JENNIE AND RYAN:

Jennie Carter was the 'queen bee' at Jefferson Regional, that is Jefferson Regional Advanced, which was a rather successful experiment in high school education. It was totally college prep, and had programs that would earn a student college credits before they even left high school. Admission to Jefferson Regional, or just 'Regional', as it was most frequently called, was extremely competitive and teaching there was a goal for many in the area.

But Jennie Carter was there, and had been from the very beginning. She was the main 'star' in the history/social studies group of teachers. She had a strong personality and certainly stood out in any group that she was a member of.

But there was more to Jennie Carter. She was, at that point in her life, approaching 50 years of age; she was, of course, 47, but at that point it was normal for people to worry and declare that they were 'approaching 50', rather than being still in their 'mid 40's'. She had hair that was short and streaked with gray, a fact that simply added to her luster. She had a world winning smile, and she didn't suffer fools very easily. Everyone knew that.

History was her subject, the Civil War her specialty and she taught it with élan. She was a popular teacher. Popular with students eager to learn and get information but popular also because Jennie Carter was a babe. The older guys at Regional all had the hots for Jennie Carter.

She was 5'8" and weighed 135. She always kept that weight in the 135-140 lbs range and worked had at maintaining that range. She knew it was good for her. But ask any of those male students and many of the females and they would attest to the fact that Jennie Carter was stacked. She had a flaring butt that was just gorgeous. She knew it, of course, and tended to wear tight slacks, and really tight jeans, when she was having time off, to emphasize that. She also had a pair of 38's, that she would, at times, mention jokingly. Jennie was the real deal physically.

The big news around the teachers' room at Regional those days was that a new colleague had been hired. He was hired to work in a dual capacity, as both basketball coach and to teach some history.

Ryan Sims entered the teachers' room and was greeted by all cordially. He had been introduced to the other teachers individually but this was a first for him, seeing them, during lunch, gathered. At that time, aides were monitoring the lunch time for the students in the cafeteria.

At 30 years, Ryan was a lovely looking man. He had been a school athlete in college, track and basketball both, lettering in each of them. He was in excellent shape and carried his 205 lbs on a 6'3" frame very well indeed. The female students had a crush on him almost immediately. He was popular and outgoing, getting along well with the other teachers, and, just at that moment, was about to become a legend, because of the way he opposed Jennie, the Queen Bee's opinions. No one normally did that.

He realized, in a few moments, that he had interrupted a discussion, more actually like a lecture, by Jennie Carter. She was holding forth on her favorite topic: the importance of States' Rights as a cause, as the cause, of the Civil War.

He listened politely to what she had to say. The others, having heard it before, simply nodded and let 'the Queen Bee' have her say.

The room got suddenly silent, when Ryan, who tended to be a bit brash, said, at the end of Jennie's pronouncement:

"Bollocks!"

They stared at him but he was smiling and confident.

"The reason that States' Rights were important in the era of the Civil War was simple and straight forward. States' Rights, at that point in our history, would have allowed the southern states to keep and maintain slavery. Lincoln wasn't in favor of ending slavery in the south at the time but was certainly in favor of preventing it being established in the western territories. States Rights was not the issue: slavery was. States' Rights was only the issue in so far as it served slavery.

A very lively discussion occurred then between Ryan, the new guy, the basketball coach for heaven's sake!, and Jennie Carter, the reigning faculty 'Queen Bee', and to everyone's amazement, Ryan, the basketball coach, more than held his own.

The discussion only broke up, when the lunch time was over. It ended with Ryan smiling at Jennie and Jennie nodding at him, a gesture that, for her, indicated that she respected his opinion, even if she didn't agree with it.

A CLOSE ENCOUNTER OF ANOTHER KIND:

The two of them met a few days later, though at first neither of them realized it. It was at the local mega grocery. Jennie was buying her weekly items on a cloudy Saturday morning, when she happened to look down the soup aisle. There was a somewhat tall young man, who was wearing running shorts and a tee shirt. She stared at him, as he made his way down the aisle and bent over.

A part of her was certainly paying attention.

She liked the size of his broad, muscled shoulders, and the unmistakeable swell of his butt, as he bent to look at the lower shelf, simply made her tingle.

"Take it easy, girl!" she said to herself, "You can have play time later. Don't go frothing at the mouth at the grocery store."

Having delivered to herself that warning, she turned and went the other way, skipping a couple of aisles.

Then it was Ryan's turn. He came up an aisle and happened on a woman, who had mixed dark and gray short hair, who herself now was bending and looking at items on the bottom shelf.

As she bent over from the waist, her tee shirt had rucked up and exposed her waist but what caught Ryan's attention and made him stare, was that about an inch of pink, nylon material was showing above the waistband of her jeans. He was staring at the waistband of her panties.

(Ryan was a big fan of panties! A woman in panties was perhaps his greatest possible turn on! And he was certainly enjoying the sight of this woman's pink panties!)

He turned just as the woman straightened up and was totally surprised, when she made a little noise. He looked at her and realized that it was Jennie Carter.

"Ms Carter!" he said and actually blushed.

She smiled at him and said: "Jennie please, and it's Ryan, right?"

"Yes," he said.

She noticed his discomfiture and then she noticed some air on her back. She knew right away.

"I was just showing my panties at the waist!" she said.

He smiled and nodded.

"And you weren't turning away at all!" she accused.

He shook his head again, this time with a 'no'.

"Bad boy!" she said, grinning at him. "You have big eyes as well as mistaken ideas about the Civil War!"

That brought him around: "Big eyes, yes," he said, "Mistaken ideas, totally not, Ms Carter, er ... Jennie!" He was grinning, when he got to the end of the sentence.

"Not sure a gentleman looks," she said, grinning back at him.

"Not sure a lady shows her underwear in the grocery store," he replied.

She put her hand over her mouth and simply laughed into her hand.

"Terrible!" she said, and he nodded again, acknowledging it.

"Time for coffee?" she asked.

"Definitely!" he said.

"Not going to show you any more pink nylon!" she said, taking his arm. They decided to go for coffee and leave the shopping until later.

"Rats!" he said, grinning at her.

They went to a nearby pastry place with outside tables. They sat there and had a treat and a cup of coffee.

"I have to apologize, Jennie," he said.

"At last!" she said triumphantly with a grin.

"No, not for that!" he replied, "Not for opposing your outdated, southern ideas about the Civil War!"

She actually grinned at him at that point. "Then for what?" she asked.

"For looking like such a wreck, when I go out with a lovely lady!" he said. "That's not cool at all!"

"Ryan, Ryan," she answered, "Lovely lady, my eye! I know full well that I'm an old battle axe! They call me the Queen Bee and all that means is that everyone, up to now, is afraid to oppose my clearly stated ideas. No one has the guts for that, again, until now. But 'lovely lady'! No, I make no claim to such a title at all. I'm pretty clear about that."

"Jennie Carter," he said softly, holding his hand up to make sure that he got his say, "You are loveliness itself. Every part of you!"

She just stared at him. She realized that he was being totally honest with her and she simply didn't know what to do or say.

"I'm pretty much speechless here," she said.

He grinned at her.

"Okay, Ryan," she said, at last. "Here's what I want. It sounds vain but it's not really; I want you to support your opinion. To tell me what is the content of your opinion. That's what I want."

"Fine," he said, "I can do that!"

"I'll even give you a little time to get your presentation together," she went on.

"Fine again," he said.

She got up then and so did he.

"Thank you for the coffee," she said, "And what you've said, though I'll keep my judgement to myself until you can show that you can back up your assessment."

"Good enough!" he said and then he surprised Jennie Carter, by moving forward and hugging her. She collapsed into the hug, the statement about her loveliness still reeling through her brain. She kissed his cheek and walked away.

Ryan only stood and stared.

"Look at the ass on that woman!" he said, shaking his head and totally enjoying the sight.

(Right then Jennie's mind was working overtime. She rejected his assessment because she felt the weight of her being 'almost fifty' at that moment. Her perspective was the difference in their ages. She saw Ryan Sims as a totally gorgeous hunk of man. She liked his manners and felt that, in comparison, she came off rather second best. She had no idea that he was staring at her wiggling butt, as she walked away from him. She was simply confused.)

Of course, also, right then, Ryan Sims was not confused. He thought that Jennie Carter, age or no age, was just the proverbial 'brick outhouse' and breathtakingly gorgeous to boot. He smiled, when he thought of the challenge that she'd given him. He looked forward to it.

He contacted her that evening via e-mail, since their e-mail addresses were part of the handbook that had been given to teachers.

Jennie, checking her mail that evening got one that was titled: "The Challenge". It read this way:

Jennie,

When do I get the chance to defend my declaration about you being so lovely? I assume you want details, and I'll be prepared to provide those details. Let me know.

Ryan

She wrote back to him, right away:

Ryan,

Yes, we should have set a time and a place. How about if we plan on dinner next Friday at Ambrosio's? The Italian food there is lovely. You'll get your opportunity to support your rather specious thesis then?

I'm off to bed soon.

Jennie

She sent it, and only then thought of what she'd said, and wondered why she'd mentioned to him that she was soon off to bed. She only sighed, and a little voice, in the back of her head, whispered:

"He has you on the run, girl!"

"Has not!" she said forcefully, and sighed, when thoughts of how Ryan Sims looked in that tee shirt and those basketball shorts looked at the store that day.

She got a return note right away:

Good night, Jennie! I'll wonder what you're wearing to bed but won't ask. (Trying to be a gentleman here!)

Ryan

She sent him a short note in return:

Giggling!

Was all that it said, and she realized that she almost told him about going to bed that night wearing only a pair of similar pink panties. It made her giggle more.

"Stop it!" she ordered herself, as she lay in bed and thought again about the way that Ryan's butt looked in those shorts.

She ignored the voice giving her warnings, as she slipped into sleep.

There were no more outrageous debates during that week at school, though the assembled teachers were hoping that the two of them, Ryan and Jennie would indeed face off again. The other teachers simply loved the way that Ryan, in that debate, took her on. It was like new territory for them, all of them.

RYAN'S DEFENSE:

They met at Ambrosio's that Friday, as planned. Jennie was being very careful about her preparations. She showered, after school and decided on the casual look. It was jeans and a tee shirt, a bright red one, for her. The tee shirt had a vee neck and showed some cleavage, and, if she bent over, the pink lace of her brassiere. She looked in the mirror and was pleased.

She was, of course, still a bit confused about this. She wasn't sure if this were really a growing kind of thing or just a chance to fence, verbally with a colleague, a kind of interaction that both she and Ryan seemed to enjoy.

Ryan was waiting for her, when she arrived. He too was wearing jeans, loafers and a tee shirt. As Jennie was walking toward the restaurant, she couldn't help notice that Ryan's broad shoulders were still on display, despite the different kind of tee shirt that he was wearing this time.

She caught herself fantasizing briefly about what he'd look like, with no clothes on at all or maybe just his shorts. She shook her head to try to empty it of such thoughts.

"Take it easy, Jen," the warning voice said from within and she calmed herself down.

They were both smiling, as they met and Ryan moved to her almost automatically and they embraced. Both of them enjoyed the sudden closeness, though neither one said anything.

"I hope you're ready," she said. "This old battle axe wants your statements of proof!"

He laughed and said: "That's one thing that I like about you, Jennie; the way that you are always on the attack."

She grinned at him but the inner voice told her that she was on the attack now because, unusual for her, she wasn't sure of the ground that her opinion was resting on.

He held the door for her and they were shown to a table toward the back of the restaurant.

"Wine?" he asked, as the waitress was arriving.

Jennie agreed and they ordered a bottle of Chianti Classico.

"Okay, Mister," she said. "Convince me!"

"I'm not sure that's my job," he said, "I'll tell you but convincing is beyond the purview of this, I think."

"Yes," she admitted, "You're probably right. So, tell me!"

She had entered this in the spirit of a back and forth kind of thing, expecting the tone to be light and not much to be said. She was, however, totally unprepared for what Ryan Sims had to say.

"Well, let me start with your face," he said.

She nodded, sure of herself that this young man was on shaky ground. She couldn't even, to tell the truth, say why it was that she was so set on not being the 'lovely lady' that his man proclaimed she was. She wasn't sure if it was her way of hoping to be convinced or just a way of playing with this lovely young man. She did, however, think that he wouldn't be able to state his case. She began to sense that she was wrong right away.

"Your face," he said again, "Lovely, lovely eyes! Eyes that could capture the soul of a person, who was gazing into them."

"Ohh," she said, saying nothing more.

"A simply lovely face," he said, "Proportionate, nicely shaped, pretty chin, not too broad, not too thin. Just right!"

He took a drink of his wine and went on: "And lips! World class lips! I get riled up just thinking of what those lips might do, be able to do!"

She giggled then and he touched her wine glass with his own. She did, however, remain quiet. She was touched by what he was saying and the earnestness with which he presented his ideas.

"Lovely hair that compliments your face nicely. Not too long and not totally short. It's not a dyke hair cut at all."

She giggled again, when he said this.

"The salt and pepper look are attractive with your face," he said.

Then he asked: "Want details?"

"Yes," she said. It was almost a sigh. She was being drawn into what he was saying in a way that she had hardly expected. After all, she'd issued her challenge just as a kind of lark, not realizing that he'd rhapsodize about her this way.

"Yes, details," she said.

"Good," he said then. "I need to be almost vulgar here."

She nodded, not wanting to interrupt his flow of words. It was as though he were making love to her with his words, and she'd never expected this, when she'd leveled the challenge at him that past weekend.

"Built like the proverbial brick outhouse!" he said softly.

She put her hand over her mouth and giggled into it.

"Beautiful, large breasts, and at times, like now, the nipples seem to have a mind of their own and come out to wink and say 'hello'," he said, watching her, as she blushed but made no movement to cross her arms and hide her responsive nipples.

"And, Jennie," he said, leaning forward and speaking softly to her, almost mouth to mouth across the table. "You have a world class ass!"

She had her hand up at her mouth again. She was afraid now that she was going to cry. The impulse was sudden but very strong.

"I get riled up every time I think of that band of pink nylon and what you'd look like wearing only those pink panties!"

He stopped then because the tears came and were coursing down her face.

He reached for her hand and said: "Jennie, I'm sorry! I never meant to..."

She responded by kissing his hand and said: "I don't remember anyone ever speaking so wonderfully to me and about me! This was supposed to be a lark but I feel like a princess here!"

Ryan smiled and kissed her hand then.

"Only speaking my mind, lovely Jennie!" he said.

"Yes," she replied, "Speaking your mind!"

She found that she was being much, much more emotional about this than she ever imagined. It was, after all, supposed to have been for a laugh, a challenge. But he was almost making love to her with his beautiful words, and the last thing, the very last thing that Jennie wanted was to start crying here.

"Jennie," he said, "I don't mean this, didn't mean this to be vulgar. It's not, not supposed to be. You are simply lovely! Simply beautiful!"

She held up a hand. The tears were coming now.

"Ryan," she said in a small and choked voice, "I have to leave; I'm terribly sorry. I'll explain soon but I have to go."

Without another word, she got up and left. He was just gaping, as she went. He was fairly dazed by her sudden departure and the way that she was obviously flustered. He tried to think about it and only ended by accusing himself of being insensitive.

"Way to go, Ryan," he said to himself, "You had her close and fucked it up!"

A CALL TO KAY:

Jennie was sobbing almost all the way home. She wasn't a crier and here she was reduced to tears by the nice things that Ryan said about her. She realized that it was certainly crazy for her to respond that way but she simply found herself overwhelmed and chose to flee.

She was on the phone to her sister Karolyn, Kay, almost as soon as she got home.

"Hey, girl!" Kay said brightly, as she picked up the phone.

"Oh, Kay," Jennie began to wail.

About as soon as she heard her sister's voice, Jennie was totally overwhelmed by it. No one had ever spoke to her like that, or about her like that. She would often tell herself that she never missed being the object of such love talk, and now she knew, in an instant, she knew totally that she'd been lying to herself with those words, and thoughts,

"Jen, honey," Kay said, with obvious concern. "What is it, love?"

In response, Jennie began to cry in earnest. Ryan's words simply took their toll and reduced her to emotions.

Kay was truly alarmed. They, she and her sister Jennie, had taken care of each other all their lives. But she, Kay, was always the emotional one, the one who needed settling down, who needed to cry things out and be held during the crying. Jennie had always, always done that for her, and it was one of the things about her sister Jennie that Kay truly loved. This was so out of character that Kay was startled.

"Jen," Kay said at last, as Jennie continued to cry. "I'll be right there!"

"Okay," Jennie said in a weak voice.

When Kay arrived in just a little bit, Jennie had calmed down a bit. She was still red eyed and had a red, runny nose. She sat with a box of tissues and tried to calm herself even more. She knew what was going to happen, as soon as Kay got there. It did.

She flew into her sister's arms and began to cry again. Kay let her cry then and gradually realized that Jennie was calming down.

"His words!" Jennie said.

"What?" Kay asked. "Whose words?"

"So nice!" Jennie said, still not making a huge amount of sense. "Never heard such words!"

"Jen, honey, whom are you talking about?" Kay asked. "Tell Kay; we'll get you through this."

"Need to apologize," Jennie said next. "Fell apart! I did!"

At that point, Kay, who knew Jennie's place well, went to the kitchen and fetched a glass of wine for her sister.

"Drink a bit of this and tell me about it," Kay said.

Jennie sat there and did have some of the wine and then, gulping, told her sister about Ryan Sims. She told her about that first meeting in the faculty room, when, to everyone's amazement, Ryan took her on in a debate about the basic reasons for the Civil War. She went on then to talk about seeing the attractive guy in running shorts and a tee shirt at the grocery and that it turned out to be Ryan Sims again. She also told Kay about her bending to get something off of the lower shelf, and displaying, at her waist, an inch or more of her pink, nylon panties. Then she finally told Kay about the challenge for Ryan to defend what he said about her, about Jennie, being lovely.

"It was supposed to be a kind of silly thing," Jennie said, "You know how much I love to debate and take on someone's opinion. This was supposed to be just one more of those kinds of things. I was challenging him to say what he meant about me being lovely. I didn't worry, because, you know, I'm pretty severe looking and lovely would never be one of the words that I'd use about myself!"

"Oh, honey," Kay said, hugging her sister, "Lovely is the first word that always comes to mind to describe you."

"Ohhh," Jennie said.

Kay waited then and Jennie went on, telling her sister what Ryan said in his 'defense', and how it had literally overwhelmed her.

"His words were beautiful, like he is!" Jennie said. "It wasn't a lark! He wasn't kidding or playing with me! He was serious and what he said was gorgeous and it simply, I don't know, reduced me to tears and I fled!"

"What did he say?" Kay asked softly.

Jennie told Kay about what Ryan had said, in detail.

"Sounds like someone who really knows you and who you are and what you're like!" Kay said.

Jennie simply began to sob again and clung to her sister.

"Oh, Kay," Jennie finally said, "What am I going to do? How do I begin to apologize for acting so crazy?"

"Well, honey," Kay answered, "First of all, you're going to do what you always told me to do in similar circumstances. You're going to clean up. Clean your face, wash it. Then you're going to contact your Ryan Sims and talk to him about what happened and why you left. He's probably berating himself for doing something insensitive."

"Oh, no!" Jennie said, "He didn't; he wasn't being that way. He was being, talking lovely!"

"I know that, and you know that, honey, but he doesn't know that," Kay said. "So, you go and wash your face now."

Jennie nodded and went to wash, when the doorbell rang.

"I'll go," Kay said, "You just finish cleaning up."

"Thank you, love!" Jennie said on the way to the bathroom.

RYAN:

Kay went and opened the door. There was a very good looking younger man standing there. He looked so completely downcast, that Kay knew immediately who is was.

"Um, I was wondering..." he began.

Kay then said: "You must be Ryan Sims."

"Yes, I am," he said, "I was hoping to talk to Jennie, Jennie Carter"

"Yes," Kay said, opening the door for him, "I'm her sister Kay."

She offered Ryan her hand; he took it and they shook briefly.

"I'm sorry to be bothering but I was out with Jennie and..." here he faltered a bit again.

"I know," Kay said, "I've been talking to Jennie; she called me and I came over."

She said to him then, in a soft voice: "Normally these emotional storms have been mine and Jennie has always been there to hold me and pick up pieces. It's so strange that it's reversed here."

She smiled at him, when she said it.

"I think she'll be ready to talk to you soon," Kay said. Then she put her hand on his arm.

"Please be gentle with my sister Jennie," she said, "She hasn't had a great deal of good luck or experience with love and emotions. She's a wonderful sister; a beautiful woman but an innate shyness or something like that has kept her kind of insulated from this kind of thing. You need to be gentle and patient."

He nodded and said: "Thank you for saying so."

It was then that Jennie came into the room. She'd cleaned her face and looked much better, normal in fact.

"Okay," Kay said, "Jen, I'm going to go and use your computer a bit. Call, if you need me."

Jennie embraced her sister, giving her a kiss on the cheek; then she nodded and turned to Ryan.

"Please come in, Ryan," she said, leading him to the living room, where they sat with their knees almost touching.

"I owe you a huge apology!" Ryan said. "I never meant to upset you with my words or the vulgarity of them..."

That's as far as she let him go with his apology.

"No, Ryan," she interrupted, "I need to apologize to you, or at least to explain, for being such a scatter brain. I was expecting our talk to be a lark, one more of those little back and forth kind of discussions. I wasn't prepared for those lovely words. It's that..." she paused there but he didn't say anything. He just gave her the time she needed.

"It's that no one has ever used those words for me, with me," she said softly.

"I can't understand that," he said, and she put out her hand and held his hand then.

"It was always Kay who was the one that the beaus were after, and who had the heart break problems and such. I was the brick wall for her, the one who picked up her pieces. Always."

She gulped then and took a drink of the glass of wine that Kay'd brought her and went on: "What you said was so lovely that it unglued me. I couldn't take it all in. Here was a man, a gorgeous man! Gorgeous, young man, and he was saying these things to me and about me!"

She took another drink and he only smiled and held her hand. It gave her courage.

"I'm not a crier; never have been. Kay is; it's been her emotions that she and I have always had to confront. And I realized at Ambrosios that I was going to fall apart. That you were verbally making me over, kind of, with your beautiful words about me and what I'm like. It wasn't vulgar. It was entrancing! Exciting! Unexpected! Unexperienced! And Wonderful!"

"I fled almost in a kind of panic. I apologize for that, for leaving you like that, and I think that I might like to hear those words again! Even if it makes me cry another time!" she finished.

Then Ryan did something that wasn't planned, although what he said had indeed been planned out in advance, and had been the content of his practicing during the week.

He took her hand and he said it all again. He knew his speech by heart and he let her hear it all again. She sat quietly and let the tears roll down her cheeks. Only, this time he reached out and wiped the tears away, and when they came again, Ryan leaned forward and kissed the tears away from her face.

He said it all; he told her about her face, her eyes, he lips, her breasts, her butt and her generally loveliness and then, with her reduced to the emotions again by it, by hearing it one more time, he reached for her and he held her.

To Jennie's total amazement and absolute joy, Ryan gathered her in and held her on his lap. She fit there snugly and wrapped her arms around him, with her head on his shoulder, and was content, completely content.

That's the way that they were when Kay came back and found them. They both looked at her but she held up a hand and said: "Children, I'm going now. You two don't need me. Call me, sweetheart, when you get a chance!"

Jennie nodded her 'yes' and then sent an air kiss to her departing sister.

"Kay, thank you," Ryan said.

She smiled at him and nodded.

"Take care of my lovely Jennifer!" Kay said. He nodded, as she left.

"Shall we try dinner again?" Ryan asked.

"Oh, I am hungry!" Jennie said.

"Good," he responded, "So am I."

They ended up, for their dinner, by mutual consent, at a Hardee's for salads for their dinner. They sat in the Hardees and ate companionably.