Chapter 4

The next morning, Charlotte and Hannah were getting ready to go the gym. Hannah wore a tank top that left a small bit of midriff exposed and yoga pants. Charlotte, on the other hand, wore a loose-fitting white t-shirt and a pair of thin sweat pants.

“Damn Charlotte!” Hannah said. “People can see your elbows! Are you sure you want to go out dressed like that?”

“Oh, shut up, Hannah” Charlotte rolled her eyes in response.

Suddenly, the girls who a soft, but insistent knocking on the door.

Charlotte rushed to answer it and saw a perky looking Jessica. Like Hannah and Charlotte, she was dressed for the gym. But, par for the course, her outfit was a far cry from the conservative outfits donned by the young freshmen. Jessica and Hannah both wore yoga pants, but while Hannah’s hung comfortably from her frame, Jessica’s clung to her every curve, letting any passer-by know the exact shape of her ass. And while Hannah’s tank-top left a little bit of stomach exposed for ventilation, Jessica’s top was barely a sports bra, and as skin-tight as her matching, hot pink yoga pants.

Lucas stood behind her.

“Hey Charlotte!” Jessica said, and help up a bag demonstratively. “Hannah met some of our little book club members yesterday, and I brought over some of the novels we’ve read recently! Of course, you’re both welcome to them.” She thrust the bag out for Charlotte to take and looked noticed Hannah’s outfit, and the two water bottles sitting on the coffee table of the girls’ dorm.

“Hey, are you guys going to the gym!? So are Lucas and I! Let’s go together.”

“Ummm ... okay” Charlotte replied.

Jessica took Charlotte by her arm and pulled her out into the hallway. Hannah cried out, “Wait!” and grabbed the girls’ water bottles before she trotted out behind them.

Jessica took Charlotte arm in arm and chatted quietly to her while Hannah followed behind. Lucas matched his stride to walk next to her.

Lucas and Hannah had a surprisingly normal conversation about their studies and the typical travails of college students, which was a respite from the previous day’s sexually charged discussion with Jessica.

The group stopped when a group of three men called out to Jessica and Lucas. In a pattern that was becoming increasingly clear to Hannah, they were tall, muscular, and black. “I guess I’m a long way from Minnesota,” she thought to herself.

The men shared high fives and first bumps with Lucas, and pawed Jessica’s body. One of the men groped her breast, while another grabbed her ass! She kissed each of them, on the mouth, with tongue—this was no friendly peck on the cheek.

Charlotte turned a brilliant shade of crimson and looked away, shuffling back and forth on her feet and looking like she’d rather be anywhere else.

“Guys, meet Charlotte and Hannah! Hannah is Sarah’s sister and Charlotte is her roomie!” Jessica said. “They’re new to the school, so be nice!”

The men greeted the girls politely and shook their hands.

“When the hell did Sarah become such a social butterfly?” Hannah wondered to herself. She loved her sister, but she was a total dork—like Hannah herself.

The trio said their goodbyes, and when the gym-bound group resumed their journey, Hannah was walking with Jessica and Charlotte with Lucas.

Jessica chattered on happily, pointing to various landmarks around the school. Hannah heard Lucas ask Charlotte various, random questions about herself and her studies, but heard only soft, unintelligible murmuring from Charlotte. Hannah looked back, and saw that while Lucas was turned to Charlotte and trying to engage her in conversation, Charlotte shuffled along staring at the ground in front of her. Hannah rolled her eyes, figuring this was a bit of a racial awkwardness from the Southern conservative.

“So Jessica...” Hannah whispered, slowly. “Those men, were they more of your ... friends who are boys?”

“You bet!” Jessica responded cheerfully, and at full volume. “What ... you don’t think Lucas gets jealous do you?” She turned back and blew Lucas a kiss, and Lucas responded with a knowing smile and a wink.

Charlotte hadn’t heard Hannah’s question and looked up from her meditation on the ground to shoot the other three a puzzled look. But Jessica kept walking at a brisk pace, and Charlotte merely shrugged and continued her shuffle to the gym.

When they finally arrived, they were greeted by a tall, blonde, lithesome but for large breasts. Her outfit was even more revealing than Jessica’s! Her painted on gym shorts barely covered her privates, and her top made Jessica’s sports-bra look like a winter sweater. Hannah had no idea how the top didn’t tear with any sort of exertion. Her shorts were low cut enough that Hannah observed a black, spade tattoo sticking up from the waistband, identical to the one she’d seen on jewelry worn by Jessica, Sarah, and many other girls she’d seen around campus.

“Sophie!” Jessica cried out enthusiastically. She embraced the blonde in a deep hug, and the two kissed deeply. Jessica just didn’t seem like the girl who did pecks on the cheek. Neither did Sophie for that matter.

“I was hoping I’d see you here. I wanted to introduce you to some of my new freshmen friends.”

Jessica stepped back behind Hannah, and she heard a soft scuffling sound as she gently pushed Charlotte forward, whose crimson shade had again returned. Jessica stepped between them, placing an arm in the small of each girls back.

“This,” Jessica said, turning her head to the pale, raven-haired Southerner, “is Charlotte.”

“And this,” Jessica went on, turning her head to the petite, Midwestern redhead, “is Hannah. Hannah is...”

“Sarah’s sister!” Hannah interrupted. “It seems everyone knows her!”

Sophie’s eyes lit up the name. “Oh, Sarah said she had a younger sister who’d be joining us this year! It’s so nice to meet both of you. She leaned forward towards Hannah with arms outstretched. Hannah flinched, wondering if Sophie would feel her up and practically make out with her, as she had with Jessica. Sophie saw the hesitant reaction and calmed down, giving Hannah a quick, chaste hug around and patting her on the shoulder. She turned to Charlotte, who was looking away and whose fierce blush hadn’t yet abated. She gently extended her hand.

“It’s ... umm nice to meet you.” Charlotte said, clasping Sophie’s outstretched hand in a weak handshake.

“Sophie’s like ... a mentor to me!” Jessica chimed in. “She showed me the ropes when I was a freshman and she was a junior! She’s getting her master’s now, so we don’t get to see each other as much...” Jessica said sadly.

“Doctorate, now actually,” Sophie corrected. “You too are so adorable! I remember how shy Sarah was when I first met her! Hell, I remember how shy Jessica was, if you can believe it.”

She smiled at the two freshmen. “You’ll find your stroke ... err stride soon enough. This is a great community! Don’t hide in your dorm rooms!”

“Anyways,” Jessica said. “Sophie, Lucas is here. Do you want to join us in our workout?”

“Sure,” Sophie smiled, and the two strided off, arm-in-arm.

Hannah turned to Charlotte. “Could you be any less friendly?” She hissed. “What’s gotten into you?”

Charlotte matched her gaze. “You don’t think this is all a little odd?”

“I saw the way Lucas tried to talk to you and you blew him off! What, you can’t have a conversation with a black man?”

Charlotte looked indignant. “What the heck Hannah? That’s not it at all! Just because I’m from the South and a Republican doesn’t make me a bigot. But did you see the way he man-handled Jessica? Did you see the way those other men had their hands all over her? And did you see the way Jessica and Sophie kissed each other? Are they lesbians or something?”

“Well...” Hannah said. “I talked to Jessica about this. I think she likes to have ... relations ... with lots of different people, and I think she likes guys and girls.”

Charlotte crinkled her nose in disgust and shuddered. “Jessica seems like a nice girl, Hannah, and I knew you grew up together. But making out with multiple people? Making out with women? In public!?!?!? That’s just not right!”

“I think it’s a lot more than making out,” Hannah giggled.

Charlotte’s face flashed an even darker shade of crimson.

“People have sex Charlotte!” Hannah teased. “Even nice church girls—how else do you think genteel Southern belles like yourself get made?”

Charlotte narrowed her eyes. “The creation of a child, under the bonds of love and matrimony, with god’s blessing ... is nothing like this ... this ... fornication!” She took a breath and seemed to relax a bit, laughing to herself. “Okay, I realize I just sounded like the villain of a bad 80s movie. But don’t you think the way Jessica carries on with all those men is demeaning? And what’s with all these references to your sister?”

Hannah paused. “Look, what Jessica’s doing isn’t what I would, by any stretch of the imagination. But she’s a smart girl, and I think she’s a good person. She can make decisions for herself, and she’s shown off nothing but kindness. And Sarah ... she might be even more conservative than you! I don’t think she’d any man hold hands with her, unless they were Jewish and already midway through a medical residency.”

“Have you seen how Jessica acts with people? Everything is so ... sexual” Charlotte hesitated and blushed at even the reference to sex.

“Look, Jessica’s friendly, and fun, and we’ve even talked about sex” Hannah put emphasis on the word “sex,” teasing her friend. “But she’s never tried to foist her views on me about anything, she’s only been respectful. I’m sure she’s just helped Sarah meet new friends.”

Meanwhile, in a locker room across the gym, Lucas sat on a bench, completely naked.