Chapter 4: Spring Term Loving and Breaking Up

After dinner that night the Inquisition began. The FBI could learn a few things in technique in the way Mom set about grilling me about Ginny B. “So who is this girl and what does she mean to you, stud?”, my mom said with a smirk on her face.

This was going to turn into a real bad night for me I could already tell.

“Mom, Ginny B. is a freshman that I took to the fraternity formal back in November. I got fixed up with her by another girl that I sometimes went out with. She was just a date for gosh sake.” I tried to reason with mom failing miserably at it.

“No date to dance would send a card with that kind of a message in it. So fess up sport and be a man and not a boy since you obviously were being a man with her.” my mom shot back.

“Honest mom we haven’t done anything, period. The most was a good night kiss back at her dorm.” I said embarrassed, having to confess to my mother about my dating behavior. Dad sat in his chair chortling. “Thanks dad” I thought. “A lot of support you are.”

“Again son, who is this Ginny B.? Do I have to start poking around to get information? You know what I am capable of.” mom said seriously. She wouldn’t stop until she got what she wanted and I knew it.

“OK mom you win. Ginny is the daughter of the president of Upper Midwest University and her mother is a well known clinical psychologist. I am sure you heard of her mom. She has been on TV a couple of times. There you happy” I replied. I hoped that was enough to satisfy her.

All it did was whet her appetite for more facts. I knew this would end up all over town under gossip heading of “See Who My Son Is Dating”. Never could I show my face in town again as my life in this podunk burg was over. She would embarrass me and my affairs would be known all through town. No more semi-anonymity for me. I would be a public figure open to gossip and slander. Grow up in a small town and you will thoroughly understand my situation.

“That still doesn’t answer my question young man. What does this girl mean to you? Cause saying ‘I am yours and YOU ARE MINE’ emphasized means more then just a party date. Come on son, fess up or we can go all night till you crack.” my mom said.

She was having way to much fun with this in my opinion. Why couldn’t she be more like June Cleaver baking cookies and folding laundry or something.

I had reached my limit and I blurted out, “Cause I told her I loved her, dammit. You happy now Mom? Jeez you are making such a big production of this.” Wish now I had never told her that.

Mom just smiled at me and hugged me making all sorts of motherly noises. Good old dad sat in his chair and just snicked. “You stepped in it this time college boy!”, my dad snorted. Ever felt like flipping your dad off?

The rest of my Christmas break was pure hell. My younger brother would make kissing noises and run into his room locking the door so I couldn’t wail on him. My dad would start in about sitting in a tree, then comes baby buggies. “Real mature dad” I thought.

Mom was the worst. She would look at me and tear up and say” My baby.” Then she would hug me fiercely.

By the following Sunday the gossip mill had done its job and I felt the eyes of the old biddies at church follow me as we walked to our normal pew up in front at church. Worst was seeing the girl I had dated all through high school just glare at me with tears in her eyes the pew right behind ours. She had dumped me just before prom so she could go with her dream guy. He left her at prom and went out with his friends to smoke dope out in the parking lot. She had to walk home from the prom. Poetic justice I thought. She wouldn’t even speak to me after church. I thought. “Karma is a bitch” So it wasn’t all bad. And of course my high school buddies gave me total hell and wouldn’t let it go. So I stayed home a lot.

After New Years I was ready to go back to school. More so then my freshman and sophomore years. I had had enough of the looks and comments people in town were making and the digs from my family. So I loaded my car up and went back to school 3 days earlier then when I had to be there. I didn’t live in the dorms and I had a key to the frat house so I wouldn’t have a problem finding a place to crash.

When I arrived at the Frat house I saw there were a couple of my brothers there so I wouldn’t be alone at least. Be a good time to cut loose and burn off some nervous energy with some friends. There was snow on the ground and someone got the bright idea we could go sledding in the hollow on trays stolen from the Student Union dining room. It was pure genius on his part. We had a blast. I had some bumps and bruises from running into one of the trees at the end of the run but it was worth it. We also passed the hat and was able to kill off a couple of cases of beer during that 3 days. Just glad we did it before school started I seriously doubt any of us would have been in any condition to go to class the next morning.

The Sunday before classes started on the following Monday I got a phone call late in the afternoon. It was Ginny B. and she wanted me to meet her in the grill room in the student union right away. She said it was important. So I agreed as I didn’t have anything else going on. I walked the six blocks and went in. I saw Ginny B. sitting in a booth with an older couple. I knew right away who they were. They were her parents. Shit! Shit! Shit! This wasn’t going to be good. I walked over to the booth and screwed up my courage. Dreading what was about to happen.

Ginny B. flew out of the booth and launched herself at me. Grabbing me around the neck and laying a scorcher lip lock on me. I looked over at her parents. I was in a panic this was definitely not cool. Her mom looked at us in amusement and her dad looked like he was looking for a hole to push a body in.

After the introductions were made by Ginny B. held on to my arm in a death grip. I got pulled down into the booth by Ginny and for the next 20 minutes. I gave her parents my life’s story and what I thought my future would be like. Her dad was polite in listening to my ramblings and her mother was giving me a professional evaluation from the questions she asked me. I was hoping they had a deadline they had to meet and would be leaving soon. Nope, wasn’t the case.

Her father looked at his watch and said, “The book store will be closing soon. Ginny, why don’t you take your mom with you and get your textbooks for this semester. Your young man and I can go take a walk and get to know each other a little better.” My bladder about let go when he mentioned the walk. The room suddenly felt 100 degrees warmer then it did earlier.

“OK, Daddy”, said Ginny B. “It won’t take long to get my books. We should be done in about 15 minutes.”

As Ginny steered her mom down the street to the book store, her father and I went the opposite direction. We had walked about 100 yards in silence before her father stopped and turned towards me. I thought for sure he was going to take jab at me and flinched. “So you love my daughter or so she tells us. Care to tell me how this came about?”

I opened my eyes after expecting to receive a blow and none were coming I said my usual intelligent answer of, “Huh?”

“Why does Ginny think that you are in love with her?”, he asked. “You didn’t say that to take advantage of her did you? If so I would lose any respect for you that I currently have.”

“Oh no sir, I would never do anything like that. I care too much for your daughter to treat her so cheaply. She is the best thing that has ever happened to me and I would never do anything like that to lose something so precious to me. All we have ever done is to share a good night kiss after the Fraternity Formal”

“Good answer son.” her dad replied. “Exactly what I expected you to say. Your stock with me went up 100 percent.”

I told him about the fraternity party and how Ginny B. got lit up. I made sure he knew that I did not supply the alcohol. I told him I only spoke what was truly in my heart and that his daughter meant the world to me. As to what the future held I didn’t know cause I had one more year of college and possibly three more of graduate school after that. I told him that while I loved his daughter at our young age it would be foolish to consider marriage as our feelings toward each other could change.

I must have really scored brownie points with her dad. He told me when it came time to choose a graduate school to attend he would use his influence to help me to get into the school of my choosing. I really liked her dad, he was alright. Guess I was OK with her mom too. As they were leaving she gave me a hug and told me to be good to her daughter. I answered in the affirmative.

Ginny B. came along with me back to the fraternity house telling me about her break the whole way. Mostly it was shopping and spending time with her home town girl friends. She really enjoyed telling them about her dreamy college boy friend.

Dreamy, huh? I smiled at that. Never been described by anyone as being dreamy. Maybe a nightmare by my parents when I was younger but never dreamy. Ginny stayed with me all through dinner time. So I ordered a pizza for us to share. After that we sat around with my fraternity brothers and their girl friends talking about our Christmas breaks. Close to midnight the BS session broke up and everyone either headed back to their dorms or rooms to get ready for the first day of classes the next day. Ginny didn’t have class until late morning and I didn’t have any classes until Tues so Ginny wanted to stay and talk some more. When it got close to 2 AM I offered to take her back to her dorm. She wouldn’t go for that so we cuddled together on the couch in my room and eventually fell asleep.

The next morning my room mate woke us up grumbling about how some of us had classes to go to and would appreciate some consideration the next time. Ginny just looked at him and stuck her tongue out at him and said “Deal with it.”

That caused us all to laugh. We fell back to sleep and at 10 AM I walked Ginny B. back to her dorm so she could get ready for class.

We fell into a routine, when she wasn’t in class, eating in the school cafeteria she would be in my room at the frat house studying, just hanging out with me and my frat brothers. At first it didn’t bother me. I was actually loving it. First two and half years of my college career, I never had a steady girl friend and was envious of others who did. Now that I did I was no longer one of the outsiders looking in, envious of those who did.

It wasn’t without its bumps though. At frat parties Ginny B. demanded my full attention, at home basketball games she expected me to sit with her and her friends and not with my frat brothers as I had always done in the past. This being a “couple” was new to me so I expected to make mistakes and we would compromise except this “We” thing was always on Ginny B’s terms. When I would say something she would respond, “Remember YOU BELONG TO ME and don’t you forget it.” I would just smile at her and inwardly stew. Soon we would have another heart to heart until then I would put up with her antics.

Things came to a head sooner then I wanted and was a major blow up in our relationship. At our annual spring Greek Week Party a girl in the Sorority we had been paired with for the week had asked me to dance with her. I didn’t see any harm in it so I got up to go dance with her. You would have thought I had abandoned Ginny B totally by the way she reacted. She didn’t say anything but I could see it in her eyes she was full of rage. I knew I would probably get an earful but I didn’t care I wanted to enjoy the party and not be kept on a short leash. I couldn’t see the harm of dancing one dance with another girl. It would have been rude of me to turn her down I thought. After all it wasn’t even a slow dance it was a fast dance and at no time on the dance floor did our bodies touch. The whole time I was dancing with the sorority girl Ginny B. was looking daggers at me. After the dance I thanked the girl for the dance and went back to sit with Ginny B.

When I sat down beside Ginny B. clutched at my arm grabbing it tightly Digging her nails in to my flesh. Dang that hurt!.

“James, What, do you think you were doing?”, she hissed. “You made a fool of me in front of our friends by going out and dancing with that skank.” Ginny B. was super pissed and was making sure I knew it. “YOU BELONG TO ME, Dammit!”

This time she step over the line and I was calling her on it. “Ginny, I am not your property. I am your boy friend and you don’t own me.”, I said calmly. “I do love you but there is a limit at what I will put up with. I will not let you run me or tell me who I can and can’t dance with. If you can’t accept this then maybe we need to reconsider where we are in this boyfriend-girlfriend thing. I am going to get a beer. You want one?” With that I got up and headed over toward the kegs. When I returned with two cups of beer, Ginny B was gone. Not exactly what I hoped would happen, I figured the time it took me to get the drinks she would have calmed down some and we would then talk.