Chapter 11

When school started for both of us in the early fall, Sally was ready. She had her new laptop computer and knew how to use it. She'd rapidly mastered touch-typing and the intricacies of Microsoft Word, and in a pinch she could do research on-line.

She took to dormitory life like a young woman who'd grown up with her normal allotment of pajama parties and Friday night football. She was twenty, going on seventeen.

But it wasn't Friday night football she was going head for when each school week came to its end. It was my apartment. We both had plenty of homework (even though third-year law school turned out to be a relative breeze compared to the first two years), but we had reserved Friday nights and Saturday mornings for our weekly reunions — spelled O-R-G-I-E-S — in my bedroom. The only difficult part was forcing ourselves to get back to Real World business for the remainder of the weekend.

Sally loved everything about college life. She loved the classes, the social life, the dorm — even the school cafeteria! She was making plenty of friends with the other women in the dorm and in her classes, and she seemed to love them, too.

And I think she loved me. I hadn't so much as looked at another woman since we'd come back from the island. Well, that's not literally true. I looked at plenty of women –- some of them with great admiration. I wasn't dead, and I was still a guy. But none of them inspired me to venture away from Sally Gervais. Not even for a moment.

Sally was my girl and I was loving every minute of it.

I was even thinking about maybe asking her to marry me. Sure, I was still uneasy with the "monopolization" issue, but Sally's enthusiasm for our relationship hadn't faltered, and hey, I couldn't force the woman to go out with other guys. Could I?

If she wanted only me, what could I say? She was demonstrating great judgment!

Right about then was when Gregory Prescott came into the picture.

Gregory Prescott was the older brother of one of Sally's dormitory friends. Alicia Prescott, a sophomore who lived on Sally's dorm floor, had introduced her suave older brother when he'd been visiting her one Sunday afternoon in mid-October.

Gregory was a twenty-seven-year-old third-year medical student at the University. Gregory, it seems, knew a good thing when he saw it. He immediately gave Sally the full rush, asking her out on a date. My Sally — maybe thinking of all my lectures about how she should meet other guys, play the field, etc., promptly accepted!

Well, maybe it was my lectures (which I'd been emphasizing less and less as the weeks had worn on), or maybe she just thought Gregory Prescott was hot.

Sally was very open about it. The date with Gregory was for a Friday night — normally our night together at my place. Sally simply called me on Wednesday and explained that she wouldn't be coming around.

It seems she had a date.

Well now, wasn't that nice? It was exactly what I had told her: Meet more people. Play the field. Date other guys if you want to.

I didn't tell her that I had been hoping and praying, more every week, that she would continue to ignore my advice. Did I really want her to date other guys?

Are you kidding? Of course not!

I especially didn't want her to date guys like Gregory Prescott. Jeez, his very name sounded intimidating. And the guy was a fucking medical student! I mean, lawyers are a dime a dozen –- but a goddamned doctor! How do I compete with that?

But maybe he was a big dud at the personal level. I mean, I'm a tall guy. I've got dark hair. I've been told that I was a pretty good-looking dude. What does that make me? Why, tall, dark and handsome, that's what! And Sally. Sally's always been — well, enthralled with me.

And enthralled is not too strong a word. The woman is nuts about me! We get along so great! The sex has always been fantastic and it's only gotten better! She's been on The Pill long enough now so we've been able to toss the condoms. And, hoo boy — bareback is best!

We have (had?) a great thing going! So why now, all of a sudden is she suddenly deciding to look around, see who else is out there? And why does it have to be on Friday night? Our big night?