Scabbard & Blade

Author's note: This story was written for 'Brent'. Thank you for being open and sharing your thoughts and ideas that formed the inspiration for this story. I hope you (and others) will enjoy. May you feel young again!

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Brent Cramer was far from average looking. Tall, dark and handsome certainly fitted his looks. His suntanned shoulders were broad and looked strong like the rest of his physique. He towered over me, making me feel even shorter than I already am. Even though he'd make a lot of women bite their lip, he didn't stand out amongst the rest of his fellow cadets. They were all quite aware of their six packs and wouldn't miss a chance to show off their muscles. Their eighteen or nineteen year old bodies were filled with testosterone and made playful cock fights a reoccurring event. The attempts to woo the female cadets were mostly in vain simply because the older and more composed officers were more interesting to the ladies. Sure, I too was easily impressed by a high rank but the day I joined the ROTC I promised myself to work hard and keep away from any possible rumours of favouring. Being part of the Air Force had been a long time dream and enrolling in The Reserve Officers Training Corps lived up to every expectation I had. We quickly became a tight group of friends and when some of us got picked for the Scabbard & Blade society the friendships intensified even further. Friends with benefits were common but I had no intent to sleep around like some of the others. None of the Air Force cadets tickled my fancy anyway. They were too self absorbed, definitely preferred flying solo and only cared about their packs and new Ray-bans.

The Army guys were somewhat less cocky and, due to their training, real team players. Even though I had no intention of becoming more than friends with any of them I couldn´t help being intrigued by Brent. I felt attracted to him from the first time I laid my eyes on him. Of course I played it cool en tried my best to keep my distance. After all a silly fling would only distract me and possibly interfere with my future plans of becoming a fighter pilot. No matter how much I tried to resist having any romantic feelings for him as freshman year came to an end and summer break started I had developed a real crush on cadet Cramer. I daydreamed about him for hours on end. Wondering about what it would be like being paired up with him during training one moment while fantasizing about Brent pulling rank on me like in a bad porn the next.

When starting new community projects I made sure to be in the same group or have similar enough tasks so we would have to help out each other and work together. Even though being around him almost became an obsession I never dared to make a real move and having to settle for nothing more than a good friendship seemed inevitable. I was stuck in the friend zone and felt a jealous twang every time I spotted him with Tina. A blonde girl, slightly taller and stronger looking than me. Rumour had it she was a freak in the bedroom. Most of the male cadets and some female ones worked hard to find out if there was any truth in the rumours. Tina wasn't shy like me. She was outgoing and easy to talk to and enjoyed the attention she received while guys flirted with her. I would already blush if someone complimented me let alone flirt with me. Brent didn't seem to flirt with Tina, not while others were around at least. It made me suspicious of possible things going on between them in secret.

During one of the summer barbeques I was sitting with Brent and a few other army cadets. We were laughing and joking at the guys trying to set up a volleyball net but who were failing miserably.

"It's upside down, guys!" I pointed out while shaking my head. "They will be the reason we lose the next war," I giggled while handing Brent a drink.

"This way we'll never be able to play," Tina mumbled in an annoyed voice as she got to her feet and walked up to the guys. "Here...Let me help," she said while flirtatiously batting her eye lashes.

"That's it, Tina. Show them how it's done!" Brent laughed, applauding her for coming to their rescue. An uneasy feeling settled in my stomach as he smiled up at her. It was almost like he was now also falling for her ostentatious flirting. Surely Tina might be better at flirting and acting innocent, but at least I knew I would out-play her at volleyball.

Within a few minutes the net was in place and even looked decent enough to withstand a violent game of volleyball. As I envisioned myself smashing the ball "accidentally" full in her face Brent's hand waving in front of me called me out of my evil plot.

"Hey! Are you playing or what?" he asked while holding out his hand to pull me to my feet. I was about to take his hand as he added, "We could join Tina's team."

Instead of taking his offer I ignored his hand, got to my feet and walked to the other side of the net while mumbling, "I'm sure she doesn't need another girl on her team."

Brent gave me a quizzical look but thought it was wise not to question my decision and joined Tina's side.

It was a warm summer's day and knowing how competitive I would become during the game I decided to take off my shirt in case I worked up a sweat. Hesitating for a moment I then also took off my shorts to be more comfortable and make it easier to crouch down for any low balls.

I smiled shyly at some of the guys checking me out in my red bikini but turned away as I noticed Brent staring at me with a flushed look on his face.

"Go ahead, stare!" I thought to myself, "You can look but you can't touch. I'm not Tina." I knew my jealousy wasn't pretty but surely those rumours were coming from somewhere. For a moment I enjoyed the idea of being centre of attention and having some guys figuratively drool over me. Stretching a bit to warm up for the game I gave them a good look at my red bikini top cupping my full breasts. I was about to bend over and stretch my hamstrings as Tina called for the game to start. I chuckled to myself, "The first set is already mine..."

As the game and its players heated up people took turns serving. Some guys were clearly showing off their strength and put all their effort into catapulting the ball to the other side only to let it crash into the net at full speed. Having played volleyball for years myself I knew that strength was only a small part of being a good player. Being agile and fast on the feet was perhaps even more important. Even though I wasn't used to playing on the sand, my well placed serve made me a dangerous opponent. I loved the game but enjoyed Brent's staring eyes even better. I caught him eyeing me up and down every few minutes and made sure to stretch out properly while busting my upper hand serve giving him - and the other guys- a good look at my chest. I could have been imagining it but I was quite sure I even noticed a slightly envious look spreading on his face each time I hugged my team mates for plating a winning smash. That was exactly what I wanted, for him to be jealous. I acted too busy wiping away sand whenever he'd high five Tina. There was tension building between us. I could see it in his eyes and felt it in my body. Of course the game came to a tie. As Tina was getting ready for serving the deciding ball Brent and I were facing each other with only the volleyball net between us. He tried to intimidate me with his dark eyes staring down at me, but I bit my lip to hide the cheeky grin I felt coming up. This wasn't about the score of the game it was a personal matter and I was convinced we both knew that.

"Ready to lose, Lori?" Brent asked with a serious voice, raising an eyebrow to add more drama to his words. His big strong hands were resting on his hips and I felt an almost uncontrollable urge to run my fingertips down his ripped chest. There was no doubt in my mind. He knew I was drawn to him like a moth to a flame and he loved teasing me with it. It made me wonder why he'd never shown any signs of romantic feelings for me. As the question crossed my mind I saw Tina was about to serve the volleyball and instantly had my answer.

My grin faded and I turned around but not before whispering, "You're going down, Cramer."

As I turned my back on him I pulled my bikini bottoms from my butt and made the material snap against my skin. The next sound I heard was the thud of the ball being brought into play. It was played back and forth a few times and the short rally was about to end Tina used her fist to swing the ball across the net. Acting on instinct I jumped up and blocked the ball with a flat hand making it bounce off to the other side and going straight into the sand. A mighty roar sounded from my teammates as if they had won a war instead of an innocent game of friendly volleyball.

For a moment I feared I was going to get lifted on shoulders as the guys cheered my name and hugged me. They acted like my blocking hand had saved the day and I chuckled at their overly enthusiastic celebration. As I tried to calm them down and make them realise it was just a game I felt a tap on my shoulder. Turning around I looked up and saw Brent's smiling face.

"Good job! You played well," he said while casually scratching the back of his head.

"Thanks, you sound surprised though..." I felt my cheeks blush as I looked at his cute smile but tried my best to play it cool.

He shook his head with a smile, "Not surprised, impressed though." There was a hint of shyness over him and he looked around, as if to see who was standing close. "I've always known you're a tough little one," he whispered while winking at me. I could feel my cheeks burning up more but didn't want to let him know I enjoyed his flirtatious words.

"So what is my prize?" I asked him, trying to be bold and ignoring his flattery. His eyes narrowed for a split second as he thought for a moment before replying.

"A prize?" he asked, realizing I was playing along with his little game of teasing back and forth. All of a sudden his face cleared up. No longer nervous or shy, but more confident and almost cocky, he placed his hands on his hips. It was like the sense of competition from a few minutes ago at the net was back in his system. "Fine...What do you think you deserve?" Brent said to my surprise.

I hadn't really thought about an answer and the question caught me off guard. "I eh...I...," I stuttered as I tried thinking of a request other than an hour-long make out session. All of a sudden I knew what to ask for, "A dance!"

"I don't dance," was Brent's immediate reply while shaking his head.

I chuckled at his reaction and answered with a cheeky smile on my face, "I don't either, but you owe me something. Next week at the homecoming party."

Brent was obviously uncomfortable with the idea of dancing with me but I wasn't sure if it was the dancing part or the prospect of being paired up with me that made him uneasy. Perhaps he had plans of going with someone else. I didn't want to spoil things for Brent. Even though I really hated imagining Tina with him, it was possible that they would attend as a couple on a first date. To ensure my opportunity to be close to his body without looking suspicious I decided to make my demands clear.

"We meet at the party, just one dance and that's all. Deal?" I asked in my most seductive voice while holding out my hand.

He hesitated for a moment but smiled while nodding his head. Brent took my hand and shook it, "Yes...deal!"