The Perils of Love Ch. 01

Anyway, like I said, it was fun. It was a distraction.

Every time, I was the invited.

I decided one time I'd be the initiator.

I approached one girl (assumed because the username was feminine) and she answered, You're Glendall's friend? If so, I don't want anything to do with you.

I banged on the cinder block wall with the heel of a shoe and my neighbor was summoned. He came to the door.

"Are you Glendall?"

"How'd you guess?" he answered with the shit-eating grin on his face.

Glendall is my neighbor. I wouldn't call him a friend necessarily I typed.

Glendall is a disgusting moron.

Yes. Yes he is. You're the first person I've ever asked to chat. Sorry to have bothered you.

You need to know that Glendall is giving your screen name to every human he key-bangs.

You mean women, right?

Maybe he thinks so.

I laughed out loud at the comment.

"What's so funny?" my neighbor asked.

"Nothing. Now go away."

Her revelation on the screen explained my "success" in the meetups. They apparently weren't random encounters. "Glendall" was pimping me.

My admission to her was all it took.

She told me her name.

Sunny and I chatted for close to two hours. SFW chat. No net-sex. After learning what my neighbor was doing to my reputation, I no longer had any interest in the iScrew nonsense at all.

Sunny was different. She was a freshman at her university. She was … genuine. Our conversations were real.

The online meetups with her went on for months. We both had to take a hiatus during the winter break, because a call to the terminal server was long distance from home and I wasn't soaking in money. That was back when a long distance in-state call cost maybe $1.00 for ten minutes. Yes, making a phone call farther than maybe fifteen miles away cost a fortune! It was often less expensive to call across the country than it was to call a county or two away. It was called intrastate toll, and it was stupid as all hell, but it was life back then. Plus, she had no computer at home, or even a phone line for that matter.

Our conversations resumed as soon as we were both back in school in the spring.

I was loving the spring, partly because I had only one class to finish to earn my minor in Mathematics and three electives to meet the total credit-hour requirements for my major degree. Instead of easy underwater basket weaving sorts, I enrolled in three classes which would look good on my transcript.

Chatting with Sunny became more addicting. The first exchanges were often something like, Can you stay online longer this time?

When I was barely two months from graduation, I began to get desperate. I realized time was about to end. The relationship (or whatever it was) with Sunny would be untenable after I graduated. I'd already accepted a job seven hundred miles away and couldn't assume I'd have access to facilities which would allow me to connect to the system we'd been using for almost seven months, plus, she'd be on summer break without access to a computer for three months.

Hey. I really would like to know what you look like. Can you mail me a picture?

Only if you mail me one, too.

We exchanged addresses. We both assumed if we mailed them on the same day, we'd both receive them the same day. We were right.

Wow. I always imagined you being very pretty. You look almost exactly like my mental picture. But better.

You're really cute also! I got a picture of your neighbor too.

What?? You exchanged photos with Glendall?

No way. I didn't send him ANYTHING. He asked for my address but I deliberately didn't include my box number. I assumed the mail room would send it back but they looked it up and delivered it. He looks like a dork. His goofy pencil mustache makes him look like Vincent Price. I don't care for Vincent Price.

I pinned her photo on my cork board then removed it because I decided I didn't want "Dork" to ever see it.

About a month before graduation, I proposed an idea.

Given I had secured a job in my chosen profession, I was able to secure credit, and I bought my first new car. Like new new. My 1980 Pontiac was more than ten years old and on its last legs. The college graduate financing incentive allowed deferring the initial payment for three months, so it wouldn't be due until after I'd received my inaugural paycheck. At that point, it had less than three hundred miles on the odometer. The car and I both were itching for a road trip. Her university was only two hundred fifty or so miles from mine, which would be an easy five-hour drive.

Would it be okay if I come there to meet you?

When? she asked.

Next weekend?

Sounds fun! But listen. If I get a bad vibe, you have to leave, no questions asked. Is that clear? If not, remember I have a brother. If you don't think you can behave, then the answer is no.

All I knew of her family at that point was that she had a brother and one sister.

Totally fair, and I promise I'll be a gentleman. But if I get an odd sense about you, I'm reserving the right to tuck tail and run. I hope not though! I'm excited!

You're funny! I can't wait. Bring your camera. A festival starts next Friday and you might find some interesting photo ops.

She knew I was an amateur photographer. Well, technically pro because I'd made money on a few shots I'd taken for magazine contests. No way I could make a living on what was only a hobby, though.

When Dork learned the news, he was excited, too, and begged me to let him come along. He offered to pay for gas and a hotel, so I agreed. I sent Sunny a message warning her.

I drove us there on a Friday afternoon, leaving as soon as both our last classes of the day were over. I think it was about eight o'clock when we arrived at her dormitory building which was much nicer than the dump we lived in. Her complex looked more like apartments than the '60s era blockhouse-like tower Dork and I occupied.

We needed a few minutes to orient ourselves and figure out how the rooms were numbered, but I finally found and knocked on Sunny's door.

"Hey!" She answered the door with a smile. She did some sort of double-take with double-blinks of her wide eyes. "Whoa ."

I was stunned. She was definitely the girl in the photo, but just barely. The lady I saw at the door looked even better. She was … beautiful. I took in her flowing, wavy, long auburn-brown hair, soulful brown eyes with thick lashes, and a broad smile showing perfect pearly teeth.

"Wow right back," I awkwardly answered.

"You're taller than I expected."

"Yeah."

I didn't have a clue what to say. I was out of my mind and suddenly nerve-wracked.

Dork pushed his way past me and shoved his hand out. Sunny looked at it but didn't offer her own, so he withdrew it and ran it through his hair.

She offered hers to me, and I gently took her fingers in my palm. She pulled me into the tiny entryway which connected two bedrooms and a shared bathroom. Dork followed. Sunny stood at the open door.

I heard her hush-yell, "Hurry! He's⁠—they're here!"

Three other ladies arrived. One was a really big girl who was wearing a bathrobe and a towel on her head. She had opaque cream all over her face. The other two women were wearing the typical college-girl modest pajamas. Even though one of the three other girls was quite pretty, I suddenly felt very uncomfortable.

Dork, on the other hand, had his shit-eating smile plastered on his face. I had no idea what he was thinking. Given his giddy expression, I wager he wondered if an orgy was in the offing, whereas I was imagining four women about to kick our asses, forcing us to sing folk songs while making us walk down the hallway naked. I began asking myself if I was going to tuck tail and run away.

Sunny introduced the trio of women. The big gal was her roommate. The other two occupied the adjacent room of the four-person suite.

"You didn't think I'd meet up with you alone, did you?" Sunny whispered into my ear, apparently sensing my angst.

I was relieved when I realized those ladies were simply her posse. After polite introductions and basic backgrounders, her roommate left for a few minutes and returned without the face cream. Her hair was brushed out. She then looked the part.

When nine o'clock came, Dork and I were reminded to keep our voices down since males weren't allowed on the floor after that time.

The cute blonde girl had brought a board game with her. I think it was Scattergories or something like that. We played for a while, then played Uno. Sunny sat next to me the entire time and didn't seem to mind when I'd occasionally lean very softly into her, shoulder to shoulder, increasing surface contact between us. She occasionally did the same to me. I kept my hands to myself, as did she.

Her perfume slayed me. It absolutely set my hair on fire. I'd never smelled anything so delightfully alluring.

Dork was sitting next to me with the blonde gal on his other side. Any time he'd play a card, he'd lean abruptly against her, forcing her to lean into the big girl. Blonde was obviously put off, but he wasn't getting the message. He even put his hand between her calves when reaching for an escaped Yahtzee die, and I saw her wince with rolling eyes and furrowed brows at the repeated intrusions into her personal space.

It was close to one o'clock in the morning when the posse checked the halls and silently escorted us out of the building, Dork before me. When her roommate returned to fetch me, she found Sunny and I holding hands and kissing.

They were very nice kisses. They were the first I'd experienced in the years since Mel's. They were very. nice. kisses.

I heard a giggle behind me. "Whaaat?"

When Sunny saw her roommate standing there, she kissed me softly one more time and said, "Good night," and closed the door with an incredibly sweet smile on her face. Roomie had a look of surprise on hers which made me chuckle.

The posse worked together to smuggle me out of the forbidden zone. Each manned a segment of a path to gender-neutral territory as the one ahead watched to make sure the coast was clear. I was instructed by the blonde girl to meet them all in the ground floor's lounge the following morning at 9:00am.

Dork was waiting at my car. I was sure I was to be the subject of discussion among four women as soon as I departed.

"Why do you look so happy?" he asked.

"No particular reason. Just glad to be heading to the hotel. I'm whooped," I lied.

Dork checked us in. I took the lumpy pull-out, and he took the king since he paid for the room. Even though the pull-out was uncomfortable, there was no way I was going to share a bed with another dude, especially that dude. I was tired, but I needed a while to fall asleep. Sunny's kisses were very distracting. I could still taste her on my lips.

We met at the appointed hour the next morning. Sunny was by herself. She surprised the hell out of me when she told Dork, "My friends were going to show you around town, but they decided not to this morning. All three said they aren't feeling well."

"That's a bummer," he said. "I guess I'll hang with y'all then."

Both of us stared at him silently. It surprised even more hell out of me that he got the message. He demanded I take him back to the hotel. Sunny came with us which meant Dork was relegated to the rear seat of my car, a chore he found objectionable.

After we'd deposited him at the hotel, Sunny directed me to a quaint little café in the town square where she held a part-time job as a waitress.

"So, I guess there's no weird vibe?" I asked.

"No," she answered with a wonderfully sweet smile. "None at all."

We held hands while we waited for our food. I knew from our months of conversing online that I really, really liked her. I hadn't yet realized I'd fallen in love with her, but I had. When her lips and tongue touched mine the prior night, and her hand held mine the following morning, it slammed me in the face. I was hooked. We enjoyed our late breakfast together, chatting for more than an hour.

I know it sounds freaking nuts that a person could totally and completely fall in love with another after being in their presence for barely a day, but I had. It wasn't like I'd known her for only a day. I'd known her for seven months. I'd fallen in love with her, and the physical attraction that weekend was the icing on the cake. It was delicious icing, but the cake was what mattered, and the cake was phenomenal.

If you try to tell me the method of "dating" is critical to its outcome, I'll tell you you're an outdated idiot. I'll politely tell you to "screw off," and remind you that Sunny and I happened to be years ahead of eHarmony and Tinder and all this "modern" crap.

We spent all day at the festival and had a hell of a lot of fun. It was like a state fair, only smaller in scale. We fed each other lots of tasty treats and snacks. We enjoyed lots of handholding, sweet smooches, and tender kisses, but when I brushed my hand over her delightfully pretty bottom, I crossed a line.

"Not here," she softly said.

The implication of her admonition aroused me. It also made me fixate on her butt. It wasn't off limits to my eyes, and her words told me it might not be off limits to my touch later.

We left the festival about 6:30 that evening. Before I drove us back to Sunny's campus, she said, "We need to stop by Uptown Pizza. I made a deal involving bringing dinner for my suitees."

It was a clever play on words, referring to her other suitemates. We brought back two deep-dishes which the five of us enjoyed in the lounge.

"Your friend is an asshole," the cute blonde said after she'd pulled a slice from the box and taken a bite.

"Whoa! That's uncalled for. He's socially awkward, yeah, but he's not that bad." I had no idea why I was defending him.

She chuckled. "Socially awkward? No. He tried to grab my ass when I was walking him out of the building last night, but I caught him … aiming." She visibly shuddered and grimaced. "I jumped out of the way as he made his move."

Sunny's eyes widened as big as dinner plates.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Sunny demanded.

"No reason to, really," she answered and shrugged.

"I thought he was after me," Sunny said.

"What?" I barked.

"Yeah. I probably should've told you he sent me another letter this week telling me I should consider him if you and I didn't get along. It gave me the willies reading it. I mean, is he for real? I'll give it to you before you leave."

"No. No way," I said, waving my hands in front of me. "I'll only be around the guy for a few more weeks. The less I know, the better."

After we finished noshing on pizza, Sunny gave me the tour of her campus, showing me lots of sights. We walked and talked for hours until sunlight waned, and stars began to appear. It was a beautiful spring evening, and a half-moon was overhead. It took us a delightful forever to walk back to her building.

As we neared, I said, "It's getting late. I'd like to see you tomorrow morning before I head back if that's okay with you."

I didn't even notice she'd led me into an alley between two buildings. It was pretty dark. She pulled me close to her and kissed me. She removed one of the hands I'd placed on her waist, moved it to her bottom, then kissed me fiercely.

"You don't need to go anywhere tonight. We need to be in my room by nine, okay?"

"Yeah, that's so okay. But … what about your roommate?"

"Silence from all three cost only two pizzas. My roommate is staying in the other room. But … understand that not a lot is going to happen, okay?"

"Sounds perfect. Lead the way."

Not a lot was far more than I expected.

Her pace quickened as we walked hand-in-hand toward her complex. She broke our grasp when we were a half-block away, and I simply followed a few paces behind her, watching her rump as her legs flexed in the scurry. Damn, hers was a fine little backside. We returned to her room. It was, indeed, vacant. Sunny pointed to a bookmark hanging on the bulletin board from a loop of yarn and said, "Hang it outside the bathroom door if you need to use it."

It made me laugh.

"Hush!" she admonished me. "We have to be quiet. I'll be right back."

She excused herself from the room after taking a few items of clothing from her dresser. I used the privacy to change into the pair of shorts I'd slept in the prior night.

When she returned, she was wearing very cute fleecy pajama shorts and a matching button-down top.

She pushed me into her bed, climbed on top of me, and kissed me. She then sat up with her hands on my shoulders. She saw me glance at her chest and gave me a subtle nod. I tentatively reached out and stroked both of her breasts with the backs of my hands and fingers.

"Oh my god," I whispered as I gently cupped her, feeling the weight of her flesh. She pressed my palms into her chest. A few moments later, she playfully swatted my hands away and began to unbutton her top.

"Sunny, please don't. Please don't do anything you don't want to do," I whispered. I had no idea where the words came from.

"I'm not," she said with the most brilliant smile I'd seen on her.

She arched her back and released the last button, then dove to my face and impaled my mouth with her tongue.

I went inside my own mind for a few moments, reveling in the flavor and texture of her tongue between my lips. I nudged her upright and opened the front of her shirt. She let it fall from her shoulders behind her. She offered me the sight of the first breasts I'd ever seen outside of a magazine. They mesmerized me. They were beyond beautiful. I was entranced by them. Her nipples were situated in milk chocolate-colored disks the size of quarters. They stood proud and went rigid under my thumbs as I stroked them.

I could only guess an instinct compelled me to draw one into my mouth. She tasted salty. She tasted delicious. Her skin smelled like the outdoors.

"Oh, wow. That feels so …" she murmured. "I've never …"

She never finished the thought.

She rolled off my pelvis then settled onto her side and into the pillows, spooning into me. I wrapped my arm around her, and she held my hand snuggly to her breast. I nuzzled into her hair. She pulled her mane away from her neck which encouraged me to kiss and nibble her there. She seemed to like it because I heard, or perhaps felt, the subtlest of low moans.

I removed my hand from her grasp and placed it atop her fleece-covered hip and stroked her thigh. On the up-stroke, I allowed my hand to go into the leg of her loose-fitting shorts. I felt her goosebumps rising as I neared her hip. My hand met her panties, and I traced the elastic at the leg toward her bottom. When I got close to the union, I thought I felt something before she quickly tilted her hip into me, cutting off the path.

I reversed direction and followed the elastic the other way, toward her front, but a hand held mine fast as it approached. She went tense.

"Sorry. I'm sorry. I should've asked first," I whispered into her ear.

I had no desire to press her beyond her comfort zone. I should have let her maintain the lead she'd taken earlier.

"I promised you I'd behave, and I didn't. I'm so sorry, Sunny."

Even though she was reclined, I could feel her slump.

"You're okay, Gary. It's not that. It's … I've … um … I've got a bit of a problem right now."

I placed my hand back on her tummy, outside of her jammies, and held it there, feeling the warmth of her body. After a few moments, it dawned on me. I understood. I realized what she was politely telling me. What I'd encountered with my hand might have been a feminine item.