Well, you wanted to know the whole story, so here it is. But I swear, I had no idea.

It was a Saturday night, and I decided to take a walk down by the river. It is just under a mile from my house, so in nice fall weather like that night I did it all the time. I would walk down Letterman Avenue until where it crosses the river, then go down that little embankment to the bike trail.

I had done that hundreds of times, and so far this was no different. I could hear the bugs all around, and the river a short distance away. But a few hundred yards farther, I could hear what sounded like a party. And sure enough, at the old railroad bridge there was what seemed to be about 20 college kids. That also was not unusual. The fall term had just started, and the college was only about 15 miles away.

I kept going, normally I followed the path for about a mile. But when a bit later I got to my turnaround point, I did as I usually did and walked off of the bike path and down to the river. There is a grassy area about 30 yards wide to the river, with a large rock about 10 yards from it. I often sat there and had a smoke before heading back. But this time I stopped short, as I could hear somebody up ahead.

I was about to head back, when I realized that whoever they were, they were crying. I paused for about a minute, then turned and went back to the path and headed home. I went ahead and lit a cigarette, and when I got to near the party again, I could not put whoever that was out of my mind. So I turned around and headed back.

I again stepped off the path, and soon was about 10 yards away from her, half way between the rock and the path. I could not see much, but could tell it was a girl, both by the shape in the darkness, and the sound of her sobs. I softly called out if she was alright, and if she needed any help.

She jumped when she heard my voice, and quickly turned to face me and stepped back. “Whoa, hold on miss. If I am bothering you, just tell me and I will go. It is just that I heard you crying, and wanted to make sure you are alright. You’re not hurt, are you?”

I heard her sob a bit more, but she said nothing. So I repeated my question, asking if somebody had hurt her. But still more silence. This time I asked her if she could talk, and she actually gave a soft laugh.

“Sorry, yes, I’m not hurt. I guess you could not see, but I was shaking my head. I am not hurt, and nobody hurt me. At least not physically.” Well, that explained the crying by herself then. And why I could not hear a response, it was pretty dark down here with no moon out. I asked her if she wanted me to call anybody, and she said no. We talked for about a minute, and she said her name was Nancy, and she had come down to meet her boyfriend at the party.

“But when I got here, that skank Susan Kellerman was sitting in his lap, and he was kissing on her neck and ear. I wanted to tell him off, but decided fuck it. So I grabbed some beers and decided to come down here and have them where I could not see the two of them. Here, want one?”

I decided what the heck, and said that sounded good. I carefully stepped closer, and could see her a bit better. About 5’4”, with shoulder long hair. A pleasing looking figure in the darkness, in dark shorts and a dark shirt. I saw her pull a can off of a plastic holder, and by the empties she had already killed half of the 6-pack. I took a sip after opening it, and it was as I expected. Budweiser, typical college beer. Not a good IPA or lager, but better than nothing I guess.

Nancy had moved to sit on the ground in front of the rock, so I took my usual spot sitting on it and we continued talking. She had known the guy since Junior High, but they had only started dating during the summer. He was all she thought he was, and said that the summer had been great. But when the term started the month before, he seemed to get more distant. And when she heard about the party and said she would meet him here, he seemed almost disinterested.

“Now I know why. I bet he had planned on hooking up with her tonight all along, and just did not want me here so I would not find out. Well, hope he has fun with her, because he ain’t getting none of me ever again.”

I said that was a good idea, and heard her open another beer. I cautioned her about having too many, and she actually snorted. “You ain’t my dad, and don’t worry. I can still walk home even after 6. This is not the first time I’ve been to a party down here.

“Well, I just would not want to leave you here in this state. And while not big, I would not want to carry you back to the road either.” She laughed softly, and promised that would be her last one. And a bit later when I got the last beer I sat on the ground with my back against the rock. Nancy went ahead and sat next to me, as we continued chatting. She also thanked me, saying she was feeling a lot better now.

“Well, sometimes getting things off of your chest with a relative stranger is a help. I don’t know any of you, so will not judge. And it’s not like I have had similar things happen to me in the past.”

“What, catching your boyfriend with a skank sitting in his lap?” she said in a teasing voice, and I almost snorted the beer out my nose.

“No, Miss Smarty Pants. But let’s just say I did catch my ex-fiancee one time when she was being indiscreet.” And after a little prompting on her part, I admitted I had dropped in on her at work, she was at the time working at that 24 hour gas station out on the highway. I went in, and did not see her anywhere. I got a bit concerned, as it was after midnight and I had never liked her working alone at night there.

“Well, turns out she was not alone. She was on her knees in the stock room, and the guy was standing with his pants open, if you know what I mean.”

She gasped softly at that, and rested her hand on my leg. “What, she was, like blowing him?”

“Uh-huh. She sure was.”

“Oh my god, what did you do?”

“Well, the only thing I could think of. I walked the mile and a half home, got in my car, and drove to the 24 hour discount store. Where I got another doorknob. I went home, changed the lock, and had a good stiff drink before I went to bed. The next morning when her key did not work she knocked on the door. I woke up, called her on her cell phone, and told her she did not live there anymore. That she could come back later that day with her dad to pick up her things, but after that I never wanted to see her again.”

“And did she?”

I finished the beer, and sighed. “Sure did. She and her dad arrived, and he immediately asked me what was going on. I said that last night I had changed my mind about marrying her, and he said that was not good enough. She was trying to act like she was innocent, and he was pushing more and more. Finally, I just told him that I had caught his darling daughter blowing some other guy at work the night before.”

Nancy laughed softly, and I said that had shut him up and his daughter ran out of the apartment crying. “I helped him pack all of her things up, and that was the last I really saw of her. We still run into each other on occasion, it is not that big of a town. But now she ignores me, and I ignore her.”

By this time Nancy was leaning against me, and she surprised me a bit by turning and kissing my cheek. “That sucks, I imagine it will be like that between Tom and me from now on. But we were not together as long as you two were. I think mostly it was just the sex between us.”

“Well, I think he was a fool to let you go. You are really cute from what I can tell in the darkness, and you have a great sense of humor.” I could feel her nod in my shoulder as she thanked me, but said that Susan had her beat in one area.

“She’s like a DD. I’m not even a B cup. And guys like big boobies.”

“Oh, that’s not true at all. Some of us like them small also. Big can be nice to look at, but any size is nice to caress and hold. Plus smaller ones can make us think of youth, and on a small frame like yours just look more natural. If you were that big, it would look out of place with how small you are.” And that was true, as I do not think she was much more than 5 feet tall. I asked her if she minded if I had a cigarette, and she said only if I gave her one also.

I pulled out my pack and after handing her one used my Zippo to light it, then my own. And in the soft amber light of the flame, she was indeed very cute. Almost a pixie like face, with now I could see light brown hair that was almost blonde, and a slightly upturned button of a nose. The very image of an innocent College Freshman next door in a movie.

And as we continued talking, I realized she was holding my arm in both of her hands, and was actually snuggled up against me. The sounds from the party were still going on in the background, but we occasionally heard people or couples wandering away. Some couples heading down the bike path. Either returning to town, or looking for some privacy.

We even giggled softly as one couple walked off the trail towards us, then saw the glow from our cigarettes and returned to the trail. “Well, we ruined their plans, I think” I said softly, and Nancy giggled and said it was not like there was a shortage of places to go down here. “Why do you think we have these parties down here? There must be a hundred places like this you can go to and get some privacy. I used to play down here with my brother when we were kids.”

“Oh I did also, but it was different then. Those houses about a hundred yards behind us did not exist yet, that was still an old apple orchard. No bike path either, just a dirt path made by us all walking down here.”

“Wow, is that why it is called ‘Appleview’?”

“Yep. In the late summer we used to go in and pick a couple. The farmer did not even mind, so long as we were not greedy about it. But it’s gone now, all those houses that all look alike.” I then told her about the tree houses that used to dot this area, back when it was still thick woods.

“Wow, that must have been something to see.”

“Oh, it was, Nancy. They had been here for decades, and every few years a group of kids would claim one and fix it up. Some were really elaborate, with windows, doors, carpets and drapes, things like that. This really was wild woods back then. Then when they approved the bike path, they came down with a crew and ripped them all out. Then thinned the trees, making it more like a park than woods. Then put in that cement bike path, and planted grass where it used to be blackberries and brush. We even used to see deer down here back then, but I have not seen one down here in years.”

She commented that I sounded a bit sad about that, and I nodded. “It is. I still walk here, and in the darkness I can imagine what it was like when I was younger. Playing cowboys and indians or war with my friends. In fact, one reason I come to this spot is that our tree house was to the side about 30 yards. The tree it was in was an oak, must have been over 100 years old. They cut it down and this rock is the closest to my old hangout as I have anymore.”

Nancy turned and hugged me, and said she could hear the sadness in my voice. I hugged her in return, my left arm going around her waist and holding her to me, as my right reached up and stroked her hair. It was so soft, and I could feel her sigh against my neck. I then thanked her for listening to the rambling of an old man.