Chapter 55: The Publican or the Pharisee?

February 27, 1983, McKinley, Ohio

"Father, Angie had to withdraw from school for health reasons, and she's gone home to Cincinnati."

"Lord have mercy! I didn't realize she was ill! Do you have her home number?"

I nodded and handed him a piece of paper, "You might want to speak to her mom first."

He nodded, "I'll do that. Is she aware of Angela's intention to be chrismated?"

"Yes. They helped her find a church in Loveland to attend last Summer when she was home. They're supportive but cautious."

Father Nicholas smiled, "A not uncommon situation with converts who break with the family's traditional faith. It's better than the outright hostility we see from some. Do you have any idea what her plans are?"

I shook my head, "No. All her mom said was that Angie was hoping to be back to school in the Fall. I plan to call next Saturday to see how she's doing."

"OK. I'll call tonight and offer any help we can give. I'd love to anoint her, but I can't apply chrism for healing to someone who isn't Orthodox. I could use blessed olive oil and say the same prayers if she wishes. She lives in Cincinnati?"

"Yes. Near I-275 and Beechmont Avenue. It's about two-and-a-half hours from here."

"OK. I'll call this evening. Go ahead and vest, please."

I went into the vesting room and put on my cassock, which Father Nicholas had given me at Vespers the previous evening. The subdeacon's vestments, along with the stole, would arrive sometime during Great Lent, but I wouldn't be able to wear them until I was ordained. I hoped they fit because I couldn't really try them on, but I was confident that Matushka had done the measurements properly.

We celebrated the Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee, and Father's homily was on a proper attitude towards fasting, specifically during Great Lent, but also for the rest of the year. He also reminded everyone of the general rule but emphatically pointed out that they should speak to him during confession before Meatfare Sunday to discuss their personal rule.

When the service ended, I ate with Katy and her family, and, as had been the case since we'd broken up, they were very friendly. I wondered if Katy was trying to keep her options open, as it were. That made sense, though I got the indication she was seeing her new boyfriend several times a week, and he was attending her concerts. In six months, it would likely end, as she was going to Stanford. I didn't know where he was going, but I didn't get the idea it was even in California, let alone the same school.

I arrived back on campus at about 1:15pm, and as I'd expected, Kristin was waiting for me in the common area of the floor. She hopped up and came to my door just as I went into the room.

"Hi!" she said.

"Come on in," I said. "Would you like something to drink? And what music should I put on?"

"A Coke, and how about that new British album you bought?"

I nodded and put on Porcupine by Echo & The Bunnymen, then got two Cokes from the fridge and went out to sit on the couch next to Kristin.

"Would you like to go out on Friday? A double date?"

"Double-date? With?"

"Clarissa and Glenda."

"We can't just go out ourselves?"

"I promised them I'd go out with them again. I can find another date, and you and I could get together some other time."

"When? You have church on Saturday evenings, and every other night, you study. I'm not complaining about that; I know you have honors classes, and they're extremely difficult and time-consuming. I was just pointing out you had limited time."

"It's going to be like that for a long time," I said. "Classes get harder, and then medical school gets crazy. And don't even ask about my Internship and Residency!"

"Which I guess explains why the girls say you aren't really interested in a steady girlfriend."

"It's a bit more complicated than that," I said.

"The girl you went out with on Friday?"

"Also part of it."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Did you like dancing with me at the party last week?"

"Yes."

"Would you like to do that without clothes on? You know, put on some slow songs and dance?"

"Dance?" I grinned.

"I'm open to anything that might happen after that!" Kristin laughed.

I smiled, "Before I answer that question, what about next Friday?"

"Will you negotiate?"

"I suppose it depends on the terms."

"If I agree to double-date with Clarissa and Glenda, you agree to let me spend the night with you."

"It's certainly an interesting offer."

"There's a sweetener, if you're interested."

"What's that?"

"After we were together the first time, I went to the clinic to get birth control pills. After my next period, which is in a couple of weeks, we wouldn't need rubbers."

"That certainly does add to the offer," I grinned.

Kristin laughed, "OK, last improvement to my offer. I'll swallow!"

"That certainly adds to the attraction!" I chuckled.

"So, is that a yes?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Turnabout is fair play, I suppose," Kristin said with a smile.

"What is it you're looking for?"

"I told you I'd be your first groupie if you wanted!" she laughed. "I REALLY liked what we did, and I want to do it again. Actually, I want to do it a lot! What happens from there? I have no clue. You asked me out, remember? I was OK with just fooling around! If dates are too complicated, then don't worry about them!"

"Are those other things available?" I smirked.

"Dance with me, and you'll find out."

"What do you want to dance to?"

"Let me get a couple of tapes from my room. I'll be right back!"

She was back less than two minutes later and handed me two tapes. I suppressed a groan. The first one was the soundtrack to Endless Love which was not high up on my list of things to listen to. The second was arguably worse — Air Supply. That said, both tapes certainly fit the 'slow' genre.

"Dance with me, Mike," she whispered.

Despite my prior decision, Doctor Hart's admonition, and Tasha's accidental reprimand, I WANTED to do it. I realized that Sandy starting to date Rudy factored into my thinking, and I really didn't want to give up having someone in my bed regularly, and regular sex sure wasn't something I'd object to. If there really was a debate in my head, it quickly resolved to me taking her hand and leading her into my bedroom. I shut and locked the door, then put in Endless Love and held out my arms.

"Naked," Kristin whispered sexily.

I nodded, and we both removed our clothes, our eyes taking in each other's body as it was revealed. Once again, I held out my arms, and Kristin melted into them, our naked bodies molded against each other. We began dancing just as we had at Milena's party, though this time it was skin-to-skin, with no clothing in between.

The wonderful feel of her full breasts, the soft tickle of her pubic hair, and the gentle, rhythmic motions quickly resulted in a rock-hard erection, and Kristin moved and shifted to allow it to spring up between us before putting her hands on my butt and pulling me tightly against her. After a couple of minutes, she lifted her head from my chest, and we began kissing softly, continuing to sway in time to the music.

"Ever done this before?" she asked when she broke the soft French kiss.

I shook my head, "No. You?"

"A couple of times, with only my underwear on. This is WAY better!"

I nodded, putting my mouth to hers and allowing our tongues to dance just as our bodies were. I couldn't believe how erotic what we were doing was, and I was on a hair trigger, barely able to keep from making a serious mess on our stomachs. Kristin must have known as well, perhaps from my heart rate, perhaps from my breathing, but most likely from the twitches of my shaft, which was trapped between us.

She broke the kiss and then slowly dropped to her knees. The contact of her lips nearly pushed me over the edge, but I held on, barely, as she took my glans into her mouth. One hand lightly grasped my shaft while the other held my butt. She began stroking slowly while running her tongue around my glans and sucking gently. My oncoming release was like a runaway freight train, and nothing could stop it now. I groaned loudly and exploded into Kristin's mouth.

She stroked faster, sucked harder, and lashed me with her tongue. After the second spurt, I felt her swallow, and then I was consumed in pleasure, aware only of her hand, lips, and tongue as the world around me disappeared into the fog of orgasm. Each spurt only increased the pleasure, and then suddenly, it was done.

My head cleared, and I looked down to see Kristin slowly take me about halfway into her mouth, then pull back until just the tip of my glans was in her mouth. She sucked gently, then took me halfway in again. She repeated the motions three more times, then released me. She stuck her tongue out and swirled it once around me, then stood up.

"Let me get something to drink," she said.

I shook my head and pulled her to me, kissing her deeply. We kissed for a couple of minutes before I released her and let her get a 7-Up from the fridge.

"Sorry I couldn't get you all the way in my mouth," she said quietly. "You're way bigger than the one other guy I've done that for."

"Previous dance partner?" I asked.

She smiled, "It would have been cruel to leave him that way, don't you think?"

I nodded, "I do! That had to be the sexiest thing I've ever done."

"What's with the kiss?"

"Are you kidding?" I asked incredulously. "Any guy who wouldn't kiss you after that doesn't deserve it! And besides, you didn't object when I kissed you after I had my tongue in you!"

Kristin laughed, "Truth? I've tasted myself after I rubbed myself, so I knew what it tasted like. It's not terrible. Do you like it?"

I nodded, "I guess I'd say the same thing. I like the taste of girls, but my own isn't terrible."

"More truth? I don't particularly like the taste of guys, but it's SO sexy, and it makes me incredibly wet when I do it! Care to check? Then we can dance lying down when you're ready!"

She set the bottle of 7-Up on the table and then got onto the bed, leaning against the wall. She spread her legs, showing glistening, engorged labia. I knelt down next to the bed, nuzzled my nose in her soft pubic hair, then slowly pressed my tongue into her dripping tunnel. I feasted on her tangy juices, alternating between pressing my tongue deeply into her and lashing her prominent clitoris. When, after about five minutes, I closed my mouth around it and sucked, Kristin shuddered and groaned.

Blood had once again flowed to the vital place, and I quickly pulled open the drawer in the nightstand, extracted a rubber, ripped open the packet, and rolled it onto my shaft. Kristin had shifted so she was on her back, and I climbed into bed between her legs.

"Slow, like a dance," she requested.

I nodded and very slowly pushed into her. Once I was embedded, she wrapped her arms and legs around me, and I slipped my hands under her butt. We began kissing and slowly rubbing our bodies together, much as we had when we'd been standing up. Again, I was amazed at how extremely erotic it was. I wasn't sure how much time passed, but it had to have been at least ten minutes when she broke the kiss.

"Slow and gentle," she whispered, flexing her hips ever so slightly.

As we began to move, I realized that we were both moving in slow motion to what promised, at least for me, to be an orgasm that would make my head spin. Over the next several minutes, the pleasure and pressure built, and Kristin indicated the speed and force she wanted by moving her hips. We were perfectly in tune, and a few minutes later, we hit the crescendo. My head did spin, and I felt as if I might blast the condom off my shaft, but her walls gripped so tight that I knew that was impossible.

When the incredible orgasms had passed, we lay together quietly for a moment, but I had to remove the condom before I lost my erection, so I grasped it, gently pulled out, and then stripped it off. I wrapped it in a tissue from the box on the nightstand and then dropped it to the floor. I moved slightly so that I was sure my sticky, flaccid shaft didn't touch her labia, then lowered myself onto her again.

"That was amazing," I whispered.

"Not bad for a second time, huh?" she replied with a soft laugh.

"How did you know?"

"I figured out that if I took my time when I was rubbing myself, I could make myself almost pass out! Sometimes, I just needed the release and did it quickly. Other times, I blew my own mind! Just like what we just did."

"I'll say!"

"Just think of how much better it will be when you can feel me without the rubber, and I can feel you shoot deep inside me!"

"If you're making a sales pitch, you already closed the deal," I chuckled.

"So, Friday night?"

"Any night," I replied. "Well, after they post the RA list tomorrow."

"There's a second tape," she said with an impish smile. "Want to put it in and start at the beginning?"

"Absolutely!"

February 28, 1983, McKinley, Ohio

"When do they post the notices?" Sophia asked as we walked to breakfast.

"Sometime today between 10:00am and 2:00pm," I said.

"You don't seem anxious," Kristin said.

"Why should I be?" I asked. "Either it happens, or it doesn't. Worrying about it won't change it. Talk to me when I take the MCAT and send out my medical school applications. THEN you'll see anxiety in spades!"

"And when we have to Match!" Clarissa said. "I'll be a nervous wreck then!"

"You'll Match!" Sophia objected. "What's the concern?"

"Mike and I want to Match together, but there's no provision for that except for married couples."

"Bummer! Sandy, are you going to try to Match with them?"

"Yes. We're all going for different things, so we're not competing against each other. Mike is Emergency Medicine, Clarissa is Internal Medicine, and I'm Pediatrics. We could change, but we'd have to coördinate so we don't mess up our chances."

"You'd switch your specialty to go to the same hospital?" Robby asked.

"We don't have a conflict, so it doesn't really matter," Clarissa said. "But if one of us wanted to change, it's just a matter of talking it out to make sure we're OK. What about you, Sophia?"

"I'm not sure yet, but OB/GYN is sort of at the top of my list right now. But I have seven years!"

"How does that work?" Kristin asked.

"We all list our hospitals and programs," Clarissa said, "and the hospitals list students for programs, and some massive computer somewhere figures out the best matches, and that's what you get. It's like being drafted by a hockey, baseball, or football team. You go with whichever hospital picks you. But there are no holdouts like you see in the NFL."

"Is it possible to not Match?"

"Yes," Clarissa replied. "But if you list five or six programs, you're very, very likely to match. The key is to interview well and have hospitals list you in their top picks. Then you'll match for sure, even if you don't get your first choice."

"That's crazy," Kristin observed. "When I graduate, I'll interview and then pick from any offers I get."

"It's worse," Sandy added. "We don't get to negotiate salary, or benefits, or working conditions. We just get what we get."

"OK, that's BEYOND crazy!"

"That's how it works," I said. "There isn't really anything we can do about it. That's how the system has worked for a long time."

"Which explains the obsession with being top in your class. That helps get the right hospitals to pick you."

"Exactly," Sandy said. "But enough of that. We're obsessed enough as it is!"

We had our breakfast, then Clarissa, Sandy, and I hung out in my room until we had to leave for Genetics. That was ten minutes before the earliest time the RA list could be posted, so I wouldn't be able to see it until at least lunchtime. After Latin, we hurried back to the dorm and saw several people around the bulletin board, so we walked over and saw that the list was posted.

"You got it!" Clarissa exclaimed, throwing her arms around me from behind.

I turned, and we hugged, then she gave me a quick kiss of congratulations. We took our books upstairs, then headed to join the gang for lunch.

"Got it!" I declared when we sat down with our trays.

"I saw!" Pete said. "And Teri has the girls' side, so our floor is going to be the BEST!"

"Melody, what's up with the rule changes?" Jeannette asked.

"We'll know for sure at the March 17th meeting," Melody replied, "but there are only two votes against it, and the Chancellor is in favor, so he won't use his veto."

"So if all of us are on the eighth floor, we should have no trouble voting out the curfew, right?" Pete asked.

"I think so," Melody said. "I can't imagine there would be 20 votes against it!"

"Of course, now I have to change my Summer work schedule," I said. "I have to be here a full week before school starts. I have my RA orientation starting on the Monday before school starts, then the orientation for Freshmen starting on Thursday."

"Three days?" Marie asked.

"Drug and alcohol abuse awareness. Dealing with sexual assault. Crisis counseling. Basically, a short course in psychology, which Martin said, boils down to knowing the signs, being observant, listening to anyone who comes to talk to you, then making sure they get to the right person for help. I guess you could call it triage and early intervention."

"And learning how to plunge a stopped-up toilet!" Clark laughed. "Martin was cussing up a storm yesterday!"

"I missed it," I chuckled.

"Somebody really made a mess. Because it was Sunday, the maintenance guys weren't on campus, so guess who gets to do the basic cleanup?"

"Crap!" I said.

"Exactly!" he laughed. "How the mighty have fallen! Prospective grad student to trainee janitor!"