"Hey Roland, heads up buddy!" came a voice from out of the blue.
Roland Peters, a part-time student of Heights University, barely got his head around in time to avoid the leather object that sailed by him. He turned to follow the path of what he now recognized to be a football as the oblong leather shape bounced across the turf. It settled onto the ground at the same moment that a large, muscular hand clamped onto his shoulder squeezing him almost painfully.
"You're supposed to catch it," said Jack Sanders, a long-time friend of Roland's,
Roland nodded absently, his attention already light-years away. He was busy thinking about the exams he needed to get prepared for the following week. It was difficult balancing his need to work with his studies but since his father had passed away the previous year money was tight, and he was lucky he could still attend school. He resumed walking across the lawn as Jack fell into step beside him.
Roland grimaced, "I wasn't expecting to have something thrown at my head."
"That's the whole point, you always have to be ready to act at a moments notice you never know what the world will throw at you," replied Jack, his face taking on a serious aspect as if he was imparting the most sage of advice.
Roland didn't reply, his face a mask of concentration.
"You know, you need to relax a little, my friend, your face has over-work written all over it," observed Jack.
"Easy for you to say, Jack," replied Roland with just a hint of jealousy, Jack's parents were wealthy and even if they weren't Jack had been a star athlete in high school and heavily recruited. He didn't need to worry about paying for his education.
Jack winced, catching the dig at the difference in their academic situations but pursued the subject anyway.
"Seriously though, you should rethink coming to the Medieval festival with Ellen and me," offered Jack.
The festival was a long-standing renaissance fair that ran yearly not far from campus, thousands of people gathered every year there many dressed in period costumes to enjoy the music and entertainment.
"I don't know Jack, I have a lot of studying to do this weekend," said Roland, though that was only part of the reason he was reluctant to attend. The other reason was Ellen Gentry. Jack and Ellen had been dating for almost three years, and though Roland took great pains to hide it, he had a terrible crush on her. Just the mention of her name brought to mind an image of her walking into his Physic's class all those years ago.
A petite woman of barely five-foot-five-inches, she sported a thick head of long curly red hair that fell down her back like a fiery waterfall. Her small face was covered in light-colored freckles that ran across her shoulders and down her arms. When she smiled it lit up the room, her deep brown eyes crinkling over her tiny upturned nose, those light pink lips, so full, pulling back from her perfect white teeth. Her body was slender and well proportioned with tight legs from her days as a track runner in high school, though not significant in the chest her perky breasts sat high on her chest and looked especially sweet when she wore a bathing suit.
"Earth to Roland, you still in there buddy?" said Jack.
Roland realized they had been walking for some distance in silence as his mind had drifted back over his first meeting with Ellen. He wished at times he had never introduced her to Jack. It was tough to compete with his easy-going style and handsome looks. Jack was not only tall but muscular from years on the football and basketball teams. He had the looks of a California surfer with long blond hair that fell around his high-cheek boned face and piercing blue eyes.
By contrast, Roland was barely five-foot-nine inches, slender with a head that seemed a bit too large for his body. His medium length brunette hair seemed to have a mind of its own defying any attempt to comb it as it grew into a wavy mess on his head. Still, for all that, he wasn't a bad looking kid with soft green eyes and a generous mouth that would have attracted more women if it wasn't always set in a frown.
"You know you should bring Patty," continued Jack, as if Roland had answered his earlier question and gave notice that he was still involved in the conversation.
The "Patty" in question was Patty Gentry, Ellen's older sister by two years. Jack and Ellen had been trying to fix up Roland and Patty for some time now with mixed results. Truthfully, Roland had nothing against Patty, and if it hadn't been for his feelings about Ellen, he might have been more receptive to the idea.
The two sisters were indeed a contrast, Patty was almost Roland's height, with red hair but in a more subdued shade than her sisters, a bit closer to Auburn than red. Patty was not what you would have called slender, though not precisely fat she was carrying a few extra pounds. This did have the added benefit of giving her some impressively large breasts that stretched the top of whatever shirt she happens to be wearing. A round-faced girl with a small mouth and green eyes she would have been considered attractive if she wasn't always being compared to her more exotic sibling. Patty was fair skinned but lacked the freckles that made her sister stand out.
Both girls were out-going with a good sense of humor, though Patty was the more talkative of the two.
"I don't know, maybe," said Roland.
"All I'm saying is that putting this much pressure on yourself isn't healthy, everyone deserves a break Rollie," said Jack, falling back on the nickname he had used for his friend since high school.
"I hear you, Jack, let me think about it," he replied.
The pair reached Jack's dormitory only to be greeted by the object of Roland's earlier musings. Ellen stood leaning against the lamp post in front of the main entrance to the building. She was dressed in a pair of white shorts that showed off her legs that were covered in freckles just like her upper body. Roland found himself wondering for about the thousandth time in the last several years just how much of her body was covered in those sweet angel kisses. Moving with the compact grace of a born athlete, Ellen covered the short distance between them until she stood in front of her towering boyfriend.
Roland stood uncomfortably nearby as Ellen parted her sweet, full lips and accepted a kiss from Jack. As was typical for her she wasn't wearing lipstick, but her lips glistened faintly with clear gloss and looked unbelievably soft, like light pink pillows. The kiss lingered for a bit, and Roland caught a definite glimpse of their tongues touching, making him even more envious. Finally parting with a soft, wet noise Ellen turned her brilliant smile on Roland making his knee's shake.
"Hey, Rollie! It's good to see you," said Ellen.
"You too," he answered.
"Patty told me you guys went out for pizza last week, how did that go?" asked Ellen.
"Fine, it was just a quick dinner thing," said Roland feeling like he wanted to play it down, not wanting to seem too interested in Patty when his real interest lay elsewhere.
"Did Jack mention the festival? I know Patty would love it if you asked her," said Ellen.
"Yeah, he did bring it up, we'll see," said Roland without much enthusiasm.
