College Days Ch. 01

I was about to burst a kidney laughing, "You, my dear Colette, are a real piece of work."

"Yeah," she laughed, "I guess I am." We both laughed for a moment, then she spoke again, a little less forceful this time. "In fact, I'll make you a deal." She paused for a moment and gazed into my eyes. "If neither of us is married by the time I'm 32, I'll meet you at the altar, I don't want to wait until I'm in my late thirties to start making beautiful babies!"

I was still laughing, but she had stopped. It took me a second, but I realized she was dead serious. "You're not kidding." I said. Not a question, just an observation.

She took both of my hands in hers, continuing her gaze into my eyes, as if she could see right through them into my very soul, "No," she agreed, "I'm not kidding at all. I can't think of a better, more noble, more caring person in the whole world. If you want to date me, I'll clear my calendar. Of course, that won't be hard, considering I'm not seeing anyone." She laughed again, softly. I noticed how much her laughter was like singing, like a beautiful song.

"I have to think about all of this," I said, "although, when you're 32 and I'm 24 and we're not married, I can't think think of a more desireable woman to spend my life with." She took one of her hands off of mine and wiped the wetness from my face, the leftover tears of guilt over desiring someone I felt a need to protect. I realized in that moment that she was right, there was nothing wrong with desiring the person you need to protect, especially in this case. The guilt fell away from me with every pass of her thumb across my cheek.

Then she did something that I'd never let myself dream about before. Although in the back of my mind, maybe in the fleeting thoughts I had in the twighlight just before falling to sleep, the things that you don't remember you even thought the next day, maybe I'd dreamed about it during that time, maybe I'd dreamed about it over and over again, but would never let myself remember. She stopped wiping the wet tears from my face and put her hand behind my head. I knew what was coming, but somehow couldn't believe it. Like a movie, I was watching it from afar. She pulled my face into hers, and our lips met. Our lips met, not for the first time, for we'd shared kisses as a mother and son share kisses, but this was different. It was as deep and meaningful, but it was even more. Our lips lingered together for a moment, the butterflies of years past had been ressurected in my stomach, it was as if I was sharing my first kiss with a new girl all over again. Her mouth opened slightly, and I responded in kind, lost in the precious moment of her kiss. Our lips moved like a dance that we had once forgotten, and, even before her tongue slid softly between her lips to meet mine, I knew that I was once and for all, hopelessly, eternally in love with the gentle spirit before me.

We were so lost in one another that we didn't even hear the door slide open, she had never latched it. Our trance was broken by a soft, cautious voice, "Are you guys o.k. in there? The pizza's... oh..." Startled, we both looked up and saw Jen standing in the doorway. Her mouth hung wide open as did her eyes.

"Oh, uh, hey, Jenny, uh, thanks." I said, the first to find my voice, the words stumbling out of my mouth like so many rocks tumbling down a cliff.

"Is there, ah, something you want to... tell me?" she asked in a shy, small voice. Another time, the shock value alone would have been worth kissing just about anyone.

Colette stood up, face beet red, and walked toward the door, clearly embarrased. "Nope, nothing." She blurted out, then walked from the room down the stairs.

"So I guess you guys worked everything out, then?" Jen said, the hint of smile on the corners of her mouth.

"Yeah, uh, I guess you could say that." I said, still in a state of pure shock. I followed Colette's example and got up to walk out of the room. "Um," I stammered, "don't worry about before, you know, the, ah, nudity and jokes and stuff. Sorry I stormed out of the room, I'm not mad at you or anything."

"Okay, sure." She said, her smile growing larger. "I guess we should, ah, go down and get some pizza then?" I smiled back, nervously, then walked behind her down the stairs to the kitchen.