Photo Ops

He took a quick, appreciative gander at them, and then leaned down to kiss one and rub the other. Soon he had her gasping in pleasure, all caution out the window, which was still open. Julie, having coped non-stop with her predicament for over a week now, welcomed the risk that brought as she enjoyed his lips and fingers on her nipples. "God, you're brilliant at that!" she said, wishing he would free her from her jeans.

She only had to spend a few moments playing with his cock and tickling his balls gently before he got the hint and unbuttoned her jeans. "Thank you," she whispered, in case he was still feeling shy, and she helped him pull them down along with her panties. With all her clothes now joining his on the floor, she drew back, holding both his hands, and thrilled to his admiring gaze on every inch of her body.

"Beautiful," Nick whispered, and he let go of one of her hands and ran his fingers gently through her bush.

"Oooh, that feels great!" Julie said, and with that she fell back onto Linnea's bed with her legs spread, and welcomed his fingers back in her pussy. She had assumed Nick was a virgin, but he seemed to know his way around a woman's body much too well for that to be the case. Of course she didn't ask, instead enjoying his intimate strokes, which soon had her wriggling joyfully all about the mattress. Soon enough he was snuggled up beside her and kissing her breasts again while still stroking her down below, and the last of her concerns about Sunday were -- for the moment at least -- wonderfully at bay. "Oh, ohmygod, yes, don't stop!" she gushed.

"You sound so beautiful when you do that," he whispered between gentle licks on her nipples.

"You feel so beautiful!" she replied, once again wrapping a hand around his hardness, to his own delight. "I want you!"

"I want you too." But he didn't make a move to go any further until his fingers had her whipped up into an orgasm.

Julie made no argument, and indeed made no sounds except for her grunts and screeches of joy as he stroked her into a delicious climax. "Now, please!" she said as it subsided, spreading her legs out wider.

She was expecting Nick to tease her a bit, like guys so often did. But he didn't. He climbed obediently onto her and let her guide him inside. "Oh, yes!" she exulted as he slid in, and she gave him an appreciative squeeze within.

"Wow!" he exclaimed. "I've never felt that before!"

So she wasn't his first, Julie knew now, but just maybe she'd be his best.

"Just takes practice," Julie cooed, and she did it again, to his delight.

His thrusts were slow and luxurious, too slow to build her up to another orgasm anytime soon, but she found the sensation absolutely divine. "Oh, Nick, this is beautiful!" she said huskily as his head bobbed just above hers, gazing into her eyes. "I've never had it like this before!"

"Feels great for me too," he whispered. Then he leaned down and kissed her neck, while still keeping up his slow pace down below.

"Oh God..." Julie let that exclamation hang in the air as she welcomed the beautiful sensation. Slowly, inevitably, she felt him building her up to another, more subtle orgasm, and her emotions were running every which way as it inevitably arrived. As she yelped out her pleasure again, she was deliciously aware of him coming as well shortly afterward. "That was beautiful, Nick," she said in a vain attempt to stave off the tears she could feel coming. Sure enough, they followed soon after.

"You deserve it, you're beautiful, Julie," he said, propping himself up on his elbows to admire her face. As he did so, he realized she was crying. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," she lied. "Just, really beautiful, Nick. You were so gentle. I've never had anything like that before!"

"That's sweet," Nick said. With that goofy grin of his that she'd always noticed before, he added, "I try! I like to think it's just, you know, that's why they call it making love."

At this, Julie smiled through the tears that were still flowing. She had no idea what to do, but all the same she felt lucky for the moment.

Unbeknownst to them both, Linnea stood under the open window and just out of sight. Having come by to collect some of her books, she'd stopped cold outside the dorm on hearing Julie's passionate moans, and she was still rooted to the ground now as she took in what was happening. Her fists were clenched in fury. She hated Jeff as much as she lusted after him, and she hated herself, and yet what choice did she have? As the sound of Julie's sobs reached her ears and Linnea knew the real reason for them, she turned and stormed off across the courtyard. She could borrow someone else's books. But she couldn't fix what was really wrong.

Or could she?

She hadn't figured out how on Tuesday, when a firm knock came at Jeff's door, and Linnea opened it to see Julie standing in the doorway. "Hi..." she said tentatively.

"Linnea." Julie stepped into her enemy's room, knowing he wasn't there because she'd seen him leaving a few minutes before. She took Linnea's hands in hers and got down on her knees. "Please, Linnea! I'm literally willing to beg you! Nick and I are falling in love. Do you really want me to choose between destroying that and humiliating myself?!"

"Julie, don't be such an ass!" Linnea forced a smile. "It's only a picture, whichever one of you is in the picture!"

"It's not just a picture!" Julie snapped. "You had no right to take that picture, or to give it to Jeff! And you're going to destroy something beautiful if you don't put a stop to it!"

"But I can't, Julie!" Linnea protested. "He won't budge! Besides, he's been treating me like a princess, and I lose that if I do anything about this, if I even can. Can't you be happy for me at least?"

"Can't I be happy for you?!" Julie stood up and barely tamped down the temptation to wring Linnea's neck. "How the hell can you ask me that when you've put me in this position?!"

"It was the only way I could get him to go out with me," Linnea said.

"Is he really worth that?" Julie fumed. "Aren't I worth anything to you?!"

"You're my best friend!" Linnea protested. "Or you were, before this came between us!"

"Then why did you let it..." Julie's voice trailed away as it hit her all at once. "Wait a minute. Jeff's got something on you, too, doesn't he? A naked picture, maybe?"

Linnea stood stock still, and looked near tears. "Oh, Julie, can't you just...I mean, none of your business!"

"None of my business," Julie repeated. "You took a picture of me masturbating, and you say this is none of my business. Are you out of your mind?"

"It's Jeff Johnson, Julie!" Linnea said. "I told you, if it were you, I'd --"

"Bullshit!" Julie snapped, and she tore open the door. "I don't ever want to see you again, Linnea, you know that?!"

Julie had no doubt she was right -- Jeff was blackmailing Linnea, too -- but she still couldn't prove it. As she walked back to her room, fighting off tears, she admitted defeat. Nick would be as crushed as she was already feeling, but it was only fair to him that she came clean and broke things off. If she couldn't stop that asshole from posting that picture of her online, at least she would know she wasn't responsible for doing the same thing to anyone else, least of all the man she loved. It was the only option she had, and at least he would probably appreciate her belated honesty. She hated to think what he'd think of her having seduced him in the first place now that he'd know the reason why, but then, didn't she deserve whatever she got as far as that went?

Julie arrived back at her room all set to write Nick a letter explaining everything, only to find a package set outside her door. "For Julie with Love," the card read. With a furtive look around to see if any of her floormates were about -- and they weren't -- she unlocked the door and brought the gift inside.

She sat on her bed and unwrapped it, and her heart leapt as she recognized the very copy of Huckleberry Finn that she had told Nick about. Joyfully she flipped through the pages and admired the beautiful illustrations she remembered so well but hadn't seen in years. So that was why the woman at the thrift shop had recognized him! Belatedly Julie looked at the inside front cover, and found a note from Nick. Because a beautiful childhood memory should never be only that! Long may you ramble down your beloved Mississippi! Love, Nick

Julie wanted to cry yet again. But she knew just how to stop herself. She flipped through the pages, back and forth, zeroing in on the big line until she found it: I was a-trembling, because I'd got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: "All right then, I'll go to hell"—and tore it up.

Julie closed the book and stood up, and looked out the window at the promise of the early spring. "All right then, I'll let Jeff post my pussy online," she said, and gave no more thought to dumping Nick.

Saturday brought a bright, cloudless sky and a crisp early spring chill. It was just warm enough for the students to take outdoor photos in their finest clothes before heading off to an early dinner. "Let's get all the ladies!" called out Ruth Scavo as a dozen or more couples mulled about under the willow tree in the courtyard.

"Oh, I'm in!" called out Linnea, casting a hopeful eye at Julie, who was hanging onto Nick's arm and chatting with a few of her other friends.

"I guess I'll join this picture?" Julie said to Nick.

"Of course," Nick said, and he carried on talking with Julie's friends' dates, most of whom wouldn't have given him the time of day two weeks before. Julie was as amused with that turn of events as he was.

Julie took her place in the line of beautiful women, between Ruth and a freshman girl she'd never officially met. She was still coping with her impending humiliation, but she'd had a few days now to come to terms with it and persuade herself that it probably wouldn't last long. Maybe Jeff would be dumb enough to let his name be connected with the picture anyway, and that would at least ding his reputation a bit. For now, at least, as the guy who'd been roped into taking the picture told them to say cheese, she still had at least a few more hours in the in crowd.

"Hey Jules!" came a voice over her shoulder. She turned to see Lucy Mittleman waving to her. "Hey, I just wanted to say congrats to you and Nick. You guys are adorable together, everybody thinks so!"

"No kidding?" Julie cast a subtle eye to the clutch of guys who were laughing at something Nick had said. "That's great to hear."

"Why so surprised?" Lucy asked.

"Because even though I'm a junior, I still have one foot back in high school," Julie confessed. "Here I was thinking we belonged to different castes or something. How pathetic is that?"

"I get it," Lucy said. "But he's great, really."

"Thanks," Julie said. With another look at Nick from afar, she added, "He is, isn't he?"

She also spotted Linnea smiling at her from the other side of the willow. But she let that go by with only the most cordial of nods.

The auditorium was done up beautifully as always for the dance, and as always Julie walked in expecting an awkward interim before any actual dancing might happen. But once again Nick took her by surprise. "Let's not waste any time!" he declared, and with the band wailing away in stage, he swept her off into an expert foxtrot. Julie had just enough time to feel a fleeting knowledge that she was among the first on the floor before she realized Nick knew exactly what he was doing, and that he was making her look fantastic as well. By the time the first number was over, quite a number of couples had followed their example and she was feeling utterly exhilarated.

"Where'd you learn to dance that way?" she asked when he'd finally let her lead him off to the punch bowl for a break.

"I took lessons in high school," he said. "When you grow up with the jocks calling you a sissy, there comes a point where you figure you might as well enjoy it. And after all, the girls loved it!"

Julie shook her head in amazement, and then hugged Nick. "You're really something else," she said.

She could hardly blame her friend Melody when she stopped by and asked Nick for a dance. Left on her own by the punch bowl, Julie had no immediate plans for the next dance, until she saw Jeff leering at her from nearby. As he began making his way towards, her, Julie looked around urgently for the first guy she knew who didn't have a partner. It happened to be a guy from calculus class whose name she didn't even know, but he proved to be a decent dancer. From then on she had no trouble avoiding Jeff -- although she did spot Linnea without him a time or two -- but the dance was more than half over before she crossed paths with Nick again.

"You're a popular guy tonight," she quipped. "Not that I blame the others."

"Sorry!" he said. "I've been looking out for you, but..."

"Nick, I'm teasing!" Julie reassured him. "I think it's great that you're so popular tonight!"

"Thanks," he said. "It's hard to get used to, but I'll take it! Hey, I see you're getting plenty of attention as well. I even had Jeff Johnson ask me about you!"

Julie kept her cool, barely. "Jeff? What did he want?"

"He said to say you were pretty as a picture! Is that corny or what? Oh, and he said to remember after the dance. Is there an afterhours party or something?"

Julie shook her head. "No, there certainly isn't, at least not that I would go to with Jeff."

"Then what did he mean?"

Julie drew to a stop, there in the middle of the dance floor, and took both of Nick's hands in hers. "Nick, there's something I think I need to tell you," she said. "But before I do, I just want you to know I really do think I'm falling in love with you, and I want this to work, and I think we can work through this, okay?"

"Work through what, Julie? You're scaring me a little!" Nick was flashing the boyish toothy grin Julie loved so, but she could see there was real concern behind it. Which was probably just as well.

"Let's go outside for some fresh air," she said, "And I'll tell you everything."

To her immense relief, Nick wasn't angry at Julie at all, nor was he even surprised. "I've been around cliques like that enough to know what's what with them," he said. "And I'm really sorry to hear about that picture. But...what are you going to do?"

"Live with knowing it's out there, I guess," Julie said. "I don't like it, but there are millions of naked women on the internet. I guess it's not the end of the world if I'm one of them."

"That bastard!" Nick snapped, looking out into the woods behind campus. "There must be a recourse for this!"

"I figure if he keeps it up, sooner or later he'll end up in jail for it," Julie said. "Just not this time. Nick, I appreciate your outrage, but I think the best thing we can do is be happy together and let him see he can't destroy that. Living well is the best revenge, you know?"

"How do you do that?" Nick asked, turning to look at her, fierce admiration in his eyes. "How can you accept having your privacy violated like that and just get on with your life?"

"It's something women learn to live with," Julie said. "But I believe in karma."

They enjoyed the last hour or so of the dance, and Julie basked in Nick's heightened awe and admiration as she sailed about in his arms. With everything out in the open at last, she was already feeling the healing begin. But there was one thing left she felt she had to do. As the lights came up amidst the closing strains of the last song, she whispered to Nick, "Let's go see if Jeff is in the lounge. I want him to see he doesn't scare me anymore."

"I'd love the bastard to see that too," Nick declared. "Okay, let's go."

They took a walk around the perimeter of the campus, so as to be fashionably late, and strolled proudly hand in hand into the lounge to find Jeff holding court among several of his buddies. Linnea was there as well, resplendent in the same sequined white dress she'd worn to the last two Spring Flings. "Julie!" she exclaimed, rushing over to greet them as they walked in. "Please, hear me out!"

"Forget it, Nae," Julie said, holding up one hand to keep her at bay while Nick gave her a dirty look, thus letting Linnea know that he knew everything. "Jeff," she said, striding up fearlessly to face him.

"Nice work, Jule," Jeff said. "I take it you brought the little wimp in here so I could take the picture myself?" he jumped down from the sofa and got in Nick's face. "Hola, amigo!"

"Don't touch him," Julie ordered. "Not unless you want campus security on your back."

"Oooh, I'm shakin'!" Jeff teased. "But fine, Julie. If you're too chickenshit to get a picture of Nick, I'll be happy to use the picture I have of you. A deal's a deal, after all. Linnea, dear?"

"You don't have a picture of her anymore, Jeff," Linnea said. "That's what I wanted to tell you, Julie."

"What're you talking about?!" Jeff demanded, storming over to Linnea and grabbing her by the arm; Julie turned around to look on in surprised silence. "Of course I have a picture of her. You took it, didn't you?!"

"Yes, and I've deleted it," Linnea said, wrenching her arm out of his grasp. "See for yourself." She pulled her phone out of some hiding place in the folds of her dress and handed it to him. He scrolled through the photo gallery, but Julie could tell by the look of frustration on his face that it wasn't there.

"Well, fine," he said. "You were dumb enough to put it on my computer, remember, and you know who else I have pictures of there!"

"And you were dumb enough to use your own birthday as your password," Linnea chirped. "I erased the picture of Julie from there too, and the ones of me, and all the other ones that looked like they were of girls from here. Happy April Fool's, Jeff."

"You bitch!"

Jeff raised his hand to smack her, but one of his buddies caught his arm and pinned it behind his back. "Come on, man, you're no wife-beater," he said, and he and the other guys got Jeff under control and dragged him out of the room. "We don't want any trouble here, man," one of them said.

"There's gonna be trouble if you don't let me at that bitch!" Jeff grunted. But the others succeeded in dragging him out of the lounge, and a moment later his rants and railing could be heard outside.

"We won!" Julie murmured. The angst and horror of the past couple of weeks having melted away all at once, she suddenly felt exhausted but deliriously happy. "It's over!"

"You won," Nick corrected. "You were great, Julie!" In a whisper, he added, "Let's go upstairs and celebrate."

"Julie!" Linnea called out to her as they left the lounge. "Julie, Nick, wait! Look, I'm sorry!" Julie and Nick ignored her as they walked up the stairs, but Linnea didn't give up. "Julie, you were right, he did have pictures of me. They might even still be out there somewhere besides his computer, but I don't care! After that day you came to see me, I figured there must be a way to get on his computer and delete the pictures, and it wasn't even really that hard once I tried! I should've done it sooner, but -- well, geez, Julie, I never even got to dance with the quarterback in high school and I figured this was my one last chance, and...but it wasn't worth losing you, I see that now!" As they had arrived at her and Julie's door, she asked, "May I come in? Please?"

Julie unlocked the door and ushered Nick inside, where she had every intention of ravishing him momentarily. Then she turned and stood in the doorway, facing Linnea. "You deleted the picture."

"Yes! It'll never get out! It's gone!"

"You could have done that from the very beginning. You could have refused to take it in the first place. You didn't do anything about it until I literally begged you."