Canadian Janie

The summer before I was to start my second year as a Master's student at a prestigious coastal California university, I decided to participate in a 3-month fellowship through the University of British Columbia. The fellowship was a paid position where I would be trained in fish pathology, ultimately helping my academic career back in the States. The only reason I was chosen for this fellowship, it seemed, was the fact that the fellowship's director was an old fraternity buddy of my college advisor, Colin.

My travel plans included a one-way flight to Seattle, where I took a 2-day train ride to Vancouver. I didn't fly straight to Vancouver because I wanted to experience a mini-vacation before I was to start my grueling position. At 26 years old, I still looked about 19, and enjoyed an adventure as much as any fiery teenager.

After the second day of shopping, sight-seeing, and a short train ride, I arrived at a bus stop on Chancellor Boulevard. I knew the campus was to the southeast, but I had no idea where the science department was, let alone the fish pathology lab. I looked around the pristine streets bordering the campus. The landscaping was well manicured, there was not a trace of litter to be found, and in the distance I could see a great green forest. Not a bad place to live, I thought, while reaching into my pocket to retrieve my Blackberry. I had been instructed to call my new boss, Drew the fellowship director, as soon as my train arrived. I dialed the number I had been given, and listened to it ring.

"Fish lab, this is Casey," a voice came back.

"Oh, this is Janie, the new fellowship student," I said excitedly.

There was a brief pause.

"Hello?" I said, checking to make sure the line was still connected.

"I'm just a grad student here. I really don't have the faintest idea of what you're talkin' about. I need more info," the deep voice said.

"...oh, um...," I stuttered, "Drew said to call this number when I arrived at the northwest bus station."

Another pause.

Sighing, I continued, hoping any of my words would click with my new acquaintance, "I just had a long bus ride and I need someone to pick me up. Drew said to call and someone from the lab would give me a lift to my dorm."

"There's a summer fellowship position in this lab?!" the voice cracked a bit. "Why the hell didn't I know about it? It's not like I don't need the money!"

My face started to flush deep pink; this was so frustrating. "Well, they just offered it to me a couple weeks ago, doing fish path stuff." I didn't know why I felt the need to explain myself to this person.

The rugged voice continued, "Three years in this hell hole and what to I get? Shafted. Every time, I get shafted! What's your name again?"

A bit nervously, I stammered, "Janie...my college advisor...is Colin--"

"--I know Colin," He cut me off. "Drew and Colin are pretty much butt-buddies. Don't tell 'im I said that," he remarked with a laugh. "And now who is this fellowship funded through?"

"Um, I really couldn't say for sure," I confessed. "Truthfully, all I was told was to book a flight, and Drew would take care of me."

"Oh, I bet he'll take care of you," the voice countered with obvious innuendo. "Let me guess; blonde and beautiful?"

He was right. Even though I change my hair color quite frequently, my natural color is dirty blond. And more than a few people have told me I am pretty. I stand at about 5'7" with a classic hourglass figure and muscular legs.

Exasperated, I shouted, "Look I don't know a damn thing about your lab's politics, but I just arrived here from California, and I am hungry and tired and I don't want to sit at this bus station a second longer. So, PLEASE send someone to the Chancellor Boulevard bus stop to pick me up, or tell me how to get to the dorm and I'll call a cab!"

There was a sigh followed by, "Look, I'm sorry. It has nothing to do with you. I'll...I'll be there in 10 minutes."

The phone went dead; I held it away from my ear and shot it a puzzled look. What was I getting myself into this summer? Colin insisted Drew was a brilliant professor and that this was a great opportunity to learn all the necessary tricks of the trade. I certainly didn't want the baggage of sexual harassment to accompany my training. Plus, it seemed like no one in the fish pathology lab had ever heard of me.

Putting my Blackberry back into my loose jacket pocket, I sat down on the bench and stared down at my knees. Definitely not knobby knees. Actually nothing on me is knobby. I have 36DD breasts, a large bubble-butt, and soft curves everywhere else. I sighed, why was it so difficult to make a name in this field and at the same time lack a penis?! I rolled my eyes at the thought and then focused on the street. What was this 'Casey' character all about? I tried to imagine a physical extension of that voice on the phone.

After counting cars for a short eternity, I fumbled for my Blackberry, intent on calling Drew's office number, when a beat-up yellow Datsun pickup pulled up to the curb. It looked to be weighted down quite significantly by the single occupant inside the cab. Bright blue eyes and a jovial face (complete with dimples on both cheeks and chin) smiled at me from behind the tiny steering wheel. The door opened quickly and the man stepped out; when he righted himself he must have been well over six feet tall. The truck chassis squeaked in relief as the muscular man pushed off the seat and approached me.

"Janie? Hi, I'm Casey," he uttered in that same baritone. His huge paw of a hand stretched out to meet my delicate one.

"Oh, nice to meet you in person," I stammered trying to think of something witty to say to take my mind and obvious stare off those blue eyes. "I was about to call for reinforcements; thought you forgot about me."

Casey laughed, "No, my bad. I couldn't find my keys. The lab is a mess, you'll see." His blond shaggy hair and scruffy beard hid most of his facial features, except those eyes of course. He wore a dirty pair of jeans and a large gray t-shirt hung from his massive shoulders.

He yanked each suitcase from my grip and launched them, effortlessly into the bed of the truck. Then he walked around the cab and opened the passenger door for me. Any more force and I am sure he would have ripped the car door right off its hinges. We got on the road and headed down Chancellor Boulevard.

There was a brief awkward silence, while Casey fussed with the radio, which looked older than the truck itself. As he drove, I was amazed that his large right leg allowed enough room to shift gears. I tried not to think about what his cock might look like, and failed. I bet it was large to match his large frame. We made small talk before Casey again apologized for what happened earlier.

"Janie, I'm sorry for my outburst. As a grad student I'm over-worked and underpaid, which of course is no excuse to talk like that to a lady." He glanced over at me and his eyes wandered down to my cleavage. I pretended not to notice. He continued, "Sometimes I feel--we all feel--like Drew passes up his own students for fellowship positions. Our lab is about ninety percent men and Drew is an old bachelor. He tends to give the fellowships away to bright young women, and truthfully I can't complain. At least it brings some diversity to the place," he confided. "Drew is a space-cadet. He has 12 master's-level students under him, a wet-lab to run, classes to teach, too many grants to keep up with, and God-only-knows how many experiments in progress off Point Grey."

"Well, I can understand how you feel," I said a bit nervously, "You probably deserve this fellowship more than I do."

"Don't be ridiculous!" Drew slurred, "He might give up the goods to pretty girls, but he doesn't just give them to bimbos. I'm sure you'll prove your stuff this summer."

I blushed, not sure if that was an actual compliment or not. We approached an remodled Victorian mansion on the outskirts of campus. There was a large green lawn surrounding it, almost too perfect, and five or six cars parked in the huge driveway. Casey eased the old Datsun up behind a Volvo, and killed the motor.

"This is the dorm?" I gasped in disbelief.

"No, it's our dorm," Casey said matter-of-factly. "All the fish-heads live here. Your room is on the third floor."

I squealed, "Oh my God, it's huge!"

"Yeah, that's what all the women tell me," Casey joked. He smiled at me and I gave him a genuine smile back. I liked him. Very much.

***

The summer progressed steadily and I made friends quickly. Casey was right, out of the 13 students in the lab including me, there were only four women. Almost all of the students lived in the big white Victorian house, as the rooms were large and much less expensive than an off-campus apartment.

My fellowship was difficult; sometimes I pulled 12-hour days waiting for certain experiments to run. Drew was hardly ever in the lab. By the time my first month in BC was up, I had only seen Drew three times. He looked just like his photo online at the lab's web-site. At each of our encounters, he looked at me as if he had no idea who I was. He would then mumble something about Colin, and smile at me. Drew would give me about 30 seconds of his undivided attention, while I fired off questions about my project, all the while he would steal glances of my breasts. He was an attractive older man, so I didn't mind him looking. In fact, I found myself wearing more revealing clothing as the summer wore on, in hopes I would see Drew in the lab. I really have a thing for older men. Needless to say, I learned most of what I needed to know from Casey. But he wasn't the only one. I had three other male grad students in the fish lab clamoring for my attention. One was Michah, a tall curly-haired man of about 27. The second was Nate, a young quiet man with smooth gray eyes. And third, was a dark-skinned Asian man named Rene, who had a few tough-looking scars on his face. All four men were incredibly good-looking, with rugged appeal, and whip-smart humor. But I often found myself fantasizing about Drew as I lay awake at night masturbating.

Often on the weekends, the students would plan a hike up to the lake, a swimming hole about a mile up the dirt road from our Victorian house. The road spiraled back into the forest, climbed in altitude, and ended at a small dock and storage shed where supplies were kept in case of a tsunami emergency. It was the best spot for crazy beer-guzzling bonfires.

One Friday afternoon, I was busy cleaning up supplies in the lab, and putting my samples back into the freezer, when Casey came up behind me.

"You goin' to the lake with the gang tonight?" he asked me, a hopeful look in his eye. He nonchalantly washed a few glass beakers and tried to look casual.

Casey had been mildly flirting with me all summer and although I was getting pretty lonely, I had not responded to him in the way he had hoped. I did find him very attractive, but for some reason, I was obsessed with the thought of Drew in my bed.

I shrugged, "Yeah I thought about it, but it seems like that scene is getting old. I got pretty hammered last weekend anyhow." I turned away from him and disassembled my pipette and laid it out to dry.

Casey looked disappointed. "Well, this weekend will be better because Drew just got back from China and he's got some illegal fire crackers that he intends to blow up."

My ears perked up when I heard Drew's name. So that's where he's been these past few weeks? Casey noted my change in behavior. "Yeah, you should come; it should get pretty wild," Casey baited.

Yeah, he doesn't know the definition of "wild", I thought, remembering my summer in Alaska a couple of years ago. I smirked to myself.

Casey smiled at me, "What's that look for, Janie?"

"Oh, just remembering the last time I saw fireworks," I lied, "It's been too long." I was actually remembering when two men had me at the same time that summer. Now THAT was fireworks. It sent a shiver down my back.

"Great, we'll see you up there around 10 pm?" He asked with raised eyebrows.

I just nodded at him. Maybe this casual encounter would be just the way to flirt with Drew. My pussy ached at the mere thought.

*** After work, I took a shower to get the fish smell off of me, and dressed in tight denim with a sage green sweatshirt. As I tied the laces on my hiking boots, I thought of Drew. He was about six feet tall with a mass of salt-and-pepper hair, and a dark goatee. He also has crisp blue-green eyes that crinkled slightly at the edges. If he was of Colin's cohort, I guessed him to be about 46 years old. I had learned over the past 4 weeks that he was divorced, no children, and had a reputation of dating much younger women.

At about 9:30 pm, I joined a group of my housemates in the hike up the hill. Casey and Rene walked on either side of me each carrying a case of beer.

"This is my work-out for today," Casey joked.

"Yeah, this is going to get harder after about a quarter-mile," Rene exclaimed.

"Oh you guys are big muscle-men; I'm sure you can handle it," I rolled my eyes at them. It was true; Casey looked like a Viking and Rene a Mongolian warrior, albeit college kid attire.

"You know this might be easier if I drink all this beer now, so we won't have to carry it all the way up to the lake," Casey laughed to Rene.

"No shit," he agreed with a smile.

I protested, "Um, excuse me, but I was hoping to have a couple of those beers."

Casey chuckled and ripped the box top open, reached in a produced two beers. He handed them to me. "Here, these are your share; I get the rest. It'll take this much to get me drunk," he remarked.

"Right!" Rene laughed. "Your fat-ass needs all that to do the trick."

"You mean my football-player physique?" Casey retorted. "Two-hundred and forty pounds of pure muscle mass."

We all cracked up.

***

At the top of the hill we looked down at the serene waters of the lake. The colors were just magnificent as the sun touched down on the green hills in the distance. The sky was a peach-vanilla color which I predicted would turn more orange and red as the sunset progressed.

I noticed Drew was already there, fishing through a box of colorful packages. He was bent over and I studied his muscular shoulders where the fabric pulled taunt. Drew was unaware of my sly glances between sips of my beer. He righted himself and declared the first firework to be lit was called a "blue dragon".

The night progressed and we all enjoyed the beer and fireworks. I figured Drew didn't remember me again; he had not uttered one word to me the whole night. Guessing by the banter between Drew and his students, the group seemed to be very close. They traded stories with sexual innuendo, dirty jokes, and occasional profanities. Drew certainly didn't act like their university advisor.

After about an hour, my bladder was aching for release, so I excused myself to find a spot to relieve myself. As I started to break away from the group, I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. At about 20 feet down the path, I realized it was Drew following me.

"And where are you off to?" he asked.

"Oh, sorry, I just need to, ah, um, relieve myself after those two beers." I was blushing profusely and couldn't look him in the eye. He was so attractive!

"Well, one can't be too careful; there are critters out here that would love to make a meal out of you." He stared at my chest as if he wanted to make a meal out of my breasts.

"Okay, well, will you keep watch for me? Actually, I'm more concerned about a drunken Casey hitting on me rather than a bear trying to eat me," I joked.

Drew smiled, "You will be safe with me."

I somehow doubted that. He eyed me as if I were a sweet piece of candy that he didn't want to share with his ten siblings.

"Casey is harmless you know. He's a good guy."

"Yeah I know", my voice trailed off as I jumped over a small stream and behind a large shrub.

There was silence as I did my duty and after I cleaned up and presented myself from behind the brush, I was beet red with embarrassment.

I wasn't paying attention as I stepped over the stream, and instead of a sure footing, I met a slippery mossy ledge. In an instant I was on my knees, with the water soaking my shins and boots. My crotch got wet too, and the cool water on my womanhood was a sobering feeling.

"Oh, are you alright?" Drew asked with concern. He came right to my side and practically lifted me up out of the stream bed.

I didn't say anything out of pure shock, so he continued, "Janie, are you hurt?"

"Um, no, no. Just embarrassed. I am so...clumsy sometimes."

Drew looked into my face and his blue eyes had a pleading look. His arm rested on my waist. He held me to him as I favored my twisted ankle. "You're not clumsy, Janie," he whispered, "...I think...you're...you're the cutest thing I have ever seen."

His words really caught me off-guard. I truly did not know how to respond. My breath came faster and a lump formed in my throat. I just focused my gaze down. My cheeks burned as I hid my eyes under my thick lashes and pretended I hadn't heard what he had said to me. Drew's embraced tightened on me as if to encourage a verbal response to his confession.

"Is everything okay?" Casey's voice came from the trail below us. Drew and I broke away instantly.

"Yeah, I just...fell," I yelled towards him. I felt guilty for enjoying Drew's closeness, especially because I knew Casey had a crush on me. Hopefully Casey was oblivious to the true nature of our embrace.

I walked quickly back towards the group. Casey followed me with a concerned look on his face. "You fell? Did you hurt yourself?" He approached me from behind and took my hand.

"Just hurt my pride, I basically did a swan dive into a foot-deep stream", I giggled. "I'm just soaking wet. I think I am going to call it a night."

I met Casey's fretful stare as Drew caught up behind us.

"I'll walk you back," they both said to me in unison. Drew shot Casey an annoyed look and Casey did the same.

I protested, "You guys, I'm fine. I'll be alright by myself." I did not want to spoil their evening.

"In the dark, alone? I don't think so young lady," Drew countered. He sounded like my father.

"Drew, I'll go with her. I'll be sure to get her to her room. Go back to the fireworks; the gang wants more explosions," Casey explained. Drew shot him a look like he didn't approve of that scenario, but really what could he say? Casey and I were close friends and it would be inappropriate for Drew to walk me home alone.

"Alright, leave me a voicemail when you get her home. I don't get very good reception up here but I don't want to be worried all night whether you made it back in one piece or not," Drew said calmly.

"Will do, Boss," Casey assured.

My heart raced as Drew turned away. I watched his back as he headed over to the other students and grabbed a beer out of the case. Our eyes met briefly as he opened the top and took a swig. It took me a second, but I identified his expression to be one of jealousy as Casey led me down the path towards home.

It was slow-going with my throbbing ankle. It wasn't a bad sprain but I probably should ice it when I get home, I thought to myself. Casey and I both felt relief as the white Victorian, like a glowing castle in the moon light, appeared in the distance. By the time I crossed the threshold, my body started to shiver with the cold.

"Wet denim is an easy way to hypothermia," Casey declared and grabbed me around my waist. He lifted me up and wrapped me in the crocheted throw that lives on the back of the sofa. Casey settled me down on the couch and then lit the hearth in about two minutes flat. I removed my wet boots and socks, and was temped to shimmy out of my tight jeans, when I remembered my company.