Forbidden Fruit Ch. 36-45

"Oh my, yes," Carol panted.

"I'm as sexually satisfied as I've ever been my whole life!" Alyson reported happily.

They all showered together then. Carol blow dried Alyson's hair and she changed into yoga pants and a Western hoodie she had in her kit bag. Driving away Brad and Alyson looked at each other and started laughing, and high fived each other as he drove her back to her car.

Ch. 38

"Are you ok, Ally?" Colleen asked Alyson with some concern as Alyson gently sat down with her, Vickie, Carla and Janette.

"Yeah, sure!" Alyson smiled warmly, "Ahhhh, just a beam dismount gone off a bit."

"You're gonna have to stop that now, Ally. You're too old for that anymore," Vickie told her.

"Maybe."

"So, I'm the only one now without a boyfriend?" Janette asked smiling.

"Please, Janette. You're gorgeous," Alyson told her, "You could have a boyfriend if you wanted one."

"Just waiting for the right one, I guess. And he's proving to be quite elusive."

"How about that herd over there," Alyson nodded her head, "There's some cute ones over there."

"Don't look! Don't look!" Colleen pleaded.

"Shit, she looked," Carla groaned.

"And smiled. Shit." Vickie added, "See? Look? Here comes Mr. God's Gift now."

One of the guys had got up while saying something to the rest. He was tall and handsome with a chiselled face and black hair.

"Hey! When's the due date for that physics assignment?" he squatted down on his haunches to ask Janette, grinning at her.

"I wouldn't know," Janette told him as she leaned back, trying to recover some of her personal space. "I don't take physics."

"Oh sorry," he replied a bit too quick, "There's a girl in my class that looks a lot like you. I thought you were her. I didn't think there could possibly be two girls that pretty." He grinned again, obviously pleased with himself.

Vickie groaned out loud.

"You should find her and ask her," Janette told him and looked away.

"I'm Doug," he told her.

"That's nice," Janette replied.

His face darkened. "You don't have to be a stuck up bitch you know," he stood up.

"Whoooh!" Alyson exclaimed.

"Why don't you fuck off now, asshole," Vickie told him.

"A collection of stuck up bitches," he sneered and walked away.

"Asshole!" Vickie called after him loudly as he walked away. A few other guys at adjacent tables looked over. Doug immediately got called out by a couple of guys at the table he had been at. He snapped back at a few of them before stomping off. A few others got up and left as well and the rest started to put their things back in their backpacks and bookbags.

"Ahhhh, sorry about that," two of the guys, average looking guys with brown hair, slender and about six feet stopped as they passed, "He really is an asshole." The girls looked up at them but didn't say anything.

"Most of us didn't appreciate what he said. We don't think or feel like that and would never talk to a lady like that."

"Don't worry about it," Janette smiled at him.

The guy gave her a forced smile back and they went on.

"Some nice guys left around," Carla said.

"You gotta stay away from those jock types," Vickie sniffed.

"Yeah," Janette looked at the two young men walking away.

Matt sat in the library coffee shop and waited for his girlfriend Angela. They had been growing further and further apart and he knew it was over between. He thought he really should be feeling bad about it but all he could think about was the girl he had saw at the Student Center Café yesterday. She had been so beautiful with her pale complexion, blue eyes, and the mass of reddish brown curling hair that tumbled down and around her shoulders. He didn't know her name, may never see her again and she was way out of his league anyway but her face was burnt into his mind.

"Hi, Matt," Angela found him and sat down, clearly nervous. She was tall and plain looking, brown hair but not with the fullness and near wildness of the Yesterday Girl. Matt had always thought Angela was very pretty but now she looked like just one of the crowd.

"Matt?"

"Oh! Sorry. What?"

"You always seem so distracted and distant lately."

"Hard courses."

"I don't think it's the courses at all." She frowned.

"Really?"

"I think we need a break from each other Matt," she blurted out.

"I knew that was coming."

"You don't think so?"

"We're not as close as we were," he admitted.

"People sometimes just grow apart."

"Yeah."

"You don't seem to be taking this very hard." She seemed almost disappointed but a bit relieved.

"I'm not into the on again, off again relationship like Wayne and Denise. If we split, we split."

"Yeah sure. Whatever, Matt." She got up and started away.

"Hey, Ang!" he called and got up. She stopped and looked back. "Yeah. It was fun, you know. I'll always remember you. I hope we can always be friends."

She smiled, "Yeah, sure, Matt," she gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek, "See ya around." And with that their two year relationship was finished.

He sat down again and thought back on the Yesterday Girl.

"You broke up with Angela?!" his mother exclaimed in shock.

"Well, technically, she broke up with me but it was a joint decision, really." He took a round mouthful of cereal.

"But, Matthew! She was so nice! She was perfect for you!"

"I know you liked her."

"Maybe after a cooling off period you guys can reconcile?"

"Naw."

"You don't seem very upset. Have you met anyone else?" she asked suspiciously.

"Not really."

"What kind of answer is not really?"

"Well, I briefly met someone that I don't even know her name but she made me forget the rest of the world existed."

"Oh, Matthew! You never broke up with Angela over that!"

"No. We were gonna break up anyway. It's been coming a while now."

"WHY!" his mother demanded, distraught.

"I gotta get to school, Ma." He got up and left.

"You see Angela yesterday," his mother asked him hopefully the next morning.

Matt sighed. He had managed to avoid her most of the day yesterday. "No, Ma. Forget about Angela."

"But you guys were so cute together! Oh my God, at Grad you guys looked so much in love! It was so sweet!"

"Susan, Matt's life, right," his father said as he made some sandwiches, "You didn't expect him to marry the first girl he dated, did you?"

"People do that all the time," she hissed venomously at him, "WE did it!"

"Oh yeah," he replied sheepishly, "Ahhhh, I made you a sandwich buddy," his father grabbed a banana from the counter and went to the fridge for an apple and a can of orange juice. He put them in a brown bag, "You have a lab this afternoon right?"

"Yeah. Thanks, Dad."

After his first class Matt went to the small café in the Arts Building to get a coffee. He had an hour to kill and with his next class in this building he usually did it by reading with a coffee in the café. It was actually a thing and the café was filled with intellectual types in tweed jackets and unruly beards reading thick tomes. He was still very much distracted, still thinking of the Yesterday Girl, as he got his coffee and went to pay, and as such you could have knocked him over with a feather when he realized Yesterday Girl was at the cashier directly ahead of him! He couldn't see her face as she had her back to him. She was dressed in an oversized sweater that left one shoulder exposed provocatively showing a narrow black strap and black leggings. It was her luxurious red-brown hair spilling down her back that immediately identified.

"Oh just a second please!" she pleaded with the cashier, "I know it's in here somewhere," she dug into her backpack while a bottle of water and a muffin remained unpaid for on the counter. "Grrrrr," she gave a low growl.

Matt stood silently behind her and inhaled deeply, trying to pick up her scent.

"Just the coffee love?" the cashier asked.

"I'll pay for the water and muffin as well," he said as he passed his swipe card over Yesterday Girl's shoulder.

"Oh!" she started in surprise and turned around.

Matt was immediately again struck by her blue eyes. And her pale flawless complexion and how pretty she was. He felt his heart do a leap and the world slow and fade around him.

"You're one of the guys from the other day. You don't have to pay for that!" she looked at him with interest.

"I just have an hour before my next class," he laughed trying to make a joke.

"Yeah. Well sorry, I can't find my damn wallet in my bag."

"It's no big deal," he smiled and reluctantly moved to look for a seat as it had started to feel a bit awkward, the two of them just stood there looking at each other. When he found a table he was surprised to find her close behind.

"Do you mind if I join you?" she asked with a sparkling perfect white smile that caused his knees to go weak.

"Oh! Not at all. God yes!" he answered a bit too quickly and eagerly, he was trying so hard to be cool.

"Like if you have a girlfriend that may happen by I'll sit somewhere else. I don't want to cause you any difficulty." She told him as she sat down anyway.

"No," he smiled, "Actually my long-time girlfriend and I just broke up a few days ago."

"Really? Oh, sorry to hear that. What happened?"

"We just drifted apart. We were close in high school but here at Uni we just seemed to spend less and less time together. Started to have different circles of friends. It seemed we were starting to have to almost schedule some time to be together but even then someone was looking at the time. No one's fault. I guess we just matured a bit. How about you?"

"I'm single. I've dated a bit, but I never had a real steady boyfriend."

"Really?"

"Surprised?"

"Yeah. Well I don't know you, obviously, but you seem nice and you are very pretty."

"Well, thanks!" she picked off some muffin in her fingers and popped it in her mouth. "I spent a lot of time over the years doing gymnastics and dance. Me and four of my close friends. Like, when we were twelve to fourteen, or so it seemed, like, we were always at the gym. We virtually lived there. Trained forty hours a week.

"Wow."

"It was fun. We were a family and we were all so damn competitive! Now for the most part we teach and coach. Gymnastics is a young sport. So what are you doing at Western?"

"Journalism."

"Awesome! I'm going to be an English Major! When I'm able to apply for the faculty that is. I'm just a freshman."

"Sophomore. Real vet!" he laughed.

"I'll probably be seeing you around a bit then. I'm Janette Denning!" She held out her hand.

"Janette," he said out loud, savouring her name on his lips. "I'm Matthew Campbell." He took her hand and felt her warmth pour out. He imagined it seeping in and travelling up his arms. For a few seconds his mind waged a vicious war as to if he should let go her hand or not. Eventually he had to.

"Want some?" she asked sweetly.

He almost declined but the thought of sharing the same food as her was somewhat intimate so he reached out to break off a small piece of the muffin.

"What high school you go to? We went to Central."

"Brocklehurst."

"River Rats," she grinned.

"Rivermen!"

"It's the real Stallions thing there, too, hey?"

"Yeah. The Wave is a good name. The male teams should take that name too."

"You play any sports?"

"Baseball. I was a pitcher. The other teams loved me. They used to chat for me and everything."

Janette laughed as she opened her water.

"Seriously. They used to call me The Waiter cause I offered up so many balls for home runs."

Janette opened her mouth in shock, "Oh my God, that was you?"

"Yup."

"You had a good ERA; it's just, that, when they hit you, they hit you hard."

"You followed baseball in high school?"

"I was a cheerleader."

"Of course, you were. Central had the hottest cheerleaders."

She blushed a bit and looked down at her muffin. Then she looked up at him again with her blue eyes and a little smile.

"Jesus," he slipped out.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Tell me!"

"No."

Janette laughed, "Tell me, Matthew!"

"I'd sound all Doug."

"No you wouldn't! He's such a jerk and you are so sweet and genuine.

It was Matt's turn to blush now and he did a bang up job of it.

"What?" she asked again ignoring his blazing color and discomfort.

"It's just how pretty you are."

"You're just saying that," she blushed a bit, again, and drank some water.

"Ahhhh, no, I'm not. And, ahhhh, I warmed the bench a bit on the basketball team," he tried to change the subject. "Basically, I practiced with them. Never actually played any real games."

"Awwww."

"It was fun, though. I can write about sports better than actually playing."

"Yay!"

He couldn't help but smile as his heart melted fast.

"Is that what you want to do? Sports reporting?"

"Not really. It's just really a hobby and a way to get people actually to read what I write. I want to do investigative journalism or politics."

"Politics?" she wrinkled her pretty nose. "I'll probably end up an editor. I know how to write, all the grammar rules, structures and formats but I'm afraid I don't have much of an imagination for stories."

"Keep trying! Just write about nothing to get going. Think of a very basic plot, develop some characters and let the story develop as the characters interact."

"Speaking from personal experience?" she asked astutely.

"Not sayin'," he grinned.

"I have to go, Matthew. I have class on the other side of campus. I just like coming here 'cause it's where all the English majors apparently hang out," she blushed a bit more. "But it was so nice to meet you and I hope to see you around? Do you come here a bit, too?"

"Yeah! I come here a lot to read and wait for classes."

"I'll see you around then!"

"Bye, Janette."

She gave him a brilliant smile and hurried away.

"Did you and Angela get back together?" his mother asked hopefully when he got home that evening, smiling happily.

"No, Ma."

"Oh."

"I bumped into that girl I told you about."

"The mystery girl?" his mother sniffed trying to sound disinterested.

"Janette."

"Angela is a much prettier name."

"Come on now, Sue!" his father laughed. "You got her name, hey? That's a start!" he grinned at his son.

"I had coffee with her! She was in line in front of me and couldn't find her purse. So, I paid for her water and muffin and we sat together." Matt informed proudly.

"She's already a drain on your pocket book," his mother sniffed.

"That three bucks will break me, for sure," Matt grinned.

"She's a looker, hey?" his father asked.

"Dad, you have no idea. Seriously. You couldn't even imagine."

"Good grief!" his mother snapped as she left the room.

The next day Matt had some spare time so he decided to practice his surveillance and staking out, honing his skills for this future career as an investigative journalist. He preferred to think of it like that as opposed to stalking. The first hour passed with no sign of Janette. At noon he was able to go back and as he discretely stood in the hallway some distance from the entrance to the café. He saw Janette approach and his heart soared. She wore tight blue jeans and a long sleeve tee shirt and went into the crowded café. He waited as long as he was able, it was about fifteen seconds, and went after her.

Matt went into the café and stopped to look at the crowded line.

"Matthew!" Matt tried not to grin as Janette spied him and bounced over. "Oh my God, it's so crowded here today! I'm so glad I saw you. Oh my God, I was gonna get a sandwich before my next class but that line up is brutal!"

"How about half a sandwich?"

"You'll share your lunch with me?" she asked him warmly.

"Sure," he smiled back nervously. "Come on, let's grab a table before they disappear, too." He grabbed a pair of paper coffee cups from a side table as he went.

"What kind of sandwich you got?" Janette asked.

"Ahhhh, well, ahhhh, I'm not sure, actually," he confessed with embarrassment.

"Matthew, I'm not judging you! My mom makes lunches for me all the time!"

"My dad usually makes me one when he makes one for himself."

"Cool!"

"With Dad, you never know what you'll get. If there's left over mashed turnip in the fridge he'll throw that on with the tuna fish."

"Really?" Janette asked him with wide blue eyes.

"Sure. Ham and spaghetti. Roast beef and banana."

"You're teasing me!" she laughed as he dug out his lunch.

"A little," he grinned. "Ham and cheese!"

"Yay! And whole wheat bread!"

"Orange juice, Madam?" he asked grinning as he shook the tin and popped it open.

"You think of everything!" she laughed. He poured out the juice and they took a half sandwich each. "Excellent!" she exclaimed after the first mouthful.

"It's just ham and cheese! Even Dad can't mess that up!"

"So what you doing the weekend?" she asked him, "You a partier?"

"Not really. Ahhhh, there's a film festival here at Western this weekend. Do you like films?"

"I love film!" she exclaimed. "I just wish there were more films and fewer movies."

"You maybe want to see one or two with me?"

"I'd love to, Matthew! I really would!"

He waited for the but. It didn't come. She just looked at him and eventually a big grin broke out on his face. "Here," he got his phone. "Here's what they have"

"I have cheer practice on Saturday from two to four but I can get some of the girls to cover my gymnastics and dance classes if you want to take in a few?"

"You're a cheerleader here at Western?"

"Yeah," she smiled a bit shyly. "It's for fun and fitness, not to strut my stuff. I love the routines we do."

"I know, it's like a sport. I did a piece on it for the Western Voice last year."

"You did! I want to read it! Oh! Wanna see 'Somewhere on the Ridge' on Friday?"

"I'd like to see 'Brenton.' Would two films be too much for you Friday?"

"No! 'A Lost Night' looks so awesome! It's on Saturday at six! We can do two double headers 'cause 'Midsummer Revenge' looks interesting too!"

"I'll get us a weekend pass! We can watch whatever we like."

"It's a festival, right! How much? Ten?" she started to fish in her bag.

"I'll get them!"

"I'll buy mine, Matthew."

"Come on, Janette, it's just twenty bucks. I asked you out right?"

"Ok, ok," she smiled.

"My last class is over at five. That doesn't give us a lot of time."

"I can meet you right after your class. I'll have my car so I can give you a ride home to drop off your back pack and change or whatever. Ahhhh, my parents like to meet people I date. Sorry!"

"No! That's fine."

"You don't mind? I know I'm an adult and can date whomever I want, but it's just to put their minds as ease. So they are not worrying about me. We can stop at my place for a few minutes, then yours, then go right to the festival?"

"Sounds good! Ahhhh, can I get your number?"

"You can definitely get my number!" she told him smiling and he punched it into his phone grinning.

"Another day, another ear to ear grin," his father said as Matt joined them at the dinner table. "You must have seen the dream girl again today, did you?"

"Yeah," Matt grinned, "She liked the sandwich you made by the way."

"Oh, Matt!" his mother exclaimed, shocked. "She ate your lunch!"

"I shared it with her, Ma," Matt told her as he rolled his eyes. "I gave her half my sandwich."

"Didn't she have lunch of her own?" she sniffed.

"She was going to buy a sandwich but there was a wicked line up so I offered her half mine, ok?" He looked at his mother in challenge. When she didn't respond, he continued, "So we are going to a film festival at Western this weekend. Tomorrow she's gonna meet me after my last class and I have to meet her parents because they don't like her dating unless they meet the guy first. Then she's going to drop me off here to change before we go to the festival. She may or may not come in. I'm not sure. But if she does, don't go and be right cold to her and embarrass me!"