Note: I submitted this story for the April Fools Contest but failed due to haste to re-read and edit it properly. I learned a valuable lesson. I received quite a few encouraging comments and critiques, and a few not so productive. I have edited and corrected the things that were pointed out and also some glaring errors in consistency and spelling I found along the way, things I usually am very fastidious about. The following is the story I wanted to submit. It has love scenes where appropriate but is primarily a story about an extraordinary couple who's love affair is very moving. Please give it another read. I know it is long, it was a story that took a life of its own and I went along for the ride until it was told. I hope this edited version restores my reputation....a little.
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Andrew looked forward to the April Fool's party that was hosted every year by the men's dorm known as Roland Hall. It was a party open to the whole campus and was attended by a large number of the students, male and female. It was a non-thematic costume party, meaning you could wear whatever you wanted and many of the girls wore 'skimpy' or less. The party had a reputation of free flowing beer and hot running women. It was also known for its epic pranks.
Andrew didn't usually like beer parties but he did like women so the fact that there would be a lot of women at this party and they would likely be scantily clad and a little tipsy piqued his interest. He thought maybe he would be able to meet a woman he could date for a while, or at least once...maybe.
All the guys thought he was a big stud, and Andrew did nothing to dispel that reputation. He was 5' 10" with broad shoulders and a thin waist. He weighed 195 pounds stark naked. He had boxed in High school and did pretty well, undefeated in his weight class but had hurt his hand before the finals and had to forfeit the championship. He had an instinct for pugilism, he seemed to be able to read what his opponent was about to do. He wasn't sure how, he just knew. He knew he could have won, for he had beat the guy who won the championship every year before. But he was glad to be done with boxing, He liked playing the cello better and you needed healthy hands for that.
He was good looking, at least that was what the few girls he dated told him. He had sandy blond hair that bleached out to almost platinum in the summer sun and pale blue eyes. But in spite of all the physical attributes, Andrew had a secret: He was a really nice guy and... he was a virgin. He had only dated casually in High School and never got close enough to a girl to want to have sex with her. Correction: he wanted to have sex but he never got to know a girl well enough to actually have that happen.
Andrew was not interested in the girls that were what all the guys called 'easy', the ones who practically threw themselves at you. He was brought up to believe that sex was special and was ideally saved for your life partner. It was a little old fashioned but he believed that was the best way. As the most intimate of human interactions it should at the very least be held in highest esteem, a precious commodity. Still he knew the strong urging, the pull from within his loins, the heat of lust that never quite went away every minute of his young life.
Preparations for the party had begun at the beginning of semester. The guys at Roland Hall (they called them selves the Roland Rollers) used the student rumor mill to spread the word about details to expect since the party was just barely authorized. The University had a no alcohol policy that was loosely enforced and there had been past pranks that went wrong landing the University in the news papers. Still the administration had come short of forbidding the party as it would almost certainly drive the event completely underground, or worse off campus where there would be no controls or enforcement whatsoever.
The rumors promised lots of beer, drugs, loud music, lewd games and contests, nudity, and sex. In many ways it was just the kind of thing Andrew usually avoided, he wasn't really interested in any of those things except the nudity and sex and he visualized himself participating pretty much as a voyeur. But there would be nice girls there too, who, like himself, merely wanted to have at least one wild college party under their belt and let down their hair at the end of a year of hard work and diligent study. God, that was something he needed!
Andrew lived at home to save money but some of his friends lived in the dorm and were in on the planning representing the Freshmen Rollers on the committee. Paul was one of them. Andrew and Paul had been friends in high school. Paul's family moved during his senior year but Paul was allowed to stay behind with his uncle to graduate with his friends. He had already been accepted at the University but had to sign up for on-campus residence.
Paul was Andrew's friend but he could be an asshole. He was the football star in high school and got a scholarship to play for the University. He was very confident in his value as an athlete and his value to women. He was a little conceited and wasn't happy being stuck in one of the general population dorms, but to his credit, he took it in stride and joined in dorm life and in a leadership role at that. That really didn't surprise Andrew because Paul was a leader. For good or ill, people looked to him to take control and lead the way. Andrew followed too, but he wasn't completely confident in Paul's wisdom and goals. Most of the time the things he did were self serving and that bothered Andrew.
One of the traditional games/pranks that occurred every year intrigued Andrew, though he felt guilty that he wanted to participate in it. It was basically a set up to give men and women a chance to fondle and grope members of the opposite sex without any expectations or consequences. It was called "the Dark Room". All the rooms at Roland were arranged in Suites two dorm rooms attached by toilet and shower facilities. Several rooms were set up with every source of light blacked out.
A random boy was ushered into the room through one suite and a girl was admitted through the other suite then left to themselves for 15 minutes. The pair was given a two minute warning of the end of their allotted time then required to separate and subsequently escorted out when the period was done, Simple, easy, no guilt, no consequences since you didn't know who you were with. It was forbidden to talk, and to actually have coitus, but everything else was up to the individuals.
Today was April 1 and Andrew had two exams today. The party was tomorrow night April 2nd, It was beyond ironic that this week was midterms, postponed 2 weeks by the University due to the freezing weather and snow. APRIL FOOLS! Andrew hoped that he didn't get any "surprises" that would turn him into an April Fool. He was a good student and usually got 'A's and 'B's but the classes today had really been rough.
As a music major, most people, especially his buddies, thought he was dogging it in an "easy" major. They had never taken Music Theory! The music theory classes were the most difficult classes he had every taken! The complexity and depth of the subject escaped the casual listener. Andrew was glad he had taken a college prep course in high school, otherwise he would have certainly flunked out. The topic was so deep and the profs went so fast it was a struggle even for him, who had participated in Orchestra and Choir since he was 10. Other less prepared music students had either dropped out or changed majors.
Andrew started playing the piano when he was seven and then took the cello when he was in 4th grade. He loved it so much he decided he wanted to go into music education. He wanted to be a music teacher, probably at the secondary level. He didn't care if it was orchestra or choir or both, he just knew that was what he wanted to do. Music was such an important part of the human experience. The Greeks ranked it equal with Math and philosophy.
He had his music theory midterm at 8 A.M. and it was sure to be a bear! It wouldn't be so bad if it didn't count for a full 1/3rd of his grade, the final due end of May and daily work (that was literally 'daily') counted the other 2/3rds. He loved music theory and and had considered changing to being a musicologist, which he could still do at the graduate level. But it would all be for naught if he didn't do well in his music theory exams.
The other exam he had today at 1:00 P.M. was Chemistry 101, a basic ed. requirement and also a 'must pass' to graduate. He wasn't as worried about it, he had enjoyed the class and seemed to be able to "get it" without having to struggle. But there had been surprises in other classes so he didn't take it for granted. He just wished the University would try to spread out the big ones more. Impossible to do, supposedly.
The Music Theory exam went well, he thought, but he still worried. There were so many opportunities to blow it: notating figured bass, harmonic analysis & dictation, interval recognition, Rhythmic dictation, Form analysis. He was exhausted and headed for the SUB to get some coffee and a pastry, to relax and maybe catch a 10 minute nap. He entered the SUB and headed for the food pavilion.
"Andrew, whats happening bro!" He rolled his eyes. He didn't want to talk to anyone, and especially not Ed. Ed was a nice guy and a friend but he wouldn't shut up!
There was never a quiet moment Ed wouldn't fill. If he didn't have anything to say he would start beat box sounds with his mouth, or playing air guitar again with his mouth. Andrew was usually able to ignore it but not today.
