Best Friend's Daughter

I was pretty nervous when I checked in at the dormitory. Nobody else from my high school was going to UT Austin, so I was about to start a new chapter of my life truly on my own. Also, Texas was really different than suburban Chicago. But UT had a great engineering program, and I really liked everyone I spoke with - professors and students - whenever I visited campus. So I decided to go a little outside of my comfort zone - make that WAY outside of my comfort zone - as I started my college life.

The University of Illinois has a great engineering program, too, so I could have gone there and saved my parents a whole lot on tuition. The biggest drawback to U of I was that half my high school would be there, and I wanted college to be something different. I felt guilty about the money, but my parents assured me they had saved for college and I shouldn't let tuition be a factor. My dad was a partner at a large Chicago law firm, so in the back of my head, I knew he could afford the tuition. But I still felt guilty about it.

Sometimes I thought about who I wanted to be. I could be ANYONE here - no one knew anything about me. I could make up whatever stories I wanted. I mean, no one would believe I was the starting quarterback on the football team, but I could tell them I was the best swimmer on the team. I WAS on the swimming team, but I was, without a doubt, the slowest swimmer in every event. At least I got to keep my body fit by swimming.

But I realized people would soon figure out that I was your basic high school nerd who was reasonably smart but really good at math and science. That's why I chose engineering school. I didn't think I really wanted to be a classic engineer, but my dad suggested that IF I was interested in going to law school, I might want to consider an engineering undergraduate degree and going into patent law. He never pushed me to become a lawyer, but I had expressed interest over time. If I decided not to go to law school, an engineering degree would still be a good thing to have.

We picked up the boxes we had shipped down, and my dad helped get them into my room. I unpacked a little before we decided to get something to eat for lunch. My parents understood I didn't want them hanging around too long - not because I didn't love them but because I didn't want to look like the college freshman who still relied on his mother and father for everything. After lunch we were standing next to the rental car.

"I'm probably going to cry when we say goodbye," my mom said, "so we can do it here if you want."

I smiled and gave my mom a big hug.

"C'mon back to the dorm for a little bit, and then we can say goodbye. It's okay if you cry mom - you've never done anything to embarrass me."

She pulled her head away and looked at me.

"Never??" she said sarcastically.

I laughed.

"Well, not TOO often," I said. "I love you, mom. I'll be sad when you leave, too."

"If you two are done," my father said, not hiding his frustration with our emotional moment, "can we get going?"

"Sorry, Dave, if I'm having a little trouble thinking about leaving my baby thousands of miles from home," my mother shot back, equally sarcastically.

"How did you two stay married all this time?" I said, laughing.

We drove back to the dorm, and when I got to my room, the door was open. I walked in and saw a guy unpacking some clothes.

"Hi, I'm Keith," I said.

The guy turned and extended his arm.

"Hi, Keith, I'm Dan. Looks like we're roommates!"

We shook hands, and I introduced Dan to my parents. Dan was a sophomore in engineering. He seemed friendly enough, and I didn't see any chainsaws hanging in his closet, so I figured I'd survive. We talked for a little bit, and my dad mentioned they had to leave soon so they could return the car and catch their flight home.

"I'll let you guys say goodbye. Nice meeting you," he said to my parents as he shook both their hands. Then he left.

"Well, that was very considerate of him to leave so we could say goodbye," said my mother who immediately took a liking to him. "I think you lucked out, Keith."

I nodded my agreement. "Yeah, I think so."

I looked at my mother, and she got teary-eyed.

"I love you, Keith. We're going to miss you, but we know you'll do well."

My mother hugged me tighter than she ever had and buried her head against my chest. I might have dropped a tear or two myself. After twenty seconds, she pulled back and placed a kiss on my cheek.

"I love you, too, Mom."

My dad extended his arm for a handshake, but then he put his other arm behind my shoulder and gave me a quick - very quick - bro-hug.

"Have a good year, son," he said.

"Let's go, Sharon."

My mom gave me one more hug, a long look, and they were gone.

At that moment, I was more excited about the possibilities of the next four years than I had ever been. And at that moment, I never felt more alone in my entire life. For ten seconds, I just stood there, staring out the window.

My trance was broken when the door across the hall opened. A tall guy walked out and stared into my room.

"Uh, hi. I'm Peter."

"Hi, Peter, I'm Keith," I said, extending my hand.

"Okay," he started, "I know the routine. I'm a freshman, I'm from a small town outside of Indianapolis, and I'm in the Engineering School. I have a younger sister, and I plan to study Mechanical Engineering."

"Wow, you're good at that," I said while laughing. "Let me try. I'm a freshman, I'm from a suburb of Chicago, I have no siblings, and I'm in the Engineering School. And I have no idea what kind of engineering I want to study."

Now it was Peter's turn to laugh.

"Why the fuck are you in the engineering school if you don't know what kind of engineer you want to be?"

I started laughing again.

"Because I'm good in math and science, and I didn't know what I wanted to do. Everyone said, 'sounds like you should go to engineering school'. So here I am."

"Well, that's one way to get here," he said with a laugh. "Sounds like we'll be taking the same classes. And since I don't know another goddamn soul on this campus, you just might become my best friend. At least TODAY you are!"

"Ha! Sounds like we're in the same boat. Nice to meet you, best friend."

And that's how I met Peter, who truly did become my best friend. We had a lot of the same classes, so we often studied together. I helped him with calculus (I had gotten a year's credit thanks to my AP classes in high school), and he helped me with Materials Science. Neither of us understood thermodynamics, but we managed to pass the course.

Toward the end of freshman year, we decided we wanted to move into an apartment. Peter had limited funds, so I was very careful to only suggest places I knew he could afford. His mom raised his sister and him by herself - apparently his dad left when they were both young - so money was always tight. Some local scholarships and student loans were helping him pay the tuition. We found a place that was fairly close to campus but was still affordable, so we excitedly signed a lease.

Sophomore year was fantastic. Having completed some of the required courses in engineering, we could start choosing courses that sounded interesting to us. I arranged my schedule with as many early classes as possible. Although I am NOT a morning person, early classes forced me to get up early. I packed courses back-to-back when I could, and three days a week I was done with classes before noon. The other two days I was done by 1:00. So, although it was intense in the morning, my afternoons were free. And since I had brought my car to school that year, it opened up new places we could go,

Aside from classes, and perhaps more importantly, our social life really picked up sophomore year. By the second month of school, I was dating Susie and Peter was dating Julie. Susie could be a lot of fun, and, I'm happy to say, she was always horny. I had a lot of sex for a couple of months, likely adding to my great attitude sophomore year.

By January, I was dating Laura, and Peter was still dating Julie. I knew that Laura was dating other guys, too, but I enjoyed the time we spent together. Peter and Julie, on the other hand, were quite committed to each other. And it made me really happy. Julie was a wonderful person - smart, funny, kind - and I thought she was the perfect match for my best friend.

Julie spent more and more time at our apartment, pretty much living there over the weekend, and I had no complaints. Besides liking her as a person, she was a great cook! Peter and I used to rotate cooking responsibilities, and when Julie became a permanent fixture, she offered to slip into the rotation. I let Peter and Julie use my car whenever they needed it, and I was more than happy to pick up either one of them if they were somewhere off campus and needed a ride.

Junior year, we stayed in the same apartment, and classes were really exciting. I decided to declare Industrial Engineering as my major since it let me take a number of computer classes and seemed the least techy / geeky of the engineering majors.

Julie had basically moved in, and the three of us were still getting along wonderfully. Julie offered to pay a third of the rent, but I refused to let her. There were two bedrooms, so I said I was paying half the rent. Whatever Peter and Julie decided between them was none of my business. Over the months, Julie got more and more comfortable with me and stopped putting on a robe when she walked out of the bedroom. She usually just wore a t-shirt and panties at night.

Julie was an average-looking woman with long, dark-brown hair that curled around her shoulders. She had a thin face with brown eyes and a small nose. She was slightly taller than average - probably five feet six inches tall. Most people would describe her as too thin with small tits; I would describe her body as fantastic. I LOVED her small breasts. They certainly didn't stick out far, but you knew she was a woman. I've always liked small breasts, and Julie's seemed perfect. I didn't openly stare at her body whenever she walked around, but I'd be lying if I said I never peeked. I loved Julie and I thought she could be really hot, but I NEVER did anything inappropriate. She and Peter were my best friends, and I was thrilled they were together. I would never do anything to make her feel uncomfortable.

When Peter got off the phone with his mother one night in March, he let out a deep sigh.

"What's up?" I asked.

"My mom's having a rough time. She misses me and my sister, she's never really adjusted to us both being gone, and she's not sleeping well. SHIT! I wish I could do something!"

For the next couple of days, Peter wasn't his usual, happy self. I felt really bad for him. But suddenly, I had an idea. I solicited Julie's help to cheer Peter up. His twenty first birthday was in two weeks, and I thought we should plan a nice night. I made reservations at a nice restaurant, but we didn't say anything to Peter. Julie told him to reserve that night so the two of them could go out to dinner, but Peter said he didn't want to celebrate.

"Too bad, buddy. We're going out for dinner. You can be miserable afterwards, but for at least one hour you're going to pretend you're enjoying yourself and you're happy to be out with me."

Peter smiled at her.

"Even when I feel like shit, I'm always happy to be out with you," he said.

She gave him a hug as she said, "I know. And I'm always happy to be out with you. I love you, you know."

"I know. I love you, too."

Friday night, Julie forced Peter to put on a button-down shirt for his birthday dinner. When he came out of his bedroom, I was standing there with a nice shirt on, too.

"Do you have a date tonight?" he asked.

"Yeah, kinda," I said, with a smirk.

Julie was smiling, too.

"What's going on?" Peter asked.

"We're all going for a nice dinner to celebrate your birthday," Julie said.

Without skipping a beat, Peter looked at her and said, "Oh, shit, Julie, I don't want to celebrate my birthday with Keith. That will ruin the whole night."

Julie's eyes got wide, and for a minute, I thought she was going to cry.

"Tough shit, buddy," I said while laughing, "I'm coming anyway."

When Peter started laughing, Julie finally started breathing again.

"Goddamn it, Peter, I thought you were serious. I didn't know what had gotten into you!"

"C'mon, Julie, you know I'd never say something like that about Keith to his face. We need to pretend to be nice to him because he has a car. Let's go, Keith. Make yourself useful and drive us wherever we're going."

"Yes, sir. Right away, sir," I said.

Peter was surprised when we pulled into the parking lot.

"Whoa. This is a pretty fancy restaurant," he said.

"Happy birthday, Peter. I'm throwing a party for my best friend, and I invited my other best friend, who just happens to be his girlfriend."

"Wow. Thanks, Keith," he said very quietly.

We walked in, and I gave my name to the hostess. She smiled at me and led us toward a corner of the restaurant. There was a screen that we had to walk around to get to our table. I pushed Julie and Peter ahead of me, and as soon as Peter made the turn, he stopped cold in his tracks.

"Mom? Sarah?"

"Happy birthday, Peter!" his mom and sister said in unison, both wearing huge smiles.

"What are you...? How are you here? How did you get here?" Peter asked as he walked quickly to give his mom and then his sister a huge hug. Then the three of them did a group hug.

"How are you here?" Peter asked again, knowing there really wasn't money to fly to Texas.

"Keith brought us out, sweetie," his mom said.

Peter turned and looked at me for a second before walking over and giving me a bearhug.

"Thank you," he whispered. "You have no idea what this means to me. Thank you."

He released me and then gave me another hug. Then he turned to Julie.

"I suppose you were in on this, too, huh?"

"All I did was give Keith some phone numbers and agree to not make any other plans tonight," she said.

Peter hugged Julie.

"I love you," he said.

"I love you, too," she said.

For the first time in weeks, Peter looked really happy. He, his mom, and his sister never stopped talking the entire night. His mother was thrilled to again have both of her children together with her. I couldn't stop smiling; I was very happy to be able to help out my best friend.

The restaurant turned out to be the perfect place for our little party. The food was excellent, the staff were attentive without hanging over us, and they never rushed us. Everybody was completely stuffed by the time we left.

As we were walking out, a lightbulb went off over Peter's head.

"Wait a minute! Where are you guys staying?" he asked his family.

His sister started laughing.

"You JUST thought about asking if we had a place to sleep? Don't you have room at your place?"

"Well, yeah, sure, uh, I can sleep on the couch..."

Sarah cut him off.

"Keith got us a room at University Inn," she said.

Peter looked at me again but said nothing.

"How long are you here for?" he asked.

"We fly back Sunday at noon," she replied. "You're stuck with us all day tomorrow."

A smile slowly crawled across Peter's face. I could see his brain already planning an entire day of events for the next day.

We all squeezed into the car, and we dropped off Peter's mom and sister on the way home. They hugged him and kissed him before walking into the hotel. The rest of the way home, Peter said nothing.

When we walked into the apartment, Peter grabbed me by the shoulders and turned me toward him.

"This was the best birthday of my entire life. Thank you doesn't seem enough, but thank you."

"It truly was my pleasure. I loved seeing the old Peter again."

Then we hugged each other while Julie just watched with a big smile on her face.

The next morning, Peter and Julie left the house to take his family to Carly's, our favorite breakfast spot. They walked around campus, went to a couple of museums, and just enjoyed spending time together. That night, Julie told me Peter had the best time with his family.

Sunday morning, Peter was the first one in the shower, followed by Julie. Peter got dressed to take his family to the airport while Julie made coffee. When I came out of my bedroom, she was wearing a t-shirt and panties, like most weekend mornings. When Peter was getting ready to leave, Julie went over to give him a hug. I thought I heard her ask if he was sure, and I saw him smile, nod, and give her a kiss. He looked at me for a second, smiled again, and then left.

After a couple of minutes, Julie walked over to the couch where I was sitting, and said, "Stand up."

I looked at her, confused. "Huh?"

"Please stand up."

I did as asked. Julie put her arms around me and hugged me. I returned the hug with a chuckle.

"What's that for?" I asked.

Julie pulled her head back but kept most of her body against me.

"You really did a nice thing. You made his weekend."

"I'm glad," I said.

"You know, he loves you."

I smiled.

"I love him, too."

"And, you know I love you, too," she said, and she squeezed me. I thought for a second that she ground herself against my dick, but I figured it was my imagination. But I was a little embarrassed as I felt myself getting a little excited.

"I love you, too, Julie."

"I'm glad we love each other," she said, "but we still can't fuck."

I started laughing.

"Oh, bummer. Oh well."

"But we can still hug," she said without pulling her head away from my chest where she had laid it.

And then, there was no doubt in my mind. She was definitely rubbing her body against my quickly hardening dick. For a second, I held my breath, not sure what was going on. It felt incredible, but I came to my senses. I pulled my head back, but Julie held me tightly so I couldn't completely break away.

"Julie, what are you doing?"

"Just hugging my friend," she said without looking at me. "Don't you like it?"

"Of COURSE I like it, but we can't do this."

"We can't hug? We can't fuck, but we can hug, can't we?"

I grabbed both of her shoulders so I could pull back a few inches.

"Julie, what's going on?"

She looked at me for ten very long seconds with a look I didn't know how to interpret.

"You're an incredible friend to Peter and an incredible friend to me. I just want to say thank you and let you know how much we appreciate everything you do - especially this weekend."

Then, she repeated, "but we can't fuck."

I was confused why she kept using that phrase, but as soon as she said it, she crossed her arms and pulled off her t-shirt. My eyes must have looked like huge saucers as I stared at the beautiful breasts I had thought about more than once. I just kept staring without moving. Her breasts were round with brown areolas. Her nipples were hard, and I really had to control myself to not immediately start sucking on them.

"Julie, what are you doing?"

She had this innocent smile on her face as she said, "Trying to make you happy. You don't like?"

"Jesus, of course I like, but..."

"Shhh. I just want to make you happy," she said, as she grabbed my hand and placed it on her breast. Her eyes closed and she quietly moaned.

"JULIE!" I shouted, as I reluctantly pulled my hand away. "I love Peter. You love Peter. We can't do this to him."

As I spoke to her, I couldn't stop my eyes from constantly dropping to her breasts.

Julie laughed. This really confused me. I'm trying to prevent us from cheating on Peter, and she's laughing.

"Silly boy. He knows all about it."

"Huh?"

"He knows all about it. We talked about it. We both agreed on a way to thank you for everything you do. Whatever happens in the next hour will never happen again, and we will never talk about it. Not you and me, not you and Peter, and not Peter and me. But for the next hour, I'm going to try to say thank you - from both of us. But we can't fuck."