As I was walking up to the entrance of McMurry Hall on the first day of class I saw a guy and a girl I’d seen around campus but didn’t know. He had a grip on her arms and was shaking her and she was crying.

My dad was old school. To him the female was the weaker sex and it was the male’s job to look after them and that’s the way I was brought up. I bought into it until I found out Beverly Abbeg could throw a ball farther than I could, Nancy Wilde could run faster than I could and Nancy Neubert could hit a ball better than I could. I could hit the ball farther, but I guess her batting average would be closer to 3.75 while I’d guess mine would be around 2.90 so by the time I started high school the “Female is the weaker sex” was history, but the “Protect women” was still there.

I walked up to the pair and said “Get your hands off of her!”

“Butt out asshole; this ain’t none of your business.”

“I’m making it my business. Take your hands off of her!”

“Or what?”

“I’m going to punch you in the mouth.”

“Oh yeah? We’ll just see about that” and he let go of her, but before he could turn and face me the girl stepped forward and kneed him in the nuts. He bent forward and his hands went to his crotch and the girl swung her book bag at his head and down he went. She kicked him in the balls, said “Fuck you asshole!” and hurried into the building.

“Weaker sex?” I thought as I followed her in.

The girl never turned to look at me and it wasn’t until roll was called in Introduction to Production Management at two that afternoon that I learned her name was Barbara Beeler. I’d already learned that the guy’s name was David Short when the roll was called in Creative Writing 1.

The next day in the school cafeteria Short came up to the table where I was sitting and said “Just letting you know you and me got some unfinished business and I ain’t forgetting it.”

I stood up and said “Let’s go.”

“Here? Don’t be crazy!”

“Not crazy; just like to get things over with. We can be out the front door in two minutes and in the parking lot in three. Come on; let’s go.”

“You’re nuts” he said and walked away. I shrugged and sat down.

Two minutes later Miss Beeler came over to the table, sat down and asked “What did Dave want?”

“He thinks we have some unfinished business from yesterday. I guess my butting in upset him.”

“Why did you butt in? You don’t even know me. I hope it wasn’t because you were trying to make points with me because I already have a boyfriend.”

“How nice for you. As to why I stuck my nose in? I don’t like to see guys abusing girls. Now if you will excuse me I have a class to get to” and I got up and walked away from her. Probably rude of me, but I didn’t care for her snippy attitude and tone of voice when she told me she hoped I wasn’t trying to make points with her. Too bad. She was a looker and I wouldn’t have minded getting something going with her.

Short was waiting for me when school let out.

“Okay smart mouth” he said, “So you were going to punch me in the...” and I punched him in the mouth. It caught him by surprise. I guess he thought you had to have a conversation before getting down to it, but to me, if you were going to fight just do it. As I said, it caught him by surprise and I got two more good licks in which dropped him to his knees. I stood over him, fists cocked and locked, and waited for him to get up.

He looked up at me and said “You sucker punched me.”

“No I didn’t. You were out here waiting for me expecting to beat me up. Just because I didn’t wait for you to get around to throwing the first punch doesn’t make what I did a sucker punch. You going to get up so we can finish this?”

He stood up and I stood there waiting for him to throw a punch, but he hesitated and I think I knew what was going on. He was a bully and he wasn’t used to being stood up to. He was bigger than I was, about three inches taller and thirty pounds heavier, and I guess he expected me to run away from him crying. Maybe other guys my size would have, but I wasn’t like other guys my size.

At five foot seven I was about four inches shorter than other guys my age. My dad was only five foot six and he knew from experience there were bigger kids who liked picking on kids smaller than them so he taught me how to handle myself. Short wasn’t the first to find out that I didn’t take shit from guys bigger than me and he probably wouldn’t be the last. Some of them might put me down, but I’d go down fighting.

I guess Short didn’t like what he was seeing and he said “Fuck you” and turned and walked away. With my attention now off of Short I noticed we had drawn a crowd. I heard a girl say “About time someone put that asshole down” and another say “Amen to that.” I surmised that Short wasn’t all that popular as I bent to pick up my books from where I had dropped them. When I stood up a cute dark haired girl said:

“I’ll let you carry my books if you’ll walk me home.”

“Oh no you don’t” said another voice, “He belongs to me” and I turned and found Barbara Beeler standing there. The smart ass in me came out and I said “Why Miss Beeler; I didn’t think you cared.”

“That’s because you are male and therefore clueless.” She took my hand and said “Let’s go sweetie.”

Well she was right about one thing; I was clueless as to what was going on. I mean she HAD already informed me she had a boyfriend.

“Where are we going” I asked.

“You are walking me home from school.”

“Just curious, but what happened to the boyfriend you had just three hours ago?”

“I decided to move up in class.”

“Please; you already know that I am clueless so you have to fill me in otherwise I will remain clueless and I just can’t see you wanting a clueless boyfriend.”

“You are my boyfriend now?”

“Just going by what you said. Your “He belongs to me” was loud and clear.”

“As to what happened to my ex-boyfriend? You witnessed our breakup. My knee to his privates and my book bag to his head pretty much let him know we were done.”

“But you told me you had a boyfriend in the cafeteria this morning and that was after your little set-to.”

“I said that because I didn’t want you thinking you could move in on me just because you came to my aid. Because of Dave and the way things went with him and some of my previous experiences with guys I was down on guys in general. As the day went on I changed my mind. I decided that the White Knight who came to my rescue deserved a closer look.

“Once I made that decision I started looking for you. By the time I found you you and Dave were facing off. When Glenda made her play for you I decided that I wasn’t going to let her beat me to you and I made my claim. So what we need to do now is find a place to sit down over coffee or something and get to know each other.”

“The only problem with that is that I need to get to work. I’ve enough time to run you home if you don’t live too far away and I get off at seven so we could get together then.”

“Actually I live here in the dorms so it is only a short walk for me. How about we meet at Harry’s Shake Shack at seven-fifteen?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

She headed off to the dorms and I headed for student parking to get my truck and then head to work.

“You’re late” my father said as I entered the office.”

“Your fault.”

“How is it my fault?”

“You are the one who pounded the ‘take care of the weaker sex’ into me” and then I told him how my day had gone where Short was concerned.”

“You did good Bobby; I guess I can let you slide this time” he said with a smile.

Work went quickly and when I got to Harry’s Barbara was already there sitting in a corner booth with two guys. I walked by the both and sat down at a table. I’d no sooner put my butt down on the seat than Marge was there to take my order.

“What’ll you have Bobby?”

“You know what I want Marge.”

“Sorry Bobby, but I’m nowhere near ready to drop Sam.”

“I guess I’ll settle for a burger, well done, fries and a strawberry milkshake, but I’ll be waiting when you finally do drop Sam.”

“You’re in for a long wait Bobby, but I’ll keep you in mind.”

She turned and left and Barbara got up from the booth and came over and joined me. She sat down and asked:

“Why didn’t you join us in the booth?”

“Didn’t want to intrude.”

“I’m here to meet you so all you had to do was join us.”

“I do not know you Miss Beeler nor anything about the crowd you run with. You have already witnessed how I react to people who get in my face. What I didn’t need was to try and join you and have one of those guys tell me to butt out. My response would probably have Harry barring me from the place and since I’m addicted to his strawberry milkshakes I cannot allow that to happen.”

“I can’t help it when people who know me see me and want to join me. I told them I was waiting for someone and they told me they would keep me company until you got here. I’m sorry; I didn’t think of how you might look at it.”

“Not a problem. Since we made this date to get to know each other tell me about yourself.”

“Well you know my name. I’m a twenty year old junior with an Interior Design major. I’m from Ypsilanti, Michigan, a place you have probably never heard of. My favorite color is blue. I like most music except for rap. My favorite food is a five cheese macaroni my mother makes. I like football, baseball, am so so on basketball, I think hockey is stupid and soccer is just plain boring. I love to dance and I never kiss on the first date. What’s your story?”

“Nothing at all exciting. I’m a twenty year old junior with a Business Management major and I’m from right here. I work in the family business. I don’t know as I have a favorite color, but I can’t say I dislike any in particular. My taste in music runs from classical to rock and roll. I don’t care at all for rap and most acid rock and heavy metal leaves me cold. My absolute favorite is bluegrass and I have always wished I could play the banjo.

“I have heard of Ypsilanti. I almost went to school there. I had a baseball scholarship to Eastern Michigan, but my dad talked me into staying here and working in the family business. He wants me ready to take over if anything happens to him. My favorite food is whatever I’m eating at the time. Favorite sport is baseball followed closely by football. I don’t care much for the rest of them and I will always kiss a girl when she lets me.”

“I need to ask this. Got a girlfriend?”

“Not any more. Had one, but she wanted to keep me on the hook while she dated other guys. Said going steady was too high schoolish. It wasn’t acceptable to me so we parted ways.”

“You don’t sound all that happy about it.”

“I’m not. We were together for five years and both mothers were in wedding planning mode.”

“If she wanted to come back would you let her?”

“No. She’s burned too many bridges for that to happen.”

“So where are we going on our first date?”

“You free Friday?”

“I have to wait that long?”

“It’s only three days. I can’t do it any sooner because of my work hours and the need to study, work on papers and stuff like that.”

“What will we do?”

“You said you like to dance so how about we go dancing?”

“I’d like that. Where?”

“The teen club is usually where I go when I want to dance.”

“You say usually. I thought the teen club was the only place you could go if you were under twenty-one.”

“Not so. You can go to the VFW if you are with a member. Mom and dad go every Saturday night and I sometimes go with them.”

“So if I play my cards right we could go dancing this Friday and Saturday?”

“Could happen.”

We talked for another ten minute and then I took her to her dorm.

I almost said “Wow” out loud when I picked her up at her dorm on Friday. I knew she was a good looking girl, but when I’d seen her before it was with her hair in a ponytail, little if no makeup and wearing jeans and a sweater. Now she was made up, her hair fell to the middle of her back and she was in a dress and heels. I might not have said “Wow” out loud, but she could see it on my face and she smiled and said:

“Thank you; that’s the look I was going for.”

When we got to the teen club there we a couple of people already there that I knew and I introduced them to Babs (She asked me to call her that instead of Barb or Barbara) and then we pushed a couple of tables together and sat down.

The waitress came over and took our order. I ordered a Coke and Babs asked for Dr. Pepper and then we hit the dance floor. Babs not only loved to dance, but she was damned good at it and she kept me out on the floor until the band took a break.

While we were on the dance floor some more people had arrived and joined the group at the tables. I introduced them to Babs and then we sat and socialized until the band came back. Once the band came back Babs had me back out on the floor. As we moved into the waltz Babs said:

“I noticed the look on your face when you introduced me to Pauline and Charlie. You didn’t seem all that pleased.”

“Pauline is the girl I went steady with for five years.”

“She seemed happy to see you.”

“How about we talk about your favorite color. Blue wasn’t it?”

“Okay; I get it. Off limits. How about them Broncos?”

We stayed on the floor for three numbers and then went back and joined the group at the tables. Luckily for me Pauline and her date were at the other end of the three tables we had pushed together so she wasn’t close enough for any personal interaction, but she was still closer than I would have liked. My own fault though; I should have known she would be at the club on a Friday or Saturday.

Then a girl Babs knew asked if she could join us and she took the empty seat next to Babs. Babs introduced me to Cindy and then Babs and Cindy started talking. While that was going on I felt a tap on my shoulder and I turned to see Pauline. She smiled at me and asked me to dance. Babs heard it and said:

“Go ahead sweetie; I don’t mind.”

After that I didn’t think I could say no. I could have, but if I said what I wanted to I knew just how Pauline would react and the scene would have cast a pall over the evening. I stood up, Pauline took my arm and we moved out onto the dance floor. As I took her in my arms for the Waltz she said:

“I wanted to scratch her eyes out when she called you sweetie. I’ve missed you baby. Why haven’t you called or come to see me?”

“You know why Pauline.”

“What’s with this Pauline stuff? I’ve always been Paulie to you.”

“That was back when you were mine. Once you started dating others you stopped being mine and that’s also the answer to your question. I haven’t called because you are no longer mine.”

“But I explained it all to you baby. I was still yours. I just wanted to date other guys occasionally.”

“And I told you that it was totally unacceptable as far as I was concerned and it would kill us as a couple, but you went ahead and did it anyway. It hurt me. It hurt me bad, but I’ve managed to get by it.”

“Damn it Bobby; I was still yours.”

“No you weren’t. You were anybody’s who asked you out?”

I felt a tap on my shoulder and a voice asked “May I cut in?”

I turned and saw her date. I stepped away from Pauline and said “You may” and I headed back to the table where Babs said “I was wondering if I was going to have to be the one to go out there and cut in.”

“Well you do need to go out there.”

“What?”

“We did come here to dance didn’t we?”

She gave me a big smile, got up and we headed out onto the floor. For the rest of the evening every time I glanced Pauline’s way she was looking at me.

Babs lied to me. She did kiss on the first date and it was a pretty hot and steamy one. As was the one I received on the second, third and fourth. Barb and I had four more dates before I took her home to have dinner with me and my parents. After, while driving her back to her dorm, Babs said:

“Your mom doesn’t like me.”

“You can’t know that”

“Yes I can. I could tell. She doesn’t think I’m suitable for her baby. Your dad, on the other hand, likes me a lot. He wants to jump my bones.”

“Runs in the family.”

“What does?”

“The wanting to jump your bones thing.”

“If that’s the case why haven’t you tried?”

“I haven’t seen anything that would lead me to believe that a move in that direction would be met with favor.”

“Well then: how about this. Would you please take me someplace and fuck me?”

I smiled and said “If you insist” and I hung a left onto Wilcox and five minutes later we were in room 221 of the Bide-A-Wee motel.

Once we were naked she got on the bed, spread her legs wide and said “Come and get it.”

I think I surprised her when I didn’t just get on the bed and get in. I started playing with her tits, licking and sucking, and then I kissed my way down her body until I got to her pussy. I licked all over it, found her clit and sucked on it. Then I ate her pussy and kept at it until she had an orgasm. Then I lined myself up and eased my way in. I went slowly until she moaned:

“Faster baby; pound me. Fuck me. Fuck me hard.”

I drove on and managed to get her off three times before I got to the point where I had to have mine. I held myself over her until my dick got soft and then I slowly pulled out and fell to the bed beside her. Babs looked over at me and said:

“I could stand a steady diet of this. How soon will you be able to go again?”

“Maybe ten minutes or so.”

“What if I help?”

“Don’t know.”

“Then I guess we will just have to see” and she went down on me. I didn’t time it, but I’d guess she got me ready in five.

We managed three times before I had to get her back to her dorm. On the drive to her dorm we made a date for the next evening to go dancing at the VFW. When I walked her to the door I got a kiss the curled my toes.

Work was only half a day on Saturday and when I got off work I found Pauline waiting by my car.

“We need to talk Bobby,”

“About what?”

“About us.”

“There is no us anymore Pauline. You put an end to us when you decided to date other guys.”

“I explained that to you. We got together in the eighth grade and you were the only the second guy I ever dated. I just wanted to see what other guys were like. You were still my guy and would get seventy-five percent of my time.”

“Well you were the first girl I dated Pauline and I knew the first minute I saw you that I didn’t ever want anyone else. When you told me I wasn’t enough for you it just about killed me.”

“I never told you that!”

“Yes you did. When you told me you wanted to know what other guys were like it was the same as telling me you weren’t satisfied with what you had. You were telling me that if you found a guy you liked better you were gone.”

“Damn it Bobby; that isn’t what I said!”

“Yes it was Pauline. The only reason for seeing what else is out there is to see if you can find something better. Well good luck in your search. Now if you will excuse me I have a date to get ready for.”

I got in the car and drove off leaving her standing there and watching me go.

The encounter put me in a sour mood, but the mood flew away when I picked up my date. Babs looked stunning in her skirt, blouse and heels.

“Thank you” she said.”

“For what?”

“For the look on your face. Heels okay for tonight or should I wear flats?”

“Heels are fine for tonight.”

“Why the qualifier?”

:”Tonight is dancing in general. Waltzes, a fox trot or three and some rock and roll. The third Saturday of the week is country western and leather soled shoes or boots work best for that.”

“Third Saturday? That’s next Saturday right? Will there be line dancing?”

“Of course.”

“You want to lock me in now for next Saturday?”

“You bet I do.”

“It’s a date.”

We had a good time with my parents, but at one point my dad said “She seems a bit overpowering. You sure you can handle something like that?”

“I’m going to give it my best shot.”

Once in the car after leaving the dance Babs said “I wouldn’t mind a reenactment of last night if you are up for it.”

“Silly girl; you know I’m up for you. You have had it up all night rubbing your leg against it during every dance.”

“Whatever works is my moto.”

Then she switched topics on me. “I enjoyed talking to your mom. She seemed really interested in my Interior Design major.”

“I think she feels like she missed out on a lot. She had to drop out of college when she got pregnant with me and she never got to go back.”

“I don’t think your dad likes me all that much. I still think he wants to jump my bones, but I got the feeling that he would just as soon see me gone from your life.”

“Just your imagination. He seems to think I’ve bitten off more than I can chew being with you. I think he has doubts that I’m up for the task.”

She reached over and rubbed the erection in my pants and said “You think I should call him and let him know you are definitely up for it?”

I think I gave a good account of myself and when I got her back to the dorm I told her I’d see her in school on Monday, got another scorcher of a kiss and drove home feeling like I was on the top of the world.

Babs and I did get together at lunch a couple of times during the week and Wednesday after school we were able to get together for burgers and fries and dessert was served in room 19 at the Red Roof Inn.

Friday night it was dinner and a movie and another visit to the Red Roof Inn. So far, at least, my father’s fears appeared to be groundless. I was handling things just fine.

When I picked Babs up for our Saturday night dance date she surprised me. Levis (well filled I might add) brush popper shirt, cowboy boots, a belt with a buckle the size of a saucer and a cowboy hat. I felt totally out of place next to her. Generic jeans from Walmart, plain belt buckle, flannel shirt, wingtips with leather soles and no hat. I laughed and said:

“I bet you are going to show me up on the dance floor too.”

“You have better brung your best game with you tonight bubba; if they play it I know it.”

And she did. I knew three or four line dances, but she knew them all. I could do a decent twostep and I could handle the ladies over and under turns, but there were a couple of other twists and turns she wanted to do that I didn’t even know existed. I was okay with the waltz and even though I could do the Cowboy Cha-cha as a line dance I just couldn’t seem to be able to translate it into the couple’s version.

My ineptness and her competence was not lost to those in attendance and it wasn’t long before other guys came over to our table and asking me if I minded if they asked her for a dance. I could see she wanted to be out there on the floor so I always said yes even though I really wanted to say no. I even said yes to Ronnie Holbrook and I hated his guts.

My mom said “You need to look into lessons Bobby. You are going to have to up your game if you continue to bring her to country western night.”

You know things are bad when your own mother dumps on you. I did spend enough time out on the floor with Babs that the night wasn’t a total bummer.

Red Roof was a different story. On the way to the motel Babs said “I know it wasn’t easy for you baby, but I owe you big time for what you did for me tonight and I intend to pay that debt when we get to the motel room.”

And pay it she did. She got a five time best out of me that night and I was too exhausted to get out of bed to take her to her dorm and we fell asleep together for the first time.

I woke up with a hot mouth on my cock. I saw daylight streaming through the window and I looked at my watch. I needed to be at work in forty minutes. You have any idea of how hard it is to push away the woman who is giving you head?

She wasn’t happy she wasn’t going to get a ‘wake up’ but I told her it couldn’t be helped, that I had to get to work because my father depended on me to be there to run things while he was gone so I needed to get her back to her dorm.

“Unless you are pissed off enough to say no we can pick up where we left off tonight.”

She didn’t respond, just hurriedly got dressed. She was silent in the car on the way to the dorm and something told me to keep my mouth shut unless she started talking which she didn’t. When I got her to her dorm I said the first words to be spoken during the ride.

“Tonight” I asked as she started to get out of the car. She said nothing until she was out of the car and then just before she closed the door she said “Call me” and then she closed the door and went into her dorm.

I had a lousy day at work. I was upset that Babs was upset with me. Luckily I only worked half a day on Saturdays. Dad didn’t say anything to me, but mom made up for it when I got home.

“And just where have you been young man?”

“At work.”

“Don’t get cute with me. You know what I’m asking.”

I did and I lied and the lie wasn’t because I cared about her being upset about me not coming home, but because I didn’t want her to know I was sleeping with Babs.

“After I dropped Babs at her dorm I went to a party. At the party they had a non-alcoholic punch and that is what I drank. Somewhere along the line someone spiked it. It made me woozy and I didn’t want to drive in that condition so Chuck, the party was at his place, let me sack out there.”

She gave me a long look and I could see she was trying to make up her mind as to whether or not I was telling the truth. The she asked:

“Why didn’t you take Babs go to the party with you?”

“I had to have her back to the dorm. Some dorm requirement or other. Like a curfew or something.”

“So why didn’t you call and let me know what was going on so I wouldn’t worry?”

“And wake you up at one in the morning? Why would I do that? If I hadn’t needed to work today I would have been home before you even got up so why call?”

“Robert (when she called me that I knew she was really pissed) as long as you are living under my roo...”

I interrupted her with “Don’t go there. You really don’t want to go there.”

She gave me a hard look and then turned and headed into the kitchen.

A year ago I told my parents I was going to get an apartment and mom spent every waking hour for the next two weeks trying to talk me out of it. I could have afforded it. My paternal grandparents set up a trust fund for me the day I was born. My maternal grandparents found out about it and they matched it. It wasn’t huge, just over seventy thousand, and I didn’t come into it until I was twenty-five, but I could draw on it for educational expenses.

I found out that educational expenses covered an apartment if it was no more than a mile away from school. There were seven apartment complexes within that range and I wanted to move into one. Even though I let mom talk me out of it the option was still there and she knew it.

I took a shower and then called Babs. When she answered I asked if we were on for that evening.

“Why would you ask that?”

“You were a little cool toward me when I dropped you off this morning.”

“Can you blame me? I’m not use to a guy pushing me away when I want to make love.”

“It killed me to do it, but I had to go to work.”

“I know, but it still pissed me off. What are we going to do tonight?”

“Movie, burger and fries, and then pick up where we left off.”

“How about we pass on the movie and food and just get right to reenacting last night?”

“If you insist.”

Time went by and Babs and I stayed hot and heavy with each other. She got along fine with my parents and she had dinner with us at least once a week. When Thanksgiving arrived Babe decided it would be foolish to spend the money to fly back to Michigan for only four days and then have to hurry back to school. I asked my parents if she could have Thanksgiving dinner with us and they said yes.

Thanksgiving dinner, as was Christmas dinner, a family affair. Uncle Jim, Aunt Elise, Uncle Bill and Aunt Marge, cousin’s Rachel, Janice and Megan were all there. I introduced Babs to all of them and then we all socialized until dinner was ready. It was an enjoyable time, but when the company was getting ready to leave Janice pulled me aside to talk to talk to me.

Janice and I were close. Very close. We had grown up together and as young kids we had played ‘doctor’ and done the “You show me yours and I’ll show you mine” thing. We told everybody that we were getting married when we were old enough. That died when my mom and Aunt Elise sat us down and explained incest to us. But we stayed close and she was my best friend.

She asked “Are you serious about this girl?”

“Yes. I’ll probably ask her to marry me. Why?”

“I get a bad vibe from her; a feeling she isn’t what she seems. Be careful Bobby; I don’t want to see you get hurt.”