Nerd Rising

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, places, or persons are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are the product of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to real persons, places, or events is entirely coincidental.

All characters engaged in sexual activities are aged 18 years or older.

Special thanks to thewinedarksea and lovefreely1993 for editing this story.

*****

With a sigh of relief, Jeff flopped down onto the bed. That was everything moved in, unpacked, and functioning. It had already been a long day, and for a minute he strongly considered taking a nap; however, he had a resolution to keep.

"No more excuses," he chided himself. University was his chance for a fresh start, and he was going to be sociable, dammit. "There's finally a chance of meeting other people like you, but you have to get off your ass or it'll never happen." Setting off to explore the honors dormitory would be one of the best decisions he ever made.

Turned out, it was easy to improve one's social life, especially when the baseline was zero, one had a fresh audience, and one was eager to talk to people. He opened the door, and found himself in nerd paradise. There were nerds, geeks, artists, techies, and conversations. Intelligent, lively conversations across a whole array of topics, and no one minded him taking part.

He met so many people, the names and faces slowly became a blur. There were his suite-mates (heaven had apparently smiled, and though he still had to share a bathroom, there was no roommate to contend with), Matt and Austin. Then there were Emily, Nate, and Meghan, and at least a dozen other people he talked to that first night, and to his surprise he got on well with all of them. But Jeff wouldn't meet Casey until the next day.

****

It was freshman orientation, and they were standing around outside waiting to be told what to do next. The sun was beating down, burnishing Jeff's coppery hair. Fortunately Jeff was in a group with other honors students, many of whom he'd met the night before, so there were at least people to talk with. Moving through the group, he found himself near a girl of average height he didn't remember meeting. Before he realized it, he was talking to her.

"Hi, how are you? I'm Jeff; I don't think we've met." She turned to face him, and briefly shook the hand he proffered.

"Oh, hi. My name's Casey. I'm great, thanks, and no, I doubt it; I got in pretty late yesterday." She flashed him a smile, and it lit up her face. "So you're in the honors program as well? What are you studying?"

"Yeah, I am. I, uh, I'm majoring in chemistry," he said. Jeff was flustered, and he prayed she didn't notice. He was normally fine at talking to girls, as long as he didn't start thinking about asking one out. But that smile... something about that smile had seared its way into his brain. It brought out the small dimples in her cheeks, and though they scrunched up ever so slightly, her dark brown eyes glittered.

He realized she was talking again. Frantic, he reigned in his thoughts and tried to focus. "Really, me too!" she was saying. "What do you want to do?" He nearly blurted out, "You!" but managed to say something appropriate about cancer research.

They kept talking, and slowly Jeff got his wits back about him. When they discussed classes, they realized that they had identical schedules. They shared a laugh over that; both of them had fought hard not to have a block schedule.

"Well, I guess we'll be seeing a lot of each other," Casey said.

"I reckon so. Maybe we can be study partners, if you don't think that would be too much time together."

She laughed and agreed that study partners sounded like a good idea. The rest of the day passed by quickly, and Jeff managed not to look too much at the toned, dark teak colored legs that emerged from her jean shorts.

That evening, he ate dinner with Matt and Austin, but Jeff was only halfway paying attention to the conversation. He was busy trying not to think about Casey's smile, cute nose, curly black hair, or any other part of her lean, runner's physique.

Don't even think about it. She just wants to be friends. There is absolutely no way she would be interested in a pasty redneck like you

, Jeff thought repeatedly.

****

Jeff saw her again sooner than he expected; they ran into each other at breakfast the next morning and walked to class together. They didn't spend all their time together, but they were in class for three or four hours a day, and every few days they studied and did their homework together for a couple more hours, and they shared many of the same friends. Still, as September went on, Jeff was largely able to pretend he only wanted to be friends. He distracted himself by looking at other girls from time to time, but his thoughts always returned to Casey.

This pattern continued until early October, when Jeff had a strange encounter. The weather had cooled off unusually early, and he was on his way back from the dorm's communal kitchen with a kettle of hot water when he encountered Casey and her roommate, Britney.

"Hey, Jeff! What's up?" Casey asked.

"Not much, just going to make some cocoa and catch up on my reading," Jeff said. "You guys heading to dinner?"

"Yep," said Casey.

Almost at the same time, Britney shot her a smirk and said, "Nice! Casey says you make the best hot chocolate."

Jeff's brain took a split second to catch on; he'd never made hot chocolate for...

Oh!

The metaphorical light bulb lit up.

He struggled to think up a pithy comeback. Fortunately, his lapse was covered by Casey, who didn't quite squeal, "Britney!" and lightly thumped Britney on the shoulder.

Interesting. He'd never seen a black girl blush. Not that her skin was all that dark, but— "Well, ah, anyway, you ladies know where to find me if you need anything," Jeff said. He gave them a polite smile and beat a hasty retreat back to his room, mind reeling.

Safely ensconced once more, he cursed himself for not being smoother. A defiant little voice in his head protested that he was playing it cool, but nope. "Pretty sure that was the worst cover up in history," he muttered.

Jeff had an intense debate with himself. Had Britney been alluding to something, or was this just the female equivalent of guys making jokes at one another's expense? Eventually, he told himself it was just a joke. But then again, Casey

had

blushed.

"A blush doesn't mean anything other than that she was embarrassed. It doesn't mean there's any truth to it," he told himself. "We're just friends!"

The water in his kettle had long since gone cold. Frustrated, Jeff climbed into bed and tried to shut his brain up long enough to get some sleep. His last thought before drifting off was that even though she'd blushed, the corners of her mouth had turned up, like the start of a smile—or maybe like someone trying not to smile.

"We're just friends!"

***

A couple of weeks went by, and though outwardly nothing changed, Jeff felt there was a subtle tension between Casey and he that hadn't been there before. Sometimes he thought he saw her watching him out of the corner of his eye, but when he turned she was reading or typing on her laptop. He wasn't sure if she saw him watching her, either.

Every few days, he considered asking her out, but could never get up the courage. "It's not cowardice," Jeff told himself. "You just respect her too much to mess up your friendship."

Yeah. That was the reason.

It was largely out of boredom that he went to the RA's program that night. Even if he'd never gotten to do any of it, he already knew about safer sex practices. He went figuring that there should be plenty of opportunities to laugh at immature jokes, knowing some of the people in the dorm.

So Jeff went and listened to the program and wasn't disappointed by the crude humor in the background. He was easing towards the stairs to the dorms, pausing to chat with people and laughing openly at Nate (whose antics were already becoming legendary), who had inflated a condom to make a balloon sword and was challenging Ben to a duel, when he found Casey in a ribald conversation with Patrick, Emily, and a few others. Apparently, they were discussing different practices from the program.

He walked up just in time to hear Casey say, "Okay, so one of my gay friends in high school told me to 'use plenty of teeth if you give a guy head.'" She said it with a sort of sheepish smile—and while looking directly at him.

The males adjacent to the conversation, Jeff included, let loose a chorus of disagreement, including, "No!" "Definitely not!" and, "Heck no!"

Behind them, Jeff heard Nate yelp, "What?!" This was, ironically, punctuated by a loud bang as the condom sword exploded. Everyone started laughing at Nate, who looked a bit shell-shocked. Jeff laughed too, but couldn't take his eyes off her. She was watching him as well. No one was paying attention as Nate tried to recover his dignity.

Maybe it was the hilarity of the moment lowering his inhibitions, but suddenly Jeff didn't care anymore.

"Fuck timid," he said. He moved to stand next to her, and spoke quietly, so only Casey could hear. "I can't believe I'm saying this," (he couldn't, actually, and if he stopped to think about it he knew he'd clam up) "and I don't know about the thing with the teeth, but if you were, you know, wanting someone to practice with..."

Casey smiled at him. It was a shy smile, but it somehow promised a lot of things. "Okay," she said. She reached out and ran her fingers down his forearm, and nodded at the stairs. "Are you coming up?" She didn't wait for an answer, just started walking. He didn't need to answer; he just followed her.

She took the stairs to the men's floor and headed toward his end of the hall. He paused for a second when they got to his door; she turned and asked him, "What's up?"

"Hmm? Sorry, nothing," he said, opening the door. They paused again inside.

"So, now what?"

"Um, I didn't really think this through," he murmured. "Sorry, it's just that I'd ah, figured on asking you out. I never figured... you know, so soon."

She smiled sweetly. "No, it's fine. Besides, we've hung out, like, a lot, and I guess we can always come back to that." She suddenly seemed nervous, too. "I, uh, I've never done anything like this before," she said.

Jeff smiled shyly back. "Me either," he said.

Casey moved closer. "So, do we like, kiss, I guess?"

Jeff leaned in. "Yeah," he said, his heart pounding, "that seems like a good place to start."

Her hands pressed lightly against his chest, and moved up to rest on his shoulders; he reached for her waist, slowly, so slowly. Their lips met softly, hardly touching at first, just brushing. His hands moved to the small of her back, drawing her in closer as they moved deeper into the kiss, applying gentle pressure. He pulled back slightly, and Casey moved to follow him. The kiss became hungrier, his lips parting to catch her lower lip, her lips parting to cling to his.

It was amazing. He hadn't kissed anyone since his cousin had given him pointers so that he "wouldn't be a total idiot about it." He drew a hand upward, tracing a line from the small of her back until his fingers rested between her shoulder blades; she moaned softly into his mouth, her fingers gliding along his neck to twine in his hair. She pressed against him, and Jeff felt her mouth soften and her tongue brushing against his lips. He reciprocated, tasting the salt on her lips before joining her in relishing the sensation as their tongues touched, like an electric buzz felt in every taste bud.

As one, they broke off for air, but did not release their embrace. They stood still for a moment, foreheads pressed together, and Jeff breathed in the floral scent of her shampoo. "Wow," said Jeff. "That was—"

"Jeff?"

"Yes?"

"Shut up and kiss me," Casey said.

He wasn't about to argue with that. As their tongues danced, he moved his hands downward, his left to cup a firm buttock through the denim, his right to slip under her shirt and travel along her spine. In answer, her stance widened as she curled a leg partway around his. This only encouraged him more, as he massaged her ass and moved his hand to a new target. He fumbled the clasp twice, but the third time he was rewarded with a gentle snap as her bra came undone.

She gasped slightly and broke their lip-lock to plant a trail of kisses along his jaw and neck. Jeff groaned, and kissed her temple and the tip of her ear, brushing aside the black curls with his nose. "The bed," he whispered.

She smiled, her eyes sparkling, and she skipped over to plop down on his bed, kicking off her shoes and socks. While Casey moved, Jeff checked to make sure both doors were locked—the one to the hall and the one to the connecting bathroom. Then he darted over to join her, pulling off his shirt and footwear as he went, revealing his form. Jeff wasn't ripped, but he had enough muscle to be noticeable.

On the bed, her hands coursed up and down the front of his torso. Jeff moved his hands beneath Casey's shirt, sliding up and beneath her bra to caress her breasts. They were like small peaches—pert, with the nipples relatively high on the slope. He rubbed gently until he felt her nipples pressing into his palms.

He backed off a moment. "You look a little warm," he said. "Do you want to shed a couple layers?" Casey grinned, crossed her arms, and slithered out of her shirt. Then she cupped her breasts through her bra for a beat, before playfully tossing the brassiere at his face. Her breasts were a shade paler than the rest of her skin, with barely visible tan lines, save for the dark areolae.

With a low moan of desire, Jeff leaned back in, gently tilting her head with a finger under her chin, and kissed her once more. After a brief flurry of his tongue on hers, he shifted to kiss along her jaw, and then with light, brushing kisses across her silky skin, followed the graceful sweep of her neck and shoulder. Casey's hands moved, one to explore the muscles of his back, the other to grip his hair and draw him closer. Jeff felt like he was in a dream as Casey reclined, pulling him with her, on top of her.

They kissed again as his hands found her waist. His cock was quite hard now, and he was certain she could feel it through his pants. Rather than being bashful, Jeff ground his pelvis against hers, and her back arched as she spread her legs and thrust her hips into his.

As Casey's head tipped back, he moved again, kissing the hollow of her throat, and trailing his way down her sternum. He paused to look into her eyes, alight with excitement, and she pushed his head toward her breast. Still, he didn't seek for her nipple yet. He kissed and licked all around, touching everything, tasting the salty sweat on her skin as she breathed harder, before finally flicking his tongue across the dark brown nipple, making her shiver; with one hand, he stroked her other breast.

He kissed and suckled the hardening nub for a minute before moving his mouth to her other nipple. She arched her spine, offering her breasts out to him further. Jeff pulled away from her breast and gazed straight into her eyes as he kissed from her stomach, to her belly button, to the waistband of her jeans. He began running his hands along her thighs, inching towards her crotch.

Adrenaline coursing through his veins, he unbuttoned her pants, and slowly, teasingly undid the zipper. Casey helped by lifting her hips and pushing down as he pulled down her jeans. It was a little tricky getting them off when they bunched up around her ankles, but he managed.

He pulled back a moment as he stared awestruck at the nubile woman before him, now wearing only some beige cotton panties in contrast to her silky brown skin. She was thin and the curves of her figure were slight, but everything about her was perfectly proportioned.

Jeff didn't have any experience to draw on for all that came next, but he'd always read that foreplay was key to a woman's pleasure.

He ran his hands along the outsides of Casey's legs as he leaned in and started kissing all along the inside of her right leg, from her ankle almost to the edge of her panties, then skipped over her crotch to kiss at her waistband.

"God, you are such a tease," she said, trying to push his face to her pussy.

Jeff just smirked and said, "Patience."

"Bastard," she said.

He grinned, brushed against her panties with his nose, as if he was about to kiss her there, and then trailed several more kisses down her left thigh. "Fine," Casey said. "I guess I'll just have to handle it myself." Just as she moved her hand to rub through her panties, Jeff sprang his attack.

He beat her hand to its target and planted his mouth over her pussy. She shuddered as he rubbed his face against her panty-covered vulva. Jeff took his time, breathing in through his nose and picking up a faint but pleasant musk. He thought the fabric felt slightly damp against his face. As he reached to remove that final garment, she said, "Wait. Do you have a condom?"

"Don't worry; I picked one up at the program, but I don't want to go all the way tonight, if that's okay by you."

"Alright. So what

do

you want to do?" she asked coyly.

"Well, I think I promised to help you practice giving head, and it only seems fair to return the favor."

Casey laughed. "That's good, because if you think I'm letting you stop now, you're wrong." With that, she drew up her legs and shucked out of her panties.

"Okay, let me know what feels good," he said. Then he dove between her legs, admiring the view as he went. She was shaved down there, and he noted that the skin of her vulva was darker, same as her nipples, and was darkest at the edges of her small pussy lips. As her legs spread wider, he noted the contrast between the dark lips and the pink interiors.

He dragged his tongue slowly from the bottom of her glistening slit to the top, parting her lips and savoring the slightly tangy flavor of her juices. She moaned and grabbed a handful of his hair and said, "Lick my clit." He refocused his attentions on the point just above where her lips joined; using just the tip of his tongue in short strokes up and down, and side to side. He felt a small bump there, and he kissed it softly; Casey rocked her hips a little in response. "Yes, there. Yes!"

Jeff gave her clit another soft, sucking kiss. He could see the little pink nub peeking out from under its hood now. He started tracing circles around her clit with point of his tongue, first counter-clockwise, then clockwise, then counter-clockwise. He lapped up some of her juices and then resumed circling her clit. When he lightly flicked his tongue across it, a jolt went through her, and she crushed his face against her pussy. She was starting to pant.

"Oh, God, yes! Just like that, and rub around while you do."

The taste and smell and feel of her were intoxicating; it was thrilling to know that he was the one giving her such pleasure. He continued lightly flicking her clit, changing directions every couple of licks, and occasionally drawing a quick zigzag across the little nubbin. With his right hand, he began massaging her pussy lips; his left curled around her leg, holding him in place. He noted that her juices were flowing more freely now, and he cautiously inserted his middle finger into her vagina. Man, was she tight!

He went back to circling her clit for minute while he began to slowly pump his finger in and out of her. Casey kept moaning, and Jeff, remembering something he had read, turned his hand over, and starting making a 'come here' gesture with the finger inside of her. Apparently, the G-spot was real enough, because when he did this, she groaned and started rolling her pelvis up toward his face with more vigor.