Ostracism Pt. 05

The timing of all of this really sucked. This was the last week of classes, with finals next week. Maybe Sarah would give her a night alone this coming weekend, since she often spent weekend nights at her boyfriend's, but she'd be on her period anyway. Maybe it would be down to almost nothing on Sunday, but that wasn't a sure thing. And nobody would be out all night during exam week. Making love with Danny again just didn't look like it would be in the cards, not this semester.

Trouble is, Brandon had an apartment all to himself. If she wanted to, she could spend the night with him. Had she really committed herself to Danny? They hadn't said so, not in so many words, even though it felt like one.

Danny and she normally had supper around six, so she'd have about half an hour before they met again. She could go up to her room and ditch her laptop and notebooks, which she hadn't done before her appointment. When she got back to the room, she went into the bathroom to pee, and saw the evidence: a couple of red spots on her panties told her that yeah, her flow was starting.

Supper went really well, with both Danny and Mary Margaret happy. She told him that she'd gone to Student Health and gotten birth control pills, which pleased him, because it meant that she was planning on a repeat of last night.

"Wait, you weren't on the pill last night?" Danny was genuinely concerned. He thought that he was falling in love with her, but sure didn't want to be a daddy this soon.

"Don't worry about it, I'm not pregnant, and knew I wouldn't get pregnant. My, uhhh, cycle was at the wrong time, so I knew I was safe."

"Huh? Cycle?"

Oh, good Lord, she thought, he's just clueless! "You know, a woman's monthly cycle." She couldn't quite bring herself to say she was on her period, explicitly, to a guy.

"Oh, that. What does that mean?"

"Well, it means that making love is out for a few days." She looked around; there were people at adjacent tables, but they were all talking with each other, and didn't seem to have heard her. "Still, I think we could study in my room tonight, even if Sarah is going to be there. She knows about last night, and she'll leave us alone, even though it won't be completely private. And she knows about my, uhhh, cycle, so she'll know that she doesn't have to get lost. We can actually do our work; we just don't have to nothing but work." Mary Margaret smiled at that one.

oo0oo

"So, did my staying away last night work out, dude?" That was Randy, Danny's roommate; this was the first Danny had seen of him today.

"Oh, yeah, man, could not have been better!"

"So, you did get laid?"

Had it been Shannon, had it been any other girl, Danny wouldn't have had any problem with the way Randy had put it. It bothered him that this time it did, because that meant he was falling in love, fast, too fast, and he didn't know how to deal with that. But he also owed Randy, big time, for letting him have the room last night, so he couldn't say anything to offend him, especially after they'd finally gotten back to a normal roommate relationship. He just had to bite the bullet on this one.

"Yeah, we made love last night, and it was awesome, best time ever. And I gotta thank you for giving us the time. I know I owe you for that, though I'm not sure I can return the favor until next semester."

"That'll be good enough, 'cause I'm kind of between girlfriends right now."

"What happened to Becky, or whatever her name was?"

"Shit, that broke up a few weeks ago. She dumped me for some other guy, don't know who. And can't really look for another with exams next week."

"Too bad, man. Anyway, I'm going up to MM's room for our study session. See ya!"

"Hey, MM, where's that roommate of yours?"

"I don't know, she wasn't here when I got back from supper."

Danny thought that she looked really good. She'd ditched her boots and socks, and swapped out that high-dollar sweater for a t-shirt. It wasn't particularly sexy, but he could just see her protesting if he tried to get too close while she was in that cashmere sweater; she just looked more touchable now.

So, of course, he touched her! A quick kiss turned into a not-so-quick kiss, and then into an embrace, and then into some making out, before Mary Margaret finally pushed him away.

"Look, you, you're going to get us too hot and bothered to get any work done, and it's going to be too frustrating because we can't make love tonight."

"I'd be willing to give it a go."

"Oh, really? And have you ever done that before? Yuck!"

"What, sex when a girl is on her period? No, never have, but if we have a future together, that'll eventually happen."

"No, yuck! Besides, it's not just the, ummm, mess, but women don't always feel very good when they're, you know . . . ."

"Oh, you mean the cramps? You know, you don't have to beat around the bush about things like this. Men really do know about women having periods, you know."

Mary Margaret just looked at Danny. It was just strange to her, him talking so calmly and reasonably about this. It wasn't that she wanted to talk about having her period, but somehow it made him seem more mature.

Mature wasn't really something that she had necessarily connected with him. He was only slightly older than her, having turned 21 just a couple of days ago, but his inward turn and skipped meals after the gay porn tape had come out hadn't struck her as particularly mature. It wasn't as childish as lashing out would have been, but there were times she had seen it as a profound sulk. This was wholly different from Danny, and he had mentioned having a future together. And he hadn't used the expression 'on the rag,' which she despised.

"OK, fine, you understand," she said, giving him a quick kiss, "but it's still kind of private, you know, and we do have work to get done."

oo0oo

"So, how are things going?" That was Sarah, after Danny had left.

"Going really nicely," Mary Margaret replied. "He's kind, he's understanding, and he's just more solid, more mature than I had thought. I already told you how great a lover he is. I mean, I've been hoping for this, but really, I didn't expect things to be this good."

"Really? That mean you're dumping Brandon? You've got class with him tomorrow, don't you?"

"Crap, I've been putting off thinking about that. And I even saw him this afternoon."

"What? Are you nuts? Or are you going to keep dangling both men on a string for a while?"

"Well, he texted me, asked if I wanted to see him in his uniform."

"And?"

"It wasn't as impressive as it sounds. He was wearing these, I can't remember what the alphabet soup for it was, these things like fatigues, what my dad called them. They're kind of baggy, camo patterned, and the girls were wearing the same things. Kind of sexless and just there, you know, nothing impressive."

"Oh, I know what you mean. I've seen them marching a couple of times, and no, they didn't do anything for me."

"Anyway, on Thursday he'd going to be in his dress uniform in the afternoon, and yeah, I kind of do want to see him in that. But now I'm feeling guilty, now that I've made love with Danny. Danny seems like he might really turn out to be great, but Brandon could to. He's just so, I don't know, so amazing, so good looking, so freaking hot."

"Well, girl, it's a simple question: are you in love with Danny?"

"I don't know, Sarah, I just don't know."

oo0oo

Mary Margaret didn't know whether to look forward to seeing Brandon in class, or dread it. She knew what she ought to do, just break it off cleanly, but that wasn't what she wanted to do, and certainly didn't have the nerve to do. She got there a bit early, and took her usual seat, and, by now, Brandon's usual seat had been beside hers. It wasn't long before he strode in, firmly, without any crutch to help him.

"So, how's your ankle doing?" she asked as he sat down. "You look like it's healed."

"Oh, not quite, still a bit tender, but I've got it wrapped up under my sock, and it's getting better every day." Brandon was respectful, something she liked, and didn't go out for public displays of affection in class, even though the others had pretty well figured out that they were seeing each other. "Any chance we could have dinner together tonight?"

Mary Margaret got lucky: the professor called the class to order before she could answer, and that gave her time to think about it. She had her every evening supper and study session with Danny, and if she bailed on that, he might think she was seeing another guy.

And that's exactly what she would be doing! He'd inquired about her date last Friday night, but she'd brushed off the subject as best she could, but he knew that she'd stayed overnight with Brandon, and she figured it would better to let him just assume what he would rather than give him the details. He might have been just as upset that she'd slept in Brandon's bed, and been naked in front of him, if he knew all of that, as he would be by thinking that they'd had sex.

Besides, Danny had spent the night with some girl on Saturday! He had no right to complain about her.

Still, they hadn't been intimate then, so it wasn't like they had cheated on each other. Now, well, things were different, and while they hadn't said anything about being exclusive, wouldn't seeing Brandon be cheating on Danny?

Then again, she'd liked it, and gone along with it, when Brandon had called her his girlfriend; didn't that mean she had cheated on Brandon Monday night?

Crap! This was getting way too complicated!

Class was finally over: it had dragged on too long for Brandon, but was over way too quickly for Mary Margaret, and she had to be ready with an answer. Lunch was simple enough, just head over to the Student Center cafeteria, now that Brandon could walk at his normal pace.

"D'you decide about dinner tonight?" he asked.

"Yeah, that'd be nice, but I can't stay. I've got to study tonight, with exams coming up."

"You can study at my place, you know?"

"And how much studying do you think would actually get done?" She grinned at that one, but forged on, "Besides, well, I've kind of got the cramps."

Brandon caught on quickly enough. "OK, I understand. What about this weekend, then? A couple of days away from school, and we can get to know each other better? I don't know, but it just doesn't seem like we're taking enough time with each other."

Oh, Hell, Mary Margaret thought, he's guessed that I'm seeing someone else! "Well, heck, Brandon, we didn't get together until late in the semester, and you know how crazy that can get. We don't have to rush things, you know?"

"Yeah, I understand." Brandon realized that she hadn't answered his invitation for the weekend, but was savvy enough to realize that she wanted to take things slowly. He'd wait until dinner tonight to press that question again. After all, she had agreed to that!

Hey, Danny, won't make supper tonight, going to be with some friends. See you to study!

Mary Margaret hoped that text message would be enough. She was going to meet Brandon after their one o'clock classes were over, and go to his place, where they'd cook dinner together. After all, just dinner wasn't cheating, was it?

Well, yeah, it kind of was cheating, she thought, but Danny and she hadn't actually said anything about 'going steady' or anything. Just like Brandon and she hadn't said anything about being exclusive. They'd have a nice dinner, and talk, and she'd be out of there in time to meet Danny at seven.

Oh, man, this was just so fucked up!

It was fun walking back to Brandon's apartment. They'd started hand in hand, but with the biting wind it wasn't long before Brandon had put his arm around her, and she liked that. Her arm slid around his waist, and she worked it under his insulated vest. The wind was out of the west, so it was hitting them in the back, mostly, so it wasn't as bad as it could be, and her arm under Brandon's vest felt warm.

They got to his apartment, and it was toasty warm. His old building was heated with radiators, and on the top floor it was warmer than downstairs. Mary Margaret quickly peeled off her jacket and scarf and mittens, and glad that she'd worn a long-sleeved t-shirt under her sweater, the sweater came off, too. It was just plain nice and cozy in Brandon's apartment!

And Brandon started pulling off excess clothing, too. Off came the insulated vest, and the red plaid flannel shirt he had on under it - the same one he'd worn when they first got together - and he sat down to take off his boots as well. That part kind of worried her, because it was starting to look like he was going to strip down to try to take her to bed, but he stopped with the boots. After all, she had let him know that she was on her period and they couldn't have sex. She wondered if she should pull off her own boots, the nice knee-high pair she had, not her fuggs, but didn't want it to seem as though she was stripping down for bed. When Brandon stopped after having pulled off his boots, she figured that she was safe, and pulled off her own as well.

They wound up sitting on the couch together, her knees pulled up as she was facing him, his right leg pulled up on the couch as he faced her, their hands meeting along the back of the couch, his right, her left. This was just so nice, talking, with occasional leaned-in light kisses, and Brandon gently playing with her hand. He wasn't being pushy, he was being nice, and most of their talk was light-hearted enough. But, continually in the back of her mind was the thought of Danny, and whether she was cheating on him. Brandon and she weren't headed for bed, that was already established, but Danny would still be really upset if he could see just what they were doing. Mary Margaret realized that she had given away something, when Brandon got a serious look on his face, and asked, "Mary Margaret, is there someone else?"