Chapter 1: Valentine’s Day

Denise was on Thomas’s bed in the dorm room he officially shared with Matt. She had her shoes off and was sitting cross-legged with her back against the wall. Her hair was held in a jumbled mess atop her head with a red scrunchy. She was trying to concentrate on a large book that sat in her lap.

Thomas, her boyfriend, sat at his desk. Books and papers were scattered haphazardly across the whole surface. Several pencils and a calculator were within easy reach. He was currently staring at a small eight-inch monochrome monitor and occasionally typing a line of code, then waiting for the output to print to the screen. The homework in his Pascal class was to write a recursive solution to the Tower of Hanoi.

“Happy Valentine’s Day,” said Matt, Thomas’s roommate, sarcastically. He was laying flat on his stomach on his bed. Propped on the pillow at the head of his bed was a book even larger than what Denise was reading. It was a collection of all William Shakespeare’s works. Last semester’s class was an overview of all his plays. This semester was a deep-dive into Romeo and Juliet and The Taming of the Shrew. He was reading Taming of the Shrew for the third time.

Denise looked at the digital clock on the headboard across the room on Matt’s bed. It read February 14, 12:03 AM.

“Not the way I envisioned Valentine’s Day starting, that’s for sure,” said Thomas without looking away from his monitor.

“OK, executive decision,” said Denise. She dropped a bookmark in her book, slipped her feet into her shoes, and jumped up off Thomas’s bed.

“Twelve minute break to quarter after. We need caffeine!” She walked to Thomas’s desk and dipped her hand into a large plastic cup he got at a recent basketball game. Thomas used it to collect his loose change. Denise and Matt used it as their private bank when going to raid the vending machines.

“That code will wait until we return,” she said as she pulled on Thomas’s t-shirt.

He quickly saved his work. It took several several seconds for the computer to write a series of ones and zeroes to the attached 5.25’’ floppy disk drive.

While Thomas saved his code, Denise offered her free hand to Matt and pulled him to his feet. Thomas finally stood, put his hands on his hips, and leaned back as far as he could. His back cracked before he leaned forward again.

Thomas groaned.

“You’re not even twenty-one years old. How can you be groaning like a fifty year old?” asked Matt.

Thomas gave his roommate a sideways glance. It was true that he was twenty years old in his current body. In reality, he was mentally in his mid-fifties. Sixteen months earlier he went to sleep a depressed middle-aged man to awake in his high school bedroom. He used his years of knowledge to play the stock market and make a lot of money. His experience also meant he met and dated his high school crush even though he never spoke to her on his first go round.

“Let’s go, we’re on the clock,” Denise said as she headed out the door.

She led them to the elevator on the sixth floor of their dorm. Almost all of the dorm room doors were open as students were busy studying for their exams or writing papers.

“I still don’t understand why Graskin decided to go to a standardized schedule for testing across all departments,” complained Matt. “And to break the semester into thirds? Instead of one week of hell getting ready for mid-terms, we now have to do it twice.”

“You want to take it this time?” asked Thomas as he looked at Denise.

“The idea was that a semester broken into thirds would make testing easier because there would be less material to know for each exam. We take these exams now, then a second round before spring break, and then the finals at the end of the semester.”

Thomas added, “In theory, they were trying to help us by ensuring we wouldn’t have anything awaiting our return from spring break.”

“I still don’t buy it,” answered Matt as the elevator opened in the basement.

They turned the corner and approached the four vending machines that were usually very well stocked. With the study crunch before the first trimester the vending machines were sold out of many items.

“At least there’s still Mellow Yellow,” said Matt.

Denise dropped coins into the soda vending machine and hit the Mellow Yellow button for Matt. She added more coins and got drinks for herself and Thomas.

“Snacks?” she asked.

“Yeah, get a bag of popcorn,” requested Matt.

“Make it two. Matt will eat it all if we only get one,” Thomas said. Matt gave him a dirty look but everyone knew it was true.

In the elevator back to the room, Matt asked Denise, “How’s Cindi doing?”

“Not sure. I haven’t talked to her in several weeks. After the wedding, she moved in with her husband and she commutes to campus. I thought you would hear more about her now that you are dating Kimmi.”

Kimmi was a friend of Cindi’s that she set up on a blind-date with Matt after her wedding. To everyone’s surprise they were a fast couple even though they had almost nothing in common.

“Kimmi is the same as you. She doesn’t have any classes with Cindi, and with her no longer on campus other than classes, she rarely sees her anymore.”

Matt swallowed a handful of popcorn and then said, “I can’t believe Cindi is still paying for her dorm room and never uses it. Now you have a room all to yourself.”

In the guy’s room they retook their positions and continued studying. At 1:30 Thomas turned off his monitor and Denise shut her book at the same time.

“You about done?” asked Thomas to Matt.

“No, I’ve still got more than twenty pages to read, and then I need to review my notes.”

“Then I think I’m going to crash with Denise tonight.”

For all of Matt’s envious comments about Denise having her own room, he was the one that really benefited the most since Thomas stayed with her several nights a week. From an outside perspective, Thomas and Denise’s relationship was something that could not be explained. Friends, to lovers, to hated adversaries after he cheated, to reconciled, to another infidelity at Cindi’s wedding that no one other than Denise and Thomas knew about, to a happy college-aged couple.

As Denise packed her books into her backpack she said, “Good luck with your Shakespeare test tomorrow.”

“I”d say good luck to you two, but we all know you’ll ace everything,” said Matt only half joking.

“Are you going out with Kimmi tomorrow night, or should I say later tonight, for Valentine’s Day?” asked Thomas.

“Yeah, I’m going to pick her up at her dorm at 6:00. If, uh, you’re...”

“Yes, I can keep him out of this room tomorrow night, too,” laughed Denise. “You two can have the room all to yourselves.”

Matt blushed slightly. “Thanks.”

“We’ll come by and say ‘hi’ if the door is open,” said Thomas as he followed Denise out the door.

Once in Denise’s room with the door shut they both immediately shed all their clothes. She pulled the scrunchy from her hair and shook her hair. It cascaded off her head and around her shoulders. Thomas went to her and leaned for a kiss, his hardening member poking her in the stomach.

“Just one, and be quick. We’ve both got exams at 8:00. Less than six hours from now.”

Denise led Thomas to her bed. She sat and fell backward when Thomas lifted her legs and spread them wide. He put her legs over his shoulders, then dropped his head to her crotch. With his fingers he held open her lips and thoroughly wet his tongue to leave a long sloppy lick along her slit, ending with concentrated licks on her clit.”

Denise tried to stifle her moan but she was only partially successful. Thomas inserted a finger and held it for a moment before inserting a second and attacking her clit again with his tongue. She put the pillow over her face and squirmed as Thomas licked her to a climax.

As her orgasm subsided, Thomas lifted her legs again and inched his cock closer to her gaping, wet tunnel. She watched as he held his dick and rubbed it up and down her slit. At the top he gave it an extra wiggle to play with her clit. She gasped with the direct stimulation. He looked to her face and grinned. She was looking back at him in an equally goofy grin. While keeping eye contact he released his position and let his dick slowly insert fully into Denise.

The alarm rang at 7:15. Denise was closest and turned off the incessant blaring. She stood and went to the restroom. When she returned Thomas had not stirred. She tugged on his member which woke him instantly. Once awake she let go and turned toward her dresser.

“Wakey-wakey, your test is in forty-five minutes.”

She pulled on plain cotton panties and a white bra while Thomas watched.