present.” That wasn’t true. The set was delightful. She’d given it to him.

“I loved it.”

“You never thought of a pen as anything more than a cheap way of drawing a line. Well, that’s the present that you have to tell everybody I gave you. You can’t mention this one.”

“What one?” But he was starting to suspect.

“Merry Christmas. You have me in your arms tonight.” That was a wonderful present. He kissed her. Soon she was in his bed and in his arms. Her kisses were all the sexier because they knew they weren’t going to do anything more. Unlike the kisses at the beginning of their relationship, these were shared naked in bed. She only stopped him once, and that was his misunderstanding of the rules. He tried to fondle her breasts. “These are a little sore.”

Sunday, they shared a shower and a breakfast.

“I’m glad we’re going,” he said on the way to church. “This morning, I feel especially grateful.”

When she came to the apartment Thursday evening, they hadn’t had sex in a week -- eight days really. He tried to make it special for her, kissing her all over before settling on her vulva. Then she writhed for him again and again. She ordered him into her, and that was the most sensual writhing of all even though he exploded as soon as she gripped him at the beginning of her climax. They were, if not yet a permanent couple, a regular couple.

Even her sorority sisters recognized that. That Saturday was a party to celebrate the new pledges. Marilyn didn’t suggest that he dance with anybody else, and nobody asked her to dance. When they sat out, some new pledge was likely to introduce her date to Marilyn. One of them was Judy, who had been so afraid of him when he drove her home. She didn’t seem afraid either of him or of her date that night. Maybe her date made her feel protected from Andy. Marilyn was only two years older than these girls, but they recognized her authority.

When the party broke up, the sisters stayed to clean up. Marilyn should stay, too, and he was damned if he was going to leave her there on a Saturday night -- a Saturday night not even during her period. He stayed to help, and the leaders accepted that.

Marilyn looked exhausted by the time they got to the apartment. He almost offered to carry her up the stairs. She dropped into bed fast. Well the deal was that she’d sleep in his arms; it wasn’t that they’d have sex. Anyway, it wasn’t as though she were turning him down in particular. He got into bed behind her and held her in his arms. They could go to sleep like that. Indeed, she looked like she was close to sleep already.

“Tired?”

“Not that tired,” she replied. Wonderful woman, sweet, sexy woman. He wasn’t going to make her work any more than necessary, all the same. Without shifting their positions, he began fondling her breasts. He kissed the back of her neck and stroked his hand down to her mound. She took his hand to kiss it. Darling girl! When she had kissed his fingers, he returned them to her mound. Soon, he could feel her beginning to stiffen. She reached for him, but her touch might set him off. He caught her arm before she reached him.

“I’m on hair trigger,” he explained.

“You,” she said, starting to roll onto her back.

“Like this.” He held her until she relaxed. Then he moved down until he was further below her. He kissed the part of her neck he could reach from there before saying, “Put me in.” She grasped him and aimed him in the right direction. He moved up the bed, entering her warmth as he did. When he was as far in her as he could get lying like that, he kissed her.

“Darling, love.” And she was his love and his darling. He slowly stroked her clitoris. Meanwhile, his cock was snuggled deep into her warmth. He kissed her head some more.

“Oh, Andy.” She wriggled. The motion wasn’t much in his arms, but it nearly ignited his cock. “Oh!” She writhed in his arms and clasped his cock more tightly. He couldn’t help moving, stroking more deeply into and out of her inner hug. Soon, even that wasn’t enough. He thrust harder into her and erupted.

“Love!” She was a love. She was his love. And his love went to sleep in his arms. He followed before he could appreciate that enough. Sometime in the night, he felt her slip out of his hug. When she returned to bed, though, she snuggled back into it.

When the alarm rang, he took his bathroom time, shaving and brushing his teeth before he returned to bed. She looked so sweet and so sleepy that he hesitated. Well, if he was the first to respond to the alarm, he owed a choice to her. He got back into bed.

“Rise and shine.” He nuzzled her back.

“Urrmph.” Well, she might be shining, but she looked unwilling to rise.

“Aren’t we going to church?”

“Do I have to?” she asked.

“No. Do you want to stay in bed ‘til noon?” Her damn house had Sunday dinner at 1:00 at other business afterwards.

“Yeah.” Now, that was nice to hear, especially from such a sexy woman. He curled around her and began stroking her. His cock just touched her thigh, but that could wait. He kissed his sleeping beauty. “Want to sleep,” she said, moving his hand to less erogenous ground. He curled tighter around her but kept still. She went into the bathroom. It was after the time that she usually took her pill.

“Did you take your Pill?” She picked up her watch from the nightstand. Then she went to her purse and took the Pill in the kitchen. She came back to bed but lay flat instead of curling into his arms. Well, he’d see if she were willing to allow him a little access now. She seemed willing, and he enjoyed the feel of her breasts under his fingertips.

When he ducked under the sheet and blanket to kiss what he’d only touched, he parted her labia and stroked up the valley between them with his middle finger. She was so relaxed, though, and that stroke raised such little lubrication, that he lay down again to enjoy the feel of her in his arms.

“Y’know, when I talked about your sleeping in my arms, I was assuming that I would be asleep, too. It’s even more fun when I’m awake and can hold your sleeping form.” He didn’t really think she was asleep then, but he spoke quietly enough that he wouldn’t wake her if she were.

“Yeah. Your own personal sex toy.” She was not only awake but feeling sarcastic.

“Well, you’re sexy. There’s no denying that. But your sleeping while I watch gives me the feeling -- maybe the illusion -- that you trust me.”

“Yeah. You’re resting your hand on my pussy to get the illusion that I trust you. The illusion would be closer to reality if you had it somewhere else.” Actually, she was wrong. If she didn’t object that he rested his hand on her shoulder, the implied trust would be much less.

“After all,” he pointed out, “if I rested it on your belly, you’d have to work to bear the weight. As it is, your pubic bone supports the weight without effort.”

“Yeah, right. Do you have any bridges to sell?” She might be sarcastic, but she sounded like she was in a good mood. She even sounded like she was in a sexy mood. They were playing hooky, and he thought that she felt it, too.

“You suspect me of thinking about doing this.” He fingered her outer labia. “I’m totally innocent. And I’d never kiss you here.” ‘Here’ being her breast. She covered it and his head, but she made no suggestion that she wanted him to stop.

One thing led to another but led there quite slowly. They were resting together after a long night; he wasn’t going to demand more of her than her body felt able to give. Indeed, when her body stiffened, she held him to her sweet breast. He licked and sucked her nipple while stroking her fluids, now copious, up to her clitoris.

When she writhed in his arms, he said, “Marilyn, darling.” Then he watched her face express first agony and then peace. He held her and kissed her lightly as she dozed again.

A little later, she woke and turned towards him for a kiss. Then she got up to go into the bathroom. He put on his glasses to watch her there and back. When she returned, she kissed him again. He tasted fresh toothpaste. She welcomed his tongue in her mouth, seemed to welcome his hand on her vulva. When she tensed again beginning her erotic journey, she grasped his cock.

“You.”

“Yes.” They’d had their break from the world. This was the last for the morning, and it should take them both. He would be able to last this morning, unlike the night before, and it was better for both of them if they came together. She led him to her warmth, and he slowly pressed into that slickness. When she clasped all of him, he kissed her hairline. He adjusted himself so that he was resting on his elbows with a hand on each breast.

He watched her face while he stroked slowly in and out of her sweetness. Her nipples were firm under his thumbs while her expression changed from love towards him to inward questioning. Her hands stroked down his back while her expression changed to worry. She pressed back at his downstrokes while her expression showed the first hint of pain.

“Marilyn,” he said as her expression changed to agony and she clasped and relaxed around him. He drove in and out ever more rapidly through those clasps. Then he thrust in as far as he could and poured himself into her. “Love you,” he said letting his left arm collapse before the rest of his muscles. That rolled them both to the part of the bed they weren’t already occupying.

She got up and headed for the bathroom. When he heard the shower, he hung her robe on the hook on the bathroom door. Then he joined her in the shower. Apparently, their vacation was over, because she took a fast shower and headed outside to dress. In everyday clothes, she cooked breakfast. At least, he got to watch her cook.

“I’m really falling down on my tasks,” she said over breakfast. Apparently, fixing breakfast on time was one of her tasks. She had a different list than he did.

“You had a long night. Anyway, you were sleeping in my arms. That’s the deal. Fixing breakfast is over and above.” Although she talked as if she was running very late, they had a nice cuddle, if only a seated one, between breakfast and his taking her to her house for Sunday dinner.

She kept her schedule for the next two weeks, though. She slept in his arms Wednesday and Saturday nights. They shared a shower those mornings, too. She cooked Saturday supper and two breakfasts. He would have preferred to skip Thursday breakfast for some morning sex, but then when would she eat?

“Something’s coming up. I can’t make Wednesday night. Is Tuesday okay?” she said while he was driving her to Zeta after church Sunday. She seemed a little more tense than the change deserved.

“Tuesday is fine.” Tuesday, being even sooner, would be a little better. It would only be a little better because the shorter wait until Tuesday night would be cancelled by the longer wait between Wednesday morning and Saturday afternoon. She took a long breath before going on.

“I wasn’t being honest with you. My period starts Thursday. It won’t start Thursday morning, but I still don’t want to be in your bed that close.” Well, talking about it was progress. Not wanting to be in his bed was something they could work on. Now he was damn certain that he wanted to keep the laundry job after they were married.

“Tuesday is still fine. Thanks for being honest. But don’t worry about my bed. I can wash the sheets. I don’t mean to suggest that I would be indifferent to your blood, but if I know that it doesn’t mean any damage, I don’t mind otherwise.” Then he had another thought. “Can you make Saturday?” The last time had been a special Christmas gift.

“Sure, usual conditions?”

“Oh, darling. I love you.” Any conditions. He enjoyed sex, he wouldn’t deny that, but sex with Marilyn was so special because she enjoyed it, too. Her sleeping in his arms without sex was only a minor compromise on his part.

Tuesday, he picked her up at Zeta. After a little kissing and hugging, she removed her makeup and came to bed. They had a long kiss with their skin touching everywhere. Then he kissed down her body to her sex. It was cool in the room, and he was under a tent of sheet and blanket while her face was outside. That concentrated the odor of her arousal. When she had writhed for him once, he brought her along with his mouth again. After she stiffened, he came up the bed and into her. He moved hard and fast within her, and she met every thrust. He exploded at her first clasp around him. They lay for some minutes with him partly on his elbows but mostly on her. When she pushed at him, he rolled off and she got up.

Then he sat across from her studying Electronic Circuit Design. He would have thought that her presence and the expectation of sex in the near future would distract him from any studies. Actually, having her with him was reassuring. She was where she ought to be, and he was where he ought to be, right across from his love. They broke moderately late, but she was responsive in bed.

He watched her face transform while he felt her body writhe once; then she gasped into his mouth during a kiss the second time. He was under the covers sucking her nipple and watching her belly muscles ripple as she writhed the third time. When he began stroking her moisture after that, she reached for him.

“I need you now.” Well, he needed her, too. He knelt between her legs kissing her lovely breasts until she took him in her hand again. As she guided him into her, he slid upward along her body. Totally encased in her slick warmth, he kissed her hairline lovingly. Then, he held a breast in each hand while he stroked slowly in and out. He watched her face transform once more.