Second Chance

"I've decided not to go to Purdue University for college in a couple of weeks, Scottie," he said, looking into the young woman's eyes. "I don't want to leave you. I can't do that. What if you're not here when I get back?"

Scottie look at him astonished, actually choking on a sip of Coke.

"You can't do that, Dusty. You can't give up your whole life, your future, for me," she said, her voice husky. "I don't know how long I've got here. I don't know... anything. I don't know why I'm here. I don't know why you can see me, feel me... other stuff. I don't even know if I'll be here tomorrow. You can't change your whole life for a... for me.

"And even if I knew I could be here forever... sort of, that would be no way for you to live your life: hanging out here for a few hours each night. You've got a whole life ahead of you. You need a... real woman, flesh and blood..."

"Oh, you are flesh and blood, Scottie, at least to me... and with me. I don't know what you think we've been doing, but it's definitely flesh and blood-type stuff," Dusty said.

The woman blushed modestly, then smiled, then frowned.

"Yes, flesh and blood-type stuff," she whispered shyly. "But we can never be more than we are now, even if it were to last.

"I love you, Dusty. I want you to have everything you want for yourself. Remember, we talked about that. You want to work at NASA, get married to a good woman, have two, maybe three children. I can't be a part of any of that... ever. No matter how much I love you, and you me.

"I don't know what I did to earn this... extra time, but I'm more than grateful for it, and what you've given me during this time. Please go to your future. Just remember me fondly from time to time. They say you always remember your first..."

"I could never forget you, Scottie, even if you weren't my first," he said before leaning down to kiss the woman passionately.

It didn't seem possible to Dusty, but his final two weeks with Scottie before he left for college made the two even closer.

"I can't even imagine not being able to see you anymore," he said as the two sat and ate their favorite meal of pepperoni pizza. "If only we'd met at a different time and place."

"But we'd never have met at all... at least like this... if I hadn't..." the woman said. "I'd be 69 now... an old lady. I don't understand it, but this has given me a part of a life I'd never had before... a boyfriend... sex... love... and now a broken heart.

"I know you have to go, and I told you to go, but this hurts so badly. I guess now I sort of know how my parents felt when I..."

The two made slow, gentle, passionate love in missionary twice during the night, the kind of effort Scottie called, "old people love." They kissed a lot while they were engaged.

"Hmm, maybe we should have done more of this. This is kind of nice," she purred at one point.

They tried to stay awake longer than usual, but sleep would not be denied. She kissed him hard on the lips and whispered "I'll try to find you" as they both drifted off with smiles on their faces.

Several hours later Dusty woke alone in his tent as usual, except he knew usual hadn't existed in his world for several months. He wondered if it ever would again. It took him several minutes before he stopped crying.

Dusty was pretty much a basic average freshman at Purdue, except for his major of aeronautical engineering. Those students were mostly a little more serious, a little more studious and yes, a little more nerdy. It wasn't like Dusty hadn't been put into the nerd box before.

At 6-1, 170 pounds with longish bushy brown curly hair and brown eyes, Dusty was fairly good-looking, although a little skinny. He would admit to being a little behind the curve in his social skills, although after his summer with Scottie he would have considered himself maybe above average with his sexual skills.

Before he had left his hometown, Scottie had encouraged him to date at Purdue, as much to get over her as anything.

"You've got a lot to offer a girl, Dusty, both in bed and out. Don't deny yourself a full life. We had a great thing, but it's time for you to move on and live," Scottie had said their last night together.

Despite Scottie's plea, Dusty wasn't ready to move on. He never approached the first girl at Purdue during his freshman year, even though several expressed interest in him.

"Hey, how about that one?" Dusty's roommate asked one evening in the dining hall. "That tall blonde's been watching you for the last 10 minutes. Go say hello. Get her number. She's hot. You've got to let hometown honey go, bro."

Dusty had to admit that the blonde girl was definitely hot, but then he got hit with a stab of guilt. He and Scottie had only been apart for a couple of months.

"I can't, Johnny. I'd feel like I was cheating on her," Dusty said softly.

"I think you're nuts, guy, but whatever. Okay if I ask her out, then?" his roommate asked.

"Go for it. Good luck," he replied.

Dusty didn't go back home until Thanksgiving. He was glad to see his parents, and especially glad to eat food that tasted good again. Even though he tried not to think about her, Scottie was on his mind throughout dinner and his parents could tell he was a little distracted.

"Looking forward to seeing the girlfriend we've still not met yet?" his mother asked with more than a tinge of sarcasm in her voice.

Dusty wasn't sure what he expected. His stomach was in knots.

"I don't think so," he lied. "She was going somewhere, too, and we knew that a long-distance relationship wasn't going to work. I'm probably just going to see if any of the guys are home on their breaks."

"Yeah, you always get so jumpy to see the guys," his mother noted, her eyebrows raised.

Dusty threw a couple of blankets, a six-pack of Coke and some snacks in the back seat of his car as the sun was heading down. He felt like he couldn't breathe as he drove over to the old Travers place.

It didn't appear to Dusty as if anyone had been to "their" spot since that last night before he left for school. The sun had gone down. Dusty wandered around, looking, hoping to see...

He caught the moonlight glint off the gold of the coin wrap of the necklace as it hung from the branch of a small maple. He wasn't sure whether to feel happy or sad upon seeing the necklace. He just knew that Scottie had the necklace on when the two had drifted off.

Dusty alternated between walking around the spot at the Travers place and sitting in his car playing on his phone and reading news. Midnight came and went, as did 1 AM, 2, 3 and 4.

He woke wrapped in a blanket at about 7:15. The sunrise was within minutes. Still no sign of Scottie. He took the necklace off the tree and put it in his pocket.

Dusty went back to the Travers place the next two nights and slept in his sleeping bag in the back seat of his car, awaiting Scottie... without results. He knew this was always the possibility, but it didn't make it any easier.

Dusty and Johnny were hanging out in the back of the social room at one of the fraternities at Purdue at the end of February, enjoying the loud music from the speaker system and watching the dancing during the midwinter party. Dusty was there as a guest of his roommate, who had joined the fraternity during the first semester.

"You've got frosh stalker written all over your face," said the pretty blonde standing to his left and drinking a glass of wine.

Dusty pointed a finger at himself and asked, "Me? You talking to me?"

"Yes, I am, DeNiro. That was pretty good, by the way," she remarked.

"What makes you think I'm a freshman stalker?" Dusty answered with an amused look on his face as he tried hard not to be seen looking the woman up and down.

"First of all, you're not drinking, which tells me you're under 21 right there," she answered. "Then, you've got this 'I really can't grow a beard, but I'm too lazy to shave' thing going on, not realizing that there's a huge difference between the cool haven't shaved look and the lazy haven't shaved look. And then there's the drool on your chin while you watch the women dance."

The woman's blue eyes practically glowed with mirth as he looked at her with his mouth gaping open.

"Well, I have to admit you're right on the first two points, but it hasn't been that long since I've had a better-looking woman than most here in my arms. But you could have been confusing me with this loser freshman, who truly is drooling," Dusty said, pointing at his roommate.

"My turn now. You're a pysch major, an upperclassmen, a bit of a wiseass and you're bored to tears or you wouldn't be caught dead talking to a freshman. And you're a somebody on campus. I should recognize you, but I don't."

"That's because I have all my clothes on," she said, breaking into laughter when Dusty's mouth dropped open again. "You might recognize me if I was wearing my cheerleader uniform. To most people, I'm the third cheerleader on the right when we're all lined up.

"And, yes, I'm a junior, and more than a bit of a wiseass."

"I'm Dusty. Dusty Dustwicz," the young man said.

"Dusty, huh? Tells me your parents gave you a horrible first name... I bet something like Arnold," the young woman laughed.

Dusty dropped his head in shame and blushed.

"Ooh. I'm sorry. That's it, right?"

"Yeah," he whispered.

"I'm KC, by the way," she said. "And before you guess, those are letters. Short for Katherine Charlene Gardner. Only a little better than Arnold."

"Hey, you want to go someplace a little quieter... just to talk?" he asked.

The young woman nodded, then reached for Dusty's hand and led him out of room.

The two started as friends, meeting for coffee, hanging out, even studying together for several weeks. They were sitting in her dorm room, watching TV, when she decided to take the risk.

"Umm, Dusty, not that it will make a difference to me, but... are you gay? I mean it's cool if you are..." she started. "I know you said you had a girlfriend back home, but was that just a dodge?"

"What on God's green earth would make you think I'm gay?" Dusty interrupted. "What's going on, KC?"

The woman colored bright red and dropped her eyes. She turned off the TV and sat down next to Dusty on the made bed.

"We've been hanging out together pretty good for several weeks now, right? Well, I've never had a guy friend hang out with me this long and not ask me out on a date, not since I was like 15. I like you, Dusty. I like you a lot, but you haven't made a move on me. Why not, unless you're gay," KC said.

Dusty smiled brightly and let out a breath he did not realize he was holding. He leaned over to the woman and gave her a hard kiss on her lips.

"My apologies. I didn't think someone of your 'standing' would ever be interested in someone like me except as a friend, and I didn't want to ruin a friendship I value by stupidly asking you out," Dusty said.

"Damn woman, I'd love to go out with you. You're gorgeous... and so much more. You certainly don't fit the mold of a cheerleader."

"I know most people think of cheerleaders as brainless bimbos who are having sex with all the athletes, but that's not true for most of us here. We are athletes. We train and we work hard. And we support our university's athletes," KC declared.

"I have to admit, up until I met you, that's how I thought, too," Dusty admitted. "But you're far from a bimbo."

The two had sex on their fifth date. Several times during their evening in Dusty's bed he thought about Scottie, but quickly shook the image from his head, knowing that it wasn't respectful to either woman.

Two hours later, KC was lying half of top of Dusty with a peaceful grin on her face, her eyes closed.

"Mmm. I can't believe I thought you might have been gay... and a virgin," she said softly. "That was fantastic. Somebody taught you well."

"I'd like to think that me and that somebody taught each other well. I'm glad you enjoyed," he responded.

The pair were exclusive at Purdue until KC graduated. Dusty's friends were flabbergasted that he was dating a cheerleader, and most of her friends were surprised that she was dating a younger student who was "nothing special" in many of their eyes.

"You could date any stud on campus, any of the top athletes, and yet you're going out with an engineering nerd," her best friend on campus, Becky Freleng, said one day. "I get that he may be a good guy and all, and he's good-looking, but girl, he's no stud like some of the guys who would give a testicle to take you to bed."

"Oh my God. You have no idea. I'd have to kill the first cheeky bitch who makes a move on him. In between the sheets, that nerd as you call him, is a world champion," KC said.

"Great guy, smart, devoted and good in bed. Yeah, who wouldn't want that for a partner. Right, me neither."

Dusty became the biggest Boilermaker fan on campus, attending every home athletic contest at which the cheer squad performed. She seemed to be as dedicated to him as he was to her.

The pair were at a popular campus-area bar in the spring during KC's senior year when Lucas Miller, the basketball team's star center, asked KC to dance. KC knew Lucas and wasn't opposed, so she asked Dusty if he would mind. Dusty had no problem acquiescing to KC's request, and she and Lucas went out to dance.

Both dancers seemed to be enjoying themselves, but when the second song ended Lucas stopped KC as she tried to step off the dance floor, grabbing her hand and trying to pull her back into him. Watching carefully, Dusty was out of his chair and over to the pair in seconds.

"Time for you to go, little man," said Lucas, who stood 6-9 and weighed 250 pounds. "Cheerleader fox here is going to spend the night with me."

"I don't think so, Lucas," Dusty told the bigger man. "You don't actually think you're going to be drafted by anyone in the NBA with two assaults and maybe a rape charge against you, do you? Turn her loose right now or kiss that big contract good-bye, and maybe the ligaments in your left knee as well."

The dancing had ceased but the jukebox continued to play. Lucas quickly realized the smaller man was showing no fear, meaning he was just the sort to carry out this threat. The cheerleader was pretty, but wasn't worth the cost, he surmised.

"My bad. No reason to get anyone else involved," he said, removing his hand from KC's arm.

"Time to go, beautiful," Dusty said as he led KC out of the bar.

Dusty stuck around a few days after his last final so he could watch KC's graduation later that spring. The two had had several serious discussions about their relationship moving forward and had come to the mutual but sad determination that they would split on good terms so KC could pursue her career and Dusty could finish his final two years of school.

KC's parents had flown in from the East Coast for the graduation, so the pair knew that their last night in bed together would be two days before the event. After leaving KC's parents at the hotel, Dusty and KC spent the night at her apartment saying good-bye in grand style. At one point during the festivities, KC passed out for several minutes when Dusty brought her to an extremely intense orgasm with his mouth and tongue.

The two slept for a few hours before Dusty went back to his room with his lips slightly puffy, a small bruise on his cheek and a wide smile from the night's activity.

After the graduation ceremony was over, Dusty went with KC and her parents to a nice restaurant for a meal. When the meal was done, the quartet went outside to leave, and Dusty and KC said their last good-byes.

As Dusty was walking away, KC said quietly to her mother, "I hope I didn't screw up big-time. That might have been the best son-in-law candidate you will see."

Several of KC's friends contacted Dusty within days of school resuming in the fall. They were all aware that he and KC had officially ended their relationship when she graduated, and all told him they wanted their shot at dating him because KC always praised him for being a good guy and a great lover.

Dusty dated around for his last two years in school, enjoying the charms of several beautiful co-eds at Purdue. He was a sought-after commodity, living up to KC's billing. Unfortunately for him, none of the women lived up to KC herself.

Graduating with a 3.91 grade point average and academic honors, Dusty landed what he considered his dream job after college, being hired by NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Having dated several beautiful women in college had done wonders for Dusty's confidence, and he would have considered his dating and social life in Houston to be top shelf.

Railean Distillery is a small rum distillery in San Leon Marina, just off Galveston Bay. It was the first rum distillery in Texas, and they offer tours in addition to their large selection of products, including their seven distinctive rum products.

Dusty and three co-workers pulled up at the distillery five minutes before the tour was about to start. The neighborhood didn't look very good, and theirs was the only vehicle in the lot. They considered leaving just as two other cars pulled up. They changed their mind and got out of the car as four more vehicles pulled up.

The tour was informative and fun, and ended up in the distillery's Buccaneer Bar for taste testing and drinking. Dusty noted that there were several women in the group, but really hadn't paid much attention to them, until one of them turned an ankle wearing half-boots and spilled the drink she was carrying on Dusty's back as she fell to the floor.

"Aarrgghh!" Dusty yelled in shock, but quickly recovered as he saw the woman hit the deck. He jumped out of his chair and checked on the redheaded woman lying near his feet.

"Are you okay?" he asked as he bent to help her up.

It was then that he spotted her eyes... her bright green eyes.

The women noted the look from the handsome young man.

"D-do I know you?" she asked, looking deep into the man's eyes.

"Not yet, but soon," he said. "I'm Dusty. Dusty Dustwicz."

"Marissa. Marissa Scott," she said.

"Well, Ms. Scott, can I buy you a new drink?" he smiled brightly.

"Yes, you can, if you tell me where I know you from," she said.

Several hours later, Dusty and his friends left the distillery. Dusty left with a bottle of Railean's Reserve XO rum, the woman's phone number and a date for the next Saturday night.

Dusty woke groggily to the feeling of being spooned around another body... a soft, fragrant female body. His brain instantly shot into consciousness although this was not the first time in his life he had ever woken up with a woman in his bed. This was, however, the first time he had woken up with a green-eyed woman in his bed.

He gently ran his fingertips up the woman's stomach to her breasts, then down to her pussy, stopping to rub the top of her opening. He smiled to himself as he remembered the events of the previous night and opened his eyes to see a bushy head of red hair right in front of him.

Unbelievable, he thought. She was still with him in his bed. He ran his hand down her body from her shoulder to her thigh. He felt her adjust her position and then she rolled over, her face being just inches from his. He leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on her lips.

"You're still here. That's amazing," he said quietly.

The woman smiled up at him with her bright green eyes.

"Where else would I be? Don't I belong in your bed?" she asked.

"Absolutely. Eternally," he responded. "Wait here a sec. I'll be right back."

Dusty went over to the desk in his room, opened a drawer and went back to the bed with a long, thin box in his hand, which he handed to the woman.

"I believe this belongs to you," he said.

Marissa sat up, opened the box and found a beautiful green necklace. A single tear fell down her cheek.