Author's notes:
I would like to take the time to apologize in advance for a slight unorthodox opening chapter. It is basically a rambling introduction to an intimate friendship between Joshua and Michelle. I plan for chapter 1 to actually be a flashback between Michelle and her new lover. From chapter two onward I plan to explore the chaotic friendship of a guy and a gal with benefits rooming together while going to graduate school.
An Introduction
His name was Joshua Townsend. He was a twenty-five year old student entering his second year of graduate studies. At the present moment he was seeking his Masters in computer science. His time was evenly divided between his credit load and the research necessary for beginning a working draft of his thesis. It was the ability of machines to rewrite code through the implementation of learning neural networks.
What, however, was pulling more and more time from his schooling was his current (live-in) girlfriend, Michelle Casanova. The two met during his first year of graduate studies. In the beginning the two of them had just been friends. Oddly enough, they had met because of proximity of their living arrangements. The two at the time were living in campus housing, in a nontraditional student dormitory (on different floors).
(How it all began)
The two had got to talking one day. He had held the elevator in the lobby for her, it was rainy outside, she was soaked (as was he), and two had struck up a conversation about the weather. Over the course of the next few weeks, the two would seemingly run into each other at odd intervals. In time, they would become close, but remained just friends. This was because of her living arrangement at the time.
Michelle was a bi-sexual girl, though she considered herself to be mostly a lesbian. She, however, did not fit the stereotypical image of what Joshua thought a lesbian should look like (either butch or lipstick). To him she was just a girl, and seemed no different than any of his previous girlfriends. She was by no means an activist; she came from a somewhat conservative family. In the spring semester, however, her world would come crashing down around her. The girl that she had been seeing, Monique Morrison, would leave her for another woman. The woman was an anonymous blond of Nordic ancestry who played the part of an ice queen towards both Joshua and Michelle. A wall of separation became apparent and the friendship of Monique was lost in the transition.
It was during this time that the two of them became a little closer. They went out drinking a couple of times. He was not a big drinker and neither was she, however. They mostly used this time to scout for potential fill in mates for her. In less than subtle ways she gave hints at her need for companionship. It wasn't until about their fourth date together that she finally revealed that she was not a lesbian, but actually bi-sexual, but not all that experienced with men.
Little more was said of her wants from the previous night. At the time he had believed her confession to be spurred on by her cognitive state. She had been somewhat drunk, had come on to him, and actually made him very uncomfortable (though, truthfully aroused). The next day when he confronted her about, she did confess that she was mildly attracted to men. She, however, downplayed the nature of her confession somewhat. The two of them remained friends.
During the summer months, she spent an equal amount of time looking for a roommate and a lover off campus. She desperately wanted to leave campus housing behind her. From their brief correspondence by email (he had been visiting his parent's at the time), it became obvious that she had met several women, but none of them turned out to be the "one." It was somewhat subtle that she had been sleeping around, but he did not have the courage to confront her about it. Instead, he left hints about possibly coming and rooming with him until she could find a place to stay.
He had moved out over winter break into an apartment. It was a single bedroom, with a study (that could be converted in another bedroom). It was on the eleventh floor, on the bus route, and a bargain. He had got the information necessary to apply for the unit through a friend in the department. The cash necessary had actual come from a previous settlement during his undergraduate years. It basically was hush money that had been paid out for somewhat unethical behavior that he had partaken in. It was by no means an illegal activity, but the large payment allowed a certain individual to keep their dignity. In response, he had originally tried to decline the money, however, when it became obvious that he had little choice, he had taken it and invested it. At the time he had been twenty, a second year sophomore, who was confused, and in the process of making a major change from psychology to computer science (his father had been a psychiatrist).
Returning to campus around the end of July, it surprised him somewhat to find that she was willing to take him up on his offer. During the first weeks of August he helped her (with some friends) move into his place. She did not have that much furniture, though she did have a lot of clothes, books, and other personal items.
The spare computer room that he had been housing old hardware, mostly servers and other obsolete ware in was moved to a friend's place. With the computer hardware now gone, her room was essentially identical to his. Her room was a little longer, however. The room had housed a coffee table, sofa, and a single end table at the far end of the room. It surprised him when she requested to keep the furniture.
Moving in, she than placed down a massive rug. On top of this she positioned a queen size bed, which she had just purchased. A nightstand with a black compact flight went to the right. Overhead, he installed a ceiling fan, and than she proceeded to jam as much clothing into her closet as he believed was possible. As for her entertainment lifestyle, she had very little. Her only items were a Black Mac Book, iPod player (nano for running), and an iPhone. She, however, did enjoy watching his 42" LCD HDTV, mostly because it housed a three-way digital turner, and had an attached X-box 360 gaming unit. Surprisingly, the girl was quiet addicted to online gaming, mostly of the fast shooting-um-up first person games.
The gravity of his situation did not hit him until the following weekend, a good two weeks before classes were scheduled to start. That evening she had come out of the shower wearing only an ivy white pair of jockey hi-cut panties and a long sleeve sweat shirt. It was evident that she was not wearing a bra because of the way her bust strained against the material. Up until now, she had been very modest around him. This was the most that he had seen her undressed, and she was by no means even semi naked. At no point had she even tried to position any feminine toiletries in the bathroom beyond the typical shampoo, body wash, and facial soaps and cleansers. Not a tampon or vibrator insight, which made him a little more comfortable, but yet at the same time, worried him some too. He wondered if she was really all that at ease staying with him.
Strangely though, he felt his member swell for the first time, and it became clear to him that he was living an illusion. It was more of a lie than a figment of his imagination. Still, it was a reality distortion nonetheless. He was wasting money, to rent a nice place, and for what? To impress a girl that saw him as nothing more than a kind of wingman to escort her downtown as she barhopped and hooked-up with other chicks.
He had noticed a startling change in her behavior pattern upon moving in though. The bar scene had virtually disappeared. She still went out, a little more than he was comfortable with (mostly himself, he was more introverted). She, however, rarely got drunk anymore. Further, she never brought girls home; at least not to spend the night.
Coming back to the present, he noticed that she was starring at him. She had noticed him giving her the eye. He dipped his head, blushed a little. He turned and began to walk away.
"Wait," she called after him.
