Letters to Nicole 25

Dear Nicole,

Wow, I guess I overslept! What time is it anyway? Oh my God, I have to meet Jason at Home Depot in a couple of hours! I'm going to need a shower in a minute; I bet I haven't shaved my legs in three or four days, yuck! But hey, You do realize that this whole story about Franklin and Sammie was one of the keys to my meeting Jason, right? Jason knows Sammie and Franklin very well, but he has no idea what transpired between the three of us after the frat party that night! Oh my God, Jason is a great husband, I wouldn't trade him for anyone; and our sex is amazing! When we got serious I told him I wasn't a virgin (he wasn't either,) but he doesn't know any details of the who, what, when, where, how many...oh Goddd! He's sooo stuck in traditional marriage! One of these days I'll get into what's been going on recently; but again, I need to keep the stories in order or nothing will make sense.

Anyway, after I put on some dry clothes, we all climbed into Sammie's car and headed cross-campus to my dorm. That $250 in my bag felt extremely good, and I was right in the middle of several thoughts about what to do with it when Sammie said, "Oh my God, Nance, you and Meredith were so hot on stage; I wanted to ask you, are you and she...uhh..." Her voiced trailed off and she swallowed hard.

"Are we lovers?"

My blunt response caught her a little off-guard; her head snapped around and she looked at me in the back seat and grinned, "Yes, that's what I wanted to ask!"

We both giggled and I said, "I'll tell you, but you're gonna have to watch the road, okay?" Sammie laughed some more but she turned back around. Franklin was looking at her, I'm pretty sure he was thinking about how nervy she was for asking me that question, but I was more interested in how HE would respond when I replied, "No, we're not lovers, but after tonight I sure wouldn't mind trying her out!"

"Ha!" Sammie barked with laughter! Franklin never said a word, but his eyes flicked at me for just a second, his jaw clenched, and he quickly turned his face in the other direction and looked out the window.

Leaning forward over the front seat I spoke into his ear (but loud enough for Sammie to hear,) "Franklin, you are just so funny! Did I embarrass you?"

He didn't even turn around; he just said, "Women, you all are so weird!" That just elicited more laughter from "us women!"

"Hey Sammie, what we really ought to do is celebrate my 'victory;' I have some wine in my mini-fridge wanna come up to my room for a toast or two?

"I wouldn't mind; what say you, Frankie?"

Franklin turned his face to us briefly and said, "Alcohol in the dorm rooms is illegal!"

I touched Sammie on the shoulder and laid on the drama, "Has he ALWAYS been such a fuddy-duddy?"

I could see her grinning in the rear-view mirror, "Mostly yes, I'm pretty sure he has fun sometimes, every few months maybe?" We laughed some more.

"Well," I said, "I've got enough glasses, and if he wants to, he can join us, okay?"

Nicole, I'm pretty sure Franklin rolled his eyes at me cuz his chin tipped up slightly; but his eyes never left the window. I could hear him mutter, "We're not even twenty-one..."

Ten minutes later we were in my room; even through all of that I was positive he would join us and not even saying a word about it, he followed us up there. I brought out my hidden wine glasses and poured Sammie a glass of Merlot. I poured Franklin a glass next and we watched him intently as he took it, smelled it, sipped it, and swished it around in his mouth. I looked at Sammie and said, "What is he, a professional?"

Sammie giggled, "He's just full of surprises!"

We small-talked for a bit and as we did, a lot of the information I got was very eye-opening. Sammie had four brothers; she was the only girl; and just as strangely (or maybe coincidentally,) Franklin had four sisters and no brothers. I remembered Felecia saying that their nerdy weirdness had to have a source, and things were becoming clearer.

"Four sisters, huh Franklin? How did that work for ya?"

Franklin's face twitched and his eyes registered a faint look of pain, "It was okay, I guess; I didn't have much choice in the matter.

I didn't say it out loud, but I thought, "No, I bet you didn't."

Sammie spoke right up, "My brothers were all athletes, basketball and baseball. Our whole lives revolved around that stuff."

"Did you play too?"

"I was a real tomboy; still am I suppose."

"You're pretty cute for a tomboy," I told her, "Don't you think so, Franklin?"

Franklin's face said it all; he didn't like the question, forcing a smile he said, "Sure, she's real cute!"

Ignoring his response, Sammie asked me, "You think I'm cute?"

"Of course! Who said you weren't?"

"My brothers never did that's for sure, I think to them I was mostly an inconvenience. And I don't think I ever measured up to their girlfriends either."

"Hmm," I was thinking this explains the tomboy thing. First she played with them as children; but when puberty hit, and not a whole lot changed...they ignored her. "Did you ever have a boyfriend in high school?"

"No, our high school was pretty small, maybe I scared them!"

I looked over at Franklin, "So then, when did you and Sammie become friends?"

Franklin studied me for a few seconds and I could tell he was wondering where this conversation might be going. "In our sophomore year; we took several classes together and for one biology project we were partners. That started it."

"Yeah," said Sammie, "After that first project we tried to partner up whenever we could. We always got 'A's'!"

So I said, "It seems to me if you two were always hanging out together, people would assume you were a couple."

"Nope, no one thought that," responded Sammie.

"Why not?"

They both turned and looked at each other simultaneously; dredging up this memory wasn't easy. Franklin had that pained expression on his face again. "What's the point of telling her this?" He said to her with a shrug.

"What's the big deal?" she replied, "Nancy's cool, we're just talking is all." So she said to me, "Because everyone thought we were gay!"

Nicole, as all of my own experiences came flooding back to me, I couldn't help but giggle at them, "Ohh really?"

Franklin was not amused, "See...this crap will never end, Sam; can't we just drop it?"

Sammie reached over and shoved his shoulder, "Stop it, you ass! We're gonna be okay, ya know!" She turned to me, "Franklin's sisters are such bitches; they're the ones who started that rumor! Or rather, they're the ones who could have set the record straight...but they didn't!"

It was all clear now; Felecia was right. These two were caught in this small town bullshit that their siblings started and were having trouble escaping it.

"So, I take it you're not gay, huh?"

"Not in the least," replied Sammie, "but one problem was, I had an experience with one of my girlfriends and that was part of the shit that came out! So we got labeled, and that was that."

"That would explain Sammie's problem, but what really happened to you, Frankie?"

"Look Nance, I don't really want to explain my relationship with my sisters. I get along great with my one younger sister, and with my mom and dad too; but those three older bitches walk all over my parents. And they saw that I was shy and 'nerdy,' and they made an assumption...and then the rumors got started. That same sophomore year, I tried to break out of it by befriending a few other girls, but that small town shit brainwashed them or something. They were okay with being my friend; but beyond that I didn't have a chance."

Right near the end of that, Sammie was giggling, "One person actually wanted to ask Franklin out! His name was Andrew!" She and I burst out laughing at that one, and even Franklin chuckled some at that memory.

"Okay, okay...I get it. But you two are here now, this is a whole different world. None of that stuff in the past matters anymore. So what's next?"

"Franklin doesn't trust women, Nance; simple as that; and unfortunately I don't think he really trusts me either!" This time Franklin reached over and gave Sammie a shove. "Did I say something that wasn't true?"

"We don't need to lay my life open for all the world to see!"

"It's not 'all the world,' it's just us three here, you dope!"

All of a sudden, the realization hit me; Felecia said if I was alert, I would see it...and I did! Franklin adored Sammie, but her tomboy behavior, name-calling, and domineering manner was just a bit too much for him. So he kept her at arm's length when it came to a relationship. Sammie, on the other hand, wanted their friendship to go further, but she had no idea how to encourage him. And now the two of them were sitting right there bickering...this was going to be up to me, Nicole!

So right in the middle of their snit I half-shouted, "Hey you two...HEY!" They stopped and turned, "Will you both slow down for a sec and listen to me? If you'll let me, I can fix this whole problem tonight!"

"What problem?" said dopey Franklin.

Sammie slapped him on the shoulder again, "God, you're so fuckin' dumb! Would you just shut the fuck up for once?"

Franklin folded his arms and glared at her. "Dumb huh? You're just lucky I'm not a violent man!"

Nicole, I can't tell you how funny it sounded when he said that! His glasses had slipped down to the end of his nose and his voice cracked saying the word "just." But it broke the ice...Sam and I just howled with laughter! Franklin got sooo red in the face, and for a beat there I thought he would get up and leave.

So I stood up and went over to him and laid my hand on his shoulder and ran it halfway down his back. "Franklin, I just want you to know that I think you're both great; and after tonight your whole life is gonna change. Would that be okay?"

"What do you mean 'change'?"

"I mean I've been through some of these kinds of things before; if you're willing to listen to me, and do what I suggest, you're life is gonna turn for the better. I was willing to listen to you about the memory stuff in class; are you willing to listen to me about relationships?" Franklin was stone silent. He stared up at me for a good thirty seconds without moving. I glanced over at Sammie and repeated, "Are you willing? You both have to be on the same page here."

"I am," she responded, "I've been frustrated long enough!"

Franklin turned his gaze on Sammie, "Yeah, maybe Nance has a point; maybe we need a different strategy."

"That's for sure," and she turned to me, "Okay Dr. Nance, we're in, what next?"

"You in too Frankie?"

He was a little more hesitant, but when he spoke, it was firm, "Yeah, okay...I'm in too; what do we do?"

I handed them their glasses of wine, "Let's finish these, and I'm going to tell you something, and you will either agree...or this won't work. I said you'll have to let me help, so you have to agree." I took a couple sips from my glass and waited.

Sammie scooted back farther onto my bed and sat cross-legged; she looked almost enthusiastic. I'm ready."

Frankie leaned back and downed the rest of his wine, put the glass on the desk, pushed his glasses up higher on his nose and said, "Okay, go for it."

"First of all, a good friendship is a gift; an awesome gift! I don't want to be too dramatic, but it's such a great gift, life isn't worth living without it. Do you both see that?" When they nodded I continued, "is your friendship awesome, or not?" They both agreed. "Then certain friendship rules must be followed; I was lucky enough to have friends in high school that understood this. You didn't, but so what? That's all over and we're starting over tonight! The number one rule is: No frustration allowed. No one's perfect; don't allow their imperfections to piss you off; quit trying to make the other person perfect." Right here I moved over and sat on the bed next to Sammie.

Franklin was sitting in his chair with his legs crossed, chin in hand, elbow on knee; almost like he was memorizing something. Sammie was looking at him too (waiting for him to react.) He finally realized that we were staring at him, "What? What are you guys looking at?"

Sam was going to answer, but I stopped her by putting my hand on her leg, "Frankie, Sammie is NOT your sisters; she's your friend, stop being suspicious of her." Turning to her I said, "And you, Sam, quit being dishonest with him, stop the expectations; let him be himself, okay?"

She pursed her lips, "But he may never get it, Nance."

"Sam, just enjoy the friendship while it lasts. My friend Felecia, was my BFF; but she met someone...and things change. Something's gonna change tonight, you'll see!"

"You keep saying that;" Franklin blurted, "I get this 'friendship' thing; but what is this big change you're talking about?"

"It's time you kids started seeing the possibility of something more," I replied. "It's so much more fun that way. All you have to do after that is just keep your head screwed on straight!"

"Now you're doing it again, you're frustrating me with all the talking in circles."

"Okay, then fill us in on something, why didn't you tell Sammie that the party tonight was a Wet T-Shirt Contest? You be honest, and I'll stop 'talking in circles'." He just blinked hard and sat there, looking weird. I knew what he was thinking, but he didn't speak. "You don't know; or you don't want to tell us?"

After a long pause he said, "I'm not sure I can say it."

"You want me to say it for you?"

Franklin's eyes narrowed, "You think you know; go ahead!"

"You wanted to see titties, but you didn't feel you could tell her that honestly."

"Shit!" he hissed.

"What? Am I wrong?"

He uncrossed his legs and leaned back, "No, I guess not."

I heard Sammie mutter something unintelligible beside me, so I turned to her; "Okay, and you, Sam; he didn't tell you so when you saw what the party was about, why didn't you leave? After all, he wasn't honest with you, right?"

Nicole, you should have seen the expression on Sammie's face! I giggled it was so funny! She thought I was going to pin this whole thing on Franklin, but in a flash...she found out differently. I knew what she was thinking too.

"I don't know," she answered, "maybe I should have, huh?"

"No...now you're not telling the truth, you need to be honest too, Sammie!"

She sat there for a moment and said, "Okay, so even though he annoyed me by not telling me, I guess I wanted to watch it too."

"Sure you did; now, since we're being honest, Sam, tell us what you thought about the whole contest. Honest now, don't hold back!"

"I don't think I want to."

I shook my head and said, "Of course you do; c'mon now, if you won't be honest nothing will ever change, and you both will walk out of here and go back to the way it's always been. I know you want to tell us, you're just afraid of the truth; you think it might make things worse."

Sammie stared at me, "Geez, Nance, are you gonna be a psych major or something?" She paused and turned to Franklin, "Okay, I'm gonna see this thing through; are you?"

"Yes," he responded, "we've come this far; it's probably best to continue."

"Do you swear that I can trust you?"

"Sure, everything we say stays in this room. I can trust you for that as well?"

"You could always trust me, you know that!" So Sammie turned to me and said, "I not only wanted to watch, I would have liked to be IN the contest, but I was too chicken shit!"

"Why?"

"I was afraid. I just said that."

"Afraid of what?"

"Nance, I don't have a great body like any of those girls. Hell, half the GUYS in that crowd have bigger boobs than I do."

"Sammie, you have a sweet face, nice hair, a great smile; but tell me something. Why do you think I won the contest?"

Sammie wrinkled her nose and said, "That's easy, you had a plan and the confidence to pull it off. The difference is, you have the looks to go with it."

"No girlfriend, the difference really is that I was gonna have fun trying! THAT'S the difference; if I had lost... oh well, that's too bad; but I made another friend in Meredith," and then I laughed out loud, "and those people in the crowd had fun too!"

"Okay, yes, I agree with that point."

"Not entirely," I turned to stare right at Franklin, "I know she's still holding back a bit." With a nod toward Sammie I continued, "C'mon Sammie, tell Franklin what else you wanted to do!"

"Uh, No."

"C'mon...tell him; he can handle it."

"I said no."

Right here I broke my eye-contact with Franklin and turned to her, "You want me to tell him?" I didn't wait for her to answer, I just said, "Frankie, she wished she was Meredith; she was turned on by what Meredith and I did!" Nicole, you could have heard a pin drop! Right in the middle of that silence I could hear Sammie groaning inwardly. I smiled at her though, "Yes, you know I'm right, and at this moment you're thinking about how much fun it would have been!"

"No, right now I'm thinking how embarrassed I am!"

I glanced at Franklin, he was just looking at his friend slack-jawed and his eyes were wide open. "Really? Damn! Woww!"

Sammie just covered her face with her hands; but I reached over and pulled them away, "Now stop that, Sammie; stop being embarrassed about yourself. Should I be embarrassed because I DID what you wanted to do?" She didn't answer. Turning back to him I said, "Okay, now you...stop wallowing in your past; it's time to throw away all that shit that was dumped on you and live your life the way you want. Are you gonna do that... or not?"

"Wow," he said again, "There's a lot to unpack here."

"You can unpack it later; the question is, do you still want to get this thing fixed tonight?"

He grinned, "Oh hell yes! I'm starting to enjoy this; when we first started, I didn't think I would!"

"I knew you would; but Sammie, no more pretenses. Do you want to continue, or are you as you said too 'chicken-shit'?"

"Go ahead; let's continue."

"Great!" I got off the bed and stood right in front of Franklin and shocked him to his toes, "Okay, you fucking nerd! Be honest now, how hard did your dick get when you were watching us girls on the stage?" I heard Sammie gasp and Franklin choked and coughed...and coughed some more! I laughed at both of them! Looking at Sammie I said, "He's so funny; I bet he's never been asked anything like that before!"

Sammie was smiling, "He was hard, I saw it! But then again, a lot of guys were!"

"You checked all of them huh?"

Sammie grinned, "As many as I could!"

Franklin had stopped coughing by this time, "Now, listen Franklin," I said quietly, "we are gonna say and do a lot of things more surprising than what I just said, don't choke to death on us, okay?"

Franklin's face said it all, I could tell he was thinking, "Goddd, what the hell did I get myself into?"

Putting my hand on his shoulder, I reached between his legs and gently felt his cock. "It's not hard now, how come?"

"You're kidding right?" he exclaimed, "This is just weird!"

"Do you masturbate, Franklin?"

I laughed when he choked a choke, "Uhh, sometimes...I guess."

"You guess?" Turning to Sammie I said, "Do you? Masturbate, I mean?"

She didn't hesitate, "Yes, LOTS!" Then she giggled at Franklin's facial expression.

"C'mere you!" I took my new friend by the hand and pulled her to her feet; then I sat down behind her on the bed and guided her between my legs facing Franklin. It was a little humorous, Nicole; I was about as tall as Sammie sitting down! I could put my chin on her shoulder and whisper, "I wanna see if we can get this guy hard again, Sam. Think we can?" Sammie didn't answer but she nodded; and again, Franklin looked like he was gonna choke...or croak! I put my hands on her hips and purred loudly, "Oh my God, Sammie, you really do have a beautiful ass!" I felt her shiver in my hands. "Yes, Franklin...this ass is to die for! Have you ever thought about seeing Sammie naked?" Franklin's eyes were flicking back and forth between Sammie's face and my hands, and I saw him lick his lips ever so slightly! "He has you know, Sam; he's thought about it a lot...he's probably even jerked off thinking about it!"