. 06-07

All content copyright 2012 Ted Szabo

This is part 5 of a longer work, "Brick House,"

Chapter 6

By the time the local leaves had completed trial separations with their deciduous significant others, presumably moving on to formal divorce proceedings, Kate and I were an official couple. With our heavy academic loads and my job at the computing center there were lengthy stretches during which we didn't see much of one another but we hung out as much as our schedules allowed. The two spoke at length about the distinctive "lifestyle" led by my roommates and myself (not really that distinctive I supposed, since I knew of fair number of other student households where college kids were as just uninhibited as Dean, Al, and I), and Kate made it clear she had to go with the flow as much as possible, pretty much coming around to point of view that we were at a point in our lives where putting aside some social conventions for the sake of convenience made a certain amount of sense.

"Really, why should we deny ourselves the ability to deal with basic physical needs?" Kate told me at one point. "Look at Alicia. How much happier would that girl be if she allowed herself some occasional time between the sheets with an attentive guy? And if she were in a better mood, that dorm room would just be one hell of a lot more pleasant place to be."

"Remember, it cuts both ways though," I responded. "If you and Alicia did, in theory, have an arrangement more like we have over at my place, you'd have to put up with the sounds, and to some degree the sights, of her

in flagrante delicto

, and you'd have to deal with seeing whatever guest she had over dressing and undressing in plain sight."

"Well," Kate said thoughtfully, "I truthfully think it would be better than the situation we're in now, where Alicia acts nasty and uptight all the time and you can't even give me a hug when you visit. Just so her boy toy kept his hands, and his other things, to himself, I think I could deal with it. I could just put on some headphones when I needed some acoustic respite, the same way you do when the other guys are humping. Being over at your apartment on a regular basis has kind of desensitized me to that sort of thing, I think."

"I'm glad you've decided to come on over the dark side, hon," I answered with a grin. "I like being with you physically—a lot. I'm really glad it's something we'll be able to do on a regular basis."

"Well, me too. I guess you're a pretty good lay," Kate said, returning my smile. "At least average, anyway. Satisfactory. C minus."

I guffawed, trying to compose a worthy comeback but failing completely.

"Seriously Ted," said Kate, continuing. "It's our senior year. We have a lot to look forward to after graduation but our lives will be more—circumscribed, I guess you could say—defined by greater and greater degrees of obligation and accountability."

"See, that's exactly how the guys and I look at it. If we're going to act crazy, go a little nuts, this is when we need to do it. We wait—we hold back, and the season will pass before we know it."

"Exactly. When I look back on this time someday I want to shake my head a little, thinking about what a wild child I was and what fun I had. If I mostly just remember studying and tests... it's going to suck."

I pretended my attention had wandered, and I had heard only the last part Kate's statement.

"Huh, what was that you said? Sure, I can do that. Let's get that bra off you pronto!"

"You dog!" said Kate, chuckling. "And here I thought we were having a heart-to-heart, you filthy, horny pervert you!"

Hey, takes one to know one, I thought—though I wisely kept the quip to myself.

Chapter 7

"Hey, I need to pee." Kate nudged me with her elbow, waking me. It was two or three AM, and we were over at my place. On that night she was on the inner side of the bed, next to the wall, so it was necessary for me to move aside so Kate could edge over, roll out, and head to the bathroom.

I scooted over and Kate scrambled past me, her bare barely making a sound as they settled onto the yellowed tile floor. I noted that whoever had used the bathroom last had left the light on. The door was closed but I could see a dim fluorescence leaking from beneath it.

"Don't forget to turn the light off when you're done," I told Kate, and she mumbled assent. We had made love a few hours earlier and Kate was nude, though with the apartment almost completely dark she didn't seem too self-conscious about it. She was reaching for the doorknob when the door abruptly swung open, opened from the other side. Sam, half asleep and naked as well, stepped through the doorway.

Kate let out a tiny, muffled cry of surprise and instinctively covered her breasts, cupping them with her palms.

"Oh, hey," said Sam, waking up a bit. "If I'd known someone was out here I'd have tried to move it along—hope you weren't waiting too long."

Kate shifted nervously from foot to foot, thoroughly embarrassed. I could tell she was considering running back to bed and covering herself but knew this would just make the situation more awkward yet.

"No, that's all right, I just got up," Kate said, voice shaking.

Because Sam had been stepping out of the bathroom just as Kate was about to enter the two were close, just a couple feet apart. Sam looked Kate up and down without a hint of reticence, and though I felt a twinge of jealousy I couldn't really blame him. I had certainly checked out Yolanda plenty of times and though I had never had the chance to view her in such close proximity I had certainly seen everything.

I noticed Kate's eyes were wandering too, though she was trying to avoid being too obvious about it. While Sam wasn't as well-muscled or fit as I was I couldn't deny he was, well, physically impressive in some respects. I heard a little exhalation of surprise from Kate, and was pretty sure her attention had settled below waist level. To make things worse, or perhaps better, depending on your perspective, Sam looked to be semi-erect.

"Ah, well, it's all yours," said Sam as he moved past Kate toward his bed. I was pretty sure their bare hips brushed at one point, something I considered bringing up after Kate returned to bed. Finally I decided against it, not wanting to sound petty.

Yolanda was also staying over, something we were reminded of rather... loudly a few minutes later.

"Wow, they're really going at it, said Kate," cuddled up next to me again. Yolanda let out a series of throaty yells and we both chuckled a bit. It seemed so over the top. At one point Sam cut loose with a warbling cry that almost sounded like an old-school Weismuller Tarzan yodel, and Kate started giggling so hard she ended up muffling herself with her hands for fear of causing offense.

"Yeah, I guess something he saw got Sam really excited," I said. I tried to give the comment an air of jest, but a bit of jealousy snuck in and my voice took on a tone that was more gruff than intended.

"Hey now," Kate responded, snuggling closer, "you can't encourage me to go around with my clothes off and then object when someone reacts. How many times have you encouraged me to wear my smallest, shortest shorts when we're walking around campus? I know you like showing me off, like a kid with the coolest toy on the block."

"You're completely right," I answered. I did like showing her off and, jealous twinges aside, having Sam get such a close look at her had been pretty hot. I could see the outline of Kate's face in the darkness and could tell she was looking at me quizzically, still wondering at the edge in my voice a moment before. I tried to think of some way to explain myself without appearing too foolish.

"Why did you cover yourself up, though?" I asked. "I thought you were going to try to be more uninhibited?"

"Ah," said Kate, thinking she understood. "That's it. You know, it was just reflex, I was totally caught by surprise. One moment it's dark and the next I've got a bright light on me and this big guy standing right next to me. It makes a girl feel a bit vulnerable, you know."

"Sure, I get it. I don't want you to feel like I'm pushing you into anything."

"It's OK. I thought it was kind of gross at first, the way you seemed to like to have everyone checking me out, but at this point I have to say it's pretty refreshing. Other guys I've dated always got insanely possessive and were always trying to force me to cover up. I worked pretty damn hard to get this body, and the truth is I like turning heads."

All this talk about Kate's body made me acutely aware of how good it felt to have her tight against me. I could feel the curve of her breasts and hips, the flat of her belly, the sleek muscularity of her thighs. God, this was a woman that was meant to be naked.

"As long as we're on the subject of your awesome bod, why don't we start going to bed in the buff?" I suggested.

Kate seemed unsure, "But aren't we in the buff all the time anyway?"

"It's not quite what I mean. We change into different clothes for the night and then end up undressing each other under the covers later on. I mean, we're getting in bed knowing we're going to have sex anyway, and the clothes are going to need to come off, so why not just start out that way?"

Kate gave me a wry look. I could just barely see the edges of mouth turn up in the near-complete gloom. "When I go through the trouble of coming over here I do expect you to put out!" She patted me between the legs. "I guess that's what Sam and Yolanda do already, right, stripping down before they hit the sack?"

"Yeah, and the others guys a lot of the time when they have company."

She thought about it. "Yeah, when Dean had that Asian girl over I think they pretty much had all of their clothes off before they even got through the apartment door. I guess it's OK. I won't feel that awkward if you're undressing here with me."

"Perfect," I said, "no more textiles between me and this sexy-ass physique."

This drew another laugh from Kate. "Oh, you do say the sweetest things."

As we were drifting back to sleep Kate asked, a little blearily, "So, when we say 'get ready for bed' we mean 'take our clothes off, all of them, in addition to the regular tooth brushing and so on?"

"Yep," I answered.