My Number

OMG, what did I just do? I'd spent the past couple of days forcing myself to

not

tell Dave I was falling in love with him, and then, right out of the blue, I whispered "I love you, Dave" into his ear before taking off for my class. I didn't even give him a chance to respond, turning around quickly and heading out to the Journalism Building, where my class was. I never even turned around to see if he had a stunned expression on his face. Man, I was just so

stupid!

Trouble is, I was also just plain elated! There was a spring in my step that hadn't been there before, and I was smiling from ear-to-ear, at nobody, at everybody. I mean, I was happy, happy in a way I almost never felt before. And then I realized: the last time I was just this plain happy was last Friday, the first time we had made love. I had been determined to make his first time a wonderful experience, and somehow, some way, it was so wonderful to me that I had been trying to convince myself that it really was my first time, too. I had been just plain overjoyed, and the next morning, I actually shushed Dave, to keep him from saying that he loved me, when it was obviously way too soon.

And then I did this. I wanted to be mad at myself, I wanted to keep berating myself for being so f'ing stupid, but I just couldn't. As dumb as I knew it was, I was happy I had done it, happy I had said it.

I must've really stunned Dave, because I checked my phone as soon as I got to my class. I expected a text from him, but there wasn't one. It was right as class was beginning, and now there was no time for texting.

About ten minutes into class, I got a text; good thing I had my phone on vibrate, 'cause the professor

really

doesn't like students' cell phones going off in class. I sneaked it out of my pocket when he wasn't looking, and opened up the text.

OMG, Marcie, that's awesome! Love U 2!

That

was a text I loved getting! Now all that I had to do was figure out what we were going to do next! One thing I did realize: I had to slow down on this stuff, because it was driving everything else out of my head. So I texted back:

Have 2 run back 2 dorm after class. See U 4 dinner? XOXOXO

After I sent it, I wondered if he knew what girls meant by XOXOXO, but Hell, I was kind of surprised that I'd sent that, 'cause I'd never been the XOXOXO type of girl before. Amanda would probably escort me to Student Health for a drug test if she knew what I'd done.

She wasn't there when I got back to the dorm, which was both good and bad. I had school stuff I had to get done, but I also wanted to talk. My mind was in a whirl, but it wasn't whirling quite as chaotically when I wasn't with Dave. Then there was a knock on the door, and a male's voice, "Marcy, you in there?"

Blanding Tower was a coed dorm, with men and women on alternating floors. Supposedly, guys couldn't get onto the girls' floors without a girl opening the door for him, but that never seemed to work.

"Yeah, hold on," I said, getting up to answer the door. There was Eric, one of the (too few) guys who had tried to get into my pants and hadn't succeeded.

"Hey, Marcy, we're having a big party at the ΔΣΦ house this Friday, and I wondered if Amanda and you could come?"

It wasn't that Eric was a bad guy, or ugly, or anything. He just didn't do anything for me, even though I knew he had the hots for me, bad. Of course, it's possible that he'd have the hots for

any

girl who actually paid attention to him.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Eric, but my boyfriend and I are going to be out camping this weekend. But I'll tell Amanda that you asked; I don't know if she has plans or not."

I could tell that he was disappointed with my answer, but all he said was, "OK, thanks anyway."

I got a little more classwork done, and then Amanda showed up. She took one look at me and said, "What, got dressed out of Dave's closet this morning? I've heard of boyfriend jeans, but that looks like boyfriend shirt to me."

It is his, and I really feel sexy in it. I mean, it's a fairly average shirt and all, but Dave was the last person to wear it, and I like that." Then I wrapped my arms around me and hugged myself.

"Damn, girl, you really do have it bad."

"Oh, Hell, Amanda, you just have no

idea!

I just hope that I don't screw this up, because everything seems so great, and I'm just on pins and needles all the time that I'm going to really mess things up.

"And, by the way, Eric came by, and told me that there's a party at the ΔΣΦ house on Friday, and asked us to go. I'm supposed to go camping with Dave this weekend and . . . ."

"You told me about going camping. Really? As in out in the woods?

You?

"

"Yes, me. Of course, plans might change, because I should start my period on Thursday, and I don't know how well that'll work out. I guess that I'd better ask Dave. Anyway, I told Eric that I'd pass along the invitation to you."

"Shit, he's a nice enough guy and all, but

bor

ing!"

"Hey, look what happened to me when you pushed me into going up to the nerd. I got a lot luckier than I ever expected, than I've ever gotten before. Eric just might be one of those hidden gems out there, just looking for the right woman to unleash his inner Tarzan."

"No, no way, just, no."

"Why? What's the worst that could happen? He turns out to be a dud, but it's not like you've never gone out with a guy who turned out to be a nothing before. Then again, he might turn out to be another Dave, and that'd work out really good for you.

"But, best of all, Eric's not really the kind of guy to treat you like you're just a piece of pussy, the way so many other guys do. It was so subtle, that I missed it at first, but that was why Dave turned me on so much. Yeah, it was obvious that he wanted to get laid -- what guy doesn't? -- but he was treating me with respect. I mean, it was so different from the other guys that it took me a while to realize just what the difference was."

"So, what do you want me to do, Miss All Respectable Marcy, go knock on his door and say yes, I want him to take me to the party?"

"Would it kill you to do that? But, I tell you what, it might work better if you asked him to take you someplace other than a frat party. Heck, why wait until the weekend? Go on up there, and ask him out to dinner, for tonight. He'd be just plain stunned, and maybe y'all could do something really weird like just talk.

"That's what worked for me and Dave. Oh, yeah, he wanted to be cool, but just plain didn't know how, and all we wound up doing was sitting on his couch talking, talking about normal stuff. It was amazing, and I got just so turned on by the fact that a guy was treating me like a normal person. Of course, it turned out that he was

really

good in bed, like naturally talented or something, and who knows about Eric, but what's it going to hurt you to try?"

"OK, Miss Smart Ass, I'll do it. Heck, I'll do it right now, before I chicken out, but you had better be right about this." With that, Amanda walked out, and headed to the next floor. I returned to my schoolwork, but couldn't wait to hear the story when she came back. I had, "So, how'd it go?" out before she was all the way back into the room.

"Marce, you aren't going to believe this, but it went really well. I was trying to figure out how to do this, and then thought, heck, I'd do it just like a guy asking a girl out, and when he opened the door I just said, 'Eric, would you like to have dinner with me this evening?' It was classic: he was just stunned there for a second, and then managed to stammer out that sure, he'd like that. I told him it was my treat, and we wound up settling on Joe B's, since neither of us has a car. I'm going to pick him up at six-thirty, 'cause it's a kind of long walk to get there. And this is just so fucking

strange

that I'm actually kind of liking this."

"OK, well, let me tell you something I did that first night with Dave. We were walking from the party back to his place, and I knew that he wanted to get closer but didn't really know how, so while we were walking, I took his hand. Amanda, I think he grew another inch taller when I did that, and you know what, I enjoyed it just as much as he did."

"Well, girl, the room is yours tonight," I grinned to Amanda. "I'm going to have dinner with Dave tonight, and I know I'm going to want to spend the night. I should get my period tomorrow, and I'm not sure whether I want to screw when I'm gushing like that, so tonight might be the last time for a few days. But you've just

got

to let me know how things go."

After all of that, I caught up on some work, and then headed for an afternoon class. Dave texted me when I was on the way:

What would you like for dinner?

Hmmm: no usual texting abbreviations. Anyway, I replied:

Anything we have will be fine!

Class lasted for

ever,

and I was so ready to leave when it dismissed at 4:45. I called Dave, but he was in the grocery store, had only one bar, and that made for a lousy connection. As closely as I could understand him, he said that he'd be back to his apartment around six.

Maybe I should have given him some help picking out something, but I didn't; he had to figure it out by himself. And he did: he made it to the store, got the new sheets he said he'd buy, plus he sprang for salmon, which I love, and he actually made, by himself, this wonderful aragula salad, with cherry tomatoes, pine nuts, oil, vinegar, and Parmesan cheese. But when I got to his place, and he opened the door, it was like seeing the Cyclops: he had this huge, monstrous, probably radioactive zit right in the middle of his forehead. I busted out laughing, and kissed him, before I just had to do it, just had to squeeze that humongous whitehead out, just hoping I didn't get a zit facial in the process. I'm not sure how much Dave appreciated that, but I couldn't help myself; I'd have been laughing all evening if I hadn't done that.

Dinner was

really

good, and so was just lazing around his apartment. He kept the place clean, cleaner than I would have, so the only chores we had were washing, drying and putting up the dishes. He had a kind of crap music system, but it was good enough. We both had reading to do, and I already knew that he

really

liked it when I was stretched out on the couch, with my feet in his lap while we read. It was the little things that made Dave the happiest, more than the overtly sexy ones, kind of like still waters running deep, I suppose. It turned me on, too, but differently than other guys had: it was like bringing up the heat slowly, rather than scorching things fast, burning the outside but leaving things still too cool on the inside.

Was that the key? I mean, Dave had proved to be a really good lover, but maybe part of that was that I had always been so turned on every time we made love that it really didn't take much to put me over the edge.

I thought about my past, and how many times I'd screwed some guy, and how that had almost always been the result of some party. The alcohol had flowed, there was always plenty of smoke available, the guys were all hot, the girls half-naked, and everything just so intense. Yeah, I'd met Dave at a party, too, but everything had slowed down and calmed down going back to his place, and by the time we actually made love, we were both sober.

In fact, I hadn't touched alcohol since that Friday night, and yet I hadn't missed it.

Bedtime came slowly, languorously, like a cat waking up and stretching. It was like the blaze had gone out, but the red glow of the heat of the charcoal in the grill was there, hot but still steady, when I stood up, took Dave's hand and led him into the bedroom. This was all so different from everything in the past, but everything I wanted it to be, without ever having realized it before.

I had taken charge in the bedroom before, but I let Dave take the lead tonight, and it was just wonderful. His hands were all over me, but just so slowly, kissing me, caressing me, making me feel so very loved. When he whispered "I love you" to me, it had been the first time he actually said it -- a text message doesn't count! -- the first time in my ears, and I knew that he meant it, knew that it wasn't just sex talking.

We came together, missionary style, and it was just the way it should be, with Dave staring into my eyes, and me looking up into his. Our eyes weren't closed, we were looking at each other, totally in the moment with each other, as I watched his beautiful blue-grey eyes; Dave smiles with his eyes!

My climax just crashed over me, so quickly after the long, slow build-up to it before we had actually started making love, and then a second, and a third and more, all washing over me, before my lover finally emptied himself inside me, his body stiffening up like a steel beam, rigid from head to toe. I knew then, this man was mine, mine forever, and I was his.

I don't think I've ever slept better. I couldn't remember my dreams -- I almost never can -- but I woke up happy and refreshed and ready to face the day, when I realized: I was one bloody mess. Dave had bought brand new sheets for us, high-thread-count white cotton sheets that were wonderful to sleep in, and I had just made a huge red mess in them. Oh, well, that's just one of the things a man has to put up with when he has a girlfriend!

I couldn't help myself. I should have been embarrassed, but I wasn't; this was part of life, as natural as anything else, and I knew that the guy who was able to go into the store and buy tampons for me was mature enough to understand. I kissed him -- I had awakened first -- and laughed, and said, "Oops, I've just messed up your new sheets but good," as I got up and headed for the bathroom to clean up.

Dave gave me the privacy a woman needs for this, and I cleaned up, put in a tampon and showered before he came in the bathroom; he had a little bit of my blood on him as well. All that he had to do to clean up was shower, of course, and I was busy brushing and flossing while he took care of that.

"Dave, does my period mess up our camping plans for the weekend? I mean, I still want to go, but I've never been camping out on the woods before, and don't know how much of a problem this is."

"Heck, Marcy, I've never been out camping with a girl before, and I don't really know. The only thing I can think of is that we'd have to seal up the used ones in airtight baggies, to keep the bears from catching the scent."

"

Bears?

There are

bears

in the gorge?"

"Yeah, black bears, but they're mostly afraid of humans. There was a mauling back in 2010, but that's the only incident I've ever heard about. You just have to keep your food stored outside of your tent, and inside airtight baggies if you can. They say that you can usually just shout a black bear away, but I've never been close enough to one to need to try."

"

Fine

way to show how much you love me, trying to turn me into Purina Bear Chow!"

"Hey, if a hungry bear shows up, I just push you toward him, and then I can get away easily," he teased me back.

Dave was still toweling off, when I put my arms around his neck and kissed him, toothpaste still on my lips.

"Marce, is this the way love is supposed to be? To me, this is just amazingly comfortable, like this is how life is supposed to be lived. We've known each other for six days now, and it's like we've been together for six years."

"Oh, Hell, Dave, I don't know. My parents seemed to be natural like this together, but then they broke up anyway, and I've never lived with a guy. It seems right to me, too, and I'm pretty happy with how things are, but I really don't know. But, you know, this is how I want things to be."

After that, I shut up about it, but that didn't mean I wasn't thinking about it. Yeah, this really was how I wanted things to be! To be honest, I was ready to pack up all of my stuff and move in with Dave, but it was just early October, and that left me in Blanding Tower for another semester and a half. I'd already paid for this semester, of course, but I haven't paid for the next one yet . . . .

Still, I've got a lot of coursework, and homework, and studying that I have to do, and even though Dave set up "MarcyNet" as his home network -- dang, that's just so sickeningly sweet -- I have to make sure I can actually get my work done if I was actually living with him.

Well, maybe I was going to shut up about it, but that didn't mean Dave would. "Are you saying that you want to move in?" he asked me. Damn, that puts it right out there! So, I did a quick turn-about:

"Are you asking me to move in?"

"Oh, man, Marcy, I'd love that! Would you?" Well, my turn-about got turned right back onto me! The only thing to do was tell the obvious truth.

"Yeah, I'd love to, I really would, but I'm stuck in Blanding at least until the end of this semester. Let's do the sensible thing, and decide this in December."

I really thought it could work out between the two of us, but Hell, I'd only known Dave for six days! I wanted to go get my stuff right then, but managed to come up with just enough actual sense to push it off until the end of the semester. Still, I wanted to make sure Dave wasn't too let down. "Besides, I'm pretty sure I'll be spending a lot of nights here, anyway. You do know that I was serious when I said I loved you?" Now

that

put the smile back on his face!

Today was both special, and completely ordinary. We had breakfast, and then headed for class. I told Dave that I was heading back to Blanding for the evening, to get caught up on homework, and with my other friends, but Friday night and the weekend were his. He asked if I still wanted to go camping, despite my period, and I told him that if it could be worked out, yeah, I did.

I got back to my dorm around one in the afternoon, meaning to get my work for the weekend done, but Amanda was there, so I just had to ask how her date with Eric went. "So, how'd dinner with Eric go?" I know that I had a big grin on my face when I asked her.

"Actually, it was OK. He's still a kind of a geek, not what you'd expect from a fraternity guy, but he's trying so hard to fit in with that lifestyle. Thing is, it really doesn't come all that naturally to him. I think I put him off by saying that he didn't have to show off for me, and I'm not sure how he took that. We did sit together in the cafeteria for breakfast this morning."

"But you didn't sleep with him?" I had to ask.

"No, no, I didn't. I'm sure that he wanted to, but once I told him that he didn't have to try to show off for me, I guess that he didn't know how to ask or push the issue, and I left it alone. To be honest, he didn't turn me on the way you said Dave did to you, and I might give him another chance, but I really don't think that it's going to happen."

"You going to that frat party with him tonight?"

"I haven't actually said I would, but I know he wants me to, so I guess I'll give it a try. Thing is, I just know that he'll try to fit in with the rest of the frat brothers, and he'll try to show me off as his 'girlfriend,' and I'm not sure that that's going to work well. If he had enough sense to do what Dave did with you, and get out of there and just be himself, he'd be better off."

"Amanda, I'm the one who pushed Dave outside at the party last Friday. I mean, it was actually showing a bit of hope, but it wasn't really anything special until I got him outside, away from the beer and the noise. Eric isn't a real frat boy, you said so yourself, so if you're actually interested in the real Eric, you might have to pull him out of the party yourself.

"Of course, just because that worked for me and Dave, doesn't mean it would work for Eric. I mean, Dave was at that party, looking to meet a girl, but it wasn't a frat party, and he isn't in a fraternity, and Eric is.