Flames Ch01

This is a completely fictional story and any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental.

So, I'm resubmitting this story because I made a mistake in my first submission where I put a bit of part two into the file that I uploaded. I've removed that part and fixed a few minor errors I made in the story. Also, I've scrapped the original second part and am rewriting it completely since most of the surprise is pretty much already ruined.

I appreciated all the comments I received on the first submission, and I apologize sincerely for the mistake I made. I'll definitely try and make up for it in the new part 2. For any first-time readers of Flames, I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

*

Oh Calculus, how it bored me to death. I sat three rows from the back, with my laptop out and paying as much attention to the professor as Charlie Brown would. I did catch something about triple integrals, but it made no sense to me. Some Youtube video was playing on my laptop in front of me, and I was really paying no attention to that either. What I was looking at, though, was the reflection on the screen. Thanks to assigned seating, there was always this one girl sitting behind me and a little to the right, so I could see her through the reflection on my screen. I didn't know anything about her, I didn't even know her name, but that didn't stop me from glancing at her. I guess it was kind of creepy that I carried on looking at her, but I'm pretty sure any guy in my position would have.

She wasn't the most beautiful girl on the planet, but there was something about her that I could not get out of my mind. Maybe it was her half smile whenever the professor cracked a lame joke, maybe it was how when she glanced at my screen, I instinctively looked away for fear that she had seen me. There were a billion maybes going through my head and that was enough to blind me to the fact that class had ended and people were shuffling out. Someone pushed my chair by mistake and I snapped out of my mental DDOS attack. I quickly shut my laptop and packed it into my bag and left. My next class was an hour away and it was in the same building, so I decided to stay in the building and continue my Youtube viewing. I sat down on a bench in the main hall and got my laptop out again. Earphones.. My earphones were missing. I must have left them in the lecture hall. I was about to stand up when the earphones mysteriously floated in front of my face.

"They look expensive, and I was a little tempted to steal them," said a voice behind me. I turned around to catch the eyes of the beauty that sat behind me in class. The red hair, the green eyes, and that enigmatic half-smile took my speech away. "But, you seem like the kind of guy that really enjoys his music, so losing these would kill a part of you."

"Uhm.. Yeah, it definitely be painful to lose those. Thanks for not stealing those from me," I replied, trying not to stare into her eyes too much.

"Erin. My name's Erin. You're the guy that never pays attention in class. How do you manage to keep your grades up?"

"I don't. I think I have a high C when I probably should be making an A. Oh, and my name is Sean." She flashed me the smile again.

"Well, you might wanna stop watching those Youtube videos. They distract me a little too by the way."

"I wish I could help it. The boring-ness of calc combined with the boring-ness of Sir Monotone is enough to make me suicidal."

"I hear that. Well, I've got to rush to a class, but.." I cut her off, feeling unnaturally brave, or just extremely stupid.

"Would you like to grab a cup of coffee sometime today? I owe you something for getting those back to me."

She stood silent for a second and my heart sank. I was about to get rejected.. Again. "I can't.." Of course, the inevitable struck. "..today."My emotions instantly reversed. I had never been so overjoyed to hear such a mundane word, but she still had a lot of room to reject me. "I could try meet you tomorrow since I only have two classes. Is that okay?"

"Yes, yes it is. I have no classes tomorrow so I'll be free all day. You can call me whenever you want." She pulled out her phone and looked up at me. "Oh, yeah, the number. 728-266-2455."

She typed it in and saved it to her contacts. "Alright, I shall let you know when I'm free. Oh, and take these before I walk away with them." I just realized that I hadn't taken my earphones from her. I opened my palm and she dropped them in, then she smiled, turned, and walked away. The sweet smell of her perfume and shampoo lingered for a bit then died either into familiarity or into dilution.

I sat back down and plugged my earphones in. I opened up my music player and played some lossless concertos. Even the beautiful deep sound of the cello wasn't enough to fend off the swarm of maybes that once again raided my mind. The biggest maybe was whether or not she would call me the next day.

I woke up late the next day to the vibration of my phone. I groggily checked it and saw that I got a text from an unknown number. It was Erin, and she wanted to meet up in an hour. The maybes temporarily flew out the window while I jumped out of bed and beelined for the shower. After making sure I was squeaky clean and smelling good, I put on my daily attire in an attempt to look as natural as possible. I put on some cologne, grabbed my wallet and phone and drove to campus. I texted her back on my way to campus, asked her where she would like to meet up. She replied as soon as I had parked and told me to meet her at the biggest cafe on campus.

She arrived at a few minutes after me. We walked together into the cafe and placed our orders. I, of course, paid for the coffee. She went to a table and sat down while I waited for our drinks. Once they were done, I took them to her and sat opposite her.

I couldn't help but notice how stunning she looked. Her red hair framed her semi-pale face in fire and her emerald green eyes seemed to pierce into my soul in the most welcomed of ways. Her look was further intensified by dark makeup around her eyes which made her seem somewhat sad. All of that darkness was betrayed, though, by her slim lips which were almost constantly smiling.

"Thanks for the coffee Sean, I really needed it. This week has been terribly rough because of a project I had to do."

"What project was it?" I asked.

"A programming project. Like a lot of girls, I'm somewhat computer illiterate so I'm basically teaching myself the basics of computing while trying to learn how to program. I would ask for help, but my TAs and teacher are completely useless, and all my classmates are complete nerds."

"Yeah, I hated programming, but I finished all the required programming courses for my major last semester, so I'm done. I guess that makes me a 'complete nerd,'" I said jokingly.

We sat there and chatted for a good hour. Turns out she was in the same major as me, but she was a sophomore and I was a junior. I was slightly behind on math, and she was, as she said, "somewhat good," at math so she was ahead of her grade in terms of math classes. She loved computers as much as I did, but never really explored them until she got into college. I had been building and repairing computers since freshman year in high school. Because of our opposite strengths and weaknesses in our classes, and after she established that I was not a complete nerd, we agreed on helping each other through our courses.

I loved chatting to her. I'd only really known her for one day, but I already started noticing the little things that she did that made her irresistibly cute. She cocked her head slightly whenever I was talking and seemed to always give me that mysterious half smile. What drove me insane though was when she really smiled. I was talking about my dog and she absolutely LOVED dogs. Anyway, I was telling her a cute story about my pup, and when I got to the cutest part of it, her smile just beamed. And, it wasn't just her mouth that was smiling, her entire face did. Her eyes squinted and her slightly blushed cheeks rose. It was the kind of smile that could cure cancer, and boy did it. It cured the cancer that was my insecurity at that time. I felt like she genuinely liked being around me and that she wasn't leading me on.

Another thing that caught my eye was when I was telling her about one of my dogs that died not too long ago. I guess she sensed that the dog was really close to me and she bit the side of her bottom lip and looked me straight in the eye. When I finished telling her about my beloved dog, she put her hand on mine just for a second and said, "I'm so sorry. I know how that is, and it feels terrible." Usually words don't do anything to stop me from feeling sad, hell, even physical contact affected my emotions, but Erin had this profound effect on me. Her personality was so warm and caring, and it radiated around her. When she touched me, I felt that warmth, not just physical, but emotional.

She pulled out her phone and said, "Wow, we've been here for an hour. I swear it felt like a lot less. Unfortunately, I have to go to my next class, but I'll see you tomorrow in calculus. Thanks for the coffee and I think we definitely have to do this again some time." We both stood up and she pulled her signature half grin. "Bye," she said, then hugged me and left.

I sat back down in the chair for a minute contemplating what just happened. The first thing that went through my mind is that she wasn't single. Girls were only this friendly if they were taken or if they were actually single and looking. It was just very more likely that she was taken. But, if she was single, then did she really enjoy being around me? Of course she didn't "like" me just yet, but was there the prospect? Was there a chance that she was thinking that I was a guy she wanted to date? I got up and walked out of the cafe and drove back to my apartment. My mind was too active so I played my favorite playlist, put the volume as loud as my ears could stand and absentmindedly did some homework. I turned the volume down after I got an angry neighbor knocking at my door. Then, I carried on doing homework until I felt tired enough to pass out on the couch. I woke up at 3AM randomly, like I usually do and saw that Erin sent me a "goodnight" text at around 11PM, long after I fell asleep. It was too late to reply, so I just went back into my bedroom and contemplated the enigmatic behavior that all girls seemed to be genetically predisposed to perpetuate.

At 8:30 the next morning, I woke up to my annoying cellphone alarm. Like any good college student, I put it to snooze about 5 times before I finally got up and went to the shower. I was feeling unnaturally horny that morning. I'm pretty sure I dreamt of having sex with Erin because I remember seeing her face without her signature grin. Rather, it had the look of a woman consumed with passion. In my memory, I heard her moan, her face jumping up and down from the force of my thrusts, but I never saw her body. My own dreams teased me. It was like my brain knew that I would never get to see her body without clothing so it would rather give me something that would drive my libido insane.

I masturbated vigorously in the shower, trying to get rid of any distracting sexual tension I had. Throughout the session, the only thing I could think of was her face, twisted by the throes of ecstasy, beautified by the harsh passion of the moment. What threw me over the edge, though, was the moans that my brain made up for her. They sounded real, as though she were right next to me on the verge of a cripplingly powerful orgasm. When I was done with the shower, I was completely clean, but only partially satisfied.

I went to my first class which was microprocessor design, My attention was hardly on the professor as he babbled on about switches and the new "high efficiency" gates. The only thing going through my mind was Erin. I would get to see her after my microprocessor class, but I was impatient. 5 minutes before the end of class, I packed all my stuff and practically ran out of class toward the math building. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Erin was just outside the computer engineering building when I exploded out.

While thoroughly embarrassed, I tried to think of something to explain my hastiness. "What's the time?" I asked with feigned urgency.

"11:15," she answered, seemingly unfazed by my unusual behavior.

"Oh, thank goodness. I fell asleep in my last class and I thought that I was late for calculus."

"I'm surprised you're so anxious about missing it, usually you don't give a sh-"

"I wouldn't miss it for the world," I said sarcastically while interrupting her..

She smiled, immediately making me feel weak with her charm. "Well, we have 15 minutes before class starts. Would you like one of my granola bars?" she asked.

I quickly agreed and we sat down on a bench just outside the math building. She handed me a bar and pulled one out for herself. While we chatted, she periodically sipped on a cup of coffee she brought with her. I watched her pick it up, and the entire time I did so, the only thing that went through my head was if I would ever get to hold her hand. She was attacking me with beauty and charm, and there was no way I could fend that off. Even if I could, I wouldn't want to. I loved every second of it.

It felt odd that I was already thinking so far ahead. Usually I was more defensive about my emotions, and I was very rarely emotionally attracted to girls, but Erin broke down my defenses so easily. I felt vulnerable, because I had only really talked to her for two days and already I was thinking about a relationship with her.

"Sean?" she asked, snapping me out of yet another mental DDOS. Apparently I had forgotten to converse with her.. Happens often enough, but even more when I'm nervous.

"Sorry, I zone out really easy. It's my inner idiot acting up," I said. She giggled and looked down.

"You're too smart to have an inner idiot."

I could instantly feel myself blushing. She looked up and saw my red cheeks and burst out laughing."I don't think I've ever made a man blush," she said while laughing. "I'm quite proud of myself right now."

"Don't get too proud. I blush way too easily when I'm given compliments. I never quite know how to handle them."

"Well, a wise man once told me that you put them into your bag of self-confidence. He has very corny sayings, but they make you think of things very differently. You think of it differently enough to seriously consider using his advice," she said, "I think it's time to head to class. Let's go and pretend to pay attention."

I stood up and took her granola bar wrapper to throw away. "It's too much effort to even pretend to pay attention in there."

She giggled and said, "You're the second most laziest person I know."

"Who's the first?"

"Your inner idiot. He's never doing his job." She melted me yet again as she smiled.

In class, we sat down and naturally I opened my laptop. I carried on glancing at her through the reflection. At one point, she looked back, but I didn't look down or away. I smiled at her reflection and it smiled back and waved.

For three more weeks, we hung out every other day and I got to know her better and better. She was from a town about 2 hours away from the college and about 30 minutes away from my hometown. She had an older brother and sister who had both graduated college and had stable jobs on opposite coasts of the country. Aside from computers, she loved tennis, art, writing, and she reemphasized how much she loved dogs.

She was also extremely random and somewhat goofy. Out of nowhere she would just do something completely unexpected. For example, one day we were walking through the library and she saw a random guy sleeping on one of the couches. She asked me quietly if she could borrow the bag that my drink was in. I took the drink out and handed it to her. She inflated it, burst it loudly over the guy's head and ran out the library. I ran after her wondering what other surprises she had in store for me.

One day, we were hanging out at the cafe and we started talking about our pups. She had two back home. One was a 4 year-old German Shepherd and the other was a year-old Doberman. I showed her a picture of my month-old Husky back home and she seemed like she would explode because she couldn't handle the cuteness of it. She covered her mouth with her hands, disappointing me because I couldn't see her smile.

"He is the cutest thing ever!" she said, almost screaming.

"Yeah, wait until you meet him though. He's got an evil side, and is probably the naughtiest puppy ever. See this right here?" I pointed to a scar on my arm. "That was him. Apparently I look really tasty."

She laughed and said, "I wouldn't say tasty, but you certainly look good. Cue the blush."

She was certainly accurate because I sensed myself blushing.. I looked away and her laughter began again. "That's so cute."

"Cuter than my puppy?" I asked, still too embarrassed to show my reddened face.

"No, but definitely very close." The warmth in my cheek worsened after she said that.

When I felt the warmth of my blush fade away, I showed my face again. I didn't know what I was thinking, but I asked her out, completely out of the blue. "Would you like to.. Go out with me?" I felt more nervous than I had ever felt before and my shaky voice did little to hide that. Usually I waited until I felt confident that the girl I was asking would say yes, but this time, I just didn't. I took a leap of faith, and her answer would decide whether I landed in a massive pit filled with memory foam pillows or on solid concrete.

She thought silently for what seemed like an eternity. "Yes. Yes, I would love to go out with you Sean." At that point, the only thing holding me back was my fear of attracting too much attention. I would've jumped out of my seat and screamed, "VICTORY!" if my inhibitions weren't so.. Inhibitory. That was another first. Never before had I ever been so happy to have a girl agree to go on a date with me.

Instead of making a complete idiot of myself, I said as calmly as I could, "That's.. That's great. I was thinking about having dinner at XXXXX. Since you'll probably dress up to go there anyway, I was wondering if you'd be up for a little semi-formal photoshoot before then?" XXXXX was a fancy dining place just off campus. The staff were given strict orders to not allow anyone dressed casually. Attire was strictly formal, and that's why I chose it. I knew I looked good in formal clothing, and I was hoping that Erin enjoyed dressing up.

"That sounds great! I've never done a photoshoot before. I didn't even get any senior photos done. What if I'm a terrible model or something?"

"You can never be anything less than a great model," I said, instantly regretting the corniness of the compliment. To my delight though, she blushed and looked down with embarrassment. "Ah, I see the tables have turned. Look over here." She shook her head. "Come on, I have got to see this." She slowly looked up at me with a grin on her face. Her cheeks were still red. "You look extremely cute right now."

"Cuter than your puppy?"

"For sure."

"Well, I definitely am just as naughty as him." She stood up grabbed my iPod and phone. "Catch me if you can!" And she just ran off. My pup did that all the time, minus the talking part of course. I quickly threw the trash away and ran after her. She was remarkably fast but I caught up to her once we got outside. She looked behind to see where I was, and once she realized how close I was, she screamed and giggled. I sped up and got within grabbing distance of her. I put my arm around her waist and gently slowed her down to avoid making us both fall down hard. When we had slowed down enough, I put my other arm around her while she tried to struggle out of my grasp. She was still giggling and it was infectious. Without a warning, she pulled us both down, making me lose my balance. If I hadn't reacted quickly enough and stepped to the side of her, I probably would've landed on top of her. Thankfully, we were on the lawn of one of the buildings, so the landing wasn't too hard. I came down next to her with the grace of a drunk elephant. She was already down on her back and was laughing constantly. We both ignored the confused looks from the people around us.