Chapter 2: Dan and Alex

My name is Dan Patterson. About 6 years ago I found out that my wife Dana had been cheating on me. We had a great life and I thought we had a solid marriage. I was devastated. I wanted to just die, but life goes on. After a while I went back to work. I'd gotten several hundred thousand dollars in a settlement from her old school but I worked anyway, to help me get over Dana. For a couple of years, I just worked. I didn't date and I didn't socialize at all because I really thought that there was something wrong with me. After all, the woman I loved had obviously found other men to be better than I was. My love for her was just not enough. I started to realize after a while that the manufacturing industry here in Michigan was in trouble. I decided to go back to school and get a degree. Really I guess in the back of my mind I thought that if I was smarter that Dana wouldn't have left me.

I picked business management and boy was I scared. A thousand things went through my mind.

What if you're not smart enough? You're too old to go back to school. All the kids are going to laugh at you. You won't fit in. This isn't going to work. I enrolled anyway.

My first couple of semesters went by quickly. I got straight A's. I was a 4.0 student. I began to think that maybe I wasn't so stupid after all. I still didn't date. I especially couldn't date anyone in school. I was closer in age to the teachers than the students. Starting something with an instructor was more trouble than it was worth. And the thought of starting anything vaguely romantic with one of these young girls made me feel like a pervert.

Then I met Alex in a trig class and without my knowledge, consideration, or consent, my life began again. We ended up in a study group together. We worked with 5 or 6 other students from our class. After a while, we started to notice that except for the two of us, no one really studied all that much. So we became, at her suggestion, a group of 2.

Spending time with people either brings you together or points out your differences; in our case, we became friends very quickly. It got to the point for me that I loved the time I spent with her and couldn't wait to see her again.

It was sometimes very awkward for us at first. Some guy would come over to our table and start trying to talk to her in front of me, as if I wasn't there. And really I wasn't, I was just the old guy after all. Occasionally she'd use me as a shield to deflect the bolder ones away from her. That was the beginning of our first fight. I'd told her that I really didn't think it was fair of her to use me to get out from dealing with the bad parts of her social life. She needed to be able to just tell, the good guys "yes" and the bad guys "no" herself and leave me out of it. I guess my language was a bit too strong. In retrospect, if I'd really examined my feelings I'd have known that I was just jealous. Anyway she just picked up her books and walked out of the library.

I only saw Alex in class after that. We didn't sit together or speak. I often caught her looking at me out of the corner of my eye, but I never looked back. She joined another study group easily. I had offers because my grades were great, but I preferred to study alone.

After 2 full weeks the stalemate was still going strong and it might have still been going on now if fate hadn't intervened. One night as I was going back to my car I saw one of the guys in her new study group trying to force Alex into his car. She wasn't having it and was fighting every inch of the way.

Before I knew what I was doing, I jumped between them and grabbed him by his collar. He let go of Alex in surprise and turned to face me.

"Be cool guy," he said to me. "It's just a misunderstanding."

I let him go and saw Alex, picking up her books with tears rolling down her face.

"Fucking tease," I heard the guy mumble.

Hearing the guy's words Alex started bawling and something in my brain snapped.

I turned grabbed the guy and decked him. I reached down and helped Alex up and hugged her. I walked her to her car and stayed there until she drove off.

I almost didn't go back to class. And though I really didn't want to, I went anyway. But instead of getting there early, I made sure I was one of the last to enter the room. I sat way in the back instead of sitting near the front as was my usual habit. As I looked at the board, I saw Alex looking around and I ducked behind the girl in front of me. The instructor gave us an assignment to do in groups. So I worked with the 3 people in front and on either side of me.

It was fairly easy work. The unit circle, converting angular dimensions into radians and periodicity. I didn't understand what this had to do with business but a class is a class. We were almost done when the instructor gave us a break. We had used the correct formula but our answers weren't quite correct. We just needed a little fine tuning to finish. During the break my group mates left the room to smoke or whatever. I stayed in my seat and started reading a book on my iPhone.

I was halfway down the first page when I heard movement from the front of the room. I knew the sound of Alex's footsteps and let's face it; I could always feel her from across the room anyway. So I got up and left the room without making eye contact with her.

I came back from break at the last minute and Alex was sitting in my seat. The 2 girls I was working with probably didn't care but the other guy in our group told me that she was working alone and wanted to join our group. He said he'd noticed that she and I were friends so he didn't think I'd mind. I think everyone there knew what was going on. Guys just did things for Alex. I said "no problem." Then grabbed my books from under the desk, and moved to another row. As I worked on the problems I found our error and changed my answers. I turned my paper in with me, myself and I, as my group members. After class my instructor didn't find it as funny as I did but she softened a bit when I told her that it was a problem with group dynamics. And that rather than creating a problem, I chose to withdraw from the situation.

Alex was waiting for me outside of the class room. The woman had the biggest bluest eyes you have ever seen. I know being a guy, I should talk about her ass or her tits, but it was her eyes that got me every time and still do. Her mouth is also incredible, it can be snarky or playful or just so sexy you want to attack her. And it changes from second to second. Her breasts do kind of rocket away from her tiny waist, to a truly awesome differential, but not being one of those guys who is an expert on bra sizes I couldn't begin to guess what size they were, but they were not small. And I loved the way her ass filled out a skirt, but it was still those eyes that I could and can never say no to.

As I stepped out of the class room, she was there of course. And she said those words that women always use to preface every seemingly serious situation.

"We need to talk," she said, very quietly.

"No, we don't," I answered equally metered to match both her tone and delivery.

"Yes, we do," she replied more insistently.

"Why?" I asked.

I don't think Alex was ready for that and she just stood there thinking about it, as I walked away.

Unfortunately, I was not nearly as smart as I thought. In my mind, I saw her just going with the flow and me not having to deal with her until class next week. We probably wouldn't have another group assignment for a while and if I continued to slip in late and disappear immediately after class and at break time, I could avoid her for the near future. After a while it wouldn't matter anymore and after this class I probably wouldn't see much of her. The chances of us being in very many classes together in a school this size, wasn't very good. It wasn't impossible but It just wasn't probable. Anyway, that was my plan.

Alexander Graham Bell fucked my plan up of course. All she had to do was reach out and touch someone, namely me. I was so busy thinking about her that I didn't look at my caller ID and just picked up the phone when she called.

"Hello," I answered.

"OK, where do you live, I don't want to talk over the phone," she said.

"Why not?" I asked. "And, if we can't talk on the phone, I think it would be better to meet on neutral ground."

"Why, so you can just walk off and continue avoiding and ignoring me?" she asked. "Nope, we need to get this over with and get back to normal."

"How do you define normal?" I asked.

"You ask the oddest questions." she said. "Now where do you live?"

I gave her my address, but told her I'd meet her in the common area, near the building's lobby.

10 minutes later, she stepped into the room and every person there stopped what they were doing to look at her. She quickly saw me and came over. She sat down across from me and smiled.

"OK what's up your butt?" she asked.

"Nothing," I said.

"Then why are you so mad at me?" she asked. Her face was pensive but still so beautiful. What I had trouble understanding was why this meant so much to her. She was very smart besides being pretty and she could easily find someone else to study with.

"Let's see, if I recall, it was you who went stomping out of the library," I said.

"Only after you accused me of using you," she countered. "Then you turned what should have been a small tiff, into world war 3."

"I'm sure you don't realize this but I kept trying to get your attention in class the next day." She stared at me as she spoke and I had to look away.

"I wanted to talk to you then," she said. "But you wouldn't even look at me, so I got mad too. I thought if I joined a different study group you'd have to come and talk to me, or tell me off. But you didn't, it was like you just didn't care. Then that asshole grabbed me. Sorry I said that."

"What?" I asked.

"The A word," she smiled as she said it.

"It fits," I said.

"Anyway, do you know how many people saw him trying to pull me into his car and just kept walking?" she asked. "Not you of course, so then I knew you still cared and I was looking forward to class tonight. I almost couldn't wait the 3 days. I hoped you'd call me, but you didn't. I started to call you a hundred times, but you know." She shrugged her shoulders and what her breasts did to her blouse was pornographic. I really think that she doesn't know what she does to men with little movements like that.

"Anyway I got to class early," she said. "I got here an hour early, so we could talk." Again the laser like focus of the eyes made me shiver.