Note: this story involves cuckolding and humiliation.
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As soon as I spotted Emily in my freshman poetry class, it felt like love at first sight. She was the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen - shoulder-length blond hair, bright blue eyes, a cute smile. Of course, it didn't hurt that she had a slim, fit-looking body and was showing off a little cleavage at the time.
I didn't have much experience with girls, so even though I felt incredibly drawn to her, I was too shy to ask Emily out. But I got lucky when she and a few other students in the class decided to form a study group, and they asked me if I wanted to join. The group was all girls except for me, but I didn't mind that. I had never been a very "macho" guy and was used to having more girls as friends than guys. And, of course, I was more than happy to take the opportunity to get to know Emily better.
Our study group spent about an hour together each week, going over the readings for our class. It quickly became clear that Emily and I were two of the only students who had an actual passion for poetry and weren't just taking the class for some easy credits. We quickly bonded and started sharing some original poetry of our own with each other. She was a really talented writer, and she seemed to think I was pretty good too. As we got to know each other, we discovered we had a lot of common interests and similar tastes in movies, TV, music, and art.
After a few weeks, I finally summoned up the courage to ask her out. She had mentioned to the study group that her birthday was coming up, so I bought her a book of poetry by (who else?) Emily Dickinson. I even wrote a little message in the front. I planned to give it to her and then ask her if she was free for dinner sometime.
Things didn't quite go according to plan. After our study group wrapped up, I took her aside and gave her the present. She absolutely loved it, giving me a big hug and even a peck on the cheek after she unwrapped it. I turned red and felt a little bit of sweat dripping down my forehead. I was so nervous, but I told myself that this was my moment.
Just as I opened my mouth to ask her out, though, Emily dashed my hopes by saying, "I wish my boyfriend gave me such thoughtful gifts!"
I felt my whole body deflate like a popped balloon. "...your boyfriend?" I asked.
"Oh, yeah, I haven't mentioned him?" Emily asked. "We just started dating a couple weeks ago."
"Um...no, this is the first I'm hearing about him," I said, trying to sound casual.
"His name's Brad," she said. "He's great, but he'd never think to buy me something like this. Thank you so much!"
"Uh, yeah, no problem, glad you like it," I said. "So, um, I gotta get going, see you in class tomorrow."
"Bye, Lucas!" she said, oblivious to how she had just crushed my hopes of landing a date with the girl of my dreams.
***
At our next study group, Emily invited us all to a party that her boyfriend Brad was throwing at his apartment. I wasn't that enthusiastic about the idea of seeing Emily with this other guy, but I liked Emily a lot and decided that maybe we could still become good friends, even if that wasn't quite everything I wanted.
"So tell us all about this boyfriend!" said Madison, one of the other girls in the group. Madison had long, dark hair and a curvy body. She was always much more interested in socializing than studying, derailing the study group every week with conversations about who was dating who and what sorority the other girls were going to pledge, that sort of thing. "I'm so jealous you already found a boyfriend just a month into school! Not that I'm surprised, with your looks."
Emily blushed and giggled a little. "Well, his name is Brad. He's a senior."
There were some murmurs from the group at this, impressed that a freshman like Emily had landed a senior guy.
"He's majoring in finance or something boring like that and wants to go to business school," Emily continued, scrunching her face up to show she was not impressed by this choice of career paths.
We all laughed. "How'd you meet him?" another girl, Jenny, asked.
"At the gym," Emily said. "He was lifting weights and kept looking over at me while I was on the treadmill. He's really hot, so I smiled at him, and he just walked right up to me and asked me out!"
"Ooh, confidence, I love that," Madison said.
Emily laughed. "Yeah, me too. He didn't hesitate at all." I looked down, feeling like an idiot for not asking her out right away. "So anyway, we've been on a few dates now. He took me to some dumb superhero movie that he loved and I hated, and he's on the lacrosse team, so I went to watch one of his games. I'm not that into sports, but wow, those guys are all so..." She looked over at me and seemed to realize she couldn't just have "girl talk." "...um...talented," she finished, glancing slyly at the other girls.
The girls all laughed, knowing exactly what she really meant. I was a little surprised to hear that a smart, sensitive girl like Emily was so drawn to these jocks and was dating a guy who kind of sounded like a meathead. But mostly I just felt stupid for not asking her out sooner. Of course I should have expected a confident athletic guy to swoop in and snatch up a beautiful girl like her. I forced a smile and told her I was looking forward to the party, then walked back to my dorm and moped around for the rest of the day.
***
The night of the party rolled around. When I showed up at the apartment, the music was blasting. I tried knocking on the door but nobody could hear me, so I just walked in. The place was packed with people, dancing and drinking and laughing. I didn't recognize any of them, and started to wonder if I had even gone to the right place.
I grabbed a red solo cup and filled it with beer from a keg so that I fit in with the crowd a little better, then stood around awkwardly, looking desperately for somebody from the study group. Finally, I spotted Emily standing with a group of big, athletic guys, including one whose hand was resting lightly on her butt. She was wearing a miniskirt and a red spaghetti-strap top that clung tightly to her fit body. The top showed off a lot of cleavage and a few inches of her midriff, and the skirt stopped at her upper thigh. I'd never seen her dress so provocatively before, but it was a party, after all, and I certainly wasn't going to judge her for choosing to show some skin. Still, I couldn't help but feel jealous that this other guy was getting to put his hands on her when she looked so amazing.
I walked over to the group and said, "Hey, Emily, how's it going?"
The guys, who were all about half-a-foot taller than me, looked down at me skeptically, but Emily just grinned and gave me a big hug. "Hey, Lucas! So glad you came!" she said.
"Oh, yeah, no problem," I said, feeling awkward about where to put my hands so that I didn't inappropriately touch her exposed waist. "Uh, it's a great party."
"I know, right?" Emily said. The guy she had been standing next to quickly put her arm back around her, almost territorially. She giggled and leaned into him, saying, "This is my boyfriend, Brad, and these are some of his lacrosse teammates. Guys, this is Lucas, he's in my poetry study group."
"Hey," Brad said, somewhat curtly. He was a dark-haired, scruffy, macho-looking guy, wearing jeans and a t-shirt that stretched against his muscular torso.
"Um, hi, nice to meet you, Brad," I said shyly, feeling a little inadequate next to this handsome jock. I had flashbacks to high school gym class, when the guys on the football team would make fun of me in the locker room about how short and slim I was.
"Hey, are you the guy that got Emily that book for her birthday?" Brad asked.
"Oh, uh, yeah," I said.
He took his arm from Emily's waist and took a step toward me, invading my personal space a little bit and looking down at me. "You're not trying to make a move on my girl, are you?"
"What?" I asked, a little stunned. "No, of course not."
"Yeah, better not, pretty boy," Brad said aggressively. I was a little scared. His teammates all watched and laughed.