Chapter 14

The next few weeks were tough.

Now that Kendall knew there might be something ahead for us, she felt free to go into 'flirt-mode' nearly every time we were alone, and sometimes with more subtlety when we weren't.

She found any number of excuses to touch me, or to brush against me. And I had never realized how many words in everyday conversation could be twisted to infer a sexual intent.

She had me so horny that in desperation I called Sharon to ask for her permission to ask Gerri if she'd be willing to help me out. Sharon could hardly stop laughing, and Gerri wasn't much better.

But what a great bisexual friend Gerri was in my time of need. I called Sharon and placed the phone next to my bed, so she could listen to the sounds of Gerri practically turning me inside-out. Wow.

But eventually, Monday, February second arrived. Alan returned to Nashville from his trip with Gerri's father, and we began executing our carefully orchestrated break-up plan.

Over the next couple of weeks Gerri and I began to quietly bicker in front of her sorority sisters, discreetly at first, with increasing heat and duration each session. She complained that I never had any time for her, and I complained that she didn't understand it actually required studying to get into med school, etcetera. Back at the sorority, Alan called her more and more frequently, and supposedly unbeknownst to me they had their surreptitious lunch dates.

Her sorority sisters helped cover for her, making up mandatory sorority meetings she had to attend. Gerri had explained that it was common for sorority girls to make up such conflicts, although it was usually when they didn't want to see someone who wasn't in the Greek system.

In mid February we both went home for the three day Washington's Birthday holiday, and when we returned to UT we had our first undisguised public fight. I questioned her about why I'd been unable to reach her while we were out of school. She reminded me that I'd promised to understand her commitment to becoming part of her father's business, which meant working weekends.

We calmed down and hugged, the stage having been set for the coming Friday, when she would break a date with me to go out with Alan instead. The breakup day would be the following Friday, when Gerri would break the news to me during a dinner date.

I'd kept Kendall up to date on the progress of the breakup. And I tried not to notice that her flirting and teasing were decreasing the closer the ending date with Gerri approached.

It came to be two days before the climactic event, and I couldn't help getting a sinking feeling when Kendall asked to stop at 'our' bench on the way back towards the frat house and the Carrick dorm.

I'd asked that we stop having such chat sessions to avoid implicating Kendall in my breakup with Gerri. So I guessed the subject must be important, or at the least disappointing. I knew we'd made only vague promises to each other. But as we sat down, my overriding thought was that if she had changed her mind, I hoped she'd get it over with quickly.

For the briefest of moments her eyes darted over the campus while she bit the inside of her lower lip.

"Randy, something's come up. And ... it's something I should have told you about as soon as I knew about it, but I was hoping I'd be able to get out of it."

"Okay."

"My dad's unit in the police department is having a 'family weekend, ' and I'm going to be gone Saturday and Sunday to attend with my mom and my brother. And I know you're probably disappointed, especially after everything you were doing to ... to clear the way for us to date after Friday."

I pursed my lips and shrugged. "This is what you've been nervous about this week?"

She looked surprised. "Yes ... I'm sorry. I didn't think you'd be able to tell."

"Kendall, that's perfectly fine. I mean, we've talked about not making you look like the cause of my breakup with Gerri. You being away for the weekend is a good thing, all in all. There's no rush."

She looked relieved. "Oh, that's good! I mean, I'm glad you feel that way."

Her anxiety was confusing me. "But, you do still want to go out with me after that, right?"

There was the slightest hesitation. "Yes, I'll still go out with you, Randy."

I cocked my head to the side and looked at her quizzically. "You okay?"

"Well, yes. I mean, as long as you know I'm not ... how did you say it? We're not getting engaged, we're just going to try a date."

As precisely as Kendall chose her words, I doubted it was inconsequential that she said 'try a date' versus 'try dating.'

"Yeah, I did say something like that. I'm kind of getting a different vibe from you now, though. Do you not want to go out with me?"

"Oh, Randy, I couldn't do that to you, not after all you're going through to break up with Gerri. I'll go out with you. I owe you at least that much."

"It's not about ... You don't owe me anything."