Chili met Grace during his last semester of college at a university in Maryland, a couple months before he would graduate in the spring of 1978. He met her at his dorm, or 'mod' as it was called, which was pretty much known as party central around the complex. It was a very modern dormitory for its time: it was co-ed and consisted of apartments housing four or six students in each. Chili's housed six, with two double rooms, two singles, two baths and a kitchen and living area.
Chili's five roommates that year consisted of Yakov, a Russian student who was seldom seen; Kenny, a pot head trombonist in the marching band; Mitch, a complete asshole no one could stand, but who fortunately spent most of his time at a Jewish frat house; Frank, a fruity bass player in a disco group; and Benny.
Benny was going to college on the five-and-a-half-year plan. Although he entered college a year ahead of Chili, he wouldn't graduate until the following school year. Chili and Benny had roomed together for two years and had gotten along well. They both were sports fans and athletes and played on the dorm intramural football, basketball and softball teams together. They especially clicked in basketball because Benny was a gun and liked to shoot, and Chili was a good passer who would look for the open man.
Their mod was a popular place for several reasons. The music was always playing, the bar was always open, there was a bong on the table and usually somebody was ready to party. But the main reason was Benny: He was the local source of pot and drugs for many undergraduates.
The roommates would always know when a shipment of something was due because the wall phone would ring off the hook and the callers would be asking for Benny. Then before long Benny would come home at night from his part-time job at Safeway carrying a large brown paper sack with grocery items sticking out of the top. But beneath the groceries was the package everyone had been calling about.
Chili wasn't really into drugs but did smoke a little weed now and then. As a graduating senior he was in party mode much of the time and it was free, there was always a shoebox lid of reefer on the table. Benny, on the other hand, would partake of his various products on a regular basis and although he usually had a buzz on, he managed to control his usage fairly well.
That final semester the dorm softball team made it to the playoffs and had a semi-final game scheduled for a Thursday afternoon after class—prime 'Let's get our heads up for the weekend' time—and Chili, as team captain and shortstop, had practically begged Benny to please abstain and show up to the game straight. But Benny showed up to the game at the very last minute and took his position at third base with a joint in his mouth. Chili was pissed off initially but didn't have to worry. In the top of the first inning an opposing batter lifted a pop fly deep behind third base in foul ground. Benny sprinted after the fly, barely reached it in time, and with his back to the field dove for the ball, caught it, rolled over and sprung up with the ball safely in his glove and the joint still safely clutched between his lips.
One day during Chili's final semester he met Grace for the first time at his dorm. There was a small group hanging around, casually listening to music, talking and drinking beer. Since the complex was coed, there were always new girls around, friends of friends, guests, whatever, but Grace was a new face, and Chili was attracted to her immediately. She was slim and athletic-looking. She had long legs, medium-sized perky tits and shoulder-length auburn hair. Her jeans were tight on her butt and Chili wanted to peel them right off. He got himself a beer and introduced himself and started chatting her up. He could tell within minutes that this was a woman he wanted to get to know. But soon he was let down and backed off. Grace was with Benny.
'Damn!' Chili thought. He'd had relationships with girls throughout college, of course, but most occurred out of horniness and convenience and none had turned into anything even remotely serious. And here he meets this girl to whom he is immediately and intensely attracted—her looks, her body, her smile, her conversation, not to mention the tingle between his legs—and she's off-limits.
Chili couldn't remember seeing Benny with a real girlfriend, just a few sleep-overs here and there. And he didn't know how he'd met Grace...was she one of his customers?...but he had to admit, at least he had good taste.
So he backed off, and admired her from afar as she came and went with Benny during the remainder of the semester, and pondered what might have been. And then he graduated and moved on and forgot about her. Or at least he tried to.
--
After he graduated, Chili travelled the U.S. in his Mercury Comet for a few months, finally settling in a medium-sized city on the southwest coast of Florida. He liked the laid-back lifestyle of living on the Gulf. He took a sales job for a direct marketing company selling direct mail advertising at the time when the medium was relatively new and growing by leaps and bounds. Within a year he was able to purchase the territory and had exclusive rights to sell the company's products. Over the next several years he grew his sole proprietorship into a thriving small business and was earning over six figures for himself. He bought a waterfront cottage on a tributary that flowed into the Intracoastal Waterway. Life was good.
Chili had had a few relationships, and one even lasted a year, but nothing permanent. His business kept him very busy. He'd lost touch with Benny—as he had with many of his college buddies—but he thought about him once in a while. And he thought about Grace of course. He wondered if they were still together.
--
Benny had graduated a semester after Chili, and moved in with Grace. He started a landscaping business with a childhood friend: Ready Teddy, a druggie. Ted's father owned a large nursery in the town where they'd grown up, which was only about twenty miles from the campus, and he helped them get started and acquire supplies and equipment. At first they'd rented a house in a subdivision and they gradually acquired more and more equipment—trucks, trailers, tools, tractors—and the neighbors started complaining about it. So he and Ted went out looking to buy a piece of property where they could park and store everything. They found a 1.5 acre parcel that was partially wooded and had a long dirt driveway leading to an old, broken-down, abandoned house. They paid $57,000 for it, parked everything there and got the neighbors of their backs.
In a once-in-a-lifetime stroke of luck, and unbeknownst to Benny and Ted, the whole surrounding area was soon being rezoned industrial and heavy commercial due to the expansion of the international airport a few miles away. Out of nowhere, in less than two years they were presented with an offer of $1.1 million for the property.
Benny and Ted took their cash and purchased homes on large properties in the semi-rural outskirts of town. There they had their privacy and plenty of space to park all of their equipment.
--
Chili's parents were getting older and had decided to downsize, so he scheduled a trip back home to go through and clean out the house to help them prepare to sell. While he was there he bought a couple tickets for a football game at his alma mater and took his Dad to the game.
Chili was waiting in the beer line at the concession stand when he heard a familiar voice calling his name.
"CHILI...." boomed the voice from a few feet away. He recognized Benny's voice immediately.
"Hey, Benny, how the hell are you, man?" Chili asked, and they hugged. Benny looked like he'd put on a few pounds.
The game was still in the first quarter but Chili could tell that Benny was already pretty toasted. He remembered going to the games when they were in college, the tailgating, sneaking in booze, and they were usually so drunk by halftime that they couldn't even tell which team had the ball.
They chatted for a few minutes in line and they exchanged business cards. Chili mentioned his parents and that he might be coming north again in a couple months. Benny said to let him know when and he could stay with him and Grace at their new home. Be nice to have you stay with us for a few days, he said.
"Did you and Grace get married?" Chili asked.
"Nah," Benny said. "We've talked about it but that's about it. Permanently engaged I guess you could say."
They got their beers and went their separate ways back to their respective seats.
--
The next time Chili came north he never even called Benny. It was getting close to the holidays and he thought it would be too awkward, plus he had his own family obligations. But a few months later, after his parents had sold their house and moved south, he took Benny up on the offer.
That spring Chili planned a road trip north. He would visit his parents at their new home in North Carolina, his sister in Virginia, and Benny in Maryland. He would stay with his parents one night—that's about all he could stand—and with his sister and brother-in-law for a couple days, and then on to Benny's. At Benny's he would play it by ear: it could be a lot of fun or, after so much time, it could be like a weird scene from the movie 'Pacific Heights'.
What attracted Chili most of all to the visit was his curiosity. How was Benny living these days after his windfall? He knew he had a successful business, but what was his life like? Was he still a head? Still dealing? Was he happy? And what about Grace? Was she?
It was late Friday afternoon and Chili had been in the car over five hours when he arrived at Benny's house. It was a little hard to find. It was out in the countryside and he missed a turn and had to backtrack before finding it. He drove down a driveway through a tunnel of trees and then curved to the left. The house was bigger than he expected, a brick two-story with a gabled roof, dormers upstairs and a three-car garage. There was a silver Toyota in the driveway. Chili heard a big dog barking nearby. He parked but didn't get out of the car right away. He thought immediately that a large, ferocious dog would probably mean only one thing to Benny: protection.
"Wait a minute, Chili!" he heard a female voice call. He looked over to the side porch and spotted Grace behind the screen holding the collar of a white German Shepherd. "Let me take care of the dog!" Then she disappeared for a moment until the front door opened and Grace emerged without the canine.
"It's okay now," she said, walking toward the car, and Chili opened his door and got out. Grace gave him a hug, which surprised him. It was the first time they'd really touched and he felt the soft pressure of one of her breasts against his sternum. "Nice to see you, Chili. How was your trip?"
