Candace and the Frat Boys (Chapter 4)
Kathryn M. Burke
In fact, Julie and Josh seemed to be hitting it off.
Part of that had to do with the fact that they were both college students. There were bonds that were established from the fact that they had to go to class every day (and oftentimes went together—usually on foot, since the campus was only a ten-minute walk from the house), had their struggles with classwork, professors, fellow students, and the like, and had to start considering prospects for work after their college careers were over.
And a further bond unexpectedly emerged. Julie, who was studying comp lit, had found herself wrestling with the French text of Stendhal's
Le Rouge et le Noir.
Josh, although a history major, had lived for a couple of years in Quebec and was pretty fluent in French, and had actually read Stendhal's difficult novel a year or two before, just for fun. So he ended up helping Julie as she tried to piece out the complex language and the at times meandering plot.
Candace noticed with pungent amusement how the two of them literally put their heads together as they pored over a copy of the book while sitting at the dining table after dinner.
"Don't study too hard," she wisecracked. "Not good for the brain."
"Oh, Mom," Julie said impatiently, "just leave us alone, okay? This is hard stuff."
"I'm sure it is. What use it will be in your future life, I have no idea."
"That's not important," Josh said in defense of Julie's impractical major. "College is meant to expand your horizons—intellectually and in other ways."
Candace gave him a flinty look. "
Your
horizons have certainly expanded lately, haven't they, Josh?"
He colored instantly and got back to the book. Julie also didn't feel that comment worthy of response.
Then there came the time, in mid-November, when Candace pulled Josh away for a private conversation in the kitchen.
"Listen," she whispered, even though Julie was upstairs in her room, well out of earshot, "I'm going to spend Saturday night at the frat house again."
"Okay," Josh said, although he was crestfallen at the idea. He was desperately trying not to be possessive, but the thought of all those guys invading her body saddened and angered him.
"You'd better stay here," she added.
"Yeah, I guess I'd better," he said.
"And of course Julie can't know what's going on. She'll totally freak out."
"I'm sure she will." After a pause: "So what are you going to tell her?"
"Why should I tell her anything?"
"Oh, Candace, you have to say
something!
You're gonna spend the night there, right?"
"That was the idea."
"So what is she going to think? What excuse can you make for spending a night away from home?"
"I hadn't really thought of one."
"Well, you'd better think of something!"
Candace caressed Josh's face. "I'll leave that to you, dear boy."
So when that Saturday evening came, and Candace, a little while after dinner, packed up a little overnight case (she had now gotten in the habit of taking a change of clothing to the frat house), Julie looked at her in confusion.
"Mom, where are you going?" she said.
"Out," Candace said shortly.
"Out? What on earth does that mean? You're going away somewhere?"
"Not far."
"Mom, what the hell? Can't you just tell me where you're going?"
"Josh'll tell you."
And with that, she left the house.
Julie, stunned, turned to Josh. "What's going on here? Where could she be going?"
Josh, frozen in terror, remained silent.
"She—she's spending the night somewhere?"
The best Josh could do was nod.
"Surely not with a guy? She has you for—that purpose."
Josh lowered his head so he wouldn't have to look at Julie.
Julie led Josh to the sofa, sitting him down there even though he wanted to be anywhere but there.
"Josh," she said in a faint echo of the steely ferocity that her mother could at times evoke, "you need to tell me what's going on."
He still couldn't look at her. "I—I promised her I wouldn't."
"So it
is
something! Something weird and strange—or even illegal!"
"It's not illegal."
"But it's something that neither you nor she want to talk about, right?"
"I guess."
"Something disreputable?"
"I suppose some people might think so."
"Do
you
think so?"
"She can do what she wants. It's her choice."
Julie had had enough of this pussyfoooting. Seizing Josh by the shoulders, she actually shook him—hard. "Josh, by God, you need to tell me what's going on here!"
Josh almost thought she was going to slap him upside the head. "Okay, okay!" He figured Julie would eventually learn anyway, so why not blab the story now? And if Candace got mad, what could she do? Order him from the house? Sure, she could do that—but she in fact had professed her love for him, so he was confident she would forgive him.
"She—she's gone to Delta Pi," Josh muttered.
A shiver ran through Julie. "The frat house? What the hell's she going to do there?"
Josh gave her a look that said,
I think you should be able to figure that out for yourself.
It took some seconds for Julie to do that. When she did so, her eyes got wide, and Josh feared that she might actually faint. "Oh, you got to be kidding me!"
Josh just shook his head.
"She—she's going to spend all night at the frat house?"
"Yes."
"And basically make herself available for the guys?"
"Yes."
"How many, exactly?"
"I—I think there are about eighteen."
"Eighteen guys. And they're all going to . . .?"
"I guess so."
"Jesus! How can one woman deal with so many?"
"She can." For some reason Josh felt compelled to be brutally honest. "There might be more guys from other parts of campus who'll come over."
"So we're talking about twenty, twenty-five guys?"
"Yes."
"All at once?"
"Well, of course not. One at a time." After a pause: "Sometimes two at a time." Another pause. "Or three at a time."
"
Three at a time?
That isn't even possible!"
Josh gazed at Julie as if she were a little innocent. "Julie, not to be crude about it, but there are three places in a woman's body where a guy can put his thing. Surely you must know that."
You lived with a guy, didn't you?
Julie's body started to shake uncontrollably. Suddenly she leaped up from the couch and started striding around the room like a caged tiger.
"What—what does she want to do that for? Can she really
enjoy
that sort of thing?"
"It seems that she does."
"But it's so—so"—Julie made a face—"so degrading!"
"That's a matter of opinion. Some people might say it shows how strong a woman can be."
"Oh, that's preposterous!"
"It takes a lot of energy, and stamina, and fortitude. Not every female is capable of it."
"I'm sure they're not!"
Then Julie whirled around and peered intensely at Josh. "That's how you met her, isn't it?" she whispered. "In that frat house?"
Josh hung his head. "Yes."
"You—you fucked her there along with all those other guys!"
"Please don't use that kind of language."