Innocent Milf Ch. 29

Chapter 29

It was nearly Halloween.

The rest of the month had sped by, filled with college classes, phone calls to Cary, and even writing a few letters to Jack and Sascha. Aaron got me set up on his computer with access to email, which the school provided for free. I'd never used it before, but it came in handy for keeping in touch with other college students in different states.

Jack was much more communicative after connecting to the internet; despite his love of history and historical re-enactment, he had a lot of trouble making himself sit down and write letters by hand. He told me all about his months at college, and even revealed that he and Jenna had been trying to make things work long-distance. I empathized. It seemed hard enough having to wait to see Cary once a month; knowing that I'd have to wait until Christmas break would have been torture.

Especially since I had started to meet some more people in class that I would have been happy to date if I had been unattached. While Beth was a semi-regular visitor to the same events that Aaron and I went to, and even hung out with us for lunch or dinner more than once, I didn't have any real attraction to her. Aaron had started to speak to her like a normal human being, which of course she appreciated.

A few girls in both my piano class and my American Literature class had asked about coffee more than once. After Sascha's admonition that I was pretty dense about clues she had dropped, I paid a lot more attention to girls' behavior, and had started to pick up on little tells. Some of them would laugh more often at jokes that I made than jokes made by others, or would occasionally fiddle with their hair while talking to me.

So when Tiffany--who was helping me to work through some simple piano etudes--asked if I was free for lunch, I was less thunderstricken than my high school self would have been. Smiling, I demurred and told her that I'd take a rain check. After the third such time, Todd from my Intro to Piano class took notice.

"Dude, are you gay or something?" he asked. "Whatever you have going on, it can wait. Coffee with Tiffany or Cheryl should always take precedence."

I shook my head and tapped the ring on my forefinger. "Not gay, just taken."

"She must be something," Todd muttered with a roll of his eyes. "She's not even here, right?"

"She's back home," I replied. "She has an art studio."

Todd nudged me and winked. "Back home is too far away for anybody to keep an eye on things. Believe me, she's probably shopping around, too."

I rolled my eyes. "No way, dude. We'd never cheat on each other."

"Not cheating if she never finds out," Todd replied, with a slap on the back that I didn't much appreciate.

"Yeah," I answered without a backward glance. "It is."

His attitude didn't seem to be the default, but I encountered it more often than I would have thought. And it didn't come up often in conversation, but when it did, I made it clear that my loyalty was with Cary. My American Lit professor even started jokingly calling me "Galahad" after I said during a discussion about The Scarlet Letter that I thought honesty and loyalty were keystones of any stable relationship.

Cary surprised me by telling me that she had sat down with her kids and explained some of the situation to them. Nothing explicit, of course. But telling her kids that I was her boyfriend meant that of course Eric would know. I wondered if he still planned to hire a private investigator--or already had. Not that there would be anything for an investigator to find except that Cary and I spent an hour or two per week on the phone with each other.

We had planned our Halloween costumes together over the phone, and I was excited both to show mine off and to see Cary in hers. Remembering that Eric had picked out a scanty Catwoman outfit to go with his Superman costume last year, we joked that we had to match better than that. There would clearly be dozens of Halloween parties all over campus, most of which would likely be associated with frats or sororities. Ours was a history department party (the English department wasn't throwing one, and since history was one of my double minors, I was invited).

"Who are you going as?" Aaron asked Beth as we sat at a table in the mess hall, making small talk before I headed to French. A second language was a requirement for my degree, and French seemed the natural choice.

Beth looked down at her drink and frowned. "I was thinking Marie Curie or something historically relevant. I'm sure that half the girls there will be dressed as nurses or cats or something, so I want to do something different."

Aaron smiled. "I'm sure you'll stand out, no matter what," he said. I raised an eyebrow--it was the closest he'd come to flirting without being an awkward dweeb so far. Maybe there was hope for him yet. "I've got something in mind you'll probably both recognize," he continued.

"Oh yeah?" Beth took a sip of her canned iced tea. "What?"

Aaron suddenly looked a little nervous. "Uh... Tetsuo. A character from--"

"From Akira?" Beth interrupted. "Oh, wow. That's niche. Good one. Hmmm. That gives me an idea. I bet I could pull it off before the end of the week." She turned towards me. "What about you?"

"Secret," I answered. "Cary and I have a plan for something that matches. Aaron might get it. If anybody else does, that'll be neat."

Beth frowned. "Give us a hint."

"You'd probably recognize it if you've spent some time in an arcade," I answered.

"Like Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man?" Beth asked. I just shrugged.

The week passed too slowly; Friday seemed like it would never get there. After I finished class, I nearly bolted for the door, eager to see Cary. We had agreed to meet for dinner before going to the hotel room she had booked. Without the promise of most people being off-campus for break, it seemed more sensible to stay elsewhere than to try to sneak Cary into our room. Especially since Aaron would be there.

She looked nervous when she got out of her car, and my stomach dropped.

"What's wrong?" I asked as I approached, and reached for her hand.

Cary pushed herself up against me and wrapped her arms around my neck. "Rough week. Eric has been making the kids uncomfortable, and I had a hard talk with Lori."

I squeezed her. "About what?"

"About... well, about us. She still thinks it's a bad idea, and she keeps pointing out problems." Cary looked up at my face with wide eyes. "Are you happy?"

I chuckled. "Are you kidding? I'm happier now than I've been in weeks. You make me happy."

Cary sighed with relief and murmured something into my chest. I hugged her tighter. "What was that?" I asked.

"I said, I just don't want to trap you," she repeated, barely audible.

I could feel a frown on my face as I held her at arms' length and studied her face. "Hey. What's all this? Trapped? I don't feel trapped. I feel as happy and free as I've ever felt in my life. Where is this coming from?" A sudden thought occurred to me, making my heartbeat thunder in my ears. "Do you feel trapped?"

Cary shook her head violently. "No. No, absolutely not. But I'm an old lady who's already got a family, and you have your whole life--"

I put a finger over her lips. Both she and my hand were shaking slightly. "Enough of that. 'Old lady?' What nonsense. Come here." I pulled her close and ran my hands through her hair. It abruptly occurred to me that we were standing in the parking lot with the door of her car still yawning open. "Uh... do you want to go get dinner first? Or check in first?"

Cary shuddered and held me tighter. "I just want to stand here for a moment and feel safe. I had a rough drive up." We stood for a minute until she felt better, and looked up at me again. "Okay, I'm sorry. I get nervous, you know? All these pretty girls around, and all these new experiences around every corner... I guess I just feel like I can't compete."

I slowly guided her towards my dorm so I could get my clothes for the weekend. "It's not a competition. I chose you. And I still choose you. You're my Cary, and I love you. Being away from you isn't tempting, it's torture. There's no need to worry."

Cary breathed out. "That's how I feel, too."

I snaked my hand around her hip and worked it around until I could feel skin beneath the hem of her shirt. "Hey, we started our relationship out by navigating a swingers' party and showing that even in a group of horny rich kids that you said looked like models, we could keep control and be true to each other. You think this compares?" I waved my other arm vaguely towards the campus.

A giggle combined with a snort as Cary remembered. "Oh my God. I still can't believe I did all that." She made a mock-frown and sternly poked a finger into my sternum. "This party of yours tonight better not be something similar."

I laughed. "Unless the button-up faculty of the history department are secretly a cadre of swinging cats from the 60's and tricking a bunch of college nerds into the same thing, I think we're safe." I tapped my fingers at her waist rhythmically. "I'm just looking forward to dancing with you a little and then spending the next two days together."

We opened the door to my dorm room and I grabbed a backpack stuffed with clothes and toiletries. Cary glanced around. "No Aaron today?" she asked teasingly.

I grabbed my paperback of Dune Messiah from my desk to shove into the backpack as well. "He's around somewhere. Not in class right now, so who knows?" I flipped the pack over my shoulder and gestured to the door. "Seriously, though. You and I knew our situation would come with some challenges. Not being able to see each other except for once a month is tough. But I feel solid, still. And it sounds like you do, too."

Cary sighed. "I do. Yeah, I do. I just... it's hard to unlearn half a lifetime's worth if distrust in relationships. Every time I thought I had true love, it blew up in my face." She held up a hand as I drew in a breath to answer, "And I don't think that you're like Adam or Eric. I really don't. I love you more than I've ever loved anybody except my kids, and I trust you. I just can't help feeling that under the surface of anything good is a simmering disaster just waiting to explode with catastrophe."

We had reached her car, and I opened her door for her. "I get it. I mean, I don't get it. I've never had to deal with anything like what you have. But I hear what you're saying. All I can say is that you don't have anything to worry about from me, and I know I don't have anything to worry about from you."

Cary relaxed as she drove, and our conversation turned to lighter things. In the back of my mind, I wondered if Cary's friends were trying to sabotage our relationship on purpose, or if they truly just thought that the age difference was insurmountable. According to Cary, her friend Lori especially had been pretty negative about things. I could never be truly mad at Lori--not after hearing how she supported Cary after the Valentines' Day debacle years ago--but it certainly didn't endear her to me any.

We broke in the hotel room bed thoroughly before going to get some light dinner. The Halloween party was due to start at 8pm, so we took our time with everything until about 7:30, and then started to get into our costumes. I had gotten a red gi and matching trousers from a martial arts supply store, and ripped off the sleeves. A pair of dark brown padded fingerless training gloves from the same store, and a black belt completed the costume.

Cary spent a while putting her hair in two braids down the back--her hair had now gotten just long enough to do that. She then pulled on a green leotard, a pair of combat boots that I recognized from our paintball getups, and a red beret. She took a few extra moments to take out some Halloween store makeup and paint some rough camouflage patterns on her legs before washing her hands and pulling on long red gloves whose fingers she had cut off.

Ken and Cammy from Street Fighter II were ready to hit the party. I felt a nostalgic twinge--our rounds of competing at arcade games had been a mainstay of our time together as our feelings grew. It felt like a callback to the roots of our friendship to dress as characters from one of our favorite shared gaming experiences.

On the drive there, we chatted about whether people would recognize our costumes, and decided to keep a running count of those who did. I was excited to dance with Cary, and to see what other costumes I could guess. And I hadn't forgotten that I planned to make sure Aaron had at least one conversation with a girl.

Once we arrived at the hall where the party was taking place, I was stricken by a sense of déjà vu; the darkening sky, the yellow lights outlining costumed dancers in the windows, and the gravel parking lot all reminded me of Cary's disastrous birthday party. Had that really been earlier this year? It seemed like a lifetime.

The doors opened and the sound of Ace of Base flooded out, making Cary smile immediately. We walked in and I started looking for familiar faces. Some of them were behind masks, but I could still pick out several classmates. A few professors hovered near the edges, watching. The dance floor was hardly packed, but enough vampires, sexy nurses, and cartoon characters were already out there that we wouldn't stand out.

I tugged Cary's hand and gestured towards the dancing, and she immediately grinned and skipped out with me. We danced for a few songs--the Monster Mash and Everybody Dance Now followed Ace of Base, and we took a break for some punch. I couldn't help but notice several girls in what looked like sexy sailor costumes. Cary noticed, too. "Who are they supposed to be?"

My eyebrows pulled down in concentration. "Aaron and Beth were both talking about a show called Sailor Moon. Maybe it's that?"

As we looked over the small crowd, a guy in a Beetlejuice costume came up to the punch bowl and gave us each a once-over. His eyes lingered longer on Cary's legs. "Street Fighter. Nice."

Cary grinned. "That's one," she said as he left.

"Let me introduce you around," I answered. "There's my Early American History professor."

Taking her hand lightly, I guided Cary towards an in-shape salt-and-pepper late fortysomething dressed in a Bela Lugosi-style Dracula outfit. He made a theatrical bow as we approached, and nodded towards us. "Sir Galahad," he said with a slight lisp, by way of greeting. "Nice costumes. Are you two supposed to be from Bloodsport or something?"

I chuckled. "Close. It's an arcade game called Street Fighter II--one of our favorites. This is my girlfriend, Cary Bernham. Cary, Professor Tully."

"Ah," Professor Tully smiled, revealing plastic fangs--the origin of his lisp at the moment. "So, this is the fabled girlfriend. It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Bernham."

"'Fabled,' no less," Cary grinned. "What has Matt been telling people?"

"Matt--our resident Galahad--has been as tight-lipped as a Priest. His roommate, on the other hand..." Professor Tully made a 'yapping' hand gesture.

Cary colored, and I rolled my eyes. "Jeez. For real? What has he been saying?"

"And what's with 'Galahad?'" Cary added.

"'Galahad' is what some of the faculty have been calling Mister Baker here, ever since he got hot under the collar during a Scarlet Letter discussion about the importance of loyalty in a relationship." The satin black-and-red cape swirled as Professor Tully shrugged. "Not to embarrass him, but it wouldn't surprise me to find out he carried an icon of you like a medieval pilgrim."

I pulled back one of the finger-stubs on my gloves to reveal the ring on my forefinger. "I mean, I kinda do," I answered sheepishly. Cary made an aw sound, and pressed herself closer to me.

"And as for your associate Mister Sheffield, he seems to think that you are a goddess descended from Olympus, and that your boyfriend here is a paragon of chivalric loyalty and virtue." He gave me a broad wink and nudged me melodramatically. "That should keep you out of trouble for a few days," he stage-whispered.

Cary laughed. "You should hear what my friends back home probably say about me," she replied. "I'm sure they're sick to death of my chattering about Matt and flashing around our bracelet."

Professor Tully glanced back and forth between us for a moment. "Forgive me if I'm being rude, but you seem as though you've probably already graduated college," he said to Cary.

Cary nodded, suddenly self-conscious. "Oh, yeah. Some time ago. Quite some time ago."

Seeing her discomfort, the professor immediately changed tack. "And what did you major in?"

"Graphic arts," Cary answered happily. "I'm a painter. Mostly gallery work, but I occasionally do some commercial stuff."

As they chatted, I glanced over the room, and noticed Aaron entering hesitantly. I had to admit that his costume really did look like the protagonist-turned-villain from Akira. He had even apparently used a bunch of hair spray to make his dark hair stick up in spiky shocks, just like the cartoon character. His whole right arm was covered in various flexible tubing, tinfoil, and duct tape. It didn't look comfortable, but it did look kind of like a robot arm.

I waved, and he walked towards us, stopping only to smile at a few people who said something to him. I noticed that a few of the Sailor Moon girls pointed and smiled in recognition. As he arrived, I turned my attention back to the conversation Professor Tully and Cary were having. By now, he had asked her to call him "James" and they were laughing about some 80's reference.

"Well, I'm not sure what you're supposed to be, Mister Sheffield," Professor Tully greeted Aaron. "Whatever it is, it's certainly remarkable."

"Super niche. It's a Japanimation character from a movie called Akira," I answered.

My professor's shoulders twitched the Dracula cape up and down in a shrug. "The only Akira I know of is Kurosawa, and from what I remember, his movies had a lot of samurai but no robots."

"I like your Street Fighter costumes," Aaron mumbled towards us. He gestured to Cary. Um. Cammy is really cool. Good choice."

Cary grinned. "That's two," she said to me. Then, to Aaron, "She's my favorite. I can usually beat Matt when I choose her."

The music changed to Thriller and Cary tugged at my arm. "Let's go!" she urged. It took very little time for me to follow her out to the center of the room where several folks were dancing, and to start wobbling and bobbing like a dancing zombie. Cary giggled breathlessly, and we were soon in the middle of the floor, surrounded. A few other students danced in close to us.

By the time we had reached six people that recognized our costumes, we were starting to get more comfortable. A black-haired girl in red high heels, a pleated red miniskirt, and one of the sailor shirts cut quite a bit lower than Navy regulation moved into my peripheral view as we danced, and plucked at my elbow. I saw a flash of irritation in Cary's face. I turned to politely wave her away, and discovered Beth standing next to me.

"Hey!" I said above the music. "This is my girlfriend Cary!" I moved over to Cary and wrapped an arm around her waist. "Cary, this is Beth. She hangs out with Aaron and I from time to time. She's a history nerd, too."

Cary's annoyance vanished almost instantly. "Oh! What kind of history?"

As she and Beth briefly got to know each other, I looked for Aaron. This was a perfect chance to get him talking--after all, Beth was a familiar face. Even if she was in unfamiliar duds. I spotted him near the periphery, and motioned for him to come. For a moment, it looked like he wouldn't, but then he spotted Beth and his eyes lit up. Wading awkwardly through the press, he caught his cape more than once on other dancers. Still, he arrived and looked at Beth admiringly. "Sailor Mars? Awesome choice. Everybody else here just went with Usagi."

Beth clapped. "Oh! You know her Japanese name, too!"

Cary and I looked blankly at each other, and returned to dancing. Aaron appeared to have forgotten that we existed, and chattered at Beth, enraptured. When the music changed to Everybody Dance Now, Beth stepped Aaron through some simple dance moves. Cary and I moved towards the edge. I found myself happily introducing Cary to several of my classmates. More than one of them had a similar reaction to Aaron's initial "I didn't think you were real." Cary's smile grew wider and wider.

When we broke for something to drink, she was practically wrapped around me. "I love this," she murmured into my ear. She gave it a flick with her tongue, causing me to twitch.

"I didn't realize you would enjoy a Halloween party so much," I confessed.

"Halloween is fun," Cary agreed. "But what I love is that you're so proud of having me as your girlfriend. That you're just introducing me around without any sort of embarrassment. No sneaking around or trying to keep my kids or your parents or Jack or... whoever from finding out."

I sighed happily. "Yeah. This is what it's supposed to be like." I squeezed her bottom, pleased that it was halfway bare in her green leotard. "What it will be like from now on," I added.

Cary snuggled against me and let her unencumbered hand drift down towards my crotch, lightly brushing me under my loose red trousers. "I like that everywhere we go we discover another version of ourselves in love," she said.

"More dancing?" I asked. "Or did you want to come try this Monster Trivia with me?"

Cary shrugged. "Whatever you want. You know how much I like to dance, but I'm ready for a short break if you are."

We held hands and wandered towards a series of tables set up with trivia questions and decorations of old Hollywood movie monsters. It didn't take long for me to realize that somebody on the organizing committee was a huge fan of Universal and Hammer horror movies. Cary and I flipped over cards and tried to guess the answers to various questions, occasionally saying hello to another classmate or professor.

Aaron joined us, with frequent looks back over his shoulder to where Beth was speaking animatedly with a circle of her friends. He knew most of the answers, to the point that I accused him of having been involved in putting the game together. He shook his head. "Nah, I've got something else up my sleeve. You'll like it." He considered. "Maybe."

"I remember seeing some of these," Cary said as she read over the cards and scrutinized the black and white photocopied screen-shots. "This one always creeped me out." She held up a picture of a skinny point-eared bald guy with ratlike teeth.

"Did you know that there are two versions of that?" Aaron said enthusiastically. "The one from the 20's is better, but a lot of people like the 70's version."

As Aaron waxed eloquent about the relative virtues of both versions of Nosferatu, one of my classmates dressed as the Terminator sauntered up to us and nudged me. "Hey, man. How's the party?"

I grinned. "I got more used to underage drinking that I thought I did," I admitted. "It's fun, but a little tame."

We all stopped at a model haunted house strung with cotton 'spiderwebs.' "If you think this is lame, you should check out Sigma Alpha Epsilon's party," he said in a low voice. "You know those guys--there won't be any shortage of booze. You should ditch and head over there. You have a car, right?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, but I'm not in any frat, let alone theirs. I doubt they'd let me in." It was more of an excuse than anything else--I had no interest in being in a fraternity.

He grinned and looked at Cary. "They'd let her in."

I frowned. "From what I've heard about those guys, they might not let her back out. Thanks anyway." My classmate gave a 'whatever' look, and waved a desultory goodbye as he left.

Cary leaned her head against me, having heard most of it. "You don't want to go to a wild frat party?" she asked, a teasing edge to her voice. "If I can handle Ty's James Bond bash, I bet I could handle some Greek culture off-campus. If you really want to go."

I shook my head curtly. "No way. Ty's friends were all very respectful and had rules. I haven't even been here a whole semester yet, and I've already heard rumors about that frat." I turned and cupped her cheek. "Never mind about that. I'm more interested in checking another box off your list."

Cary's mouth rounded in an O and her eyebrows went up, but she quickly adopted a more mischievous expression. "Hmmm. Let's dance some more. I bet I can think of something."

Whether because of my suggestion, or just the progress of time and comfort, our dancing became more and more suggestive as the evening wore on. By now, a few of the other people around had become bolder, and were asking--or trying--to cut in here and there. Cary's eyes narrowed every time a girl got close to me, and I almost laughed. As if she had anything to worry about.

Only once did I nearly step in and usher a guy away from Cary. Older than me by a year or two, and clearly feeling no pain, he shambled towards us with a vaguely rhythmic step suggesting an attempt to dance. He leaned towards Cary and gestured towards her. "Hey, you look like you know what a tongue is for. Come with me back to my place."

Cary shook her head. "No, thanks. I'm already with someone." She danced closer to me.

"Him?" The guy jerked a thumb towards me, as if I couldn't hear him. I considered grabbing his wrist and dumping him on the floor, but kept my temper. "I bet you have to fake it with him all the time. Come with me and I'll make you cum your brains out."

As I opened my mouth to say something, Cary laughed. "Not on your best day. Get lost, buster." She turned her back on him and wrapped her arms around my neck, grinding against me. I raised a silent eyebrow at the guy and made a "buzz off" motion towards him. He lurched away, baffled and surly.

"What an asshole," I muttered.

Cary nodded, but did not stop undulating against me. "You see his type all the time at singles bars once the dancing starts. I don't miss that about not accompanying Sami on her weekly pilgrimages." She giggled suddenly and pointed across the room at Aaron and Beth slow-dancing in a dim corner. "Oh, wow. Your roommate seems to have overcome some of his shyness."

I grinned and rolled my eyes. "I guess my plan to get him to have a real conversation with a girl was unnecessary, after all. Man, who would have guessed that a nerdy cartoon costume would get them together?"

"Hmmm. As I recall, your 'nerdy' fur trapper costume had something to do with getting us together," Cary replied. "Judge not, lest ye be judged."

The emcee for the party stood at the end of the room with a microphone and announced the winner of Monster Trivia, and invited people to come to a special screening of a movie called Vampire Hunter D in the main lecture hall. My eyebrows shot up as I heard that it was sponsored by the newly-minted Anime Club, headed up by Aaron Sheffield.

"Dude!" I said, as I approached him and Beth. "You didn't tell me you were starting a campus club!"

He shrugged, embarrassed. "Um. Well, you seemed to like Akira well enough, and I thought that if you could get that, then maybe there were other people around here who would be into Japanimation. Anime is just the Japanese word for 'animation.' So..."

Beth grinned. "I've heard of Vampire Hunter D, but I've never seen it! Why don't you two come along?"

I hesitated. Sitting in a lecture hall watching a cartoon with a bunch of dorks didn't sound like the evening I'd had in mind. Cary looked quizzical but curious. Aaron nodded encouragingly. "Come on! Just see the first half hour. There'll be popcorn, candy, and soda, and if you don't like it, I won't be offended it you both leave."

"Of course," Cary said, patting my arm. "The old 30's Dracula scared the pants off me when I was younger. And one of my roommates took me to see the Frank Langella version in college, and I was seriously creeped out. About time somebody turned the tables on a vampire and hunted them instead."

As Aaron pumped a fist in the air, I leaned towards Cary. "Seriously? We don't have to, if you don't want."

Cary smiled. "Are you kidding? Look at him! It means so much to him. And we owe him for not tattling on you that first time."

"All right. Thirty minutes." I squeezed her. "Popcorn, at least. And watching a movie with you is always nice."

We followed about a dozen people down the darkened hall hung with lit-up plastic pumpkin decorations into the main lecture hall. It had been appropriately decorated, and a long table with snacks, bags of popcorn, and soda stood at the back of the room as promised. A strange projector sat on a wheeled cart above something that looked like an oversized CD player.

Cary and I took a seat near the back and leaned against one another as a few more people wandered in. I noticed that nearly all of them recognized our costumes and made appreciative comments. Aaron thanked people for coming, and pointed out signup sheets for the new Anime Club at the back of the room next to the Coke.

After that, the room darkened and I found myself sitting next to Cary as the movie unfolded. If Akira had been a dystopian sci-fi fever dream, Vampire Hunter D was a laser-infused gothic adventure story that I found much easier to follow. Cary made a little 'oh' sound the first time there were animated boobs, and wiggled a little in her seat. Other than that, she made no move to stand throughout the whole movie. Halfway through, I could see Beth leaning against Aaron.

When the movie was done, we stood up and stretched.

"I sort of liked that," I said. "Sort of like a weird Clint Eastwood movie."

Cary nodded thoughtfully. "I didn't know they made cartoons like that. It's like a whole new vista of artistic expression I hadn't thought of." She quirked an eyebrow at me. "I don't think I'll be showing it to Annie or Patrick anytime soon, though."

I chuckled. "Nope." She had an expectant look in her eyes, so I took her hand. "Ready to go?"

"In more ways than one," she said softly. She squeezed my arm.

As we waved goodbye to Aaron and Beth, Cary stood up on her tiptoes as she walked beside me. "I think I've come up with something from my list that we can do."

My heart rate sped up. "Oh? Do I get to know ahead of time, or is this a surprise?"

Cary grinned and pulled my arm as we exited the hall. "You mentioned something when we first started to... well, you know. To 'see' each other. Romantically."

I racked my brain. "I said a lot of things. I hope most of them were complimentary."

"They were," she giggled in response, blushing slightly. "You said... you said that you wanted to do all of the things to me from my pictures. For real."

My breath caught in my throat. "Whoa. Yeah. I mean, yes, of course. I did. And still do." I thought quickly--she probably wasn't thinking of getting double-teamed, but that still left plenty of choices. "Which one..."

I felt her pull herself closer to me, and her breathing was coming quickly, in shorter, slightly nervous gasps. "Um. Well, it's late. Close to midnight now, right? And... there are a lot of alleys around here." She immediately turned as crimson as her beret as she saw my incredulous look. "I mean, if you want--"

"Are you kidding? Of course I want to. This is on your list?" I took a deep breath. "I have to get a look at this thing."

Cary chuckled low in her throat. "Well, not an alley specifically, but... but doing it in a public place."

My mouth was dry. "Wow. Wow." I tried to think of something else to say. Finally, the only thing that came to mind was "Let's go!"

As we left, I caught a glimpse of the drunk guy who had hit on Cary earlier standing near the door. He looked a little sick, but made eye contact with me and stared at Cary clinging to my arm. I could almost see the wheels in his head turning. Cary caught sight of him and made a face. "Ugh. Shouldn't he be sleeping it off somewhere?"

I frowned. "Probably hoping for somebody with low standards or low self-esteem to walk by," I grumbled. I couldn't stay too sour, since Cary and I were sneaking off to re-enact seedy back-alley sex from her revenge story. My mouth was already dry with anticipation.

We hurried to a nearby alley between two administrative buildings across the quad. Cary looked back and forth nervously, and then smiled shyly. She walked down the alley a little way, and then pointed to me. "Too bad I don't have sexy lingerie to change into here. But you should be sitting at the end. Go on."

I blinked, and then started to search for something that would be clean enough to sit on. I finally settled on a plastic bin which I nudged over with just my feet. I didn't want to be touching Cary with hands that had been moving junk around in an alley. I sat and crossed my arms, expectant and curious.

Cary was barely more than silhouette, but once I was sitting I could see her begin to walk towards me--and what a walk! She thrust her hips to the side with each step, and moved her feet slightly crossed in front of one another, with the effect that she seemed to flow sinuously towards me in an erotic strut. I remembered her phrase as she described her fictional self showing off for two businessmen: shoulders back, tits out.

As she reenacted her sexy walk towards me, she drew into a thin bar of phosphorescent light, her lips glistening lightly as she ran her tongue over them. She cast a look of pure, wanton invitation over her shoulder to me, and I belatedly realized that in this scenario, I was supposed to be rushing towards her and tearing her clothing off.

It took no urging at all for me to hop back off my makeshift seat and cross the distance between us. Cary gave a little shriek as I approached. Hooking my thumbs under her leotard straps, I yanked the whole thing down to her waist and pulled the crotch to the side. She gazed up at me in the darkness with hungry, round eyes. I kissed her passionately, drawing her chin and cheeks towards me as I stood behind. My other hand fumbled with the knot of the cloth belt holding up my red gi pants.

"Hurry," Cary begged.

By the time I had dropped my trousers, she was breathing hard. I pushed her forward so that her hands splayed against the wall, and I nudged her feet apart. Cary was flushed and warm under my hands--she must have been blushing all over her body. I had to squat a little to get my dick positioned correctly, but as soon as the tip touched her wet warmth, I stood up straight, driving into her.

"Oh! Oooh, yes. Like that!" she cried, before catching her breath in realization of where we were and exactly how loud she was.

I grabbed her hips and started slowly grinding, back and forth the way she liked it. Cary moaned deep in her throat, and then breathlessly turned back towards me. "Hard. Don't hurt me, but go hard. Like our first night."

Needing little other encouragement to give my college libido free rein, I started pounding her. The slaps of our bodies together echoed down the alley, my grunts and Cary's muted whines of ecstasy in sexual counterpoint together. The darkness of the alley made the sky above and the lamplit square seem brighter by comparison. I nearly froze at one point as another couple walked into our field of view--Frankenstein's monster and a barely-clothed "nurse."

Cary glanced back at me breathlessly and caught a glimpse of them. She reached back with one hand and pulled my butt forward towards her. "It's okay," she whispered hoarsely. "Don't stop." My sex-addled brain still had enough presence of mind to marvel at this turn towards exhibitionism. My innocent Cary was becoming more and more liberated.

The couple stopped as Cary made a louder sound, and glanced towards us. I was pretty sure they couldn't see anything in the darkness, but even the risk of discovery made everything seem naughtier and more exciting. I reached under and squeezed Cary's breasts from below, pulling her into me as I pushed into her. Her attempts to mute her passionate moans drove me wild. In only a few minutes, I could feel myself getting close to release, and the telltale tightening of Cary's muscles into a tautness that usually preceded her orgasms.

"Hey! You two!" a grumpy voice barked down the alley.

Cary shrieked, and I yanked myself out of her, erection almost forgotten. Cary was scrabbling at her leotard, pulling it up as fast as she could, and getting herself tangled in the straps. I grabbed her arm. "No time for that--run! Back up the alley!"

The gleam of a flashlight flickered towards us as we pelted down towards the back exit. Several breathless minutes of flight followed as I led Cary--wrist clutched in my grip--in a helter-skelter retreat from the annoyed Campus Safety officer. I wondered if it was worse in the eyes of administration to run from them, or to be caught fucking like horny rabbits in between campus buildings.

We finally made it to the music hall, and I had an idea. I led Cary inside--the main entrance was open all the time for students who liked to practice at all hours of the day. My student dorm key unlocked one of the practice rooms, and we scampered inside. We waited a few more tense minutes, listening for the sounds of pursuit. When none were forthcoming, we both burst out laughing.

"Oh my God." Cary leaned against the piano in the corner and wheezed with laughter. "That's a first! Partially streaking across a college campus chased by police for public indecency."

"Was that on the list?" I asked innocently.

Cary mock-punched me in the shoulder. Even horny and giggling, her form was still pretty good. "You. I told you that you make me feel young and irresponsible. I guess this is proof."

"Good thing I sometimes come here in the middle of the night to practice on my new mandolin," I remarked. "Although I guess that means that there's still a chance that somebody will walk in and hear us."

A ragged sigh from Cary sounded much more like oh well then than it did we should be careful. Maybe I was projecting. Encouraged nonetheless, I ran a hand through her hair and turned her towards me for a kiss. "Shall we finish what we started?" Her answering smile needed no words.

The shadows stained the far wall as we surveyed the room. The waning crescent of the moon barely added any light to the yellow-orange streetlamp illumination streaming through the high windows of the rehearsal chamber. Of all the rooms on campus, these were fairly well-insulated against noise so that the sound of students practicing didn't disturb one another or the folks outside. I had joked to Todd that this would be the perfect place to murder somebody.

Cary looked at the room dubiously. "Lots of hard surfaces," she said, voice still slightly breathy. "Echoey. But at least it's private. And the door locks."

I shrugged, dick still straining under my gi trousers. "We can go back to the alley. I was having fun."

Cary's chuckle echoed from the walls. "Me, too. But maybe too much fun for campus police." I pulled her leotard back down and pushed her against the piano, and she arched an eyebrow. We had been close, but the run through cool October air had given us some space and time to start at the end of the proverbial runway again.

By the time Cary's cute little shrieks had shivered into sharp orgasmic gasps, neither of us was thinking about the security guard anymore.