A Reputation Ch. 08 - Study Buddy

Fair warning to readers new to this series: I don't usually bother with much in the way of recaps, and this story is no exception. You can certainly enjoy it on its own, but it will make a lot more sense (I think), if you were to start with A Reputation 1: Cleaning Up. Regardless, as always, do not hold your breath for realism in my work. I aim to be plausibly ridiculous.

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A REPUTATION 8: STUDY BUDDY

I returned to my dorm room, walking through the evening gloom with a distinct pep in my step. I had just had epic sex, with a professor no less, then gotten caught up in the delicious penumbra of non-tragic lesbian blackmail. What was not to pep?

I opened the door to my dorm, checking carefully for Captain America before doing so, and strode in, invigorated and ready for some homework. Mitch was banging out some epic prose on his laptop as I entered, and I was closing the door before he looked up. "You are back late..." he began, then his eyes narrowed as he took my bearing and appearance in. "Oh, for fuck's sake. Again?"

I couldn't even not look smug.

"Who was it this time?"

"Not a chance."

"Oh come on! You know you always tell me in the end. A guy like me..."

"Who was is Saturday night, Mitch?" I snapped back, feeling a titch of irritation at my gossipy roommate.

He stopped short. "I..." he started, then just shook his head.

"No?" I said, incredulously. "Dude you know everything about what I've been up to..."

"I don't know about..."

I cut him off. "Fuck off, dude! You have all the gossip your dark little heart could desire about me, and I can't even get a heads up from you about who your secret lover is. It's not like you are ashamed of her, I can read that much. But you are being a right selfish bastard about this and I'm not sure what the fuck to do about it!" Why I was quite this angry at Mitch, I was not quite sure, but things were out of balance between us, it was his fucking fault, and I was feeling more than sufficiently alpha at the moment to call him out.

"Hey, fuck you!" Mitch shot right back, also surprisingly hot under the collar. I was dimly aware of what my problem was, I could not fathom his. Telling each other 'fuck off' and 'fuck you' were not unusual or objectionable events, but there was highly unusual heat in both our tones that evening.

"You are surprisingly discrete with names, I'll admit, but you are such a huge goddamned gossip, dude!" I snarled. "I'm the one who keeps his mouth shut, but you can't trust me with anything?" I hurled my books onto my bed, now furious.

From top of the world afterglow, to having a knockdown drag-out with my roommate in five minutes. What the fuck was happening?

"You know her, man," Mitch snarled.

Light dawned. "Oh... wow. Um, hey. Still. I guess that might be awkward if I ran into..." I halted, because light blazed high overhead in the firmament. "Wait. I know her... or I know her?"

Mitch didn't answer me, but his non-answer, and his expression confirmed that I had biblical knowledge of his young lady.

Well. That might be... No!

"Mitch," I said, cooling down as much as I could, given the adrenaline still coursing through my body. "Dude. You think I'm going to get upset? Come on! Me? It would be hypocrisy you could see from space for me to get jealous, much less possessive about any girl!"

He looked at me warily.

"Mitch," I said, now genuinely wanting to get us back on friendly footing... and desperate now to learn who she was. My curiosity had only escalated at his revelation. I sat down across the room in relaxed fashion, miles from Mitch's personal space. "If she and I hooked up earlier, that's in the past, and it is not like you'd be outing her in some goddamned way..."

Mitch took a deep sigh, I and could virtually see his hackles settle as well. He looked at me soberly for a few long seconds, then smiled weakly and said simply, "Kate."

I did not see that coming.

I did not see any of this coming, in any way, of course, but I really did not see Kate coming as the one, um, coming with Mitch. The first time they had met, I had been balls deep in her when he had walked in on us...

I smirked. "Good for you." I sank into my chair and relaxed further.

Seeing that I really was not going to have a cow, Mitch also relaxed. A smile bigger than I think I had ever seen on his face broke out. Like a dam bursting, he started burbling. "Great for me! Oh God, can she su..." Just like that, he cut himself off again.

We looked at each other and silently agreed that discussing actual details about a girl that we had both been with would be... seriously awkward. Not to mention unnecessary.

After a pause, I leaned forward. "Yeah. But I do need to know how, Mitch. I mean... how?!?"

He laughed. Apparently this was a safe subject. "Freak wonderfulness," he exclaimed happily. "I was hanging at the Union with Dale and Tannis, just going over an assignment and having a snack, you know? Kate walks by, and she knows Tannis. So Kate just sits down next to her and across from me."

"Oh wow. Dicey situation," I chortled.

"I know! I recognized her instantly, of course, and just sort of sat there, frozen, praying she wouldn't recognize me!" he agreed, shivering in recollection of his feelings. "And she did not recognize me at first, either. Even when Tannis introduced us... nothing. Then, about a minute later, she gives me this horrified look. She obviously couldn't bail right in the middle of the long-ass story Tannis was telling, so she just sat there staring at me like somebody had dropped a live cobra in her bed."

"It must have taken her two solid minutes before she realized that I was not that dude--the one who was going to say, 'Hey, I know Kate! I met her when I walked in on her and my roommate bisecting the triangle.' At last, she gave me a little grateful look and I just shrugged."

"See? You can be discrete," I snorted.

Mitch flipped me off idly and continued. "Then, when Tannis finally finished her story, Dale looks at his watch, then at her, and reminds her that they both have to go. Tannis looks at her watch... and they just vanish. That left Kate and me sitting in the booth together, staring at each other. I couldn't leave. I mean, it would be rude to just say, 'My friends are gone, and you don't interest me, so I'm out of here,' right?"

"Plus, you were totally interested in her," I prodded.

"Oh, fuck yeah. In fact, I thought she looked hotter in her gym clothes than she had naked under..." He checked himself. "Anyway, she was kind of thinking the same way--that it would be rude to just leave me alone. And since I had not embarrassed her to death, she felt like not doing that to me. So we just sat there, extending the conversation in all sorts of desperately awkward ways, so as not to offend each other." We both laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation he had found himself in. "But half an hour later, the conversation wasn't forced, and we were vibing, man. Just vibing like I can't remember viking before."

"So the two of you left the Student Union, came up here, and slapped Captain America on the door for five hours?" I asked incredulously.

"No! No, this was all on Thursday. We finally went our separate ways without any plans, which pissed me off. I made some inquiries, and 'accidentally' ran into her as her team's workout at the gym was breaking up the next day. She busted me for the ploy, and asked me if I was there to embarrass her into another extended conversation. I was about to die when she smiled and said, 'I'm too busy tonight, but after practice tomorrow, I have an entire Saturday free!'"

"Ain't it great when a plan comes together?" I mused.

"You know it. We left campus Saturday afternoon and had barbecue at Damien's, early. Walked back to campus. Hung at the Plaza in the late sunshine for a bit. Then I was telling her about a book I have that she needed to read, and offered to give it to her, so we headed back over here."

"Nice ploy," I observed.

Mitch looked at me. "I swear, it wasn't a ploy. Didn't even enter my mind." I didn't believe him, even though it was clear that he believed him. "We get back here, and thank God you had already cleared out after your activities with your first two girls of the day..." I had the grace to blush. "But we came in and, dude, you left the place a mess. 'Seems he's been at it again,' Kate said, referencing you for the first time out loud. I was all, hey, sorry, but we are just messy college guys. She just folded those arms and laughed at my attempt at defending you. 'Please,' she says. 'I guess I have a better sense of smell than you, Mitch, but even you have to know this room just stinks of pussy.'"

"And it did, man! I didn't know at the time that you'd had two girls in here, but I did know you had done some epic shit," Mitch added to me, a foreboding expression on his face that told me he eventually was going to demand a higher level of detail about Saturday than I was usually willing to give. But then he snapped back to his story, happy now to be telling it.

"So I flushed with embarrassment, and thank God she didn't say she knew all about such circumstances. Instead... she looks at me and says, 'There is one good thing about the aroma and the mess. He wouldn't be able to tell if we...' I look at her and next thing I know, Captain America is on duty again, the door is locked, and... and it was a very good night!"

"Seen her since?" I asked idly. I had not seen Kate myself, since she showed up out of nowhere and used me to scratch her itch. That had been weeks ago.

"No," Mitch said, a little unhappily. "But we text a fair amount. Earlier today, we made plans to hit this house party off campus Friday night. You are on your own Frat-Crashing this week, my friend."

"Wait! She's going out with you again?" Kate had told me she had no time for a social life.

"I fucking hope so!" Mitch almost giggled. "But if you block off this room, text me for God's sake. I would not want to come back here with her, if that's how it works out, just to find Cap on duty and all those amazing noises you make girls do coming through the door."

I stared at him. I actually did feel the tiniest hint of jealousy. But it was tiny. "You do the same," I simply said.

*

Thursday was boring. The only disappointment was that Elaine texted me that she had to cancel our Russian study session.

Elaine: Sorry! My mom is nearby on business and decided to take an extra day to come see me. What am I supposed to say?

Me: Excellent? She's your mom. Have fun.

I hoped that whatever background weirdness she had going on hadn't taken over and this was a lame way to get out of studying together.

Elaine: Reschedule? Maybe Sunday afternoon?

Me: Sure!

I stabbed a few times at the screen of my phone.

Me: I just booked us a room at MemLib for 2:30. Be there or be square.

Elaine: Oh, I won't miss it. I have information to extract from you... {GIF of Maleficent cracking an evil smile}

Friday started out bland. The only interesting part of the day was Russian class, where Svetlana and I dutifully pretended nothing happened between us. Elaine looked at me a lot with a speculative expression, and I tried manfully to concentrate on learning the language, instead of thinking about fucking Svetlana's tits...

That evening, Mitch duly took off for his date, and I meandered over to the nearest frat party. I felt like I was getting better at these things lately, since I wasn't so laser-focused on how I wasn't meeting girls. I saw people I knew. I met a few new people. I was there about an hour before it happened...

I was walking through a hallway, coming back from making room for more beer, when an arm snaked around my waist. "Well, well. I have found the famous Shower Guy," said a soft voice. Her voice was not the only aspect of my accoster that was soft. Some other soft parts pressed against my side.

Uh, oh. Another drunk girl attack.

Except the voice sounded pretty sober. And possibly more interestingly, the soft parts were awfully soft.

Not wanting to be judgmental, I turned to see whoever had slid her arm around me. It was a girl (naturally), about five inches shorter than me, with sandy blonde hair to her shoulders, and green eyes. She'd maybe gone a tad too hard on the makeup, as in I could see that she had lot of it applied to her face. So, probably a freshman. You could see most girls mature through the four years of college. By the time they reached senior year, they mostly just used enough cosmetics to cover any flaws. A few of the most artful really used it to subtle effect. But frosh were the ones that laid it on with a trowel--enough to make you notice the makeup, instead of the pretty face.

So, this was a freshman.

I was instantly allergic to the situation. I needed no drunk girls. But as I looked into her eyes, they held none of the typical glaze of a drunk chick. And I realized as she continued to speak, that her words were crisp. And she was holding on to me sensually, not for support.

Not drunk then... now she had my attention.

"What makes you think I'm the Shower Guy?" I asked playfully.

"You match your mug shot," she said. Then she held up her phone and I saw a picture of me in the dorm hallway. I think it was from after I came out of my room with Cassie, but I wasn't positive. I'm a dude. Am I supposed to remember what I was wearing two weeks ago? Some wiseacre had taken a picture of me to commemorate the event.

And now it was all over CampusNet.

Swell.

She was pressing much harder up against me now. Her hand was playing with my ass as she did so. I discovered that my hand had tentatively wrapped around her waist.

This was hardly the most creative approach I had seen, but it had the virtue of being direct, and of being from what I was increasingly realizing was a quite reasonably hot girl. It is a measure of how entitled I had begun to feel that when hit upon by a sexy chick like this, I took time to be slightly huffy about being taken for a sure thing...

In fairness, since it looked like an alcoholic haze was not present, absent any other red flags appearing, I was kinda feeling like I was, in fact, a sure thing.

She turned into my still tentative embrace, and pressed her body fully against mine. Did I mention that she had lots of softness in the right places? I found myself bending my head, and we kissed just a bit, there in the mostly empty hallway of the frat.

I didn't even know her name. Did she even know mine?

"I'll bet you don't even know my real name," I murmured against her lips.

"Does it matter," she asked softly. Just as I was about to actually take offense, she added, "Will?"

I smiled, and asked, "And you are?"

"Maisy," she breathed, in a remarkably confident and hungry fashion for a freshman.

I wanted to clasp hands at the introduction, but her right hand was occupied shaking another of my appendages. Skillfully.

I kissed her again, beginning to press her body back against the wall with my own. My fingers began to explore the impressive tits she had been rubbing on me almost from the beginning. Very impressive.

Wait...

"Maisy?" I asked, not quite pulling my lips from hers. "You aren't the Maisy that was going out with Pete Rollins?"

"Mostly," she shrugged.

I'd have pulled away instantly, but her hand which had been caressing my cock through my jeans had just now transitioned to slipping inside said jeans and holding my bare, hardened flesh in her fingers.

"Mostly?" I gasped.

"I mean, yeah, we go out, but it's just casual," she shrugged. "And Pete's nice and all, but he's not Shower Guy. A girl needs to take her shot when it comes around."

Her hand was massaging my cock eagerly. Her very nice tits were pressing into my grasp.

And her blackened soul was creeping me out.

The problem was, it wasn't creeping out my cock.

Yeah...

Nope.

Pete was a good guy. I wasn't sure I was going to tell him, but I sure as fuck wasn't going to cuckold him!

Or was I? Her hand was really rather skilled...

No!

I pulled away from Maisy, hissing a little sadly as her hand pulled free of my pants. "Sorry," I said hastily. "But Pete's my friend. I... can't do this to him." But I could do this to him, my body told me...

"Pete's my friend too," she cooed relentlessly. "He doesn't need to know."

"Um, you seem to have heard of me, right?" I scoffed desperately. "I draw a flashmob every time I so much a look at a girl." Before she could counter that with some dangerous proposal, I drove on. "And even if we could hide it from him, I couldn't hide it from myself."

Maisy was honestly shocked now, which I found I really did not find attractive. It was the only thing I didn't find attractive about her. I sensed though, that things were about to get loud, and not in the variously glorious ways that things had gotten loud for me lately. I dove out of the hall and into the crowd.

That was just so skeezy!

I did not need to risk running into to Maisy again, so I bailed from the party. As I hit the night air, I thought of moving on to the Tri-Beta's event, but... my mood was kind of ruined. Instead, I started walking back to my dorm.

Part of me wanted to pull out my phone and text Pete about what Maisy got up to on nights that she couldn't make time to go out with her boyfriend. But... I wasn't going to ruin his life. Maisy would do that in due course all by herself. Hopefully, she'd suck his cock in the meantime enough to make the life lesson be worthwhile.

This was not a particularly healthy way to look at this, but I needed something to justify my cowardice in not giving Pete a heads up.

I got back to my dorm fairly early for a Friday night. Usually, at least one RA gets told off to hang around on weekend nights. As I passed through the common room, I saw that tonight was Shawn's turn. On impulse, I flopped into a soft chair near to her. "What's up?" I asked, forcing a cheerful expression.

"Catching up on my reading while ensuring you gremlins don't short out the electrical system," she said lackadaisically. "Pretty early night for you," she added, a note of curiosity in her voice.

"Not feeling it this evening. Had a nasty experience," I muttered, feeling sorry for myself and for my now thoroughly put out cock.

"Uh, oh. Anything I need to know about?" my favorite RA asked.

"Eh... A friend's girlfriend hit on me. Hard."

"Uh huh. And this was a new experience?"

I looked at her, finding that I was more upset than I had thought. "I mean, I'm in the middle of a very nice run here, but tonight was an unpleasant moral dilemma."

"That hot, huh?" she laughed, not as sympathetic as I thought an RA, one of college's unofficial therapists, should be.

"Not. Going. To. Do. It," I ground out, popping up out of the unholstered chair.

"Good for you," Shawn murmured, as I stomped off toward the stairs to the second floor.

"Did you see the flyer recruiting people to come watch your car do its thing next weekend?" Shawn called after me.

I stopped, my mood instantly lightening. "Yeah. Looks good," I replied. I had seen it. Jimmy had done a good job, and I particularly liked the way he did not include any shower-related imagery, despite his threats to me on the subject.

"Still feeling good about your chances?" Shawn asked.

I grinned. "Come and see!"

"Oh, I will. And I think we are going to have a good crowd," she replied.

My mood elevated, I bounced up the stairs, leaving Shawn to her book.

Please don't let Captain America be guarding the door. Please don't let Captain America be guarding the door. I wished Mitch well. I wished Kate and Mitch well, but...

My room was blessedly empty. I climbed into bed and found that sleep would not take me swiftly.