Masquerade Effect

"I still have a lot to go. I also have to worry about how the Lionsgate rink is going to do. We haven't won one in a long time. I was only the vice the last year and we came close sophomore year when I was the skip my first full season here. I would've last year, but we had a senior transfer who was a little better at a couple things than I."

"Still," I encouraged, "That's a lot going on with still a lot of career ahead of you. I would be ecstatic if that were me in your shoes. I don't envy the pressure, but at least it garners worthy attention. I can't imagine how I'd handle a season with school though." It was a lot, after all.

"I've been managing alright." You could see the wear on his face before we left for summer vacation, though I had yet to know why he was so fatigued then.

"Say, you haven't been to check out my pad yet," he noted.

I had to ask "is it far?" It could have been in Victoria for all I knew.

"Well if the other side of the city is what you consider far, then yes. I'm in Burnaby. But I'm offering to drive." He drove all the way from Red Deer - 13 hours mostly on the Trans-Canada Highway past Banff through the Canadian Rockies and the Columbia Icefield. What a road trip to get to school! The City of Burnaby was a good half an hour's drive from campus, but a nice area of suburban Vancouver. I had never been, but it was far enough away that if anything were to happen, it would practically be in complete privacy.

We approached the residential street in a neighborhood of mostly "Vancouver Special" style housing - boxy, low-pitched roof housing with a front gable and constructed with different materials between the first and second story that are cheap to build and often many are nearby. However, the house that Gordie was renting was a two story bungalow with a beautiful veranda in front and dormer windows on the second floor. "How did you find the place?" This wasn't your average house on the block and it's not like he knew the area like the back of his hand before attending Lionsgate.

"Actually, Maddie, it was a fluke. I didn't know it, but this wasn't the original structure that city pioneer Dugald Campbell Patterson grew up in. It would've been placed in the Canadian national historic register, but now all there is is that plaque over there." So pretty much an old guy.

"That's kinda neat even if it isn't the original house." It seemed right up his alley though.

"You might rather know that Michael Buble's family home is down the street." That caught me off guard.

"Shut up!" I suddenly now wanted to go there instead.

"I shouldn't have said anything until after we got inside..." Gordie joked.

CH 5 - Mixed Messages

"Please, after you," Gordie insisted as I began to observe the interior of the dwelling.

"You know, it's not bad at all for a rental." And it wasn't.

"I thought so. It makes the trip to campus less daunting. Something to look forward to come back to." I can't imagine what traffic must be like in the early morning. I mean, he told me before we arrived that he had only had a couple earlier classes but didn't tell me how the commute was. As I stepped into the main living space from the hallway, it wasn't too big but could be comfortable enough unlike the conversation pit that I passed in the front room immediately to the left of the entryway. Unlike the exterior, the inside I'd so far seen art deco with a hint of googie in the other parts of the first floor, including the kitchen which was to the left of the main living space we entered.

"Have a seat. What would you like," he offered politely.

"An green tea or an iced tea would be great, thanks." Green tea was a staple, but most people I know don't drink green tea specifically, so I presumed it was a stretch. But an iced tea wasn't a bad choice either given the sunshine and warmth outside in the late summer. And, if he had a backyard patio, that would be nice too.

"Here we are, one iced tea." I could only manage a thank you in the moment as I let out an incidental cough.

"Now might be a good time for that," I said in jest.

We chatted for the bulk of seventy-five minutes before the heavy conversation got going. "I can't get over how quiet this neighborhood is for being in the hustle and bustle of the Vancouver population." I had to admit, I was fishing because I was letting my guard down too much.

"It's okay, Burnaby is still more densely populated to other parts of suburban Vancouver, but this isn't exactly the city center of Burnaby." I suppose it wasn't.

"You don't get lonely when you're not on campus being so far from home, do you?" That was a set up.

"Well, Maddie, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't sometimes. Matter of fact, it's been like that a lot and the place I was at last year was far worse for ambience. But then something important happened."

I was intrigued assuming that I actually knew what was coming next. "Oh," I said in an inquisitive manner, as if to press him for details.

"Since that something, I've been lead to ask a question." I got a little nervous because I didn't think he would be pressing this so soon, although he was a senior.

"I've though long and hard about this, but Maddie, I'd like to ask if you'd go out with me." There it was, the bomb that I hoped all those months ago wouldn't come as an utterance from his mouth. I had to put up half a front as if in surprise.

"Wow! Uh, I... I don't know what to say, I mean... I wasn't getting that vibe from you." I think I pulled it off.

"Is something wrong?"

"Well, it might be for you," I said trying to appear my most bashful and modest.

"I'm not hiding it, but I'm a le-lesbian." I'm not sure why I stuttered just then, considering I've told plenty of people before. It took him so far aback that he opened his eyes wider.

"Oh," came in the dejection of his voice before continuing, "I- I'm sorry I asked." Now I felt bad for telling him. I didn't expect that reason for his dismay. He seemed more disappointed as if I may have been offended by his asking rather than me rejecting.

"No. It's okay." Reassuring him wasn't going to be easy, but I now made it my life's mission to try my darnedest. "For what it's worth, Gordie, you do kinda drive me crazy. It's hard to explain. But I don't know that we'd be able to fulfill all of each other's needs."

"So, now what?" You could tell he had no clue on how to deal with someone who wasn't straight person-to-person.

"Well, you made me think about going bi for a hot minute." Maybe I shouldn't have admitted that given how he's already stuck on being turned down by a lesbian.

"I don't want this to ruin our friendship, though." He's right, we do still have a pretty good thing going. I got up to sit next to him. May I?" He started to develop some stoicism.

"Of course." I needed to be a little less real with him.

"I mean, just because I'm not straight doesn't mean we can't care about each other." He was still confused.

"How do you mean?"

"You've never been too involved with anyone, have you?" Knowing the answer to this already would help this substantially.

"Well, no." I can't believe we're still not making fools of ourselves even if we thought we were.

"Then in that case, I have something for you." I don't know what the hell was racing in my mind, but I went ahead and kissed him.

This prompted him to ask "what's happening?" I had to be honest with him.

"I don't even know anymore." As we continued making out, he kissed me back and we were having a go of it.

"Maddie, should we take this somewhere else?" I hadn't had a good strap-on (or actual penis) in a while and I think that was what was driving my current state of emotion.

"Oh, why the hell not?"

Without batting an eye, he took my hand, raced through the way we came into the house, led me as we bolted up the stairs, and he guided me to a room, which appeared to be a guest room. As we went through the door he went to kiss me and I walked him onto the bed. I was so worked up that I must have grabbed his shaft like a vice and in an instant began to grow a bulge in his jeans. "Uh, I have to have you baby," I said undoing the belt and zipper, sending the denim to the floor and seeing his cock emerge from underneath what were his boxers. What the hell was I doing rushing into this after everything I just told him downstairs?!

"This isn't like you at all. Not knowing any better I'd have said you've missed having a partner." Good observation from him.

"I'm sorry." I really was.

"It's okay, we're both figuring out what's going on. Tell me what you want, Maddie." Now both of us were breathing heavily.

I didn't tell him. I just took his arms so he could grab my boobs. My hands over his, we squeezed them together before I had him take off my clothes to my underwear so he had some clothing to look at while I went back to his dick.

"Uh, daddy, that cock is so big for me." I was fully invested into our encounter, and for guys like him, I relied on dirty talk to help get things done.

CH 6 - The Intergalactic Encounter

I new I had this passion and drive in me, but it had been so long that I almost forgot I was capable of that. As I was whacking him, I happened to notice a shelf as I turned my head briefly. There sat a box of condoms, but what was next to it was even more bizarre, considering I hadn't figured him to be one with toys. "I think this shaft of yours would feel better inside this vulva than that fleshlight over there. I didn't know you could be naughty." My brain cells were dead.

"It was a gag gift; never been used." The adrenaline and hormones were in overdrive.

"I mean, I could help you use it, but what fun would that be?" Speaking of overdrive, what he said next seemed to send us both back to reality a hair.

"Hold up."

"What?" I think I knew kinda where this was heading.

"I mean, this is just all so crazy. We went from zero to sixty just like that. Okay yeah, it looks like we've got chemistry, but we have time, don't we? I mean, we'll always be there for each other, I think." Wow. I wasn't quite ready to hear him commit to a 'friends with benefits' type thing, but it was almost as though he had. Against better judgment, I tried to help his sexual side.

"Don't you want to at least have a quick go? I want you to. I mean, would you? I'm not even horny yet. I did a lot of the work." He's got me all befuddled inside that I'm just inviting him to waltz right into my cunt.

He was amazed with how comfortable he thought I was with my clit. "I still feel like I'd be invading your privacy." He really cared enough about that.

"That's sweet of you, but even if I'm not the one, would it hurt if you got practice on a real person - or at least know what to expect when your with your true love?" He couldn't deny that fact.

"What if I hurt you?" I wasn't entirely sure if he knew about that being possible or not, though I doubt it.

"Honey, I've had toys that would hurt more. You'll be fine." I scooted closer to him.

"You're sure about this?" His hesitance and skepticism was true to form.

"It's gonna be okay. Trust me."

I took his dick and put it inside my twat. "Maddie, why am I tingling inside?" If that wasn't a sign he obviously never pleasured himself or had pleasure with someone else, I don't know what is.

"Human nature," was the best response I could pull.

"But I've never even thought about violating a woman's space." That's life for you.

"You'll learn to live with it," I said, while pushing him back so that I could sit up on him.

"This," he said pointing and drawing a circle with his finger to both of our crotches, "this has to stay between us." Didn't I know it.

"Damn straight, it does. I value us too much for that."

"Thanks, that means a lot." The mixed emotions were getting a lot to handle.

"I don't want this to get awkward, especially since I didn't have other plans tonight." I tried to save face for both of us.

"I know it might seem counterintuitive, but you're welcome to stay. Actually, if you're okay with it, I would like to... cuddle with you." That seemed innocent enough.

"That would be nice, actually. But, as is." Aaand back to devilish we go.

"I wouldn't mind low-key. And it starts with this." He kissed me. I should've resisted, but you couldn't with him.

We must have spent a half an hour making out, bodies pressed close against each other. He was definitely having a sexual awakening of sorts. But I was enjoying it. "Ya know, Wal-ster, I'm kinda enjoying this." I was trying to keep some semblance of a flirty fling type of relationship while replicating his humor, but it was likely to no avail for either of us.

"I still don't know what happened today, but I'm glad it was with you. Someone else might have run away and gone crazy." That was one way of putting it.

"The analogy might have been a little much, but else-wise you seem to always say the right things."

"Now. About that cuddle." He must have longed and yearned for a good cuddle so hard and long.

"Oh yeah, right. Come here." We spooned, still naked, with him behind me. It was a little more suggestive, but the finer aspects of it were actually cute. My hands over his, one under my side on my left tit, the other over on my pussy, his cock against my ass crack. I kinda wanted him to let him help finger me to stay hard without getting too aroused the whole day. I could've use the tease too, you know. Even if it was only 1:30ish. At least he would get to experience what certain bodily organs felt like. But the best part was his head resting on top of mine. I was starting to doze off myself, considering I had a long couple of days myself. I was really happy about how the morning had finished when I fell asleep.

After maybe a three hour power nap, I woke up almost having forgotten that I just had an amazing experience with a modest, caring, lovable man and at his home away from home. It was almost 5pm. I needed a ride back to campus, but I didn't want to wake him.

"Hurry hard, Rodney! Go, go, go!" Gordie opened his eyes. "Oh, sorry, I didn't scare you, I hope?" Thankfully, I didn't have to try.

"Nuh-uh. I must have sent your brain into space." That seemed like it was because of me anyway.

"Huh? Oh was I sleep talking? I never do that, so I've been told. No, I was at a new curling tournament and we were in the first playoff game at some club I've never been to and we were down two late and it was a potential six-ender with the hammer. Some new teammate had to sweep for line." Ah, I see.

"Curling then?" He nodded in affirmation.

"Yeah. Say, I should probably get you back to campus for your car, eh?" Good, he was on the same wavelength.

"Yeah, and after you drop me off, text in the coming days for the next time we meet up."

CH 7 - The Set-Up

After getting in the car, we reminisced about old times in high school. He at the Edmonton Academy and I in Seattle. I never asked more about his heritage before then. His dad's family came from Zagreb and Dubrovnik though the Polish last name has been in the family for three generations prior. His mother was from Vác in suburban Budapest. Spoke fluent Croatian and slightly less so Magyar. Well-travelled throughout Eastern Europe, specifically the former Yugoslavia. Similarly as him, my parent's were from different places. Except in the US. Mom and dad both grew up in the New Haven area, but he was from just outside of Chicago in Oak Park. Grandma and grandpa were in Hoffman Estates and my older cousins that still lived nearby would take care of them when necessary. A lot of our trips were seeing family there.

It didn't take long for me to see him again a few days after he dropped me off back to campus. I hadn't known, but we shared mutual friends. I think they were trying to set us up, little did they know. They knew I was a lesbian, but they also thought that I should still have a man in my life even if there wasn't a void to be filled. I think they just thought it would make for a wilder story and hotter sex if I decided I was bisexual plus maybe if I had a threesome. They did like to joke about my sexuality, but not in a way that was demeaning. They were extremely supportive of me, and that's no exaggeration. They made fun of themselves too, and I'd join in and they didn't care.

Jane loved playing mind games. This seemed to be one of those. She texted both of us at the same time I think because Gordie and I were walking in the same general direction but not directly opposite of each other. "Hey!"

"Hi, Maddie."

"What's happenin'?"

"Actually, I'm meeting friends here." He couldn't have been serious.

"No kidding, so was I." I mean enrollment was on the small side, but still.

"That's so funny. You don't suppose," he cut himself off. "Jane," he said in a dull tone.

"No way! Not MY Jane," I insisted.

"If it's the same Jane, I waved to her, but she was too far away to notice talking to someone else."

"Where, where?" I had to know.

"By Larkin." Hideous dorm it was, Larkin. I still hadn't found her.

"That's not her with the polka dotted sun dress, is it?"

"The very same." Oh my gosh it WAS her, I couldn't believe it.

"This smells like her and like a setup. You didn't tell her about us, did you?" The bravado in his voice assured me he hadn't.

"Not a word." Finally she approached us near the front of the Crosley Building, which was our journalism department with a nice quad in front of it.

"I see you two have gotten acquainted nicely," she said with a devilish grin.

Jane was a misses sized girl but still rather slender. She was a local workout junkie from Kelowna and had lost 35 pounds since her freshman year, she was a year between us and really helped me in my first semester to get comfortable on campus. She was convinced that she was going to permanently drop the plus size measurements she had from high school before leaving LU.

"Are you done doing set-ups today? For your information, we met in the spring." I often got into a sassy mood when she tries to pull pranks like this.

"Have you, now?" She was very intrigued by that prospect.

"Where are the rest," prompted Gordie, which hinted that he knew about Sylvia, Ruud, and Langdon.

"LT is driving them from out and about. Sylvia said they're a tad bit behind schedule. Lunchtime traffic was bad today apparently, especially with the bridge down to a single lane both directions." He knew exactly.

"Right, the maintenance project."

"So I told the crew already, but we're actually meeting in our room." Ah good old Dunbar Hall. Heard so many stories about that place. Especially the Clarke wing where their room was. So it had five wings, three in the back and two in front not including the main hallway perpendicularly and five stories tall. They were smack dab in the middle of the rear.

"Oh?" Apparently, Gordie had never been at a dorm room of anyone's with that specific group. "Have you even been in Dunbar?"

"Not Dunbar, no." Jane tried to prop it up even though I thought he'd be bored out of his mind.

"It'll be a blast." I had to intervene.

"If it's what I think you mean, then he won't. Anything in between is... questionable." She was going to fight me on the definition of fun, it seemed.

"C'mon, Gordie. Don't sweat it."

"You might actually," I said. I meant it in more ways than one the way Jane likes things.

"Hey you three!" Gordie was very observant of his surroundings, I had noticed it a little but it now seemed blatantly obvious. It was almost like he was paranoid.

"Hey man, you should have seen the spill on the Trans-Canada Eastbound at Exit 13. It's too bad that backed up traffic double. Horseshoe Bay was a great time!"

"I bet it was, Langdon. I was about to ask." Gordie probably could have had his ear bitten off about the trip if he'd let it.