Kicked Around

Erik shrugged off the warning. "Bret's just being Bret," Erik thought. "Yeah, maybe this guy is a little controlling over her, but I probably would be too. She's fucking hot, so how can you not feel a little worried about every dude she talks to? Once he gets to know me better, he'll be alright with me." Eventually, Erik went back to his room. Erik was finished getting ready for bed and opened his laptop. He navigated to his "Jessica porn" folder, masturbated, and went to sleep for the night.

The next morning, Erik started his day the same as he always does. After his first class, Erik and Jessica walked to the library to study. Before they left, Bob asked where they were going. Jessica told him that they were headed to the Liberal Arts Library to study for their math class. Bob stayed back and watched as Erik and Jessica walked to the Liberal Arts Library.

Jessica and Erik found a study room, which was a room that had a closed door with a window on it so you could see in and out slightly. The room had a table that would seat four people and power outlets on the wall next to the table for laptops. The two sat down at the table and pulled out their textbooks and notes.

Erik and Jessica started to step through problems from each chapter in the study guide. Jessica explained that she was able to understand the problems from the first few chapters, but it was clear that somewhere around the second week's material, she began to struggle. It only got worse into the 3rd week, and now she seemed almost lost with the latest material.

Erik knew the material in this class in and out. He had already taken the class in High school, but on the day of the entrance exam to test out of it, he had a miserable night's sleep and wasn't thinking well. He missed the test by one question, requiring him to retake the course.

Erik and Jessica were working through the problems, and Erik was filling in the gaps for Jessica where she had questions. Jessica's understanding of the material was getting better. They studied together for just over an hour. Then, there was a quick knock at the door just before it swung open. It was Jessica's boyfriend, Dave.

"You two behaving?" Dave said in a stern tone.

"Ha," Jessica said. "Very funny. We're studying for the math exam. And yeah, it's helping."

"Good," Dave said. "This guy keeping his hands off of you?." He pointed to Erik.

Erik just smiled. "We're just going over the math problems," Erik said.

"Jessica?" Dave said ignoring Erik's comment.

"No," Jessica responded. "He's a perfect gentleman, Dave."

"Uh, huh," Dave said with a pause. "Why don't you take a break and I'll take you out to lunch?"

Jessica looked at Erik. "Well we haven't been at it too long, and I need the practice," she said.

"It's ok Jessica," Erik said. "We can go over more later."

"Alright then," Dave said. "Let's go Jessica."

Jessica packed her things in her backpack while Dave gave Erik an icy cold stare. Erik looked up and his eyes connected with Dave for a moment. Dave's intimidating stare made Erik very uncomfortable. Erik quickly lowered his eyes again at his notebook.

Jessica finished gathering her things together in her backpack. "I'll see you later, Erik," she said walking out. Dave continued staring at Erik and then shut the door behind him as Jessica and Dave left for lunch.

Erik sat there in silence remembering what Bret said. "Does he really think I'm going to make a move on Jessica?" Erik thought. "I mean, she's hot, but that's just not right. I wouldn't do that. I know he just feels that way cause he doesn't know me. If he got to know me better, he wouldn't act like this."

Erik collected his things and walked to the Hotel Management building cafeteria. This was a student-run cafeteria by many of the first and second year students who were pursuing a degree in Restaurant and Hotel Management. Inside, he saw Li working behind the counter. Erik went up to her and said hi.

"Hi," she said quickly.

"How are you doing today?" Erik asked.

"Fine," Li said again quickly.

"So...," Erik started. "What do you recommend?"

"Umm," she stuttered. "What?"

"What food would you recommend for today?" Erik asked feeling his face getting flushed. This was all that Erik could think of to talk about, and he was impressed with himself that he even thought of it. He was worried that he had nothing else to go on if she wasn't going to participate in the conversation.

"You want hot or cold?" Li asked him.

"What?" Erik asked.

"Do you want hot food or cold food?" Li asked again.

"Cold food," Erik said.

"There are sandwiches in the cooler over there," Li said pointing to a cooler off to her left. "They're OK."

"What about hot food?" Erik asked, trying this exchange again.

"I don't know," Li said. "It's vegetable soup. I haven't tried it."

"OK," Erik said quickly. "I'll go for a sandwich."

"OK," Li said watching him walk to the cooler. Erik opened the cooler and picked out a ham and cheese sandwich on white bread. He looked over at Li who was still staring at him. Erik held up the sandwich in acknowledgment and then walked to the register to pay for the sandwich. Li continued to watch him. Erik stood at the register waiting for someone he could pay for the sandwich.

After a moment, Li took off her chef's hat and walked over to the register. She put on a visor.

"Hello," Li said.

"Hi," Erik said back.

"Just the sandwich?" Li asked.

"Yes," Erik said back.

"Would you like chips and a drink for an extra 2 dollars?" Li asked.

"Umm, sure," Erik said. Li handed him a cup and a bag of chips. Then, Li took his money and gave him a receipt.

"Thank you," Li said, robotically.

"Thanks," Erik said. Erik walked over to the soda machine to pour a drink. Li continued to watch him. Then, Erik took a seat at a table and sat down. The cafeteria was empty except for him and one other person. Li continued to stare at Erik. Erik kept glancing over, noticing Li staring at him. Finally, she took off the visor, then walked back to the hot food counter and put her chef hat on. Afterward, she continued to watch Erik.

Li's gaze made Erik feel extremely uncomfortable, so he ate quickly. While he was eating, he noticed that Hank was the other person in the cafeteria. Hank had his laptop and antenna, same as before and was busy typing. Suddenly, he looked up at Erik and saw that Erik was wearing a smartwatch.

"Nice watch," Hank said to Erik.

"Thanks," Erik said.

"That looks like Samuels brand," Hank said.

"It is," Erik responded.

"How do you like it?" Hank asked.

Erik looked down at it. "It's alright," Erik responded.

"Have you played around with the firmware at all?" Hank asked. "Like did you do anything special to it?"

"I was nervous about the Bluetooth vulnerability that's out there right now," Erik said. "So, I downloaded the source code for the firmware from the manufacturer's website and patched it myself. I compiled my own firmware with the patch and installed it. I posted the fixes back to them, but they haven't done anything with it yet. Beyond that, no."

"I see," Hank said, looking back down at his laptop. "That explains it." Erik continued looking at Hank, waiting for Hank to say something else. Eventually, Erik turned back to his food, shaking off the strange encounter.

Hank didn't look up from the screen or say anything else for the rest of the time that Erik was there. Hank just kept typing and randomly taking puffs of his electronic cigarette. When Erik was finished with his food, he gathered his things and began to walk out. On his way out, Erik said goodbye to Li. "Thank you for coming," she said back to him. Erik walked out as Li continued to stare at him. Afterward, Erik went to the computer lab since he still had a lot of time until his next class.

After a few hours in the computer lab, Erik went to his second class. Inside, he saw Jessica. Jessica apologized for Dave's interruption of their study session. Erik said it was no big deal and shrugged off the encounter. Jessica thanked Erik for all his help and asked him for another study session. They agreed to study again tomorrow after Psychology class.

Erik and Jessica rode the bus together back to the dorms and went to the cafeteria for dinner. Again, they sat together, and again they were joined by everyone else. Erik could feel Bret's disdain for Dave and Bob with the sarcasm that Bret would respond with. Erik also felt the tension level rise as Dave and Bob reacted to Bret's responses. Erik was starting to think that a fight could erupt and his mind began to race about what that might cause. An altercation would stop everyone from being able to sit together in the future, and Erik enjoyed his time with this group of people.

Erik noticed that Hank was sitting in the corner of the cafeteria accompanied by his antenna and laptop. "Have you guys ever met Hank?" Erik said, cutting into the current conversation, trying to divert attention away from a new disagreement at the table.

"Whose Hank?" Bret asked.

"Over there with the laptop and antenna," Erik said.

"He told me his name is Walt," Bret said looking at Hank.

"That guy called himself Jesse when he asked me about my cell phone." Steve said. Everyone stopped to look at Hank/Walt/Jesse typing in the corner. Hank took a long drag of his electronic cigarette and exhaled a giant cloud of vapor in the air.

"That's bizarre," Erik said.

The diversion helped to relieve the pressure that was rising at the table. The previous disagreement was forgotten, and the conversation floated over to a humorous video clip that recently went viral. Nothing ended up happening, and everyone went on their way after they were all done eating.

After dinner, Erik went to the Psychology study group. Erik saw Bob there and said hi. Bob said nothing but instead gave Erik a cold acknowledgment by curling his lip and nose. Then, Bob shook his head as he continued to stare down at his phone. When Jessica arrived, Bob stopped looking at his phone and greeted her warmly. The rest of the group assembled and studied together. After 3 hours of studying, they finally called it a night at 10 PM. Bob, Jessica, and Erik walked out through the front of the building. Dave drove up and parked in the front of the structure just as the three walked out. Erik watched as Dave picked up Bob and Jessica. Then, Dave said: "I don't have enough room for another. I've got some other stuff in here." Just as Erik was in the middle of saying, "Oh, that's OK," Dave sped off leaving Erik there, alone.

After everything that happened today, Erik was beginning to understand what Bret was talking about. Erik took out his phone and saw that there was a night bus that ran by a stop on the corner every hour until midnight. Erik rushed over to the bus stop just as the bus was making its approach. When the bus stopped, Erik walked onto the bus and rode it back to the dorm. On the ride back to the dorm, Erik was thinking about how he could win over Dave and Bob. "If they just got to know me," he kept thinking, naively. When Erik arrived back in his room, he got ready for bed. Erik opened his laptop and opened his "Jessica porn." folder, jerked off, and then crawled into bed.

On Wednesday, Erik woke up, completed his same morning routine and went to class. After class, Erik and Jessica went to the Liberal Arts Library, but it was shut down because the air conditioner was broke. So, the 2 went to the Math library instead. After 30 minutes of being there, Jessica was getting several texts from Dave: "Where are you? What are you doing? Why aren't you texting back?" These texts were distracting her, so she just responded: "In the Math library, studying."

In 5 minutes, the door to their study room burst open, and Dave barged in through the doorway with Bob next to him.

"Why can't you respond to texts?" Dave said firmly.

"I did," Jessica said. "I'm studying in the library, so I turned down the volume."

"This is bullshit Jessica," Dave said sternly. "Let's go now!"

"What?" Jessica asked confused. "Why?"

"Cause I said so," Dave said demanding her complacency.

"No," Jessica said calmly. The expression on her face went from happy to angry. "I can't do that, Dave. I need to study for my test." With that, Dave stepped forward and grabbed her arm.

"Let's go," Dave said louder. Erik stood up.

"Dave, stop!" he said. Dave instantly let go of Jessica and got right up in Erik's face. Erik felt very intimidated, especially with Bob standing directly behind Dave. Erik and Dave were almost nose-to-nose and Dave had a furious look on his face. Erik looked down.

"What are you going to do?" Dave said combatively.

"I'm not looking for a fight," Erik managed to say, his voice shaky.

"Oh yeah?" Dave said. "Then sit down and shut up." Dave started to turn back toward Jessica.

"Let her make her own decision," Erik said. Dave stopped and turned back toward Erik.

"What's that?" Dave asked.

"Let her make her own...," Erik tried to say just as Dave pushed Erik hard. Erik tripped over the seat cushion of the seat which made him fall back into the chair. Dave raises his arms looking like he's about ready to cock his fist and throw it.

"Dave, stop!" Jessica yelled.

Dave relaxed his arms and then turned back to Jessica. "Oh, I get it," Dave started to say. "You're sweet on this guy! This little stick figure is trying to fuck my girlfriend, and you like the attention! But look at him, Jessica. You think this guy is hot shit? Can't even fend for himself!" Dave looked back at Erik. "You pussy. I'll knock your fucking head off." Dave's words hung out there shredding Erik's confidence to nothing. Erik kept his head down, trying not to make eye contact with Dave. Erik felt emasculated and demoralized. He was on the verge of tears.

"Let's go, Jessica," Dave said, finally breaking the silence.

"No," Jessica said defiantly. "I'm staying here." Dave stared at her sternly.

"I'm not asking," Dave said.

"Neither am I," Jessica responded. Dave's face was distorted in anger.

"You wanna be with this pathetic fucker?" Dave yelled out.

"I'm studying," Jessica said calmly.

"Yeah?" Dave yelled.

"Yes," Jessica said.

Dave shook his head in disgust. Erik kept his head down. Dave looked at Erik and then at Jessica, who was giving Dave an angry, defiant stare back. Then, Dave turned around and left, slamming the door behind him. Bob was already outside the room and followed Dave.

Erik looked up at Jessica. They just stared at each other for a few seconds. Erik put his eyes down.

"I'm sorry," Jessica said quietly.

"It's ok," Erik says. "He seems... great..." Erik was trying to do anything to lighten up the mood and retrieve any shred of dignity possible with humor.

"You probably don't want to do this anymore," Jessica started. "So I'm just going to go study somewhere else." Jessica started to gather her things. Erik stared at her, watching her grab her books in a hurry. She was embarrassed and visibly upset at what had happened. Erik didn't want her to leave, but his confidence level was so severely damaged that he didn't know what to say.

"Wait...," Erik said finally. Jessica paused and looked over at him. "Stay..." She looked at him strangely. He stared back at her. "Please?" Erik said with a slight smile, like a puppy dog begging for food. This made Jessica smile too.

"OK," she said. She sat back down and opened her book. "Where were we?" she asked.

"Chapter 17," Erik said, confidently and the two began to study again.

Chapter 17

Erik and Jessica studied all afternoon but took a break to eat lunch. They returned to the library after lunch and continued studying. Later on in the day, they left for Math class together but agreed to have dinner on campus and then go back to the library to study more. Erik liked spending time with Jessica. He felt very relaxed with her, and she felt comfortable with him. Erik viewed Jessica as his friend, his very hot friend.

Erik and Jessica studied late into the night. Afterward, Jessica felt like she had a solid understanding of the material. Erik thought that the refresher for his Math class was helpful, even though he knew he was going to pass the test without it. With the extra help that Erik provided to Jessica, it brought all the material to the front of his mind, and now he was confident that he was going to do well on that exam.

Erik still didn't feel comfortable with his Psychology test. He believed that it was too much memorization. He asked Jessica if they were going to do another study session for Psychology. She told him no, but that she could help him with it. They agreed to meet again after Psychology class on Thursday.

They walked back to the dorms together talking about school and the exams. After a while, there was silence as they walked. Erik tried to think of something else to say. The encounter with Dave and Bob earlier in the day still dominated their thoughts, but neither of them wanted to discuss it any further. Now that the primary objective of the day was completed, both of them couldn't stop thinking of the incident. Erik and Jessica were struggling to clear their heads and think of something else to say.

Erik glanced at Jessica as they walked. She looked back, and they both smiled as they put their heads down. "It's a beautiful night," Jessica finally said. Erik looked up at the sky. It was a clear night and the stars shone bright, illuminating the campus with a dim glow.

"Yeah it is," Erik said looking around. He smiled. "The stars are very easy to see here." Jessica looked up and noticed that the entire sky was full of stars.

"There's so many of them," Jessica said. "How many stars do you think there are in the entire universe?"

"Billions, maybe trillions," Erik said. "I read somewhere once that there's enough stars to assign one to every person that ever lived."

"Really?" Jessica asked.

"Supposedly," Erik said. "All the way back to the caveman."

"So, which one is mine?" Jessica asked playfully. Erik looked at her.

"Well, that's the thing," Erik started. "You can choose whatever one you want. It's not like anyone can take it away from you."

"Then I want that one," Jessica said as she stopped walking, pointing up at the sky. "One of the brightest in the sky."

"Polaris?" Erik asked as he stopped walking. "The North Star?"

"No, not the North Star," Jessica said. Further down the Little Dipper. At the farthest point away in the top of the bowl. That one. That shining star."

"I don't know what they call that one," Erik said. "It's probably got some type of scientific name to it."

"Not anymore," Jessica said. "Now, it's Dinah." She continued staring at the star.

"Dinah?" Erik asked. "Whose Dinah?"

"My grandma," Jessica said. "When I was young, I remember sitting out in front of her house at night just looking at the stars. One night, there was a meteor shower. She said, 'look, the stars are smiling at us.' She pointed to the the North Star and followed the four stars of the handle along the top of the bowl. She told me 'wherever you go, the stars are always smiling down on you.'" Erik looked at Jessica.

"OK," Erik said. "Dinah it is." Jessica looked at Erik and smiled. Then, she began walking again. Erik continued looking upward at the sky. Just then, another star appeared and then a small cloud passed. Next, a shooting star shot across the sky, and it looked like the smile turned into a face with two eyes. The image looked like one of the eyes winked at Erik. This stunned him for a second before he looked at Jessica who was now walking away. Erik, then looked back at the sky. The eyes were gone, but the smile remained. Erik shook his head and hurried to catch up with Jessica.