Chapter 69: Homecoming

Warren and Sophia pulled out of the campus at 8am on a Saturday morning, heading home for Christmas break.

"Springsteen, again?" Sophia asked as he started the CD player.

"It's good driving music, Pookie. Besides, you like Springsteen."

"Yeah, but you always put him on when we're in the car. It's so... predictable." She giggled.

"We're going to be on the road for two days, we'll have time to listen to a whole bunch of stuff. I need Bruce to help me wake up."

"Well, OK then."

They found some coffee, and hit the highway.

It was midmorning, and they were well on their way.

"Warren," Sophia began, "There's something I've been meaning to talk to you about. Mary says I should. But it's difficult."

"What, Pookie?"

"Well... it's about our sex life."

"Uh-oh. The last thing a guy wants to hear from his girlfriend."

"Don't worry," she laughed. "I love it with you, you know that. However, we were talking about the whole Eduardo thing, and why I was attracted to him in the first place."

"I know. You like it rough sometimes."

"It's not so much rough. It's just that... I don't know..." Her voice got quieter. "I guess I have a submissive streak."

"OK. And I'm not satisfying it."

"Warren, don't put it that way. Most of the time I love your gentle touch. It's just every once in a while..." She took a deep breath. "It's not that I want you to be rough. The couple times that has happened, it's been natural. I wouldn't want you to force it--that's not in your nature. Oh shit, I don't know what I want."

"You want to be dominated."

"Yeah. Just once in a while. I don't know if you can do that, though. If you can't, it's all right. But I wanted to talk about it."

"You're right, I really have to be in the mood to be rough. Hmmmm. Being rough is not the same as being dominating, though."

"Not necessarily, true."

Suddenly, Warren grinned. "You know what? I have an idea."

"What?"

"I'm not going to tell you. I'm going to surprise you."

"Aww, that's no fair! Tell me!"

"Nope. You'll just have to wait until we get home."

"Fine." She paused. "Will I like it?"

"We'll find out, won't we?"

The homecoming was happy. Everyone was glad to see them, and everyone was especially glad to see them together. They got home late Sunday night, and spent most of Monday going around and saying 'hi' to people. Crash had flown home on Saturday, so they saw he and Jess for lunch on Monday.

Tuesday they spent in the rink, most of it. And June recognized that they had a problem, one they had started to realize the past month.

"You know what? That original dance sucks." June told them.

"We know," said Sophia.

"So change it!"

"We need an idea first."

"Listen. You're using boring, traditional, march music. Open it up. You guys are musically aware, Warren in particular. Read the music requirements, but be creative."

"Hmmmmm."

"We have time to choreograph a new OD, but we have to do it right away," June said.

That night, Warren listened to some music. He got a great idea, read the music requirements for the March OD and found it would just make it. He made a cut to the proper length, and burned it onto a CD.

He walked into practice the next day. "I think I've got it. It qualifies as a march, although just barely."