My College Years Part 17 By Corbin How life tests the endurance, patience, and sometimes faith of one young Woman (Who? Why me of course!). ********** When we were young the future was so bright The old neighborhood was so alive And every kid on the whole damn street Was gonna make it big and not be beat Now the neighborhood's cracked and torn The kids are grown up but their lives are worn How can one little street Swallow so many lives What the hell is going on The cruelest dream, reality -The Offspring ********** Some of you may be wondering; "Corbin, why do/did you keep taking the verbal abuse from Mora?" Sometimes I wonder that myself, well I was not the only one, but most definitely the worst of the lot. For a while that's all it was and the more I went about my daily routine, the more she barraged me with taunts so my lack of a response only seemed to infuriate her more. I think it would be fair to categorize Mora as becoming obsessed with needling me. However, I had a great ability to 'tune out' things around me so she soon became background noise, 'Turn the other cheek' I guess you could call my philosophy, so I did and so I tried, but I guess people can only be pushed so far. Looking back on things, I have come to realize that it was mostly the girls who tried to backstab me repeatedly, more so in College. Yes, men wanted to date me and true they did not always go about conveying their sexual drive in the most discrete/respectable manner possible, but they rarely, maliciously, tried to manipulate me the way other girls did. Maybe it is the women I should be 'tough/harsh' towards? Strange huh, I was such a wimp towards girls but found it easy to be so abrupt and hostile towards the guys, but all of that changed, I am a slow learner but once I come around, look out. I wish someone more Socially astute then I were writing this, Sharon is the master but all I can tell you is that girl's in general like drama, High School in particular, but as you get older it's a hassle. Personally speaking I've always found it to be a hassle. Petty little trickery like three- way calling that girls use to trap each other and other bullshit, lord, the list is a long one. ********** "Corbin please, all I'm trying to do is talk, I don't want you to leave. I think we or I..." he rephrased his comment 'we' comment when I raised my eyebrows, "...can work it out, so just please stay." He smiled, "Okay?" "Okay but look," I shook my head in dismay, "let's not talk about this again, all right? Let's just allow things to stay as they are and time will take care of everything else." I stopped on my side of the bed waiting for his answer. "That's fine, I wasn't trying to stir things up, but I understand it's silly to let what a bunch of people say change anything." He sighed and pulled the white cotton sheets back. "So," I let out a sly smile as I climbed into the bed, "What *are* people saying about us or me?" "I thought you didn't care about all that stuff." He rolled over towards me with a look of shock and a smile. "Doesn't mean I don't like a good bit of gossip now and again." I punched the pillow a few times to fluff it up and rested my head back down. "Well," he smiled and reached over with his right hand, gently stroking my bicep, down to my forearms, "That we're sleeping together." "Well we are." I smiled. "You know what I mean." Dale cocked an eyebrow at me. "No, spell it out for me." I looked over with an evil grin on my face, enjoying watching him squirm a little. "That you and are having sex! You know, making love!" He leaned over and kissed my arm. "And what else?" I said. "That allot of people have never seen me act this way over anyone, so I must be totally whipped." He chuckled a little and that made me smile. "How many girls have you slept with Dale?" My face suddenly seemed to grow a little serious. "Oh boy." He groaned and rolled over onto his back. "What?" I turned onto my right side, propping up on my right elbow, "That many huh?" "No, but, It's no big dea." "How many?" I flicked my fingers at him as to prod him along. "Six." Quickly the word came from his mouth, but that was a lie it was actually more. "Wow" I said, and he detected a certain amount of seriousness in my expression and tone. "What? What is it?" He leaned in a more then a little concerned. "Well, I don't know, seems like allot." I mumbled and shrugged, plucking at the bed sheet. "Compared to whom?" Dale asked, a little put off by my apparent judgment. "Well..." I stretched out my long legs, shifting them uncomfortably on the bedspread. "Well what? How can you judge me when you won't open up and tell me?" Dale sat up in bed, starting to exert a little aggressiveness in the discussion. "Well, compared to me, that's a hell of allot!" I said with a nervous smile which quickly faded. "What? three?...two?..." Dale shrugged and smiled, looking for some type of response. "One?" He leaned in, "Come on, tell me." he prodded. "None!" I snapped and bolted upright to a sitting position, in full defensive mode now and wasn't' sure why I was so suddenly irritated. "What?" He mumbled in surprise. "Did you just ask me 'What', Are you deaf?" I looked over to my right with a cocked, agitated eyebrow. "I don't..." He bit his tongue, getting ready to say that he 'didn't believe it', but realized that would be unwise. "Why are you so angry?" Dale sat up and gently touched my right forearm, running his fingers along the tiny blonde hair fibers, feeling his way along until he felt the knuckles of my hand and paused. "Wow, got a few cuts there, been getting in fights?" He smiled and looked up to my face. He was relieved when a faint smile came over my mouth. "No, it's just from the turf and practice" I said quietly, "I don't like fighting." "Six girlfriends? And they all put out?" I suddenly turned my head to look right at him. "No, only maybe four girlfriends." He sighed. "So who were the other two? One night stands!" I leaned away with a new tone of concern and condemnation. "Come on Corbin, that's in the past, since we've started dating I haven't even thought about anyone else, let alone touched another girl." "In the past? But we've been fooling around!" I spat. "Just kissing! That's all we've done!" Dale jumped in. "JUST! Just kissing?!" I pulled away and now stood up. "Oh god." He moaned and fell back onto the bed sounding and looking exhausted. "God only knows what foul junk those girls had, and you were exchanging spit and had sex with them!" I raised both my hands with disgust. "Oh I'm sorry, we can't ALL be as pure and perfect as you." he said rolling his eyes, but that was a mistake. "Wait! Were are you going?" as he watched me walk around the bed and grab my sandals and quickly slip them on. "When you start taking all of this seriously, then maybe we'll talk." I snatched my keys off his nightstand and grabbed my gym bag as he fumbled to get his jeans on. "Corbin, come on, please look!" he stood up, but I was moving too quick and turning the corner into the hallway, "FUCK! Will you stop!" "Dale look," I stopped with my hand on the front door, "You're right, me coming over here probably isn't the best thing at least staying the night and stuff, I don't know." "Please just stay okay, no more pressure, no more hassles, okay, you're right." "I just want to get to my bed and get some sleep, we'll talk tomorrow okay?" I looked up at him. "Look, you asked! You started that whole conversation in there and then turned it all around on me!" Dale defensively stated, his face a bit flustered with a slight hint of red as the first signs of anger came thru. "I realize that I brought the whole thing up, it just all caught me off guard, it's not that I'm blaming you for anything Dale." I sighed and came a little down to earth, "But like you said, being as pure and perfect as I am sometimes means I act this way!" I suddenly snapped, recalling his comment and pulled the door open. "Whatever, fine, fine I can't believe your acting like such a high and mighty brat!" He snapped with impatience and irritation while taking a step back, hands firmly planted on hips as I slammed the door shut. "ASS!" I yelled back as I stormed down the stairs to my car, covering two steps at a time. "Stupid, stupid, stupid." I grumbled to myself, "You should never have stayed over there, damn it." I got in my car and headed back to campus. "Maybe I am selfish brat." I wondered as I drove home. I locked my door and barely noticed the barren bed across the room that Sharon once slept in, enough time had slipped by that it no longer really bothered my. Kicking off my sandals I snapped my cell phone into it's cradle to recharge and noticed a flashing message icon on the display, 'Probably Dale' I thought but my eyelids were getting heavy and I pulled the sheets up over my body as sleep came a little easier for me then probably my boyfriend down the street. An odd smile formed on my lips as it just occurred to my that I had just had my first fight with Dale, and wasn't sure why I found some comfort in that. I saw many friends fighting with their girlfriends and boyfriends and on some level it made me feel 'normal?' I blinked a few times and looked at my clock, "DAMN!" and sat upright, '8:00am', "That's what you fucking get for staying up so late!" I staggered to the bathroom and splashed cold water on my face. With my head buried down in the sink as I pulled my hair into a pony tail and began washing my face a sudden knock at the door brought another flow of cursing as I swiped a towel to blot my face dry, "What the hell, shit, 8:00 in the morning." I walked to the dorm room door, decked out in my running attire. "Who is it?" I put my ear to the door. "It's Dale" I rolled my eyes and sighed, I lethargically unlocked the deadbolt and opened the door, "Dale, we can talk about this..." but I was smacked in the face with a wonderful aroma emanating from a gorgeous bouquet of roses and other flowers. His sheepish grin and bloodshot eyes told me he had not slept well and must have gotten up very early. "Oh, oh wow." My eyes just stayed transfixed on the wild array of flowers, some I had never seen before and my heart began to pound furiously in my chest. "Sorry about not taking things more seriously last night and," Dale grinned a little more, "for calling you a 'brat". "Come on in." I stepped back and waved him thru I wasn't at all prepared for the way I was physically and emotionally reacting to this act. Maybe it was this masculine football player showing such a soft vulnerable side, fawning all over my with gifts and affection, all directed at me and no one else. I watched him gently set them down on my desk and I walked up to his left side, I reached around and stroked his strong back with my right hand. Dale smiled at the touch, it felt good and reassuring that his efforts were the right choice. I stood staring at the flowers as my left hand came up and gently touched one of the velvety smooth red tips. The racing of my heart had not slowed and suddenly I was amazed that when I went to speak my emotions got the best of me. "What's wrong?" He was suddenly asking, but I was just standing there, my face buried into the palm of my hands sobbing, "Baby what's wrong?" Dale asked in a more panicked tone. I felt him pull me in close and I let my head rest on his shoulder, maybe a little embarrassed but deeply emotional, "I don't know why, they're beautiful, no one's ever done anything like this for me before." and I actually felt myself cry some more into his shirt. "Oh baby." He sighed and pulled my in close. "I'm so tired." I sighed as I quickly collected myself and for a flickering moment I felt like some part of me had washed away and someone different had been allowed to slip out, someone more affectionate, caring, vulnerable as I stood feeling safe and warm within the confines of Dales' strong embrace. "I know you just want to be careful, but I've never felt like this for anyone before Corbin." Dale said quietly, "Don't freak out because I know it's only been a couple of months." He loosened his grip as he felt me push on his chest. "I've really fallen for you too Dale." I smiled and buried my face into his neck, a little embarrassed and surprised that I found it hard to admit that. But my subconscious had one final comment before it backed off and let the more emotional, feminine I take over; "But let me tell you..." I brought my right hand up and balled it into a fist, "...if you break my heart I will flatten you." and gently nudged my fist under his strong chin. Dale smiled with a blush, "If I'm stupid enough to do that, then I'll have it more then coming." And for the first time that I could remember, I felt the cautious, skeptical, tomboy side of myself slip back into the shadows as a whole other side took over. "Come here." I purred and cradled his face with both hands as he tilted his head down and I planted a sensual, lingering kiss on his lips while he wrapped his arms. Oh course it didn't take long before we were engaged in a very deep and heated kiss. The moment still had an emotional tenderness to it that I was enjoying as his fingers moved gracefully and gently cupped each of my ass cheeks. He was rewarded to hear me moan into his mouth, never had I been so responsive to his physical advances as my own hands having moved around and aggressively gripped his butt thru his jeans. "I have..." I spoke in-between kisses, "...to go, I'm so sorry Dale." I sighed, "But we can get together later if you want to call me." I finally pulled my head back. "I'll talk to you later." He smiled and pressed his hips against mine and I could really felt it, he had a full blown erection going on and he was pushing it right into my crotch, it felt good. My face flushed, hell my whole body was feeling flushed at how I was opening up and admitting that I actually could enjoy some of his advances. Daringly I pushed my own crotch back and was a little shocked that I wanted to feel the pressure against my own, it felt good, evident in how turned on I was getting. Spontaneously he tilted his head down and kissed me on the lips again, I instantly returned the kiss as we touched and rubbed our lips sensually for a few seconds before parting. "Okay, well, I'll let you go." Dale sighed. "You can wait here, I have to finish getting ready in the bathroom and I'll walk you back down to your car." I smiled before turning to walk into the bathroom. I had only been in the bathroom a few minutes, so I was pretty shocked to see Sharon standing in the room talking with Dale. "Wow it's busy this morning." I nervously laughed. "I just came by to see if you wanted to get some breakfast." Sharon looked at me. "After I go for a run we can if you like." I forced a smile, it was amazing that her timing was so bad lately. "Damn, I only have..." Sharon frowned and looked around, "...maybe some other time?" she said. "Sure, that's fine." I nodded, "Let's all walk down together, I have to get a move on, gotta do that exercise thing." and I jokingly ran in place, eliciting a short chuckle from Sharon and Dale.My_College_Years_Part_17