The Tutor

Many thanks to jhasty658 for his effort in editing this story.

Prologue

My family immigrated to America when I was fifteen. The first year of school was a nightmare for me. I was incompetent in English, especially in conversations and casual chats. I didn't watch TV as I couldn't comprehend many of the dialogs. Most of the time I had no clue what my schoolmates were talking about. I was sent down to a lower grade. I was constantly being made fun of by the kids younger than me. I had to take summer school and additional English classes to catch up. The only subject I outperformed most of my classmates was math. I was very good in math, except when I had to answer questions orally.

The second year was a lot better. My English had improved. I got a few friends willing to talk to me and my spoken English got better day by day. I started going to movies with my friends and watched TV at home. Once we starting having computer classes I became a hero. Nobody, including the teacher, knew half as much as I did. I had been a computer maniac since I was eight years old. My dad was a computer programmer and I read almost all his computer books before he finished them. Even in my home country I used to be a walking dictionary in computer subjects for everyone around me. In fact, during my first year of school in America, spending time on my computer was the only thing I did after beside school and homework.

I became more involved with my schoolmates during my senior year in high school. I had more and more friends. Despite my accent, I could speak decent English and my written English had improved. I even got a scholarship for my college. My dad worked as a programmer in his new country and wanted me to get into a reputable college. He was willing, and could afford, to pay for the expenses. Moreover, my only sibling - my brother - was four years younger, so by the time he went to college I should have finished mine. Without hesitation I picked computer science as my major. I had nothing better to do during the long summer vacation so I polished my programming technique. I was already a certified JAVA programmer before college started.

It was impossible to travel from home to college on a daily basis, so I moved into the residence. My roommate Pete was a freshman majoring in business. He was tall and athletic. Standing right at six feet, he was four inches taller than me. He had the same black hair and brown eyes I had, but he was a thousand times better looking than me. He was also a very outgoing and friendly person. I was glad I had this kind of roommate for my first year living away from my family. He also liked to talk about his romantic adventures. I had problem trying to remember the many names of his former girlfriends. Even before school commenced, I started hearing him talking on the phone with girls he just met on campus. He was astonished when he knew I never had a girlfriend, let alone a real date. I didn't go to my prom as I didn't have a date.

Even though I was doing much better in English, I still had to take remedial English. I was, however, exempted from two beginner level computer programming courses when I showed the department head my certificates. He was so impressed he even talked about hiring me as one of his teaching assistants, but since I was only a freshman, he didn't want to take the risk. He nevertheless recommended me to the tutoring center. My first paid job in this country began on campus as soon as school started.

Tutoring novice students on the use of computers and programming was worse than my experience in learning English. Most of them had no clue what I was talking about, and I couldn't understand why they were unable to comprehend the concepts. After the first tutoring session was over, I went to the library and read through the introductory books that I had never touched before. A few sessions later, I swapped some students with another tutor. He had my beginner students and I had some of his more advanced clients.

Chapter 1 - Acquaintance

One day early in December, I went to the cafeteria to join Pete for lunch. There were two girls with him. I knew one of them. Her name was Macy, a tall redhead majoring in business. I wasn't sure if she was Pete's girlfriend, as she wasn't the only one I had talked to on phone or had seen together with Pete. All phone calls from girls were for Pete. I rarely got phone calls for myself. The other girl was shorter and had long light brown hair. When I went over to the table, we were introduced. Her name was Stephanie and she was a computer science major living on the same floor as Macy on campus. She seemed a bit surprised when she knew I was in her department.

"How come I never see you in class?" Stephanie asked when I got my food to the table.

"I guess it's because they have so many first year classes," I said.

"Oh, okay. Hey, are you going to do the extra credit part of the 'array' programming assignment?" Stephanie asked.

"What 'array' programming assignment?" I said. I didn't remember I had this assignment.

"The assignment that we have to program for the one-dimensional array," Stephanie explained, a little impatiently.

"One-dimensional array?"

"Aren't you taking CS121?" Stephanie said, widening her eyes. She had big shiny green eyes and thick eyelashes.

"Oh, I'm not taking CS121."

"You're a computer science major freshman?" Stephanie asked, raising her eyebrows. She had brown eyebrows. I didn't think she plucked her eyebrows.

"Yeah, but I had that course waived."

I heard Pete laughed, and then he explained, "Juan doesn't take CS121. He tutors it."

"A freshman tutors CS121?" Stephanie asked, widening her eyes even more. The more she widened her eyes the greener her pupils became.

"Yeah," I said.

"In fact he tutors some CS267 students. He swaps them with another tutor," Pete added, smiling.

"You took these courses before?" Stephanie said.

"Nope," I managed to answer while chewing my sandwich.

"Why would they allow you to tutor then?" Stephanie said, with an eager expression.

"I'm certified," I said after a gulp of juice.

"Certified tutor?" Stephanie asked.

"No, certified JAVA programmer," I said.

"What is JAVA?" Stephanie asked.

"It's a cross-platform programming language," I explained.

"Okay. Enough, enough. I guess I know what you're talking about. Then what are you doing here?" Stephanie asked. She was apparently very surprised.

"For my Bachelor degree. Maybe Master, too."

"Gosh! It's people like you who makes my college life so tough!" Stephanie sighed.

"Why? You're having problems?" I asked.

Stephanie sighed. "Big time!"

"Why don't you go to the tutoring center?" I asked.

"I did. The first guy who tutored me made me more confused. The second guy said I had no logical sense. By the time I tried the others they were all unavailable for my schedule," Stephanie grumbled.

I almost laughed. Pete was already laughing so hard he almost fell over. Stephanie glared at him.

"Maybe you can ask Juan," Macy said. She was apparently also holding her laughter.

Stephanie turned to me and gave me a smile. "Would you mind helping me?"

"Depends on what the rewards are," Pete cut in with a sly smile.

Stephanie glared at Pete again. Macy poked Pete in his waist while giggling.

"Sure. When?" I said and glanced at my watch. It was less than ten minutes from my next tutoring appointment. "I have to go to the tutoring center now."

"When is your tutoring session over?"

"Four."

"Can you make it four-thirty or five? I don't have my notes with me now," Stephanie asked. Her expression was a mix of a little excitement and a little nervousness.

"Okay. I will be in the library; towards the photocopying center," I said. That part of the library was the only place where you could talk without getting in trouble.

"Thanks a lot," Stephanie said, giving me a much bigger and friendlier smile this time. She looked very pretty to me when she smiled.

I finished my lunch and went for my appointment. When my sessions were over, I went to the library and pulled a book out from the shelves to review while trying to figure out what kind of problem Stephanie might be having. I had no clue. I closed the book and worked on my homework.

"Hi!" A greeting beside my ear startled me.

I turned my face and almost hit Stephanie's nose. "Hi, Stephanie. Sorry," I said.

Stephanie smiled. "Can I sit here?" she said, pointing at the chair next to me.

"Sure."

Stephanie took off her coat and sat in the chair next to me. She showed me her notes and the assignments. I went over them.

"So what's your problem?" I asked.

"My problem is I don't know how to do it. I don't understand this damn 'array' thing," Stephanie said, pouting.

"Okay. An array is basically a contiguous block of addresses in the computer's memory..." I explained.

"I know that. I have that memorized," Stephanie sighed. "And I know I have to use a stupid 'do loop' to initialize them. But the stupid computer hung every time it ran my program."

I started going through her notes with Stephanie. I found out 'array' processing wasn't her problem, at least, not her main problem. Stephanie didn't understand many fundamental concepts. She simply had all the definitions memorized. She did well with all the fill-in-the-blanks or true-false questions in her tests but she flunked most coding parts.

"Do you think I am stupid or have no logical sense?" Stephanie cut in after a while.

"Well, Phil told me many beginners have problems with the basic concepts," I said.

"Who is Phil?"

"He's another tutor in the tutoring center," I said. Phil was the guy who swapped clients with me.

"Oh, okay."

"Who is your professor?" I asked.

"John McPherson," Stephanie said.

"Professor John McPherson?" I asked. I didn't recognize the name.

Stephanie sighed again. "No. He's a graduate student. He's a TA. I enrolled in this course too late, as I had to rearrange my schedule. His was the last day class I could get into."

I tried to hold my laugh. Stephanie saw my face.

"Go ahead and laugh!" Stephanie said and grabbed an eraser in her hand pretending she was going to toss it at me.

I took a deep breath to ease off myself and continued on with my explanations. My mouth was dry and my stomach was empty by the time I finished about half of Stephanie's notes. I looked at my watch. It was a bit after eight o'clock. I had to go for my dinner or nothing would be left in the dinning hall.

"I have to go," I said. "I'm starving."

"Me too," Stephanie said, as she looked at her watch.

"Do you go to the dinning hall for dinner?" I asked.

"Where else can I go?" Stephanie said. "Are you asking me to go with you?"

"No, no, no, no. I was just asking," I stuttered. "I mean, I was just asking."

Stephanie giggled. "Okay. Let's go," she said, and started to pack her stuff.

While we were heading towards the dinning hall, I noticed that Stephanie was about three inches shorter than me. It was the first time we were both on our feet together.

"Who do you usually have dinner with?" Stephanie asked me.

"Sometimes with Pete, sometimes myself," I said. I didn't have many friends and I was accustomed to it.

"Yea, me too. I usually go with my roommate or other girls on the same floor," Stephanie said.

There weren't many people in the dining hall when we got there. Stephanie looked around and couldn't find anyone she knew. We ate together.

"How long have you been in America?" Stephanie asked, when we were eating.

"This is my forth year," I replied. "Is my English hard to follow?"

"No. You speak very good English. You have an accent, but I have no problem understanding you," Stephanie said.

"Oh, okay. But I still have to take a remedial English course," I said. "You're in English Composition I, right?"

"No. I skipped that. I took the pre-college English Composition class at high school and I won the county interschool essay competition."

"Do you like English literature?"

"Yes, that's my favorite," Stephanie said with a smile.

"Why didn't you pick English literature as major?" I said.

"Dad sort of pushed me into this," Stephanie sighed. "It's a hot area. He said I wouldn't have to worry about getting a good job in this area. He pays for my college."

"You have your own mind," I said.

"Are you suggesting I'm incompetent for computer science?" Stephanie said, raising an eyebrow.

"No, no, no, no," I said, shaking my head. "Do you like it?"

"I don't know. I have to try," Stephanie said, and dropped her head.

I was wondering if I had touched a sensitive area. I stuck the meatball into my mouth and choked. Stephanie giggled at me.

"Oops, sorry, Juan. I didn't mean to laugh at you," Stephanie said.

"It's okay," I said after I pulled the meat out.

Stephanie smiled at me. "Thanks for the tutoring. You made it easier to understand that the TA," she said.

"You're welcome."

"Would you mind helping me with the rest?" Stephanie said. "And my program too. I'm not asking you to write it for me. I want to try it myself and you can show me what's wrong."

"No problem," I said. "When? I have tutoring appointments every day from one to four."

Stephanie thought for a moment. "What about Thursday? I can make it about four-twenty."

"Fine. I'll be in the library," I said.

"They don't have the software installed in computers in the library. Can you go to the computer room?" Stephanie asked.

"Which one?" I asked.

"I usually go to S112," Stephanie said. "What about you?"

"I have my own computer in my room," I said. I was using a used notebook computer my dad bid on from his company's disposal auction.

"My roommate has one too, but she uses it to chat," Stephanie said, and giggled. "Do you know where S112 is?"

"Yeah, I know."

"Is that okay with you?"

"Sure."

We finished our dinner left the dinning hall. It was cold outside in the open.

"Where do you live?" I asked.

"Here, on campus," Stephanie said, smiling mischievously at me.

"I mean ... I mean where?" I asked. I knew she lived on campus. I knew I used the wrong words.

Stephanie giggled. "Three minutes from you," she said. "You're cute."

I felt my ears heating up in the chilled air. I knew that she knew what I was asking and was giving me a hard time.

Stephanie chuckled. "You're appear to be allergic to raillery," she said.

"What is raillery?" I asked.

"It's light teasing repartee," Stephanie said. "You were blushing."

Stephanie didn't have to tell me. I knew I was blushing.

"And what is repartee?" I said.

Stephanie giggled. "Repartee is, um, it's a swift and witty reply," she said. "Or... Or quick and usually amusing remarks in conversation."

"Okay, thanks."

"Well, I need to get back to my residence now. Would you mind walking me back?" Stephanie asked.

"Sure. I am going that way," I said.

Stephanie giggled again. "How do you know, I haven't told you where I live yet?" she said. "Would you still walk me back if you aren't going that way?"

"Yeah, I think so. It's late," I said.

Stephanie smiled at me. "You're a nice guy, Juan."

I was wondering if I should compliment her being a nice girl as well. I decided silence was gold.

"Don't blush so loud," Stephanie giggled again when she saw my face.

Pete just finished talking on the phone when I got back to our room.

"How's the tutoring?" Pete asked with a smile.

"I guess it's good," I said. "She needs another session."

"Sounds like you guys are hitting off pretty well," Pete said.

"Huh?"

"Don't tell me you didn't get her phone number," Pete said, smiling slyly at me.

"No I didn't. I was just tutoring her," I said.

"Tutoring till nine?"

"Well, we went to the dinning hall. I was starving."

"Okay," Pete said. He had the sly smile again. "Want me to get her phone number for you?"

"Uh... hmm... Is Macy your girlfriend?"

"Kind of. So yes or no?"

"I don't think it's appropriate," I said.

Pete laughed. "Okay, let me know if you need me. I'm going to hit the shower now," He said.

When I went to bed that night I thought about it. I had never asked for a girl's phone number before. When I was in high school, some girls in my class gave me their phone numbers, without me asking for them. I didn't know whether asking for the phone number meant asking for a date. I didn't know if I wanted to date Stephanie. I enjoyed talking with her during our dinner and on our way back to the residence. She seemed to enjoy it too, but I didn't know whether she had a boyfriend or was interested in a date. I had never dated before. I had heard a lot from my peers in the high school but I was also told that they exaggerated everything about their dates. I didn't know if I should seek advice from Pete.

I went to the computer room after I finished my job on Thursday. Stephanie wasn't there yet. Some other students who had that same assignment and knew me from other classes grabbed me for some assistance. When I was done with them, I found Stephanie sitting in front of a computer watching me. I went over to her.

"Sorry, Stephanie. I didn't know you were here," I said.

Stephanie smiled at me. "It's okay," she said. "I just got here and saw that you were busy. It doesn't work." She blushed a bit when she gave me the printout of her works.

I looked at Stephanie's printout. If her program would work I would have won the Nobel Price in Literature.

"Why did you put this 'x' here?" I pointed at one of the statements and asked her.

"Because," Stephanie said. She took out her notes and flipped. She showed it to me. "Because it's here." She pointed her pencil at an example in her notes.

Stephanie raised her head and saw my expression. She blushed and pointed her pencil at me. "Go ahead and laugh," she said, lowering her voice.

That was a short program. But I knew it would take an hour to go through the basic logic and for Stephanie to be able to make her program work. I suggested that I would point out the bugs, then we would go through the details in the library. Stephanie agreed. Her modified program worked within two minutes.

The tutoring session wasn't finished but we were starving again. We decided we would continue on Friday in the library. We went to the dinning hall together.

"Are you wearing perfume?" I asked Stephanie on our way to the dinning hall. I believed she smelled differently in the library. She was sitting right next to me, shoulder to shoulder. It was easy to smell her without even trying.

"No. Why?" Stephanie said, and blushed a bit. She grabbed a strand of her hair and sniffed. "Silly, it's my shampoo."

"Oh, okay. Nothing," I muttered.

"You want to smell perfume on me, huh?" Stephanie said, with a little smile on her face.

"No, no, no, no. I didn't mean that," I stuttered.

Stephanie giggled.

Stephanie found two girls she knew when we were in the dinning hall. She went over to them, talked for a moment, and waved me over. She introduced me to them. Betty was Stephanie's roommate and a social science major. She was petite and had short brown hair and brown eyes. The other girl was Denise who was in pre-med. She was a pretty Hispanic and had a very nice figure. They invited me to have dinner with them. I had never had dinner with just girls beside me. However it definitely looked nicer than having meal by myself. Besides, I kind of enjoyed having dinner with Stephanie. I stayed with them.

Contrary to my perception from their majors, Denise talked a lot while Betty was most of the time a listener. Somehow their topic turned to dates and weekend activities.

"So, Juan, what do you do during the weekends?" Denise asked me.

"Programming and related discussions," I told them.

All three girls giggled.

"Seems like you don't get enough of these at school," Denise said.

I saw Stephanie having that smile at me again. I knew I was blushing.

"So how do you find time to date?" Denise asked. I saw Stephanie looking at me.

"I don't date," I said.

"Don't tell us you are interested in... Hmm... That..." Denise said, and giggled. The other girls giggled too.

I believed I knew what they meant. "No, no, no, no, no, no," I said.

They laughed. I bet they really enjoyed dining with me.

"What about sports?" Betty asked me after they had regained their composure.

I hadn't had anything to do with sports for many years. I didn't even watch them on TV. I didn't know the rules. Pete had promised he would tell me how football worked, but so far he had been too busy. I believed that the more I told the girls the more I would get picked on. I regretted having joined them for dinner.

Betty seemed to see my embarrassment. "Look, Juan. Why don't you join us for the homecoming football game this Saturday?" She suggested.

I hesitated. I thought I would like to go, but I knew nothing about football. It would be really embarrassing to ask them to tell me how football worked, or to tell them about my ignorance. Then I thought of an excuse.

"I don't have a ticket," I said. I wasn't sure if we needed a ticket or not, but at least I had something to say.

"I have a bunch," Denise responded. "My boyfriend plays on the team."

"Oh," I said. "So all your boyfriends play on the team?"

They laughed again.

"No," Stephanie said. "Betty's date doesn't play anything. Well, may be one thing." She giggled.

Betty stretched from across the table to poke Stephanie.

"And Stephanie doesn't even have a date to play with," Denise said, and almost fell off her chair laughing.

I could see Stephanie blushed. It was her turn to poke Denise.

"Well, maybe Stephanie has one now," Betty said, giggling.

Stephanie's face grew pinker. My leg was kicked from the left under the table. I bent to see what happened. In fact I didn't have to check. Stephanie was sitting to my left.

"Oops, sorry, Juan," Stephanie said, giggling. "Wrong leg."

They all laughed their head off while I blushed again.

"Okay, girls. That's enough," Betty said. "So, Juan, do you want to come?"

"I don't know," I said. I immediately realized I just said something silly.

"Betty, you're not the one to ask. You already have your date for the match," Denise managed to squeeze out between laughs.

I saw Stephanie blushed again. She tossed a wadded up napkin at Denise. I didn't have to check a mirror. I knew my ears were red.

After they finished laughing, Stephanie turned to me, smiling. "Okay, Juan. Why don't you come with us? It's not a date. Don't worry, okay?"

I hesitated.

"Gee, Stephanie, you should have said it's a date," Denise said, and giggled.

I heard a sound under the table, and the dishes and glasses rattled, as someone's leg slammed the tabletop from underneath. I was sure that Stephanie was kicking Denise under the table.

I thought I could get Pete to give me a lesson on the rules before the game. "Okay," I said.

Even the walk to their residence was a trip full of laughter. I had no doubt they would like to have me dine with them more. They got free entertainment from me. I promised myself next time I would drag Pete to their table.

"Hey, Juan. You want to go to the football game?" Pete asked me as soon as I stepped into my room.

"Yeah, in fact I am going, and I need you."

"What do you mean? I was asking if you would go with Macy and me. I've got a spare ticket," Pete said.

I told Pete what happened, and told him what kind of help I needed from him. Pete laughed for like ten minutes before he took out some notepads and told me the basics.

"So where and when are you meeting them?" Pete asked.

"I don't know. I forgot to ask for the details."

Pete laughed for another ten minutes. "Call your date to find out," He handed me the phone.

"It's not a date, and I don't have Stephanie's phone number."

"Told you. I'll get it for you now," Pete said, and picked up the handset.

"I'll see her tomorrow."

Pete put the handset back to the phone. "Wow, you're better than I thought. Where are you guys going?" He said, with a wink.

"Library."

Pete laughed again. "Goodness, a date in the library. Let me show you some nice places," he offered.

"No, no, no. It's not a date, it's a tutoring session."

"Tell me something, bud," Pete said, looking at me. "Do you like her?"

"I don't know."

"Look, Juan," Pete said. "Think about it. If you decide you want to date her and have no clue what to do, let me know. I'll plan it for you."

I regretted having accepted the invitation to the football game. I felt a lot more comfortable working on my programs and giving advice in the JAVA newsgroups. I had trouble sleeping that night.

I wasn't doing my homework in the library on Friday. I was staring at my book and notes. I almost jumped when I felt someone pat my shoulder. It was Stephanie. She was apparently holding her laugh.

"You forgot to ask us the time and place," Stephanie said, and smiled at me when she sat down.

"I know. I figured it out last night."

"Betty's boyfriend suggested we have lunch together before the game. Do you want to join us?" Stephanie asked.

"I think so," I said. At least there would be another guy there.

"Okay. Twelve at our lobby, then," Stephanie said, smiling at me. Then she leaned over to me.

I smelled a different fragrance from her.

"This is perfume," Stephanie said. She shifted back to her seat and smiled with a little pink on her face.

"You smell good," I said.

Stephanie covered her mouth with her hand to keep from laughing out loud. It took her a while to regain her study mood and we continued with our tutoring. We finished about seven and went to the dinning hall together again. The dining hall was almost empty, which was typical in Friday evenings. Stephanie didn't look for her dinner partners. She told me they never appeared on Friday evenings since they were on their dates. We sat by ourselves.

"Do you mind if I ask a personal question?" Stephanie said during our dinner.

"No."

"Have you ever dated in college?"

"No. Have you?"

"No. Have you dated in America?"

"Not exactly."

"What does that mean?"

"Well I went to movies with some girls, and some boys of course. You?"

"Of course I have. That explains," Stephanie said, and giggled.

"Explain what?"

"Never mind," Stephanie said, and giggled again.

Stephanie then leaned forward from across the table. Her hair almost caught up with the spaghetti in her dish.

"Have you ever dated?" She asked in a soft voice.

I didn't want to answer that question. It seemed to them that it was a sin to have never dated before. Apparently Stephanie didn't need me to answer her question. My reaction must have revealed it. She leaned back and giggled.

"Oh, Juan, I'm sorry," Stephanie returned to the table and apologized.

"It's okay."

Stephanie thought for a moment. She then leaned forward a bit and asked. "So what are you planning to do after the football game? I mean, other than your computer."

"Nothing," I said. As a matter of fact I had never thought about it.

"Me too," Stephanie said, and then looked steadily at me.

I started to think. Could that be a hint, an invitation, or was it nothing. I didn't know what to do. I looked at my dish. I hadn't finished it yet. I picked up my fork. I heard Stephanie sigh.

"Juan, it's even now. I've never asked a boy out. You've never asked a girl out. Maybe we can have dinner after the game. What do you say?" Stephanie said.

"Okay!" I dropped my fork. I didn't know if it was my throbbing heart that shook the fork off my hand. My response seemed a bit awkward. I tried to think of something appropriate to say.

"What's your phone number?" I asked before I knew what I was doing.

Stephanie seemed a bit taken aback. I wasn't sure if this wasn't the question she had been expecting, was it at the wrong moment, or had I asked something I should never had asked. Stephanie however recovered faster than I could. She pulled out a pen from her coat pocket, wrote a number on the napkin, and passed it to me. I thought it would be rude if I didn't do the same. So I wrote my number on another napkin and handed it to Stephanie. I continue to try to think of something to say. I couldn't find anything except computer stuff but I knew they wouldn't be good topics.

"So where?" Stephanie asked.

"Where what?"

"Where are we going for the dinner?" Stephanie asked her question slowly.

The only places I had been to during my previous weekends were all fast food or deli. I figured it would probably be equally inappropriate to suggest those places. I now regretted I hadn't gotten some suggestions from Pete.

"I don't know. What do you think?" I told her the truth.

Stephanie thought for a moment. "I know a small restaurant not far away. I haven't been there but Macy said it's pretty good and inexpensive," she said, and gave me the name.

"Okay," I said. If Macy knew it, Pete must know it. I could ask him for suggestions.

I walked Stephanie back to her residence after dinner and went back to my room to wait for Pete. I was still working on my computer when Pete showed up after midnight.

"So how's the tutoring, bud," Pete asked.

I told him what happened and asked for suggestions about food and other stuff. Pete sighed and told me to go back to my computer while he took his shower. When he returned to the room, he gave me a lengthy lecture.

"What time should I come back?" Pete asked me afterward.

"What?"

Pete sighed. "Aren't you going to bring Stephanie here?"

I had never thought about anything beyond the dinner. I had no idea. But I believed it would be more likely for me to win an Oscar Award than getting a girl to my room at my first date. I told Pete that it wouldn't happen.

"Okay, pal. Look, either one of us is going to hang out late tomorrow. If you don't need the room, I'll use it, okay?"

This wasn't the first time I had to hang around outside while Pete was using the room, but never a cold night in December before. It would be too cold to use my notebook computer in the open. It would also look stupid to carry a computer to a date. I regretted not picking a college I could go home during weekends.

"What time should I come back?" I sighed.

"Midnight. Okay?" Pete suggested.

I nodded.

Chapter 2 - First Date

The next morning I toured around the campus trying to find a place I could hang around between my dinner and midnight. I was disappointed. I went back to my room and stayed until it was about time and went to the girls' residence.

There were no girls in the lobby, but I saw a guy. He was a slim guy about my height with brown hair and green eyes. He studied me briefly.

"Are you Juan?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm Juan. How do you know?"

He reached out his hand. "I'm Morris. We're going to lunch and the game together," he said.

So this was Betty's boyfriend. I shook hands with him and we chatted while waiting for the girls. When they showed up I had a better look at them. Betty was at most 5'3, and from what I saw last time in the dinning hall, she wasn't a swimwear model material. She however had a very delicate face. Denise was almost my height, and even in her jacket, I could see she definitely had long legs. Stephanie was kind of average looking until she widened her eyes or smiled, that's when her glamour shone. They were all wearing turtleneck tops, heavy coats, and jeans. That wasn't a surprise since it was cold even in the day. Both Morris and I were wearing sweaters, jeans, and overcoats.

We went to a deli for our lunch and went to the stadium. Incidentally I found Pete and Macy not far from us and we waved them over to join us. It turned out Morris was the only person he didn't know. I learned that Denise's boyfriend was the right wide receiver but he didn't contribute much to the game. In fact our team didn't contributed much overall and we lost the game 35-17. Pete occasionally filled me in on the game and their game play. After the game the group split up. I was alone with Stephanie.

I didn't have a car and it was impossible to catch a cab at that time so we walked to the restaurant, which was about a fifteen-minute walk.

"First time to a football game?" Stephanie asked me on the way.

"Yeah. In fact first time I watched football."

"I figured that. I saw Pete talking with you on the highlights." Stephanie said, smiling.

I laughed. "Look silly, huh?"

"I don't think so," Stephanie said. "My mom doesn't know much about football although my dad watches a lot."

"I'm not a mom."

Stephanie laughed.

I didn't even bother to look at the menu when we were in the restaurant. Pete had already told me what to pick. He had even suggested a drink for Stephanie and me. He was a great help for a dating virgin. We talked a lot during the dinner. Stephanie smiled and laughed a lot. I knew I liked to have dinner with her. The disappointment came at around nine o'clock when Stephanie suggested that we should go. I still had to find a place to hang around for another three hours. I asked Stephanie about spending some more time at a coffee shop and she agreed. I paid the check and we left the restaurant.

I was again disappointed when we found a coffee shop nearby but it would be closed in an hour's time. Stephanie was puzzled when she saw my expression and hesitation.

"What's the matter?" she asked.

"It's not open until midnight."

"Well, I doubt we should stay out that late anyway." Stephanie said.

"Oh. Okay," I said as I was looking around for another place.

"You want to stay out so late?" Stephanie asked.

"No, but I have to."

"Why?"

"I can't go back before midnight."

"Why?"

"Pete needs the room."

Stephanie burst out laughing. Although I like watching her laugh and smile, I didn't think it was so funny. I swore next time I would use the room whether Stephanie would come over or not. Pete would be able to find a place for him and his girl, but not me.

Stephanie had stopped laughing but she was apparently thinking over something. I didn't bother her. After a long while I saw Stephanie turned to gaze at me without talking. She did this for a moment whiling nibbling her lower lip.

"I'm not sure if I can trust you." Stephanie finally broke the silence.

"Trust me in what?"

"Trust your..." Stephanie said, and blushed, "Okay, Juan, tell me something."

"What?" I said. I had no idea what she was talking about, but I liked watching her blush.

"If we were in a room alone, could you guarantee you would keep your hands off me?" Stephanie asked.

My heart started to pound. I didn't know if she was suggesting anything. I unconsciously looked at my hands. Stephanie laughed when she saw me.

"Okay, Juan, listen," Stephanie said.

"What?"

"Betty isn't coming back tonight. So we can go back to my room to talk and chat. But I am not offering anything beyond that. I'm not that type of person, and I don't expect anything to get out of control. If you think you can go along with my rules, then we can go to my room, otherwise I'll have to say goodnight to you. What do you say?"

Nothing could be worse than spending three hours in the freezing and blustery night waiting for Pete. I promptly agreed to Stephanie's terms.

"No touching, no alcohol, when time's up you will go. Agree?" Stephanie made her points again.

"Agree."

"Okay. Let's go get some refreshments and snacks," Stephanie said and smiled at me.

When we were in the residence lobby, Stephanie asked me again. "Remember?"

"Yep."

Stephanie smiled. "I'm kind of taking a risk. I hope you appreciate my situation." she said softly.

"I think I don't have to worry," I said. "No, no, no. I mean you don't have to worry," I corrected myself.

Stephanie giggled. "Okay. I trust you," she said, and showed me the way to her room on the third floor.

When we went into her room, Stephanie took off her coat and dropped it in a bed, which seemed to be hers. She indicated me to do the same thing, so I dropped my overcoat on her bed as well. I sat in a chair I believed belonged to Betty, as the computer was on that desk. The room's floor plan was exactly the same as mine, except the girls had put up some decorations making it looked more comfortable.

Stephanie got the drinks out and handed me a can. She went over to her bed, hesitated for a second, and went over to sit in the other chair. When she sat down, I got my first good look at her. I couldn't understand why I had never really looked at her during all the time we had spent together at the library. She was wearing a dark turtleneck sweater. She certainly didn't have huge breasts. Or far that matter, she didn't have a big butt either. I realized that the more I looked at her, the more I realized how attractive she really was.

We started talking about everything. Stephanie was very interested to learn everything she could about my past although I didn't think I had a lot to tell her. More than half of my life revolved around computers. The rest wasn't interesting even to a dog. I was, in fact, more interested about her life. I had never talked with a girl in private my entire life.

From what Stephanie told me, she was the only child in her family and her parents expected a lot from her. She had dated very little in high school, and only under close supervision. Most of her time was spent in hitting the books, reading, and playing with her dog. She graduated from her high school with honors and received a full scholarship. Her dad only had to pay for her boarding and sundries. Stephanie had never had any kind of job before. I began to think Stephanie wasn't much more experienced than I was in terms of relationship with the opposite gender.

Stephanie showed me her essay that won the competition. It was a fifteen-page essay about family values in America. I glanced at it and saw some usage of sentences I wasn't familiar with. Stephanie suggested that I take it with me to review and returned to her when I saw her again. Then the talk turned into boys and girls.

"I think Denise is really gorgeous." Stephanie said.

"Yeah, she is pretty. So are you."

Stephanie smiled at me. "Thanks, but I know where I stand," she said.

"I agree that Denise may be better looking, but when you smile or widen your eyes you are charming. And when you blush you are very attractive."

Stephanie blushed. "Thanks. Well, I am glad you look at it that way." Stephanie said, smiling, "At least you look into more than just face and... Well I mean... boobs."

I laughed with a bit of embarrassment. I unconsciously scanned her chest.

"No, I'm not going to show them," Stephanie saw me and said with a smile.

"No, no, no, no, no, no. I didn't mean that. I'm sorry."

Stephanie laughed. "I know that, silly. I was just teasing you. You look cute when you blush."

I knew I had red ears. My neck was probably red as well.

"I've never seen any guy that blushes like you do," Stephanie said, and giggled.

"I guess this is kind of alien characteristic."

Stephanie bent in her chair laughing hard.

"Know what?" Stephanie asked when she could sit straight.

"What?"

"I really like talking with you. You are kind of... Kind of special. I probably wouldn't invite another guy to my room in this situation. I feel I can trust you and feel safe with you," Stephanie said.

"Oh, but you said you were taking a risk."

"I could never tell. Guys are guys," Stephanie said. "I'm glad I haven't bet in the wrong pot."

"Oh." I said. I start to think about Pete and what would he do in such situation. "What about Pete?"

"Hmm. I don't know that much about him. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't trust him," Stephanie said. "Don't tell anyone about this: Macy's roommate slept in this room the day Pete met Macy." She giggled.

I laughed. "Well Pete certainly didn't force Macy," I said.

"Yeah that's right," Stephanie responded. Then she blushed a little before continuing. "Let's change subjects. I don't know where this kind of talk will lead to." She giggled.

I was a bit reluctant to change subjects but I agreed with Stephanie. I already felt a little uneasy in my jeans. "Does Betty always spend her weekend off campus?" I asked.

"Well, Betty's aunt lives in town," Stephanie said. "Hey, Juan. This is an isolated incident. I'm not indicating we'll always talk alone in my room."

I had never thought about it. But now that Stephanie reminded me, it seemed to be an intriguing idea. I had to quickly ban the thought. "I know that. Don't worry," I said.

Stephanie took a look at her watch. I did the same. It was already half past twelve in the morning. I didn't know time would pass so fast. I got up from my chair.

"Juan, I would appreciate you don't tell anyone you've been here," Stephanie said. "Not everyone believes there's nothing between us." She blushed a little.

"Okay. I promise," I said, and went over to her bed to pick up my coat. "Will I see you next week?" I asked when I had put on my coat.

"Sure, if you want," Stephanie said, smiling. "In fact, if you don't mind, I would like to try the extra credit part. I'd like to do everything to raise my grade. It's the worst grade I ever have since grade school."

"Sure. When?"

Stephanie thought for a moment. "What about Tuesday in the library?" She suggested.

"Okay. See you then," I said, as I walked towards the door. "Good night, Stephanie."

"Good night, Juan," Stephanie said, while following me to the door.

When I got outside her room Stephanie leaned forward and planted a kiss on my cheek. She smiled at me and closed the door.

I caressed my cheek all the way back to my room. Pete wasn't there. I took my shower and went to bed.

The next morning when I got up, Pete was in his bed. I started reading Stephanie's essay. I had no idea how good her essay was but I found it very convincing on what she wrote. I had to use a dictionary as she used some words I didn't know. I was halfway through the essay when Pete got up. He cleaned himself up and got something to eat before he came back.

"So how's you first date?" Pete asked.

"I guess it was good. Thanks for all the tips."

"No problem. How good? Did you guys go anywhere after dinner?" Pete asked.

"Well, we had a talk after the dinner."

"That restaurant closes at ten. Where did you go?"

"Well... nowhere."

"Nowhere?"

"Uh... yeah."

Pete had a big smile on his face, and said. "Don't tell me you practiced unsafe sex."

"No, no, no, no, no. Nothing like that. Just talks. Honest."

Pete laughed. "I know bud. Just teasing," He said, and then went over to his desk and got out a couple of condoms from the drawer. "Take some with you whenever you go on date. You never know."

I gave the condoms back to Pete and told him I wouldn't need them. He told me I could get them from his drawer whenever I needed.

When I finished reading Stephanie's essay I asked Pete to take a look. His English was pretty good and he scored high grades in his classes. Pete told me in his opinion that was a great piece of work.

I wonder why two days would seem like two years. I didn't even have my books open when I was waiting for Stephanie to show up in the library on Tuesday. Stephanie smiled sweetly at me when she approached my desk.

"Hi, Juan," she said and leaned toward me. "This is shampoo." She giggled.

I smiled and took a few slow deep breaths fighting my desire of leaning over to smell more. Stephanie showed me her hand written extra credit program with a pencil in her hand. "Go ahead and laugh if you want," she said, and smiled slyly at me.

I almost laughed, not at her program instructions, but at her action. I looked at her paper. Stephanie had pretty good handwriting. "It won't work," I said.

"Why? I read through all the examples in the book and notes," Stephanie asked.

"Because you named your variable 'x' and executed a 'y'," I said and pointed out other mistakes she made.

Stephanie listened carefully. Her head was almost on my shoulder when she looked at her paper. I liked that feeling and scent but it definitely wasn't a good motivation for a tutor. I spent a lot of energy to fight against nuzzling her hair.

"This is a big improvement. You've almost got it," I said after we made the corrections.

Stephanie smiled happily. "Thanks. It's because of you. I'll buy you our next dinner," she said.

That certainly was a huge motivation for me. I wished Stephanie would need me for all her assignments in every subject.

Stephanie showed me her notes from the latest classes and I cleared up her confusion. It was still early for the dinner so we went to the computer room and Stephanie compiled her program without error. We went to dinner together and sat with her friends again. I wasn't teased that much this time. I guessed it was an improvement for myself. Stephanie told me she would call me for my reward -- the dinner she would buy me.

Stephanie called me on Wednesday and suggested we met on Thursday for lunch and check out our Spring Semester registration details. I was having the same idea as I had just received my priority registration form that same day.

When I went to the cafeteria on Thursday, Stephanie was already there. I gave her my tentative schedule before I went to get my food. When I returned with my food, Stephanie was comparing the schedules with a catalog next to them.

"Why are you taking psychology in the evening?" Stephanie asked.

"Because the day time classes conflict with my tutoring schedule."

"Oh," Stephanie said. "I don't feel comfortable taking evening classes."

I was considering cutting down my tutoring hours when Stephanie talked again, "Where's your wellness elective?"

"We don't have to take wellness."

"We don't, but it will make us easier to fill out the requirement since they're mostly one credit courses," Stephanie explained.

"I had never thought about it," I said. In fact I could easily exceed my requirement with advanced computer courses and math courses.

Stephanie scanned my body for a little while. "I think you should take on some exercises," she said. "You've got too much brain and too little muscle."

She didn't have to tell me that, Pete talked about it all the time. In fact I had been considering jogging for some weeks, but it was always just a consideration.

Stephanie wrote something on my schedule with her pencil. She then looked at me and said. "Beginners' Tennis at Eight on Saturday. What do you say?"

"Okay, I guess. Are you taking it as well?"

Stephanie smiled but didn't answer. "Finish your food and let's go to the registration counter," she said.

"I don't have a tennis racquet," I told Stephanie when we were standing in the line in front of the registration counter.

"Me neither, but I've heard that they provide equipment in Beginner Classes," Stephanie said. "Don't tell me you don't even have shorts."

"Of course I have. Do you?"

"Of course I have. Everyone has shorts. Well, I don't have tennis skirts if that's what you mean," Stephanie said and smiled shyly. "I don't have great legs."

I looked down at her jeans. Before I got a good glance I was poked in my stomach.

Stephanie giggled, and said. "Guys are guys."

Eventually it was our turn for the registration. We could have dropped the forms into the drop box but Stephanie wanted to see how it came up. I was already a few minutes late when our registrations were done. I remembered something I thought Stephanie might be able to help.

"Do you have time after classes today?" I asked Stephanie. "I've just finished my English term paper."

Stephanie smiled. "Sure, same time, same place." she said, before disappearing into the crowd.

I was expecting Stephanie to lean forward and tell me whether it was shampoo or perfume when she showed up in the library. She didn't.

"What are you wearing today?" I asked.

Stephanie glanced at her sweater and then had a little blush. "That's not a nice question," she said. But she didn't look annoyed.

I had to think for a moment to see what was wrong. "Oh, I'm sorry. I meant shampoo or perfume," I clarified myself.

Stephanie blushed. "No shampoo and no perfume today," she said, then smiled and leaned forward. "See?"

Stephanie still smelled good, but I figured that might not be an appropriate compliment. So I returned to the thought I had before that scent issue.

"I forgot to see your schedule," I said.

Stephanie smiled. "I know that," she said, then took out her schedule and handed it to me.

"I thought you didn't feel comfortable with evening classes," I said when I saw she had the same evening psychology class with me.

Stephanie blushed again. "Well, I guess sooner or later I'll have to do that. I might as well get used to it," She explained.

Stephanie was going to have three classes with me in spring: Calculus, Psychology and Tennis.

"Are you good in math?" I asked.

"I did pretty good at high school, but I know it's a different thing in college," Stephanie said. "I bet calculus is a piece of cake to you."

"I did well at school but I never went much into calculus," I said. "I went through many discrete math and linear algebra books because most computer science techniques are based upon these math principles.

Stephanie sighed and said. "Let's talk about this next year, okay? Where's your English paper?"

I showed Stephanie my papers. I saw her having some funny smiles on her face. "Is this a draft?" She asked.

"Yeah. I appreciate your comments and corrections."

"Okay. Do I get any rewards?" Stephanie said, then she blushed. "I didn't mean those."

"What those?"

Stephanie poked her pencil in my waist. Her face was pink.

"Oh, I get it now."

Another poke from the pink faced Stephanie. "Don't even think about it," Stephanie said, and went on to mark her corrections on my draft.

Stephanie then discussed with me what she thought about my essay, and how she believed it could be improved. After that we studied together until it was about dinnertime and we went to the dinning hall.

"Are we going to have dinner together Saturday?" I asked carefully on our way. I remembered Stephanie said she was going to buy me a dinner.

"Yep. I know a place near the movie theatre," Stephanie said, smiling.

"Have you ever gone to a movie with a guy?"

"Of course I have," Stephanie glanced at me and said. "Are you asking me to a movie with you?"

In fact that was what I had in mind right after I had asked my question. I was about to say yes but my long suppressed puzzle went out of my mouth first. "What did you do in the theatre?"

Stephanie blushed and stared at me.

"Oh, sorry," I said as I knew I asked the wrong question. "My high school friends told me a lot, but I also heard they exaggerated everything."

Stephanie's expression eased off. "Well, everything could happen. There are different types of people in the world," she said, smiling at me. "I would go to movie with you if you follow my rules, like those we had last weekend."

"Sure."

"Which movie do you have in mind?" Stephanie asked.

"I don't know what movies are playing."

Stephanie tilted her head to think for a moment. "Let's ask them at dinner," she said.

It turned out Betty knew every movie being played. She named all the casts and crew. I started to think she might as well go for communication arts. We didn't pick a movie during the dinner. Stephanie gave me a time and told me to pick her up on Saturday before we parted for the night.

I asked Pete what would he do on a virgin's first movie date when I got back to my room. He laughed for ten minutes.

"Take it easy, man. We're not kids. We don't have to do our show in the cinema. If you need the room, I'll have places to go. Rubbers are in my drawer," Pete said after his laughter.

"No, no, no. I don't mean that. It won't happen for sure."

Pete then told me his experiences and suggested I stay as calm as I could. He then said. "I don't know Stephanie very well. But she doesn't look like the kind of easygoing girl. That's for sure. And you're not the kind of easygoing guy. So just take it naturally."

I nodded.

I went to pick up Stephanie on Saturday. She had the same coat, an azalea color mock neck sweater inside and jeans. She leaned forward for me to smell her.

"What is it?" Stephanie asked.

"Perfume."

"Good, you're improving," Stephanie said with a little smile on her face.

"Which one?" I asked as we were walking to the cinema.

"Well, I've picked two," Stephanie said. "An action movie and a comedy." She named the movies and casts. "Which one do you prefer?" She asked.

"I've never seen an American comedy movie. I've seen some of the TV comedies and most of the time I didn't know why they laughed."

Stephanie laughed. "Do you plan to stay in America?"

"Of course."

"Okay, let's pick the comedy. I'll tell you what they mean." Stephanie said.

We bought the tickets and soft drinks but no popcorn. We would be having our dinner after the movie and it would be silly to fill up our stomach with popcorn.

"Are you nervous?" Stephanie asked me before the light dimmed off.

"No, I'm fine."

"You look like a mummy. Relax!" Stephanie whispered.

"Okay," I replied while trying to relax.

"Give me your hand," Stephanie whispered.

"What?"

"Give me your hand," Stephanie repeated in a soft voice.

I raised my hand and Stephanie held my hand and laid them on the armrest between us. Her hand was soft, very soft, and warm, very warm. I felt a thrill from my finger going all the way up to my skull. It was the first time I felt her hand. It was probably the first time I held the hand of any girl. I wasn't sure. My mind was not working.

"Relax. You're all tight." Stephanie whispered and patted my hand with her other hand.

I tried. It took me a long while. I had no idea what the first part of the movie was about. Stephanie whispered in my ear once in a while about what they were talking in the movie when she felt I probably wouldn't understand. It was indeed very nice for Stephanie to do this for me, but it was also too much for me. I loved smelling her perfume when she was whispering but it also got me nervous, at least in the lower half of my body.

"So, do you like the movie?" Stephanie asked when we were in the restaurant.

"Yeah, it's funny. Thanks for the explanation."

Stephanie smiled, and then said. "You're welcome. I'm glad I can help you enjoy the American good life."

"I enjoyed it very much," I said. I still felt a little thrill in my hand, which Stephanie had held during the entire duration of the movie.

"Me too," Stephanie said with a smile.

I didn't think the food in this restaurant was as good as the one we went to the previous week. But it was of no concern. I supposed I wouldn't mind chewing bones as long as Stephanie was sitting next to me or across the table. I also saw that the sweater Stephanie was wearing was tighter than the clothes she usually had on her. It showed the outline of her breasts. They looked very nice to me. Time seemed to somehow speed up whenever I was with Stephanie.

"I don't suppose Pete is using the room again tonight, huh?" Stephanie asked, glancing at me, when we were back to the campus.

"No, although I wish."

Stephanie laughed. "You're silly, Juan," she said.

I supposed I was silly. I didn't object.

Stephanie nibbled her lower lip when we were close to her residence. Then she asked, "Promise?"

"Promise what?"

"To follow my rules," Stephanie said, smiling.

"Sure! Of course!" I responded excitedly.

Stephanie smiled. She reached out her glove wearing hand and held mine as we walked towards her residence.

We had another long talk in her room. Stephanie even talked about American literature. If Stephanie promised to talk with me everyday on this subject I would probably switch to literature major. Time flew and it was almost one o'clock in the morning before we noticed. I got up, put on my coat, and went to the door.

"Juan?" Stephanie asked behind me.

"Yeah?" I turned back. I saw a little redness on her face.

"Do you want to kiss me?" Stephanie said softly.

Of course I wanted. I had been fighting hard all night to not do it. "I can't," I said miserably. I wished I had not made that promise. But without that promise I wouldn't be able to stay and chat with Stephanie in her room.

Stephanie giggled. "I asked if you wanted it, not if you can or cannot," She elaborated with a blush.

"Of course I want."

"No touching!" Stephanie said. She then leaned forward and touched my lips with her lips. Her lips were soft, very soft. I never knew lips could be so soft, and touching her lips could be so sensational. I felt a high voltage current scampering in my body. It was just a momentary contact. She leaned back and had a little flush on her face.

"Good?" Stephanie said while smiling shyly at me.

I nodded; I couldn't talk. It was marvelous; I nodded again. It was fabulous; I nodded once again.

Stephanie giggled.

"I... I... I..." I stuttered.

"Huh?" Stephanie said, raising a pretty eyebrow.

"I mean... I mean it's... it's good. It's mar... marvelous..." I was still stuttering.

Stephanie chuckled.

It felt so good I really wanted a replay. "Can you... you... you... I... again?" I asked.

Stephanie giggled with a pink face. "No, because then you'll want a third and a forth and," she said with a blush. "I can see where it leads to."

I guessed Stephanie was right. "O... o... Kay," I said.

"Don't move!" Stephanie instructed me. She planted another kiss on my lips.

My body was so sore I almost dropped to the carpet. It took me almost an eternity to recover from the thrill. When I regained consciousness, Stephanie was smiling at me with a big flush on her face.

"No third one. Don't even think about it," Stephanie said, and giggled.

I fought hard to not kiss Stephanie back. I hated my promise. "Good... night... Ste... phan... ie."

"Good night, Juan," Stephanie said, and smiled sweetly at me.

When I got back to my room Pete was in his bed reading a magazine.

"Wow! I never saw such a huge smile on your face. You touched base?" Pete asked.

"No, no, no, no. She kissed me."

It took like an hour for Pete to recover from laughing. "Oh, sorry. I forgot you're new to everything," he said, and paused for a bit, "Well at least you're progressing. Sounds encouraging."

"Yeah." That was all I could say.

I replayed the incident at least a hundred times in my mind when I got into my bed. I replayed it another thousand times in my dreams.

The next day Pete had some activities so I stayed with my computer. I was browsing the newsgroups after lunch when Stephanie called me.

"If you don't mind, I would need some more help." Stephanie said.

"What's the problem?"

"I just found out I didn't get the complete set of assignment notes. We have another extra credit part in our final programming assignment," Stephanie said. "I've already written the code."

"Oh, okay. I'll see you Tuesday in library," I said. I had tutoring appointments on Monday till dinnertime, as it was the busiest time before the final exams.

"It's due at noon on Tuesday," Stephanie said.

"Oh. Why don't you come over now? I have a computer here."

Stephanie was silent for a while. She was clearly uneasy at the suggestion.

"I can take my computer to your room," I suggested.

Stephanie was still silent for a while. Then she said. "My rule?"

"Of course."

"Do you have to plug and unplug your computer?" Stephanie asked.

"Just the power supply. In fact I don't think I need the power supply."

"Okay. Thanks, Juan. Thanks a lot," Stephanie said.

I unplugged my computer, took a spare battery with me, and went to Stephanie's room. She was wearing a brown tank top and jeans. I set my computer on her desk and Stephanie handed me her written work. I sat in Betty's chair and went through the instructions.

"You want it fast or slow? I mean we can either just fixed the bugs or let you try and check where the problems are."

"Well, I do have some time," Stephanie said.

"Okay." I said and turned on my computer. I put the paper on her desk so Stephanie could type her instructions.

"Where is the mouse?" Stephanie asked.

"You run your finger on the metal plate thing on the keyboard and press the buttons below it," I said.

"Oh, okay," Stephanie said as she tried her movements. "Where is the start button?" she studied the screen for a while and asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I said. I wasn't using the popular Windows operating system that most home computers and the computers in our college were equipped with. I went over and typed the commands into the computer to bring up the software Stephanie was familiar with.

"Are you sure it will work for me?" Stephanie raised her face to ask me while I was doing it.

"Sure," I said, while fighting my desire to kiss her face.

"Okay," Stephanie said, and started typing her instructions in. I was standing behind her watching. Her instructions didn't work. That was expected. I explained every error as the computer ran through them. It took an hour to get her tiny program to run successfully. I saved her work on a diskette so Stephanie could print it out at school the next day.

Stephanie sighed after it was done, and said. "I feel dumb. I wouldn't be able to make it on my own."

"Well, Stephanie, this is the phase every beginner has to go through. When I first started learning I could never write a simple program without struggling for days."

Stephanie smiled. "Show me what you do on your computer. You told me about those newsgroups," she said.

I fired up the newsreader software and show her the messages I posted.

"I have no clue what you were talking about in these messages," Stephanie said with a sigh.

"I had no clue about those books you talked about last night," I said, smiling. Stephanie talked about some prominent literature authors and their books in our previous chat.

Stephanie giggled. "Well at least we are even out again on something," she said, then glanced at her books on her desk. "I need to study."

"Okay. Can I eat with you? I mean dinner."

Stephanie glanced at me with a smile. "Okay," she said. "But no talk after dinner, okay? I need to study for the exams."

"Okay," I agreed. We set a time and I went back to my residence.

We had dinner together. We talked in her room after dinner again. I guessed we both lacked the determination to keep the 'no talk' agreement. Stephanie said I should go when her watch hit ten o'clock.

Stephanie gave me a thrilling touching kiss again before I opened the door. I had difficulty returning to earth after the kiss. I wanted to kiss her back.

"Are you okay?" Asked Stephanie. I must have a bright red face and neck.

"Yeah. I... " I stumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing, sorry," I said, looking at me feet.

"Yes there's something. Tell me," Stephanie said.

"I want to kiss back," I said slowly.

Stephanie had a very pink face. She then said slowly in a very low voice, "Okay, but still no touching. Agree?"

I nodded.

Stephanie leaned forward, put her hands on my shoulder, placed her lips about an inch from mine, and closed her eyes. I felt her breathing on my face. I didn't even have to kiss her to get excited. I was already thoroughly excited. I used up the last bit of my strength to move the one-inch distance and touched her soft lips. I didn't know what happened next. I must have traveled to the galaxy several times before I came back to Stephanie's room and saw her smiling sweetly at me in a very pink face.

"Good night, Juan," Stephanie said.

"Good night, Stephanie," I said and hesitated if I should tell her what I want.

"What?" Stephanie said when she saw my face.

"I wonder if I can study with you on Tuesday."

Stephanie smiled and thought for a bit. "Just study okay? Library, same time," she said softly and pushed me out. I didn't know if I actually walked back to my residence or flew back.

I studied with Stephanie on Tuesday. I found it extremely hard to concentrate on my books. But I managed to not talk with her except on the course materials. We went to the dinning hall together.

"I wonder if we should study together," Stephanie said while walking to the dinner hall.

I didn't say anything. I knew it was hard on me. It seemed it was hard on her as well.

"And I doubt the talks in my room are a good idea," Stephanie said slowly, "I like spending time with you, but I'm scared. We're doing more each time. I can see where it leads to."

"I promise I'll stick to the rules," I said.

"I trust you. It's me I'm worried about," Stephanie said, smiling shyly, "I like you, but I'm not ready for, um, for more." She blushed.

"I'll ask Pete for a place, a coffee shop or something like that."

Stephanie smiled at me. "Thanks Juan, you're sweet," she said.

"I think we can concentrate on the books," I said. I didn't want to miss seeing her.

Stephanie giggled. "Okay," she said softly. "I'll see you in the library tomorrow, just to study."

I walked the girls back to their residence after dinner. When we were approaching the entrance Stephanie started walking very slowly. When we were at the entrance the other girls were already inside. Stephanie planted a quick kiss on my lips before saying goodnight.

Chapter 3 - Christmas Party

We spent the week in the familiar pattern. We went to another movie on Saturday, a romance movie. I couldn't find a place that suited our needs so we stayed in the restaurant until it closed. I walked Stephanie back to her residence and we ended the night with our usual platonic kiss. The following week was the exam week and the tutoring center was closed. I spent most of the time in the library studying with Stephanie.

Both Stephanie and I were going back home for the winter recess. Stephanie lived about two hours from me and I didn't have a car, so it would mean a two-week separation for us. I discussed with Stephanie about a last date before the recess.

"Can you dance?" Stephanie asked.

"No."

"Do you want to learn?"

"Sure."

"I've got an invitation to a party on the twenty-second. I'll need a date if I go," Stephanie said and smiled at me. The twenty-second was the last day of school before recess.

"Do I know them?"

"Yeah, you know some. A guy in Denise's class who lives in town hosts it. Denise and Roy will be there; Betty and Morris will also be there. Not sure about Macy," Stephanie said. I had met Roy once. He was Denise's boyfriend.

I found out later that Pete wasn't going. He was going to take Macy to a ski trip before going back home. In fact Pete would be leaving in the morning on the party day. Morris called me up and we agreed to take a cab to the town and had dinner together before going to the party.

It was the first time I saw Stephanie in a skirt. She wore a white blouse and a black A-line skirt. She even had on light makeup and perfume. She looked just gorgeous. We finished the meal and went to the party. It was a two-bedroom apartment in a building mostly occupied by students. The place was overcrowded, the air was filled with smoke, and the music was deafening loud. To tell the truth I didn't like it there. Obviously Betty and Morris didn't like it either. They left even before they finished their first dance.

Stephanie didn't enjoy it very much either. She danced a couple dances with me and we went to the kitchen to finish our refreshment that we had left there before the dance. She found a few cups with the same cocktail she left behind but decided it didn't matter and finished one of them. We were about to find the host to tell him we were leaving when Stephanie grabbed my arm.

"What's wrong?" I asked when I saw Stephanie gripping my arm and swaying her body trying to balance herself.

"I think I'm drunk. I feel dizzy." Stephanie said, gasping.

"You didn't have any alcohol."

"Something's wrong," Stephanie wheezed. "Get me out of here."

I didn't even bother to find the host or anyone. I drug Stephanie out and went to the street. I forgot our coats until I was freezing in the street waiting for a cab. I was wondering if I should get back up for the coats when I saw a cab. It solved the problem. I tugged Stephanie into the cab and told the driver where to go.

I checked Stephanie. She was already asleep. The driver was concerned too. He asked if we should go to the hospital. I guessed he had his suspicion of me. I told him I was taking my girlfriend back to the residence. When the cab driver dropped us off in front of the residence he was still giving me suspicious looks. I couldn't remember if Stephanie was carrying a handbag. I helped Stephanie into the lobby and started looking for her key. I couldn't find a pocket on her skirt. I had nowhere to go except my room. I carried Stephanie on my shoulder and struggled to my residence. The cab was already gone.

When I dropped the unconscious Stephanie into my bed I was already exhausted. I didn't know what to do. I put a finger below her nostril. Stephanie was breathing normally. I put a finger on her neck. Her pulse was normal. I had a feeling she drank the wrong drink, one with some alcohol. I pulled the blanket over her and sat in my chair watching her trying to decide what to do. I couldn't come up with anything. I felt so tired after a while I slipped into Pete's bed.

I was waked up by some noises from Stephanie and I jumped off Pete's bed. It was already the next morning. I went over and saw Stephanie already awake with a puzzled look in her eyes.

"Where am I? What happened?" Stephanie asked.

"I think you got drunk."

"Where am I?" Stephanie asked with an expression apparently trying to remember what happened.

"My room."

Stephanie uttered a hum and pulled the blanket up to check if she was dressed. She seemed a bit relieved when she found out she was still in her clothes.

"I didn't do anything to you."

"Thirsty," Stephanie said weakly.

"I'll get some water," I said, grabbed my mug and went outside.

When I returned Stephanie was already sitting in my bed leaning against the wall. I passed her the mug.

"Thanks," Stephanie said, gave me a smile, and took the mug.

"No problem," I said, as I watched her finished the mug of water. "Need another?"

"No, thanks," she said, and paused for a few seconds. "Thanks, Juan."

"It's nothing."

"Not for the water," she said, smiling. "For not doing anything to me." She blushed.

"Oh."

Stephanie smiled at me but didn't say anything.

"I wouldn't do that to you," I said. In fact I was wondering if I was too stupid not to do anything. I didn't even touch her body. "How do you know?" I suddenly asked something before I realized I wasn't supposed to.

Stephanie blushed. "I'm having my period."

"Oh."

"Well you could have done something you were not supposed to. But at least... at least..." Stephanie couldn't finish it. Her face was red.

"No, no, no, no, no. I didn't do anything. Nothing, absolutely nothing," I rattled.

Stephanie smiled at me and said. "Okay, I trust you."

I let out my sigh of relief. Stephanie giggled.

"I think I have to go back to my room," Stephanie said after a while of silence.

"Okay."

Stephanie got up and started looking for her coat. "Where's my coat?" She asked.

"I forgot them," I said embarrassingly.

"Oh, and my handbag too?" Stephanie asked.

"Sorry."

"I hope Denise got them for me. Can I use your phone?" Stephanie asked.

"Sure," I said, and handed her the phone.

Nobody answered the phone.

"I'll go check it out," Stephanie said after hanging up the phone.

"Okay. You can use my jacket. I'll go with you."

"Okay, thanks," Stephanie said.

We went to her floor, and just as we were in front of Stephanie's room, a girl stuck her head out of her room and waved to Stephanie. I stood there and saw Stephanie go into the girl's room. She came back after about five minutes with the coats and her handbag we left behind in the party. Stephanie opened her door and waved me into her room.

"I know what happened," Stephanie said.

"What happened?"

"The host's roommate tried to drug-rape Denise," Stephanie said.

"What?" I said, and jumped.

"He drugged Denise's drink. Roy didn't see his girlfriend and checked the rooms but one of them was locked. He sensed something wrong and broke in to see that jerk removing Denise's skirt. That guy must have gotten at least half dozen broken ribs when Roy's football team friends got into the room. The party was over. They found our coats and my handbag. They were worried if something happened to me too."

"Wow! Did they call the cop?"

"Nope, but his name and drawing is already in the lobby now. I'll go check it out," Stephanie said, and giggled. "He probably got more punishments from the football players than from the cops."

I laughed. "So where is Denise now?" I asked.

"With Roy," Stephanie said. "She probably just got up like me." She had a sly smile.

"What?"

"Don't know if Roy did anything," Stephanie said, and then giggled.

"Well, Roy is her boyfriend," I said.

"Being a boyfriend doesn't mean you can do anything," Stephanie said.

"True."

"So how were my boobs?" Stephanie asked, smiling at me.

"I didn't see your boobs. I swear." I said, and stuck up three fingers.

Stephanie giggled, and then said. "I know, silly. I like to see you blush."

I let out a sigh.

"Do you want to see them?" Stephanie asked with a blush in her face.

I almost jumped to the ceiling. I didn't know what to say. The truth was I wanted, but I couldn't say it.

"No, you're not seeing them, sorry," Stephanie said, and laughed bending in her bed.

I knew my face was red, my ears were red, and my chest was probably red as well.

"Know what?" Stephanie asked after she finishing laughing.

"What?"

"You're the only guy I dare to tease like this," Stephanie said. "It's dangerous."

"Oh," I said, and laughed.

Stephanie threw a pillow at me. "Don't laugh!" she said, and then laughed.

I grabbed the flying pillow.

"Give me back my pillow." Stephanie said.

I gave her back her pillow.

"Come sit here," Stephanie said, and patted on her bed.

I sat down beside her, with a pumping heart.

Stephanie shifted to face me. Her face was pink. She put her hands on my shoulder.

"Juan, I'm lifting my rules a little bit just once," she said, looking at my eyes. Her eyes were very green and her face was very pink. "I want you to hold me and kiss me."

My heart was throbbing so hard my body was squirming. I raised my hands and found them shaking. Stephanie giggled. She held my hands and put them on her waist. She leaned over and kissed me. It wasn't just a touch-and-go kiss. She was actually kissing all over my lips. Her hands wrapped around my neck. I could feel her smooth skin underneath her blouse with my shaking hands. I had no idea where I was. It seemed she was kissing me for a year or so.

Stephanie moved back a bit when the kiss was over. She smiled sweetly at me for a while and then she sighed.

"I have a real problem with you, Juan," Stephanie said softly.

"What problem?" I said, and began worrying.

"Every time I see you, I like you more," Stephanie said in a very soft voice.

"Me too."

Stephanie leaned over and kissed me again. I kissed back. Stephanie wrapped her arms around my neck and I wrapped around her waist. Stephanie sucked my lips. I sucked back and found her licking my lips. My tongue met hers and tangled. The feeling was incredible. Before I realized my hands were running up and down her back. Stephanie sucked my tongue. I held her tightly against me. A while later Stephanie pushed my chest. We parted. I felt like sitting in the clouds.

Stephanie's breath was a fit heavy. Her face was flushed pink. She looked down at the bed for a while and looked at my eyes.

"Enough for today," Stephanie said softly. "Anymore and I may be pregnant when I get home." She smiled shyly.

I smiled embarrassingly.

"Like it?" Stephanie said. Her eyes were sparkling.

I nodded madly. "Beats everything," I said. My heart was still throbbing wildly.

Stephanie giggled. "I like it too. It's not my first time but it beats all of them," she said with a sweet smile.

We said nothing but looking at each other for a while. Then Stephanie broke the silence.

"I think you should go," Stephanie said. "Before I jump on you."

"Can I stay for a little while?" I asked. I could hardly hear myself.

"Why?"

"I... I... I'm too excited now." I said as I felt my ears burning.

Stephanie blushed but had a glance at my pants. She giggled. "Okay, let's talk about computer stuff," She suggested.

I laughed embarrassingly and tried to cover my excitement with my hands.

"Tell me what's the difference between JAVA and the programming language we are using," Stephanie asked while glancing down at my hands.

I briefly told her the differences and found myself eased off. We agreed we would meet for lunch before we went to the bus terminal.

I packed my stuff and went to meet Stephanie at her lobby. We walked to a fast food place for our lunch. I told her I would call her at home. We talked for a while and we went to the bus terminal. We kissed gently before we parted.

Chapter 4 - Ski Trip

The night I got back home I called Stephanie. After a brief chat Stephanie told me to call her again at eleven o'clock. I called Stephanie from my bedroom again at eleven sharp. Stephanie answered the phone immediately. She told me she was using the phone in the kitchen and her parents were in bed by that time so we could talk more freely. We talked for a while when Stephanie raised a question.

"Are you having any Christmas parties at home?" Stephanie asked.

"No, I'll be with the parents during Christmas. You?"

"Well, my high school friend invited me to a party tomorrow. I'm still thinking." Stephanie said.

"Why are you still thinking?"

"I don't have a date. Well, they can find me a date, but I'm opposed to that idea," Stephanie said.

"I can go with you if you like," I offered. My heart started throbbing.

"You're two hours from here." Stephanie said.

"I think I can borrow my mom's car," I said. "Hey, hold on." I heard footsteps on the staircase and knew my mom was going to her room for the night. I ran out and begged her for her car, which she reluctantly agreed to. I darted back to my bedroom and picked up the handset. "I got the car!" I exclaimed.

Stephanie giggled. "Okay," she said, and gave me the time and her home address and we talked for about thirty minutes before hanging up.

I knew Stephanie would be having dinner at home before the party and I would have missed my home dinner because of the drive. I bought some burgers to eat in the car while driving to Stephanie's home.

Stephanie was wearing a one piece knit skirt inside her coat. She looked prettier than every Miss Universe to me. We kissed tenderly when Stephanie got into the car and she showed me the way to her friend's house.

This party venue was thousand times better than the one we went to the days before. It was held at the house of a girl's parents. Smoking was not allowed. They didn't have any alcohol, not even beer. The music wasn't that loud since the place was a lot bigger. I enjoyed this party a lot more. For every dance Stephanie danced with me I liked it even more. When Stephanie danced the slow dances with me, I wished the music would play forever. What really made me happy was when Stephanie introduced me to her friends as her 'boyfriend'. It was the first time my name was linked to 'boyfriend', especially with a girl I felt for. I wished we could have stayed there all night, but Stephanie insisted we should leave when it was eleven o'clock, because I would have another two hours drive to get back home.

"Do you like it?" Stephanie asked with a smile when I was driving her back.

"Yeah, I enjoyed it very much. I enjoyed it more when you told them I was your boyfriend."

I could see Stephanie blushed. "Well, I hope you don't mind," she said with a smile.

"Of course no!"

"A date won't drive two hours to pick me up for a party," Stephanie said.

"I'll drive twenty hours to pick you up. Can I call you my girlfriend?"

Stephanie smiled at me. "If you don't mind," she said softly.

I stopped the car at the sidewalk and pulled Stephanie over to kiss her passionately.

After the kiss, Stephanie giggled. "You're silly, Juan," she said, and smiled sweetly at me.

"Yeah I'm silly. I love being silly."

Stephanie giggled at my remark. We laughed.

I dropped Stephanie off in front of her house after another long kiss. I saw her go into her house before I left. I felt like I was driving in the heaven's highway.

I called Stephanie every night at eleven o'clock sharp. We didn't talk that long as Stephanie didn't want me questioned by my parents when the phone bill came. One day a high school friend told me he and a few others were going for an overnight ski trip and asked if I would be interested. It would be at a ski resort about three hours away. I had never skied before and my immediate response was to decline, but then I remembered Stephanie. I told my friend to give me a day to think about it.

I called Stephanie up that night and talked about it. Stephanie was very hesitated about it but she said she would call me the next morning to confirm. She called me the next morning and told me she couldn't make it because her mom had a church function and needed her daughter to help her out.

"Okay, Stephanie," I said distressfully.

"Juan, it's not an excuse. It's really not. I'd love to go," Stephanie said.

"I miss you."

"Me too. If it weren't the conflict in time I would definitely go with you," Stephanie said.

"What if I change the date?"

"Will they change the date?" Stephanie asked.

"I don't know. But if they can't, we can."

I heard Stephanie giggling at her end. "Well, you really know how to box me in, huh?" she said. I could picture a smile on her face.

I laughed. "No, no, no, no. I was just asking. Well, thinking too. Will you go?"

There was a momentary silence. Then I heard Stephanie talking slowly, "Okay. Give me a date. My rule."

"Give me a date. Your rule."

Stephanie gave me a couple of days she believed she could make it. I called up my friends telling him I couldn't make it on his trip but would like to know the details. He gave me the information and a phone number for reservation. I made all arrangements and called Stephanie back. It would be three days before the spring semester. I also booked a rental car, as I couldn't use my mom's car for that long. When my parents came home that evening I told them I was going for a ski trip with friends. They had no problem with it since I had never caused any problems before.

The night before the ski trip I called Stephanie to confirm the time for picking her up. Stephanie gave me a different address to pick her up. I kind of wondered.

I found the place Stephanie indicated. She came out from that house, waving bye to another girl inside. She dropped her bag in the rear seat and we kissed.

"Why here?" I asked after the kiss.

Stephanie had a tiny blush. "I told my parents I was going skiing with my high school girlfriends. They don't know I have a boyfriend, and surely won't like the idea that I spend a night out with a guy," she said, and then giggled.

I laughed. "So you lied to them," I said.

Stephanie nodded while giggling. "Well I probably can't hide you for long," she said, while smiling at me.

"Why?" I asked, as I turned towards the highway.

"Because I like you too much to be able to hide you," Stephanie said. She then pushed me when I tried to lean over to kiss her. "Watch the road, silly," she said, and poked me.

I had bought a ski package that included room, cable car ride, equipment, and instructor course, as neither Stephanie nor I could ski. We dropped our luggage in our room and went for the fun. It was harder than I had expected. I made a lot of fun of myself rolling over and made other learners and Stephanie laugh. Time passed fast especially comparing to the days I was at home. We finished dinner and went to our twin-bed room.

We talked for about two hours, and then Stephanie said she had to take her shower. She came out in matching gray ribbed cotton knit top and full leg pants.

"What's the matter?" Stephanie asked when she saw me staring at her.

"You're beautiful. You're not wearing... wearing that... that... that thing?" I asked as I saw her movements a bit different in her top.

Stephanie blushed. She grabbed the tissue box on the dressing table and tossed at me. "Inappropriate question," she said, as she tried to hide a tiny smile in the corner of her lips. "Your turn now!"

I went for my shower and came back to the room in my tee top and knee-length shorts. I didn't have the traditional kind of pajamas. Stephanie was sitting in the bed near the window watching TV. She patted on the bed when she saw me. I went over and sat beside her. She leaned over to let me smell her.

"What's it?" Stephanie asked.

"What's it? New shampoo?"

"Bathing cream, silly," Stephanie said, and giggled.

"Oh. Smells good." I said. Suddenly I realized I was staring at her chest again. She seemed to have better-looking breasts tonight. I didn't know why.

I got a poke in my chest. "Guys are guys," Stephanie said, giggling.

"Sorry, Stephanie." I said and tried to hide my physical embarrassment.

There was some momentary silence between us. I was staring at the TV but had no idea what was on it.

"Promise?" I heard Stephanie asking me.

"Promise what?"

"No touching." Stephanie explained.

"Oh, I've already agreed to your rules."

Stephanie smiled. Her face began turning red. I was wondering. Then Stephanie started pulling her boxy top over her head. My mouth dropped opened.

Stephanie had nothing inside her boxy top. Her pear-shaped breasts swayed as she struggled to get her top over her head. Stephanie had beautiful breasts. They were a lot smaller than those I saw in adult magazines but they shaped beautifully. Her nipples were also smaller and lighter in color than those I saw in these magazines. My entire body was frozen. I couldn't even gulp. Stephanie smiled at me shyly and nervously in her bright red face but she didn't make any effort to hide her breasts from me.

"Are they ugly?" Stephanie asked.

I nodded. Then I realized I used the wrong sign. I shook my head vigorously.

Stephanie giggled. "Do you like them?" She asked softly, her voice was a little tensed.

I nodded madly.

Stephanie giggled again. "Want to touch them? " Stephanie asked again.

I nodded madly, and then shook my head.

"What does that mean?" Stephanie asked.

"I... I... I... want... want... but... but... but... can't," I stuttered.

"Why?"

"I... I... I... prom... prom... promised," I said and realized I was gulping.

Stephanie laughed happily. "That's one reason I like you, Juan," she said after laughing.

I wasn't able to say anything. I was still staring at her breasts and gulping. I didn't know I could produce that much saliva.

"Can you go outside to buy me a soft drink?" Stephanie asked with a sly smile.

I shook my head.

"Why not?" Stephanie asked innocently.

"I... I... I'm... too... too... ex...cited..."

Stephanie giggled. "Show me," she said softly.

I shook my head.

"I showed you. It's your turn now," Stephanie said.

I tried to think but my mind was blank. I didn't even know what JAVA was. Stephanie nudged my arm.

"You do it or I do it?" Stephanie asked.

"What?"

Stephanie pointed at my shorts and giggled.

I felt like Stephanie was controlling my mind as I rose from the bed. I found myself sliding my boxers down my hip, then my jockey briefs. My erection popped out the moment it was free from the confinement. I sat back on the bed and looked at Stephanie. Her face was red. I knew my face was as red.

Stephanie smiled at me while reaching out a hand slowly to touch my erection. I literally jumped when she touched me. The electric current transmitted into my body was far beyond what I could sustain.

"You said no touching," I protested intuitively, and immediately regretted having made a stupid protest.

"I know. You can't touch. I didn't say I can't," Stephanie said with a smile like the cat that ate the canary.

"Oh," I uttered. I wondered how had I entered such an unfair situation. However it was also relieving. I probably would force or beg Stephanie to touch me anyway.

"Is this how you do it?" Stephanie said, while she was running her fingers up and down my shaft.

I nodded. "I'll... I'll... will... shoo... shoot," I said as the thrill intensified.

"Show me," Stephanie said as she stroked my shaft and gently rubbed my glans with her thumb. "It feels good. I like it," she breathed.

I started to feel my balls convulsing. It was a lot faster than when I did it myself. The thrill was too much. I arched my back groaning, and before I could say or do anything I was shooting. It was probably the strongest shot I ever made. I saw a tiny stream of creamy stuff spurting in front of me and land on the carpet. I was glad Stephanie was sitting by my side and not in front or they would have gone on her face and body.

When I had recovered from my tension I saw Stephanie smiling at me. I looked down and saw her removing her hands from me. There was some creamy stuff on her hand. I knew some of my remaining stuff had drifted down to her fingers.

Stephanie went over to the tea table where I put the tissue box. She came back and pulled a couple sheets to me, and then some for herself. She hesitated for a bit and put her finger to her mouth and had a lick for a taste. She saw me watching it and stuck her finger to my mouth. I had never tasted my own semen before, but I was under her control and I stuck my tongue out for a quick taste. It tasted salty and weird. Stephanie giggled as she wiped her finger and I wiped myself. Stephanie then pulled out more tissues and wiped the carpet where my semen had landed on. Then she came and sat beside me.

"My first time," Stephanie said softly.

"Me too. I mean by a girl."

Stephanie giggled. "You're the first one to see me too," she said, blushing.

"Oh, I like them. I mean... I mean I love them."

"Was it good?" Stephanie smiled at me while running her finger on my lap. Despite I had just relieved I still felt some thrills enough to send me to the roof.

"Yeah, beats everything."

Stephanie gave me a sweet smile. "Do you want to kiss me?" She asked.

Of course I wanted. I leaned over and kissed her. Stephanie wrapped around my neck and kissed me back softly. She broke the kiss shortly.

"Hold me," Stephanie said, and then returned to kissing me.

I reached my hands to her back and held her close to me. Her skin was so smooth I couldn't resist caressing her back. It was a very passionate kiss. I pulled Stephanie closer when she tried to break the kiss.

Stephanie smiled sweetly at me when we eventually parted. "Don't want to stop, huh?" she said.

I nodded.

"I want you to touch me," Stephanie said softly.

"I can't."

"You can, because I want you to," Stephanie whispered, then reached out, grabbed my hands and put them on her breasts. As soon as my fingers touched her breasts, she let out a soft sigh.

The moment I felt her soft breasts I couldn't take my hands off. I gently stroked her breasts and rubbed her nipples. Stephanie put her hands in the bed to support herself while she leaned back and hummed. I kept on enjoying the tremendous pleasure until Stephanie grabbed my hands.

Stephanie looked into my eyes. Her green eyes were glistening. Her face was as red as apple. "Juan, can you do two things for me?" She asked.

I nodded.

Stephanie looked at our hands. "I'm still a virgin and want to go home a virgin. Can you ensure it ... no matter what you want or what I ask?" She asked in a very soft voice.

I thought for a moment. "Yes, I promise. I like you too much to do anything that we may regret."

"Thanks, Juan," Stephanie smiled sweetly at me and squeezed my hands.

"What's the second one?"

Stephanie flushed. "Go turn off the TV and lights."

I went to turn off the TV and the lights and saw Stephanie standing in between the two beds and had switched on the floor light.

"Take off your tee shirt," Stephanie continued with her instructions. I pulled my tee top off my head.

Stephanie pulled her waist drawstring and let her pants slide down her legs, leaving only her white panties on. She then slid her thumbs inside the waistband of her panties and slowly glided them down her hip. She stepped out of them when her panties fell onto her feet. Stephanie had brown public hair. I stood eye widened staring at the scene. I knew my erection had come back. Stephanie smiled shyly at me, letting me enjoy the view for a while.

"Come over," Stephanie said softly.

I went over to her. Stephanie put her hands on my shoulder.

"Did you like what I did for you?" She asked.

"Yeah, very much." I nodded.

"Would you do it for me?" She asked in a growing pink face.

"Yes," I replied firmly and excitedly.

Stephanie blushed more. She pulled the sheets off and got in the bed looking at me. "Kiss me first," she said.

I sat beside Stephanie and bent to kissed her. Stephanie wrapped around my neck and licked my lips and tongue. When we parted Stephanie looked at me with her passionate eyes. She ran a finger on my lips.

"I want to feel this on me," she made a plea.

I nodded and started kissing and licking her. I ran down to her breast and licked her nipples while caressing her chest. Stephanie started making low humming noises. I kept on while moving down all the way to her legs. Stephanie spread her legs. I went between her thighs and was thinking what to do next. I didn't have to. Stephanie put her fingers on her crotch and touched herself. She spread her labia. I sent my tongue towards her vulva and licked on her wet lips. Her intimating aroma filled my entire nostrils and windpipe. I licked around for a while before I probed into her opening. Stephanie heaved a sigh. I continued with my tongue actions while replacing her fingers with mine. Stephanie stretched her hands and twisted her body while moaning.

I kept on rubbed her lips gently and slithering in and out of her pussy. I sucked her when I felt her juice running down my tongue. I did it until Stephanie arched her back, grabbed my hair, and let out a squeal. I didn't have any experience with girls before but I had read about it. I knew she had attained her ecstasy. I had to stop doing it as Stephanie was grabbing my head. I waited until she released her hands and let out a long gasp. I resumed my actions tenderly before Stephanie pulled my head again. I rose and saw Stephanie stretching her arms at me.

I crawled up to hold and kissed Stephanie softly. She was still panting. I held her tightly and kissed her face.

"Gosh, you almost killed me," Stephanie whispered when her breathing pace stabilized.

"Like it?"

"Beats everything," Stephanie said, smiling.

I smiled at her and kissed her again. Stephanie kissed me back passionately.

"You're excited, very excited," Stephanie said after the kiss.

She didn't have to tell me. I knew I had been excited for a while.

"If I don't do anything now, you'll have problem keeping your promise," Stephanie said with a giggle.

Before I could respond, Stephanie pushed me into the bed. "Don't move!" she said smilingly.

Stephanie crawled to my hip and bent towards my excitement. She licked my excited head. It was wonderful. My excited shaft bounced.

Stephanie giggled. "Don't move!" she said.

I tried to explain but was stopped by another overwhelming sensation. Stephanie had started licking down my shaft. She continued to my scrotum and then held my shaft with a hand and ran her tongue all over it. My back was arching involuntarily. When Stephanie engulfed my head with her warm and soft lips, strange gurgling noises started coming from my throat. I saw Stephanie's head bobbing up and down while my shaft felt the sensational massages on it. It was too much. I couldn't control myself. My balls convulsed again. I squirted my seeds into Stephanie's mouth. I felt Stephanie's head raise a bit and her lips loosen for a second and then resume enclosing my shaft. After unloading into Stephanie's mouth, my back slammed uncontrollably into the bed and my throat started wheezing.

Stephanie left the bed and went into the bathroom. I heard tap water running for a while and then saw Stephanie coming out. She wiped me with a towel and then snuggled next to me.

"I'm safe now, at least for a while," Stephanie said, and then giggled.

I could only smile at her.

"Like it?" Stephanie asked.

"Goodness, you killed me," I responded weakly.

Stephanie smiled. "Like this terminal punishment?" She asked, while playing with my softened tool.

"Definitely, beyond imagination."

Stephanie blushed. "It's my first time."

"Me too."

Stephanie giggled. "You've got almost all of my first times. Just leave me the last one until I'm ready, okay?" she said, looking into my eyes.

"Sure. I'll leave you my last one as well."

Stephanie poked me and giggled.

"I've never slept with a guy before," Stephanie said.

"Me too. Can we?"

"You may get too excited," Stephanie said.

"I promise you."

"Okay," Stephanie said. She leaned over, panted a kiss on my lips, and snuggled against me.

The next morning when I opened my eyes I found Stephanie's head on my stretched arm. My arm underneath Stephanie's head was aching.. Her leg was hanged over my lap. I was already excited. I could smell the inebriating fragrance of Stephanie, which was a mixture of her feminine scent, her bathing cream and our sweat. I caressed her back with my free hand. It was all like a dream. A dream too sweet I wished I would never wake up. Stephanie woke up. She moved a bit and felt my excitement.

"Wow, I'm in danger now!" Stephanie said teasingly.

I laughed with a little embarrassment.

Stephanie moved a hand to my excited part and stroked.

"I'll get everything messy," I said.

"Who cares?" Stephanie giggled and continued stroking me. A while later I made a mess on the sheets, her hand, her body, and myself.

"Told you," I said while winding.

"Thought you might like cleaning up with me," Stephanie giggled.

"Yeah, I want."

"But I've heard it's a dangerous activity showering with a guy," Stephanie whispered.

"I'm safe now."

"You recover fast," Stephanie giggled.

"I promise."

We took the shower together. Stephanie was right. It was very dangerous. I got excited again in the shower. To ensure I would be safe, Stephanie stroked me until I made a mess on her body. The rest of the day's skiing activity seemed a bit too exhaustive for me. I actually had to take a nap before driving Stephanie and myself back home.

I kept talking with Stephanie on phone for the rest of the holiday. Before I returned to school I had a talk with my mom and admitted that I had a girlfriend. Mom seemed happy about my situation, as I had never dated before. Dad didn't say anything except telling me to be careful not to get my girlfriend pregnant.

Chapter 5 - Valentine's Day Present

The first thing I did when I returned to residence from home was to call Stephanie. Nobody answered the phone. I kept on calling every hour and before five o'clock Stephanie answered the phone. I ran over to her residence to meet her for dinner. I saw her in the lobby and we kissed for what seemed like a day before we went to dinner. Stephanie didn't invite me to her room, as Betty was there. We kissed good night and I returned back to my residence.

The next day I went to the cafeteria to meet Stephanie for lunch and saw two girls and a guy with her. She waved me over and introduced us. The cute brunette girl was Jane who was a sophomore majoring in Journalism. The pretty blonde was Tandula, a Biochemistry major sophomore who was in Stephanie's English class the previous semester. The fat black hair guy was an Engineering junior called John. I sat down next to Stephanie with my food.

"Jane is talking me into joining the student newspaper editorial team," Stephanie said. "She's Tandula's roommate."

"Well I think you should," I told Stephanie.

"Why?" Stephanie showed me her big green eyes.

"Because your writing is very good."

Stephanie chuckled, then said. "Come on. Jane is an expert here."

"Pete also said your essay was a great piece of work," I supplemented.

"Oh," Stephanie said.

"Which Pete?" Jane said.

"He's my roommate; he's six feet tall, black hair, brown eyes and a thousand times better looking than me," I rattled.

"Oh, I think I know him. Pete Fuersich, right?" Jane said.

"Yeah. You have class with him?"

"No, we come from same high school," Jane said. "He is good in many areas. He even stole the prettiest cheerleader from the quarterback." She giggled.

We all laughed.

"So you guys all on the editorial team?" I asked.

"Not me," Tandula said. She had a heavy accent.

"Not me," John said. I noticed he had been keeping his eyes on Tandula most of the time.

"Okay, Jane, I'll think about it," Stephanie said.

"So you and Juan go to same computer classes?" Tandula asked Stephanie.

"No, only Calculus and electives. He's far ahead in computer classes," Stephanie replied with a smile. "He tutors my computer courses."

"Tutor?" Tandula asked.

"You mean private tutor? Like the kind..." John asked, suggestively.

Stephanie blushed and glared at him. Jane giggled. Tandula tossed a napkin at him.

"He works at the tutoring center," Stephanie said.

"I never saw you there," Tandula said.

"You're also a tutor?" I asked.

"No, I went there for tutors. I need help in my English," Tandula said. "Jane and Stephanie had helped me a lot."

"Oh," I said and then turned to Stephanie, "I think you should consider taking up some tutoring hours there as well."

"You want to see me more, huh?" Stephanie said, smiling at me.

They laughed. I had to laugh as well or I would be too embarrassed. After a while they left. I didn't have anything to do since the tutoring center wouldn't be open for another two days.

"I think you should give both a try." I told Stephanie.

"I'm not sure if I can handle them, and I may not have that much time," Stephanie said. "I'm only in my first year and I don't have a certificate." She grinned at me.

"Well you aced your Composition II. That qualifies you to be an English tutor," I said. "And you can do as many or as few hours as fits you."

"Hmmm. Alright, I'll think about it," Stephanie said.

"Is John with Tandula?" I asked.

"Maybe in his dreams," Stephanie said and giggled. "Tandula has a boyfriend. Isn't she beautiful?"

"Yeah, not far behind you."

Stephanie blushed a bit. "Come on. I thought you're always honest with me," she said.

"I am."

Stephanie was trying to hide the smile on her face. "Tell the truth!" She demanded.

"What truth?"

"What you feel," Stephanie said.

"Truth is..."

"Is what?" Stephanie followed closely.

"Truth is... I love you."

Stephanie was caught off guard by my declaration. Her face was frozen for a second and then turned into a big smile across her entire face. She was beautiful. Nobody could beat her.

"I love you too, Juan," Stephanie said and smiled gleefully at me.

I felt my ear tweaked a bit. I knew I had a very big smile on my face.

"Don't move, don't touch," Stephanie said while looking at my face.

"What?" I asked.

Stephanie planted a quick kiss on my lips.

I had by now kissed Stephanie many times. However I still had that space travel feeling every time her lips touched me.

"Can I kiss you back?"

"No, not here, not now," Stephanie said.

"When and where?"

Stephanie poked my chest, giggling.

That evening Stephanie told me she would give a try on both the newspaper editorial and the tutoring. She couldn't spend too much time so she planned to take up only four hours a week in tutoring.

The next morning I took her to the tutoring center supervisor's office and waited outside while they talked. Stephanie got the job and went with me for the tutor meeting in the afternoon.

We spent most of our time together. We had meals together. We studied together. We went to three of our classes together. We spent weekends together. We spent Saturday nights in her room doing everything following her rules. Stephanie's bed was small and every Sunday morning at least half of her body was on top of mine. Making sure I wouldn't 'accidentally' break our last rule had become much more difficult.

I was walking Stephanie back to her residence in an early February Sunday when Stephanie talked about it.

"Juan, I think we've got to stop this Saturday night thing," Stephanie said slowly.

"Why?"

"Because it's becoming harder and harder," she said.

I knew what she meant. I had the same feeling but I didn't want to give up on what we had been doing.

"I can go back to my room to sleep."

"It's not just that, silly," Stephanie said, glancing me. "Every time I want more from you. It's the feeling that makes it hard."

"Me too," I said. "Okay, let's do the coffee shop from now on."

Stephanie was silent. She was thinking. She didn't say anything until we got to her lobby.

"Listen, Juan," Stephanie said. "We'll do it one last time this weekend. I have a solution." She then kissed me passionately and disappeared up the staircase. She wouldn't tell me what the solution would be despite me asking about it repeatedly during the week.

Friday evening I saw Pete in my room when I finished my dinner with Stephanie and her friends. He was rarely there during Friday evenings.

"How's the dinner?" Pete asked me from his bed. He always read in his bed. I guessed he just loved being in bed.

"Good. You're here early tonight," I said.

"Yep."

"Where's Macy?"

"We broke off," Pete said calmly.

"Oh, I'm sorry Pete."

"Don't worry," Pete said.

"When?"

"Today. She saw me kissing Kim," Pete said. Kim was Macy's roommate.

I knew I had to hold out but I couldn't. I laughed. Pete laughed too.

"So you've got Kim now?"

"No. That's nothing," Pete said.

"What's nothing?"

"The kiss."

"A friendly gesture?" I asked.

"Well, I don't know. I can't seem to refuse a girl when she wants to kiss me," Pete said. "But I'm not interested in Kim and they both know it."

"Well you can explain it to Macy."

"No. It's not just the kiss itself. I've seen her flirting with guys around. I don't mind her doing it," Pete said. "If she can flirt with guys what's wrong with me kissing girls. I wasn't going to have sex with Kim. I don't like Macy's attitude."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"I'm going to Dorothy's birthday party on Sunday. Maybe I will get to know some of her friends."

"Who's Dorothy?"

"Oh she is from my high school. She was on the cheerleader team," Pete said.

"Your high school cheerleader girlfriend?" I asked.

"No, not her, we're just friends," Pete smiled.

I laughed. "You do like cheerleaders, huh?" I asked.

"Sure. Their outfits get me horny," He had a lascivious smile on his face.

I laughed.

Pete seemed to remember something. "Hey, have you got the flowers?" He asked me.

"What flowers?"

Pete stared at me. "Don't you know that Sunday is Valentine's Day?" He asked.

"Shit! I'll go to the florist tomorrow," I said.

"They probably have nothing by then." Pete smiled. He got his wallet out and pulled out a small piece of folded paper. "Want mine?" He asked and handed it to me.

I took the paper. It was a florist receipt for a dozen of roses. "Cool! Wow! Forty-eight dollars!" I exclaimed.

Pete sighed. "Okay, bud. What about thirty bucks?" He offered.

I pulled out my wallet and gave him the money. I thought for a second and gave him another twenty dollars. "I can't take advantage of you. You are my friend and you've already helped me too much," I said.

Pete smiled at me while putting the money into his wallet. He pulled out his drawer and tossed me some rubbers. "Here's your change," He said.

I gave the rubbers back to him. "I don't need them."

"She's on pills?"

"No, no, no. We don't do that."

"Well it's Valentine's Day, anything can happen," He said and tossed the rubbers back to me and stopped me when I tried to give them back to him, "Just one thing. The florist clerk suggested me to pick up the flowers tomorrow instead of on Sunday as they probably will only have the lousiest ones left by then."

"Okay. I'll get them tomorrow," I said. "Thanks again, Pete."

"No problem, bud."

After our tennis class Saturday morning, I told Stephanie I needed to do something and would pick her up later that day for our movie.

I went to the florist and got the flowers. Pete was right. They didn't even had many left when I was there. On my way back I thought about when to give the flowers to Stephanie. I would be spending that night with her. I decided to give her my Valentine's Day flower a day in advance.

Stephanie wasn't expecting the flowers from me. I had never demonstrated to be a romantic guy. She had a very happy smile on her face when she saw it. She gave me a big kiss and dug into her closet for a vase. She couldn't find one so she used a bottle instead. We went to the movie and dinner. Then we return to her residence.

We kissed passionately for a long time when we were in her room. Then Stephanie replaced the bottle with a vase she just bought and turned to me.

"Have you ever undressed a girl before?" She asked, smiling shyly.

"Nope, you always did it yourself before I had a chance."

Stephanie giggled and poked me, then said. "Because you never offered to do it."

I stepped over to Stephanie and started pulling her sweater off her head. Stephanie wrapped her hands around my neck when her sweater was gone.

"Don't tell me you have no clue about this," she whispered in my ear.

I reached behind her. I knew how bra worked but I had problem unclipping them. It took me a long while to release her bra off her body while Stephanie was giggling. I kissed her while caressing her body, and then I went for her jeans. Tight jeans were good-looking on a girl's body but made a difficult job removing them. Panties were piece of cake, except when I had to stand up in my jeans. I kissed and fondled Stephanie after undressing her until she pushed on my chest.

"I've never done it before either," Stephanie said. "You were too fast in removing yours."

I laughed and stood there motionlessly for Stephanie to enjoy undressing me. She then stroked my excitement until I made a mess on her body. I returned the favor to her until she let out her sound of ecstasy. We cuddled in her bed afterward. I felt my excitement returned but Stephanie did nothing but caressing and kissing me.

"What time is it now?" Stephanie asked after a while.

I look at my watch. It was twenty minutes after midnight. I told her.

"Happy Valentine's Day," Stephanie said, and then kissed me.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Stephanie," I said after the kiss.

"I've got a present for you," Stephanie said and reached underneath her pillow. She put something in my hand.

It was a condom. I stared at her. Stephanie was blushing to her neck.

"It's my present to you and also the solution to our problem," Stephanie whispered.

"You... you want... to... to... to do... it... with... me?"

Stephanie was still blushing big time but she poked me. "What else do you need it for? " She whispered. "I'm ready. Just for you."

I had never been so excited in my life before, mentally, emotionally, or physically. "I... I... I may... may not... not be... be good," I muttered.

"Me either," Stephanie whispered. "You know how to use your present, right?"

I nodded. I then opened the package and put the condom on my extremely excited shaft. Stephanie spread her legs and I went atop her. Stephanie held my penis and guided it towards her pussy. I slowly pushed inside her tight tunnel.

"Slow! Ahhhhh!" Stephanie grasped my shoulder, closed her eyes, and showed a painful look on her face. I stopped.

"I'm sorry," I said when Stephanie opened her eyes.

"It's okay," Stephanie said, and smiled. "You can do it now."

"Are you sure?" I asked. She was extremely tight. The only thing I had so far put inside her private tunnel was my tongue.

"Yes, just do it gently," Stephanie whispered.

I nodded and continued pushing slowly. It was a very tough task as she was so tight I could hardly move inside her. I had to withdraw a bit and pushed again several times. But eventually our crotches met. I moved out slowly until only my tip was inside her and repeated the action. The feeling was beyond description in any language. Stephanie ran her fingers on my side and back. Our eyes locked at each other's while I was doing it. Stephanie started to moan after a while. I kept on doing it until I felt the pressure building up. I had been able to last a decent time when Stephanie used her mouth on me, at least after several sessions. However being inside her vagina was a totally different experience.

"I'm coming," I announced while trying my last effort to control myself.

Stephanie smiled and rubbed my ass. I exploded inside her. I breathed heavily. Stephanie wrapped around my neck and pulled me on her. I panted while she brushed my back and shoulder.

"Did you... Did you come?" I asked when my breath had come back.

"No," Stephanie whispered after a brief silence.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't worry," Stephanie whispered.

"I'll make up for it now."

"Don't. I want to hold you and feel you in me now."

"I insist."

"My room, my rule," Stephanie whispered.

"Give me a chance," I entreated.

"No. Do it in the morning," Stephanie whispered.

"Okay," I said and tried to move.

"Don't move!" Stephanie said, holding me tighter. "Where are you going?"

"I want you to go on top. I'm heavy," I said.

"Don't worry. Don't move or you'll come out of me," Stephanie held me closer to her.

I didn't know if I fell asleep on top of Stephanie. I woke up in the morning and found her half on top of me. Stephanie pulled out another tiny present from beneath her pillow. We did it again. I believed I performed a lot better and lasted a lot longer before I reached my climax.

"Did you have it this time?" I asked after we had recovered.

"Yes," Stephanie replied promptly.

"Really?"

"No," Stephanie muttered after a while.

"Give me a chance now."

Stephanie let me do it. I felt like I was in heaven when I saw her motions and heard her sounds of her extreme pleasure while I worked with my tongue.

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to make you ... you... you come... when I was doing it," I said afterwards.

"You will," Stephanie said, and smiled at me. "All girls I know didn't get it at first."

"I promise I will do everything I can," I looked at her eyes.

"I trust you. I know I will too, because I love you," Stephanie said, looking at my eyes.

"I love you too, Stephanie," I said, and leaned to kiss her hair. "When did you make up your mind?"

"Last Sunday," Stephanie said while drawing circles on my chest with her forefinger.

"I thought you said last night was going to be our last time."

"True. I waited till this morning, silly," Stephanie said.

"Oh!" That was all I could say.

"Isn't this a memorable Valentine's Day?" Stephanie smiled at me.

"Definitely, beats everything."

Stephanie giggled. "So what are you going to do with your woman now?"

"I'm going to take her home and show to my mom."

Stephanie giggled. "But I'm hungry. That's too far away."

"I think I still have a little left."

Stephanie poked me and giggled. "Don't ever say it again," she said, staring at me. "Unless we're alone."

I laughed. I offered to dress Stephanie and she agreed. We went to lunch and rambled in the campus afterward.

"I lost my bet to Josephine," Stephanie said with a shy smile. Josephine was the girl who hosted the Christmas party we went to.

"What bet?" I asked.

"She said I would lose my virginity before the spring break," Stephanie said, and then giggled.

"When did she tell you this?"

"At the party," Stephanie giggled again.

"You could have waited."

"I tried. But you've been killing me," Stephanie smiled at me.

That evening when I returned to my room from shower Pete had just returned from the party he went to. He had a peculiar look on his face when he saw me.

"You don't have to say anything, bud," Pete said, with a sly smile on his face. "You made it."

"Huh?"

"Your face tells everything, bud. I think my flowers were worth much more than what you had paid," He said, and laughed.

"So how's the party?" I switched topic.

Pete sighed. "Every girl except Jane has a boyfriend or a steady. she said she had met you once."

"Jane is also a cheerleader?"

"No, but she is a close friend of Deborah," Pete said.

"So nothing?"

"Nothing," Pete replied.

"Then why come back so late?"

"Well, I had a talk with Jane," Pete said.

"Oh, you're dating her now?"

"No, I don't think she's my type; and I don't think I'm her type," Pete said.

Chapter 6 - Pete's Problem

I suspected Pete's honesty when I saw him and Jane together at the cafeteria during lunch the next day. They occupied a small table at the far corner so Stephanie and I didn't go over. I sat down with Stephanie and told her what happened between Macy and Pete. Stephanie said she already got the clue as she had heard about a big fight between Macy and Kim.

"What would you do if you see me kissing another girl?" I asked.

Stephanie stared at me. "Are you indicating something?" She asked in an uneasy voice.

"No, no, no. Just asking."

"Will you?" Stephanie asked.

"No."

"What if some pretty girl wants to kiss you?" Stephanie asked.

"You haven't answered my question yet."

"Answer mine first," Stephanie demanded.

"Close your eyes for five seconds."

"Why?" Stephanie asked.

"Just do it." I said as I pulled out a pen.

Stephanie hesitated for a second. She then closed her eyes. "One... Two... Three... Four... Five..." I jotted down something on a napkin while she was counting. She reopened her eyes.

"Stephanie, I've got the answer here on the napkin. Now answer my question."

"Give it to me," Stephanie reached out her hand.

"No. One at a time."

Stephanie hesitated for another moment. "I'm kind of conservative. If I found you kissing another girl, my first love would be over," she said slowly.

I smiled and pushed the napkin towards Stephanie.

Stephanie had a little smile when she saw it. "What does it mean? 'Live U'?" She asked.

I leaned forward to see the napkin despite I knew I wrote 'Love U' on it. I was in a hurry and the words were kind of scrambled. "No, it's 'Love U'," I explained.

Stephanie smiled. "Carry this with you all the time and show it to any girl who wants to kiss you. Wait..." she said, and pulled out her pen and wrote her name above my jottings. "No ambiguity now."

"Do you need to carry one yourself?" I asked. "I think it's more likely that you get requests from guys wanting to kiss you."

"No way," Stephanie said, giggling. "I don't need one. You're the only silly guy who wants to kiss me."

I wrote something on another napkin and pushed it to Stephanie. "Read this out loud."

Stephanie had a little pink on her face. "No," she said with a smile.

I saw Betty and Morris showed up behind Stephanie. "Put it away," I whispered.

"What?" Stephanie said.

"I'm beautiful and I love Juan," Betty read that note from over Stephanie's shoulder. She giggled, and continued, "Gee, who wrote this?" I felt my ears burning.

Stephanie's face turned pink. She turned around to see Betty winking at her. Morris' hands were shaking as he laughed. He almost dropped his tray. Stephanie turned to stare at me and kicked my leg under the table.

"I guess we should leave you guys alone," Betty said while winking at Morris.

"No," Stephanie said. "Sit down."

"Okay. But you have to move your chair," Betty said.

"Why?" Stephanie asked.

"Because I don't want to sit between Juan and you," Betty said.

"You can," Stephanie said. "I'm not moving unless you want to sit next to Morris."

"Well, that too," Betty said. "I want to kiss him too. Will you follow?"

"I won't kiss Morris, not even in his dreams," Stephanie said. She glanced me though the corner of her eyes and giggled.

Betty almost dropped her tray laughing. I was laughing when Morris kicked my chair. I looked up and saw him winking and jiggling his chin. I moved to the chair next to Stephanie.

"Know what I saw this morning?" Betty said after she and Morris sat down.

"What?" Stephanie and I asked together.

"I saw Macy walking hand in hand with Mr. Flirt," Betty said.

Stephanie giggled.

"Who's Mr. Flirt?" I asked.

"You don't know him," Stephanie said, turning to me. "He's a big flirt."

I told Pete that night what I heard from Betty. Pete knew who Mr. Flirt was. His expression didn't seem he was concerned though. I continued to see him with Jane in the campus. In fact whenever I saw him in the campus he was with Jane. I couldn't hold myself back.

"Are you with Jane now?" I asked Pete when he came back on Friday night.

"I don't know," Pete responded.

"You don't know? Have you kissed her?"

"Yes, I have. But that's nothing," Pete said.

"Are you going out with her tomorrow?"

"Yeah, but that's nothing," Pete said.

"What will be something?"

Pete laughed. "For me, getting into her pants. But I have no intention of that."

"She's pretty."

"You think so?" Pete asked.

"Well she's not an actress material, but I think she's pretty."

"Who's prettier? Jane or Stephanie?" Pete asked slyly.

"Of course Stephanie, but she's mine."

Pete rolled in his bed laughing.

"Is she older than you?" I asked after Pete finished laughing.

"Yep, seven months, and a year ahead in school," Pete said.

"Is that a problem?"

Pete thought for a moment. "Never thought about it."

"It's nothing."

"What's nothing?" Pete asked.

"Seven months and a year ahead in school."

"I need to take a shower," Pete gathered his stuff and went out.

Sunday night when I came back to my residence I found Pete sitting in his chair starring at the wall. I knew something was wrong. I asked him what happened.

"I could be in trouble," Pete said slowly.

"What trouble?"

"I forgot the rubber," Pete said.

"With who?"

"Her," Pete said. I knew he meant Jane.

"I thought you said you wouldn't do it with her."

"Yeah. I guess I was out of my mind," Pete said.

"How could you forget your rubber? I thought you always carry one in your wallet."

"I did," Pete sighed.

"Huh?" I was confused.

"We did it twice," Pete said.

I rolled in my bed laughing hard. I rarely had the chance to laugh at Pete. I felt great.

"So what are you going to do?" I asked after my pleasure of laughing at Pete.

"I don't know. We've to wait and see," Pete said.

"What if she gets pregnant?"

"Damn it! Don't remind me okay?" Pete said annoyingly.

"Well, Pete, do you love her?"

"I don't know," Pete said.

"Well, Pete. Think it over, because it makes a heck of a difference," I suggested.

"Okay, I will," Pete said. His expression was still very miserable.

The following Saturday after our tennis class Stephanie showed me the latest issue of the student newspaper when we were in the cafeteria. She had posted a funny story about an ESL student struggling on his research paper writing. The editorial team seldom put stories in the newspaper but they saw it as both humorous and educational. She illustrated some commonly misused words like 'lie' and 'lay' in her story and demonstrated the writing process in a lively manner. I knew she got the idea from me as well as some ESL students she met in the tutoring center. In my opinion that story was more useful to me than the textbooks I had. I knew she had been writing but she never let me read it before she posted it.

"You should write more," I said after reading it. "It's great."

"Well, I don't have enough time," Stephanie said. "Unless you will leave me alone on the Saturdays," she said, winking.

"You can write while I sit next to you watching."

"How am I supposed to write with your hands all over me?" Stephanie said.

"I was doing it under your instructions."

I got a number of pokes in my chest. "Are you telling me you don't like doing it?" she said and made up a serious look.

"Of course I like doing it. In fact I love it. In fact I want to do it now."

Stephanie kicked my legs under the table.

"Kick me once more and I will pull your sweater off," I threatened her.

Stephanie kicked me several times under the table. She leaned forward to me. "I'm daring you now," she said, with a mischievous smile on her.

"I'll do it tonight," I said.

"What if I don't have sweater on tonight?" She smiled teasingly.

I scratched my head. "Well, I think I'll put one on for you."

"Betty's not there now," Stephanie said.

"Let's go."

"No," Stephanie shook her head.

"Why?"

"Because you are taking me to the football game now," Stephanie reminded me.

"I don't mind missing a football game."

"I lied. Betty's there," Stephanie said, and smiled naughtily.

I almost wanted to jump on her right there right then. "You're killing me," I said, breathing rapidly.

"This is my revenge. You've been killing me since we met," Stephanie said, smiling cheerfully.

"I didn't do anything to you."

"Yes you did. You made me fall in love with you," Stephanie said, and smiled with a little pink on her face.

"You've been causing high blood pressure on me since we met."

"Okay, I guess that even out again," Stephanie said. "Let's go to the game now."

"Which game?"

Stephanie poked me and said. "Football game, silly." Then she muttered under her breath. "I wonder if they've set the heat too high. I'm hot!" She had another teasing smile on her face.

"Okay. Let's talk a bit about computers first. I need a little time."

I didn't know which team won the football game. I didn't know which restaurant we went for our dinner. I was dragging Stephanie into her residence lobby when she stopped.

"Only talks tonight," Stephanie said. She had a little pink on her face.

"Why?"

"I'm having my period," Stephanie said softly.

"Oh, okay."

"I can do something for you," Stephanie whispered.

We went to Stephanie's room and she made a mess on me before we said anything. We kissed and snuggled against each other while we had our talk that night.

"We'll go to the movie next Saturday," Stephanie said. "You have to behave this time."

"I have been behaving."

"No, you've been nuzzling my ear and rubbing my lap all the time in our last movie," Stephanie complained.

"You put your head on my shoulder and grabbed my hand to put on your lap," I said.

"No, you wrapped me so tight I was forced to your shoulder, and you put your hand on my lap yourself," Stephanie said. "Admit it!"

"No."

"It's my room, my rule," Stephanie said. "Admit it!"

"Okay, I admit. Next time my room."

Stephanie giggled.

"Which movie?" I asked.

Stephanie named a movie. "I promised to write a movie review for the student newspaper," she explained.

"That's good. Have you agreed to increase your tutoring hours?" I knew that the tutoring center supervisor had been pressuring her into working more hours.

"She drove me nuts," Stephanie said, giggling. "I'm doing eight hours starting next week."

"You're a very good teacher. You made me understand my mistakes better than my high school teacher."

"Because your teacher wouldn't let you smell her," Stephanie giggled.

"Let me smell you all over now."

"No. You'll make me into a mess." Stephanie giggled.

The movie Stephanie took me to the next Saturday was a comedy again. She had to elaborate to me again. She also suggested that I read about the Hollywood and sports section in the newspapers to get to know the backgrounds behind those jokes. When we were in Stephanie's residence lobby she remembered something.

"I forgot it," Stephanie said with a pink face.

"Forgot what?"

Stephanie blushed. "I only had two presents underneath my pillow. You used them up that night."

I searched my pockets, nothing. I pulled out my wallet, nothing. "I'll get some from my room," I told Stephanie.

"You have them?" Stephanie asked with a surprise look.

"Pete gave me a few."

"When?" Stephanie asked.

"I bought the flowers from him. Those were the change he gave me."

"Oh, okay," Stephanie said, glancing at me, "Don't tell me you've used them before."

"Of course not. I thought you could tell."

Stephanie poked me in my stomach. "I'll wait in my room."

I didn't know I was an Olympic athletic. I believed I made the round trip in twenty seconds. I was out of breath when I knocked on Stephanie's door. She opened the door and took my breath away. Stephanie was wearing a black mid-thigh length scoop-neck sleeping tee.

Stephanie pulled me inside when she saw me staring at her motionlessly. She wrapped around me and leaned her soft body on me.

"What am I wearing?" Stephanie whispered into my ear.

"Sex... sexy tee... Perm... perfume," I said.

"And?" Stephanie whispered again. She pressed her body firmly on me.

I reached my hands to her back and ran my fingers up and down while I was breathing like a blower. Stephanie pushed me off a bit to kiss me while I was enjoying caressing her back.

"And?" Stephanie asked once again when our lips parted.

"No...thing."

"Are you sure that you want to put a sweater on me now?" Stephanie nuzzled my nose.

"No...o."

"What do you want to do now?" Stephanie asked in between licking my neck.

I didn't say anything. I lowered my hands to her butt and rubbed. I then pulled her tee up and stroked her naked ass. Stephanie started to breath heavier. I raised a hand to caress her bare back while nibbling her ear. Stephanie rubbed her front on me and hummed into my ear. She started to rib my jacket off my shoulder. Then Stephanie pushed me off her and undressed me. She was on her knees when my pants fell onto my feet and she started stroking my excitement. Stephanie did it for a little while and moved her head forward to take me into her mouth. I tried to think about computer stuff but it didn't help. I had no idea how long she had been doing it. I had to keep from shouting out when I shot into her mouth. Stephanie went over to her bed and pulled out some tissues to her mouth while I was pressing my hands on the wall taking my breath.

Stephanie stepped to me and said. "I've to go to the bathroom, unless you want to kiss me now."

I pulled Stephanie close to me to kiss her without hesitation. She tasted a bit weird with some of my remains in her mouth. I kissed her vigorously while pulling her tee up. We parted while I pulled her tee off her head and resumed the kiss. After the kiss I took Stephanie to her bed and licked all over her body. I enjoyed licking and sucking between her thighs while Stephanie twisted her body and moaned. Stephanie suddenly pulled my hair forcefully. I was wondering, as I knew she wasn't there yet.

"Get your rubber and do it now," Stephanie breathed hard. "I want to have it while you're inside me."

I went for my rubber and put it on. I moved over and crawled on top of her. I could see Stephanie flushed to her chest. She grabbed my shaft and raised her hip towards me while I pushed inside her tight tunnel. We both let out a sigh when our groins met. I started to repeat the joyful moves. After a while Stephanie grabbed my ass and raised her hip higher.

"Faster... oh... faster... oh... oh..." Stephanie moaned in heavy breaths.

I picked up my pace. The pleasure and sensation intensified. I started to make unrecognizable noises. I felt Stephanie tightened up her muscles. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back while arching her body. Her fingernails were grasping deep into my ass cheeks. She opened her mouth without a sound. It was so overwhelming I started moving at an unbelievable speed in and out. I heard a long wheeze from Stephanie. She opened her eyes with tears in them. I slowed down and bend down to kiss her tears off. Stephanie wrapped her arms around me.

"Go on, Juan, keep on... oh... oh... I love you Juan... give me more..." Stephanie breathed.

I resumed my frantic pace. Stephanie matched my pace perfectly. She kept on moaning and telling me she loved me. I joined in groaning and telling Stephanie I loved her. I bucked when I felt Stephanie arch again. I didn't know what happened to us next, except I believed I melted into Stephanie and had multiple trips to and from the heaven. I collapsed on Stephanie. We were both panting hard.

"My goodness," Stephanie whispered at my ear when our breaths started to slow down.

I licked her ear. "I've never felt so great before," I said softly.

"You've had it last time," Stephanie said and nibbled my ear.

"But it's totally different joining you in heaven," I said and kissed Stephanie passionately.

"I knew you could make it but I didn't know you could make... make me... me... come... so strong," Stephanie said after we parted.

"Me too. This experience is beyond imagination."

"God. I love you so much, Juan," Stephanie said. She had tears in her eyes again.

"I love you too, Stephanie. I love you very much," I said, and then kissed her tears off again.

We didn't go out on Sunday except for food. We cuddled all day in Stephanie's bed talking, touching and enjoying. We forgot about Betty. We were extremely embarrassed pulling the blanket over us when Betty came into the room. While we were dressing I could still hear Betty giggling outside. Stephanie had to promise to buy Betty a dinner so she wouldn't tell everyone about what she saw.

Chapter 7 - New Home

Pete told me that Jane didn't get pregnant. Pete even admitted to me that he actually felt for Jane and referred to her as his girlfriend. He told me he had many girlfriends in the past but never had such a feeling he was having with Jane. I suggested he should carry additional condoms in his wallet. In fact I knew I had to carry them in my wallet from now on.

I had been performing very well in my classes. I even got a good grade in my English class with helps from Stephanie. She did very well in all her courses, except her mandatory programming course. She got a 'B' in her first semester computer-programming course but she had more problems when the topics became more advanced. She got frustrated sometimes, as she had spent the most time on a course she still barely could manage. I was with Stephanie in the library one day when she slammed her book closed. I drug her to the cafeteria for refreshment.

"Have you thought about switching majors?" I asked.

"Dad will kill me," Stephanie said.

"It's your life, not your dad's life. Honestly, do you like computer science?"

Stephanie dropped her head for a while. She shook her head. "It's stupid," she muttered. "But I got to meet you because I'm taking these stupid courses.

I laughed. Stephanie gazed at me. I moved my chair closer to her so she could poke me.

"Stephanie, I majored in computer science not because I am good at it. I love it. I started learning programming when I was ten. I had a lot of problems but I wouldn't let my dad help me. I enjoyed drilling into it. I won't care how the market is tomorrow, I'll still love computers," I said.

Stephanie listened without a gesture.

I continued, "Stephanie, Nobody knows how the computer market will be in ten or twenty years. Nobody knew it would be so prosperous twenty years ago. You're not happy because you're forcing yourself into something you don't like and it won't guarantee a success for you."

"I know," Stephanie said.

"Have you ever discussed this with your parents or the counselors?"

"No," Stephanie said, shaking her head.

"Why don't you talk to the counselors?"

Stephanie didn't say anything.

"Let's go make an appointment now," I suggested.

"No, let me think about it," Stephanie said.

The next day, Stephanie made an appointment to see the counselor to find out what her choices could be as well as the career opportunities if she switched to English. She talked to her dad and cried at me the next day saying her dad would cut off financial support if she switched.

"You're on full scholarship," I reminded her.

"But not for room and board and others," Stephanie said.

"You can get a college loan."

"It's too late. I'm already in," Stephanie said.

"Never too late. Let's go find out. Even if you can't get any, I will get a part-time job to support you."

Stephanie smiled at me, and then she kissed me. But after that she said. "Dad will kill me."

"No he won't. And even if he's mad now, he will understand it later."

We found out that Stephanie could get some loans from the government and also from financial institutions. Stephanie said she would talk with her parents during the spring break.

I didn't go home for spring break. Instead I stayed with Phil in town to take up a temporary project at the software developer he worked for part-time. They paid me three times what the tutoring center did. I agreed to work for them full time during summer and part-time when my school resumed in autumn, instead of tutoring. I made that decision both for interest and for financial consideration. I needed more pocket money to cover my dating expenses and also in case Stephanie needed to support herself. I called up dad telling him I would be away from home in the summer and he supported my idea, as having a relevant job now would substantiate my resume a lot.

Stephanie didn't talk with me about her discussion with her parents until she came back to the campus. We met in a restaurant after my last day of work on the day before school resumed.

"I'm on myself now," Stephanie told me when we were sat.

"I'm sorry," I said, and went over to hug her.

"It's okay. I still love them and I am still their daughter. Dad just won't support my financial needs anymore," Stephanie said calmly. It seemed she had carefully thought through the problem before and after the talk.

"So you're going for English literature, right?" I asked.

Stephanie nodded.

"Do you enjoy teaching in the tutoring center?" I asked.

"Yeah, I like it. I'm thinking of going for Education after my Bachelor Degree," Stephanie said. "If I can afford it."

"I'll put you through."

Stephanie had a huge smile on her face. "Know what?" she said with a sly smile.

"What?"

"You don't need rubbers from now on," she said softly and smiled shyly.

"When did you start?"

"After you told me about Pete and Jane," Stephanie said. "We could forget it as well." She giggled.

"Let's go now. This is new for us."

Stephanie kicked me under the table. "Betty's there," she said.

I wished I had a car. But instead I had to wait for another long week till Saturday. We didn't bother about movie or dinner. We bought some food and went to Stephanie's room for a romantic day and night.

A week later Stephanie showed me a section of the local newspaper. She had written a letter to the Editor challenging the views of the writer of a book review she saw. She read that book about contemporary American literature development during her winter break at home. She got a reply from the Editor and the writer encouraging her to submit more of her views.

Early in May I saw Pete with an awful look when he returned to our room.

"What happened?" I asked Pete.

"I'm quitting college."

I was astonished. "Why?" I said.

"Jane's pregnant."

I was surprised. "I thought you carried two rubbers in your wallet since that accident," I said.

"No, I don't carry them anymore. She keeps the stock in her room. I forgot to replenish."

"So what are you two going to do?" I asked with concern.

"Jane will have to quit for the baby. I can't support her with a part-time job. I'll have to quit college."

"What about an abortion?" I asked.

"She won't. Whether I want it or not she'll keep the baby. I can't leave her alone. I love her."

"May be you can work something out. Like Stephanie, she's on herself now," I said and briefly told Pete about Stephanie's story.

"We ran through all options. I had talked with my folks. They're not going to support me for the dumb mistake I made, neither are Jane's parents," Pete said miserably.

I suddenly got an idea. "What if we share an apartment? Will your grants, loans and part-time job be able to support your part?" I suggested.

"I'm not sure, but we can find out. Are you sure you want to do this?" Pete asked.

"Well I have to see how Stephanie thinks. I'm not sure if this is too much for her."

When Pete went for his shower I called Stephanie. She was very hesitated. "Dad will kill me," Stephanie said. "If he knows I live with a guy."

"You're not living with a guy. You're living with two guys and a girl."

"That's even worse!" Stephanie said, and she laughed.

"What if your dad was not a concern? Would you?"

Stephanie responded after a brief silence, "I have no problem living with you. I know how I feel for you. I love you."

"I love you too."

"Ask me again when you have the details worked out," Stephanie said and then giggled.

Jane found an unfurnished two-bedroom apartment that wasn't too small for four people. The rental was far less than that of our residences combined; of course meals would be another thing. Pete and I went to the Salvation Army store to buy some used furniture. Jane and Pete moved into that apartment after final exam while Stephanie and I would move in after we returned from our home trips. I borrowed some money from my dad and bought the ten-year-old car from Phil, who had graduated and was leaving town to take up his first permanent job.

I took Stephanie home to meet my parents and went over to meet Stephanie's parents. My parents liked Stephanie and had no objection to my living arrangement. Stephanie's parents however didn't hide their dislike from me. The dinner with them was a torture for Stephanie and me. Fortunately they didn't invite me to stay for the night. I stayed at a cheap motel while Stephanie stayed home that night.

The next morning I drove Stephanie and her luggage back to the campus and cleared our residence rooms. We went to our apartment and moved our stuff into our new home. Both Jane and Pete weren't there as they had already started full time summer jobs. Jane worked in the library of the local newspapers while Pete worked for an accounting firm. Stephanie toured her new home like a little girl.

"Wow, this is a dinning table? It looks more like a carpenter's working bench," Stephanie commented the table laughingly.

"Wow, this couch sways!" Stephanie said, whiling laughing after sitting in it. "Where's the TV?" She asked.

"We don't have a TV. If we need entertainment Jane and Pete will perform for us, visa versa."

Stephanie chased me to poke me. She followed me into our bedroom. We would be using the smaller bedroom, as Pete's family would be bigger in a few months' time.

"I thought we bought a bed!" Stephanie said, staring at me when she saw the mattress on the floor without a box springs.

"I did, but the box springs fell apart during transportation."

Stephanie laughed. She carefully sat on the mattress, and then rolled on it. "Okay, at least half of the springs are working," She giggled.

I sat beside her. "Well we are going to experience the indigent side of American life for a few years."

"I know, Juan. I was just teasing you," Stephanie said, smiling at me. "You know I won't mind as long as you are with me."

I lay beside Stephanie and sniffed her.

Stephanie giggled. "What am I wearing?" She asked.

"Shampoo, nothing else."

"Shampoo is right, but I still have my clothes on, silly," Stephanie giggled.

"Not for long," I said as I ran my hands over her.

"What if I don't agree?" Stephanie whispered after licking my ear.

"I bought this mattress, my rule," I said as I slipped my hand inside her tee top.

"No, I contributed ten dollars. My rule!" Stephanie said and pressed her lips on me to stop me from arguing.

"Which rule do we use now?" I asked when we were both stark naked.

"The rule that ensures I'll be happy," Stephanie responded while stroking me.

"That's easy. You always scream before I do," I said when I started invading my girlfriend.

"Not this time. You'll have to worker harder... Oh... more..." Stephanie responded and started to moan while wrapping her legs around me.

"Are... you... you... hap... happy... now?" I was breathing hard after the noisy, loud, sensational, loving, romantic, and exhaustive exercises.

"More... more... more..." Stephanie huffed and puffed.

I rolled Stephanie on top of me. "You... on... on top... I... am... ex...haus... ted," I panted.

Stephanie fell on me. "No... way..." She winded.

"Juan?" Stephanie muttered after we had recovered.

"What?"

"We can't do it on this mattress. It screeches too loud. They'll hear us." Stephanie said.

"I'll show you something in a while."

"What?" Stephanie asked.

"Let's get dressed first. They'll probably be home soon."

After we got dressed I took Stephanie to Pete's bedroom and told her to lie in their bed. They did have a spring box for their bed.

"Oh my God! We'll hear each other." Stephanie laughed when the mattress screeched beneath her.

We dined out with Pete and Jane to celebrate our new home. We went to the restaurant where we went on our first date. It was also the place Jane and Pete went on their first date.

"You guys were lousy in choosing furniture. The mattresses screech and..." Stephanie commented Pete and me during the dinner.

"Goodness! Stephanie! You guys did it in our bed?" Jane said with a sly smile at Stephanie.

"No! No," Stephanie's face turned red and poked Jane.

"Yeah, we don't even have stereo. I guess we can hear you and Juan instead," Pete smiled lewdly at us.

I felt legs kicking under the table while I was laughing. I saw Jane poking Pete.

"I've got an idea," Pete said after the chaos. He pulled out a coin from his pocket. "Head or tail?" Pete said switching between my face and Stephanie's face while Jane was giggling.

"For what?" Stephanie asked. "The check?"

"Nope, to determine which pair will be performing in the living room," Pete said salaciously.

Stephanie's face was as red as an apple. "No. Either you or Juan, I'll watch with Jane," she said.

Jane bent her waist laughing.

Pete put his coin back. "Why don't we all do it together?" He suggested.

"In your dreams," both Stephanie and Jane said, and attacked Pete.

I was extremely excited when Stephanie and I were in our room. Pete and Jane slammed their door faster than we did. Stephanie was trying to stick her ear on the wall to spy on the activities in their room when I drug her into bed.

Stephanie pushed me off after our long kiss. "Why don't I hear any screeching sound next room?" She whispered.

"I don't think they're in the bed. I think they're on the carpet." I said, while unbuttoning Stephanie's jeans.

"You should have told me that," Stephanie said, and struggled towards the carpet while I was pulling her jeans off her.

I started my summer job the next day. Stephanie got a part-time job and went for her summer courses to catch up with her new curriculum. We had to put up with the near unbearable meals cooked by all four of us, but it was fun to laugh at each other's lack of talent in cooking. After the summer I continued working for the software developer part-time with a substantial pay rise. Stephanie took up as much tutoring hours as she was allowed. Pete continued to work for the accounting firm and switched his major to Accounting. Jane could make another semester before her expected delivery so she continued with her study at school and work at the newspapers.

Jane didn't quit college after her baby was born. She became a full time mom and went to college in the evening when Stephanie or the two guys could take care of her baby. Stephanie liked Jane's baby so much she was constantly teased by Pete and Jane that I didn't work hard enough to get Stephanie pregnant.

The four of us went to a nice restaurant on the next Valentine's Day. Jane left her baby with a babysitter. We had a bottle of wine. We hadn't had any alcohol for some months. Pete had been saving every penny he could for what Jane would need.

Pete and I had been arguing since the dinner started. I told him my Stephanie was prettier and he insisted his Jane was more beautiful. The girls were giggling with sweet smiles on their faces. Then we stopped our debate and turned to our girlfriends.

"Would you marry me?" Pete and I asked together.

The girls' giggles froze. They were stunned. Then they asked together. "Who's asking me?"

"I'm asking you," Pete and I replied together. We all laughed.

When we recovered, Jane glanced at Pete and asked. "Who was asking me?"

Pete raised his ring. "Who else would marry you?" He smiled at Jane.

Jane made up an angry look. "Maybe I should go outside and ask those guys," she said as she began to rose from her chair while peeking Pete.

Pete got on one knee in front of Jane. I never saw a happier smile on Jane's face. Everyone in the restaurant was watching.

"That's romantic!" Stephanie sighed while peeking at me through the corner of her eyes.

I felt extremely embarrassed. Pete's action wasn't in our script. He betrayed me. I slowly got on one knee in front of Stephanie and raised my ring.

"Can I say no?" Stephanie asked in a low voice. She was smiling from ear to ear.

"No, my ring, my rule."

The restaurant was in chaos when Pete and I put the rings on our fiancées' fingers. We got a bottle of complementary sparkling wine from the restaurant. We finished our meal fast and left.

"Where're you going?" Stephanie asked while I was glancing in the mirror of my car for the performance Pete and Jane was putting up in the rear seat. I wasn't driving home.

I put a finger on my mouth and pointed my thumb at the back seat. Stephanie turned around and giggled. Pete poked me in my head while Jane poked Stephanie in her arm. I pulled into a motel I had reserved two rooms. I paid for both rooms as Pete had spent his last penny on his engagement ring.

I kissed my fiancée in our room for like a decade. "Do you like this Valentine's Day present?" I whispered in her ears after the kiss.

Stephanie nibbled my ear. "Yes, but I want more," She breathed.

I sniffed her while rubbing her back. "Me too," I breathed.

"What am I wearing?" Stephanie asked while stroking my back.

"Perfume, skirt, bra, and nothing." I whispered while pulling her skirt up.

"You forget my panties," Stephanie reminded me while rubbing her body against me.

"You don't have panties on," I said as I slipped her panties down.

We made passionate love in the bed. It was the first time we had sex in a bed for more than six months. We loved it so much we did it again. We did it again and again. I broke all my records.

Epilogue

Pete and Jane got married the day after Pete's graduation. I was Pete's best man and Stephanie was Jane's maid of honor. Pete stayed with the accounting firm he had been working for three years to work on his CPA license and Jane continued to work on her degree. They moved to their own two-bedroom apartment. Stephanie and I moved to a one bedroom apartment and started experiencing romance everywhere in our tiny world.

Both Stephanie and I got scholarships to go to graduate schools. I finished my Master Degree and worked for a prominent software company while putting Stephanie through her PhD. We got married a few months after I graduated. We moved to a house twenty minutes from Pete's house. Jane joined the local TV news team after she got her degree. We were still the closest friends and we see each other every week. Stephanie started her college teaching career as a lecturer in English Literature after she got her doctorate degree.

Stephanie's parents were no longer mad at me. I found out both Stephanie's parents were high school dropouts and they worked their life up the hard way. They wished their daughter could get into a more rewarding career. At least their daughter didn't disappoint them, although in another career than the one they expected.

Stephanie hung up the phone. She had been talking with Jane for almost an hour while I was once again giving advice in the newsgroup I had been participating for over 8 years.

"Jane said my story was too perfect," Stephanie sat on my lap blocking my view to my computer.

"Why?" I asked and ran my fingers on her body instead of the keyboard.

"She says two virgins becoming a couple and staying together for forty years with four children is far too perfect to be realistic and also unconvincing in today's world," Stephanie said, wrapping her arms around my neck.

"We haven't been married for forty years and we don't have kids yet," I said. Stephanie was writing a novel that she promised a publisher. I knew her novel was based on our love story. She even used my real name in the story.

"I thought that was what you wanted," Stephanie said, smiling at me.

"Well, I want more than forty years and I think we want eight kids."

Stephanie poked me. "Eight Kids are too much for me," she said.

"Then why do you always say 'more more' at least eight times when we're in the bed?"

I got at least five hundred pokes in five seconds. "You sleep on the couch tonight," Stephanie said.

"This is the third couch we have in two years. You sure you want it again?"

Another seven hundred pokes in seven seconds. "Sleep... No, you stand all night," Stephanie said.

"You're too heavy for me to carry you and stand up all night long."

Eight hundred pokes in eight seconds. "What about in this chair now," Stephanie whispered, winking at me.

"I'm working on my computer."

"You're not working on your computer, silly. You're unclipping my bra." Stephanie said, wiggling in my lap.

- End -

Written by Bingain
June, 2002
Last updated: 05/25/2005
Edited by jhasty658

Comments & Feedback

If you have any comment, any feedback, or want to let me know how you feel about this story,  I appreciate you spending a little time telling me.