Kicked Around

"Yeah," Erik said nodding like an idiot. "Yes, I will... Yes, we will... You... will..."

Jessica giggled. "Bye Erik," she said walking toward the girl's side of the dorm.

Erik walked to the boy's side of the dorm.

Erik took the elevator up to his floor and went to his room. Lara's laptop backup was now finished. He started to reinstall the Operating system so the machine would have a new clean start. He knew this was going to take over an hour, so he undressed, took his shower caddie and towel, and walked to the bathroom to take a shower. The warm water was soothing on his skin. He felt like he was going to fall asleep in the shower stall. He rested his head and shoulder up against the wall and stood still as the water dripped down his body. He cradled his dick in his hands.

"Knock, knock," a voice said loudly drawing open the shower curtain. Erik was jolted awake by Steve who was standing there staring at Erik. Erik was shocked and used his hands to try and cover himself as he turned toward the corner.

"Oh," Steve said calmly. "Nice dick. No wonder you fuck porn stars."

"What the fuck Steve!?!," Erik yelled.

"Hey, I need twenty dollars," Steve said. "To like... keep..."

"Get the fuck out of here!" Erik yelled.

"I yelled over, and you didn't say nothing," Steve said. "I thought you might have hung yourself while jerking off or something."

"CLOSE THE CURTAIN!," Erik yelled.

"Can I have twenty dollars?"

"NO!," Erik said.

"Why not?" Steve asked.

"CLOSE THE CURTAIN!," Erik yelled again.

"Alright," Steve said. "I'll just get it from your wallet." Steve walked out of the bathroom. Erik quickly grabbed the curtain and shut it.

"What a fucking dick," Erik thought to himself. Then, Erik realized that he felt disoriented and groggy like he was just shaken awake from a deep sleep. "How long have I been in here? Maybe I should get out."

Erik washed and then exited the shower. He walked over to the sink and brushed his teeth. Then he walked back to his room, wondering if he was going to find Steve rummaging through his stuff. He opened the door and found that someone was sitting in his chair staring out the window.

"Goddamnit, Steve," Erik said. "Stop trying to take my ..." Lara turned around in the chair and stood up to face him. She was wearing a dark red shirt and black shorts.

"Oh," Erik said surprised. He was struggling to find the right words. "Hi... When... Where... How did you know where I lived?"

"Looked you up in the student directory," Lara said.

"Oh right," Erik remembered that all the student information was public knowledge to anyone that had access to the student directory. Erik was so tired that he wasn't thinking straight.

"I need everything back today," Lara said. "I can't make any money."

"I'm trying," Erik said shutting the door behind him. He put the shower caddie down.

"Try harder," Lara shot back. "Everyday I lose another guy. I need everything back."

Erik looked over at the laptop, and it had finished reinstalling the Operating System. "Jesus," he thought. "How long was I in there?"

"It looks like your laptop is done," Erik said. "You can take that back now and I'll clean the files from the backup and give those to you tomorrow. This stuff takes time. I'm going as fast as I can. I'm not sleeping, I'm..."

"They're already talking to other girls," Lara cut him off, sounding hurt. "They're leaving me."

"Sounds like a lot of drama for a cam girl," Erik said in a snarky tone.

"This is my business Erik," Lara said confidently. Her tone strengthened. "Everyday I can't give them what they want is another day they pay someone else for it."

"I'm sorry," Erik said. "I'm tired. I've been working on it all night. I finally figured out how he got in and now I know how to keep him out."

"He keeps sending me messages," Lara said.

"What kind of messages?" Erik asked.

"Emails," Lara said.

"Block him."

"I tried," Lara said. "They are coming from different email addresses."

"Change your email address."

"All my customers know it," Lara pleaded. "I just can't change everything on them."

"Email them and let them know it changed," Erik said calmly. "Then setup forwarding rules for those customers you want to keep in contact with, in case they use the wrong address."

"He's sending me emails to my school email too," Lara said.

"Shit..."

"And, he's been calling me."

"What?" Erik asked. "You're talking to him?"

"Yes"

"Change your number."

"It's in the school directory," Lara said.

"Fuck..."

"What do I do?" Lara asked desperately.

"I don't know Lara," Erik said. "You can't... hmm..." Erik started thinking out loud.

"I need you to fix this," Lara said firmly.

"I'm trying," Erik shot back. "I can get him out of the site. I can get him out of your computer, but he knows too much about you. He's going to keep harassing you until he finds something better to do."

"He's sending me gifts too," Lara said looking down.

"What?!"

"He bought me this shirt and these shoes," Lara said calmly. "They were on my Wish List, and they showed up at the door yesterday. He sent me an email asking if I liked my new clothes."

"What the fuck?" Erik said. "And you're wearing them?"

Lara looked up at Erik. "Guys buy gifts on my wish list all the time. He's acting like one of my regulars."

"Except he's harassing and blackmailing you," Erik said.

"He also told me that he could do a better job protecting me than you," Lara said.

Erik froze. "You told him about me?"

"No, but he knew I'm not a computer nerd, so....," Lara responded.

"So he doesn't know anything about me?" Erik cut her off nervously.

"He knows you like anal, your dick is about 8 inches, I've been paying you with sex...," Lara said totally straightfaced.

"I'm serious...," Erik asked panicked.

"I am too..."

"Why would you tell him all that?" Erik asked raising his voice.

"Why not?"

"If you keep talking to him, you're giving him a reason to keep coming back," Erik continued.

"If I don't keep talking to him, then he harasses my student accounts," Lara said. "When I talk to him, he leaves my personal life alone."

"You're negotiating with a terrorist," Erik glared at her.

"Now who's being the drama queen," Lara responded.

Erik was getting angrier by the minute.

"You actually enjoy this don't you?" Erik asked. "You like the attention!" "Get real."

"Look at you!" Erik became louder. "You're talking to him on the phone! You're wearing the clothes he bought you! You're telling him about your life! You've let him in. Are you falling for this guy too?"

"Calm down Nancy," Lara said. "Don't change the subject. I need my laptop and my website back and I need it back today."

Erik glared at her. Then, Erik started in using a quieter tone. "You have to stop talking to him. If he gets you to click the wrong thing, he's back in, and I'll have to do this whole thing over again."

"I can't stop talking to him," Lara said. "He's buying me stuff, so I give him freebies now."

"Freebies?"

"Yeah," Lara said. "Like you."

Erik exploded in anger. "What do you mean like me?" Erik yelled. "I'm helping you fix what this guy fucked up, and all you have to say is that we are both freebies? What the fuck does that even mean?"

"He likes phone sex," Lara said. "You like real sex. I don't make either of you pay for it, so I give you freebies."

Erik stared at her in disbelief. He couldn't comprehend that he was being compared to the attacker that he spent countless hours trying to protect Lara from. He stood there making strange facial expressions as he tried to come to some logical conclusion that resembled Lara's comprehension. Eventually, Lara broke the silence.

"So, when do I get my website back?" Lara asked. Erik stopped his mental gymnastics and looked at her, deadpanned. "Monday."

"No," Lara said shaking her head.

"It's going to take some time to get all your new videos and pictures in the cleaned version," Erik said.

"I need it by Friday."

"I can't do that."

"Jesus, now what do you want?" Lara said raising her voice. "You want to shove an ice pop in my ass and make me lick it? You want me to deep throat a sausage while you pee on me?" "What?" Erik said surprised once again by Lara's ability to come up with strange sexual fetishes on a whim. "Lara... I... I'm not even sure what to say to that."

"WHAT... DO... YOU... WANT?" Lara yelled.

Erik paused. His answer came almost immediately, but he knew it would be rejected. Still, Lara asked the question, so Erik decided to answer, honestly. "You," Erik said calmly.

"I'm standing right here."

"I want you to be with me."

"I'm right here," Lara said sternly.

"I want to be with you."

"I'm right fucking here," Lara said through gritted teeth.

"Fuck it," Erik thought. Erik leaned in, grabbed Lara's head and kissed her.

Lara pulled away from him quickly. "STOP," she yelled.

"This is what I want," Erik responded.

"No, you don't."

"Yes, I do."

"You just want to kiss me?" Lara asked confused.

"I want to be with you. I love you."

Lara stood there and stared at Erik confused. She looked into his eyes trying to understand everything he was saying to her, trying to comprehend it.

Then, Erik kisses her again, and Lara submits. She doesn't pull away from him. Erik breaks the kiss, and he looks into her eyes with a smile. Then, he kisses her again, passionately.

Lara removes the towel from Erik and goes to her knees. She puts his cock in her mouth. Erik pulls away and brings her back to her feet. He kisses her again as he unbuttons her shorts. They stop kissing, and she pulls her shirt over her head, and he rips her shorts off. The two are standing there naked making out in the middle of Erik's dorm room.

Erik leads the two over to the bed and lays Lara down. He gets on top of her and continues making out with her. His hand trails down Lara's chest, over her belly and around her mound. Erik teases her slightly before he begins to rub her clit. She feels dry to him, so Erik starts to trail kisses down her chest and belly until he's over her pussy. Erik starts licking and sucking. Lara begins breathing heavy and moaning slightly. He inserts his tongue, and she whines louder.

Erik kissed and sucked on Lara's pussy. He loved the way it looked and tasted. It had a very luscious aroma to it that made Erik even harder. Erik buried his face deeper, sticking in his tongue as deep as it would go. She exhaled and moved her hips down on him, grinding his face. He drank in every inch of every curve. Lara was now fucking Erik's mouth and tongue with her hips. Her breathing became deeper. Erik moved to her mound and watched Lara's face as he sucked on her clit. She looked down at him with her beautiful "come fuck me" eyes as she continued to whine louder.

Lara grabs Erik's head with both of her hands on his cheeks and gently pulls at him, guiding his mouth back up to her's. They kiss passionately as he drives into her slowly. Lara breaks the kiss as she starts to cry out in pleasure. Erik engages her lips again, making out as the two have sex on Erik's bed. The rhythm gets faster and faster. Erik is in ecstasy. He's making love to the woman of his dreams, on his college bed, and her body is responding to him with signals that indicate that she's loving every second of it.

Erik couldn't handle the tension long. Erik wasn't wearing a condom, and he didn't want to cum inside her, so he lifts himself up, but she wouldn't let him. She grips onto him, wrapping her legs around him. Erik panics. "I'm going to cum!" he says. Erik knew he couldn't hold it anymore. Lara brings him close and whispers, "Cum inside me." Then, she brings her lips back to his. This instantaneous, cum-inducing action produced the most intense orgasm that Erik had ever experienced. He shot load after load inside Lara as she whined, sucking on his lower lip and he moaned loudly. Wave after wave of ecstasy was washing over Erik.

The orgasm felt like it lasted for minutes. Erik collapsed on top of Lara, in bliss, the most joy he had ever felt in his entire life. This was the single greatest moment he had ever experienced, and now he was basking in the calmness brought upon after his orgasm.

"This can't be real," he thought. "This... was way too good to be real. Am I dreaming again? If I am, I don't ever want to wake up."

Chapter 22

Lara was sitting on the edge of Erik's bed, putting her clothes back on. Erik was watching her from the bed with the biggest smile on his face that he's ever had.

"OK, so you'll have everything by Friday?" Lara says to Erik.

"I'll do my best," Erik said.

"Friday, Erik," Lara said more sternly.

"OK," Erik said. "Do you want me to come over and we'll have dinner together tonight?"

"What?"

"I'll bring dinner over," Erik clarified.

"Sure, whatever," Lara says. She finished dressing and now was walking toward the door. On her way to the door, she stops and picks up her laptop. Erik sees that she's packing up to leave, so he gets out of bed and steps in front of the door. Lara stops and then tries to go around him, just as Erik attempts to hug her, and the two do a head bob from side-to-side, opposite of each other like they are dancing. Finally, Erik puts his arms out to hug her and Lara ducks under them to get to the door behind him. Lara's hand goes to the doorknob.

Erik looks down and sees Lara's cellphone on the floor. He bends over and picks up the phone.

"Lara," Erik says.

"What?"

"You forgot your phone," Erik says holding up her cell phone. Lara walks over to grab it from Erik, but he won't let go. Erik uses the phone to try and pull her in close to him.

"What are you doing?" Lara asks as she steps toward him to keep her balance from the force of Erik pulling on the phone.

"I love you," Erik says as he leans in to kiss her.

"Stop," Lara said pulling away.

"What?"

"It's over."

"What do you mean?"

"It's over," Lara says again. "It's time to stop."

"What's over?"

"Your little fantasy," Lara says in a stern tone.

"Lara," Erik says. "I love you."

"STOP," Lara snaps back.

"I told you that I want to be with you."

"We're standing here together!"

"You know what I mean," Erik says.

"I have to go," Lara says trying to pull the phone away.

"What did you think this was all about here?" Erik says. "What did we just do? What was all that?"

"I thought you were role-playing," Lara said, matter of factly. Lara stared at Erik and watched his facial expression go from confused to sullen.

"I have to go," Lara says ripping the phone out of his hand. She opened the door to the room and left, closing the door behind her.

Erik stood there, naked, staring at the door, not sure what to do next. At that moment, Erik's mind checked out. He felt like he was just given everything he ever wanted, wrapped in a bow and handed to him and just as quickly, it was ripped away.

Erik continued to stand there and stare at the door. Finally, his subconscious took over and set him on the path of his regular routine. Erik was now on cruise control. As a creature of habit, he had a regular schedule of activities that his body followed on a daily basis. Erik's mind submitted fully to this routine, letting it take him over completely.

Erik sat down and dressed. He opened the door and walked down the hall to the elevator. Then, he took the elevator downstairs and walked to the cafeteria. Just outside of the cafeteria was a sign that had the lunch menu options for the day. On Wednesdays, the cafeteria would typically serve pizza and chicken tenders for lunch. The menu stated this as well.

Erik walked into the cafeteria and grabbed a tray. He wandered into the line and looked for the pizza. The counter had an assortment of wrapped sandwiches that had labels on them. The labels had the type of meat and cheese in the sandwich: Ham/American, Turkey/Swiss, Chicken/Cheddar, etc.

Erik looked up to see the young student in the apron behind the counter. "Are you looking for something that isn't there?" the student asked.

"Pizza," Erik responded.

"Aww, yeah..." the student started to speak. "The ovens broke this morning. We couldn't cook up the pizzas, so we had to do sandwiches instead."

"The menu says pizza," Erik said unfazed.

"Yeah, sorry man," the student says. "I guess we forgot to change it."

Erik looked around. "Who is we?" he asked.

"I dunno man, I just work here," the student said. "I can make you a sandwich if you want something else."

"I want pizza," Erik said firmly.

"Well, I have tomato sauce and mozzarella," the student responded. "I could probably make you a pizza flavored sandwich."

"I don't want a pizza flavored sandwich," Erik said. "I want a fucking pizza flavored pizza."

"Yeah man, we can't do that," the student said. Again, Erik looked around.

"Who the fuck is we?" Erik said. "All I want, all I need, all I came for is what was on the menu. I want a regular, reheated, shitty cafeteria, pepperoni, fucking pizza."

"The oven's broke man," the student says.

"There's a microwave right behind you," Erik says.

"Yeah, but I can't cut a piece off a frozen pizza and just heat it up in the microwave."

"Why not?"

"Cause I can't."

"There's a big knife right there. Just cut it."

"Hmm," the student says. "I can probably heat up the pizza sandwich, so it's hot like a pizza."

"FUCK!" Erik screams, slamming the tray down on the ledge. "Doesn't anyone do what they fucking say? Does no one ever do anything that they fucking commit to anymore!?! In a world of lies and deceit and fake news and stupid bullshit, all I'm looking for is something I can rely on. If a cafeteria menu says Wednesday: Pizza and chicken tenders, then when I go to that fucking cafeteria on Wednesday, holy shit, there should be pizza and fucking chicken tenders!"

The student was stunned. He didn't want to say anything else that could set off Erik in another way, but he didn't know what else to do. "Did you want a chicken pizza sandwich then?" the student asks.

"GOD DAMNIT!" Erik screams throwing his tray like a frisbee at the wall, cracking it in half. Both Erik and the student stare at the wall where Erik threw the tray. Then, they both look at each other.

"I'm so sorry," Erik says, completely changing his demeanor. His eyes were welling up, and he looked like he was about to cry. "I shouldn't have done that." Erik walks over to collect the pieces of the tray and places it back on the ledge.

"I'm going to go make you a heated chicken pizza sandwich," the student says, walking away in a hurry. Erik's head looks downward in defeat.

Erik receives his sandwich and eats alone in the cafeteria, zoned out. After lunch, his routine took over again.

Erik's routine wandered him into his 2nd class. Erik sat there, vacantly watching as Jessica was talking to him, but the sound was drowned out. Erik's eyes were focused on her, and he could see that she was saying something, but he was not comprehending any of the words. There was nothing but darkness with slight motions of light and the sounds of silence in Erik's head.

Erik was exhausted and distraught. He had finally let his emotions out and confessed them to Lara. In one moment, those feelings were being reciprocated in the act of love they made together. In the next minute, he found out it was all a lie, nothing more than another way for Lola to appear and be whatever she needed to be at that moment.

"Erik? ... Erik? ... Air, rick?" The light washed out the darkness and Jessica finally came into focus. His eyes opened widely, acknowledging her.

"Are you OK?" Jessica asked.

"I... I'm not... feeling well..."

"Are you sick?"

"I don't know."