Going Back to School

"Ouch. Stop doing that." I rubbed my chest where she hit me.

"Stop being a dirty old man."

"Says the cute girl in very little clothing."

She blushed again slightly. "You think I'm cute?" There was a note of a bit of surprise in her voice.

"Of course, I do. And you are. Am I not supposed to say that?"

"No, you can. You just haven't said that to me before."

"I figured you knew already. Yes, Rachel, I think you are very cute."

She beamed. "Thanks. That's nice to hear sometimes."

"And I'd say that even if you weren't half naked right now."

She smacked me playfully again. We went back into the main rom. We danced a for a little bit, with my hands on her hips and her grinding her ass into me. She turned to face me and had her arms up, shaking to the music. I couldn't help but notice that the hem of her top was creeping up, letting a bit of under boob become exposed. She caught my eye but continued to dance, smoothing out her top after the song ended.

"I guess I need to be a bit more careful, huh?" she asked, sweating a little.

"I was just surprised that you didn't cover up right away, seeing how you have such an aversion to publicly flashing everyone."

"There's a difference between an accidental nip slip on the dance floor and deliberately putting myself on display in front of everyone."

"I suppose." We walked around a little bit more, saying hi to some of her sorority sisters. I got the feeling I was being shown off a bit but decided to go along with it.

Soon enough, it was announced that the contest was going to begin. Rachel led me outside. She went off into the crowd for a moment. I sat down in a plastic lawn chair a few yards from the stage. Rachel came back around and stood in front of me.

"There aren't any other chairs left. Can I?"

I nodded and she gently settled herself down in my lap. The stripper was introduced as Lola and led on stage to a robust ovation. Then, the music started, and the first girl stepped up on the stage and stood in the pool.

She was a tall brunette and looked extremely nervous. The frat president handed Lola a bucket of water, and she slowly poured it over the brunette's white tank top. The girl's camisole quickly went opaque, letting her now hardened nipples show through, along with the shape and swells of her smallish tits.

A lot of hooting and hollering from the crowd followed. The girl was instructed not to cover herself up. She was given thirty seconds to pose and encourage the crowd to cheer for her. She walked back and forth a few times timidly, and then was dismissed to bring on the next entrant.

The next girl was a plump, freckled red head with massive, sagging boobs. Rachel whispered her name was Janet and that she was a huge flirt. Once her white top was soaked, she shimmed and pranced around, her large tits swinging back and forth wildly. As the crowd cheered her on, she pulled the top off over her head and exposed herself fully as her time expired.

Rachel whispered, "See, that's the kind of thing I would really hate, but would feel pressured to do now." She spoke quietly.

"I wouldn't mind."

"Of course, you wouldn't." she winked, wiggling her butt into my lap, and making my dick throb.

And she was right. The next girl, a blonde with medium, pointy tits pulled her top off almost as soon as she had been drenched. Her nipples were puffy and bright pink, almost glowing on their own. She danced around a lot more than most had done and then turned around to show off her spectacular G-string adorned ass. She got a big roar from the audience for that view. She bent over at the waist and smacked her own ass cheek for the crowd to see as the timer went off.

From there things got predictably more and more explicit. The next girl took off her shorts and put her hand in her panties, rubbing herself as the crowd cheered along. The next contestant got totally naked and rubbed up on Lola, dancing with the stripper for her entire time. The subsequent entrant took off her bikini bottoms before she was soaked, then pulled the top off immediately afterwards. She dropped to her knees in the kiddie pool, putting her fingers in her pussy, and fingerfucking herself wildly well past the buzzer.

My dick, predictably, had gotten harder and harder as the women exposed themselves. Rachel shifted around a bit during that last one, then looked right at me.

"You're very hard now."

"I know. I can't help it." I replied.

She grinned wickedly, and wiggled her ass harder into my lap, grinding herself deliberately on my cock. "It's been quite the show, huh? You sure seem ready for that lap dance now."

"If you're offering one, I am." I winked.

Rachel grinned and ground her ass back into my dick harder, her eyes locked on mine. She was rotating her hips seductively and eliciting a small groan from me. That pleased her, as her eyes widened and her grin intensified. Her nipples poked hard through her still dry top.

The final girl went on stage. Rachel said it was her roommate, Misha. She was a tiny, wafer-thin Korean girl who looked ultra-uncomfortable standing on stage in front of what was now a pretty raucous crowd. She took her soaking, then stood there, eyes closed and body trembling as the timer counted down. The horny throng got restless and a couple of them started to boo. When the timer went off, she took off running down the makeshift steps off the stage and into the house.

Rachel stood up immediately "I'm going to go check on her."

"Yeah, go." I said, feeling really bad for her friend.

Lola called up the two finalists, the one who was fingering herself and the blonde in the G-String bikini bottom. They both had fresh, dry tops and got another soaking. They then stripped themselves naked again, dancing around, feeling up each other and rubbing themselves together. Lola encouraged them to splash the guys up front with water. Lola announced the winner (the fingerfucker) and the crowd cheered her on as she dropped to her knees and gave them a repeat performance.

I milled around as the crowd thinned out and most of them went back inside to party. Lola walked through the crowd offering 'extra special' lap dances for one hundred dollars. I heard her tell one guy that she promised there would be a happy ending in it for him. I shook my head, remembering the time when I was that young and desperate and would have taken her up on it.

Rachel emerged with Misha, who was now wrapped in a faded blue towel, a few minutes later.

"Hey, I'm sorry about that. I told her she could hang out with us for a while."

"Of course." I extended my hand. "Andrew. Nice to meet you miss."

Misha daintily shook my hand. Rachel asked who had won.

"I don't remember her name, the one that was on her knees fingering herself."

Misha sighed. "I feel so stupid. Everyone was staring at me, and I panicked."

Rachel was reassuring. "It's ok. You were very brave even going up there."

"You're lucky you didn't have to."

"Yeah, well if my name hadn't been picked out of that bowl at the first party, I would have been." Rachel reminded her. I shuffled uncomfortably and stared at the ground, having been the beneficiary of that name draw. Rachel looked at me. "It wasn't that bad; it just wasn't my idea."

"I know. No offense taken."

Misha looked at me, then at Rachel. "Wait, he's the guy?"

"Yeah, I told you he was here with me."

"I didn't think you were serious." Misha's eyes hit the floor.

"It's true. I sucked his dick," Rachel said very matter-of-factly.

"And you're not embarrassed to be around him?"

"I was the first time we ran into each other. Lucky for me he's a nice guy and isn't a jerk about it."

I just nodded. "I didn't know what was going to happen when I got there that night. It certainly wasn't planned on my part."

Misha smiled meekly at both Rachel and I. We found our way inside and into the kitchen. I caught Brian staring at us from across the dining room several times as the girls talked.

Misha calmed down after a while. She was a shy girl from a very traditional, conservative, old-world family. Her parents didn't like her going to school so far from home. They wanted her to get her education and move right back to Korea, where they could arrange a marriage for her.

"I don't want that life, so I'm never going back." She said emphatically. I nodded and without thinking, put my arm around Rachel. Rachel didn't react, and Misha suddenly put her hand over her mouth.

"Oh my, you two are on a date! I'm so sorry to trouble you."

Rachel and I stared at each other and locked eyes. Were we on a real date?

"It's not a real date." Rachel stammered. "We're just hanging out together and talking."

"We danced a little." I added.

Misha furrowed her eyebrows. "That sounds like a date to me."

"We're friends. We're just getting to know each other," Rachel said.

Misha nodded. "Which is what you do on a date."

"Friends can hang out and talk and dance without it being a serious date," I pitched in.

"Hmm." Misha said. "You two look very natural together."

Rachel blushed. "Thanks." I told her.

"I'm going back to the room and leave you two alone." She hugged Rachel and headed out the door.

We stood there looking at each other in silence. Rachel grabbed my hand and broke the tension. "Let's dance."

We danced our way into the living room, where most of the crowd was doing the same. I put my hands back on her hips and felt her body move with the music. The song changed to a slow tune, and I pulled her in, took her hand and started to two-step around the room.

"Wow," she said. "You can actually dance."

"I learned years ago. I was dating this general's daughter. She loved to go dancing, and I liked her, so I figured it out."

"My dad taught me how when I was little." she said, "I miss him."

"I'm sorry. We can stop."

"No. I like it." And she put her head on my shoulder and finished the song in silence. When it ended, we went back to the kitchen for some water.

"This was fun. Thank you for coming tonight." Her pretty blue eyes sparkled as she smiled at me.

"Of course. I've had a good time."

"And you got to see some tits," she teased.

"Always a good night when you can scope out some boobs."

"And asses. Not to mention a chick fingering herself." Rachel grinned.

"That was quite the show. I enjoyed that too."

"I could tell."

"What can I say, naked girls dancing on stage, cute girl in my lap. That's a recipe for an erection if I ever heard of one."

"So, some of that was because of me? Not just the girls in the contest?" Rachel asked quietly.

"Sure. Look at you in your tiny bikini bottoms, skimpy top, no bra, and all within an arm's reach all night long." I said, putting my hands on her hips again and pulling her closer. "Feeling you grinding yourself on my lap while the other girls were getting naked got me going for sure."

She gazed deep into my eyes. "You dirty old man," she whispered with a laugh.

I couldn't help but laugh with her. She was definitely not the shy, demure thing I had first met a couple of weeks ago.

She called it a night not too long afterwards. I offered to drive her home, but she declined. I walked with her to her dorm, which was only a few blocks away. We said good night and I started to walk away. She jogged back over, her boobs bouncing, and kissed me on the cheek. That was a hell of a night.

Monday, before class, Brian caught me outside the building.

"Hey, are you dating one of those pledges?"

"I wouldn't say dating. We're friends."

"Oh. Ok. You had two of them hanging around you. One of the brothers noticed and said you ex-military guys always get lots of pus.... action." He blushed.

"Can I give you some advice?" I asked him.

"Yeah!" He was a little too excited.

"Don't ever talk about women in those kinds of terms. They aren't conquests or achievements, like levels in a video game. They're people, just like you. Treat them that way, with respect. Do that, and the fun stuff will work itself out for you."

"Right. Yeah." He headed inside wordlessly. I could tell by the look on his face he was deep in thought. I am sure my words contradicted his fraternity brothers' ideas.

I popped into the Veterans Center after my classes had wrapped up. It was a small off-shoot of the main student center. It reminded me of a basement hangout space like you see on television. There were several mis-matched couches, a threadbare recliner or two, and some coffee tables seemingly held together by duct tape. In one corner was a sink, a fridge, and a coffee maker. Next to that, I saw an older style kitchen table and a couple of rickety wooden chairs.

I was introduced to a few of the people hanging around. Typical of ex-military folks, everyone introduced themselves and was only talked about by last names. Parker, Wolfe, Carson, Norton.

"That's Oakley over there in the brown chair." Norwich said, pointing out a quiet woman in a corner with their face glued to her phone She was wearing a grey sweatshirt, combat boots, and camo pants, with a black baseball cap on backwards covering her short brown hair.

I said hello to zero reaction.

"She won't talk to you very often, if at all. She has some severe PTSD. She did three tours of Afghanistan." Wolfe said quietly.

"Among other things," added Carson.

Parker was in charge, it seemed. He told me about their Safewalk program. It was open to anyone on or near campus. Anyone could text for help at any time. The vets would meet them wherever they wanted around campus and walk with them to wherever they needed to go; to and from the parking lot, dorms, classes, it didn't matter. No questions asked, twenty-four hours a day.

Safewalk was started like a dozen years before after there was a rash of assaults on campus. Two guys were running around campus after dark, groping and assaulting any woman they saw alone at night. Eventually, they were caught and arrested. Many women on campus had been shaken up by the incidents. The Veterans Association stepped up and started offering their protection.

He said these days it was mainly about bad breakups that girls would want an escort for, so their ex didn't follow them to class and harass them further.

"We only get like one or two calls a month these days. It might not be much, but those are one or two women a month who get home or to class safe."

"That sounds good. Count me in."

"We run a background checks, obviously. Then you sign up for 2 hours shifts whenever you can. If you live nearby, we ask someone to take the phone home overnight, since no one is coming up here to be on call out from Midnight until 8am or so. We can really use the help on the weekends too. We understand people have jobs and other obligations. Usually, either me or Oakley cover the times that other people don't."

"I'll do as much as I can to help."

"Nice. Be respectful, and always wear one of the vests when you leave the room on a walk. Those are the basic rules."

He handed me a paper to fill out and took a copy of my ID. He asked how long I was in the Air Force. I told him.

"Thirty years? Wow. Most of us were in and out in like six or eight."

"Yeah, I didn't plan on being a lifer, but it happened before I knew it."

He shook my hand and I left. I really liked this program.

The next day, I waited for Rachel outside the dining hall as usual. One of her sorority sisters gave me a wink and smiled at me. She waved as she walked by. I nodded my head at her politely, but wearily. I was sure there was an ulterior motive behind that smile.

Rachel gave me a quick hug as she greeted me. That was something new. She was also dressed nicely again. She had on a cherry-red blouse and denim skirt, and had her hair done up. No yoga pants or hoodie today.

"Have you recovered from the insanity?" I asked. As we got in the queue, I put my arm around her without thinking about it. She didn't react.

"Yep. It wasn't too bad."

"One of you sorority girls waved and winked at me earlier." I told her.

"Yeah. Someone asked about us in the meeting the other night. I told them we were just friends and one of them mentioned you were kind of handsome, so there might be a plan about to 'take you away from me' or something stupid like that."

"Oh. Well, I have some pretty high standards you know, so it might take some doing."

She laughed. "Oh, don't I know it." She beamed at me with a genuine smile. "Seriously though. Thanks again for coming with me on Saturday. Hanging out with you was way more fun than I expected."

"My pleasure. But you owe me one."

"One what?" She smirked. "A date? Or a lap dance?"

"Yes."

Rachel smacked me hard in the chest again.

"You know you're going to leave a bruise one of these days." I said, rubbing the spot.

"You deserve it for being a dirty old man." She leaned back against my shoulder.

"Ok you win." I said, grabbing her by the waist. "You look nice today."

"Thank you."

"How's Misha doing?"

"Much better. We watched some Netflix for a while together yesterday and she seemed okay."

"That's good to hear."

We stopped and paid for our drinks. As we headed across the campus, I asked an innocent question, or so I thought.

"So, what's the next dumb challenge you have to do?"

Her head snapped and spun around on me like the child from The Exorcist.

"Who told you?" Her voice was angry and upset.

"Woah, woah, woah," I put my hands up in front of me, "no one told me anything. It was just a question."

She looked right into my eyes for a moment, then relented.

"I'm sorry, I guess I'm a little on edge about it."

"What's the deal?"

She sighed. "Can... can I tell you later? I don't really want to think about it right now."

I studied her face as she asked. Shy, uncertain Rachel was back. I spoke slowly, trying to find the right words. "Sure. You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to. I did not mean to upset you."

She sighed and stopped outside the lecture hall door.

"It isn't your fault," she said, giving me another quick hug before going in and taking her seat. I sat beside her and waited for Professor Morgan to begin the lecture. The professor looked very nice today as well.

After class was done, we said goodbye, and I headed home. Later that afternoon, she sent me a text message saying she was sorry, and she'd talk to me on Thursday.

I tried not to be preoccupied with her the next day during classes, but I failed. I don't know what they had planned, but the way it upset Rachel so fast, I was worried.

Brian caught me after our biology lab. "Hey man, did you hear about the next big party?" he talked rapidly, like he was trying to contain his excitement.

"No."

"So, it's a fundraiser. All the pledges from both Gamma and Phi are being auctioned off as dates for the night. It's going to be wild!"

"You too?" I asked him.

"Yeah." His excitement measurably waned. "I got to get me a suit or something."

"So, what happens on these dates?" I asked, pretty sure I already knew the answer.

He looked at me sideways, then smirked a little. "C'mon man, you know, it's a date, like a 'Date' date." He used air quotes for emphasis. That certainly explained Rachel's reaction.

"Got it."

"So, do you want to go? It's by invitation only this time, but I can get you on the list. I know you'll want to bid on one of those girls you were hanging out with."

"Maybe. I will let you know in a few days."

I sent Rachel a text, just checking in on her. She replied immediately.

--- I'm good, thanks. See you tomorrow. ---

I made sure to be on time the next morning. Rachel beat me there and pulled me aside before we got in line.

"Look. I'm sorry I freaked out on you the other day. I had just found out that morning what the next thing was, and I didn't take it very well."