(This story takes place in the 1980's)
*
The sun was sinking behind the backside of the college cafeteria and the shadows were getting longer at the front of the building as I held the door open for Suzy and several other girls walking behind me as we exited. I received a "thank you" or two but little else from the girls who I did not really know except for Suzy who flashed her usual sparkling smile and winked.
"Thanks Markey"
"My pleasure Miss Suzy," I replied with a purposely exaggerated Southern drawl. She giggled.
I fell in line behind her and we walked down the few steps and out of the shade of the building into the warm autumn sunshine away from the stream of students going in different directions. It was an almost perfect day that I had not really noticed until now.
"That exam was much tougher than I expected. My brain is fried. Cooked. Baked. Drained of any knowledge. I am a zombie." I groaned.
"Yeah I had a tough day too Zombie," she laughed. "Got time to walk me to my room?"
"Sure," I said smiling. The stress of the day was easing and I really wanted to relax a bit before hitting the books again.
Most of the girls dorms were in the general vicinity left of the cafeteria but Suzy had a room in a house located off-campus in a different direction so we started walking that way.
Suzy and I had been friends for almost two years and had gone through freshman orientation together. We hung out with a lot of the same people, bumped into each other at parties, and sometimes ate together in the cafeteria sharing our problems and occasional triumphs. She was someone I felt comfortable around and her cheery disposition was infectious. I liked Suzy and I couldn't imagine anyone who wouldn't get won over by her smile. I even thought her now ex-boyfriend of a couple of weeks Todd was a cool guy although we were not close friends. Suzy was cute but I guess I had never been attracted to her in that way that causes elevated pulse rates, sends hormones into overdrive and creates a mild form of insanity.
Possibly I wasn't myself on this beautiful cloudless day with the leaves beginning to change color and the temperature dropping which we discussed as we strolled along. Maybe I was a bit tired and stressed out and maybe she was in a bit of a hurry because I fell behind a few steps.
As we walked up the steps in front of the administration building I couldn't help but notice her curves. Suzy played sports, soccer and girls' softball, and she had a solid build but was barely five foot two and couldn't weigh more than a hundred pounds.
Normally, she dressed rather conservatively saving the sports attire for the practice field but on this day she wore some tight blue jean shorts that really accentuated her exceptionally nice round butt and firm thighs. Also, the typical stylish loose fitting blouse was replaced with a very thin, light green t-shirt that was very clingy showing the outline of her bra. If she hadn't been wearing her large gold hoop earrings that hung almost even with her short blond hair I would not have recognized her.
I caught up to her at the top of the steps and as we walked and exchanged small talk about soccer I made some pretend criticism about her play during the last match and bumped shoulders with her rather solidly. She bounced off a couple of steps to the right and then came crashing back into me twice as hard sticking her elbow in my ribs at the same time. I feigned injury and went stumbling off to the left of the walkway into the grass.
"Wow. I just knocked over a linebacker," she said laughing as she came over and bent down to me offering her hand. Suzy had always given me a difficult time over the fact that after being a very good football player in high school I never even bothered trying out in college. I looked up at her and observed that the tight green shirt did not hide the fact that for a small girl she had disproportionately large breasts. How had I missed that for two years?
"Hah. Hah. I wasn't expecting it." I took her hand and thought about pulling her down in the grass but didn't and instead got to my feet looking at her smiling face the whole time. She was wearing a bit more makeup than usual with green eyeliner and I detected a subtle trace of very nice perfume.
I purposely did not let go of her hand and we kept walking toward her room. "It is a beautiful day," she said without looking at me.
"Yes it is," I replied.
Neither of us said anything for a few minutes and we were nearly to the perimeter of the campus when suddenly she turned to me wide-eyed. "You've never seen where I live have you?"
"Well, I heard you moved at the start of the semester, that's all," I replied. "I thought you had moved in with ... uh," l stammered letting my words trail away. She looked down as we continued walking and didn't say anything.
At the end of the campus sidewalk we stopped and she pointed at a large older house about hundred feet down the street. "That's where I live in a room upstairs. There's one really smart guy from my calculus class who lives in the back and a girl who I don't know but see all the time in the cafeteria lives downstairs and we have one open room."
She was rambling but I didn't mind. It was fun to see her excited.
As we arrived in front of the house she said enthusiastically, "Cool. They finally fixed the porch swing. Come on Markey." I started to tell her that Markey might be a name for a dog but wondered why after two years it would bother me now.