That Fine Line

This was written for the 750 Word Project. The story itself is exactly 750 words long according to Microsoft Word. Thanks for reading!

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"Can you help me, please?"

I did, several times, always hoping she'd be back again.

In their infinite wisdom, the powers that be in Financial Aid had assigned me to the Computer Help Desk rather than doing something productive like the programming I'd requested. Thus, I spent my weekly work-study hours mostly showing CS100 students what they were missing to make their programs run. I hated it.

That changed when she showed up. Unlike most in the class, she was a senior. I'd admired her from afar around campus for three years, but didn't know her name and she didn't volunteer it when she sought help. Her sweatshirt was for a sorority I didn't recognize, so I knew she was too far above me to even consider speaking with me.

Therefore, I decided to change that.

In those pre-internet days, I found a copy of Phalen's excellent treatise From Geek to Stud: A Survivor's Tale, at a local used book store. It and an old Playboy went home with me.

That Friday night, I begged off from my usual Dungeons and Dragons session; the other players would have to do without my 24th level mage. Instead of spending the night fighting giants and dragons, I battled my way through the pages of Phalen's, taking notes as I went. I awoke on Saturday morning with my bedside lamp still on and the book on the bed next to me. I finished it by noon and started my transformation. The Playboy going into the trash was the first step.

For the next two weeks, I became Mr. Phalen's devoted follower, and even my fellow geeks did a double-take at the changes.

Beard? Gone!

Haircut? Check!

Contacts, a few new clothes, attention to hygiene, and controlling annoying mannerisms? Check!

Despite my doubts, I was also attempting to exude Phalen's most important asset: confidence.

Then she showed up at the help desk again. "Excuse me, where's the guy that usually works here?"

I looked up at her. "He's history. Can I help you?"

After we'd solved her issue, I asked, "May I take you to dinner sometime?"

Her eyes wide, she nodded. "I'm Dani."

I liked her, but despite being a sorority girl, Dani revealed relatively little about herself over three dates. Meanwhile, I was Phalen's "model gentleman," careful not to cross the line and reveal my geekiness. There was a polite kiss on the cheek after date one, a short kiss on the lips after the second. But when we got to her door after the third, that changed. Our kiss didn't end and she pulled me into her dorm room. Clothes went flying; before long, I was in heaven.

Starting out, I planned to use my admittedly limited past experience and some new techniques from Krygorski's Annotated Kama Sutra, but seeing her hands gripping the sheets as I tongued her clit gave me more confidence than anything. Krygorski's was soon forgotten, and Dani was all that mattered as I entered her. We rocked together, on and on, until we climaxed.

Afterward, she put her head on my chest. "Alan, I really like you and the sex was... mind-blowing, but we're just too different. I'm sorry; I can't see you again. Please...just go."

Heartbroken, I dressed and was walking out when I saw her Greek sweatshirt on a hook.

"Dani, what's your sorority? I don't recognize it."

"Oh, you wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

She looked down. "It's my role-playing group. We made them as a joke because all you preppies look down on us."

"Me? Preppy?" I laughed before it struck me. "Wait! You role play? What's your character?"

"I'm a 26th-level, half-elven cleric."

"Half-elves can't go that high, or do you play relaxed rules? I play a mage."

Our mouths fell open when we realized we'd both stepped across that fine line that separates what society sees as normal from the world of geekiness, and despite what Mr. Phalen and the preppies of the world think, neither of us cared.

"You're not a prep?"

"No. You're not in a sorority?"

Demurely pulling back her sheet to reveal her reclined nakedness, she asked, "Great mage, can your wondrous staff work its magic on this poor, sorority-less half-elf again tonight?"

My clothes came back off as fast as I could shed them.

Grinning as she took me in her hands and mouth, I replied, "With my sweet cleric performing her fellatio spell to give me strength, we'll make it a damn good fight together..."

The End