BACK TO SCHOOL
Rodney Fields had the blahs. He'd been that way for two months, maybe more. He was medium size, forty-six, but looked younger because of his thick brown hair. He was in okay shape, decent BMI and didn't get out of breath much jogging to work. He had his own CPA firm, and it was doing quite well. So, that wasn't the problem.
Rod was married to Ellen Fields, nee, Clarke. She was forty-four, and looked younger as well. She was also medium size, with brown hair but blue eyes. She was an administrative assistant at a local law firm, and had been for sixteen years. She was good at it, but it was the same job from one year to the next.
The two had a pretty good sex life, all in all. Rod thought so, and Ellen did, too. They had sex maybe once or twice a week. Perhaps they had fallen into a pattern. But they almost always ended up satisfied-sexually.
They had two children. Joy was twenty-four and working as a nurse in a nearby city. She was married, but there were no kids yet. William was twenty-two and just graduated from college. He was going to law school in the fall. He wasn't married, but had a steady girlfriend, Patty Garcia. They lived together and had just moved near the school he would attend.
All in all, Rod should have been happy. The same could be said for Ellen. She should have been happy.
But Rod had the blahs, and Ellen was restless.
Ellen did not have a college degree. She and Rod met at school, and fell for each other hard when she was nineteen and he twenty-one. The next year she got pregnant. It wasn't Rod's fault. Ellen forgot her diaphragm one night. Boom. She was going to be a mother. Rod got a decent job out of school, and Ellen dropped out to be a mother. She thought about going back but then William came along. Not an accident this time.
By the time the kids were in full time school, she simply wanted to work outside the house. So, she got a job at the same firm that she still worked for, all these years later.
Ellen could tell that Rod was depressed. Hell, she was in the same rut. It was early March, and they had booked a beach condo for July. While she was doing that, she ran across some stories about the college kids who flocked to the beach in the summer. The town just south of where they always went had had some problems last year. Some arrests for being drunk and disorderly. Some indecent exposure arrests. She read about all that. She thought about when she and Rod were students. Actually, she thought about when she was a coed, before she met Rod. She had been free to have sex with anyone she wanted. She had used that freedom sparingly. Two guys got all the way with her before Rod. Neither of them made her orgasm. She didn't stay with either of them for long.
Rod made her cum the first time they had sex. He was experienced. He made her cum with his tongue. Then he fucked her missionary and she came then, too. It was a revelation to her. Now, she thought: 'Rod's the only guy who ever made me come. I should call them Rodgasms.'
That entire line of thought led her to the idea that she could go back to college and get her degree. It would be in biology, and she could get teaching credentials. It would allow her to change jobs, become a high school teacher. She could minor in chemistry. Schools always needed science teachers. She researched that. She believed that with a degree, and credentials she could easily get a job locally.
While Ellen was researching what it might take for her to get those degrees, Rod was downstairs watching a basketball game. The U was playing Clemson. The U was getting waxed, and Rod fell asleep. He slept for thirty minutes and when he awoke, the basketball was over. There was a mixed martial arts bout being shown. Rod glanced at it, then he became more interested. In his early years, he had trained as a boxer. He didn't make the team at the U, and gave it up when he got married. But these MMA guys interested him. Rod decided to see about doing some of that, at a gym nearby that he knew trained MMA people. Fuck golf. He needed more excitement.
Rod went to Williams' Gym the next day. He spoke to the owner, Jimmy Williams, about joining up. Jimmy asked him about any experience, and then took a month membership fee from Rod. He also sold Rod some kit and assigned him a locker. Rod dressed, put on the gloves, and started hitting a heavy bag. It was morning, and not too many people were there. Jimmy watched Rod, and saw that, contrary to expectations, Rod could punch with some power. Especially with his right hand. But Rod couldn't kick worth shit. Still, because of the punching he saw, Williams started giving Rod pointers on how to kick, off a punch, and then from a stance.
Rod was wrapped up in the experience. But he had to stop, because his hands hurt. When he looked at the clock, he found that he'd spent almost three hours doing various punches and kicks. He showered up and went to the office, arriving after lunch, unable to use the computer because of soreness in his hands. He took some ibuprofen.
That night both Rod and Ellen were excited to see each other after work. Each saw right away that the other was excited. Both thought it odd.
Ellen was reticent about her news, because she knew it might cause problems with Rod. So, she encouraged Rod to tell her about his day. Rod did tell her. Ellen was appalled.
"You're going to fight again? I hated when you boxed. And...I hear the other stuff is worse. You'll be maimed or killed."
"Nah. I'm using it for workouts, instead of golf. No worries. I saw you were excited when I came in. What's up?"
Ellen hesitated. "I was thinking I needed a change."
Rod's heart skipped and he stared at her. "What change?"
"I looked into going back to college, getting my degree and teaching credentials. Then I could switch jobs."
Rod was relieved. For a second, he believed she was changing away from him. The marital malaise made that a possibility.
He said, "How would it work? Can you transfer credits to a school nearby?"
She said, "I can get over two full years credit, almost three, based on what I did when I was in school. The teaching credentials take six months. It would take two years, about."
"Well, I approve. We have enough money. We don't need your income. We both seem ready to do something different. Where will you apply?"
Rod knew that there were two colleges near their home, within a half-hour drive.
Ellen looked unsure. "That's the thing. I would have to do it at the U."
"Why? That's a two-hour drive away. Do they do remote?"
"No. I'd have to live on campus, or near it. I have to do in-person classes."
Rod was now agitated. "You mean you want to be away at school for two years?"
"Parts of two years. I'd come home weekends, and summers."
Rod said, "I have to think that one over. That's a big switch in our lives. Right off, I feel a little insecure about it."
"Why?"
"You and I would see one another far less frequently."
"We'd have weekends, and six weeks in the summer. Unless I went then, too, and sped things up."
"Lemme consider."
"Okay. But, you know...... I'll factor in your opinion."
"I see." Things were a bit cool for the rest of the evening.
Rod did think it over. He was a person who was able to be honest with himself. He thought that if Ellen was at the U, amidst all those randy college guys, she'd possibly end up in bed with one or more. He knew that this was his main worry. But he didn't know quite how to bring it up.
Ellen also thought about things. She was at first puzzled by Rod's negative reaction. Then she considered the process by which she came to the idea of going back to school. The rowdy college crowd at the beach. Bacchanalia.
She decided that Rod didn't trust her to remain faithful if she was at school, two hours away. She was angry at that thought. But, then she rethought the process. She decided that Rod could have a point. She was hit on by guys a lot, even at forty-four. When she was here, coming home each night, she was seldom tempted. Everyone was tempted some. But here, she could deal with it. However, she didn't know, not really, what might happen if some handsome, younger guy hit on her at the U, where she could take that guy to bed on a whim. She thought that she and Rod should have a discussion about this. But then she couldn't think what she would say. Would she be honest and say that it might happen? Or would she tell him in no uncertain terms that she wouldn't cheat. If she did take that tack, would it be a lie?
Ellen's mood was a strange one. She lay in bed, stomach a roil. And she also felt a tingle of sexual arousal, thinking about handsome college guys who most certainly would be after her at the U. She admitted to herself that if she went back to college at the U, she'd be very likely to have sex with other men. The thought made her wet. So, she became even more certain that eventually she'd sample what might be available at the U. However, she made up her mind that she would fight the (losing) battle to stay faithful to Rod. She went to sleep dreaming of rowdy college guys.
Meanwhile, before he fell asleep, Rod decided that he should meet the issue of his insecurity about Ellen's fidelity head on. He fell asleep, about the same time as she did.
