Ostracism

Author's note: This story contains some anti-gay slurs. This is not meant to insult anyone, but they are necessary for the telling of this tale. I hope that the reader can see past any offense he might take, and understand why they are integral to the story.

*****

Brandon's question caught her off guard. She'd thought that their afternoon was going well, but apparently not well enough; Brandon had caught on. It was time to use Sarah's expression, and woman up. "Yeah, kind of, there is," she managed to get out, slowly.

"Yeah, I thought so. You were acting kind of distant. Who is he? What kind of competition am I facing? And do we have a chance?"

Oh, man, this was getting deep. "His name's Danny, an engineering student, and he lives in the dorm with me."

"With you, as in your roommate?"

"Oh, no, it's not like that! The dorm's coed, but it's men on one floor and women on the other. But we have been seeing a little bit of each other." That was easier to get out, because she was able to answer a direct question that wouldn't hurt Brandon's feelings.

"So, how did this happen?"

Mary Margaret didn't want to hurt Brandon's feelings, and the easiest way was to tell the truth. "Danny and I had been friends, and I was interested in him, but was solidly stuck in the friend zone, you know? When you first asked me out, that's the way it was. Then, just Monday evening, all of a sudden the friend zone fell apart."

"Does he know about me?"

"He knows that we had a date Friday night, but he doesn't know who you are."

"You know, Mary Margaret, I kind of thought you were different. That first night, when you didn't want to spend the night, and then took care of me after I dinged my ankle again. Of course, you sliding into bed next to me, that was hot. But after that, you always seemed so shy, and I didn't know why."

"You want the truth? You had that huge box of condoms on your nightstand, and as good looking as you are, I figured that you'd bedded a hundred other girls." Mary Margaret's eyes were getting a bit wet at this point, but she hadn't really started crying, not yet. Still, Brandon spotted that.

"It's really not like that at all."

"Really? You're so damned good looking that girls must be throwing themselves at you all the time."

"Yeah, I get my share of attention, I won't lie about that. But I was with Ruthie for almost two years, and we just broke up a month ago."

"Oh." Crap, that's what Sarah had suggested might have been the case, and Mary Margaret had just blown it off.

"You do know that I love you, don't you?"

Triple crap, quadruple crap! How to respond to that? "No, I don't know that. You've never said it before, and you can't even mean it! We've had two whole dates, if they can even be called that, and a few lunches together. There's no way you can love me, not yet, not this soon." Mary Margaret was literally shaking at this, and she got off the couch, standing up to get some space between them.

"Yes, I do know that." And with that, Brandon rose, stepped up to her, and pulled her into a deep, deep kiss.

It was a kiss that she felt all the way down to her toes, a kiss that set her body on fire, as Brandon gently pushed her against the wall. He took her hands, holding them over her head, as he was pressed up against her. Was he going to just take her, right now, like this? I'm on my period, I'm gushing, she thought, not wanting him to have sex with her, but if that was in her mind, her body was burning with desire for it. If he didn't stop, they'd be in bed, her period be damned.

"Brandon . . . ," was all she could get out.

He released her lips, and took the pressure off of her hands, and asked, almost in a whisper, "Do you love him?"

oo0oo

"Oh, my God, MM, what happened then?" Sarah asked.

"Oh, it was so hard. I told him that I wasn't sure, but I thought maybe, yeah. Then he asked me if I loved him, and I couldn't answer, I just couldn't.

"And then he kissed me again, but differently, a gentle, soft kiss, the kind that leaves you wanting more. If he'd led me into the bedroom, I just know I would have gone with him, I wanted him so bad."

"Even with your period?"

"Even with that, and this is my first day, so I'm really gushing, you know. But Brandon just let me go, and then he said to me, so quietly, 'I'll wait for you. Whatever you decide, just know, I'm ready for you. Take whatever time you need, and I'll still be here for you. And if you decide you'd be happier with this Danny guy, well, I want you to be happy, but at least let me know.' Then he kissed me again, and walked me to the door.

"Sarah, I cried half the way home! No guy ever said that he loved me, even Danny never said it, but Brandon did, and then, the way he gave me time, the way he treated me with respect, I think he really does. What if Brandon's really the guy for me, what if I totally ruined everything?" And then Mary Margaret started crying again.

Sarah wasn't a hugger type, so she just got her roommate a Kleenex. "Well, if you think Brandon loves you, does Danny? And are you in love, with either of them?"

"Oh, God, I don't know. I've never been in love before, you know, so I'm not really sure what I'm feeling. I might be with Danny, I think I am, but I just don't know. With Brandon, Hell, he's just so hot, any girl would want him, and I was wondering if it was just that which was drawing me in, but then, the way he treated me, it was just so special, maybe I'm in love with him, too."

"Well, what were you feeling the other night, when you went back to his room? That ought to be your answer."

"Oh, I don't know. I really wanted to make love to him, but I was scared, really scared. I mean, I knew that he wasn't going to reject me or anything, but I was shaking like a leaf. And when we did make love, it was just wonderful, and I just knew it was love then. Still, it's easy to say you're in love when you're making love, but now, looking at it away from the bedroom, well, I guess I'm a bit more cynical."

"Oh, brother, this isn't going to help you with exam week, is it?"

"No, prob'ly not, but my professors aren't going to give me a pass just because my love life is so screwed up! But anyway, I'd texted Danny and told him I was out with friends, and would miss supper, but it's about that time, and now I can surprise him."

"Better wash your face first; your eyes are a little bit red, you know."

oo0oo

Danny's cell phone buzzed, and it was Mary Margaret. "Hi, babe! Didn't think I'd hear from you before study time."

"Oh, the thing with friends kind of fell apart, so if you haven't had supper yet, we still can."

"OK, cool. I was just getting ready to head down anyway."

"See you there!"

Danny felt a whole lot better. His mood had been kind of black ever since she had texted him, blowing off supper, and now it was like a giant weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Normally he'd brush his teeth after supper, but just in case he could steal a kiss, he figured he ought to do it before he went to the cafeteria. Winding up in the line the same time as Mary Margaret, he was able to get that kiss while waiting in line. She was really smiling, beaming almost, and that made him feel great.

Supper went good, and Austin and Beryl joined them again. Apparently they hadn't gotten any grief from the bigger assholes in the dorm for sitting with Danny for breakfast. It was mostly small talk and light banter, but for Danny, this was a really great day. All of a sudden. His life was getting back to normal. He had a girlfriend now, a real girlfriend, and he wasn't alone among the other guys, either. As down as his mood had been a couple hours ago, it was that far up now.

After supper, he went to his room, grabbed his books and practically ran up to Mary Margaret's room. Yeah, her roommate would be there, but so what: they were a couple out in the open now, and all that they could do was study anyway, what with her period. After all, she'd let him know that sex was off limits for a few days.

When he knocked on the door, Sarah answered, and said, "Hang on a minute, she's changing, before hearing her roomie say, "It's OK, I'm changing in the bathroom." Sarah let Danny in, and he went and sat down on Mary Margaret's bed, waiting for her to come out.

Oh, man, this was tough! She came out in another nightshirt, a light grey one, again, slit up both sides almost to her hips. This time, she had shorts on underneath it, but he knew that she had ditched her bra, when he saw her toss it in her dirty clothes hamper along with the other things she'd been wearing. It was a red one, nothing particularly fancy, but it wound up on top of the clothes in the basket, always in his eyesight. When she came out, she gave him a quick kiss before bouncing up on the bed, cross-legged and getting out their study stuff.

Sarah was doing her own homework, sometimes at her desk, and other times while sitting on her bunk, cross-legged in a mirror of Mary Margaret. She studied Danny, surreptitiously, to see what was really there. Sarah had her own boyfriend, a cute one, too, but she thought that yeah, Mary Margaret had done good for herself. Danny was still too skinny, and he had an angular face, one that could be interesting. All in all, he wasn't a boyfriend any girl would be embarrassed about having, other than that awful gay porno he got caught in.

Maybe it was because he was her roommate's boyfriend that Sarah couldn't help but think about that awful porno. Mary Margaret had seen it, heck everyone in the dorm had seen it, though MM might not have seen the whole thing, or tried to ignore parts of it. To Sarah, it was like a train wreck, so awful that she couldn't not watch, couldn't turn away. Her boyfriend turned out to not be happy about her having seen it, since she'd resisted his appeals for butt sex by telling him that if he wanted to fuck somebody in the ass, he needed to go find a queer boy.

Yeah, that was awful, just like the 'fag whore' name that had been hung on Danny after the porno became public knowledge. Reading the news, you'd thing that gays would be everywhere, but if there were any lesbians on her dorm floor, no one knew about it. Danny got singled out so badly because if there were any gay guys in the dorm, they were deeply hidden in the closet. Considering how Danny got treated, no wonder that they kept being gay to themselves!

But it was obvious that Danny was exactly what he said he was, straight, to look at Mary Margaret and him. Maybe MM wasn't sure if Danny loved her, or whether she loved him, but Sarah could see it, see how they looked at each other. She had a boyfriend, had had several boyfriends, but no guy had ever looked at her the way Danny looked at Mary Margaret. That Brandon guy must be awesome if she couldn't choose between Danny and him.

Damn! Who would have ever thought that she'd be jealous of Mary Margaret for having Danny as a boyfriend?

"Hey, Danny," Sarah said, as he was giving her roomie yet another light kiss, "if you're going to keep kissing her, then kiss her like you mean it!"

They both looked at Sarah, kind of surprised, and Sarah egged them on some more. "Don't be shy, kiss her like a man should kiss!" With that, they giggled a bit, and then Danny drew her in for a long, deep, soulful kiss.

And then another.

And another.

Sarah bounced up, grabbed her purse, keys and coat and said, "OK, you two, you've got two hours! Would you get going? And Danny, it ain't much of a warrior who won't fight on a bloody battlefield!" Then she headed on out.

Danny and Mary Margaret just kind of sat there, a bit dumbfounded, looking at each other, before she said, kind of softly, "No, we can't do that, it's way too nasty."

But Danny wasn't to be denied. Sarah had given him the opening, and MM's resistance was only half-hearted. He could tell, they both could tell, that she wanted Danny as much as he wanted her. His kisses were building up the heat in her, hotter and hotter. That much he could tell, though he wasn't sure if she could get over the final hump of making love during her period.

In her mind, she didn't know, either. Oh, man, she was so turned on! Her body wanted this, really wanted this, and her cramps just seemed to have vanished. Her head said no, no way, but her heart was saying yes, oh my God, yes.

Then Danny reached down to her waist, took the hem of her nightshirt, which had bunched up around her waist, and slowly pulled it off of her. A momentary hesitation, a shyness came over her, as she realized that Danny hadn't ever seen her topless, and then she realized, she wanted him to see her, wanted him to touch her, ached to make love to him, and then raised her arms in silent consent.

Well, maybe she could just get him off with her mouth, she thought. That would give Danny pleasure without the messiness of making love during her period. After all, she'd done that a couple of times before with old, sad boyfriends, and while she hadn't particularly liked sucking guys off, it was at least tolerable. She reached down herself, to tug off Danny's t-shirt, admiring the leanness of his chest. Yeah, he'd lost too much weight, and he never did have big muscles, but his low body fat meant that what he did have was well defined. Reaching further down, she pulled his belt undone, and tried to unsnap his jeans.

However, seated as they were, his jeans were just too tight to unbutton, even though they were big on him. So Danny stood up, kicked off his tennis shoes and then pulled off his jeans, undies and socks, all at once. His cock was fully ready, and Mary Margaret liked that.

But then Danny walked into the bathroom, surprising her. Did he have to pee? That was an untimely interruption, but then he walked back out, carrying three of her towels. Pulling the bedspread and blanket off, he put the towels down on her bed. "Oh, my God, Danny, are you sure about this?"

"Yes, I'm sure, I love you and I want to make love to you."

Oh, my God, he told me that he loves me! That was it, Mary Margaret threw her arms around his neck, kissing him again, while Danny hooked his fingers in her shorts and pulled them down and off, taking her panties along with them. Naked in front of each other, in the light, for the first time, was like a revelation, to both of them.

Danny marveled at her body. Her skin was clear and winter pale, it was soft and warm. Her light brown hair was matched by her soft curls below, and her red-painted toenails provided a dramatic bit of color. She looked strong and solid, not skinny by any means, but just plain fit. He had felt her figure before, Monday night in his room, and earlier this evening, kissing on her bed, but this, this was a woman out of a dream. Her hips weren't out-of-proportion big, her butt taut, her breasts just perfectly sized for the rest of her figure. Both standing, they came together for another kiss, and a tight hug. Mary Margaret couldn't help herself, didn't want to help herself, as she whispered, "I love you, Danny."

A slight tremble came over her, as she realized that she wasn't quite naked, but had that ugly white string hanging down. "Are you really sure?" she asked him, getting a huge smile and a soft "Yes" in return.

Steeling herself, Mary Margaret broke apart from him, saying "Be right back," as she stepped into the bathroom to remove her tampon. She hated being away from Danny for even a second, but she was only gone for ten. Striding back in, with a confidence she didn't think she had, she kissed him again, then laid down on her bed, careful to keep the towels under her hips.

And then Danny came to her. Her arms opened widely, to wrap around her lover, as he laid down on the bed, then rose up on his hands and knees, to slowly push inside of her.

As wonderful as their first night had been, this seemed even better. She had shut off the overhead light, but the desk lamps kept the room softly illuminated. Where their first time had been in an almost dark room, where they could see each other only as shadows, now they could see each other clearly. Her light grey eyes met his brown ones, as they tried to look into each other's soul while their bodies slowly made love.

Just as before, she reached around him, her hands on his back, silently communicating what she liked, what she wanted. Her fingertips conveyed when she wanted him to move harder and faster, or slower and softer, and Danny kept changing pace to match her need.

It was like magic for Mary Margaret! As clearly as she was communicating her desires to him, it was still subconscious, and to her, it just seemed that Danny instinctively knew what she needed. Her climax was rising in her, strongly and quickly, but it was different than on Monday, hotter, more intense, and her climax hit her almost without warning. Incoherent cries escaped her throat, and her fingertips curled, digging her nails into Danny's back as she tightened her grip in her passion.

But, unlike Monday, Danny didn't have his orgasm along with her; he was hot and needy, but knew he could last longer. Pushing hard into her as her nails dug into his back, he made his strokes slow, but with full pressure behind them when they came together. His arms were tense, his legs and ass taut, a sheen of sweat forming on his forehead, as he was showing her his strength without slamming down into her hard. It wasn't long before he could see, and feel, her climax rising up again. Her fingertips once again turned to her nails, and she wrapped her legs around his waist, holding on as for dear life, when her orgasm hit her again, not a slow wash but hard and fast and more intense than before. Danny saw it rising, could tell when it was going to hit, and as it did, he stopped holding back and emptied himself inside of her.

And then they laughed! The tension had broken, and both of them were consumed with joyous, happy laughter. They held each other, still kissing, but now lightly again, as the intensity of lovemaking has passed. She kissed his nose, he kissed her forehead and eyes and ears.

Finally she said, "OK, you, we've made a huge mess and we need to clean up before Sarah gets back." Still, she was smiling through the whole thing.

"OK, yuck, look what you made me do," as she saw her thighs half covered in blood, and two of the towels with plenty of red on them as well. Danny had been on top, so he hadn't gotten it quite as badly, but his cock was a dark blood red as well, and his pubes sticky with the encrusted mess. But it didn't matter, as she grabbed the towels, and then led Danny into the bathroom. The shower wasn't really meant for two, but they managed, soaping each other up, cleaning each other off. The one unstained towel would just have to do for both of them. Mary Margaret only shooed him out to put in a new tampon.

They laid back down on the bed, still naked, but pulling the sheet over themselves, for when Sarah would get back; she was due any time now. Studying was forgotten, and all that was left was sweet chatter and smiles. Deep in her mind, kept entirely to herself, Mary Margaret thought, no more messing around; I've taken my decision, and my lover.