The Chronicles of Mar and Jennifer

Jennifer's story: 6:07 PM Sunday

"Hey, girl, how'd your weekend go?" Monica asked me. Rachel and she just got back, I guess from dinner in the cafeteria. I was at my desk doing my calculus homework; exams are only a few weeks away.

"Oh, it was really good; my parents like Mark, they really like him."

"Even your dad?"

"Dad especially, dad was easier on Mark than my mom was. And I met Mrs Stewart, and she's a pretty cool lady, but she's tough, really tough. Mark hasn't told me too much, but I think that she's had a rough life."

"Oh, so what's Mark's home like?"

"I don't know, we never got there; my mom invited Mrs Stewart to the farm for dinner on Saturday."

"That's cool; I guess that your parents really do like Ma . . .

Jennifer! What's that?!

"Oh, that? That's just my engagement ring." I said that as innocently as I could, but I'd been dying to tell the girls about it. Monica and Rachel practically jumped on me, yelling and squealing and hugging me.

"Really? No

way!

Oh my God, Jennifer, tell us the story!

Alice must've heard the commotion down the hall, because she came running, and within a minute the room was filled with girls.

"Well, if I've got the story right, my dad was showing Mark around the farm, and Mark asked about this old log cabin there. My dad told Mark the story about how that was my mother's and his first home together, that that was where they spent their wedding night, and that my dad had asked my mom's father for her hand in marriage."

Alice jumped in, "Oh, my God, he didn't?"

"Yes, he did: Mark actually asked my father for my hand in marriage! And dad told him that that was up to me, but gave him, gave Mark, his blessing to go ahead and ask!" All of the girls were jumping up and down at this point. "So, Mark took me down to the cabin a bit later, and he proposed!"

"Damn, Jennifer, that's awfully quick. I mean, you had your first date what, a week and a half ago?"

"I know, I know, but Mark was already talking around the subject, and my mother was like 'there will be no more talk about

that

, young man,' but my dad might actually have been pushing it a bit. Actually, I knew that things were going really well when I heard my parents making love Friday night, after they had both met Mark."

"Really? That's just so cool!" That was Monica.

"Anyway, mom had Mark call his mother over for a celebratory dinner on Saturday, and Mrs Stewart gave me a

lot

tougher inquisition than my mom had done with Mark, but I was pretty sure that she liked me anyway, and that she was even prepared to like me. She knew that Mark didn't have a lot of money for a ring, and I didn't need one anyway, but Mrs Stewart brought this for Mark to give to me: it was her mother's engagement ring."

Vivian put in, "You know, if your parents are looking to adopt another daughter, I'm ready; everyone in your family, and I guess than means Mrs Stewart as well, sounds just so great. And they didn't even want to shoot Mark for sleeping with you?"

"Well, I kind of defused that with my mother by telling her that I asked him, he didn't seduce me. Then mom, she actually asked Mark if I was the first girl he'd slept with, and Mark said yes."

"Is that really true?" Monica asked.

"That's what he said, and I'm pretty sure he's telling the truth."

"Does your father know?"

"Well,

I

sure didn't tell him, but mom knows, and I don't know if she told him. But I'll tell you what, there isn't much that gets past my father. I'd guess that if he didn't already know, he will before too much longer."

"So, why are you here, instead of at Mark's apartment?"

"He's at work. He works at the language lab from five to nine on Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. I guess that I'll see him again for breakfast"

"Jennifer," Rachel started seriously, "do y'all really know what you're doing?"

"No, not in the slightest, but it feels magical. I mean, I had no idea love could be like this."

Eventually, the crowd thinned out, and I was able to get back to my homework. Still, it was hard to concentrate: not only was the whirlwind courtship and engagement spinning through my mind, but I had the cramps, worse than usual. Still, that was a good thing: I started my period this morning, and that meant that I could not only start the birth control pills, but that, since my period started on Sunday, they'd be effective right away, or, at least, that's what the nurse at Planned Parenthood said. Mark works tonight and tomorrow night, so my period won't be a problem, but he is off on Tuesday, and even though he has a late chem lab, he'll probably want to get together. I really do want to make love with him again, but I can't do that during my period. I know that he'd understand, but that would mean telling him that I'm on my period, and that's just way too embarrassing.

Heck, I don't know if Mark even knows that women have periods, or, if he does, what they're like.

Mark's nineteenth birthday is coming up next Saturday, the 22nd, and I know

just

what to give him for a birthday present!, I kind of giggled to myself. The thing is, my parents bring me home every weekend, and there's just no way we can make love in my parents' home, of his mother's house, either, I'd imagine. I know that mom would understand, if I told her I wanted to stay in Lexington this weekend, but that doesn't mean she'd approve. And that would mean that my dad would figure things out, if he doesn't already know. I just have to figure out how to ask my mom if I can stay here this weekend. I could tell her that I have exams coming up soon, but she'd see right through that, and besides, I can't lie to my mother, I just can't.

Oh, gosh, this ring is just so

pretty!

"Monica, can I ask you something?" I started. This was hard.

"Sure, Jennifer, what's up?"

"Ummm, you see, well there's just so much that, oh, Monica, I don't know what I'm doing! I mean, with Mark."

"Does this mean you're worried that you're moving too fast, or is this a sex question?" Thank the Lord, Monica figured it out without me having to say it.

"Uhhh, it's the latter."

"I thought you said that your first time was wonderful, and that the next morning sex was wonderful again."

"It was, it was, but there's still so much I don't know, and I don't think Mark knows, either. I mean, it was his first time, too."

Oh, my God, Monica's talk was an eye opener! She told me about oral sex, and said that yeah, it sounds gross, but once you try it, you'll know that it isn't, that it's fantastic, and she told me about a couple of different positions to try, but I have no idea how I'd ever bring these up with Mark. Then there was this book,

Our Bodies, Ourselves,

that she'd gotten from Sqecial Media, an off-campus bookstore right across the street, and I looked through it, and,

whoa,

there was a lot of stuff in there. I mean, some of the stuff was kind of embarrassing, but it was eye-opening, too. I knew what sex was, the very basics, before, and our first times together were just so special, but there's so much more in here that I'd never heard of. I guess that I hadn't really ever talked with the other girls about sex, certainly not in high school, and not really here before, so there was just so much I didn't know.

Guys talk; I wonder how much of this stuff Mark knows or has heard about. I mean, some of this stuff sounds like maybe it could be fun, but I don't know how I could ever suggest it. Then again, I did get on top our first time, because Ellen had told me that made a woman's first time easier, and Mark didn't seem too shocked or upset about that, about me taking the lead.

Jennifer's story: Monday morning

The phone rang, at 7:15, just like I expected, and it was Mark, asking me to breakfast once again. I just love seeing him in the morning, it's just a really special way to start the day. Well, not as special as last Friday morning, waking up in Mark's arms, but it just seems to right to see him in the morning, and it makes the day go so wonderfully. We were able to talk about marriage for real now, and how he wanted to fix up the cabin for us, and for our wedding night. I caught a couple of looks from another table, as these other students must have overheard our conversation, but they seemed to be smiling.

It was off to our 8 AM classes, calculus for me. Mark takes calc, too, just not in the same session as I do. I actually have a professor, while Mark is stuck with a grad student teaching assistant, an Asian guy whom I gather has a fairly heavy, hard-to-understand accent, and talks to the blackboard more than to the class. Mark said that he understood it pretty easily, but most of the other students were having problems, and some had already dropped the class. Of course, Mark was always a math whiz, the first one to finish tests in high school, and always got an A in math and science classes. If he hadn't been so disinterested in the other classes, he'd have been a straight A student.

"Hey, Matthews," my back-of-the-class admirer said to me. "Are you still with that boyfriend you mentioned last Friday? I really am still interested, you know. And I don't even know your first name; all I've ever heard is 'Miss Matthews' from the teach."

"It's Jennifer, but I'm afraid that you are

really

too late now," and then I showed him my engagement ring.

"Oh, man, I'm sorry. I'd never have asked if I had known that. I apologize. But I'll say one thing: some guy sure is a lucky man."

Stacey, the girl who sits next to me in calculus, got really wide-eyed at that. "Jennifer, when did this happen? And let me see that ring! Oh, wow, that is really pretty." Then she whispered, "How'd you go from those long skirts to too-cute coed to engaged in what, two weeks?"

"The truth? My dorm mates helped with the look, but, quite frankly, God sent Mark to me. There's really no other explanation."

Mark's story

"Hey, dude, where have you been? We haven't seen you for a week now." I went to the Student Center coffee shop after my 8 AM class, and met up with my usual friends, instead of going to the library with Jen. She had said that she wasn't feeling particularly good, and that she needed some time to catch up on her studying with exams getting close. Yeah, if she doesn't buckle down, she'll get only 96s instead of 100s on her exams! Still, we've come so far, so fast, that I don't want to be pushy.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Let me guess: it was either a week-long drunk, or a girl." That was the other Mark, Mark Morgan from my chemistry and chemistry lab classes.

"Do I strike you as the week-long drunk type?"

"OK, then, who is she, and what does she look like?"

"And did you get in her pants?" Jeff chimed in.

"Her name is Jennifer Matthews, and she's from my hometown. I was friends with her in junior high and high school, and there was never anything there, but then we just got together on campus a week and a half ago."

"So, what's she look like?"

"She's pretty, really pretty, with long blonde hair down to here," and I chopped my hand down to my waist.

"Real blonde or bottle blonde?"

"Real blonde, but it's a kind of darker blonde, I guess that you call it honey blonde, but her hair is just spectacular. She's got these amazing blue eyes, kind of a lighter blue, but blue-blue, not grey-blue. And she's a brain, really smarty, class valedictorian, and . . . "

"If she's that smart, what is she doing with you? And you still never answered the question." That was Jeff again.

"I'm not so dumb myself, you know, and I'm a lot smarter than you are." We had always joked about that, but I'm not so sure that my tone wasn't quite as joking this time around.

"So, did you close the deal, or not?"

"Yeah, I closed the deal: we're

engaged,

dude!"

"Oh, shit, you knocked her up!"

"No, I did not 'knock her up.' It's just that, well, it was like some insane magic spell, and things just took off. Our first actual date was a week and a half ago."

"What? And you're already engaged?"

"Yup!"

"So, when do we get to meet Miss Jennifer Matthews of the blonde hair down to her ass?"

"She has blonde hair down to her

waist

, not her ass, and if you are going to say 'ass' to her, or anything else you shouldn't say, the answer is that you'll never meet her. There will be

no

profanity around Jen."

The other Mark looked at Jeff and said, "Dude has it

bad!

"

"Oh, yeah,

real

bad. So, when do we get to meet her and tell her what a louse and a loser you are?"

"OK,

if

you guys promise to behave yourself, you can meet her here, tomorrow morning; we usually have breakfast together before our 8 AM classes. But no rotten comments, no profanity, and no sex jokes."

"Damn, Mark, what the heck is all of that?"

"Jen is just a very religious girl, and she'd never say anything, but I don't want you guys to offend her."

Rachel's story: Monday afternoon

"Hey, Rachel." Jennifer just knocked and came into my room. "You know that blue print dress of yours, the one that looks like men's dress shirt material?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"What do you think a dress like that would look like on me?"

"Oh, good grief, Jennifer, you're so pretty that anything would look good on you. But that dress is a good six or seven inches above the knee; you sure that you'd want to wear something like that?"

"Well, maybe I'd like it a little bit longer, but not down to my knees."

"Jennifer Matthews, in a mini? What on earth has that boy

done

to you?"

"You know very well what he's done to me." I couldn't believe it; Jennifer Matthews was teasing about sex!

"Hang on, let me get it out, and you can try it on." So, I opened up the closet, and pulled it out. Jennifer took the dress, turned her back to me, and pulled off her shirt; she wore a bra today. Then she put the dress on, and, after it was on, pulled her jeans down and off. She wasn't as uncomfortable as before, but she was still a bit shy.

"Oh, Jennifer, that dress looks awesome on you! You've got really great legs, and that dress shows them off without being too much. If you wore heels, you'd kill every guy on campus."

"I think that I'll skip the heels; I've never worn them before, and wouldn't know how to walk in them. But my sandals would go pretty good with something like this."

"You can't wear pantyhose with those sandals you have."

"I'll skip the hose; I've never worn that stuff before, either. But now I know what to look for." With that, Jennifer turned back around to take my dress back off. While she could pull her jeans off after she had the dress on, she couldn't easily put them back on without taking of the dress, and there shy little Jennifer was, her back to me, of course, but in just her bra and bikini panties. Will wonders never cease?

"There are some dress shops downtown I could walk to. Would you like to come with me? I still have some of that clothing money that the girls got together for me, almost $80 left."

"Sure, let me grab my shoes and purse."

Anyway, we headed downtown, about a 25 minute walk, but pleasant enough on a warmish April day, It took a couple of stores, but we finally found the dress Jennifer wanted. It was just a hair longer than the one of mine she had tried on, but it was still five or six inches above the knee, and that was a big change for her. The dress was a light green, which contrasted well with her long blonde hair and blue eyes. It was casual enough to wear with flats, but would also look good with heels, if she would ever try those.

"So, when do you plan on wearing this?" I asked Jennifer on the walk back to the dorm.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe tomorrow, or maybe for Mark's birthday on Saturday. I want it to be a surprise for him."

"Believe me, honey, it will be, it will be. Heck, I remember the look on his face when you came downstairs for your first date."

"You know, Rachel, this is all just so new to me. I never did any of this stuff before two weeks ago, never polished my nails, never worried about my hair, and never, ever thought I'd be wearing a short dress out in public, much less for a specific guy."

"Hey, you're in love, and you're trying to look your best for a very special guy. You have no idea just how jealous the rest of us are that such a perfect guy fell into your hands, while the rest of us are dealing with guys who think that they're men but are still just boys. We were all so excited for you when you started dating Mark, but, truth is, there are a few girls on the floor who'd snatch him up in a heartbeat if you ever dumped him."

"Really?"

"Hell, he's so nice, I'd go after him is he was free. Sure, I've been trying to help, and I'm your friend, but yeah, I'm as jealous of you as I can be. You've got top grades, a set academic path, great looks, a wonderful family and a great boyfriend; what girl wouldn't be jealous of that? About the only thing you don't have is money. Hell, Alice has money, and she'd trade it in for a guy who loved her the way Mark loves you. Jennifer, don't you ever, ever let him go."

Jennifer's story: Tuesday morning

Mark called me last night, after he got off of work, and said that a couple of his friends wanted to meet me when we had breakfast this morning. I was going to surprise Mark with the dress I bought yesterday, but I think that I'll save that for another time. But, deep down, I really did want to dress to impress, and I did something I've never done by myself before: I used the nail polish remover to get rid of the old polish, and polished my finger and toe nails again. It was kind of awkward, but my nails trimmed up nicely, and look good. But I never, ever expected to be doing this kind of girly stuff, and I'm still awkward about it. I pulled on the jeans that Rachel gave me, the ones from my first date, and a sleeveless blouse I had bought; I never really pictured myself in it, but Monica said that it looked really stylish. It's a pale blue, not see-through at all, but it's very flatteringly cut for me. Still, it's just so

different

for me to be thinking this way. I put my hair up in a ponytail this morning, because it just seemed to fit the look better. Two weeks ago, I'd have never given that a second thought.

I know that Mark might be hoping that we can spend the night together, and I'd really like that, but I'm still on my period. Monica told me that yeah, people can have sex when the woman is on her period, but that still seems so messy and just plain gross, and I don't want to try that yet. I mean, I guess that I'll be comfortable with Mark knowing about my period once we're married and living together, because I'll have to get used to it, but it still seems just too weird right now. I mean, we were just standing around naked in his apartment last Friday, like that was the most normal thing in the world, and that was a huge change for me, but this one, I think that I'll just pass on for now. Anyway, I already rehearsed my answer for when Mark asks me over for the night, "It's just not a good time of the month for that," and I hope that he understands what that means. I mean, I

think

that he must have heard the expression before. I remembered to take my pill this morning.

Heading down the stairs, I saw Mark, and he flashed a huge smile when he saw me. I know that he loves me, but I wonder if a little bit of that is showing me off to his friends. I know I shouldn't think that way, but I remember how I felt when I realized that people were checking out my boyfriend, how I felt having people see me walking hand-in-hand with this man, so I suppose that I can't fault him on this. Still, while it was kind of exciting when I was getting ready, it's also a bit scary now that we're actually going to meet them.