Chapter 1

I really wasn’t horny when I saw her. Well, no more or less horny than any other twenty year old male college student hanging around the campus watching the pretty girls walk by in the spring. I was without a steady girl. Actually, I didn’t even have a casual girl.

My girl had sent me a “dear john” email in early January two days after classes started. I wasn’t surprised. She had flunked out last May at the end of our first year. Things had been tense all summer and became worse in the fall with me back in school and her at home working for her dad.

I proved to be a good student in high school knowing that I was responsible for getting the grades. It took more effort in college but the results were worth the effort. That had been another issue with Lisa that separated us. She wanted to party. I had gone to parties with her many times though I knew studying was essential. I slowly developed the power to resist her wiles and my resistance grew stronger during that first year in college. Over the summer, it became clear that our time as a couple was going to end.

All that raced through my mind as I watched this girl walk in my direction. We had a required English class in common. There was no group or team project so it was only my stupid ego that gave me any idea that she was walking toward me.

She was an easy girl to notice. Her hair was long and dark red to just below her shoulders. She had a slender build but was, by no means, skinny. She was taller than average being five foot nine or ten. Her clothing was neat but not especially tight nor was her blouse low-cut. She was quite simply a very attractive person of the female persuasion. She was fifty feet away now and still headed in my direction.

Who am I? My name is Bradley Gillis. I have heard all the “Dobie Gillis” jokes that there might be. I’m just over six feet tall and medium build with decent shoulders and medium brown hair that I wore at a medium length. I was dressed conservatively in Dockers and a collared pull-over shirt. I wasn’t anything special to look at though had never found that women or small children ran from me screaming in terror.

She was less than twenty feet away and there was no one between us. I could see her eyes looking at me. I was suddenly nervous because I didn’t have any idea why she was looking at me so very directly.

She walked up to me, stopping just a little too close to be comfortable for an almost stranger. She was looking me directly in the eye. I waited and looked back into her eyes steadfastly waiting.

“Brad, you could say hello or something to acknowledge my presence.” She knew my name!

I said, “Hello. You have me at a disadvantage. I don’t know your name though I would like to know it. I also don’t know why you came up to me either. You know I saw you. Any male with even poor eyesight would see you and be glad.”

She didn’t smile. “My name is Karen Mason. You had left me a voice mail that it was vitally important for me to meet you here.”

“Well, Karen. I am very glad to meet you. Had I known your name and number, I would have been happy to have given you a call or left you a message.”

She looked at me strangely. She said, “Your voice sounds different, very different, from my voice mail. What was so important that I needed to meet you?”

“Karen, I didn’t call you. Like I said, I don’t know your number to be able to leave you a message. I would like to know your number and would be glad to call you any time. Look!” I reached into my pocket and flipped my phone open. I went to recent calls and showed the calls I had made over the last month. Her eyes went wide. She didn’t see her number on the list.

She pulled her phone out and flipped it open. She had my number on it in calls received. She said, “Listen.” She selected her voice mail and I heard a weird sounding voice say, “Karen, this is Brad Gillis. It is vitally important that you meet me in front of the student center tomorrow morning at ten o’clock.”

“Karen, did you know my name before that message?” She nodded her head slowly. “Did you know my last name?” She shook her head. “How did you know who I might be?”

“One of the girls in English told me your name.”

“This is a mystery. Would your roommate have arranged this?”

She shook her head. “I don’t have a roommate. She dropped out in the middle of the quarter. Why are you here?”

“That’s easy. I have an earlier class and come here for a cup of coffee or to just stand out here and relax in the sun for a while. It’s been a habit since the first of the year. Since today is so pretty and warm, I’m out here rather than inside.

“Karen, would you sit with me and talk this out?”

She smiled and I almost felt blinded. “Yes, I would like to do that, Brad.”

“Wow! You are very pretty but your smile is totally awesome!”

I got it again. “Thank you.” Her face still looked great even after she dialed that smile down some. I realized that I would do a lot to see that smile regularly. I reached out and gently took her hand and led her to a bench close to where we were standing.

We sat down together on the bench. I hadn’t released her hand. Her grip was firm and it was a very nice hand. I realized that I didn’t want to let it go. She wasn’t trying to escape my grip either. I said, “I’m not sure how to figure out this mystery though I’m not sorry we got to meet. How do you think that message appeared?”

She had a beautiful voice, low and melodious with a captivating essence to it. I guess I could describe it better if I thought about it more but I just wanted to hear her talk. Karen said, “It doesn’t make sense. I admit that I noticed you in our English class and asked your name but that was the end of it. I don’t give my number out at all. I’m on my parents’ plan and it’s an old style plan with limited minutes.

“Your phone doesn’t have my number in it. I was watching your face when you heard the message. You were mystified. Someone went to a fair amount of trouble to know your habits, get my number, and then call when I wouldn’t answer and have it go to voice mail. This wasn’t an accident. It was planned and that message shows your phone number yet your phone shows activity before and after the call I received without my call on it.”

I said, “I agree with your points and I’m glad you don’t think I did it.” I grinned. “It’s not that I mind in the least that it happened and we met. But I have no more idea than you how all this happened or why.” I thought for a second. “Has anything else odd happened to you?”

She said slowly, “No. I haven’t met any new people other than you just now. I don’t know of anything happening in my family. My roommate leaving was the end to an on-going family issue where she lives. We’re in touch and she hopes to return for next year. She’s a nice person. I hope she comes back.”

I said, “We are in agreement that this is a mysterious incident. It’s Thursday. Would you meet me for supper tonight in the cafeteria. If things are agreeable, I would like to go out with you Friday. First, I want you to get to know me and have a chance to make sure I’m not too weird.”

She chuckled. “I don’t think you’re ‘too’ weird. You’re just trying to make the best of an uncomfortable situation. You don’t have to keep seeing me.”

I could listen to her voice for a month and not get tired of hearing it! “I know I don’t ‘have’ to keep seeing you. I ‘want’ to keep seeing you.” I stopped and then added, “And hearing you.”

She looked surprised. I continued, “You have a beautiful voice and a lovely laugh. I feel good just listening to you talk and laugh.” Now, she really looked surprised.

She looked at me very directly. She had beautiful green eyes. I quickly realized that I could get lost in those eyes. I didn’t look away. The sight was much too pleasant. She gave me a few hundred watts of smile and said, “We could do that. Actually, I would like to do that.” She had never looked away from me. I realized that our heads were moving closer. I could smell her perfume and liked it.

I said, “When is your next class?”

She said, “I have one right now that I’m now cutting and it’s my last for today. What about you?”

“I have one at eleven but I’m going to cut it, too. I think we need to investigate this mystery further.” I realized as I said that last because I wanted to be around her as much as she would permit.

She smiled slowly. “I also think we should stay together today and thoroughly investigate this mystery.” She grinned. “Do you want to investigate the mystery or get to know me?”

I said, “Both, but in reverse order.”

She laughed again. “I like an honest man.”

I decided that I would always be honest with this girl. I wanted her to like me. I said, “I will always be honest with you. I usually am anyway. I want you to like me, too.” I felt cheesy saying that but, if I am going to be honest, I have to admit that.

She leaned forward and lightly kissed my lips! “Thank you.” I became suddenly really aware of her body. My lips felt pleasantly hot and I realized that I was still holding her hand.

Chapter 2 »