"Splat"..."Take that"..."No"...."Splat..."You take that"...."HA HA HA HA"....
Back and forth the two lovebirds went, flipping water from their bottles of Aquafina at each other as they laid side by side on the floor, helping each other study for finals.
Wendy Smith and her boyfriend of 3 years, and fiance of 8 months, Brad jossled and flirted incessantly with each other until Brad finally leaned over and softly kissed Wendy on the lips.
"UMMMM," she purred and smiled, loving the way her future Husband's warm mouth melted against her own, for that brief moment hating the fact that a loving kiss would be all they could share until after the marriage ceremony in four long months.
"DAARRNNN," Wendy groaned with real frustration, an unreachable itch gnawing at her loins as she inhaled Brad's cologne.
"Get back you Horndog," she giggled, before splashing a few more drops of cold water against her boyfriend's grinning face. "Cool youself down..you're not making it any easier to study."
"I guess this IS too much of a temptation...we haven't gotten anything done the last two nights... have we?" Brad sighed. "Good thing finals aren't until next week!"
A sudden hush of impending sadness washed through each soul as Brad stole a glance at his watch.
"Quarter past 10," he whispered. "I've got to open up the Chem Lab in the morning at 7:30.....guess...guess I better get going."
"....OK," Wendy somberly agreed as the two stared longingly into each other's eyes for nearly a minute, pondering just how good things would be in the near future when they were married and wouldn't have to slump back to their respective apartments for the night, when they could instead fall asleep in each other's arms the way any couple in love should have the right to do.
Each being staunchly dedicated to their Mormon unbringing however, Wendy and Brad bit their tongues and kissed each other one last time as Brad prepared to leave.
Having met during their Sophomore year at Brigham Young University, the two had immediatly hit it off and when Brad had proposed the Summer after their Junior year, Wendy had happily agreed to make a lifetime committment and start a family as soon as they each got a degree. So looking forward to the wedded bliss, they had already agreed on the names of their first two sons and daughters.
"Wanna get together tomorrow night and try this studying thing again?" Brad flirtatiously deadpanned.
"Yep..definatly," Wendy started to answer until a rush of disappointed angst crested in her brain.
"OH..SHOOT..wait a minute..tomorrow night's Thursday ...right....I think I have to do that tutoring session with my friend Tina for a couple of those football players tomorrow night," Wendy dejectedly replied. "I wish I had never signed up for that....the extra credit seemed nice at the time but its been such a burden....its such a rush this time of the year..I dont have enough time for my own schedule right now."
"Then how about Friday night Baby?" Brad politly offered, before placing another goodbye kiss on Wendy's waiting lips. "We can grab dinner..study a little and maybe rent a movie."
"OK," She brightly smiled as Brad slowly eased out the door.
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Wendy sat on the living room floor of her apartment, dressed in a pair of baggy, baby blue sweatpants and a loose fitting teeshirt, her legs crossed Indian style by the coffee table as her and her friend Tina killed time, waiting for the two students they were scheduled to tutor to show up.
"Why in the heck are all these people they send over to study with us always late..its almost 9 o' clock," Tina groused, each of the girls then sighing as they aimlessly watched the hands of the clock tick by.
"I could have spent the evening with Brad," Wendy bemoaned.
"You're so lucky Wendy," Tina admitted to her friend. "My folks have been giving me so much grief lately about not being able to find a serious guy yet before I graduate. It's not like I haven't been trying...nothing just ever seems to click..there's just never a spark...but then..you and Brad..you can see the steam simmering everytime you two are together."
"Would you stop that Tina..Brad and I aren't that perfect, " Wendy tried to sooth her confidante's feelings, privatly knowing Tina was correct in her assessment of the chemistry between her and her future husband.
The two girls went back and forth for the next few minutes, reaffirming each other, until a sudden thudding series of knocks at the door startled them both.
"Guess they're finally here," Tina mumbled as she hopped up to let the two football players in.
____________________________________
Sheron Dillon was on the verge of finishing his second semester at BYU. Recruited to the school from a Junior College near his home in Southern California to be a reserve linebacker on the football team, Sheron had progressed surprisingly well, making it into 6 of the team's games the previous season, with assurances from his coaches that he'd play a significantly greater role next season, if his grades held up.
That was the main reason Sheron and one of his teammates, a Sophomore named Calvin Davis who was a 3rd string running back on the team were placed with tutors through the school's athletic department to help with Spring semester exams.
After a brief round of introductions, due to the late hour the foursome was getting their start, they split off into two pairs and went to seperate ends of the living room to crack open the books.
Both Political Science majors, Sheron paired off with Wendy while Calvin, who was struggling to tame a Literary Criticism class partnered up with Tina, who was an English major and aspiring teacher.
As the next hour or so unfolded, Calvin and Sheron did the best they could to focus on the task at hand. Knowing how important Finals were at a school like BYU, that didn't look past the grades of their athletes to keep them eligible, both young men did their best to keep their attention on what Tina and Wendy were trying to walk them through.
Every once in a while however, Calvin and Sheron would look up at the same moment and share a brief stare of spontanious enlightenment from across the room. Nodding to each other as the girls they were with read on and on, totally oblivious to the two players' silent interplay, both young men smiled in agreement from the temptation that presented itself on a daily basis around campus.
Eventhough each could have easily gone to a college where the sight of a black guy and a white girl together would have barely gotten a second look, in order to play football at a major college level, Sheron and Calvin's seperate paths had led them to Provo, Utah where there was an unspoken but implicit expectation in maintaining the purity of bloodlines.
"And there ain't a black girl within a hundred miles," Calvin's eyes seemed to gleam as he maintained eye contact with his slightly older teammate.
"And we still have to look at all these lily white pure and prudent girls every day around campus without a chance of even getting a Goddamn kiss," Sheron nodded in reply.
Eventhough each young man would have never admitted it to the other, without the outlet or opportunity for sex that most men their age had on a regular basis, Calvin and Sheron were forced the repress their natural urges, just as the preponderance of the single Mormon population surrounding them had to. And with more than 10,000 female students, faculty and locals for them to encounter on a steady basis, without any hope of every making an intimate connection, the natural build up of frustration on occassion became almost too much to bare.
___________________________________
Around an hour into the study session, Wendy called for a break so everyone could clear their heads and maybe get something to drink before cracking the books back open.
Allowing the two football players to chat with each other in the living room, Wendy and Tina slipped into the kitchen to fetch a couple of bottles of water and chat for a few seconds.
"How much longer do you think this is going to take?" Wendy offered up.
"Calvin and I are just about finished..he's got a paper due in the morning..so he wants to head out in a few minutes..How about you?" Tina replied.
"Probably another hour or so," Wendy guessed, sensing in her friend's body language and slight tremble of voice that Tina was feeling the same vague awkwardness that she was.
Nodding at each other when the shared uneasiness was evident on the other's face, Tina finally whispered, "Do you feel the way..the way they are looking at us?"
"AHH...No...," Wendy lied.
"You're just imagining that Tina...its just all those years where they never let female tutors work with male students here at school...guys are gonna look at girls..that's normal..you're just being self-conscious," Wendy muttered, not wanting to justify the same insecurities she was herself feeling.
The two girls returned to the living room and each felt their stomachs roll when they saw Calvin and Sheron look up and smile.
"What in the world were they talking about before Tina and I walked back into the room?" Wendy nervously wondered.
Looking briefly to her left, at Tina, Wendy could see her friend was awkwardly fidgeting with her hands as well.
"...Tina said you have a paper to work on for tomorrow Calvin," Wendy spoke up, desperate to break the brooding silence in the room.
"Yeah..Yeah I do," Calvin pleasantly replied. "I need a little time to work on it tonight..I think I'll probably head out."
Calvin smiled and thanked the two girls for their time before giving Sheron a handshake and a subtle wink goodbye.
"I'll stick around...if you want," Tina voice trailed off, leaving Wendy feeling awkwardly betwixst.
If she said, "Yes..please stay", she'd be keeping her friend there when Tina most certainly had other things to do, not to mention giving Sheron the clear impression that she was uncomfortable alone in his presense.
