Density and Singularities

"Shhhh.... he's gay as he can be. No straight man wears a leotard, no matter how nice his butt is. Sorry, that's just a fact of life."

"No fucking way I'm doing that one. Wait until you have babies...you'll get to pee on yourself then too...don't look at me that way...You will have babies...and you will pee on yourself."

The women hugged outside the building before they went to their cars. As Renee opened the door and got inside, she realized she'd never mentioned her new neighbor or her near death experience. She wasn't sure why, but she was glad she hadn't. It was one of those things she just wanted to keep to herself for a while.

Renee looked twice at her porch as she pulled up into her driveway. Babboo. He was sitting there, panting. He stood and barked as she walked down the sidewalk towards him. She quickly surveyed her landscaping as best as she could in the dark. Everything seemed intact.

"And, just what are you doing here, Mister?" She shook her head at the dog as he barked again.

She looked at him, then at the house across the street where the lights were on. She sat down next to the dog with a sigh, and as if on command, he lay down beside her and rested his head on her knee. She saw the bouquet hidden behind him before he lay down. She scratched his ear with one hand and reached for the flowers with the other. When she stopped her attention to him to pull a note out of the colorful blooms, he whined a little.

She couldn't help but laugh when she read it, "I know you can't plant these flowers, but I hope you will accept them as my apology. I sometimes do things I shouldn't just to get the attention of pretty girls, your sweet Babboo. PS: Please walk me home."

Renee looked across the street again and stood. Suddenly, it struck her that she was wearing her yoga clothes and no make-up. She looked down at the dog and back at her front door. Babboo wagged his tail and barked as she unlocked the deadbolt and let him inside.

"If you eat or piss on anything, I will call the doggy police," she warned.

Babboo followed her to the bedroom and lay down next to the bed.

He watched as she stripped down to her underwear and pulled a dress out of the closet, held it up to him and said, "Too much, huh?"

The dog raised his head but gave no reply. Renee scanned the closet for a few more minutes and finally settled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

As she stood in front of her dresser putting on lipstick, a little eyeliner and a little blush, she turned to the dog and said, "If you don't tell your father about this, there are dog bones in your future."

The lab stood up and barked. She smiled and made a mental note to buy dog bones.

Renee pushed her shoulders back and her boobs out as she led the dog across the street, whispering as she knocked on the door, "Remember our deal."

Lee answered the door quickly, obviously expecting her. She winced, hoping he hadn't noticed that she'd taken the time to change clothes and put on make-up. No, she told herself, even if he were looking, he couldn't see that much of a difference in her appearance. Well, she hoped he couldn't. She blushed a little, praying it would just look like make-up.

He smiled at her and looked down at the dog, "I was starting to think you had been dog- napped."

Babboo wagged his tail, and Lee opened the door to let him inside the house.

Holding the door open he asked, "Why don't you come in, Renee? I could make coffee? Or, tea? Or, whatever you want?"

He smiled, and her stomach danced.

Renee smiled back at his friendly invitation, determined not to seem like a cold-hearted bitch this time. She accepted his invitation and stepped inside a room full of unpacked boxes. A couch and a TV were planted in the midst of them.

He looked relieved when she said yes.

He walked past her, motioning for her to follow, "How about tea? It's probably too late for coffee if you have a class in the morning?"

"Sure, tea would be good," she answered as she looked around the room finding nothing there to give away anything about his taste or personality. Just cardboard and a few essentials.

"You have quite a talented, articulate dog," she smiled as he pulled a box of herbal tea from the cabinet.

He laughed, "Articulate? You're too kind."

She protested, "No, really, considering he is a canine, I was impressed."

He sat the tea on the counter and turned to look at her, leaning back against the sink. He stared for more than a moment, and she felt herself begin to squirm. So, she did what she knew to do when she became uncomfortable, babble.

"Babboo...that's an interesting name. It's familiar somehow, but I just can't quite place..."

He interrupted, "It's from Charlie Brown. My sweet Babboo. It's what Sally called Linus, her sweet Babboo."

"Oh, okay," She smiled, unsure what to think of a man who named his dog after a Charlie Brown character.

He appeared to sense her thoughts, continuing as he reached for two mugs, "Charlie Brown is a lot like Bugs Bunny...both have subtle meanings more meant for adults than children."

He turned back to her, "I like the classics; I consider myself something of a connoisseur when it comes to old cartoons."

'Dear God, Why do you hate me?' Renee thought, and then forced a smile as she answered, "A connoisseur, wow. Do you collect comic books too?"

She did her best to keep the condensation out of her voice.

He turned up one corner of his mouth in a half smile then laughed out loud.

He raised an eyebrow as he asked, "No, Professor, I do not collect comic books. I just appreciate the postmodern angst of Charlie Brown and the dry-witted humor and political commentary of Bugs. Is there something wrong with that?"

She shook her head as he reached above the stove, rummaging loudly.

"Not at all. I was just surprised. You don't look like a man who watches cartoons," she winced at her own answer.

He pulled down a canister, cussed, put it back into the cabinet and rummaged again.

Sounding more amused, he inquired, "And, what does a man who watches cartoons look like, if I might ask?"

Renee thought for a moment, laughed and said, "One of my graduate students."

He quit reaching as he started laughing.

He grinned as he told her, "Well, if all of the astrophysicists were babes like you, we'd never have made it to the moon, I imagine."

"Babes like me?" Renee snorted, "What do you want?"

"What do I want?" Lee raised an eyebrow, appeared deep in thought for a moment and answered, "I think I want you."

The answer seemed so amazing but so absolutely wrong in Renee's mind that all she could say was, "What?"

He repeated himself, "I want you, Renee."

Renee physically backed away from him a little, suddenly feeling claustrophobic in the small space of the kitchen.

"You know what," She smiled her best fake smile, "I don't think I need tea tonight. I just need to get to bed."

'Definitely a black hole,' she thought, 'This is the event horizon.'

He grinned and moved closer, backing her into the stove.

She held her breath as he moved his lips just next to hers and whispered, "You could sleep here tonight."

Before his mouth could make contact with her, she placed her palms firmly on his chest and pushed him backwards, almost causing him to stumble, clearly causing him to laugh. She was certain he was a man not accustomed to rejection.

"It's not funny. I'm going home."

Renee felt all at once mad and humiliated telling herself as she rushed out the door, 'You didn't do anything wrong. He's just an ass.'

Renee's graduate students were having a lively debate about string theory and intelligent design, having contorted themselves into a variety of sitting, reclining and leaning positions in her office. She was half-listening and half exam grading. Normally, she'd put the loathsome task off on her TA, but he was getting ready to defend his Master's thesis. And, she decided to have pity. She'd been in his shoes.

The rather loud knock at the door brought the argument to a halt, and they all turned to look in the direction of the disruptive sound.

Renee laughed, "Would one of you please get off your lazy ass and open that?"

They all laughed as Jeremiah jumped up, tripped over Seth's legs but managed to find the doorknob all the same. Renee stopped her red pen mid-corrective explanation when the door opened, and she saw him.

His eyes never seemed to see the five students staring at him, and then turning to look at her. She could have seen the smile in those eyes without ever noticing the upturned corners of his mouth. Her heart skipped a beat causing her mind to fling a thousand warnings in her direction.

His voice was friendly, "Dr. Nalan, I was hoping I could speak to you for a moment?"

Now his eyes swept across the faces of the five others occupying her office. He lifted his eyebrows just once and all of them grabbed book bags and back packs and rushed past him as he took a step back.

Renee laughed to herself. She was one of them, a nerd, a geek, a dork. But, she was girl and had never faced the male social hierarchy of high school she was sure this man's well-developed arms and tall stature brought to her students' minds.

"Well, you certainly know how to clear a room, Mr. Sutherland," she announced.

She tried to forget how he'd shaken her the night before. She used her best professor voice.

He stepped into the office, pushing both hands into the front pockets of his faded jeans as he did, "It's Dr. Sutherland, but no one calls me that...except my mother...when her friends are around, she hopes they'll think I'm a 'real' doctor."

He pulled his hands out of his pocket to make the quotation mark sign.

He continued, "Lee. You should call me Lee."

Renee spoke firmly to herself, 'Pretend last night never happened.'

Renee smiled a quizzical kind of smile as she pointed to the chair across from her desk, sitting a little out of place from its former occupant.

"Please have a seat, Lee. What brings you here?"

'Professional...that's all you have to be,' she reminded herself despite the increase in her pulse.

Lee flipped the old wooden chair around in a single motion and sat down with arms resting on the back of the chair, facing her now, still grinning, "Well, you do."

Renee cocked her head to side a bit, "I do?"

She wanted to either bolt for the door or bolt the door and bend over the desk for him. She wasn't sure which one, which only made her heart pound faster.

He cleared his throat and continued, "Yes, ma'am. I was pulling in next to your car today, and I had a thought...I think I owe you dinner. I mean, my dog ate your flowers, I nearly mowed you down in the parking lot, and, well, last night I think I jumped the gun a little, huh?"

"A little?" Renee wasn't aware of how her voice lost its professionalism for a moment.

She cleared her throat and answered, "Well, that was a nice thought, but it's not necessary."

This time as Renee's heart quickened in her chest, there was a slight squeeze of pain as it said, 'what? It's not necessary? Are you stupid? You are stupid. Can't you see him? Are you blind? Oh my God, how could you do this to me? What's so wrong with him wanting to fuck you? He likes you. Is that the worst thing in the world?'

Her heart had dramatic tendencies; she was well aware of them.

Lee's smile faded for just a moment, and then returned. He nodded his head, stood up and turned the chair back to its proper position before speaking, "Alright, well, I'm sorry I interrupted you, Dr Nalan."

He sounded genuinely disappointed.

She said quickly, feeling silly for not saying it earlier, "Renee. Please call me Renee."

He grinned, nodded again and repeated after her, "Renee."

He made his way to the door, and she wanted to jump out of her chair and say, "Wait, let's have dinner."

But she felt glued there and mute. She expected him to disappear any moment and felt powerless to stop it. But, he stopped himself, turning around to face her again.

"Renee, I may be completely out of line here," he said with a question in his voice. "I'm just a farm boy from Indiana, so maybe I misunderstood."

He bit the side of his lip and scrunched his eyes together as he met hers, "I know I'm not nearly as cute as the dog, but I was certain we had some sort of chemistry? Was I right?"

She opened her mouth, and then closed it to find her voice, "You're not wrong."

As her heart sang, her mind began the infernal tsk noise it made when she made poor man choices.

He leaned against the door frame just a little, "Is I'm 'not wrong' the same thing as me being right?"

Renee smirked, "Yes, it is."

"Good," he was smiling bigger, "I think you should reconsider dinner. I make a mean bar-b-que chicken."

Renee smiled despite herself, "You want to cook for me?"

He smiled even bigger, "Of course, I'm a pretty good cook."

He paused, "And, I promise, you don't have to stand in the kitchen with me. I will be a perfect gentleman. If I'm anything else, you can tell Babboo to bite me...and he would, he likes you...a lot."

Renee looked down at her desk, shaking her head and smiling, "Well, hopefully there will be no need for bloodshed. When do you plan on making this chicken?"

"I was thinking about seven tonight? Think you might be hungry then?"

Renee was more than the absent-minded professor when she gave her last lecture. She forgot whole parts of what she meant to say, wrote an equation backwards in its entirety, confusing even the half a dozen students who generally seemed to follow the lectures. She was certain she'd left a few believing they might be sucked into a black hole on the way back to the dorms. Frankly, she didn't care.

She finally ended things more an hour early, claiming she had an unexpected appointment to keep. No one seemed to mind as they grabbed backpack and laptops at the speed of light, rushing from the room before she changed her mind.

She went back to her office to retrieve the yet ungraded exams but decided to leave them. She wasn't going to work tonight. She was going to have dinner with a man. She smiled all the way home, stopping to buy a bottle of red wine. Unsure which wine went with bar-b-que chicken, she just chose the one she liked best.

She showered, put on all her make-up, even put a little mouse in her hair, leaving it down for a change. She did wear the dress this time. A sundress that fit to her figure and sandals showing off her newly manicured toenails. She looked in the mirror and declared herself cute.

He didn't lie about his abilities in the kitchen. The wine seemed to suit it just fine, and the alcohol helped her get past her nerves. Babboo sat at her feet the entire time, and she snuck him bites of chicken when she was certain that Lee wasn't looking.

She whispered, "To make up for the dog bones."

As he tore the chicken with a fork, Lee said, "So, tell me about yourself, Renee."

She smiled, swallowed and answered, "From what you said in the parking lot, you already seem to know a lot about me."

"No, I know a little about your career, that's all," he countered.

"If you know about my career, you know a lot. I've been very focused on it for a very long time now," Renee wasn't proud of her neglected personal life, but it was true.

"Must be...lonely," He seemed to struggle to find the right word.

Renee stopped eating and took a bigger sip of wine.

"No, not..." she tried to answer, but he interrupted before she could finish her thought.

"Do you believe in aliens, Ms. Astrophysicist?" He grinned as he said it.

"Unless you are about to tell me you are Clark Kent, I do believe in the possibility of extraterrestrial life. The universe is vast."

She returned his smile with a cocked eyebrow.

"I'm not Clark Kent, unless that turns you on?" He grinned wider.

Renee smiled, "You never know; there's just something about a man who is that strong and powerful."

"Ah, so you are one of those women," he shook his head and laid down his fork.

"Those women?" Renee stopped eating to ask.

He leaned back in his chair and answered, "The double-standard kind. You want a man to accept you just as you are, but you still want the stereotypical strong alpha male."

Another gulp of wine and she responded, "No, not at all, my last boyfriend was a geometrics professor," and she laughed at the thought of him as an alpha male.

His hand touched hers. She did not pull away despite some part of her that told her she should.

He asked quietly, "What is it that you do want then, Renee?"

She shook her head and answered honestly, "I don't know anymore."

Both finished the meal quietly, one never taking their eyes off the other.

She helped him carry the dirty dishes to the kitchen sink, and he took a step backwards.

"Are you sure you're safe in here?" he asked, smiling.

She laughed and picked up a dishtowel, slapping him on the arm with it.

"I am as long as you keep your lips on that side of the room," she teased.

He smiled and answered, "Hmmm."

He scraped the plates and handed them to her. She rinsed them and stacked them in the dishwasher. He stayed on his side of the room, but she could feel him behind her. She could hear him breathing, or the dog breathing. She wasn't sure. She took another sip of wine before pouring herself another glass.

She took another drink and was certain that it was his breathing she heard, his breath on her neck, his breath as he whispered in her ear, "Tell me what you want, Renee."

Renee leaned into the sink a little, not to escape him but to maintain her balance.

"Do you really want me to stay on the other side of the room?"

He kissed the back of her ear.

She muttered, "I'm not sure what I want...I thought I just wanted to get laid, but the other night..."

Her voice trailed off and her mind wandered as his hands brushed her hair to the side and his lips found her neck.

He whispered again, "Is that what you really want? To just get laid? It's okay, baby. Just tell me."

She didn't answer; she felt her dress being unzipped and his lips trailing down her spine in soft kisses and little licks. Her panties were soaked.

She whispered, finally, as his hands slid under her skirt and into those wet panties, "I don't know what I want."

As his finger found the source of the wetness and caressed it gently, she felt woozy. As he slipped a finger inside of her, it brought a moan from her lips.

"I think I know what you want." His lips were at her ear again, "Am I right?"

Renee couldn't do anything but continue to lean her weight into the cabinet, whispering, "You're right."

She could see his smile in her mind.

She didn't hear him unzip his pants. She did feel the press of his cock against her ass. He rubbed it there as he returned his lips to her neck. His arms encircled her for a moment and his hands found her braless breasts, caressing them through the fabric, bringing her nipples to a point.

It all felt blurry as he pulled her panties from her hips to her knees. She couldn't move enough for them to fall to the floor. He was pressed tight against her. Then, she felt him there, rubbing the head of his cock up and down the length of her wetness, over and over.

She grabbed for the smooth, slick counter as he pressed his cock inside her pussy.

She moaned and almost whispered, "Stop," but the word wouldn't come.

Her mind was bleary, but her body was responding to the deep thrusts he was making inside of her.

Deep, strong, hard. His arms around her body, holding her where he wanted her. Renee found herself feeling safe there, held so tight, unable to move or fight, his cock moving faster, filling her, his breath in her ear.