Chapter 10

Jack had been studying hard all week. His Algorithm final was Thursday morning and he desperately wanted to do well. He had gotten together with Denise Tuesday night and they had studied for a few hours. Denise had gone home around ten when she could no longer keep her eyes open. Jack had offered to let her sleep in his bed while he slept on the floor, but she declined. Jack was looking forward to spending some quality time with her on Friday night, but for right now he had other things on his mind.

Closing his book, Jack rubbed his burning eyes. Staring at the same page for the last fifteen minutes and not feeling like he comprehended a word irritated him. Deep down, there was another thing bugging him. Something he wanted to approach with Denise, but after the scene on Monday, he found himself scared to broach the subject. Giving up, he called Staci.

"Staci's fluff 'n' fold," came the blonde's seductive voice, "you bleed 'em we bleach 'em."

"Hey Staci, it's Jack," Jack replied in a tired tone.

"Jack, baby, how's it hanging?"

"Long, low and left, dear. You got a minute?"

"For you, I might even have fifteen, if you're interested." Jack laughed, "I'll have to get back to you on that. I wanted to talk to you about Denise." "Sure, what's on you're mind loverboy?" "Well... Denise and I had lunch together on Monday. She uh... god I don't know how to say this, but she told me about her getting raped a couple years ago by that football player and his roommate."

"Oh... did that bother you?"

"Well, yes and no. I mean, I feel terrible that it happened to her; but I do not understand how this guy got off. I mean, from what she told me it sounded like an open and shut case."

"What do you mean," asked Staci.

"It sounds like it was a clear drugging and rape case. I mean she went over his place, they slipped her a mickey and had their way with her. Then she comes home and you and Renee take her to the hospital. I would think that the tests they do in the emergency room plus the investigation by the police would have pointed to a violent rape."

"What exactly did she tell you, if you don't mind my asking?"

Jack related Denise's story.

"I guess from what she told you that it does sound like an open and shut case. Having been there, I can tell you that it wasn't. See, what she didn't tell you and may not have realized at the time is that while she was passed out, they cleaned her up a little. Those two assholes also made sure that she was in their apartment long enough that the drug they slipped her was more or less out of her system. They were able to use a small dose due to Denise's lack of tolerance for alcohol.

"Besides, it came down to their word against hers, and they had a good lawyer. I don't know if you've ever seen a rape investigation, but often times there is a lot of blame directed at the victim. In Denise's case, they tried to make it like she'd come over there drunk looking for sex. The claim was that she wanted to take on both of them, and do some things she'd never done before. They passed off the rope burns as a bondage experiment, and the stitches to her rectum as overly active consensual anal sex. The most outrageous part of it all was that the local prosecutor ended up telling Denise that even if they could prove they two scumbags were perjuring themselves, it was going to be a long ugly trial. Denise wasn't sure she could go through with it. So the DA ended up getting them on a lesser charge to prove a point and that was that.

"In the end, I think both of the guys pleaded no contest to simple assault and battery. They were both given probation since it was a first offense. But fortunately the story didn't end there."

"Really... so what else happened."

"Well, I heard a rumor that they got picked up for speeding on their way to their new school. Let's just say it's a bad idea to get picked up speeding when you're carrying illicit substances. Especially when someone has anonymously informed the DA that they saw the two persons in question involved in a drug deal a week after the plea bargain was announced. "

"Are you kidding me? C'mon, I can't believe that they would be that stupid, or that it would be that convenient."

"Believe me or not, but you can look it up and see that Eric never played football at UNLV, or any other school for that matter following his transfer. Being on probation and caught with rohypnol - which is probably what he used on Denise - and other substances could get you a few years in jail, and remember, the DA did want to nail these guys. Besides, don't you think he had to be getting his supply of roofies somewhere?"

"Geez remind me never to piss you off when it comes to Denise."

"Now why would you say that?"

"Let's just say it sounds like you know a little too much about what happened afterwards to not have been involved."

"Jack, I swear to you that I had nothing to do with it, and I can prove it in a court of law."

"Ok, but you know who was involved don't you?"

"I know who wasn't involved. It wasn't me, it wasn't Renee and it couldn't have been Denise."

"Why couldn't it have been Denise?" "She was still in the hospital, and witnesses will tell you that I was there with her every day."

"So how come she didn't tell me any of this?"

"As far as she knows, he transferred and left the state. She never followed up on it for a lot of good reasons. Jack, you have to understand, she fell apart after being raped. She was a mess emotionally it was like a total breakdown. She almost refused to come back to school in the spring and when she did, her grades were shit. She had a terrible time dealing with people because she felt singled out. She was in counseling for a few months, but returning to any semblance of a normal life takes longer.

"Denise has made incredible progress just to even tell you about what happened. Last year she wouldn't have even spoken about it to me without losing it halfway through and trying to do something stupid."

"In other words, she just put everything behind her and accepted what the outcome was. I find that amazing."

"Jack, sometimes denial isn't just a river in Egypt. I think that as far as Denise is concerned, the rape and aftermath of it are behind her. Is she a little bitter about how things turned out? Yes. Does she wish she could have done something differently? Yes, but the bottom line is that she's not going to fix those things so thinking about it is a waste of energy.

"I love Denise to death, Jack. She's one of the sweetest people I know and she is the person least deserving of having bad things like that happen to her. She's an incredibly strong person to go through what she did and tell you about it. Deep down, maybe she'd like to have put the guy away herself, but under the circumstances she's better off not knowing the truth. As far as anyone knows, those two are in jail and that's the end of it."

"Staci, do you know where they happen to be incarcerated?"

"I think in Alabama or Louisiana, although they may have been remanded to here on the probation violation, why?"

"I'd just like to see if there was any mention in the local papers. I don't know, but maybe someday Denise would like to see that justice was served in some form."

"That's really sweet of you, Jack. I'm sure it was a small local story where they got picked up, although but it may have actually been carried here because of the notoriety the guy achieved. Good luck in finding it."

"Thanks, I'll talk to you later ok?"

"Any time cutie. Just let me know when you want to cash in that fifteen minutes."

Jack laughed as he hung up the phone.

Staci sighed as she returned the phone to its cradle.

"Who was that on the phone," asked Jill as she wandered into the kitchen.

"Jack," replied Staci listlessly.

"Oh, what'd he want?"

"Denise told him about the incident, and he had some questions."

"And you were the one to answer them. I guess he just wanted confirmation then. So why are you so bummed?"

"It's Denise, I think she told him... well lets just say she told him more than she ever told me about what happened and I'm a little suspicious about it." "What do you mean," asked Jill as she sat down next to the blonde.

"You know, she told us that she actually remembered very little about what happened, that she'd been out of it most of the time she was there. The descriptions that she gave Jack are quite detailed and I don't quite know what to make of it. It's like she's playing for the sympathy vote while giving herself an out if things don't work with Jack." "What in the world are you talking about?"

"Well... ok she takes this incident and blows it up to huge ugly proportions by giving a lot of gory details. In fact, she told him things that she never once mentioned to us. He's going to be very sympathetic towards her right. Make him move really slowly in a relationship, as if they weren't moving at a crawl already. Then let's just say for the sake of argument that he does something she's not ready for or not willing to be ready for, so she now dumps him by saying that it reminds her too much of when she got raped. I just get the feeling that she's deliberately setting herself up for failure."

Jill smiled and got up, walking behind her roommate. Leaning over she slipped her arms around Staci and squeezed.

"Staci, dear, sometimes you read far too much into things. If she gave him details, and embellished them, it's her choice. I think she just wants to give him fair warning about her past in case she decides that she wants to sleep with him. It wouldn't do for her to freeze in the middle of fooling around and Jack not to know why. I know you're upset about them being together, but trying to find reasons to stick your nose in or get involved, is foolish.

"Now then, why don't you come to bed and let me make you feel better? You know that I'm all you'll ever need."

Staci patted Jill's arms then stood up. Kissing her roommate gently, she turned to leave the room.

"I'll take a rain check on that. I just want to think for a while ok?"

Jill smiled and nodded sympathetically to Staci's retreating form, as the blonde slipped into her own room.

Friday finally rolled around for both Jack and Denise. The Algorithms final went well for both, and they had worked off the stress of studying for it by going to the gym together on Thursday afternoon. The workout was productive for both. Jack had gotten Denise to push herself, getting her to improve both her number of repetitions and amount of weight. Denise had, in turn, pushed Jack into lowering his mile time by almost ten seconds. Feeling much better, Denise had walked Jack to the library after they had cleaned up and passionately kissed him goodbye.

Jack found that he was actually looking forward to just hanging out with Denise rather than having a formal date. Friday had turned out to be a gray rainy morning with little prospect of clearing. As the day dragged on, Jack began to look forward to just lazing around and doing nothing. He had picked up a morning shift at the library to give himself something to do while waiting for Denise. She had a class at 8 and had dropped by to see him at 9:30.

Jack was checking books in when she came in the door. Spotting him, she angled over to where he was working.

"Hey bud, how's it going today," she asked, pleasantly.

"Hey yourself. Pretty good I guess. This is as busy as I've been all morning I guess not a lot of books need to be returned today. Where are you off too?"

"Well... I'm going home to have lunch. When are you getting off work?"

"Two o'clock, I think," responded Jack.

"Any plans after that?"

"Well... its kind of wet out there and I just think I might go home and veg in front of the TV for a while. Maybe call this cute redhead I know, see if she can come out to play."

Denise laughed, "Gee, wouldn't want to interrupt such a busy afternoon. I was thinking that if you weren't too busy maybe you'd like to come over this afternoon, watch some movies, but since you clearly have plans..."

"Well, for you I could change them. One redhead's as good as another," Jack retorted with a large grin.

Denise smacked him lightly on the arm. "I'd better be the only redhead in your life buddy!"

"Yes, but are you a true redhead," Jack guffawed.

Denise glared at him for a minute, before narrowing her eyes and saying, "Maybe if you're good you'll have a chance to find out. In the meantime, do you want to come hang out when you get off of work?"

"Yes, I would be delighted to, milady," Jack said, gallantly, as he reached across the desk for her hand.

Denise giggled as he took her hand and kissed the back of it.

"Fine, why don't you pick me up a little after 2 and we'll go find some movies to rent."

"I'll see you then," said Jack.

Denise leaned over the desk and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Smiling, she left the library to the applause of Jack's co-workers. Jack stared as she left, feeling heat rush to his face. The rest of his shift dragged, and by 2 p.m. he was ready to go. The good-natured ribbing was getting to him, and Margaret was far and away the most merciless. Exasperated, Jack had finally told her that she shouldn't be so amused since she obviously had more experience with affection judging by the marks on her neck. Margaret had blushed and immediately left him alone.

Two o'clock finally arrived and Jack bolted out the door. He paused briefly at his apartment to change his shirt and grab an umbrella. It wasn't raining yet, but the sky was threatening to open up at any minute. Jack had just gotten into his beat-up silver Honda when it began to pour. Grumbling, Jack turned on his lights and wipers and made the short drive to Denise's apartment. Along the way, he had to open the window slightly to prevent the windshield from fogging too badly and found that his left side was getting drenched. As he pulled into Denise's complex, the rain slackened then quit all together. Taking the folded up umbrella, Jack ascended the stairs and wandered down the hall to Denise's door. He had just raised his fist to knock, when the door burst open.

"Jack. I was wondering when you'd get here," said the bright-eyed redhead.

"Well, I had to drive slow with the rain and my defrost not working properly. You ready to go?"

Denise slipped out the door and locked it behind her, "Sure am. Let's just go to that little mom and pop rental store up the street. I'd rather give them my business than the major chains and their rental rates are better."

Jack took her hand and they walked to the car.

Upon entering the store it was obvious why Denise had chosen to rent here. The four rooms of the store were loaded with VHS cassettes and the sign proudly stated that all rentals were for five days and 99 cents. Hand in hand, they strolled around the store looking for movies that would suit them. Jack pushed for two recent comedies he hadn't seen, Denise wanted "Gone With the Wind" and another classic Jack had never heard of. In the end, they rented all four movies. As they were checking them out, Jack noticed two white louverd half shutters closing off the doorway to a room they hadn't been in. Denise had turned to ask Jack if she should pay or if he would rather and she would get lunch and noticed where he was looking.