I Knew Better

I found this story in a forgotten file on my computer and I couldn't remember if I had submitted it or not. I checked the sites I post to and I didn't find the title on any of them. I may have changed the title and then submitted it, but I don't remember. If you have read it before I apologize for taking up your time.

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I knew better, but she was a sexy bitch, so when she made her move on me the little head took over from the big one. Her name was Francine Luoma, and rumor had it that she would put out if you dated her while she was having one of her snit fits.

That needs a little bit of an explanation. Fran was the girlfriend of Norm Schnieder. Theirs was a stormy relationship, and only God knew how they managed to keep getting back together. They would get into some kind of argument, break up and then after a month or so, they would get back together. Everything would be cool with them for about three or four months, and there would be another argument and they would split up again. Fran would hook up with some other guy, but she would eventually go back to Norm. During those periods she was with other guy's, rumor had it she did other guys just to spite Norm.

The cycle repeated itself all through high school and into college. I do have to state that none of the guys I knew that had dated Fran ever said straight out that they had done the horizontal boogie with her, but they never flat out denied it either. When asked, they would get a half smile on their faces and say something like, "A gentleman never tells." Of course, it left you thinking that that they had indeed done the deed.

As I mentioned earlier, Fran was a sexy little bitch and like most other guys who saw her, I wanted to fuck her. She fed many of my masturbatory fantasies, and while I would have loved to be one of the guys she went with while she was separated from Norm, I never expected it to happen.

For one thing, I wasn't the type Fran usually went with. Fran always seemed to go for the jocks, and I wasn't one. For another, I was a bit on the shy side and I didn't have the stones to approach Fran. Not that I would have anyway, because I was in a fairly long term relationship with Pauline French and I was with Pauline every time Fran broke up with Norm.

How did I end up with Pauline if I was so shy? Pauline came after me. Never did understand why.

One day while we were in the tenth grade she came up to me and said, "Since it doesn't look like you are ever going to ask me for a date I decided that it was going to have to be up to me. Would you like to go to the movies with me Saturday?"

Pauline and I were together from then until the middle of the twelfth grade. Her father got a promotion of some kind, and it caused them to move away. Pauline said it would only be a short separation, since she would be coming back to attend State. We exchanged letters for a couple of months, and then the letters from her stopped and she never did come back to go to college at State.

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So, back to the beginning. When Fran made her move on me I knew better than to get into a relationship with her. If we hooked up, it would only last a month or so and then she would be back with Norm. But, she was a sexy looking lady, and then there were those rumors she would put out. Add to that the fact that I hadn't been laid since Pauline left, so when Fran came up to me in the Student Union cafeteria and pulled a "Pauline" on me I went along with it.

Pulled a Pauline on me? Yep. Almost word for word what Pauline had said to me that started our relationship.

Fran sat down at my table and said, "How come you have never asked me out Bob? Never mind; no need to answer that, but since it looks like you never will, it will have to be me to do the asking. Would you like to go to the movies with me Saturday?"

Like I said, I knew better, but then there were those rumors.

After the show, we had dinner at Tricocci's and then we went to a party she had been invited to. We had a few drinks and danced. I had a good time, and when I took her home she kissed me on the cheek, told me that she'd had a good time and then said, "Tomorrow you get to pick what we do. What time do you want to pick me up?"

When I took her home at the end of our fourth date, I started to get out of the car and go around and open her door for her, but she grabbed my arm, pulled me back into the car and then kissed me. Kissed me long and hard and it turned into a steamy make out session. When I walked her to her door I received another hot kiss, and then she told me that we had been invited to Tina's birthday party and said I should pick her up at six.

We had fun at the party, and when I took her home there was another hot make out session in the car. Thinking of the rumors led me to try a few things with my hands, and Fran promptly shut me down and moved away from me. I knew that the night was over, so I got out of the car and went around and got Fran's door for her and walked her to her door. I thanked her for a fun time and turned to leave. She grabbed my arm and said, "Aren't you forgetting something?" and then she kissed me.

It was a hot passionate kiss and when she broke it she said, "See you tomorrow."

As I drove home, I was thinking that if Fran did put out she damned sure wasn't an easy piece like the rumors said.

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Following my nine o'clock class, I had a half hour to kill before my next one so I went to the Union to drink coffee and review my notes.

Norm Schnieder came up to my table and said, "I hear that you and Frannie are seeing each other."

"True," I said.

"Put an end to it. She's mine and I don't like poachers."

"That it?"

He said yes and I went back to my notes. He stood there looking at me, I ignored him and then he walked away.

I usually had lunch in the cafeteria between classes, and since our getting together Fran usually joined me.

When she joined me I put my notes away and said, "I saw Norm this morning."

"Oh?"

"He told me to stop seeing you."

"So what are you going to do?"

"Ask you what you would like to do tonight."

"How about a quiet evening in? My parents are going to Vegas for the weekend, so I'll fix us something to eat and we can watch a movie. Dad has a big collection of movies on CD, and I'm sure we can find something good to watch."

So that is just what we did. Somewhere toward the middle of "Pretty Woman," we started making out. After a bit I let my hands start roaming and again Fran shut me down and pulled away from me.

"I know what the rumors say, Bob, but they have no basis in fact. I don't know who started them or why, but they are not true. I suppose that now that you know that you won't be dating me anymore?"

"It is a minor disappointment, but I won't stop dating you until you start saying no to me when I ask."

"You mean that?"

"Of course I do."

She slid back over to me; I put my arms around her and kissed her. She snuggled up to me and we watched the rest of the movie. When it was over, we made out for about ten minutes and the as I got up to leave I asked, "Same time tomorrow?" and she smiled and said yes.

"I'll bring pizza tomorrow so you won't have to cook."

The next night we watched "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon." I've always thought that John Wayne should have won an Oscar for that one. He was still a young man, but he played that old cavalry captain to perfection.

When the movie was over we made out for a bit, and then I went home.

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The make out session weren't as hot and passionate as the ones we'd had previously. I kept stopping them if they started getting too intense. To me "No" meant just that, and Fran had in effect said "No" when she pulled away from me and told me that the rumors were false. But I'm only human so I needed to eliminate the temptation to keep trying to get in Fran's panties. When the make out sessions started getting a little hot, I pulled back. No need to get myself all fired up for nothing.

Why did I keep dating her knowing she wasn't going to get up off of it? Because the more time I spent with her, the more time I wanted to spend with her. The more we did together, the more I wanted to do together. I was getting hooked, but in the back of my mind I knew I should breakaway before I let myself get to the point where her leaving would hurt. I was fast approaching my sell-by date. The longest Fran had spent with anyone before going back to Norm was about six weeks, and I had been keeping company with her for five.

I decided that I would do the breaking up before she could do it. It was an ego thing. I would feel better saying that I had dumped her instead of hearing people say that she had dumped me. We had a date for Saturday, and I decided that it would be our last. I would tell her that it was over. I'd be a little crass about it and tell her I had found someone who would put out for me. It would be a lie, but she wouldn't know it.

That plan went into the trash can at nine-fifteen on Saturday morning. I was at Paint Brush Park doing my stretching exercises before doing my morning run when Norn came up to me.

"I told you to stay away from Fran, but you weren't smart enough to do it, so I'm telling you one last time. Stay away from Franny or I'm going to stomp your ass!"

I punched him in the mouth. It rocked him back and I moved in and hit him a half dozen more times and he fell to the ground. I stood over him and looked down into his face.

"Get up asshole! If you are going to stomp my ass you need to be on your feet to do it. Come on shit for brains; get your ass up and do your best!"

He just laid there looking up at me. I waited, but he made no move to get up. Seeing that he wasn't going to take the challenge I took off and did my run. As I ran I was thinking, "No way I could dump Fran now. Even though I'd just shown Norm what I'd thought of his threat, I knew if I broke up with Fran he would think it was his treat that made me do it. I couldn't have that! I'd just have to stick it out until Fran gave me my walking papers.

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My date with Fran that night didn't go the way I thought it would.

As soon as she settled into the car seat she said, "I hear you beat up Norm this morning."

Just fucking great I thought. I get to listen to her bitch at me for hurting her boyfriend.

"Where did you hear that?"

"Brenda Wilson saw it and called me. Is it true?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

I saw no need to duck the question so I told her.

"He threatened me, so I showed him how I react to threats."

"He threatened you? Why? Come on Bob; don't make me spend all night trying to drag it out of you."

"He told me to stop seeing you or he was going to kick my ass."

"You like me enough that you would fight over me?"

"I like you well enough, but the fight wasn't over you. It was to show Norm that I wasn't afraid of him or his threats."

I know I'd changed my mind about dropping Fran after this date, but the circumstances were right so I decided to get it over with.

"He got whipped for nothing. I had already decided that that tonight was going to be our last date."

"Our last date? Why?"

"It's a pride and ego thing. Five weeks is the longest you have ever dated a guy before dropping him and going back to Norm. We are in our fifth week and I decided I would like it better if I was able to tell people I broke up with you rather than have them looking at me and saying you dumped me. Having them think that you found me lacking compared to Norm."

I wasn't surprised when she said, "Take me home, please."

I hung a U-turn and took her back to her place. I started to get out and go around and get her door for her, but she said, "Don't bother," opened her door, got out of the car, slammed the door closed and walked up to her place.

"That went well," I thought as I pulled away from the curb and headed on home, but I had accomplished what needed to be done.

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I found enough to do to keep myself busy over the weekend, and it was Monday before I saw Fran again.

I was between classes and in the Student Union cafeteria drinking coffee and going over notes when I saw Fran come in. She saw me and headed for a table on the other side of the room. It was what I had expected, so I went back to my notes.

I would occasionally be distracted by someone coming in the door, and every time I would look up to see who it was, I would notice that Fran was looking at me. When it was time for my next class, I got up and headed for the Franklin Building and my Managerial Economics class.

It was Wednesday before I saw Fran again, and again, it was in the cafeteria. I was doing the notes and coffee thing when she came in. She saw me, but instead of heading for the other side of the room she headed straight for me.

She pulled out a chair, sat down and said, "Morning, Bob."

I nodded at her and said, "To what do I owe the honor of this visit?"

"I wanted to talk to you, but I doubted that you would take my call if I phoned you. Here seemed like my best bet."

"Talk to me? Why?"

"To clear up a few things. First of all, you were not ever going to be dropped so I could go back to Norm. I thought we had a good thing going and I had no intension of ever ending it. The second thing is that you need to understand the Norm thing. The reason I always broke up with Norm was that he was an abusive controlling asshole. That being said, the question has to be asked is why would I always end up back with him? There was no good reason; only bad ones and they don't show me as being too bright.

"The way it usually went was I would get fed up with Norm's behavior and break up with him. I'd start dating a guy, and after a while Norm would threaten the guy and the guy would stop calling. I would get pissed off at the guy for not telling Norm to fuck off and die, and so to spite the guy, I would go back to Norm. It was my way of saying 'I'd rather be with a real man than a wimp like you.' Not all that smart of me to go back to a relationship I'd already bailed on, but then I've already admitted I wasn't too bright. The thing was that I never intended to stay. I'd just go back to Norm to show the guy what I thought of his lack of backbone, and after a week or so I'd kick Norm to the curb.

"It didn't work out that way. I'd start playing mind games with myself. If I left too soon the guy would get over whatever bad thoughts I'd given him about himself. Of course, maybe I'd never given them the bad thoughts that I thought I'd planted, but it just shows the way my thinking went. Also, there was the way Norm acted when I went back. Sorry and contrite and promising that he'd learned his lesson and he would change, but eventually he would go back to what had driven me away in the first place.

"The whole thing kept repeating itself. What is it they say is the definition of insanity? To keep doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome each time? I guess that's just what I was: insane, stupidly insane. Then you came along. We hit it off, things were going great and then Norm came around and did his usual. You didn't fold. You told him to go pound sand and then you told me you would only stop asking if I started saying no.

"I was never going to say no, Bob. There were nothing but yeses in your future as far as I was concerned. Know the really sad part? The night you were going to dump me is the night you were going to get lucky. I'd finally found a guy who was going to stay with me instead of running off with his tail between his legs and I was going to show him how happy I was that he chose me.

"One good thing did come out of our relationship. Some of your backbone rubbed off on me. There won't be any going back to Norm. Thank you for that. Take care."

She got and left. As she walked away I thought about what she'd said. I thought about my misconceptions where she was concerned, especially about her dropping me to go back to Norm. Well, now that I knew where I stood I could do something about it.

That evening when I got home I called her and asked her out. She said no.

"I thought you said there were nothing but yes answers in my future as far as you were concerned."

"That was before you told me that you were dumping me. The fact that you could do that told me that your feelings for me were nowhere even close to the feelings I had for you. Thanks for calling." She hung up on me.

I stood there staring at the phone in my hand and thinking "What the fuck?" She couldn't do that to me. Who the hell did she think she was? Getting pissed at me because I did something based on her own previous track record? She was so narrow-minded she couldn't see my point of view? Well I's sure straighten her ass out!

The next day I was sitting in the cafeteria when she came in, saw me and then took a table on the other side of the room. I got up from my table, walked over to hers and sat down.

"My turn to tal..." and I was looking at an empty chair as she got up and walked away.

I didn't see her at school on Friday, but I saw her Friday night at a kegger at the Phi Delt house. She was with some guy I'd seen around the campus, but didn't know. It was a social setting, and I wasn't going to try to talk to her and possibly create a scene. That is, I wasn't until she got out on the dance floor and started dirty dancing with him. When she saw me watching she gave me a smirk, leaned up and kissed him and then looked over at me and smirked again.

That cut it for me. I might never be welcome at the Phi Delt house again, but I didn't even think of that as I walked out onto the floor and approached the happy couple. He saw me coming and figured I was going to try and cut in. I could see him steeling himself up to tell me to buzz off. I didn't give him a chance.

"I'm not here to try and take cuts. I just need to deliver a message to your date."

I faced Francine.

"You told me you were insanely stupid when you described your relationship with Schnieder, but I see it another way. The way I see it you are just a dumb cunt, and you've proved it by your actions this past week. Anyone halfway smart would have given me the chance to explain. Have a rotten life bitch!" I turned and walked away, leaving a bunch of stunned people watching me walk out the door.

Was my action a bit over the top? Yes it was, but the smirk, the kiss and second smirk pushed the wrong button. I'd probably be sorry and regret what I'd done the next day, but just then I felt justified. Totally justified.

I did regret it the next day, and I went back to the Phi Delt house and apologized for creating a disturbance. I was told not to sweat it.

"For some of us, it was the high point of the evening. Seeing you do what a lot of us wished we'd had the stones to do at one time or other. I know there is one girl in my past I should have done it to."

I ended up staying there drinking beer and shooting the bull with the guys until it was time to go home and go to bed.

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On Monday, things did a one-eighty turn. I was in the cafeteria doing the coffee and notes thing when I saw Fran come in and head my way.

"Not going there" I thought. "Not going to listen to her bitch about what I'd done Friday night." I was up and walking away before her butt hit the seat. She got up to run after me, but tripped and fell down, and that gave me a chance to be long gone.

Now it was me avoiding her. I managed not to be where she could get to me until Thursday. After my last class of the day I headed for the parking lot and found her at my car. I could have dealt with it if she had been leaning on it or sitting on a fender. I'd just ignore her and drive off. Kind of hard to do though, when she was inside the car sitting on the front seat. I knew I'd locked it, so how the hell did she get in?