As they were finishing, usually shy Ernest, cleared his throat. It was obvious he had something to say.
"Er, ah, Sue and I. We..."
"What Ern is trying to say, Sue broke in is that we've decided we like each other a lot. I know it seems sudden," she added. For a change, Sue seemed nervous and shy.
"Yeah," Ernest interrupted. "Sue and I have decided we want to see a lot more of each other," he stated much more forcefully than he was accustomed to expressing himself when discussing other than technical matters.
"It might sound funny at our age, but I guess you could say, we're going steady," Sue added with an embarrassed snicker. "Nether one of us is ready to call it anything more than that just yet. But I've told Ernie I won't go out with anyone else but him - at least for a while, until we can see how things work out."
Ernest nodded in acquiescence.
"Wonderful," Frank said. "If I had some champaign, I'd open a bottle. Congratulations you two. "I can't think of anyone I'd rather see Ern hooked up than you, Sue."
"Don't we make an interesting looking foursome?" Sally added. "A double wedding would be a blast! Besides, Dad would love the idea. It would save him a bundle."
"Now don't start jumping to too many conclusions," Sue interrupted. "All I said was that Ernie and I have found we like each other and neither of us wants to see anyone else, at least for now. We're not talking about getting married."
"Besides", Ernest added, "I have to go back to school in a few days. We won't have much chance to see each other until the summer semester is over. That'll only be a few weeks before your wedding."
"Ernie," Sue said taking his hand in hers, "if you don't object, I'll come up and see you every weekend. We need to know each other a lot better before we rush into anything."
"I certainly won't object. I've got a room off campus this summer and I know my roommate will be gone almost every weekend. He and his girlfriend are into auto racing and try to take in most of the stock car events within several states."
"That's as good an excuse for going off with your girl friend on weekends as I've hard of," Frank broke in.
As promised, Sue drove the two hundred miles to Ernest's university every weekend that summer. The two enjoyed sex, but also found they enjoyed everything about being together.
By the end of August, with Frank's and Sally's wedding only three weeks away, Ernest made his oft-repeated plea. It was a Friday evening. Sue had arrived at Ernest's small off-campus rented room, less than an hour before. As was the the usual case on weekends, Ernest's roommate had gone to a stock car race in the next state with his girl friend. Ernest and Sue lay naked on his bed after their first love- making of the weekend. And, that's what it had become. It was no longer merely fucking.
"I know I don't have a lot to offer right now," Ernest began. This was the way this formerly shy young man usually initiated this line of conversation, which he had repeated many times over the summer. "I have at least three more years before I get my doctorate. Then, I should have my pick of jobs. But, in the meantime, there's lot's of studying, and not much money. I
do
have a student teaching fellowship coming this next semester, but it won't bring in much. You'd have to get a job to help support us. But, you're already working. I'm sure you intend to keep on working, that is, unless you go off and marry some engineer, lawyer or doctor who's already established."
"I'm not interested in marrying anyone but you, Ernie."
"Does that mean you'll marry me?" Ernest said, his eyes sparkling with joy at Sue's response. That was as close to a commitment as Sue had made all summer.
"I didn't say that," she replied. "I merely said, I didn't want to marry anyone else. You were right back at the cottage last June. I know now I love you, Ernei. I wasn't sure of it at the time, but these last three months have convinced me. I also wasn't sure you really loved me, or if it was just the thrill of having sex for the first time."
"Please", he insisted. "I promise to be a good husband and once I'm established in a decent job, we can start a family, if that's what you want. I know it'll be hard for a few years, but I know it will be harder for me without you. I hope you feel the same way."
"Yes I do, and speaking of hard! You're hard again already."
"I get hard every time I think of you, even when I'm studying. Sometimes, I have to got into the bathroom and take care of it, or I can't get my work finished. I hadn't done that much since starting college. But, since I met you... My roommate must think I have some kind of problem, the number of times I have to go in there, and how long I stay. I do, but not the kind he thinks."
"Well, you don't have to do it now. I'm here to take care of your big problem,'" Sue said as her lips brushed the end of Ernest's penis and her tongue wiped away the shimmering drop of pre-cum. "I'd keep this up, but I want you in me. Put on another rubber and fuck me again. I've waited all week to see you and feel you. Don't keep me waiting any longer."
As they relaxed from their second bout of the night, Ernest renewed his marriage plea.
The effect Sue had on this once shy retiring young man was apparent to everyone, especially her. Three months ago, he could barely talk to a woman without turning all shades of crimson and trembling like a leaf in a windstorm. Now, he was rapidly becoming a masterful lover, forcefully pleading for the hand of the woman he loved.
"I feel the same way, Ernie. But, it's such an irrevocable step. I don't believe in marriage, just to get out of it when one or the other, or both, get tired of it. That may sound funny coming from me, but... And that's the other thing that's bothering me, darling. In fact it's been bothering me right from the first. You're too fine a person for me. I've been with quite a few guys during the past few years in college. I'll admit that. But, I never got serious about any of them, except perhaps one, until I met you. But I had fun with all of them. When I first met you at the cottage, that's all I thought it would be with you - another fling. But, right away, somehow it was different. Now I know why. I guess I loved you right from the start, but didn't realize it; or refused to admit it to myself. The bottom line is, I just don't feel I'm the right person for you."
"Suppose you let me be the judge of that". I could guess, from the way you approached it, you had some experience. But, I don't care as long as you're willing to not continue that way of life. But, I do think you should tell me about the one, you mentioned you were 'perhaps serious' about."
Sue had avoided informing Ernest about the one man she, at the time, had hoped to marry. "Yes, I owe you that." Sue went on to tell Ernest about her professor at college and their relationship as well as why and how it had ended. She concluded by telling him that she had used her senior year to get over Eric Richardson - assuring him that she had.
"Is he good looking? How old is he?" Ernest had many questions about Sue's former lover.
"Yes, I have to say he's handsome. Now, he's thirty- four. So he was thirty during my freshman year."