I was always a bit of a nerd in high school. College life didn’t seem to be going any differently for me, either.

Of course, I don’t think my choice of majors helped much. But math and science have always been something I was interested in, and there just weren’t that many females doing double majors in physics and computer science.

That class load also meant I didn’t have a lot of a social life. So I was somewhere between shocked and totally taken by surprise when one of my roommates asked me out on a double date. There were four of us that lived in the house. All girls, of course. I’d already figured out I didn’t want to live in the dorms after my freshman year, but it took me until nearly the end of my sophomore year to find someplace.

Angela’s parents had actually purchased the house ten years ago for her oldest brother to live in while he was going to college. They figured out that if they had three students paying rent to them, that’d cover their mortgage, insurance, utilities, and after that first major incident regarding farm animals resulted in an increase to the rent, repairs. When her second oldest brother went into the military instead of college, they simply kept the home, as they still had two more children that would be going to college. Angela was their youngest, and like me, had to live in the dorms her freshman year. She moved into the house with her sister for her sophomore year, but was going to need three roommates for her junior year, as all of the girls were graduating with either their BA, BS, or MRS degrees.

Courtesy of the morons that decide the degree program requirements, I’d had to take an English literature class that Angela also was taking. It was near the end of the spring semester and she mentioned d she’d need roommates next year, if anyone was looking to get out of the dorms. Of course, half the guys in class volunteered, as Angela was, at least in my opinion, drop-dead gorgeous. I gave her my information, and while I was home during the summer break, her mother called my parents to check out my background. They mutually decided I was acceptable as a roommate for Angela, so when school started again in the fall, I was both sharing a house and a bedroom with Angela.

A quick word about the house. It was originally a sixteen hundred square foot three bedroom, two full bath, with two car attached garage, home. The third bedroom had been modified into a shared office for all four residents, with electric and internet access on all four walls for study desks. The bathrooms had been modified so they each had two showers, two sinks, two toilets, and more importantly, tankless hot water heaters. The kitchen had been rewired so it could handle two refrigerators and two microwaves.

I’d asked Angela about that when I was moving in. Since her parents could afford it, they made the renovations to make the house friendly for college students, more of a fraternity or sorority house, and not just doing like most of the landlords in town did – which was basically nothing.

The other two girls in the house, Stacey and Joan, had been friends since sixth grade and lovers since high school. They’d been separated in the dorms and had issues their first two years. A shared psychology class with Angela was how they learned about the house, and jumped on the opportunity.

That’s what confused me when Stacey asked me about going out on a double-date after we’d been living together and attending classes for a couple months.

“As much as I appreciate the offer, I’m not a lesbian. I may be bisexual in that I can certainly appreciate an attractive woman, but I’d much rather go out with an attractive – or not so attractive, if he’s intelligent – man.”

“Melissa, you’re not a virgin, are you?” Stacey asked.

I thought back to high school, and chuckled. “No, I’ve had sex – and with more than a Bob. I even kissed a girl, and I liked it, to quote the song. But you know my schedule. When the hell am I going to find time to go out? And for that matter, who’s going to find me attractive?”

“Don’t short change yourself. We know the reason you don’t take time to do a lot of makeup and wear sexy clothes is that you simply don’t have the time the rest of us have in the day,” she pointed out. “I’ve seen you lounging around here, and while you’re not Penny, you’re also not Amy Farrah Fowler. More like Winnie Cooper. Both body wise and intellect.”

“Thanks, I think. Okay, now I’m intrigued about something. Normally, a double-date means both people are going out with someone they know. But you and Joan are pretty much a confirmed couple. Why do the two of you need to go on a date?”

“Long story short – I know, too late – you met my parents when I moved in here. They know about me and Joan, and are cool with it. Not all of my aunts and uncles are, so they’ve not necessarily told my cousins about us. There’s over twenty thousand students enrolled here, and I just ran into Little Mikey – his father, my uncle, is Big Mikey – at the library and neither one of us had any idea the other was going here. We spent some time talking and decided we needed more time to catch up. So ... he invited me and my ‘boyfriend’ out to lunch on Sunday. He always was shy and, honestly, a little bit of a nerd like you, so I said I’d see if I could find someone he could talk to.”

Angela had come padding out from our room to the kitchen to get a yogurt. “That may or may not end up working out, Stacey. The question is, did he get the nickname Little because he’s short, in any way that matters?” She held her finger and thumb up a couple inches apart.

“I have no current personal experience or knowledge of that one way or the other. Hell, it took both of us five minutes or more of looking – you know, those sideways glances – at each other before we figured out we knew each other. I haven’t seen him in person since seventh grade,” Stacey said. “He’s taller than Big Mikey, though. And no, I didn’t think to look at his shoe size, because he’s my cousin. Ew!”

I looked at Angela. “What do you think? I mean, we’re roommates, but that’s it. Having said that, I know I haven’t had much in the way of personal interaction with anyone in the last two plus years that wasn’t school related. And while you’re cute, you’re not my type for a long term relationship.”

She smirked and said, “Nope, same here. I know why my parents were happy with you renting and sharing with me, because you’re straight, and Stacey and Joan aren’t. I’ve got a boyfriend, anyway, and he doesn’t need batteries. I think you ought to go. From what I’ve seen, you need a break. You’re taking an extra ten hours of classes a week, and you could burn out if you don’t.”

“Fine, I’ll go. What’s the worst that could happen?” I asked.

You know, I really shouldn’t have tempted fate with those words.

That Saturday, I pulled in at Ted’s Escondido about five till twelve. The football game was an away game, which made access to restaurants a lot easier. I was actually early, because my grocery shopping at the Crest Family Market had gone a lot quicker than usual, again due to the lack of crowds because of the away game.

I walked in and said to the hostess, “Hi, I’m a little early. You may have a reservation under ‘Stacey’ for four, for twelve fifteen?”

“Ah, yes, we do. If you’d have a seat out here until more of your party comes, I’ll be happy to seat you when they do.”

I took a seat on one of the benches and then looked around. Then I frowned, upon seeing a guy sitting at the bench against the other wall. I felt like I knew him from somewhere. He noticed me looking at him, then also did a double-take.

There wasn’t anyone but us in the lobby, so he asked, “Physics 3053? Professor Baker?”

The proverbial light bulb went off over my head, and I nodded. “Yeah, that’s right.”

He stood and walked over, sitting near but not close to me. “That’s where I know you from. I knew you looked familiar, but I didn’t want to seem like a creep and say, ‘Hey, don’t I know you from somewhere?’”

“Oh, don’t worry, that definitely would’ve made you sound like a creep,” I replied.

He snorted. “Yeah. Hell, I almost didn’t say anything, anyway, since your nickname in class is ‘Miss Dash,’ and you don’t take part in our study groups. I honestly wasn’t sure if you even paid any attention to us lesser mortals.”

I frowned. “Lesser mortals?”

“Sure. You always walk into class totally prepared, no more than one minute or no less than thirty seconds before it starts. You always have your homework totally done and ready, and while you ask questions, Baker never gives you any grief about them like he does the rest of us. He says ‘class, dismissed,’ and you’re always out within thirty seconds. He posts grades outside his office by student ID numbers, and we all know our own. There’s always someone that none of us know who it is that’s always a solid five to seven percent above any of the rest of us. Since all of us – except you – take part in different study groups, that means you must be the one who’s killing it in that class.”

The sound of tornado sirens stopped me from saying from immediately saying what first came to mind, since they drowned out all normal speech. They always sounded at noon on Saturday here for testing purposes, unless the weather actually was bad. Since this part of the state was known for deadly tornadoes, no one minded – except me, because I was seething inside at his words.

However, since it took almost a minute for the sirens to complete their testing cycle, that also gave me some time to think, especially on the reason I was here today in the first place. I suspect the last thing he expected to see on my face was an apologetic grin.

“I’m a double-major,” I said as the siren noise bled away. “Computer Science and Physics. The physics is fairly easy for me, especially the math part of it. But since we have to take stupid classes to also get our degrees, I’ve got one of those in the Physical Sciences building that lets out ten minutes before our class starts in Nielsen, then I have to be at the Devon Energy Hall for two back to back classes fifteen minutes after our class ends.”

He had the good graces to wince. “Ouch, that’d suck. How do you find time to live?”

I snorted, then. “I don’t. I wouldn’t even be here if my roommates hadn’t pressured me into it. They’re going to meet me here for lunch, because they’re concerned about my mental health.”

“Okay, I don’t blame them. What’re you carrying?”

“Three point nine after two years. Dumbass English literature professor!”

He laughed. “Let me guess. One of those classes where you have to write a paper on your emotions, and because emotions aren’t actually measurable or quantifiable, you simply wrote it like it was a physics paper. Which means technically, it was perfect, but it had all the emotions of a Borg drone.”

“Okay, this is freaking me out a little, because that’s almost exactly what she said!”

He made an elaborate motion with his hands. “Thank you, thank you! For my next trick, I’ll show you my completely unemotional English lit paper. I bet we had the same prof, just different hours, because I remember her disgust when she said that she’d already graded one paper like mine.”

I blinked, then nodded and smiled. “Sounds about right. I had McCracken.”

“Bingo!”

I sighed, then looked at the door, wondering where my roommates were and really not caring. I looked back at him. “You know, I don’t think I know anyone’s name that’s in the class. I’m Melissa,” I said, holding out my hand.

He nodded and took my hand, sending tingles through my arm. “It is my pleasure, fair Melissa. I’m...” He was cut off by the siren of my phone’s text alert.

I held up a finger. “Hold that thought.” I swiped, then read the note. Stacey and Joan were stuck on the east side of the railroad tracks on Gray and would be at least fifteen minutes late.

“Well, crap,” I thought.

Then his phone’s text noise went off. He looked at it, then said, “Figures.” He held his phone up and hit the voice to text feature. “That’s fine. I’m having a great conversation right now, so I’ll see you when you get here.”

I blinked, then said, “You’re waiting on your cousin, Stacey.”

“You’re her girlfriend? No, wait, you said your name is Melissa.”

“Roommate. As in, one of the girls sharing the cost of the house. And I guess I’m your blind slash double date for lunch.”

I wasn’t sure if I liked the way his smile sparked warm and fuzzy feelings inside me. He raised his hand to the hostess. “Miss? It turns out we’re here for the same group, and the other two members of our party were just railroaded. Can we go ahead and get a table now, so we can at least get some water and look at a menu?”

“Certainly, Sir. If you’d follow me...” She led us to a table along the front, and put menus down for us. “Cassidy will be your server, I’ll let her know the rest of your party will be delayed.”

He actually held my chair for me. I thought that’d gone out of style a long time ago.

Once I was seated, I said, “So, you’re ‘Little’ Mike.”

He snorted, but didn’t say anything as the server brought us waters and menus. She said she’d check with us in about ten minutes, since she knew we had other people coming.

Once she was gone, he said, “Yeah. It beat being called ‘Three’ or ‘Third.’ Dad is Junior, so I’m technically Mike the third. But Aunt Grace – Stacey’s mom, and not like in the old song – called me ‘Little Mike’ in the hospital, and it stuck.”

“Well, she described you as shy. Hey, wait a minute. She said you invited her and her ‘boyfriend’ out for dinner, but you asked me if I was her girlfriend?”

“Oh, I’ve known Stacey wasn’t in a conventional boy/girl relationship for a long time, I just have never met her SO. My mother does as well, it’s just she doesn’t approve and always asks Aunt Grace and Uncle John about Stacey’s ‘boyfriend’ troubles. As for being shy...” he paused. “I haven’t been on a date since I started classes two years ago. You said how you didn’t have time because of you’re a double major? Hell, I’m lucky I’m even a single major. That’s why I go to study group three times a week.”

“I hope this doesn’t sound condescending, because it’s not meant that way, but there are a lot of easier majors than physics out there,” I said.

“Oh, I know that. It’s just ... our house is far enough out in the country, there’s no light pollution. So I could go out in the backyard at night, look up at the stars, and realize there’s a big universe out there. I want to help understand it, and the only way to do that is to learn how things work and go together.”

I nodded, and replied, “Astrophysics. Which our undergrad program gives you a firm basis in, so you can then go to grad school to really figure things out. So, why here, and not one of the big schools that specialize in it already?”

He grinned, and I got that feeling inside again. “It’s like I said, I have to work at it. You know, they recruited me for a football scholarship, but then I would’ve had to give up my dream. Not a lot of stellar mechanics stars on the football squad.”

We spent the next ten minutes discussing some of the failings of athletes and how they’d do is some of our classes. Then Stacey and Joan showed up, and we had our lunch. Mike and Joan got to know each other better, since it was pretty obvious she and Stacey were a long term couple.

In the meantime, I found myself actually becoming attracted to Mike. He wasn’t as full of himself as the guys I’d dated in high school were, and he had both a brain and was good looking. He didn’t have the metrosexual look a lot of guys on campus did.

During a lull in the conversation, I asked, “Mike, how’d you get that scar on your arm?”

He turned red, and took a drink from his sweet tea.

“It’s because of me,” Stacey said. “We were, what, ten, I think? The family had gone to Mike’s parents house for some get together, I think it was grandma’s birthday. Anyway, Mike wanted to show me some new piglets that were maybe a week old. So we went out to the pen, climbed up on the fence, and sure enough, there were almost a dozen little pigs suckling on mama pig. I leaned over a little too far to get a better look and fell in. Mama pig wasn’t too happy about it, and started to get up. Mike jumped in and helped me quickly climb the fence to get out, and then he did the same. Only thing was, his arm got caught on a nail and he ripped it wide open. He’s bleeding all over the place, we’re both covered in mud and pig shit, and running for the house, screaming. We both ended up getting our butts whipped; me for falling in, and Mike for going down there without a grown-up.”

“But what about your bloody arm? Didn’t you go to the hospital?” I asked.

“Hell, we live an hour outside of town,” Mike said. “Once my Mom hosed us off – and that was fun, because our Mom’s made us both strip down right there in the yard, next to each other – Dad just got out his veterinary kit, cleaned it out with some shit that hurt, and sewed it back up, just like he would a dog, cow or pig.”

Joan shook her head. “I can get why your Dad did what he did, I guess, but spanking both of you for it?”

“Mike’s family aren’t city folks. Really, neither are mine, but we moved to one the next year. Thing is, when Mike was all naked in front of me and I saw his penis, the only thing I could think about was when I’d seen horses mate, and how damned big one of their cocks was. That’s when I decided I didn’t want a man in my life, and I said so right then, pointing at him,” Stacey explained.

Joan leaned over and gave her lover a kiss, then said, “I can see how that would bother some parents.”

“Parents, hell,” Mike said. “Damned near scarred me – and not just on the arm – for a good seven years. I didn’t even get to kiss a girl until I was a senior in high school.”

I chuckled and said, “Now, I bet you have them draped off both arms.”

He mumbled then, “Nope.”

“What? How can an intelligent and good looking guy like you not have girls after him?”

“I don’t play sports, and I’m a nerd,” he bluntly said.

“Well, hell,” I said. “This won’t do. Not at all. I’m going to have to do some checking of my schedule, but I think you can consider me your girlfriend now. I know when at least three of your classes are, because I’m taking them, too, just in different sections. Give me your phone.”

He looked at me in shock, then handed me his phone. I quickly put my number in it, then texted it, so we’d have each other’s numbers. “We’ll figure this out!”

The rest of the lunch, I felt both free and afraid. I’d never – ever – acted impetuously like that before. I also had butterflies doing aerial maneuvers in my stomach ... and a bit further down, too.

When it came time for us to leave, Mike asked, “Um, when can I see you again?”

“That’s why we have phones, dummy! You check your schedule, I’ll check mine. So far, I’m free next weekend, even if we simply have to meet at Loveridge or Youngblood.” Those were the two different science libraries on campus.

He rolled his eyes. “I’m very familiar with Youngblood. Okay, it’s a date!” Then he blushed again. “Um, since you’ve said you’re my girlfriend, can I give you a kiss?”

I patted the side of my cheek, and he leaned over. At the last moment, I turned my head so he kissed me on my lips, just a quick peck that I ended up feeling all the way through my body – especially my groin – to my toes.

I giggled, then got in my car and drove home.

When I got there, Stacey and Joan were waiting.

“Um, I did not intentionally plan on setting you up with my cousin,” Stacey said. “I just didn’t know he knew about me and Joan, and wanted someone there to call the police if things got out of hand.”

“Why would they do that?” I asked.

“Well, firstly, we’re cousins, which means we share certain ancestors. Second, some – a lot – of those ancestors are all on the Dawes Rolls.”

I blinked. “You’re both as white-skinned as I am. Which tribe?”

“Cherokee,” she said.

“And that’s why she was concerned there might be trouble,” Joan said. “I’m a fourth generation Texican. I had ancestors that fought at the Alamo – on both sides.”

“And here, I thought you both just had lovely, long black hair. I didn’t know it was an ethnic and racial thing,” I said. “Like any of that matters to me. I’m pure mongrel, since I’m an Air Force brat.”

“Gee, and you wonder why you like physics and computers,” Joan said with a laugh.

“Fine, throw logic out there and ruin my Queen of the Nerd ambitions.”

Stacey narrowed her eyes and looked at me again. “Well, I’ll be damned. You’ve got the hots for Mike!”

Angela walked in then. “Who does? Melissa? Wait, Miss Virgin Vault has the hots for a guy?”

I pointed a finger at Angela, and said with a warning in my voice, “You’d better watch it, Missy! I know where you sleep!”

We spent some more time kidding around with each other, but the one overriding factor in all our lives – schoolwork – didn’t allow us much time. I may have taken a few extra minutes in the shower that night before going to bed allowing my fingers to do a little playing between my legs while thinking about Mike, though. Enough time that I didn’t have any trouble falling asleep after two serious orgasms.

Instead of schoolwork at the breakfast table the next morning, I was on my phone, texting back and forth with Mike. My roommates had the good grace to keep their mouths shut about it. We each did our bit of household chores after that, then hit the books. At lunch, I had both my textbooks out, like usual, but I also had my phone.

After lunch, Angela asked, “What was that about?”

“Mike and I are in the same class. This way we got to chat about some of the homework assignments while working on the problems, is all,” I said.

“Um, okay, but ... you could’ve just met somewhere and done that over lunch together.”

“That would be inefficient, though. We’d have to get dressed and make plans for travel and location time, and then once we were done, we wouldn’t be able to immediately get to work on classwork for those we don’t share,” I explained.

“Um...” Angela looked lost.

“They’ll figure it out,” Joan said. “Books and laptops are transportable as well, after all.”

“True,” I agreed. “However, at this point in time, we’re also simply studying together.”

“Uh-huh,” Angela said with a snort. “You keep telling yourself that.” Then she smiled. “It’s okay, Melissa. If you have questions, we’re here for you.”

I blinked, then finally realized what they were insinuating. I blushed a little, but while I’d certainly felt a physical attraction to Mike, it was way too early to think about anything further. Fantasies, after all, didn’t leave you crying along the side of the road.

Over the next month, though, it seemed this particular fantasy was gaining a bit more realism to it. Not only did we end up meeting at Loveridge, I also met some members of our class at a study session and was able to assist them with their issues. While Mike and I didn’t do more than kiss goodbye after each of those meetings, they had progressed to more than simple, chaste touches of our lips. I also went through more than two dozen batteries, which was more than I’d ever used in an entire year.

Then we all dug down deep for studies, as winter finals were upon us. I found working alone as I’d done previous years, wasn’t as psychologically enjoyable as meeting with the others in our class. The bantering back and forth, as well as the knowledge of other topics shared by students in our physics class, actually assisted me. Of course, I still passed all of my tests with perfect scores, but this time, I felt something more when Mike and the others in our study sessions told me that I’d helped them get better scores than they were expecting.

When Christmas break officially started, I found myself lost, like I always did when it was time to slow down. Only this time it was much worse. Dad went from chickens to stars six years ago, which was why we’d moved here from Commiefornia, due to the central location. Once here, he was Deputy Commander of the Sixteenth Air Force, primarily overseeing four different wings around the country, and typically did TDY for three or four days at a time, every week. The US Senate gave their advice and consent for his promotion, which was effective in October. The second star moved him up to Vice Commander of the Sixteenth Air Force, and also meant a relocation to San Antonio. A seven hour drive wouldn’t have been an issue for me to stay with them there, but the first week of December, there’d been an issue with someone very high in the chain of command at Eustis, so he caught a ninety-day TDY with dependents allowed. Mom being the dutiful Air Force wife made sure I was okay and went with him.

I’m not a little girl any more. It’s not like this was the first Christmas Dad wasn’t around. But I’d sort of gotten used to spending time with both of them over the last few years. Dependents were allowed, so I went online to schedule a flight to Norfolk. An hour later, when I called my mother, I was almost in tears.

“Hi, Hon! I got your email with your grades. Congratulations. What’s up?”

“I figured since you weren’t down at San Antonio, I’d just catch a flight out Thursday and come back here after New Year’s. Not only is there nothing non-stop, there’s nothing that’s even vaguely reasonable in either time or price! The best route I could find sends me from here to Dallas, then to Atlanta, then to New York, and finally from there to Norfolk!”

She heard the frustration in my voice. “I know. Your Father and I talked about that. If this was a PCS for us, we could get you on a space available flight, and since there are always flights from there to Washington, it wouldn’t be a problem. RHIP, after all. But this is TDY, so you would’ve needed to come out with us. Sort of like back during that time in Europe, when he had a four month TDY from Ramstein to Lakenheath. You were in elementary school on base, so it was relatively easy for you to just go from one to the other, and then when we got back to Ramstein, to get back in there.”

“Well, it sucks. I’m used to not necessarily spending a holiday with Daddy around because of his duty, but not having you, either?”

“Life’s not fair, young lady. Besides, I had a feeling you were going to have a problem.”

“Does that mean you have a solution?” I asked.

“Of sorts. We’ll do our own Christmas celebration when we get back to San Antonio. You can come down on Spring Break, if you don’t want to go gallivanting all over the beaches instead.” She laughed at my snort. “However, we don’t want you to be home alone on Christmas Day. So, you won’t be. You’ll be spending the weekend in Edmond with your roommate’s family.”

“Mom!”

“Don’t worry about feeling like you’re imposing, either. You’ll find her parents have a lot in common with us. Different branch of service, but there’s a reason it was easy for Angela’s parents to allow you to rent with them.”

“Oh. I didn’t know that. And yeah, I didn’t know she was a service brat.”

“She wasn’t, not like you.”

Mom spent some time explaining about Angela and then we just spent another hour talking. I felt better about not going to Virginia to spend the holiday with them after that.

Of course, I told Stacey and Joan I wasn’t going anywhere, either, and Stacey made a quick call. That resulted in my being invited to her house for New Year’s Eve. I accepted, with thanks. Rat!

It turns out Angela’s parents knew well about being separated at holidays. Her dad had been the CO of an SSBN. Even though he’d been underwater most of his career, when he got his star, the Navy stuck him as commander of Strategic Communications Wing One. That was because he’d spent so much time as a bubblehead, he knew how hard it was to actually talk to them. Of course, since both squadrons of that wing were based at an Air Force base, they put someone in charge who was used to being isolated in command. He’d actually retired after his thirty, the year after Dad took his assignment, so they’d known each other professionally.

Her parents were also used to having three kids at home when they could. Their oldest had driven home from Dallas with his fiancée for Christmas Eve, but they’d be driving back down tomorrow for the actual Christmas Day celebration with her family. Their middle child was on Okinawa with, God help him, the Marines. I ended up getting along quite well with Angela’s future sister-in-law, and while her mother didn’t look anything like my mother, they may as well have been copies of each other.

New Year’s Eve was great, too. About eleven that night, we were sitting out with jackets on, waiting for the fireworks show across the river to start, when a set of headlights flashed in Stacey’s parent’s driveway.

“Who could that be?” her mom, Grace asked, with just a little syrup in her voice.