I Really Fell

"It's a date."

We had a good time with my parents, but at one point my dad said, "She seems a bit overpowering. You sure you can handle something like that?"

"I'm going to give it my best shot."

Once in the car after leaving the dance, Babs said, "I wouldn't mind a reenactment of last night if you are up for it."

"Silly girl; you know I'm up for you. You have had it up all night, rubbing your leg against it during every dance."

"Whatever works is my moto."

Then she switched topics on me. "I enjoyed talking to your mom. She seemed really interested in my Interior Design major."

"I think she feels like she missed out on a lot. She had to drop out of college when she got pregnant with me, and she never got to go back."

"I don't think your dad likes me all that much. I still think he wants to jump my bones, but I got the feeling that he would just as soon see me gone from your life."

"Just your imagination. He seems to think I've bitten off more than I can chew being with you. I think he has doubts that I'm up for the task."

She reached over, rubbed the erection in my pants and said, "You think I should call him and let him know you are definitely up for it?"

I think I gave a good account of myself and when I got her back to the dorm, I told her I'd see her in school on Monday, got another scorcher of a kiss and drove home feeling like I was on the top of the world.

*****

Babs and I did get together at lunch a couple of times during the week, and Wednesday after school we were able to get together for burgers and fries and dessert was served in room 19 at the Red Roof Inn.

Friday night it was dinner and a movie and another visit to the Red Roof Inn. So far, at least, my father's fears appeared to be groundless. I was handling things just fine.

When I picked Babs up for our Saturday night dance date, she surprised me. Levis (well filled I might add), brush popper shirt, cowboy boots, a belt with a buckle the size of a saucer and a cowboy hat. I felt totally out of place next to her. Generic jeans from Walmart, plain belt buckle, flannel shirt, wingtips with leather soles and no hat.

I laughed and said, "I bet you are going to show me up on the dance floor, too."

"You have better brung your best game with you tonight, bubba; if they play it I know it."

And she did. I knew three or four line dances, but she knew them all. I could do a decent twostep and I could handle the ladies over and under turns, but there were a couple of other twists and turns she wanted to do that I didn't even know existed. I was okay with the waltz, and even though I could do the Cowboy Cha-cha as a line dance, I just couldn't seem to be able to translate it into the couple's version.

My ineptness and her competence were not lost to those in attendance, and it wasn't long before other guys came over to our table and started asking me if I minded if they asked her for a dance. I could see she wanted to be out there on the floor, so I always said yes even though I really wanted to say no. I even said yes to Ronnie Holbrook, and I hated his guts.

My mom said, "You need to look into lessons, Bobby. You are going to have to up your game if you continue to bring her to country western night."

You know things are bad when your own mother dumps on you. I did spend enough time out on the floor with Babs that the night wasn't a total bummer.

Red Roof was a different story. On the way to the motel, Babs said, "I know it wasn't easy for you, baby, but I owe you big for what you did for me tonight and I intend to pay that debt when we get to the motel room."

And pay it she did. She got a five time best out of me that night, I was too exhausted to get out of bed to take her to her dorm and we fell asleep together for the first time.

I woke up with a hot mouth on my cock. I saw daylight streaming through the window and I looked at my watch. I needed to be at work in forty minutes. No one will ever have any idea of how hard it is to push away the woman who is giving you head.

She wasn't happy she wasn't going to get a 'wake up' but I told her it couldn't be helped, that I had to get to work because my father depended on me to be there to run things while he was gone, so I needed to get her back to her dorm.

"Unless you are pissed off enough to say no, we can pick up where we left off tonight."

She didn't respond, just hurriedly got dressed. She was silent in the car on the way to the dorm and something told me to keep my mouth shut unless she started talking, which she didn't. When I got her to her dorm, I said the first words to be spoken during the ride.

"Tonight?" I asked as she started to get out of the car.

She said nothing until she was out of the car and then just before she closed the door she said, "Call me," and then she closed the door and went into her dorm.

I had a lousy day at work. I was upset that Babs was upset with me. Luckily, I only worked half a day on Saturdays. Dad didn't say anything to me, but mom made up for it when I got home.

"And just where have you been young man?"

"At work."

"Don't get cute with me. You know what I'm asking."

I did and I lied. The lie wasn't because I cared about her being upset about me not coming home, but because I didn't want her to know I was sleeping with Babs.

"After I dropped Babs at her dorm, I went to a party. At the party they had a non-alcoholic punch and that is what I drank. Somewhere along the line someone spiked it. It made me woozy and I didn't want to drive in that condition, so Chuck, the party was at his place, let me sack out there."

She gave me a long look and I could see she was trying to make up her mind as to whether or not I was telling the truth.

The she asked, "Why didn't you take Babs go to the party with you?"

"I had to have her back to the dorm early. Some dorm requirement or other. Like a curfew or something."

"So why didn't you call and let me know what was going on so I wouldn't worry?"

"And wake you up at one in the morning? Why would I do that? If I didn't need to work today, I would have been home before you even got up so why call?"

"Robert (when she called me that I knew she was really pissed), as long as you are living under my roo'"

I interrupted her with, "Don't go there. You really don't want to go there."

She gave me a hard look and then turned and headed into the kitchen.

A year before, I told my parents I was going to get an apartment and mom spent every waking hour for the next two weeks trying to talk me out of it. I could have afforded it. My paternal grandparents set up a trust fund for me the day I was born. My maternal grandparents found out about it and they matched it. It wasn't huge, just over seventy thousand, and I didn't come into it until I was twenty-five, but I could draw on it for educational expenses.

I found out that educational expenses covered an apartment if it was no more than a mile away from school. There were seven apartment complexes within that range, and I wanted to move into one. Even though I let mom talk me out of it, the option was still there and she knew it.

I took a shower and then called Babs. When she answered I asked if we were on for that evening.

"Why would you ask that?"

"You were a little cool toward me when I dropped you off this morning."

"Can you blame me? I'm not use to a guy pushing me away when I want to make love."

"It killed me to do it, but I had to go to work."

"I know, but it still pissed me off. What are we going to do tonight?"

"Movie, burger and fries, and then pick up where we left off."

"How about we pass on the movie and food and just get right to reenacting last night?"

"If you insist."

*****

Time went by and Babs and I stayed hot and heavy with each other. She got along fine with my parents and she had dinner with us at least once a week. When Thanksgiving arrived, Babe decided it would be foolish to spend the money to fly back to Michigan for only four days and then have to hurry back to school. I asked my parents if she could have Thanksgiving dinner with us and they said yes.

Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas dinner were a family affair. Uncle Jim, Aunt Elise, Uncle Bill and Aunt Marge, cousin's Rachel, Janice and Megan were all there. I introduced Babs to all of them and then we all socialized until dinner was ready. It was an enjoyable time, but when the company was getting ready to leave, Janice pulled me aside to talk to talk to me.

Janice and I were close. Very close. We had grown up together and as young kids we told everybody that we were getting married when we were old enough. That died when my mom and Aunt Elise sat us down and explained incest to us. But we stayed close and she was my best friend.

She asked, "Are you serious about this girl?"

"Yes. I'll probably ask her to marry me. Why?"

"I get a bad vibe from her; a feeling she isn't what she seems. Be careful, Bobby; I don't want to see you get hurt."

Did I pay any attention to her? Of course not. She got a bad vibe, had a feeling. But she didn't know Babs and had spent less than three hours around her. I figured that anybody I got serious about would give her the same vibe or bad feeling. She couldn't have me, so she wasn't about to like anyone who could.

When the holiday break came, Babs went back to Michigan. She told me not to worry if she didn't call me every day. She'd be busy visiting all my relatives and mom and dad will be keeping her pretty busy. She did call about two or three times a week, and she always told me she missed me and couldn't wait to get back to me.

New Year's Eve was on a Friday, and at four-thirty she called me and told me she couldn't be with me so I could kiss her at midnight, but she would make up for it as soon as she got back. She gave me her flight number and time of arrival and asked me to pick her up at the airport and plan on going straight to a motel.

I had a surprise for her. My mom had finally relented and told me to go ahead and get a place of my own. I had found an apartment that was only a quarter of a mile from campus. My parents' Christmas present to me was the furniture I needed.

I received a kiss that curled my toes when I picked Babs up at the airport.

"Get me to a bed, baby. We have some serious catching up to do."

The talk on the way to the apartment was all about what we did over the break.

We had gone by three motels before Babs asked, "What are you doing? I said we needed a bed and quick and you are driving by all of them."

"That's because we don't need a motel. While you were gone, I moved into an apartment."

Once in the apartment she had to christen every room. I'd gotten a two-bedroom unit so I could use one of them as a place to set up a desk, my computer, printer and modem, so I had to do her on the desk, the kitchen table (it was a kitchen-dining room combo), the living room couch and then in the bathroom leaning against the wall in the shower.

I took her to dinner and over dessert I asked her to move in with me. She had been smiling up to that point, but when I asked her that the smile disappeared.

"Promise me you won't get upset with me?"

"No. From the way you put it you are pretty sure that I am going to be upset, so just go ahead and lay it on me."

"I'm not ready to take that big of a step yet."

"I thought we had something good going."

"We do, baby; we do. Moving in with you would be too much like marriage and I'm nowhere near ready for something like that. I want to be free to come and go as I please and not have to answer to someone and that's what I think moving in with you would feel like. What we have is working great, baby. Please don't take this wrong. I'm not interested in or looking for someone else; I'm just not ready."

Knowing that anything I said would be wrong I decided to keep what I had instead of pushing for what I wanted.

When we got back to the apartment, she said it was time to break in the bed and she headed for the bedroom, shedding clothes as she went. She'd already gotten three out of me before we went out to dinner. She got one more out of me before we fell asleep together.

*****

Things between us were great until February. I remember the day. It was February the sixth. When I picked her up at her dorm, she told me she needed to pick up the things she had at the apartment.

When I asked her why, she said, "I've dropped out of school and I'm going back to Michigan."

"Why?"

"I'm pregnant."

"Why the hell are you leaving? I'll step up. I've been shopping for a ring and was going to ask you to marry me anyway, but I was going to hold off until I graduated and started working full time."

"It isn't yours."

"What are you saying? I don't understand."

"The baby is my husband's. I slipped up and left my IUD here when I went home for the holidays, so we used condoms and one of them must have broken."

"Your husband?"

"Yes, baby; I'm afraid that you were just a friend with benefits."

"Did your husband know about us?"

"He did. We are both highly sexed so we have an arrangement. We both can play as long as we are careful and don't let thigs get serious."

"Why are you here and he is there?"

"He won a scholarship to Wayne State and I won a scholarship here. We decided that our best bet for our future was to accept the scholarships and tough it out for the four years. We would have spring break, the summer break, Christmas break and make the most of it."

"So you had no feelings for me at all?"

"Don't be silly, baby; I like you. I like you a lot and if I wasn't head over heels in love with Charlie, you would probably have been able to steal me away from him."

"I want a DNA test."

"Not going to happen, baby."

"Why not? It could be mine."

"And if by some chance it is? I'm not going to leave Charlie and move here. Would you be willing to move to Michigan where I wouldn't have anything to do with you anyway? Would you be willing to fly or drive back to visit the child every couple of weeks or so? No, baby; we are both better off not knowing."

I didn't like it, but she was right. If she wouldn't leave her husband, I would be better off not knowing.

As she gathered her things, I was looking out the window at the newly fallen snow. She came up behind me, wrapped her arms around me and said, "Take me to the bedroom so we can say goodbye properly."

I'd like to be able to say I'd said no, but I can't. She was just too damned good in bed and I doubted I would ever find another like her. And it might be a while before I'd ever get laid again.

When I got her back to her dorm, I received one hell of kiss and then she was out of my car, into the dorm and out of my life.

*****

I spent most of spring break in a funk. I buried myself in my job and that helped some. If I kept myself busy, I didn't have time to think about her, but I couldn't work twenty-four seven and as soon as I was out the door at the end of the day, she came flooding back into my mind.

First day back in school I was sitting in the school cafeteria when Pauline sat down on the chair opposite me.

"How have you been, Bobby?"

"So-so. You?"

"About the same. I heard that Barbara quit school and moved back home. True?"

"Afraid so."

"Is it too soon to ask if you are looking for a replacement?"

I'm not dumb and I knew what she was asking, but I had a question of my own.

"How's your dating of other guys going?"

"I've learned a lot. I learned that dating them cost me the best thing I had. Please, Bobby; let me come back."

"Sorry, Pauline, but you know my stance when it comes to you dating others."

"I'm done with that, Bobby. I had what I needed all along; I just didn't realize it."

"You need to understand one thing before we can try to put what we had back together, and that is if you pull that dating others shit on me again, we are done forever. Not going to be a third chance."

"I've done my looking, Bobby, and it was a huge waste of my time. Please, Bobby; please give me a chance."

We did have something good going for us before it went off the rails and if we could put it back together, I'd be all for it. But I was going to have to keep a close eye on Paulie. She was acting a little meeker than the Paulie I knew from before. It was almost like she was crawling back to me, and that is not the Paulie I used to know. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it just did not feel right. We made a date to have dinner and go dancing on Friday, and then headed off to class.

At work that afternoon, my dad asked me if I was going to the VFW with him and my mom on Saturday and I told him I'd have to see if Pauline wanted to go.

"Pauline? You two are back together?"

"Going to give it a try. Don't know if we are going to make it, but we are going to try."

"Your mother will be happy to hear that. She was really disappointed when you two broke up."

"Just make sure you tell her not to go into wedding planning mode, because it isn't a sure thing."

"You sound like you have doubts?"

"I do. All we can do is wait and see how it shakes out."

Our date went off okay and I did enjoy myself. I received a nice kiss when I took her home, although she did seem disappointed that I didn't take her to my place and pick up where we left off when she told me of her plans to date others.

Pauline and I had not been strangers to a bed. We had been going at it hot and heavy ever since our eighteenth birthdays, and as I said earlier, our moms had been in wedding plan mode. I really don't know why I didn't take her to my place. Lord knows I was horny as hell and hadn't been laid since Babs bailed out on me, and Babs had me used to getting it three or four nights a week. So going without for over a month had me hurting.

As I drove home, I was wondering if maybe I thought I was punishing her for what she did, but then I realized that didn't make sense. Punishing me to punish her? By the time I got back to my place I'd decided that my next date with Pauline was going to end in my bed. If she was willing, of course.

I called her Saturday morning and asked if she had plans for the evening and when she said no, I asked her if she would like to go to the VFW with me and my parents and she said yes.

She was looking sexy as all get out when I picked her up. We made small talk on the way to the VFW hall and when wet met my parents there, mom gave her a huge hug and told her how happy she was to see her. We spent a lot of time on the dance floor and had a great time.

As we pulled out of the VFW lot, Pauline asked, "What's your apartment like?"

"Would you like to see it," I asked, and was not at all surprised when she said yes. The sound of the door closing behind us had barely faded before her dress hit the floor.

She kicked off her high heels and said, "Bedroom! Now!"

I didn't argue, I just led the way. As I undressed, she said, "Hurry! We have a lot of time to make up for."

And she tried. God knows she tried. Missionary, doggie, cowgirl, sixty-nines and lots of oral on me to try and get me back up. Pauline got a personal best out of me that night: six times and she was trying hard for seven when I fell asleep on her. I was so fucked out that I didn't even think of saying no when she told me she could be moved in in time to make dinner. She was and she did.

*****

It was a new experience for me. Babs had spent a lot of time in the place, but she had never lived there. Outside of living with my parents, I had never actually lived with anyone else. It took some getting used to.

It was nice going to bed in the evening and waking up every morning with someone on a regular basis. Pauline seemed to think she had to make up for the time we were apart, and there were some mornings when it was all I could do to drag myself out of bed.