Chapter 3: Tempted

SEPTEMBER 2001, SENIOR YEAR

"Hey there, boyfriend!" Megan called as she sidled up to Kaito and wrapped her arm around his waist. I grinned as I watched him stiffen and look around the hallway sheepishly, as if embarrassed by her public display of affection. But after another second he smiled happily and let his girlfriend hug him.

The couple started down the hallway towards me. When they arrived, Megan smiled and punched my shoulder lightly with her free hand. "Hey, Ben."

"Hey, Ben," Kaito nodded as well.

"Hey, Ben. Feel weird to be back?" Cassidy remarked as she moved alongside us, her ubiquitous headphones wrapped around her neck. I wasn't sure which one of us she was asking, but both Megan and I nodded.

"Feel weird not having Cameron by your side?" I asked right back. "The two of you were pretty inseparable the past few weeks."

Cassidy pouted but nodded. "I'll manage."

"Hi, Ben!" A petite brunette bounced over and a wide smile crossed my face.

"Lynne!" I said brightly and automatically opened my arms. The perky now-senior cheerleader hugged me quickly and then stepped back. "Good to see you! How was your summer?"

Lynne Arian shrugged. "Most of it was boring. But the three weeks we spent in Europe were so cool. There's too much to tell right now. But the things I saw were INCREDIBLE."

"What's incredible?" came a sweet voice from my left. Adrienne sidled up to our group, holding her books over her prodigious chest but low enough that they didn't block one's view of her cleavage. "Hey, Lynne, Ben."

"Hey, Adrienne," I nodded.

"Hey, A.D.," Lynne chirped.

The gorgeous blonde smiled and glanced over at everyone else. "Hey guys," she said, looking pointedly at Megan and Cassidy. The girls nodded and smiled back genially. After Cassidy's apology to Adrienne for seducing me, and Adrienne subsequently going to my ex-girlfriends for support after breaking up with me, there was no longer any bad blood between them. I wouldn't say they'd ever be close friends, but at least they were on good terms, something I wouldn't have predicted last year.

We teenagers are just resilient that way.

Adding to the "fresh start" feeling of the new school year, after a few minutes of conversation, Drew Walker cruised by with some of his basketball teammates. But while his greeting to me last year was a hip-check into the nearest lockers while he pawed at Megan, this year he just head-nodded to me and offered a casual greeting of, "Sup."

I nodded and greeted him back.

What a difference a year makes.

"Who'd you get for Physics?"

"Hammond."

"Ouch. Sorry, man."

"Heyyy, Ben."

"Oh, hey Chelsie."

"Mm ... she definitely grew up over the summer."

"Focus, Kenny. You're going to go meet your girlfriend in about thirty seconds."

"I am. You're not. And you could do a lot worse than Chelsie Lennis."

"Hey, Ben!"

"Hi, Maddie."

"Madeline Chung coming on to you? Dude, you're going to have SUCH an awesome time this year."

"She just said 'hi', Kenny. Besides, I've got a girlfriend, remember?"

"A girlfriend who's a million miles away! Doesn't count, dude. More than a hundred miles doesn't count."

I stopped dead in my tracks, giving my friend a weird look. "Where do you come up with that?"

Kenny shrugged, "Everybody knows."

A couple of Junior girls walked by just then, giggling like they were three years younger. One of them pointed at me and when I turned my head to look, she turned her point into a little hand wave hello.

Kenny's head was suddenly next to my ear. "C'mon, Ben. Aren't you the least bit tempted?"

"NO," I shook my head. "I love my girlfriend and I'm going to stay loyal to her, got it? It's just a year. I can handle just a year."

"Very noble, sir," Kenny leaned in, patting my shoulder and nodding sagely. "But just you see, Ben. This year is going to be the year that changes your life."

It was just after 6pm when the doorbell rang on Wednesday. Choosing to be responsible, I got up from the TV and went to the front door.

"Hey, Ben!" Adrienne stood there, looking absolutely radiant in the late afternoon light. The sun was coming down from the horizon, basking everything in an orange glow. Butterflies leaped to action in my stomach and I felt my heart speed up. And I felt a twitch in my groin.

"Hey, Adrienne," I smiled and stood in the doorway, momentarily smothering my lustful urges. "I haven't seen you here in a while."

"Well," she waggled a leg while looking at the floor, blushing cutely. "I felt a little guilty for imposing after Brandi went back to school."

"Nonsense!" My mom called from somewhere behind me. She was standing by the entryway to the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dishtowel. "Dear, you are welcome anytime you want, understand? Especially with everything that's going on in the world. We need to stick together and you need friends around you."

I frowned. The whole plane hijacking/building crashing thing on the East Coast had just happened yesterday and I still didn't understand what it all meant.

"Yes, ma'am," Adrienne grinned while offering an exaggerated military salute.

I stepped back and swept my hands to gesture her inside. She stepped past me and I felt my knees go weak. Damn she smelled good.

"Smells good, doesn't it?" Adrienne turned and grinned at me knowingly.

"Huh?"

"Dinner!" Adrienne waved towards the kitchen. "I think I'll go give your mom a hand."

"Riiight," I nodded as Adrienne sashayed away, her asscheeks literally winking at me. Breathe, Ben. Calm your heart rate...

Where the hell was Brooke when I needed her?

Flwrgrl1987: That bored, huh?

BigBen69: I dunno. I just thought I would be more excited about being back at school.

Flwrgrl1987: Why would anyone be excited about being back at school? Didn't your sisters keep you entertained enough over the summer? ;-)

BigBen69: Of course, but the routine of just killing time hanging out with friends does get old after a while.

BigBen69: And it doesn't help that everywhere I looked were happy couples wrapped around each other. I miss you, Dawn. =(

Flwrgrl1987: I miss you too, Ben.

Flwrgrl1987: Probably more than you realize.

Flwrgrl1987: Tricia's getting all lovey-dovey with Stephen and the two of them are always in my face. I feel like such a third wheel. :-(

BigBen69: We'll find a way to visit. Maybe my parents will let me fly up and stay with you guys for a weekend or something.

Flwrgrl1987: That'd be great! Please?

BigBen69: I'll do what I have to. I love you, Dawn. =)

Flwrgrl1987: I love you too...

BigBen69: Ah, gotta go now. Brooke's home.

Flwrgrl1987: Just now? I thought you drove her home.

BigBen69: Not today. She had cheerleader tryouts this afternoon.

Flwrgrl1987: OK. Call me tonight, promise?

BigBen69: I promise. =)

BigBen69: Love you.

Flwrgrl1987: Love you too. Bye.

I started signing off with Dawn when I heard a key jiggle in the front door lock. I was expecting Brooke to stomp in like she normally did; but I wasn't expecting three sweaty girls to tumble through the door and make a mad dash for the kitchen. I saw them hurtle by and furrowing my eyebrows, I got up to follow after.

When I turned the corner I saw Brooke by the fridge, handing out a final water bottle to a tall, slightly unknown girl. She was quite pretty, with a slender face, dainty features, and almost elfin-pointed ears. Her eyes were a shimmering deep blue, startling against the backdrop of her dark red hair. And for some reason, it was incredibly sexy the way her neck arched as she tilted her head back to drink from the bottle.

"Uh, hi," I frowned. Jennifer Vo — Brooke's friend and Stephanie Vo's little sister — was at least familiar to me. She was sitting on a stool at the counter chugging her own water bottle. But I didn't recognize the redhead.

"Mm," Brooke suddenly pulled her water bottle out of her mouth and gulped. Then she gasped for a breath and looked at me. "Hey, Ben. Practice was exhausting. Something lit a bug under Adrienne's ass because she was pissed. And her pissiness got down to Debbie and trickled down to us."

I looked around at the three panting girls, all of whom were sagging where they sat or stood.

"Okay," I shrugged. "Hey Jennifer," I nodded to the familiar girl. But then I turned to the dark auburn redhead with my most charming smile on my face. "Hi, I'm Ben."

She gulped another swallow of water and reached her hand out to me. "Hi. Kady Jacobsen," she said in a voice slightly deeper than I would have expected from such a delicate-looking girl. Her handshake was firm, like a guy's.

"Kady gave us a ride home today," Brooke explained. "She's a Junior and she's also trying out for the squad."

I inspected Kady's face. "I thought I knew most of the pretty girls at school, but I don't remember you."

"Bennn..." Brooke drawled with just a bit of a warning tone in her voice.

Kady just smiled. "I'm new. My dad just got relocated this summer. We live just around the block so I offered to take the girls home."

"Thanks." I smiled broadly while my eyes did their yo-yo thing. Kady didn't have big tits or anything, but she had a firm and fit body with the natural slenderness of a model, which was wonderfully shown off by a form-fitting maroon exercise shirt and skintight black cotton shorts.

"Don't even think about it, Ben," Kady drawled in that deep tone.

"Huh?" My eyes darted back up as I realized I'd gotten caught checking her out.

She smirked at me. "You're cute, but don't even think about it. You're not my type."

My eyebrows went up as I gave her the innocent look. "No, no. I didn't mean-"

"Uh-huh," Kady cut me off, turning back towards Brooke and wiggling her empty water bottle. "You guys recycle?"

"Yeah," Brooke smiled and pointed to the corner of the kitchen where we had a blue bin.

Kady sidled over, dumping her bottle, and then turned around. She then pointed back to the counter in front of Jennifer where her car keys were sitting. "Hey Jennifer, can you key me?" she asked.

Easily, Jennifer picked up the keys and tossed them over to Kady, who caught them with ease.

"Need a ride to your place?" the redhead asked.

"Nah," Jennifer replied. "I'm just around the corner. I'm gonna hang with Brooke for a bit."

"Okay, see you ladies at school tomorrow," Kady nodded to the girls. And then she fixed her intense blue gaze on me. "Laters Ben. Try not to stare too hard at my ass as I leave."

Well ... I didn't stare too hard.

Another day, another lonely jack-off session. At least, that was what I'd been expecting when I got home. Brooke was at cheer practice. The twins were at soccer practice. Dawn was working on some class project with Mark, her ex- boyfriend of all people. And I was home alone.

I hadn't helped that yesterday, Adrienne had been a little teasing with me when she caught me staring down the front of her blouse when she visited for dinner. It didn't help that the day before that, Kady had come into the house and made several comments about how I seemed to want to devour her ass, and then promptly wriggled the nice, tight thing in my face just to get a reaction out of me. And it didn't help that tomorrow, Friday night, Brooke had an actual DATE with another boy. If things worked out for her, I didn't know WHEN I was going to get laid again.

Just as I resigned myself to surfing for internet porn and jacking off into a wad of tissues this afternoon, my cell phone rang. I looked at the I.D. and saw that it was Kenny. Maybe the boys wanted to play some midweek b-ball?

"What's up?" I answered.

"Dude-dude-dude-dude- dude. The house clear? I'm coming over."

"What?"

Kenny chuckled on the other end of the line. "You HAVE to see this."

I rolled my eyes.

Ten minutes later, Kenny screeched into the driveway and tried to bang the door down with his fist. I let him in and the guy raced straight for the family room TV, knelt down, and flipped a DVD out. "You are NOT gonna believe this."

I quickly figured out from the logo and initial scenes that Kenny had brought me a porn movie. He grabbed the remote and skipped a few chapters before coming to a scene where a familiar-looking girl with nearly-white blonde hair was lying flat on her back, her obviously fake and obviously huge tits pointed skyward as she moaned in passionate ecstasy. The camera tracked away from her heavily made-up face and her gaping, moaning mouth down across the valley of her cleavage and down to a very cute, shaven pussy. She reached her legs back and gripped the stilettos of her see-through platform stripper heels, spreading her thighs even wider. And then a curly-blonde girl's head descended downwards to start taking long licks at the proffered shaven snatch.

"What?" I looked at Kenny. "You brought me a porn? Not that I mind; the girl is pretty hot. But what? You expecting me to whip it out and start jacking myself in front of you?"

"Dude, no. Just wait and watch," Kenny pointed. As we watched, a thickly- muscled man walked naked into the scene, standing behind the curly-blonde who's face I still couldn't see. And while jacking his impossibly long dick, he bent at the knees and then powerfully thrust himself into the curly-blonde's sopping wet cunt.

"Now!" Kenny pointed.

The camera angle changed as we saw the curly-blonde lift her head out of the white-blonde's crotch to wail at the penetration. And then I saw the face. "Holy, SHIT!" I exclaimed. "That's Donna Kincaid!"

"Yeah," Kenny announced proudly. "But she's going by the name Donna Martin now. Get it? Donna Martin graduated."

"She's a fucking porn star!"

"Yeah."

And then I recognized the white-blonde. When I'd last seen Donna Kincaid, she was with a very slutty white-blonde named Jenna. "And that's Jenna!"

"Huh? You know Jenna Sixx?"

"Holy shit! I ran into them at South Coast like in August or something," I said in amazement. "Donna was inviting me back to play with the two of them."

"You're shitting me," Kenny breathed, stupefied.

"No, I'm serious."

"Motherfucker! You turned down sex with BOTH of them?"

I rolled my eyes and looked over to Kenny. "I love my girlfriend, man."

"I love Rachel too but FUCK! If those two had asked me for a threesome I would have been all over that!"

I shook my head in disbelief, I watched the next ten minutes of Mr. 12-inch-dick plowing the two slutty blondes while they got into all sorts of awkward gymnastic positions.

And when the guy pulled out and hosed down the two girls' faces, Kenny just nudged me in the ribs and sighed, "Man ... That coulda been you."

I scowled. I couldn't WAIT for Dawn to get home and call me.

OCTOBER 2001, SENIOR YEAR

It was just after 6pm when the doorbell rang on Wednesday. Per routine, I went over to the front door and opened it for Adrienne. She'd been coming by for dinner every Wednesday since Brandi had left, and Mom even set out her place setting ahead of time in anticipation of our beautiful neighbor's arrival.

"Hey, Ben!" Adrienne stood there, looking absolutely radiant in the late afternoon light. The sun was coming down from the horizon, basking everything in an orange glow. Butterflies leaped to action in my stomach and I felt my heart speed up. She'd just always had that effect on me.

Eden and Emma came running when they heard the bell. While the twins weren't little kids anymore, sometimes we older siblings treated them as such and the girls adored that Adrienne talked to them like they were older teens. "Adrienne!" "Adrienne" they said in stereo.

"Hey, girls!" The stunning blonde brightened as she saw my little sisters. "How was soccer practice?"

"Great!" Emma grinned. "Coach is making me a starter!"

"Coach gives everyone a turn at being starter," Eden deadpanned.

The twins then devolved into a mild bickering argument while Adrienne just rolled her eyes at me. I shook my head and waved my ex-girlfriend towards the living room where we normally hung out and chatted for a few minutes.

"Ooh, Adrienne!" Eden interrupted, suddenly realizing she was losing her audience. "We need your help picking out these outfits," she gushed as she latched onto Adrienne's hand.

"Our friend Michelle has a birthday party this Saturday and there's gonna be boys there," Emma explained.

"We asked Ben for advice and he helped us a bit. But you've got a better fashion sense than he does," Eden grinned at me.

A wry grin spread across Adrienne's face as her eyes twinkled at me. "Sure, ladies. Lead the way."

The twins hopped off but Adrienne turned back to me one last time. "Oh, don't go anywhere, Ben. I need to get your advice about Tommy Castrale."

"Advice?"

"Well, I've been dating him a couple of weeks now but I was hoping you could give me the 411 on him."

"Uh, sure," I stammered, arching my eyebrow. Adrienne Dennis asking me for advice about guys? Well, what were friends for?

"Yeah, yeah, I get derivatives," Lynne Arian wrinkled her nose while frowning. "But integrals might as well be Martian."

"They're just derivatives, backwards," I said while trying to wave my hands around to show my point.

The petite brunette just looked at my hand motions and started giggling. "Did you just tell me to steal second or something?"

My arms froze and I looked at my hands for a moment, seeing just how silly I looked. I started chuckling and dropped my hands to my sides. "Well, it looks a lot better on a whiteboard," I tried to explain.

"Got one in your shorts?" Lynne folded her arms and grinned at me.

I looked down at my crotch and smiled. "Nah, I'm just happy to see you."

Lynne's mouth gaped open as she realized what I'd just said, looking positively scandalized. "Ben!" She giggled and slapped me on the shoulder.

"Sorry, couldn't help it," I shrugged.

"Well we may not have a whiteboard, but if a piece of paper will do, I could sure use your help," Lynne sighed.

With my jaw thrust out, I thought about it and asked, "Want me to come help you study?" Immediately, I held my hands up defensively and clarified, "Just study. I have no further intentions."

Lynne folded her arms again and humphed. "That's what you told Summer, if I remember."

My eyes went wide and I started flustering, "Oh, well, I mean, that was a different-"

"ReLAX, Ben," Lynne giggled. "I'm just messing with you."

"Whew," I sighed with obvious relief.

"How about Thursday? We have that quiz on Friday. You can come to my place." Lynne nodded. "And don't worry. My parents will be coming home so there'll be no hanky-panky."

I smiled, for some reason feeling relieved that we would be chaperoned. "Sure, sounds great."

It was just after 4pm when the doorbell rang on Wednesday. Slightly confused by who would be visiting in the early afternoon, I went to the door.

"Hey, Ben!" Adrienne stood there, looking absolutely radiant in the bright afternoon light. The sun was still high over the horizon, basking everything in an golden glow. Butterflies leaped to action in my stomach and I felt my heart speed up. She was simply gorgeous enough to instantly brighten the mood of any man.

"You're here pretty early," I smiled as I waved her in. Early or not, I wasn't going to turn Adrienne away.

"Got a little bored. There's no practice today and I'm done with my homework. I thought you wouldn't mind if I came over to chat."

I shrugged. "Sure, sure."

Adrienne preceded me into the family room, letting me stare at her fiiine ass as her hips swayed naturally with every step. It was a moderately warm day and she was wearing a skimpy halter top that showed off her entire upper back. The nude-colored bra strap was sticking just a half-inch above the back of the shirt, the obvious eye-hooks almost begging me to set them free. Also, the white tag of her top was poking out and without thinking about it, I reached over and tucked the tag back in.

Adrienne felt my momentary touch against the small of her back and abruptly turned. "What?"

"Oh, uh," I stammered. "Your tag was sticking out."

Adrienne's hand immediately went up behind her to feel that the tag had been tucked away, and a little smile came to her face. "Thanks, Ben."

I blushed slightly. "Anytime."

She turned around and flopped onto the couch, the impact sending her big tits wobbling enticingly, drawing my momentary attention. Adrienne noticed but didn't comment as I brought my gaze up to her eyes and asked, "Want something to drink?"

"Nah, I'm fine. I'll wait for dinner," Adrienne waved as I took a seat at the opposite corner of the couch. "So where are the rugrats?"

"The twins are still at soccer practice. And Brooke is visiting with other friends." I waved my hands theatrically. "We have the house all to ourselves."

Adrienne smiled and looked thoughtful. "You know, I don't think I've ever been in your house alone with you, Ben."

"Really?" I arched an eyebrow. "That doesn't seem possible."

"Really. We always used my place," Adrienne shrugged.

"Well," I said off-hand in a light voice. "If you want, I can show you what my bed feels like."

"Don't joke about that, Ben," Adrienne said very quickly in a tense voice.

Taken aback by her abrupt response, I held my hand up apologetically and said, "Sorry, sorry." Then looking to change the subject, I asked, "So how's Tommy?"

Adrienne rolled her eyes. "History. Turned out to be a jerk."

"I warned you he had a temper," I said reproachfully.

"Yeah, he did." Adrienne pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging her legs. "But it's okay. I'm dating Kyle McGinley now."

I arched an eyebrow, thinking of the big, muscled Senior. "Already?"

She looked away and shrugged. And then frowning, with a heavy voice she said, "I don't want to be alone, Ben. It's nice having a guy doting on me, you know?"

I sighed, thinking of how much I enjoyed having Dawn just being around me. "Yeah..."

Adrienne was silent and introspective for a few extra seconds. And then re- entering the conversation as if she hadn't missed a beat, she continued, "Kyle's nice enough. No temper. He lets me take charge."

I shrugged. "Don't know him that well. Can't give you much advice on him."

"That's okay," Adrienne's smile turned mischievous. "I've got lots of other stuff I can talk to you about. Like I hear you're going over to Lynne's place tomorrow afternoon."

I rolled my eyes. "To help her with Calculus. Calculus, Adrienne. Probably the least sexy subject on the planet. Nothing's gonna happen."

"If you say so."

"Lynne and I are just friends and besides, her parents are gonna be there."

"Too bad," Adrienne shook her head. "Lynne hasn't gotten laid since Trevor last spring. She could use a good shagging." The gorgeous blonde nodded her head agreeably as if suggesting I should be the one to rectify that particular problem.

Of course, her words immediately put the image of me and Lynne entwined together beneath her sheets into my mind, and I frowned as I shook away the image. Lynne was certainly cute and 'do-able', but I was steadfast in my loyalty to Dawn and resolute in my desire to maintain some non-physical female friendships. "Not gonna happen, Adrienne. I'm the New Ben."

"Well, if he's anything like the old Ben, I'm sure I'll like the new one just fine." Adrienne smiled warmly and patted my leg. Her eyes softened as she gazed adoringly at me. And I felt a tug of desire to lean forward and kiss her. Time seemed to stretch out as seconds elongated and world went silent around us.

"Oh, hey guys!" A girlish voice cracked in the air like a gunshot, causing Adrienne and I to jerk away from each other, startled into thinking we'd been caught doing something wrong.

Adrienne recovered quickly. "Oh, Brooke, you startled us."

My little sister shrugged. "Why? You two weren't doing anything naughty, were you?"

I started to stammer a weak defense but Adrienne waved her hand. "Nah. Your brother and I are just friends now. He's got Dawn and I've moved on. Right, Ben?"

"Uh, right."

"Whatever." Brooke shrugged. "Oh, you know a funny thing has been happening at the last couple cheer practices. You know how I told you Debbie Katsopolis was being really mean to me and a couple of the other rookies on the JV team? She's been really sweet to me this week."

Adrienne broke out in a wide grin. "Yeah. I took care of it."

"Really?" Brooke broke out into an even wider grin. Then giggling, she hopped forward and gave Adrienne a big hug. "Thanks ... You're the best!"

Adrienne was almost misty-eyed when Brooke stood up again. "No problem."

Brooke just beamed and then bounced out the room. Adrienne looked after her with a little smile for a minute and then eventually turned back to me. "Now, where were we?"

"Ooh, you looking to score tonight, Ben?" Cassidy grinned while reaching over and pinching my shirt at the shoulder.

I arched an eyebrow as she hopped the bench seat and set her lunch onto the tabletop beside me. "Huh?"

"You got a date tonight or something?" Cassidy continued, shooting a glance over to Megan.

My Chinese ex-girlfriend looked me up and down for a second before a knowing look came into her eye and she nodded in realization, "Ohhh."

My eyebrows furrowed. Were they messing with me? Unsure, I wondered in an exasperated, loud voice, "What?"

That got the attention of everyone. The Sanders twins looked confused. Daniel looked as bewildered as I did. And then finally Cassidy explained. "You shaved. No biggie, but you usually shave Monday, Wednesday, Friday and just let it scruff just a bit in between. Today is a Thursday."

"So?"

Cassidy leaned forward and sniffed me obviously. "You took a morning shower. Usually you just shower at night but on days when you want to smell good, you also at least rinse or something in the mornings. Today you shampooed, soaped, the whole nine yards in the morning"

"So maybe I just felt like being a little cleaner today," I shrugged.

"And then there's the clincher," Cassidy pointed at my chest and looked over to Megan.

Megan smiled and continued, "The shirt."

"What about the shirt?" I was thoroughly confused now and everyone at the table was staring at me. It was just one of my short-sleeve jersey cotton polos from Banana Republic. I'd had it for a year. Nothing new or special.

Cassidy giggled and started tugging at the collar, stretching it beyond what it was meant to do.

"Hey, hey!" I batted her hand away. "Don't stretch it!"

"See ... the shirt!" Cassidy exclaimed as if that answered everything. "It's your favorite."

"Is not." I scrunched up my face.

"Is too," Megan raised her eyebrows. You only wore it on Fridays when you had a date with one of us. You like how you look in it. You like how it accentuates your shoulders and trims your waist. Haven't seen you wear it in a month now and all of a sudden it comes out on a Thursday?"

"Doesn't mean anything," I protested. "Maybe I just wanted to wear it because I haven't in a while."

"Riiight." Now it was Cassidy's turn to raise her eyebrows at me. "Go on, Ben. Tell us you're NOT meeting a girl later today."

"I-" I started, then felt all the air deflating out of me. Frowning, I grumped, "It's not a date or anything."

"But you ARE meeting a girl and you want to look good for her," Megan said with more than a hint of a smile in her voice.

I rolled my eyes. "It's just Lynne Arian. We're studying for Calculus. We're friends."

"But you're getting all dressed up for her?"

"No!" I frowned. But then again, it made a little sense. "Well ... maybe..."

Cassidy and Megan looked at each other smugly.

"It's not like I'm trying to get dressed up for a date. It's just ... I ... I haven't visited anyone in a long time. Maybe subconsciously I grabbed the shirt. I mean, it's not like I'm dating anyone around here and I don't have anyone to dress up for. Haven't you girls ever put on a matching pair of underwear just because you were going out somewhere, even if not romantically? You're not planning to let anyone see them, but since it's something different from your daily routine you just dress a little nicer?"

Cassidy thought about that and nodded slightly.

"Seriously," I continued. "I have zero romantic intentions towards Lynne. You guys know her. She's just a friend and I've got Dawn. Okay?"

Kenny then leaned in from my other side. "So ... you took a shower and shaved and put on your favorite shirt to meet a girl you're NOT going to seduce ... all to study Calculus?"