Loos Aren't Everything

Note that this story takes place in the early 2000s.

Science Fiction clubs are supposed to be fun, but a business meeting is still a boring business meeting. I stifled a yawn and tried to listen to one more committee report that had way too much detail and very little substance. There needs to be some sort of handbook for amateurs trying to run an efficient meeting, and for the committees telling them how to get things done and make reports properly. Not all this trying to re-invent the wheel each time a new chairman is elected or a new idea or project gets started. Such a book probably exists, but obviously nobody around here has ever heard about it.

I caught someone else across the table from me hiding a yawn, a plump and nerdy young woman with thick glasses, maybe in her mid-twenties a couple years younger than me. I had seen her at previous meetings and heard that she was some sort of librarian. I tried to remember her name, I think she had a very ordinary name, Jane or Pat or something like that. I made eye contact over the top of my eyeglasses and waggled an eyebrow at her. She smiled and rolled her eyes at my antics, so I winked and attempted to quietly flirt in my own geeky way. Finally she stifled a giggle instead of a yawn, then started playing with her mouse-brown bobbed hair, twirling a strand around her finger. I took that as a good sign.

She was definitely not model material, but then I was no buffed up hunk either. Her round face was kind of plain looking and chubby cheeked, but those eyes hiding behind her thick glasses might be rather pretty. It was hard to tell through those distorting lenses. She was plump bodied with a bit of tummy, and her breasts seemed smaller than her body size would suggest, but I could overlook that. I was hoping that she had a round bottom that filled out her jeans nicely. Later I found out that she did.

After the meeting ended, I made sure to get next to her on the way out of the park's community room and started a conversation in the hallway. Well, I tried to start a conversation, but we were both so awkward that we ended up laughing at each other's lame attempts at small talk. I tried to restart the conversation.

"I hope you'll forgive me if I don't get your name right... it's Pat, right? And you're some kind of librarian?"

She gave a typically nerdy snorting giggle. "No it's Teresa, Teri for short. I work in a private science research library as an assistant librarian. And you're Pete, no, Paul?"

My turn to laugh. "Nowhere near, my name's Walter..."

"Wall-E!" She exclaimed, interrupting me.

"No, no, just no." I tried to forestall her, shaking my head. "Borrowing from Riker, I go by Will."

"Hmm. It suits you." She said, looking at my trimmed beard.

"Thanks. So Teri, what do you do for fun? I mean, besides science fiction... and don't say reading, I already know that. What librarian doesn't love to read?"

"Most of the stuff in my library is far beyond my comprehension, so I don't read beyond what I need to file it. Usually just the abstract or a synopsis." She smiled again, she looked prettier with a smile. I was hoping her eyes would be as surprising. "For other fun I folk dance. Hey, the folk dance club meets here tomorrow in the other room, the big one, and we always welcome beginners. Want to join us?"

"Do they welcome beginners with three left feet? I'm not much of a dancer."

"Three left feet?" She looked confused.

"Yeah, because I always get tangled up like I've got an extra foot and don't know what to do with it."

"Oh." Teri did her charming giggle again. I was beginning to have higher hopes about this relationship, if it was going to turn into a relationship. I was never good with one night stands. Well, honestly I've never really had a one night stand, but I have had a couple relationships that lasted more than a year.

"Come to the dance club anyway, maybe you'll surprise yourself." She tilted her head in a cute way. "But you didn't tell me what you do. What's your work?"

"I'm a programmer, pretty typical, right? I work for a custom accounting software company following instructions from a bunch of accountants and doing client support. I know it sounds boring, but..."

"Not boring, but I bet it's repetitive. What else do you do for fun?" She tilted her head again, like a puppy trying to make an good impression.

"Like every other geek I write fanfiction, I used to do some camping and renaissance fairs, but that got too expensive. I've also competed in curling recently, but I'm not that great."

"Curling? Really?"

"Yeah, just local competitions, I'm not up to international standards, or even regional."

"Closing time! I need to lock up, time to leave!" The park staff person (I don't think they were a ranger, but I'm not sure what to call them) started shooing the dawdlers down the hallway towards the exit doors. There was a wooden bench on the walkway facing the parking lot where we plopped down and continued talking for a while, learning about each other.

"Oh, I've got to get to the bus stop before I miss my bus." She had glanced at her watch, I assumed because she was bored with me.

"No car? Don't worry, I can give you a ride home... uh, if you trust me." I tried to give her a trustworthy smile, hoping that I didn't look creepy. Maybe I managed one, or else I looked so forlorn that she took pity on me because she said yes. I led her to my little old 4x4 import pickup, a relic of my camping days.

"My car is in the shop for repairs so... a 4x4! I didn't think you were the off road type."

"We used to do a lot of camping, sometimes in pretty primitive places." I winced at my own accidental alliteration. "A 4x4 is handy for sandy or muddy sites where the road is mostly by opinion instead of by pavement."

"We?" She sounded curious.

"My brother and a couple of cousins. They're avid fishermen and I'd join them just to be out in nature but I didn't fish much. Plus it was useful to haul stuff and when I was going to renaissance fairs, but that got too pricey." I pulled out of the parking space. "Give me some directions and I'll get you home safely."

Teri directed me to a nice house on a cul-de-sac half a dozen miles away from the park. Fortunately her place was roughly on my way home, so I wasn't at all out of my way.

"Wow. Being a librarian must pay well."

"It was my grandparents' house, I'm living here while helping to take care of my grandmother. She has trouble getting around. It was really nice meeting you, Wall... uh, Will."

"It was great getting to know you, too. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow."

She made no move to get out of my truck and leaned slightly towards me as far as the seatbelt would let her. I shut off the engine and leaned towards her. She closed her eyes and tilted her head in that way that women do when they want to be kissed. So I went ahead and kissed her. She responded and opened her mouth to me. I released my seatbelt and reached to hug her. She unbuckled hers and hugged back as best she could with the console and gearshift in the way. Damn that gearshift.

We kissed for quite a while and our tongues got very familiar with each other. I had my right hand across the back of the seats and under her bobbed hair, playing with the back of her neck. She had her left hand at my waist against the seat and her right arm around my neck preventing me from breaking the kiss, as if I wanted to. Meanwhile my left hand was inching from her waist towards her right breast. She didn't complain or push me away, and I was successful in feeling the outlines of a very substantial bra under her tee shirt. She broke the deep kiss and I kissed and licked around her neck and played with her earlobe.

"Your beard tickles."

"Sorry." I mumbled against her skin.

"Don't be, I like it. Don't shave."

Her right hand slipped down my side and grabbed my butt cheek. I took that as a sign of encouragement. I let go of her breast and slid my hand down to find the hem of her tee shirt so I could slide my hand into it and get more familiar with her breasts.

That tight bra was a heavyweight construction that resisted all of my attempts to get my hand under it. I could barely feel her nipple through the thick canvas. Frustrated, I reached behind her to try to undo it one-handed. Where most normal bras I've encountered have only three or four clips, this one had six or eight, I lost count while fumbling and it took me a while and several attempts. I'm sure she was amused by my efforts, she did giggle a bit. But maybe that was my beard tickling her.

Finally I was able to undo it to get my hand on her bare breast and was astounded that it seemed much larger once released from confinement. More than a couple of generous handfuls each, at least. I made a questioning noise and she giggled again.

"Surprised? It's a special minimizing bra that's bigger on the inside." She breathed in my ear.

"A Tardis bra? Yes, pleasantly surprised. Mmmm, I'd love to see them."

"Not out here, it's too public. Maybe another time." She kissed me again and ran the palm of her hand over the bulging front of my jeans. I toyed with her nipples making her sigh in pleasure.

Sometime later, she stopped the kisses and gently moved my hand out from under her shirt.

"I'd love to continue this, but it's late and I have to go in and get my grandma to bed. And I have work tomorrow morning." She whispered breathlessly.

"I'll see you tomorrow for the dance club. Want me to pick you up? I'll be counting the seconds until then."

"I'll be counting, too. Please be here by 6:30." She looked thoughtful. "I don't know what it is about you, Will, but this is the fastest I've ever gone on a first date. Why do I trust you so much?"

"Uh, maybe it's my spectacular personality?" She snort-giggled at that. "And technically this wasn't a date, but I'd like to count it as one. And I really want more dates with you."

Teri smiled at that and stepped out of my truck, her large unbound breasts swaying in her tee shirt. She hadn't bothered to re-clasp her bra. She waved, blew a kiss and disappeared into the house.

The next evening I pulled up to the curb in front of her place and saw her waiting on her porch. Damn, she was wearing her substantial minimizing bra again. Maybe we did go too fast last night, I thought to myself, I'd better not push my luck tonight.

The folk dance club started right off with dancing, no business meeting to bore everyone, just a few quick announcements. There were more in attendance than at the science fiction club meeting. I was surprised that folk dancing was so popular.

The crowd split up into groups and Teri led me to the beginner's section, which she volunteered to lead. She was teaching everyone basic steps and finished up the first session with a flirtatious dance from the Renaissance. The dancers were in a line, shoulder to shoulder, alternating boy-girl, boy-girl. The flirting part was after a few steps when the first dancer in line turned around and wove a slalom down the line to become the last in line. Then a few steps more and the slalom would repeat with the new first dancer. This put them face-to-face with each dancer of the opposite sex, and back-to-back with the same sex. The trick was how close you could get to each other when facing and when pushing between them. I took the opportunity to lightly brush against Teri with each pass. The attention didn't go unnoticed, as I soon found out.

The first session ended in a break and I excused myself from Teri to use the restroom. While washing my hands, the other occupant looked askance at me.

"Hey, looks like you're going for a turn of the club doorknob."

"Doorknob? What?" I was confused.

"Teri, the club doorknob, every guy takes a turn." He sneered a bit and made a rude gesture, poking his index finger in and out of his circled other hand. "She's so homely that it's the only way she can be popular."

"Well I think she's cute in a nerdy, awkward way."

"Yeah, just keep fooling yourself. You'll find out eventually how many guys she's had."

"Really? Have you had a turn?"

"Nah, I wouldn't fuck her even if I could use someone else's dick." He said dismissively.

"I figured. You're just repeating rumors or else you're frustrated that you couldn't get to first base with her." He looked shocked for a moment, then turned on his heel and headed for the door.

"Don't say I didn't warn you." He taunted over his shoulder.

I dried my hands and got back to the community room. We quickly learned a couple more easy dances, then the different groups all joined together in one last dance for the evening. Fortunately it was one of the easy ones that Teri had already taught us. It was a fun evening and we were a little tired from all the dancing. As it was a cool night we might not have been sweaty but there was a 'glow' about us as we got into my pickup.

"This was great, I really enjoyed it." I grinned at her. "And it seems like I'm not as bad at dancing as I thought. So does this count as a first or second date?"

"Let's count it as a second date and we'll go as far as we did on the first date." Teri leaned over to kiss me and bumped into the gearshift. "Darn stick shift, why didn't I notice this last night?"

"I think our minds were otherwise occupied." I leaned over to kiss her, but the headlights of another car swept over us, interrupting. "Let's head to your place, there's always less traffic on a cul-de-sac."

She nodded and I pulled out of the parking lot. Parked at the curb in front of her place we resumed our make out session and I was able to get my hands on those lovely saggy-yet-perky breasts again. Since her street was deserted, I decided to push her limits just a tiny bit. I dipped my head down and lifted her tee shirt up just enough to get my mouth on a hard nipple. She gasped and held my head in place while I sucked and flicked my tongue across that sensitive nub.

"Oh yes, I like that." She sighed after I had lavished attention on both nipples several times. "But I have to get inside and put my grandma to bed. She's probably asleep in her chair already..."

I reluctantly let her nipple out of my mouth and paused a moment to admire her wide areolae in the dimness of the streetlights. Then I let loose of her breasts after one more squeeze.

"You're beautiful, I love to pay a lot of attention to your breasts."

"They like the attention and they're very sensitive. But I really do have to go in." She adjusted her shirt and reached for the door handle.

"Wait a second, here, this is so you can get in touch with me." I handed her a small note paper where I had written my home address, phone numbers and email address. She looked at it a moment, the turned back towards me.

"Thanks, Will." She gave me a quick peck on the cheek, then dashed to the porch and into her house. I sat there for a while, relishing the memory of the feel and taste of her nipples.

She called me the next day with an excuse for not getting together again that evening when I tried to invite her to come to my curling competition, but asked if I could take her to pick up her car when it was ready. I agreed and briefly wondered if I had gone too far last night, scaring her away from seeing me again. But she did seem to enjoy it at the time. At least I had her phone number now. Then Friday she called me and groused about the mechanics taking too long to fix anything. With the weekend upon us, her car wouldn't be ready until Monday, so I spent my Saturday afternoon driving her around to various errands. We got to talk a bunch, so it wasn't a bad way to spend the day. But I could think of a few better ways, mostly involving more make out sessions. At least we were able to sneak in a few kisses and an occasional sly grope, despite the industrial strength bra that she always wore.

I invited her to dinner that evening, our first actual, traditional date. Of course we wouldn't count it as a first date. I was hoping to make out afterwards, and maybe go a bit farther this time. I took her to an inexpensive Italian restaurant I knew that always served a plate of little fried pillows of sweet dough as a complimentary dessert after you finished their really good spaghetti or ravioli. With our bellies full and a glass or two of cheap house wine in us, I was eager to get to her place and make out again.

We kissed for a bit, making remarks about the inconvenient placement of the gearshift. But before I could take it farther, we somehow got into an argument. I don't know how it started, I think I responded to something she said by mentioning that guy that told me she was easy. I insisted that I didn't believe him when she dismissed him as a jerk who thought he was an alpha male. So I joked about him having too many software bugs to be a beta release male. She did a nervous giggle at that, then turned serious and a bit frightened. I tried to placate her, but I seemed to be making things worse no matter what I said.

I stopped talking and just looked at her for a while. She silently stared out the windshield, then finally shuddered and turned to me.

"I am frightened. Frightened that you overwhelm me. I can't think straight when you kiss me, I... I kind of of lose my mind and let you do whatever you want with me. But I'm frightened that you'll leave me if you learn more about me..."

I frowned. "What's so terrible that it could drive me away?"

She took a deep shuddering breath and let it out. "I don't think that I can be monogamous. I've had this problem in other relationships, I would wander off with someone else for a bit, then come back. I can't help myself, I just can't be exclusive. I've tried, mmph" I hushed her with a little kiss. She looked at me, astonished.

"Teri, I don't care if you weren't monogamous in the past, we'll see what happens in the future and handle it then. If you are polyamorous, we can work it out. Especially if I get the majority of your time." I smiled and tried to kiss her again.

She pulled back and said "I think I might be bi."

I was a bit frustrated at not getting another kiss. "Okay, like I said we can work it out later, together." We continued talking for a while longer. I'm not sure exactly what I said, but it didn't seem to be working. She would calm down for a moment, then become agitated again in cycles. Finally I decided to tell her to go in and sleep on it. Maybe tomorrow I could find a way to get on her good side again. I was hoping she didn't mean bipolar when she said she was bi.

"If you want to go in now, just please, please let me know when I can see you again." I managed to say.

She nodded, then dashed to the porch and into her house.

I just sat there for a few moments before reaching across, avoiding that blasted gearshift and shutting the passenger door that she forgot to close. I sat for a while longer, trying to figure out what the hell happened. I thought we were going to have another wonderful make-out session and I was anticipating getting my hands on her splendid breasts again.

How was it that I had these feelings about someone I've only really known for a few days? Was it just lust or something deeper? Talk about frustration, I couldn't decide if I wanted to go home and take a cold shower or masturbate or else have a shot of whiskey. And I'm not really much of a whiskey drinker. So I just sat there trying to figure things out, maybe ten, fifteen minutes or longer.

I was startled out of my musings by a gentle tapping on the passenger side window. It was Teri, looking like she had been crying. Oh shit, I thought, she's going to break up with me and somehow blame me for everything. I don't know what my face looked like, but I'm sure it wasn't pretty, probably as worried as hers. At least I hadn't been crying... much. I gestured for her to come into the passenger seat. She shook her head and motioned for me to get out and follow her. I came around to her and she shushed me, I guess a librarian would be very skilled at that.