Freshman Flirt Pt. 01: Befriending

Author's Note:

This was supposed to be my attempt at a new, shorter story, but the characters and plot had other ideas. Instead, it is complete and will be told in four parts, each published a few days apart. Oh, well, maybe I'll do shorter next time!

This story is about the characters and their relationships; while there is some sex, it's not all that graphic. If that's what you're seeking, you might wish to look elsewhere.

Finally, as always, all characters engaging in sexual activity are 18 years of age or older.

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Part 1: Befriending the Freshman Flirt

It was a huge, amphitheater-type lecture hall. With that section of the Chem 101 class being full, every seat would be filled so I arrived early on that first day of the fall semester and took an aisle seat on the fourth row, saving a seat for Skip, my doofus roommate. Some minutes later, as Professor Myers entered, Skip was, unsurprisingly, a no show. In those days before cell phones, there was no way to call to wake him up...again. I sighed; it really wasn't my problem.

There was a tap on my shoulder. "Excuse me, is that seat taken?" she asked.

I looked up at her beautiful green eyes, a pretty face, and a cute smile. Even if I'd seen Skip flying in through the doors right then, my answer would have been the same.

"No, not at all. Please, have a seat."

I dropped the desk leaf and turned my knees where she could get in before grabbing my backpack and trying to move it out of her way. It was promptly trapped between her, me, and the armrest between us, and I had to struggle to get it out of the way before stowing it under my seat. I looked up to see Professor Myers staring at us with a perturbed look on his face.

Once she was finally seated, the prof said, "This is an interactive class. I will be asking questions at times so my TAs are passing around the seating chart. Write your name on the blank for your seat; you'll see the number on your right armrest. You'll sit in this seat for the rest of the semester where I can get to know at least some of you as you attempt to answer questions and work problems. For instance, Miss? Yes, you, who arrived late?"

Her eyes wide, the young lady next to me gulped, "Mandy...Mandy Wofford."

"Well, Miss Wofford..."

I don't remember the question, but remember her eyes getting even wider at being called out and then not having a clue on how to respond. I was sort of pissed that he would have treated her like that just because she had trouble finding a seat, so I answered. He glared at me for taking the heat off his victim.

"Ahem, that's correct, Mister?"

"Pierce...Barry Pierce."

"Thank you, Mister Pierce. In the future, though, please be so kind as to refrain from speaking in class unless you're called upon."

I nodded at the jackass and started taking notes in my new spiral notebook. He was doing a brief review of moles or something like that from high school chemistry before getting into the new material. That's when I felt a gentle squeeze on my arm and Miss Mandy Wofford mouthed a silent thank you to me."

Not wanting his wrath to rain down on me, I nodded with a smile, keeping my mouth shut, not saying a word.

***

As soon as the bell sounded, everyone in the lecture hall seemed to rise at once and rush for the exits. I was doing the same, but Miss Wofford caught my arm again. "You're Barry? Thanks for saving me. I'm Mandy."

"Hi, Mandy, Barry it is, and sorry, if I'd thought to move my backpack out of the way first, none of it would have happened. I was saving the seat for my idiot roommate; he was still trying to wake up when I left a little early for class. Or maybe I should say, not trying to wake up; I suspect he went right back to sleep."

We were walking together toward the exit and she laughed. "He was out partying last night?"

"Of course, last night before classes start. Perfect time to get trashed, right?" Skip had bragged about his fake ID, which he felt would come in handy since the drinking age had been raised back to 21 over the past few years.

She shook her head with a grin. "For some, I guess. Well, it was nice to meet you, Barry. You in the Freshman quadrangle or off campus?"

"Quad for me. What about you?"

"Same, but I got a single. No roommate!" She grinned and I chuckled. "See you around there, then, Barry, but if not, see you here bright and early on Wednesday. Believe me, I won't be late again."

As we emerged from the building, she shot away from me across the plaza without saying another word, practically bouncing as she went. I watched as she grabbed another guy's elbow, slipping her arm in his and giving it a squeeze. They obviously knew each other for he was grinning before leaning in to kiss the top of her head as they headed off together, arm in arm.

I looked away, frustrated that my Evie, my high school girlfriend, was almost two hours away at another university. The playfulness that Mandy exhibited with her boyfriend, or whomever, would be fun on a morning like this.

***

Tamberlain Quadrangle was the freshman dorm area on campus, with four, long, multi-story buildings arranged approximately in a square with a park-like courtyard in the middle. The south building was shorter than the other three, probably to allow more sunlight into the grass-covered park where girls in bikinis would often lie out on beach towels in hopes of preserving their summer tans for a few more days. Small, one-story, glass-faced connectors stood at each corner to complete the square. Most of the rooms were doubles, but there were a few singles on each floor. Attending on a scholarship, of course I was in a double.

The bottom floor of the east and west buildings was dedicated to the main entry lobbies, freshman cafeteria, housing offices, and related works, and the other two were residential lounges and study areas. With Skip, my roommate, being louder and even more obnoxious than usual after sleeping through most of his classes that day, I went searching for a quiet study area that evening and, not wanting to walk all the way across campus to the library, found a nice, quiet room on the ground floor of the adjacent building. Several other people came in over the next hour or so; there was a quiet hello each time, though the number of people replying to the newcomer grew as it got later.

It was probably about 10 that evening when I yawned, stretching. A girl laughed as her male friend followed suit and seconds later there were more yawns and more laughs all around.

"Sorry," I said sheepishly, but decided to take advantage of the break. "I'm Barry, undeclared."

The girl opposite me who'd laughed said, "I'm Rosalie, PolySci, and this sleepyhead is my boyfriend, Sonny, who knows."

"Hey, it's either basket weaving or ballroom dancing; I just can't decide," laughed Sonny, who caught Rosalie's hand when she tried to poke him. "Seriously, I'm like Barry, undecided and undeclared, so far."

Connor, Liz, and Randy introduced themselves, too, and we spoke for a few minutes getting to know each other. It turned out that I had Calculus 100 with Connor and English Comp 200 with Rosalie; several of them were in the other two sessions of Chem 101.

On Tuesday night, I arrived a bit earlier to see Rosalie in the same seat as the night before. "Got here early to save our seats," she said. "In case anyone wanted to show up again."

"Thanks," I said, before taking my same seat as the previous evening. Over the next hour, our entire group showed up, and we were joined by Dennis, a history major, who wandered in and asked if a seat was available.

"Have at it," I said, motioning, before introducing everyone. We spoke for a few moments before getting down to studying.

A mini-hurricane swept in around 9, when there were raucous voices and loud laughter out in the hall. It went on for a few moments, leading all of us to look up irritably. A moment later, I saw Mandy, wearing light-blue short shorts and an all-too-tight white tank top, come to a halt outside the doors to our little room where she embraced one of the freshman footballers. He picked her up and spun her in a 360 before putting her down.

Despite my irritation, my eyes were glued to her, so bouncy, so exuberant, so...sexy. It was still summer so we were all dressed in shorts or light sweats and t-shirts, but Mandy could have worn a bikini and not looked any sexier. She was about 5'-4 and weighed about 115 to 120 pounds, with curves in the right places. Her light brown hair fell just below her shoulders, shaking delightfully as she bounced around similar to Pooh's friend Tigger. I wasn't looking at her hair right then, though; her shorts looked so soft and seemed to fit her like a glove; while I'd heard the term camel-toe, I'd never understood it until that moment.

"Whatcha' doin' girl?" asked the huge player, bringing me back down to earth.

"Snack break! Want to come to the snack market with me?"

He begged off, but Mandy grabbed another guy passing by, went through the same loud spiel, and then dragged him off with her.

There was a collective sigh of relief as calm returned, with Liz frowning. "She's just down the hall from me. She's quiet, reserved even, on our hall, but out and about, it seems like she flirts with every guy she meets."

Randy, our resident psych major, put down his psychology book. "Maybe she's compensating for something."

"What do you think it is?" I asked.

"Don't look at me," he replied. "I'm in Psych 100. Compensating is mentioned in the first chapter, but I don't have a clue beyond that. I've only been to the first class!"

We shared a chuckle before everyone returned to their studies, luxuriating in the quiet calm.

I don't know how she did it, but Mandy tapped on my shoulder a bit later, giving a grin that would have made Goldie Hawn proud.

"Hi!" she said, barely audible, proving once again that she had volume control when she wanted. "Have you studied Chem?"

"Last night," I said.

"Can you help me a little?"

"Sure, I guess."

With the last available seat on the far side of the table on the end and the eyes of my study mates staring at her, the girls as much as the guys, she took my arm and pulled me away, out of the room, before hooking her arm inside mine and leading me down the hall. My arm was against her breast as she led me, bouncing a little more than necessary making me feel the warm soft jiggle and making my dick harden unexpectedly.

"Ah, where are we going, Mandy?"

"Up to my room, of course," she replied, pulling me along.

"Mandy, uh, I don't know if I'm, ah, comfortable with that. I have a girlfriend at State."

"Oh, that's great! I'm happy for you. Tony, my boyfriend, is at our local community college this year and plans to transfer here next year. I can't wait for that. All the guys here are always hitting on me, so it's great having a guy friend I feel safe with, a guy who I know won't do that."

She squeezed my arm tighter against her and all I could think about was her boob pressing against me and those tight short-shorts, the ones that showed...every...single...curve.

Evie wouldn't like this, I thought, but even then, I justified it to myself. I'm just going to help a friend. And besides, I'm not doing anything wrong and Evie will never know.

***

Mandy's room was laid out the same as every other single in the quadrangle, but she'd done a nice job of personalizing it in pinks and pastels. Three posters, Blondie, Pat Benatar, and Heart, covered the wall by her bed. Linda Ronstadt and some others were on the far wall.

"Into female led bands?"

"Yeah, these are my favorites that people actually know. I sing in a little rock band back home with my boyfriend sometimes, but my voice isn't good enough to carry like these ladies. I don't have the range and music lessons haven't helped that much. My vocal instructor talked to my parents and they decided that it wasn't worth the money to continue."

I could see she was sad about that, particularly since it didn't sound like it had been up to her. "I'm sorry. Was that your dream?"

"Yeah, in a way, I guess. I didn't care to be on the road all of the time, but I wanted to be good, good enough even that Debbie Harry might spot me on the front row someday and ask me to come up on stage and sing a duet with her." She gave a sardonic laugh. "But none of that will ever happen."

She patted the end of her bed. "Here, have a seat and let me get my notes."

Feeling nervous as could be, I sat down on the very end while she dug through her backpack. "Say, aren't we supposed to leave the door open?"

"Yeah, technically, but the RA doesn't care. Do you?"

"Mmm, maybe a little bit?"

She leaned in toward me and whispered, "Afraid I'm going to jump your bones?"

Somehow I forced myself from looking at the white tank in front of me to look up into her eyes. "No, I'm not afraid of that. I'm afraid Evie, my girlfriend, is going to be super pissed at me when I don't resist you jumping them."

Mandy chuckled and gave me that Goldie grin. "Yeah, Tony probably wouldn't be happy about that either." She opened the door before plopping down on the bed opposite me, Chem book and notebook in hand. She crossed her legs Indian-style and leaned toward me. "Ahhh! What a day!"

My eyes must have bulged out of my head, for there she was in the shortest of skin-tight shorts imaginable bent over so I could see her stomach through her delightful cleavage in addition to the incredible outline of her anatomy that I'd already seen below.

"Ummmm, yeah," I gulped, dragging my eyes away as quickly as I could. Still, through the little gapes in the legs of her shorts, I now knew she was wearing white cotton panties and, apparently, a very low-cut white bra. "So, ah, what do you need help with?"

We spent about fifteen or twenty minutes working together, with me sitting on the side of the bed looking at the other wall, turning toward her occasionally when we were discussing a particular point. It wasn't quite as bad after she straightened up and set her book in her lap.

"Thanks, Barry. That was a huge help," she said when we were done. "I think I understand it all now." I was shocked when she gave me a little kiss on the cheek; she saw my embarrassment and smiled. "I'd walk back down with you but Tony's supposed to be calling me in a few minutes. You don't mind, do you?"

Not that I minded, but it really didn't matter because her Tony called a few minutes early and she grabbed the phone off its cradle.

"Tony!" she squealed. "Hi! No, I just finished up my chemistry, so, yeah, I can talk now."

I waved before exiting, but she was with her boyfriend and didn't even see me leave.

***

Having Skip for a roommate, I spent as little time in my room as possible, but I spent a lot of time with Mandy and my study friends.

In addition to sitting in class together on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings, it wasn't long before Mandy and I were spending time sitting on her bed studying chemistry every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday evening. She sat close to me in class, touching my arm and sometimes my leg, light, friendly touches that excited me nonetheless. Our evening study sessions were worse, with her tight, skimpy clothes, and raw sexuality seeming to ooze from her pores like an addictive pheromone.

It all seemed like a game to her at first, but she groaned after we got our first test back, and she refused to let me see the paper to try to help her. She seemed to study a lot harder, though, and our study sessions became more intense. There was usually a bit of goofing off, too, as we talked and got to know each other better.

One night I asked, "Mandy, is Mandy your real name or is it short for something? Amanda, maybe?"

She looked at me and demanded, "Why?"

I was surprised. "I just wondered, that's all."

"No, it's not Amanda, Miranda, or any of the other usual suspects."

"What, your parents stuck you with something you don't like and you go by Mandy instead?"

Her look became an angry glare. "You son-of-a-bitch! Did you go through my wallet or sneak a look at my test paper?"

"No! What's going on? Do you use it in place of, what?" I had no clue what else it might stand for, so I started reeling off names. "Emmanuelle? Magdalen--I don't know--Hepzibah or something?"

That broke her iciness as she laughed. "Magdalen? And Hepzibah? Where the hell'd you get that one?"

"I don't know. It's the oddest name I could think of. I think she was Samantha's other aunt on 'Bewitched.'"

"Oh, I loved that show! I watched it every day after school, but, now that you mention it, I think Hepzibah was like the witch queen or something. Try Hagatha."

"Your name is Hagatha?" I teased as if in complete disbelief.

"No, silly, Samantha's other aunt!" she exclaimed before seeing my smile hidden behind my hand. "No, my parents saddled me with Amandia. Ah-mon-DEE-a," she repeated slowly, so I'd get it.

She'd placed the stress on the 'di,' the next to last syllable like in a lot of the Spanish words I'd learned in high school and immediately forgotten. My smile remained and I patted her hand. "Mandy, Amandia's a very nice name."

"Says the person not stuck with it and who doesn't have to listen to everyone call you Ah-MAN-di-a. I'm going to change it one of these days, hopefully before graduation, so the announcer doesn't botch it. I don't want Amandia on my diploma, however the hell they spell it. I hate it. I'm Mandy and that's all there is to it."

I took her hand and gave it a little squeeze. "It's your name and your life, Mandy, so you do it if that's what you want to do."

She smiled at me and gave my hand a squeeze in return, but when she relaxed, she didn't let it go.

***

I went to see Evie at her school two times that fall and went home twice when she was heading home, too. That was a little tough since I had to ride with Cathy Resnick, who lived just a few blocks from me and with whom I'd competed academically, seemingly since birth. I was our high school valedictorian, and Cathy had settled for the second spot; while I would have been happy to forget it, she seemingly couldn't. Yes, I could ride home with her to save my parents the 2-hour trip each way, but it would cost me $20 round trip for gas money. I agreed, even thought that meant coming up with $20 and spending four hours with my academic nemesis.

Cathy lived in the west building in Tamberlain Quadrangle, and we didn't have any classes together, so I usually only saw her around campus or in the freshman dining hall, which, as far as I was concerned, was fine. She stopped by to see me in our study lounge a couple of times to deliver a care package from my parents, looking like she had a stick up her butt the whole time.

Fortunately, once Cathy dropped me off at my house, I didn't have to see her again until Sunday afternoon, and my weekend was for Evie, making our parents rather disappointed at the amount of time we spent with them.

However, as the summer turned to fall and fall passed the midpoint, the trips were less often and Evie and I seemed to be speaking less often. We revelled in talking, holding each other, and having sex when we were together, but those times were too few and too far apart, so there was an increasing strain on our relationship with each passing meeting.

"Let's spend lots of time together over the holidays, okay?" I said as we spoke on the phone one evening. "We can do this and make it work."

"I just wish you were here, Barry. I hate going weeks without seeing you."

"Evie, you could come here sometime, you know. I could rent a hotel room for a couple of nights and we could just spend the whole time in bed together, if you'd like. Or, if you'd rather be on campus so you can see more, I have some friends who'd probably be glad to let you use their room and bed when they're heading out for a weekend. Just tell me when you can come, and I'll do whatever it takes to set it up."