Freshman Ch. 06: Equilibrium

Authors Note: "The Rachel Chronicles" is a multi-part series of stories involving the titular character (a young woman named Rachel) and her various sexual adventures. The stories are themed mainly around oral sex, with the occasional tale involving other forms of sexual activity. Each chapter is somewhat lengthy and detailed and it is my hope that such detail will provide a richer experience for you readers as you truly get an intensive look inside Rachel's head.

Further, the stories are written in an intended order and it is highly recommended that you read them as such. Obviously, you are free to proceed as you please and I'm grateful that you would read any of them at all. But you will get a much fuller and more rewarding picture if you follow the stories along their natural progression.

PROM is the first series, and while it is a little choppier (in my opinion) because it was my first effort, it is the main story from which the others are branched. So things will definitely be a little confusing (and surprises/themes ruined) if it is skipped over.

PRELUDES is the follow-up and it deals with a crucial stretch of time that led to where Prom began. It weaves the two series together and fills in a lot of missing details and untold storylines that help explain how the events of Prom occurred and why Rachel may have acted in the ways that she did.

SENIOR WEEK is the third installment and it details the week following the end of Rachel's senior year of high school. It explores some different aspects of Rachel's personality as she finds fun and trouble alike with faces old and new.

So, if you're not caught up, catch up! And if you are, welcome back! I don't think I really need to give any clues as to what FRESHMAN is about, but just to be safe, this series will follow the entire first year of Rachel's college experience. What had seemed like an impossible fantasy just a few months prior is now fully in her grasp. Will the freedom and euphoria of the life she'd prayed for lift her to new heights or will it consume her as she is unable resist her instinctual urges to charge recklessly ahead?

As always, I appreciate your ratings and comments and I welcome any and all feedback but understand that I am very sensitive, and if you're too harsh, I will delete everything from this site and never try to be creative again.

I'm kidding.

Enjoy!

*All characters in this story are 18 years or older*

PREVIOUS --- Chapter 5: Convinced

CHAPTER 6

Postscript to Prom, Chapter 9: Touch and Go Part 2

Randy's heart pounded as he gripped the railing and practically flung himself up onto the next set of steps. His footsteps echoed in the empty stairwell. His breath burned in his lungs.

After a few final, leaping paces, he brought his shoulder into the door and hastily shoved his way into the dorm hallway. His eyes narrowed reflexively as he zeroed in on his room's location near the other end of the alley. Catching his breath, he resumed his hurried march in that direction.

As he inched closer and closer to salvation, his thoughts flew by in a chaotic stream. He could still practically taste Rebecca's tongue in his mouth. He could smell her perfume and the sweetness of her hair. And although he'd spent barely an hour in her presence, he was sure he could sketch every alluring curve of her body from memory if asked.

He scowled automatically as his thoughts went next to the reason he wasn't already becoming more intimately acquainted with such tastes, scents, and curves at that very moment. His fucking sister. He still couldn't believe it. She really couldn't have timed her call any worse if he'd given her a million more opportunities.

His torrid pace came to a halt as he finally reached the door. He paused and took a moment to gather himself. As desperate as he was to get back inside, he didn't want to rush in all crazed and out of breath. Honestly, he'd been pretty surprised that things had gone so smoothly with the girls. The last thing he needed to do was put out some desperate vibe and muck up the mood.

With a final glance to his phone, he steadied himself and reached for the handle. He'd been gone longer than he'd hoped. Almost an hour. But Joe had promised to text him if they'd decided to leave for the party. He'd received no messages. Smiling brightly, he turned the knob and stepped inside.

"Hey hey! Hope I didn't miss mu-!"

His cheery tone slipped into silence as his throat went suddenly dry. He hadn't had known what he might be walking into upon his return, but what greeted his eyes made his stomach drop. He stood frozen in place and held his breath as he tried to process what he was seeing. Or more specifically, what he wasn't seeing.

Dark, terrible thoughts began to swirl in his brain, but he fought back desperately, refusing to believe. His eyes flicked down to his roommate who was sitting shirtless on the same futon where he'd seen him last. Joe's face was a little flush, but his expression was peaceful. Content. Relaxed.

Randy stared blankly at him for few seconds before he finally found the power to speak again.

"Dude! What happ-? Where-? Where did they go??"

Randy's abrupt entrance had shaken Joe from what had been a blissful stretch of euphoric reflection. It had to have been at least ten minutes since the girls had left, and with the exception of managing to put his jeans back on, the only thing he'd been occupied with was replaying every insanely surreal detail of the wild events of the past hour.

But his stomach flooded with guilt as he processed the desperate confusion in his roommate's face. Fuck. How was he going to explain this? If Randy only knew what he'd missed...

Sighing and rubbing his eyes, Joe leaned forward and pointed to a chair a few feet away.

"Bro. You, um-. Listen, sit down real quick."

Randy swallowed and studied him curiously. He had no idea what was going on and all he cared about was how Joe had seemingly managed to let the girls out of their grasp. But he did as he was told and slowly made his way over to the seat by his desk.

Joe waited until his friend had sat down before rubbing his face again and trying to gather his thoughts. Shit. Where did he even begin? He smirked to himself and shook his head. Not that it made a difference. No matter what he said, Randy was going to want to jump out the very window behind him.

Shrugging and deciding there was no sense in delay, Joe leaned forward and clasped his hands together.

"So look, you're probably not going to believe this, but..."

***

One year later...

"Well? What do you think, bro? You gonna seal the deal or what?"

Randy smirked at his friend's question as he gave the keg's tap a few final pumps and began to fill his cup. He glanced over his shoulder back towards the main area of the party and grinned reflexively. He couldn't see the girl he'd been talking to a few minutes prior, but he assumed she was still standing where he'd left her. He smirked again.

"Yeah, shit is looking good. Just need to get her away from the friend."

He paused and rolled his eyes and flashed a look of playful disgust.

"Girl is like fucking velcro."

Joe laughed and nodded in agreement as he took the hose from his friend's hand and began to refill his own beer. As the golden liquid rolled out in a steady, even stream, he licked his lips and raised an inquisitive brow.

"I hear you. You need my help? Kim might be rolling by when we get back but I can definitely hop on that grenade at least until you get your girl free."

Randy grinned and narrowed his eyes as he took a full sip from his cup. Joe was a good dude and an excellent wingman. Always willing to step in and help out when needed.

With a nod back in the direction of party, Randy cleared his throat and clasped his buddy on the shoulder.

"Hell yeah. Dude, that would be great. I think the girl is just lonely or something. If you could just chat her up a little, I think I'll be in the clear."

The boys exchanged grins and left the keg to make their way back into the main part of the house. As they passed through the crowd, Randy began to refocus his thoughts onto the girl he'd left. She was cute and he'd seen her around campus here and there. She had kind of a conservative vibe to her but she'd definitely seemed to be loosening up as she got a little tipsy and let the energy of the party flow through her.

He scoffed as he considered the thought. Honestly, even if she was a prude, it had been quite the cold streak he'd been on lately. He glanced quickly at his roommate and shook his head with a touch of jealousy. Joe was very good looking and things just seemed to come easier to him with girls. Over the two and a half years they'd been friends, his buddy certainly had a solid lead in the hookup department. And currently, he'd been enjoying a pretty regular thing with a hot volleyball chick who lived a few doors down in their same apartment complex. He'd just all but confirmed that he had plans to have her over and get some if she was still up and willing when they got home from the party.

The point was, if Randy could make anything happen with the girl he'd been working on, he was going to jump on the chance. Maybe with a little luck he could at least get her clothes off and talk her into a handjob or something. Whatever. As a guy who hadn't eaten in a while, he certainly wasn't going to turn down any kind of meal.

As they moved through the kitchen and back into the living room where his target was still waiting in the same spot by the couch, Randy parted his lips and offered up a few final points of strategy.

"Okay, so I think her friend's name is Laura or Laurie or something. She's kind of lame but I'm sure she'll warm up quick. If you could just do your thing and give me like, ten minutes that should be all I need to-."

Randy cut off in mid-sentence as something triggered in his brain, forcing his legs to automatically halt their motion. He'd been vacantly scanning the crowd but something strangely familiar had gripped his senses. His eyes widened and he reached out reflexively to grab his friend and stop him in his path as well. His scalp tingled and a tremor of excitement snaked through his gut. He swallowed hard. His throat felt suddenly as dry as sand.

Standing maybe fifteen feet away, was a pair of girls that he barely knew but would've recognized in an instant even if one hundred years had passed. His eye twitched involuntarily and he felt the hair rise on his arms as he watched the one girl (a pretty blonde with a low-cut shirt offering up an impressively tantalizing amount of cleavage) gesture to her friend and laugh as she touched her on the arm. The friend (an equally alluring specimen with long, wavy, dark hair and a pair of jeans that could've been painted on) laughed as well and threw her head back as the girls semi-embraced, apparently lost in some topic that was clearly very amusing to them both.

Randy's pulse began to quicken and he stood frozen as he watched the pair and let his mind flow back to the memories that were simultaneously exciting and deeply painful. That night that he and Joe had invited the girls back to their old dorm room. It had to have been about a year now. A year since that ill-fated evening that had ended up an epic triumph for his roommate and a tragic tale of missed opportunity for himself.

Joe, initially confused by his buddy's abrupt stop and forceful grab, finally got around to following the direction of Randy's frozen stare. He squinted to focus on the targets before widening his own eyes in full, matching recognition. His chest tightened and he grinned automatically as a separate set of memories rushed to his brain (a set much more overwhelmingly positive than his friend's). Swallowing hard, he shifted his weight as he felt himself stir in his jeans.

Both boys stared silently for several seconds before each broke their trance and turned to face each other in unison. They were obviously thinking the same thing. Randy verbalized it first.

"That's them, right?"

Joe simply nodded and grinned happily.

"Yup."

Randy exhaled fully and scratched nervously at the back of his head. Gathering his thoughts, he continued.

"Shit. Well, like-. I mean, let's go talk to them."

Joe took a sip form his cup and gritted his teeth as he swallowed the icy liquid down in a rough gulp. Raising an eyebrow, he indicated back over Randy's shoulder.

"What about whatshername? I thought you were gonna close that."

Randy took another deep, contemplative breath and followed his friend's gaze back over in the other direction. His brain locked suddenly as genuine conflict took over. He certainly felt good about his chances with that girl, especially with Joe backing him up. And she was cute. And he could certainly use a win to get off his frozen streak.

The gears in his head whirled and whined as he whipped his gaze back to the girls in the kitchen who haunted his dreams. He had never truly gotten past just how savagely he'd been fucked over that night. It had been fully in his grasp only to be snatched away in such cruel, teasing fashion.

His jaw tightened as he replayed bits and pieces of Joe's retelling of the story. It was torture to even think about; it caused literal physical pain. And he'd always sworn that if he was ever lucky enough to be given a second chance...

His swirling thoughts came to a halt and he let out his breath as he made his choice. He knew it was greedy and risky to give up the bird in the hand, but the two in the bush were just too tempting to ignore. He had to take his shot. He would never be able to look himself in the mirror again if he shrunk away from the opportunity.

"Nah, forget all that."

He smirked deviously as the adrenaline began to course through his veins.

"Seriously, let's fucking do this.

Joe held still for a moment as he regarded the way his roommate's face had come so suddenly alive. He flicked his eyes over to the kitchen and then back towards where Randy had been initially leading him. Grinning finally, he pursed his lips and nodded in full agreement.

"Okay. I'm in."

***

"Dude, what are you doing? Put the fucking code in!"

Joe turned his head and glared at Randy, scoffing at his roommate's impatience. Turning back to the keypad on the door, he resumed punching in the numbers.

"Calm your tits. It takes a second sometimes."

Rachel exchanged a silent grin with Rebecca as she listened to the boys argue. Suppressing a tickle of laughter forming in her throat, she twisted her lips and let her eyes wander over the scenery. She was standing by the outdoor entrance to a second-floor apartment in what appeared to be a newly constructed building. She glanced up at the manicured brick surrounding the doorway and then down at the unsullied composite decking under her feet. She sniffed in through her nose and grinned again as a gentle tremor passed through her belly.

In all honestly, it was pretty surreal to be standing where she was. Not thirty minutes prior, she'd been in the kitchen of an unknown house joking with her best friend as a party progressed all around them. It wasn't a get together thrown by anyone at their college, but rather one courtesy of the local state school a few towns away. They didn't know anyone outside of the random guy who had invited Rebecca, and in the hour they'd been there, almost nobody had approached them.

That they were even there in the first place had only been at Rachel's insistence. She'd jumped on Rebecca's half-hearted suggestion that they do a night off-campus because she'd been looking for a distraction of sorts. It had been a few weeks since her regrettable "Vince incident" and she'd been feeling more and more guilt over it as time had passed. She tried not to focus her thoughts in that direction when she could, but it wasn't exactly the type of memory to fade away easily. It had been a reckless act with no good explanation and she had cursed herself repeatedly for her weakness in letting it happen.

Such regret or shameful introspection clearly hadn't been shared by Vince, however. He'd somehow gotten Rachel's number and the new ability to communicate electronically had not gone under-utilized. What had begun as a few probing text messages had escalated steadily, crescendoing most recently with his sending of a dick pic. It was clear that the taste he'd gotten that night had been like a drug and his appetite for more was becoming voracious.

At first, Rachel had thought it exceptionally bold of Vince to so openly proposition her in a way that would leave a paper trail. But it had become quickly apparent that his confidence flowed from the knowledge that any whistleblowing Rachel might consider would only create a bigger mess for herself. She'd obviously never confessed the initial incident to Steph (making their already weird relationship even more awkward) and doing so at this point would certainly be a disaster. So while she had no plans to humor Vince's requests in any way, it appeared that she'd have to at least endure his incessant hounding for the time being.

It had been just this very internal angst that Rachel had been unsuccessfully attempting to block out when the most unexpected blast from the past had re-entered her life at the party. She'd never thought she'd see Joe (or his roommate, Randy) ever again even if their faces were never that far from her mind. They attended the state college the girls were visiting for the evening so it wasn't entirely far-fetched. But it had been a system-shock nonetheless.

Her daydreaming was interrupted as she heard Randy scoff.

"Yeah, when you fuck it up. You need me to do it?"

She smiled silently and glanced back down at her feet. The boys had been enthusiastic and friendly at the party and it hadn't taken much convincing to get her and Rebecca to agree to leave early with them. But Rachel had definitely picked up on a touch of tension coming from Randy during the walk back. He seemed to have a lot of nervous energy as he vacillated between offering energetic compliments to the girls and shooting random (if perhaps playful) barbs at his roommate.

"Bro. Relax."

Joe punctuated his rebuke with a final poke at the pad and he smiled smugly as the sound of the lock unclicking hit their ears. He pushed the door open and gestured for the girls to enter first. As Randy passed, they each scoffed at each other again and bumped their shoulders together.

Rachel smirked and raised her eyebrows as she moved through a narrow foyer and into the main area of the apartment. The air smelled clean and the space was organized and free of clutter. Two couches and a TV were arranged nicely in the corner of the room and the carpet looked to be freshly vacuumed. Rachel smirked again. She was impressed.

"Wow, you two keep things nice."

She turned around and grinned playfully at her hosts as they filed into the room behind her. Joe smiled and nodded, stepping past her and raising a playful eyebow.

"Yeah, we try. Never know who might be dropping by."

Rachel rolled her eyes and grinned back. Letting her eyes continue to drift over the space, she continued her praise.

"Oh you're that popular, huh? No, but really. No beer cans or dishes everywhere? Don't think I've ever seen a boy's place so clean."

The roommates exchanged prideful looks and Randy opened his mouth but it was Rebecca's voice that sounded out next. She nodded to them, her tone playfully sarcastic.