Chapter 1: Disunion

On March 18, ‘76, Marilyn Grant was waiting outside the study room of her sorority house when Nancy, Barbara, and Hailey came out. Her boyfriend, Andy, was tutoring the three in College Algebra every Thursday afternoon. And, after he did the House that favor, she rewarded him, and herself, with a little time together. Before she could go in to meet Andy, Penelope swept by with her guy, Greg. They went into the study room, and Andy came out soon afterwards.

“Look, did you drive?” she asked him. Whatever Penelope wanted to do in the study room, Marilyn wanted some time with Andy.

“No. It was good weather.” It was dry, but chilly. Andy, who always drove his car when the two of them had a date, often walked otherwise.

“Well, I’ll see you Sunday, then.”

“Aren’t you going to see me off?” So, she got her coat and kissed him goodbye on the porch. Their tongues played together, but it wasn’t anything like as much as she had expected from their time in the study room.

Sunday, he drove her to church, sat with their legs touching, drove her back, and kissed her goodbye on the porch. All this was nice. She enjoyed it greatly, but it didn’t make up for the making out they’d missed. She looked forwards to Tuesday. Maybe she’d suggest skipping the movie.

After dinner every Sunday afternoon, there was a meeting of the U of I chapter of Zeta Gamma Tau. Sometimes, after the ceremonies, it was perfunctory; occasionally, it went on for more than an hour. This time Iris called on Penelope who had a motion.

“I move that using the study room for private meetings with boyfriends be regularized. As it is, one of our members seems to be the only one using it this way. If it’s available, Greg and I want our turn.” Everybody looked at Marilyn.

“Well, now,” Willa said after she was recognized. “Sure, Penelope has as much right to that privacy as Marilyn does. But, as she said, the privacy is for her and Greg, as opposed to Marilyn and Andy. Well, right before Marilyn goes in there, Andy spends nearly two hours in there tutoring three of our sisters. He’s making a contribution to Zeta, and I don’t think I’m going too far in jumping to conclusions if I say that he’s doing it because of Marilyn. A little private time, private time on Thursday afternoons for God’s sake, is damn little payment for that contribution.”

Half a dozen hands went up, then, but many of the freshmen were pointing at Karen who had her hand raised. Iris recognized her.

“The reason I’m speaking is that I’m in the only room of freshmen which doesn’t include one of the women that Andy is tutoring. Well, we’re agreed. This may be the biggest favor that Marilyn and Andy have done for the freshman class, but it’s not the only one. All five of us will vote against this motion.”

Suddenly, Marilyn felt that she was a divisive force in the house. She wanted her time with Andy, but she didn’t want to be divisive. There was a fluttering of other hands.

“Let’s put a little order in this,” Iris said. “There has been one speech for and two against. Who wants to speak for the motion?” Most of the hands went down, but there seemed to be girls out of their seats whispering to others. Iris recognized Crystal, a junior.

“I’m not certain I’m speaking in favor of Penelope’s motion, but I’m sure speaking in line with the problem she pointed out” Crystal began. “Look, we all know that Andy is a nice guy, and he’s been quite helpful to the house. For that matter, Marilyn is one of the sisters who most consistently acts for the good of Zeta. If anyone has the right to the private make-out room on late Thursday afternoon, a time -- as Willa pointed out -- when there is little demand, it is that couple.

“The problem is that the floor plans don’t list a private make-out room. They list a study room. I haven’t seen a problem. After all, the study room is empty late Wednesday afternoon and late Friday afternoon. But now that the issue has been raised, we really should restore the room to its stated purpose. I just hope Andy will continue the tutoring if he doesn’t get the instant gratification he’s been used to. On the other hand, would Marilyn be happy with her boyfriend meeting three other women every week in the private make-out room?”

Crystal was right. And Marilyn saw that her behavior, if it hadn’t been divisive, would be divisive if she continued it. She stood when Crystal sat down.

“May I speak?” Iris thought for a moment, then nodded. “Look, Crystal is right. Okay, it started innocently. Andy and I studied together in the study room. It was right after class, and we weren’t taking anybody else’s place. Okay, after studying each afternoon, after a good deal of studying -- we each got an A in each of the three classes we studied there together -- after studying we did what any one of you would have done with your boyfriend in a quiet room with nobody to notice. After nearly a year went by, Willa asked Andy to do some tutoring. Well, there was my boyfriend in the house, in a room we’d used before. When the other women came out, I went in.” She took a deep breath.

“Somewhere along there, I crossed a line. It wasn’t a very clear line, and nobody brought it to my attention. But Crystal is right. I’ve been using the room for a purpose other than its intended one. We’ll find somewhere else.” She’d be damned if she’d say that Penelope had been right. Indeed, if Penelope had raised the question privately, she’d have raised it with Andy privately and found some other place, maybe some other time.

“I think this matter has been settled,” Iris said. “Is there other business?” There wasn’t.

On Tuesday, when Andy was driving her to the movie, she told him.

“Look, everybody is grateful for the work you’ve been doing on College Math. It’s just that one of the girls raised the issue that the room is for studying and not for canoodling. So, we’re going to have to find another place. For now, can you drive your car Thursday afternoon? We could go out in it then.”

“Everybody would know.”

“Andy, everybody already knows. That’s the problem. If any other woman had the chance to be private with her boyfriend in the house, she’d do the same thing. Maybe not quite the same -- you lift me up, after all, and I enjoy that -- but they’d be making out. And that room can accommodate our making out, but it can’t accommodate fifty couples’ making out.”

“Okay,” Andy said, agreeable as always. She was grateful in one way. If he’d refused to do any more tutoring, it would have caused all sorts of problems for her in the house. On the other hand, wasn’t making out with her important enough to him that he’d make some protest? Why didn’t he insist that they skip the movie tonight and just park? She’d be willing to give him that for his recent and future deprivation. Hell! She wanted that to make up for her own recent deprivation.

But that wasn’t how it went. They saw a movie with Andy hugging her but his hands nowhere her mom wouldn’t want to see them. They parked, and Andy stroked her to the two climaxes that she expected on Tuesday dates. Thursday, he came to the house and tutored her three sisters quite thoroughly. She met him, and they went off in his car.

They drove off to a spot which would have been quite private at night. It didn’t feel private in the daytime glare. In the back seat, she felt exposed with her tits bare. He stroked her legs and between her legs, but it was much less exciting through the denim.

For that matter, meeting him after his tutoring and making out was one thing. She was there; he was there. Meeting him and going someplace else to make out felt much more blatant.

“Not quite the same, is it?” she asked when they were back in the front seat.

“Not really.”

“Maybe, we should find another time as well as another place.” With that comment, she had given him a perfect opening to suggest that he pick her up as usual Tuesday, but they skip the movie. He didn’t. At the house, their parting kiss was as sexy as usual, but she felt that it, somehow, was less loving. Still, they were a couple Sunday, and she parked with him after the movie Tuesday.

Once in the back seat and in his lap, she nestled into Andy’s hug as the gentle stroke of his finger took her arousal higher and higher. She loved him, loved his gentleness, loved the knowledgeable way he aroused her.

“Oh, Marilyn,” he said as she peaked. She wriggled as the pleasure washed over her. After she’d peaked a second time, he withdrew his hand and hugged her with both arms until she straightened in his lap.

“Want to go back?” he asked. Want to? not really. But they should. She fixed her bra and blouse. Then they got back into the front seat. “Nicer weather these days,” Andy continued as he started the car. And so it was, the dank gloom of winter was finally over. The U of I might be far south of Evanston, but winter here was as bad.

“Would you like to go on a picnic for Saturday lunch?” he asked.

“You and me? Should I pack something?” She could con the house cooks out of something. They weren’t supposed to cook for individuals’ special requests, but they’d rather do that than have her mess around in their kitchen.

“Definitely you and me. I’m not that ambitious. I was planning to stop at Burger King on the way. I’ll bring a blanket for a tablecloth -- ground cloth? -- but we can eat in the car if the weather is too bad.”

“Sounds like an idea.” It sounded, in fact, like a great idea. They couldn’t make out after his tutoring sessions, anymore, and they needed -- okay, she wanted, another time and place. Well, he sounded like he wanted it too. Andy was usually direct. His going around Robin Hood’s barn by starting with the weather sounded like he’d been nervous about her reaction.

“11:00 Saturday?”

“Sure.”

His kiss on the front porch of Zeta house was sweet and long. Upstairs in her bed, she thought about Andy. He was sweet, and the climaxes he gave her were exciting. She loved him, and one thing she loved about him was that he would always take no for an answer. He didn’t push. It was just that, sometimes, he didn’t push enough. She had his fingers on her naked skin because she had decided to wear nylons instead of pantyhose -- luckily, she’d planned ahead enough to shop in the Loop. God knows if she could find a garter belt in a Champaign store. Maybe she would have -- so much of the town away from campus felt like ‘57 rather than ‘77.

The first time he’d brought her to a second climax, she’d been so shaken, she’d asked him to stop at two. Ever since, he’d stopped at two. Maybe she no longer wanted him to stop at two, but she sure wasn’t prepared to say so.

Still, Andy was sweet. He wasn’t a mind reader, but who was? Did she want someone who wouldn’t go quite so far or quite so fast as she maybe wanted, or someone who would go farther than she wanted until she wrestled him out of the mood? It was a conundrum with no answer. Well, tomorrow was another day, and -- for that matter -- Saturday a different day again. With that thought she dropped asleep.

She couldn’t wear a dress to a picnic, whatever the Zate dress code for dates. She wore a tee, jeans, and sneakers.

“Looks chancy,” Andy said when they were near the Burger King. “Still wanta try for the picnic?”

“Sure.” She wasn’t the wicked witch of the west. A little water wouldn’t melt her.

“Burgers? Shake? Something else?” Andy asked when they saw the building.

“One burger, ketchup, mustard, and relish. Strawberry shake.”

“Three hamburgers, one with ketchup, mustard, and relish. Two with just ketchup. Two strawberry shakes,” he told the speaker.

With her holding their food, Andy drove for a ways and then turned off onto a dirt road. He parked under some trees and got the blanket from the back seat. Then they walked a couple of yards into the sunlit field. Although the sky was still cloudy, she felt warm enough.

After a brief period of kissing, Andy spread the blanket. They finished their meal and put all the garbage in a bag. They didn’t want to be litterbugs.

The next kisses were much longer. She and Andy were both lying down, and their mouths reached even if her toes were nearly level with his knees. She sat up a little to let him remove her tee. He kissed the corner where her neck met her shoulder. When she shivered at that kiss, he reached for her bra.

“Marilyn, sweet,” he said when her tits were bare. After a flurry of kisses, he skinned off his own tee. They shared a long open-mouthed kiss with his chest hair tickling her tits. This felt much more intense than a clothed kiss did. He kissed down across her tits to her belly button. That tickled.