Spirits in the Material World Pt. 07

Julie nearly leaped at him, clambering up onto the tabletop next to him and enfolding him in her arms. Her lips sought out his. Salt from his tears could be tasted on his lips. Something must have devastated him.

"Tom. Tom. Thomas! What is it? What happened? Why the tears?" she gushed, not giving him a chance to interrupt.

"Julie, I... I... I'm so sorry!" Tears ran anew down his face and into his mouth. Great heaves of sobbing wracked his entire body. "I tried... I honestly tried..." Tom's voice trailed off, more sobbing. Julie held him even tighter.

"If you truly tried, then whatever it was, whatever happened, we can work through it. What happened?"

Tom's crying ebbed to sniffles which he wiped on his coat sleeve, then dabbed his face with the other sleeve.

"I was working my T.A. hours from 6:00 to 8:00 when this girl walked in."

Julie had a horrible feeling about where this was going already.

"She had been in a couple of times this semester, but this was... unexpected. It was just the two of us in the room and I was helping her complete an assignment due this week for a different class than yours. Suddenly she grabs my head, plants her mouth on mine, and starts rubbing her tits on me. I grabbed her arms and pushed her back away, but she pushed me back against the wall and kissed me again. My head hit the wall pretty hard, and I was dazed. Her tongue was everywhere and I couldn't think. I was afraid she would throw me to the floor and ..."

Julie was white-hot with rage. Everything she looked at took on a red hue.

"What was this bitch's name?" she demanded.

"The log sheet says it was Mary Hanson, but there's no Mary Hanson registered for any Accounting classes this semester. I think she falsified her name on the log sheet."

Julie was calming, a little, but she was still angry at someone trying to put the moves on her man.

"It was only kissing, right Tom?"

"Yes, but what upsets me is that I kind of wanted her to keep going. I haven't seen you all day and we had all last week together except for when you were shopping with your mother and sister. I feel terrible about this, Jules. I feel like I cheated on you."

"Ok, so you wanted her to keep going. Typical male reaction! So, what else happened?"

"She licked my lips and said she would find me again later. Then she grabbed her notebook and dashed out the door."

"Oh, hell no, she won't! For the rest of the semester, any time you have T.A. hours, I'm going to be in the room with you, studying. It's just for two weeks, then we have finals. How many more days of T.A. hours do you have left?"

"Two more this week, Wednesday and Thursday, and I think I'm going to be asked to work every day next week before finals. Unfortunately, I am the best T.A. in the group."

"All right then. You and I need to sit down tomorrow when we are both available and lay out the schedule for the next two weeks. And I was right, yesterday. It totally sucks to sleep alone, now that we know how good it is to sleep together."

Big hugs and kisses were shared, and parting, 'I love you's and each went back to their respective rooms, crisis averted for the moment.

= = =

Tuesday arrived and Rose escalated things a little more. This time, after her shower, with a towel wrapped around her body from her breasts to below her crotch, she took another selfie for Alan. This one had her left nipple peeking over the top of the towel, a sort of intentional wardrobe malfunction. To add some salt to the wound, she texted Alan as well.

Rose: *See what you're missing, honey*

"Oh, God," she thought, "he's gonna wreck me this weekend. And it will be so-o-o-o fantastic!" Rose really liked having Alan as a boyfriend. They just needed to be closer, physically. She was working on that.

She dressed very sharply that day, wearing the skirt of her suit just a little higher as well as wearing stay-up stockings in black (with a seam up the back for good measure). Still very professional, but enticingly so and it made her feel all the sexier. She got Maggie up for school and carried on with her normal workday schedule.

Conveniently, as she was taking her mandated 15-minute break at 10:15, her phone rang with a heretofore unknown number. It looked a bit like Alan's cell number, or at least the prefix did, so she answered the call.

"Hello, this is Rose Lawson."

"Good morning, Ms. Lawson. My name is Mary Henderson, and Maeve Johnson gave me your number this morning at breakfast and recommended that we speak."

"Yes, Mrs. Henderson! Mrs. Johnson did say that she would see you this morning. Thank you so much for contacting me so soon! And please call me Rose."

"Only if you call me Mary," Mary laughed.

The two ladies exchanged some other pleasantries, then Mary delved into the heart of the matter. She wanted to retire from being the General Manager of the credit union which was based in Middleburg and had five other satellite branches out in non-urban areas. This credit union tended to cater to the agricultural community, and their members were extremely loyal and received excellent treatment in return. Mary was hoping to retire mid- or late-January, but no one in their organization had the desire to step up into the General Manager's role.

She understood from talking with Maeve that Rose was the senior assistant manager of a large bank's branch in Centreville and was hoping to take the next step up soon. Also, she understood that Rose would like to relocate to Middleburg for "personal reasons". Mary's tone with that last bit led Rose to believe that Maeve had been sharing about her and Alan's blossoming relationship.

Rose confirmed all of these items as true and she would like to meet with Mary face-to-face to discuss things further if that would be acceptable.

"Entirely so, Rose. Knowing you likely have a full week ahead, would you be available to come to my office on Saturday morning?" Mary inquired.

"Yes, I'm actually off this Saturday, and I was planning on coming down on Friday night anyway."

That got a little snort and laugh from Mary, knowing full well why Rose would be planning on coming to town. Maeve had told Mary quite a bit about Sunday's picture taking, and about Rose's choral voice, and how she thought Rose would make a wonderful addition to their ladies' group at church.

"Oh, so you'll be in church with Alan on Sunday again? George and I attend that church as well, but we were out of town until late Sunday so we missed meeting you and your girls."

"I honestly had not planned that far ahead, Mary. But you raise an excellent point. I believe I can commit to three of us for church on Sunday. I'll bring my youngest, Margaret, with me on Friday."

"That is wonderful! In the meantime, can you please send me your resume or c.v., just for the formality of paperwork? I will be in touch again on Thursday to firm up the time on Saturday."

"Absolutely, Mary." And they shared their email addresses.

"Very good, Rose. I am really looking forward to meeting you on Saturday. Bye for now."

"Goodbye, Mary. Thank you again for the call." Rose was floating a couple of inches off the floor for the rest of the day. She did remember to send her resume to Mary before the end of the workday.

= = =

Alan woke to his phone chirping. He had forgotten to set his alarm clock, and it was now 7:10 am. The phone was chirping from a message from Rose. Message and picture. To cannibalize from 'Wayne's World', "sha-WING". Yes, he could definitely see what he was missing, and his cock ached for the want of it all. Sleeping alone was starting to suck, a lot!

He levered himself to standing and shambled into the shower. As tempting as it was, he opted not to rub one out and felt pretty normal by the time he had showered, shaved, and peed. Khakis and a red polo shirt made him look like Jake from State Farm, but it was comfortable, and his daily ration of giveafuck was running really low. He was out the door by 7:35 and had to go through McD's for a coffee and breakfast sandwich and he arrived at work at 7:58.

Emails occupied him until the 9:00 standup meeting, and the glares from the ladies had been reduced to ashamed glances. After getting the status of the team and doling out the unassigned crucial tasks, another of the team brought up the elephant in the room.

"Alan, are you leaving us?"

Dammit all to hell! It sometimes sucks to be an Eagle Scout. But Alan could not avoid the question for his team.

"Please keep this to yourselves. There is enough gossip going around and nobody needs to add to it. It is very likely to happen. Another person is accusing me of inappropriate behavior last week, and while it did not happen, there is no way to prove or disprove the accusations. So, my resume is out in the marketplace and I am receiving contacts from recruiters. That is all for now. Git 'er done!"

Leaving the conference room last, he saw Maria coming down the hall towards him. He turned away and took a long and circuitous route back to his workspace, avoiding any confrontation. He did notice that once again she was dressed in a pantsuit and was showing very little skin, as was her usual attire.

His phone showed a missed call and a voicemail message, so he listened to the voicemail. It was from yet another recruiter with a third possibility for him, and would he please call her back. Alan stepped outside to return her call, despite the rather chilly temperature. Speaking with this recruiter, he was unaware that this particular client was looking to add or replace any staff, and it piqued his interest. He made arrangements to meet with this recruiter face-to-face on Wednesday for lunch and, assuming that all went as expected, she would be happy to present his profile and resume to the client. Unlike the two previous, this was to be an outright full-time hire position, and her understanding was that the client's need to fill this position was acute. Thanking her for her time, he returned to his workspace. To find Joan, the other glaring project manager from yesterday, sitting in his chair, waiting for him to return.

"Joan, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" Alan inquired, warily.

"Despite what you may have heard or believe, Ann thinks that Maria's lying about your rendezvous last week. Given what I know of you and have observed over the past years and thinking about Maria's statements overnight, I cannot see how you would have behaved in the way Maria says. I've also heard that you are considering leaving us. So, Alan, would you please talk to me?"

"Given the way you three were roasting me yesterday with your laser stares, I find this turnabout to be quite surprising, Joan. I would never have taken you as one who would make a decision based solely on one person's word. My understanding is that it's a 'he said / she said' situation with nothing provable or disprovable. In that case, even if the man is right, he's wrong.

"Here's what I have assembled as my version of the truth." Alan handed Joan the list of facts he knew from last Tuesday's date with Maria. "My reputation here is already tarnished beyond repair, so yes, I probably have one foot out the door already. Now, if you would please excuse me, I need to get some things accomplished so that Bob doesn't fire me," Alan stated, brusquely. Getting the polite message of dismissal, with a nod of thanks, Joan returned to her work area leaving Alan to address his work.

A couple of his project team members stopped by, briefly, with words of encouragement and perseverance, but also to indicate they would gladly follow him to another employer if he were to remain in contact with them through their non-work email address. Heartened a bit by this unofficial support, Alan passed the rest of his day immersed in his routine.

= = =

David's day began with his phone's alarm, a penetrating claxon, rousing both him and his roommate. After stumbling to the bathroom they shared with the room next door, he washed the sleep crusties from his eyes and brushed the morning breath from his mouth. While voiding his bowels, he sent a text to Maggie.

Davey: *Wakey, wakey, sleeping beauty. I miss you, o vixen of my heart*

When there was no immediate response, he shrugged his shoulders and got on with his day, dressing and eating breakfast before his classes.

At lunch, there still had been no response from Maggie, so he followed up with:

Davey: *Are we still on to talk tonight?*

Finally, at 3:35, Maggie responded affirmatively to talking at 8:00 pm. David confirmed an hour of "personal time" from 8:00 pm with his roommate, Robert.

So, David used the time until supper to review that day's instruction and tried to enjoy the food service's meatloaf special night, which had to be a practical joke. Yeah, that meatloaf was special all right. Lots of partially eaten meatloaf was stinking up the tray clean-off garbage can, including his. "Oh well, I guess that's one way to try to combat the Freshman 15," he thought.

He returned to his dorm room and waited for the magical hour of 8:00 pm.

= = =

Maggie's day did not begin auspiciously at all. It turned out that she did not completely plug in her phone to recharge overnight, and the phone had completely shut off by the time she was awakened by Rose. So, she did not receive David's early morning missive, which would have brightened her day and possibly would have helped make her a little easier to get along with. She had to leave her phone at home charging during the school day. If there is one thing teen-aged females do not like to be without, it is their phone. Regardless of the school's rule about cell phone use during the school day. So, to be blunt, Maggie was a first-rate heinous bitch to just about everybody she encountered at school.

Arriving at the Lawsons' apartment, she immediately picked the phone off the charger and then noticed David's morning text. That brought a smile to her face, especially when she looked up what dictionary.com states that a vixen was 1) a female fox; 2) an ill-tempered or quarrelsome woman; 3) a woman considered to be sexually attractive. Well, she definitely qualified for options 2 and 3, depending on who you asked today. She was 99.9% certain that David was referencing the third definition. That gave her a very nice tingle in a sensitive place.

Not knowing his Tuesday/Thursday schedule, she decided to wait until closer to 4:00 to reply, so she worked on some more calculus homework and studied some new content presented in her Physics class. Finally, she just could not wait any longer and replied to David's lunchtime inquiry.

Magpie: *Yes, I definitely want to talk (not text) at 8 pm*

Maggie then returned to her homework. She may have been offered a full-ride to State, but she wanted the very best grades she could earn, and she was not going to slack off now.

Rose returned home at 5:25 and, after changing out of her suit and stockings into a t-shirt and sweatpants, she asked what Maggie would like for supper.

"Mom, today was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. I would like some comfort food tonight, please. Mac and cheese with bacon bits?"

"Mags, what made it a... what did you call it?"

"A terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. There was a book and a movie called 'Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day'. I did not charge my phone overnight, the battery was zero, my alarm did not wake me up, and I missed two texts from David because I had to leave it here to charge. I was not a nice person to be around at school today."

"Ok, you've made your point. What vegetable, or is it Mom's choice?" Rose asked.

"Mom's choice should be fine." With that, Maggie turned her attention back to Physics.

Rose prepared the mac and cheese along with broccoli and cauliflower. The two sat and ate together, and during the meal, Rose reminded Maggie that they had appointments with physicians on Wednesday at 4:00 and 4:10, so Rose would be home at 3:30 to be sure they were on time. Maggie was a little excited to be starting birth control pills. A number of her friends were already taking them as well as being sexually active with their boyfriends. Until she had a boyfriend, there really was no need for Maggie to be taking them. Now, however, there could be a good reason.

At 7:55 Maggie headed to her room, taking a hand towel from the bathroom with her. She expected to have good need of it tonight. She lay on her bed and removed her clothing in preparation for the fun. At 7:59 she called David.

"Hey there, lover boy! Are you finally alone?"

"Hi, Magpie. Yes, Robert left about five minutes ago. How was your day?"

"Davey, do you really want to talk about things like that right now? I sure don't."

"Well, I did not want to seem overeager. Let me get prepared. What do you think I need to have ready?"

"One, be naked. Two, a damp washcloth and a dry hand towel. Three, got any lubrication?"

"Ok, I need to get the washcloth. Towel, lube, and nakedness already addressed."

"How is it that you have lube?"

"There's an Adult Toy Store advertising on the highway between here and Middleburg. I stopped in on my way here on Sunday. I kind of had an idea some friction reducer would be needed sooner or later. I'm getting the washcloth now."

"Well, while you're getting your washcloth, what do you want me to be doing?"

"Why don't you trail your fingers from your ear down your neck and throat down to your luscious ..."

"Maggie?" Rose called through the door, "Is everything all right?"

"MOTHER! It will be once you leave us to talk!"

"Well," Rose replied, "as long as THAT is the intercourse you are having, very well. Sleep well, darling."

Maggie and David led each other through all sorts of touching, caressing, and stroking for the next 30 minutes. Very satisfying mutual orgasms were reached.

Once they had both regained their senses and tidied up a bit, the day's stories were shared. For some reason, Maggie's day no longer seemed as terrible, horrible, no good, or very bad as it had earlier. She was still torqued with herself for not properly plugging in her phone to charge though. David related that he probably was not going to be able to transfer to State until next fall, but he would get the process started during the holiday semester break. They talked for about 20 minutes before parting with soft and sincere 'I love you's.

And Maggie did sleep very well that night.

= = =

Tom and Julie met during the mutual non-class time and proceeded to work out the joint schedule. She would spend his T.A. hours in the lab with him but doing her own schoolwork. It was a change to her usual patterns, but she was NOT going to let some slut come in and take what was hers. And, by spending those times proximal to each other, they eliminated the need for extraneous texting. Tom would always walk Julie back to her dorm before heading to his own room, and there was inevitably a lot of kissing going on during those walks. And a whole lot more hand-holding. This was not merely a physical thing for either of them. They supported and encouraged each other to new levels.

Julie made sure to dress very nicely for those times when she was with Tom in the Accounting lab and made no secret that he was hers and hers alone.

= = =

Alan and Rose had their now customary 9:00 pm sync-up, but they engaged in conversation before taking other matters into their own hands.

"Alan, I did put in for the bank manager position in Middleburg, but there's likely to be some stiff competition from elsewhere in the state. There were ten applicants the last time I checked."

"Rose, are you looking to move to Middleburg from Centreville?" Alan was rather surprised at this significant life-change possibility.

"Yes, Alan. Even though our relationship is still so new it squeaks if we turn too quickly, I am ready for a change. With Maggie heading to college next fall, now is as good a time as any to consider such a move."