A work of fiction from start to finish with characters that live only in my mind. Long, 39 standard pages, slow and without a lot of action. Faults can certainly be found, so if that is a major problem for you, stop reading now. Comments, positive or negative, are welcome, but try to be constructive: if you think about it, would you read a comment to the end if it was obviously written by someone who only wants to provoke and anger you?
Halin
*****
Admitting that I don't like Football is cause for some to shake their heads in disbelief, but I have to tell you that is the case with me. I will say though, that I
do
appreciate the entertainment around the game: the crowd, the noice, the happening, the cheer . . .leaders. Yes, I find the cheerleaders more entertaining than the actual game, and why shouldn't I: young beautiful women lightly dressed, dancing and smiling and shaking their . . . pom-pom's. For me it is an interesting phenomenon though, that any woman would ever agree to do what they do, but I guess that is 'the American way', and that I'm getting old. I was 'over there' as a guest-student when this started and it was many years ago so I suppose no one will mind if I tell you about it now.
I got the chance through a foundation: a complete education in exchange for two years doing foreign aid with no pay other than food and livingquarters. Since I was leaning towards foreign aid anyway I took the opportunity and arrived in . . ., let's call it X-town and leave it at that, shall we?
I arrived in X-town in early August, jetlagged, tired, hungry and nervous. I took a cab from the airport to the university and its administrative building where I was assigned a room on campus in what they called a 'dorm': small single or double rooms that shared showers, kitchen and some other spaces with other students in other rooms. I took the key and my two bags and followed the directions I had gotten to find my new home.
I turned at the wrong place somewhere along the way, had to ask for help and got it from a girl who followed me there (thank you, whoever you were! A bit late now, but I still mean it) and I could finally sit down on my bed in my single room. I had all expenses payed for, including all meals in a certain 'dininghall' on campus, and despite the fact that I was dead tired I was in even greater need of something to eat. Luckily it was dinnertime by then so I left to eat as soon as I had caught my breath, and when I returned to my room I went to bed at once.
I had decided on an engineering major with a few art courses added since my hobbies were, and have remained, charcoal drawing and watercolours. I had no serious intentions with the art, it was just for fun and relaxation, but I hoped to meet people with the same interests through the courses if nothing else.
The time before the semester began was spent getting to know the town and the campus, always with a sketchpad and a coal in hand if I should see something interesting, and that I did. I filled sheet after sheet with sketches and ended up buying big-packs of paper and coals to not run out of them.
A lot of my sketches were group-pictures from campus, people sitting or laying on the lawns or benches, others were portraits of single persons. I found a favourite place after a few days: the cheerleader practice when they were out on the field at the stadium. This was before terrorism and things, and in reality it was just a question of asking a janitor nicely if I could go inside to do some sketches, show some samples, and I was inside. It wasn't long, of course, before the girls noticed and asked what I was up to, but I did the same thing there: asked nicely, showed samples and smiled. It even led to that I had to show them what I had done during the day, and little by little I got to know them better.
One girl in particular caught my eye, Karen. A sweet-looking girl with ravenblack hair, slim tanned body with a nice chest although not remarkable in any way. She looked fit, you might say. Their outfits were quite revealing with sneakers, tiny tight shorts with a broad belt, longsleeved unbuttoned blouses tied together under the bust and a tiny open vest, but she was special even without the outfit. No, that came out wrong, I didn't mean when naked but even if one ignored what she was wearing.
Anyway, she wasn't the bustiest of the girls or the tallest or with the best body, but she shone like the sun when she performed, even without anyone watching. She had 'it', although it was hard to define what 'it' was. After a week watching them I felt confident enough to make a caricature of her, not evil really, but still exagerating what I saw. When I showed them the days work it brought out laughter among them all, Karen included, and I signed it and gave it to her.
"Oh, thank you Anders, it's wonderful!" she said and hugged me, pressing her boobs against my chest.
Guess what? I had to do caricatures of them all after that and got a boob-crushing hug from each one.
I got closer to them, and when the season started they arranged for me to get tickets to the games. Like I said in the beginning I didn't enjoy the game in itself that much, but the atmosphere was electrifying. I also got to see the girls perform and that was much better, and I got a lot to sketch aside from them too.
It was sometime in October I think (it was a long time ago and my diary from back then is blotched with ink, so I'm not entirely sure) when they arranged a charity lottery: pay five bucks for a share and get the chance to have a date with one of the girls (paying for it yourself naturally . . .). I bought a share since it
was
for charity and without a thought about being one of the winners, but I was and the girl I got to date was Karen, my favourite!
On their next practice I waved her over before they started and showed her the ticket and she actually jumped up and down:
"Yes!" she yelled, surprising me "Girls, I got Anders as my date!" she then screamed to the others.
"Some girls get all the luck." was the reply from one of them "Get over here now so we can begin. You can talk about that later."
I was perplexed about the reaction, thinking that it would be met with disappointment rather. I mean, even if I had money to spend I wasn't exactly rich enough to take her to an expensive restaurant and an exclusive show, so why the cheering?
I got an explanation after the practice when we met outside their locker-room.
"Karen, why were you so happy when I showed you my ticket? Wouldn't you prefer to date an oil-tycoon rather than me?"
"That was the whole point really: I
don't
prefer that! I'd rather date a guy that I know somewhat than an asshole that will try to get me in bed from the first moment. We did the same thing last year and I was wined and dined by an older guy with hands all over me most of the evening. In the end I had to tell him that my boyfriend was the jealous type, 6 foot 4 and 230 pounds of muscles. You are also cute and my age, and I think you will behave, so I win on every point with you."
"Except when it comes to the quality of the wine and dine then."
"I don't care about that. You can buy me a burger and a coke and I'll be happy with it. Hell, I can even buy
you
that if need be!"
I had to laugh: talk about desperate!
"It's not that bad Karen. I won't take you to a five star restaurant, but it
will
be a restaurant at least,
and
something else. How about saturday at six? I'll pick you up and we'll take a cab. A nice dress but nothing fancy."
"Okay, I'm in."
She told me where she lived, another dorm room a hundred yards from mine, and we said goodbye.
When she opened the door to her room I felt cheap compared to how she looked. She wore a tight kneelong dress with bare back down to the waist and a deepcut front that showed a nice cleavage. High heels complemented it well and so did the hair that was flowing down over her bare shoulders. I
did
wear a suit and shirt, but not all that elegant. She added a short jacket before we left and I took her to the waiting cab.
We dined in an italian restaurant that I had been recommended and it was good, almost as good as the conversation and the view in front of me. After that I had a surprise: Fleetwood Mac was in town by a coincidence and I had managed to get tickets to the concert.
It was well worth the money, not least since I was a fan (and still are), and after the show we took a walk back to campus to calm down and enjoy the cool night air. A shiver announced that it was getting
too
cool after a while despite her jacket, and although she protested I draped my jacket too over her shoulders, slipping an arm around her waist to hold her close.
We were still revved up after the energetic performance from the band so I suggested that we could go to my room to talk for a while. She hesitated a moment but agreed, and we ended up halflaying on my bed talking about the concert, other concerts we had been to, favourite bands and so on. Our voices got softer and our talk slower and before we knew it we fell asleep.
I woke up with something tickling my nose. When I tried to remove what caused it I couldn't move my arm, something lay on it. Opening my eyes to see what it was I found Karen's head on my shoulder only inches from my face and her shoulder on my arm. It was her hair that tickled me. Her right arm lay across my chest and her hand held my left hand. With no hand free right then I had to blow the irritation away not to sneeze.
Apart from that I must say that I liked having her there like that. We were fully dressed, but from my position I had a good chance to view her cleavage, the dress slightly out of position and showing even more of her breasts than earlier. Having seen the bare back I knew she had no bra on and it was very apparent there and then.
I tried to keep still not to wake her up but it was hard. My arm that she lay on had no circulation and was numb. Trying to move it slightly to change that had no effect and my other arm was, as I said, held firmly in place by her hand. Finally I couldn't stand it anymore and made an effort to turn over against her to change position, and although it was a limited success she woke up from it.
Eyelids clipping at the sudden light, faint from the bedside lamp we had on the evening before and from the window, she seemed confused as to where she was and why I was there. She smacked her lips a couple of times before she spoke in a weak, still sleepy voice:
"What happened? Why are we laying together?"
"The obvious answer is that we both fell asleep on our date. Sorry that I woke you up but your hair tickled my nose and I can't move my arms."
"You can't?"
She was still no more than half awake and not totally aware.
"No, you are laying on one of my arms and holding the other in your hand."