Chapter 1

If anyone had told me that sex would become one of the most important parts of my life, I wouldn’t have believed them. Growing up in my parent’s house, no one talked about sex in any context. Learning about “the birds and the bees” had been a lesson of sin and how God frowned upon those who fornicated. Of course, that didn’t stop me from being curious, nor did it stop Fate from finding me shortly after I left home.

When I arrived on campus, nervous and eager to start my new life, sex wasn’t exactly on my mind. At that moment, the only person I knew was the cab driver. Being overweight and smelling of sweat from driving around all day without AC in the Texas Summer heat was not my idea of attractive. Of course, it could have been the fact that the driver was male.

We were both standing in a parking lot at the back of his cab. He pulled my suitcases out of the trunk and I looked for any buildings I might recognize. The welcome package I received, along with my letter of acceptance, came with campus photos. The driver said I had arrived, and while I was excited about that, I was bothered by the fact that I didn’t know where I was, if I was even on campus, or how to get to my dormitory. I turned to the driver. “Why can’t you take me to the dorm again?”

He set my suitcases on the pavement and straightened up to look at me. We were about the same height, but he weighed a lot more. Most of that weight was tucked under his shirt, stretching it taut across his vast belly. “The campus police are assholes,” he said. His voice was low and gravely. He sounded similar to a man I knew from home, Mr. Chambers, and he chain-smoked non-stop. I stood there, hoping he would go into more detail, but he just held out his hand. “The fare’s thirty-five fifty.”

I rolled my eyes and pulled out my wallet. Holding out two twenties, I said, “Do you have change?”

He nodded, took the money, and said, “Hold on a sec.”

I watched him climb in the cab and - to my horror - tear away, pelting me with gravel from the parking lot. I yelled at him to come back, but knew it was useless. Then I remembered something a lot more important: my map of the campus was still in the cab.

Looking around in the dark, my eyes were drawn to the lights along the streets and the traffic. I had no idea how to get to the dorm, and my frustration peaked. First, security in all three airports I had passed through felt the need to stop me to search for contraband, and now this.

There was a gas station across the street from me. Several cars were filling up and a few others were parked nearby. Maybe I could get directions from the clerk.

The parking lot the driver left me in wasn’t so bad, and dragging my bags on their tiny wheels was easy. It was similar to the concrete outside Durham International Airport in Raleigh, North Carolina. Even the carpet there was short enough to allow the smooth roll of tiny luggage wheels. However, the street I had to cross wasn’t so smooth. I had to carry my bags to get across more efficiently. The concrete of the gas station wasn’t much better than the street, but I was too worn out from all the connecting flights and running from one terminal to another to continue carrying my bags.

It was a late Thursday night - probably early Friday morning - and inside the gas station, a woman was leaning on the counter, pointing out which scratch-off tickets she wanted. Several other customers were meandering around near the drinks and snacks. One guy came out of the bathroom, zipping up his pants.

I stood back from the woman and the counter, not wanting to get too close. The last thing I needed was for her to accuse me of something I didn’t do. Her clothes were tight and I couldn’t help but stare at the length of her legs and the way her backside wiggled side to side when the clerk handed her the tickets. I expected her to step aside after she paid for them, but she stayed right there, wiggling all over as she scratched away. The clerk stood there grinning and leering at her. I raised my hand and waved at him, trying to get his attention, but then the woman screamed.

Drawing back, because I didn’t know what was wrong, I watched her jump up and down. With each bounce, she turned in a slow circle. Her behavior held my attention. Her top did nothing to hold her in place but it did keep her covered. The sight was short lived. She stopped when facing the clerk again.

He had a wide grin. “How much?” he asked simply.

She looked at the tickets in her hands again and then said, “Fifty thousand!”

Other patrons in the small store gathered closer, offering congratulations. I stood there, not sure what to say, or if I should say anything. For several minutes, the woman glowed in the attention, and then turned to the clerk. “I’ve got to go. If Dan finds out about this, he’ll take it from me.” With that, she turned and made her way to the exit, which was behind me. Her face was stretched with a wild grin and the heavy makeup she wore didn’t do anything to make her look any more attractive. Regardless of what I thought, she stopped in front of me, looked me over from head to toe, and then pulled my face to hers for a kiss.

Too stunned to fight her, I whimpered instead. Her hands were strong and her lips were soft. For a brief second, I couldn’t think. I had always wondered what it would be like to kiss a girl, not that I ever had the chance back home, and though I had many ideas of how it would make me feel, I never realized how my body would react.

Before I could do anything, she let go and walked out the door.

It took me a second to return to the ground. I turned around and watched her get in a car and drive away. I wasn’t sure what I felt exactly, but I thought that for a first kiss, it hadn’t been bad.

I turned back to the counter. The other patrons had already gone back to various parts of the store. The clerk stared at me with a familiar expression. He didn’t like me. “Can I help you?” he asked.

I nodded and dragged my bags up to the counter. “A cab dropped me off and I left my map in it by accident. I need to know where the campus dorms are.”

He chuckled. “Did you already pay him? The Driver?”

I nodded, confused.

“Too bad,” the clerk said. “You’re not even on campus.”

I blanched. “What?!?”

He burst out laughing. “I’m sorry, man. The look on your face was worth that. No, you’re not on campus, but you’re not far from it either. Head south, along Cooper. Beyond that though, I don’t know the campus.”

I grumbled to myself. “Do you have a map or anything?”

He shook his head, laughter still in his eyes.

I turned to leave, unsure about what to do. I was beginning to get worried.

“Maybe I can help you,” said another man.

I looked up. He was a little taller than I was with startling blue eyes and chiseled looks. He was well dressed and held a bottle of water in one hand and a bag of plain tortilla chips in the other. Setting those on the counter, he picked up a pen for customers to use and handed it to me. He then rattled off which streets to follow, and described landmarks where I should turn. I didn’t have any paper, but the pen wrote on the palm of my hand just fine.

I thanked him, handed the pen to the clerk, made sure I had everything, and ventured back out into the hot nighttime air.

Following the directions was easy, but it took me the better part of half an hour to find the dorm. The tiny wheels on my bags gave me grief while trying to roll along the sidewalks, and I had to carry them when I crossed the streets. Believing my night was finally at an end, I noticed girls leaving the dorm. Watching them go to the parking lot, get into a car, and drive off, I struggled on in confusion. Why were girls leaving my dorm? I tried to sign up for a co-ed dorm when I sent in my admission package, but because I was a freshman, I was assigned to an all-male dorm instead. Part of me didn’t mind the idea of girls in my dorm, but I was too tired to really give it due consideration.

I walked up to the entrance and looked through the glass door. There were more girls inside. I didn’t see any guys at all. One of the girls noticed me standing there and came to the entrance. “Who are you looking for?” she asked.

I shook my head. “I’m looking for my dorm.”

She laughed. “I doubt this is it.” Noticing my confused look, she said, “New to the school?”

I nodded. “I left my map of the campus in the cab.”

She tilted her head to the side. “Why didn’t the cab take you to your dorm?”

My shoulders slumped and I said, “He said something about campus police not being very friendly.”

She looked down at my bags. “Well, the boys’ dorm is on the other side of the campus.”

I grimaced. My arms were going to fall off if I had to drag my bags too much further. I looked at my hand, where my instructions were partially smeared from sweat. She came out and I showed her. She read the instructions and said, “You were supposed to turn right at the second bridge. It looks like you smeared that part.” I nodded and she added, “Don’t worry, things will feel better after you’ve had some sleep.”

I grunted what I thought to be a hopeful sound, turned and trudged away. Soon I was passing the same huge building I had passed on my way to the girls’ dorm. I heard voices coming from one of the entryways. Trees lined both sides and cast shadows across everything. I ignored them, focusing on putting one foot in front of the other.

From the entryway, I heard a woman laugh and then she erupted from the shadows. She bumped into me, giggled, stumbled for a moment to keep from falling, giggled again, and then looked up at me.

I stood there, looking her over. She was dressed in only her under things, a pink bra that barely held on to her breasts, and black panties that resembled shorts but were a lot more form fitting. Her body was pale in the dim light and curvaceous. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her. Some part of my brain engaged automatically though and I asked, “Where’re your clothes?”

The brunette looked me over, stumbling in the process. Her ample bosom jiggled within her bra and I had to swallow to wet my dry throat. She looked up and smiled at me, her eyes sparkling. She ran her small hands over her body and said, “Don’t you like what you see?”

I stood there frozen. So many emotions were running through me, I didn’t know which way was up. I was shocked from being bumped into, surprised by her lack of attire, and yet thrilled to see a woman dressed so scantily. Overall, I was too confused to respond appropriately, especially considering I didn’t really know what an appropriate response would be.

Her eyes dropped, she licked her lips, and said, “Why, yes. Yes, you do!”

Still unable to react, I watched her step closer and reach out for me. At first, I thought she was reaching for one of my hands, but she wasn’t reaching to my side. Time slowed down. Her hand came toward me, low and centered. Part of me knew what she was reaching for, but the rest of me refused to believe it until her hand cupped me. Time sped back up and she gently groped me.