The Butterfly and the Bee l

January 2004, Winter Break

Things settled into what felt like normal after the ski trip. Once safely home and with the parents gone to work during the weekdays, my sisters and I settled into our respective sexual relationships. Emboldened by Mom and Dad's letting us share a bedroom on the trip, Brooke was my most frequent and overt bed partner. She knew she only had me for a few weeks, and she intended to make the most of it. Still, we kept things discreet. We knew our parents wouldn't reprimand us for our activities, but neither did they want it in their face.

Adrienne was also a regular bed partner. But like the last semester at school, we didn't have sex every day. She actually spent most of her time visiting old friends like Candy, Heather, and Lynne, and only came to me once or twice a week to scratch that deep itch inside her.

Even the twins resumed some of their pursuit of me. We had kissing sessions every now and again. A couple of times I woke up in the morning with a 14-year- old's lips wrapped around my erection. Once, Brooke was in the bed with me; and when she woke up, she promptly leaned over and started giving the twins pointers.

And of course, Brandi and I developed our purely platonic relationship. We were still affectionate with hugs and even chaste pecks on the lips. But the sexual tension between us was gone, leaving just our mutual respect and loving support.

There was also one incident of note. The High Schoolers returned to classes before Brandi, Adrienne, and I did. While what happened didn't allow me any purely personal satisfaction, I was still quite happy with the outcome.

It seemed that Brooke and some of her Senior acolytes had taken it upon themselves to blacklist Dexter Walker for what he'd done to Eden the previous month. Word was already buzzing around campus about the Junior's attempted rape of a Freshman cheerleader. And more fuel was added to the fire when a second girl accused him as well.

Brooke then took things a step further by taking a page from Adrienne's book and delivering the swift kick of vengeance to Dexter's balls. She even wore pointy heels that first day of class for just the occasion. Dexter would be out of commission for a couple of weeks at least. Brooke got suspended two days for fighting. And I got to have threesomes with my little sister and Adrienne for those two days.

It was all good...

JANUARY 2004, SOPHOMORE YEAR

Even though we'd just left our actual home some six hours earlier, it still felt like coming home as I pulled onto the cracked asphalt of the single-file driveway running next to the Berkeley house. I pulled up behind Dayna's 3-year-old Impala and Dawn's older Chevy and came to a stop, putting the car in park and turning off the engine. I then sagged back against the seat and exhaled, "I'll never get used to that drive."

"I offered to take over after lunch," Adrienne rubbed my shoulder. "Besides, technically it's still MY car."

"Technically?" I arched an eyebrow at her.

"Well you certainly drive it more than I do," she giggled. And then she popped open her door and folded down the seat, bending her 5'10" frame to crawl back and gently stir Brandi awake.

My big sister grimaced and grumbled but cracked open her eyes. "We're here?" she asked.

"We're here," Adrienne confirmed. Then she backed out and circled around to the trunk.

I had already popped it open and was pulling out suitcases. Then grabbing the two heaviest ones (Adrienne's and Brandi's, of course), I trundled around to the front of the house and up the steps onto the porch.

The door opened before I got to it and Dayna stepped out, quickly hopping up to me and giving me a welcoming hug. "Hey, Ben."

My hands were still on the suitcase handles so I didn't hug her back. I replied a quick, "Hey, Dayna" and then she was already past me on her way to the girls.

I left Brandi's suitcase at the base of the stairs and deposited Adrienne's just outside her bedroom door. I was then about to head back out for more luggage when a shock of blonde hair caught my attention in the corner of my eye. Dawn was standing in the doorway to my bedroom.

For some reason, she looked at me with an expression of surprise, as if she didn't recognize me. And rather than approach me immediately, she hung back in the doorway with that puzzled look, biting her lip nervously.

"Hey you," I began slowly and turned to face her.

"Hey," she replied hesitantly, her eyebrows furrowing.

"What's wrong?"

She blinked a few times and then shook her head, all of a sudden clearing away that momentary awkwardness. She smiled and stepped forward, opening her arms to me. I moved forward as well and we came together in the hallway, arms wrapped tightly around each other in the firmest, fiercest hug imaginable. I didn't know why, but I was squeezing her with almost all of my strength, and she accepted it hungrily and squeezed me back even harder.

"Gawd, I missed you," Dawn sighed and pushed her nose into the crook of my neck.

"It's only been four weeks."

"I know. But it feels like it's been forever. I felt like I didn't even recognize you when you walked in."

"Same old me."

Dawn leaned back, her hands still on my shoulders, peering into my eyes. "No. There's something a little different about you."

If there was, I didn't recognize it. "Maybe you need to get your eyes checked."

Dawn giggled and moved back into my arms. We hugged fiercely again, and Dawn exhaled happily. "Mmm ... Welcome back, Ben."

I sighed happily and smelled the familiar sweet scent of her hair. "It's good to be back."

It started off just like any other ordinary day. School had just started and we were getting into the daily grind of classes, homework, and studying. My social life seemed to pick up right where it had left off the previous semester. Dawn, Ryan, Gwen, Robin, Bert, and I would meet up at Dawn's and Ryan's apartment in the afternoons to hang out. Adrienne would come by when she didn't have a sorority event. And I got a few phone calls from Tri-Delts who wanted to know if I was looking for company.

Like I said, the Wednesday started off like an ordinary day. Dawn and I went to class. We even had Bert in our Macroeconomics course as well. And Professor Ice was teaching it again. At the end of the day we got together as a group for dinner. And then after dinner we launched into our homework for the night.

"Real GDP can be decomposed into four component parts," I read from the text. "What are they?"

"Aggregate expenditures on consumption, investment, government, and net exports," Dawn rattled off.

"Good. And the model that considers the relationship between these expenditures and current real national income is?"

Dawn had this one easily, responding, "Income-Expenditure."

"Right. And Keynesian theory..."

"Kayn-zian, not Keen-zian," Bert interrupted us from his spot on the couch. "You may be able to remember every damn thing you read, but that does shit for your pronunciation," he drawled.

"Whatever. It's spelled with an 'e'." I waved him off. "Besides, we're not taking oral exams."

"I've got your oral exam right here," Gwen smirked at me, her eyebrows waggling.

I sighed and looked around. "Can we focus on finishing this first? Sex can wait until later."

"Did BEN just say that?" Gwen sat up and looked over at Dawn. "You're right. He IS different."

I sighed and obviously ogled Gwen, who had stripped away her winter coat and was wearing just a skimpy tank-top inside the heated apartment. "I'll still fuck you within an inch of your life if you're interested ... AFTER I'm done with my homework."

"I'm down for right now if you want," Bert chirped to Gwen.

Robin reached out and smacked her boyfriend. "You're such a slut."

Bert just grinned at Gwen, making suggestive looks with his eyebrows before Robin sighed and smacked her boyfriend again. This time there was a little more heat in her attack. "I just KNEW that night would change all of us," Robin complained bitterly. "Give a guy an inch of room and he'll think you'll let him fuck around whenever the hell he wants."

"I'm just kidding, baby," Bert rubbed Robin's knee.

"No, you're not," Robin barked accusingly. "If Gwen offered to take you into the spare room thirty seconds ago you would have gone."

Bert's jaw dropped. "No, I wouldn't!"

Robin glared at him witheringly.

"Well ... I ... I would have totally checked with you first."

I winced for Bert, already knowing where this was going.

"Checked with me? Hah! So you WANT to fuck Gwen again, huh? One time wasn't enough! So last night when we were together, were you fantasizing about her? Or maybe Dawn? Is that it?"

"Come ON, Robin! Gimme a break. I'm not fantasizing about anyone but you! It's just that ... I..."

"What? What?" Robin pressed. "I'm not good enough for you anymore?"

"Oh, come ON! Like you haven't had the stray thought about Ben or Ryan in the last month. I HEARD you mumbling Ben's name in your sleep a week ago. What kind of a dream was THAT?"

"Even IF I did, it was a DREAM. I can't help my subconscious. But you're wide awake! And you pull this shit on me and we-"

"I think we need to get out of here for a bit," I leaned over and whispered to Dawn. She nodded and looked at Gwen. The three of us tried to pack up as quietly as possible, but it really didn't matter since the fighting couple wasn't paying any attention to us.

"It was YOUR idea to try swinging in the first place!" Bert complained.

"I was DRUNK! I didn't mean it! And I don't remember YOU saying anything about-"

The three of us scooted out of the room, leaving an oblivious Bert and Robin to continue their fight. Only breathing a sigh of relief once the door was closed behind us.

"Head over to your place?" Gwen asked me.

I nodded and glanced at Dawn. "Better call Ryan so he doesn't walk in on that."

Dawn nodded and fished out her cell phone. But before she dialed, she looked at me and Gwen and asked, "Sure you two don't want a little private time before Ryan and I show up there?"

I arched an eyebrow and glanced at Gwen. It wasn't that I was against the idea of having sex with our pretty friend. but special occasions were one thing; a casual hookup like this just seemed...

"I don't think so," Gwen stated first before looking over at me. "I don't want to make a habit of this. We're friends ... maybe even special friends sometimes ... but let's not complicate things by making anything even remotely regular." Gwen jerked her thumb back to the door where we could still hear Robin and Bert yelling at each other. "The last thing I want is for our friendship to turn into that."

I nodded. "Agreed."

"So let's just get to your place and finish our work," Gwen said. "Listening to you two talking about Keenzian or Kaynzian or whatever will definitely put me out of the mood."

Brandi's and Dayna's crew looked up as Gwen, Dawn, and I walked into the house. It was still the first week back at school and everyone said hello as we meandered in and scoped out space to put our books.

"What brings you guys here?" Angela Chan asked in curiosity.

"Coming to flirt with the older women?" Kerri Trainor added with suggestive eyebrow waggles.

I winked at Kerri. Gwen answered for us. "Bert and Robin are having some ... difficulties. We just wanted to give them space."

"Ahh," Dayna nodded knowingly. She'd been around for several of Bert and Robin's famously LOOONG fights when they would hole themselves up in Dawn's or my bedroom last year when my crew still hung around the house.

"Pull up a chair," Erica Jackson offered by the dining table.

"You can sit in my lap," Monique St. Claire told me with a giggle.

I smiled. It was good to be home.

So Dawn, Gwen, and I sat at the dining table and spread out our books. Julie Carpenter decided she was done with her studying and left the dining table to give us a third seat, moving over to the couch to join some of the others watching TV. And the room quieted down as the piano opening to Phantom Planet's "California" sounded off, and I looked up to see the opening credits of "The OC" on FOX.

I rolled my eyes. I'd LIVED in Orange County and no one ever actually called it "The OC". It was just "OC" or "Orange County". The credits finished and the show went to commercial, and I decided to go ahead and comment to that effect. "The real thing is NOTHING like the show."

"What?" Angela turned around and smirked at me. "You didn't spend all your high school days sunning on the beach chasing amazingly hot girls? Or getting into random fistfights? Or riding around in expensive cars?"

I blinked. Actually... "Well, uh..." I muttered, thinking of Adrienne and Candy and fighting with Drew and... "It's not that crazy every WEEK," I finished lamely.

The girls giggled and Erica complained, "We all know it's just a Hollywoodized version of the real thing. There're no black people on the show."

I shrugged. "There aren't any black people in Newport Beach, either."

"You can't be serious," Erica shot back.

"Well, not ZERO black people," I admitted. "But there was a census. Newport Beach is only 0.5% black, and it's 92% white. So the TV show isn't that far off."

Erica, who grew up in Oakland, just looked at me like I came from Crazyworld.

I blushed and offered, "Well, my hometown is 30% Asian..."

Julie interrupted everybody by declaring, "Shh. It's back. Ooh, I HATE that Oliver..."

I shook my head and went back to my studies. We were used to studying while others were watching TV or playing video games, and Dawn and I quickly got back into rhythm. But twenty minutes later, the doorbell rang.

About half of us picked our heads up and looked around. Dawn got up and said, "Must be Ryan."

Gwen and I nodded and Dawn left. But a minute later, she came back and said in a quiet voice. "Ben, I think you'd better come here."

Furrowing my eyebrows, I looked questioningly at my best friend. I couldn't read anything in her expression other than that she was gravely serious, and I got up and headed out. Everyone else was occupied in their own studies or with the TV show.

It wasn't Ryan at the door. The person there was about a foot shorter, female, and had dark auburn hair. "Paige?" I exclaimed in surprise as I came down the hallway.

It was only when I got to the doorway that I realized she had rows and rows of tears rolling down her cheeks, along with what seemed to be the remains of a black eye, days old. Her arms were crossed over her own waist and she was shivering, even though she wore a heavy coat and it wasn't really that cold outside. I knew instantly that something was very, very wrong. "Paige, what happened?"

"B- Ben ... Uh, can I come in?" she asked hesitantly. There was no trace of the bravado she'd displayed before me the last few times we'd seen each other. Gone was the rebellious, self-destructive, bitchy tramp of last semester. In her place was a little girl frightened out of her wits.

"Of course, of course," I held my arm out to her and she came in. She shivered again when I wrapped my arm around her, shrinking away from me. But when I pulled back, afraid I'd upset her, she immediately lunged into my body and wrapped her arms around me. And there, she started sobbing big heaving cries of despair while shuddering uncontrollably.

I looked up at Dawn, who just stared wide-eyed at us and shrugged helplessly. I tilted my head, indicating that we should go to my room. And then Dawn led the way as I half-carried Paige there.

Once inside, Dawn closed the door as I sat Paige on the bed. Dawn went to sit beside her while I squatted in front of Paige and asked again, "Paige, what happened?"

The petite redhead bit her lip and looked away from me, still crying and shuddering. She wrung her hands together and looked ready to run ... somewhere ... anywhere ... But I let my hands rest on her knees and Dawn rubbed her back until she finally looked up at me with dull blue eyes and said, "I'm sorry. I didn't know where else to go."

"You're always welcome here. I told you that before."

She nodded and whimpered. "I didn't know what else to do."

"We'll figure it out."

"How? There's no figuring THIS out!"

I was striving to be patient and project a sense of calm, but inside I was wondering what the heck was going on. I patted her knees and reassured her, "We'll do our best." Then I reached a hand up to her face and held her cheek, inspecting the black eye.

"Who gave this to you?"

"My boyfriend," she whimpered. "Ex-boyfriend," she clarified. "He was livid when he found out."

"Found out what?"

Paige quivered and bit her lip again, looking down between us. Then after taking a deep breath, she flicked her eyes up to me and said, "I'm pregnant."

I had a strange sense of déjà vu. My eyes went wide. My hands felt clammy. But at least this time I didn't pass out. In fact, I got a hold of myself pretty quickly. Maybe it was because I'd been through this once before. As soon as Paige had uttered the dreaded P-word, I'd had a flashback to Allie Sanders sobbing on the couch back after our Junior Year of High School.

Maybe it was because this time, I was absolutely certain the kid wasn't mine.

So after a second, I slid my hands over Paige's and separated them, squeezing reassuringly. "Okay. Tell me everything."

Paige shivered and took a deep breath. And then she started unspooling her tale, haltingly and a little out of order. "I found out about a week ago, right when I got back to campus. My period was due right after New Year's, actually. I'm almost always like clockwork. Every four weeks: boom, there it is. But I was late. I'm never late. But I couldn't take a pregnancy test, not in parents' house. And I wasn't sure how to sneak it around them. So I just had to wait ... and wait ... and wait ... I was scared as all hell, but I had to wait. And then literally like five minutes after they dropped me off at school, I walked down to the drugstore and bought a test." She stopped and took a deep breath, looking ready to start crying again. "Somebody had knocked me up."

I looked at Dawn for a moment, who just stared back at me with the same uncertainty I was feeling. I looked back to Paige. "You said 'somebody'. Does that mean you don't think it's your ex-boyfriend?"

Paige shook her head in the negative. "That's why he's so pissed. I didn't know what to do when I found out and he told me he loved me and so I thought I could tell him and he'd help me figure out what to do," she rambled. Then she paused and pinched her lips nervously. "But the thing is: he never wanted to risk knocking me up, so he NEVER fucked my pussy. Not once. Not even when I told him it was my safe time. So he knew he didn't knock me up. And he didn't know I was fucking other guys. So when I told him I was pregnant, he just punched me, called me a whore, and then kicked me out."

I sighed, holding my hand up to make Paige wait a second while I processed her rambling. "When was this?"

Paige sank. "Two days ago."

I looked at her black eye. Two days seemed about right. I took a deep breath and then asked, "So who IS the father?"

Paige blanched and avoided my eyes. She mumbled something so soft that I couldn't hear.

"I'm sorry," I sighed. "Say again?"

She took a deep breath and looked at me plainly. And in a louder voice, she said, "I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"There were ... a few guys..." She bit her lip again and looked down in shame. Dawn just rubbed her back.

I sighed and started doing the math in my head. If her period was due after New Year's, then her previous period would have been at the beginning of December. That put her most fertile period right around Finals ... and the last party at the end of Finals. "The black guy you met at our party?" I ventured.

Paige exhaled and kept studying the floor. "Maybe. I went back and added them up myself. There were five guys all around that time. Two of them were black, so even if the baby turns out half-black I still won't know."

"Five?" I asked incredulously.

Paige whimpered, Dawn glared at me, and I bit my tongue. I'd certainly banged more than five girls around the same time, so I had no room to talk.

I took a deep breath and Paige started wringing her hands. "Ben, what do I do? I can't face my parents like this! They'll disown me. They'll excommunicate me. They'll stone me!"

"They won't stone you," I sighed, and then took another breath, realizing that I didn't know how fundamental her parents were. "Will they?"

"I don't know!" Paige whined.

Dawn glared at me again and I winced, ordering myself to get back on track. "Look, we'll talk this over Paige," I assured her. Then I held her hands tightly and looked her in the eyes. "Paige, you DO know what the most practical thing to do here is."

"I won't have an abortion," she barked. "I can't. I'm Catholic!"

I winced. I wasn't going to start arguing her religious beliefs again. But I had to admit that Allie Sanders getting an abortion had made a lot of potential headaches go away. Maybe I could still talk Paige into it?

"Okay, Red. Okay..." I stood up, stretching out my legs. Fortunately, I was used to spending a lot of my time in that position, usually while eating a girl out, so my legs didn't hurt very much. I pulled Paige into my arms and hugged her reassuringly. "We'll figure it out."

Paige, Dawn, and I kept talking for another hour before the petite redhead literally fell asleep in my arms. We hadn't made any headway in deciding what to do, but at least she had calmed down. She wasn't expected to see her parents again until the end of the academic year in May, so we had some time. Of course, nothing we could do would hide a 6-month bump if she decided to keep the baby.

I gently laid Paige down in my bed and came back out with Dawn. In the hallway, we stood and talked quietly together. "Oh my god..." I sighed. I didn't believe, but the exclamation seemed appropriate given the circumstances.

Dawn nodded and patted my shoulder. "You did the best you could. She's calmed down and she seems to be sleeping okay."

I nodded and squeezed Dawn's hand. "Thanks for being in there with me."

"Of course," she nodded. "I told you I would be."

I arched an eyebrow.

Dawn smiled. "Don't you remember?"

I shook my head.

"It was right after Paige left with that guy at the End of the Year party. You tried to rape me, remember that?"

I winced and nodded. "Sorry."

"You've already apologized enough. My point is that I promised I'd do whatever I could to help you with her. I still think on some level that she's just a messed up girl who leeched off you and doesn't deserve this kind of support from you. But..." She took a deep breath. "I know that she's important to you. And what that girl is going through I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. I'm glad you're around to help her when she needs you."

I smiled and pulled her to me in a hug. "Thank you, Dawn. Thank you."

Midway through the hug, I felt the presence of someone else behind us. Peering back, I saw Ryan who was staring at the two of us with his eyes mere slits. He glared at me and growled, "Would someone like to tell me what you two were doing inside that bedroom all this time?"

I sighed. And I'd thought this was going to be an ordinary day.

Ryan needed to peek inside and see that yes, Paige Jacobsen was indeed sleeping in my bed, before he relaxed over his paranoia that Dawn and I had been fucking the evening away. That started a mini-argument where Dawn complained about her boyfriend not trusting her after everything we'd already been through, especially given that Dawn had CALLED Ryan to come over to the house.

Fortunately, everyone else needed a lot less convincing. All of Dayna's and Brandi's friends had seen us escorting Paige past the living room and into my bedroom. And Adrienne just took my word at face value and invited me to spend the night with her. I gladly accepted and we made love one time before falling asleep in each other's arms.

The next day, I escorted Paige back to her dorm room to get changed and freshened up. Paige promised me she'd be fine on her own getting around the rest of the day, and I then headed out to meet Dawn for our classes.

I didn't see or hear from the petite redhead for the rest of the day. I assume she went through her usual routine, getting to classes and finding food. I'm not sure where she went afterwards, or whether she was still hanging out with whatever friends she'd made during the last semester. I inwardly hoped she wasn't smoking weed; it certainly wouldn't be good for the baby. But I did my best to remind myself that I'd done my part to help her out for a night and it was yet to be seen how much more she would want or need from me. Certainly, I thought I'd already done more for her than a typical ex-boyfriend would have done. And I hoped that a few more times visiting together and talking would eventually help Paige decide for herself how best to proceed.

Turned out she was looking for more than that. I got home from Dawn's and Ryan's apartment to find Paige sitting in the living room, talking to Dayna's and Brandi's friends. There was a suitcase conspicuously propped up outside my bedroom door. And a half-guilty/half-pleading expression was on the little redhead's face. She stood and walked over to me in the hallway, staring down at my feet and nervously shifting her weight from side to side. And in the quietest, most innocent voice, she asked, "Can I stay here with you for a while?" Then she looked up at me with big, puppy-dog eyes.

I was a goner. I already knew it. But it wasn't just my house. I took a deep breath and stammered, "Uh, I don't know. I mean, how long were you thinking?"

"Not long. Just until I get this figured out. But I really don't want to be alone right now. I need to have people around me I know, people who might actually care about me." She blushed and looked around. "I need to be around YOU."

I picked my eyes up and looked into the living room. "It's not entirely my call. Actually, the house is being leased by Dayna and Brandi and-"

"Pssht," Brandi waved me off. "It's not like she wasn't practically living here while you two were dating."

"We're not dating this time," I pointed out.

"Same difference," Brandi shrugged. "Long as she's out of the way."

"What, you're gonna turn a pregnant girl out onto the streets?" Dayna arched an eyebrow at me.

I rolled my eyes. "Of course not. And going back to her own dorm room is not the same as being 'turned out onto the streets'." I sighed and looked straight at Paige. "It's not that you aren't welcome here; you are."

"Just for a little while. Please don't make me go out there on my own," she whimpered.

I liked my friend and I wanted to support her, but I couldn't spend EVERY night dealing with her pregnancy dramas. I had my own studies, my own life, and a lot of other girls I wanted in that bedroom besides her. Heck, Josephine Beart had already called, making comments about going for a trifecta tonight. "I can't impose on Adrienne every night, for one thing," I reasoned.

"If it's about beds, I'll sleep out here," Paige replied.

I waved to Brandi and Dayna. The couches were public space and wouldn't be as 'out of the way' as they may have originally thought. But both older girls just shrugged.

"And I'll make it up to you. I'll cook. I'll clean. I'll pull my weight. Please?"

I sighed. Little warnings in Dawn's voice about how Paige latched onto me before; "leeched off me" as she put it. But I couldn't think of any concrete reason not to let her hang around. Clearly, she was a lost, frightened girl, looking for something supportive and stable around her. I wanted to help, and this was one way I could do so.

"If it's okay with everyone else, I don't see why not."

As much as I just wanted to open my heart and arms to Paige, I had to be practical about the situation. Paige went ahead and put her suitcase in my room and her toiletries into the bathroom, but she wasn't given a drawer and she promised she wouldn't try to take over my closet. This was a temporary thing and she could return to her dorm room to swap out supplies whenever she needed.

Also, there were limitations on access to my room. The simple fact was that I had a busy social life, and not all of my sexual activities were out at the girl's place. Already this past week, Jocelyn Canilao and Kelly Park had visited the house to make up for the encounter we never had after the End of the Year party. I'd also learned to value my privacy after the last time Adrienne and Paige had shared a room with me at the end of our Freshman year. So pretty much the only times Paige was to be in my bedroom was when I invited her or if she just needed somewhere to change while I wasn't occupying it.

Well, Paige broke this rule the very first night.

It was midnight when she bedded down for the evening, comfortably situated on the couch with plenty of blankets and a pillow she'd specifically brought from her own dorm room. I stayed with her and talked to her for a little while before giving her a chaste peck on the forehead and then retiring to my own room.

Twenty minutes later, I felt the inky blackness clouding over my vision as I drifted off to sleep. But just before I got there, I felt the mattress shift and then a warm body slide in beside me.

I turned in surprise, but not in panic, and looked over to see Paige cuddling up beside me. She realized I was awake and quickly wormed her way beneath my arm so that her head was pillowed on my chest, and she wrapped herself around me comfortingly. At least she was fully clothed in her pajamas.

"Paige, what are you doing?" I asked softly.

"Please, Ben? I just don't want to feel alone right now."

I sighed. "This wasn't what we talked about."

She looked at me with worry and pouted. "Please?"

"I'm just not comfortable with-"

"Comfortable?" she cut me off. "You always feel more comfortable after you've gotten off. Would you like me to take care of that for you?"

"Paige, no!" I hissed. "It's not about that. It's just that we're not together and we're not going to get back together. And most people who aren't together and aren't getting together don't sleep together."

"We're not most people," she said quietly. "Please? Just one night. I don't want to be alone right now. You'll barely even know I'm here."

"Paige..."

"Pleeeease?" Those big blue eyes flashed in the darkness.

I sighed, already defeated. "Okay."

"You'll barely even know I'm here," she promised before swinging a leg over mine, pressing her entire body against my side, and generally doing her best to crawl inside my clothes.

Yeah, right.

I felt something tickle my balls; and with a start, I jerked awake.

"Mmph!" somebody groaned; and as I sat up, I realized I'd just shoved my dick an inch into a girl's throat. She gagged, popping her head off and coughing while I groaned in annoyance and pulled her head back down. She recovered quickly and resumed rhythmically pumping my shaft in her hands and sucking on the mushroom head as if I'd never interrupted her.

My eyes fluttered for a brief second, giving me just enough time to see the dark- haired head bobbing up and down in my lap before my heavy eyelids closed themselves. It felt sooo good, and right in this moment, I would like nothing better than to bust my nut into this girl's throat and go right back to sleep.

But then my brain caught up, and I idly wondered exactly WHO was giving me the wake-up blowjob. I couldn't remember who I'd been with the night before. I remembered falling asleep between Jocelyn and Kelly, but I realized I was confusing last night with some previous night. I imagined it might be Adrienne, but she never would have gagged when my cockhead pushed into her throat; so it had to be someone less experienced with cocksucking. And just when I started to wrack my brain for other ideas, it hit me: PAIGE.

My eyes flew open and sure enough, there was the definite auburn red in her dark hair color. And when I picked my head up, the petite girl rolled her deep blue eyes up to me and smiled around my meat.

"Paige!" I complained.

She popped off and stroked me a few more times. "Morning!"

"What are you doing?"

She giggled naughtily and looked down at my prick. "Thought that was obvious." Then she resumed sucking on the end of my knob.

"Paige, stop. We can't do this."

She pulled off again. "Why not? It's not like we haven't done this before."

"That's not the point. You shouldn't be doing that," I huffed, already out of breath.

"Why not? I want to and you don't seem to mind."

"I mind. Okay, my dick doesn't mind. But I mind."

"Why?"

Why? I didn't know. I knew I should mind but her mouth felt sooo good right now I couldn't think straight. She must have been working me for a while before I woke up because I was this close to orgasm and it was hard to think of anything else. The only thing filling my head was the pleasure Paige was giving me, and every fiber of my being screamed to let her finish me off. "I don't know," I finally whimpered. "I just know we shouldn't be doing this."

"But I just wanted to thank you for letting me stay here," she pouted and took a long lick along the underside of my shaft from base to tip.

"Ohhh..." I groaned rapturously, closing my eyes. But just as quickly I opened them back up and looked sternly at her. "Thanks accepted. You're welcome. Now please stop," I whimpered.

"Nuh-uh. I'm almost finished. I can feel it." She grinned and took me as far as she could, which wasn't much more than halfway. But she sucked me like a vacuum and stroked what remained with her left hand, tickling my balls with her right just the way she knew I liked it. And uncontrollably I felt the sperm in my testicles come to a boil.

"Paige..." I whimpered pitifully. She ignored me and kept on going.

Ah, hell.

One stroke, two strokes, three strokes. Paige went up and down with her hands caressing me so firmly, and I was done. "Arrghh!" I grunted and thrust my hips off the bed again. Only this time, she was prepared for it and didn't choke, raising her head with me. And then the volleys of cum started ejecting into her sucking mouth.

"Mmm..." Paige hummed happily while I started feeding her my cream. Her throat contracted as she took each burst into her belly. Her eyes were fixed on mine, watching me watching her swallow every drop I gave her.

And when I was done, my head sagged back and sank into my pillow. I exhaled slowly, feeling the wonderful release of tension. Physically, I felt great. That had been a spectacular orgasm.

But a brand new tension started tightening my brain as I realized what we'd just done. So I sat up and started lecturing Paige on why she shouldn't be doing that anymore: we were no longer dating, she had a lot of emotional issues to face, and it wasn't appropriate for her to molest me in my sleep.

I wasn't sure she was really listening.

Paige wasn't the only girl vying for my attention that new year. The calendar had turned. The pledge period was over. And there were no more competitions left.

But a certain Tri-Delt still had some unfinished business with me.

"Hi, Ben." I'd been walking out of the Bongo Burger with my friends when the melodic voice caught my attention. I looked over and came to a stop when I saw Cadence Carmichael standing off to the side wearing black slacks and a sleek black top with flared sleeves that ended just past her elbows. Her pale skin and strawberry-blonde hair stood out in stark contrast to the outfit, and she was radiantly beautiful as she smiled at me. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

I looked at Dawn, Gwen, Bert, and Robin. My friends shrugged and Dawn and I exchanged curious looks. Dawn read my mind and then spoke up, saying, "C'mon Bert. We'll meet Ben at class." She hooked her arm through his and they headed off. Robin and Gwen then nodded to me and went in another direction toward their own classes, leaving me alone with the tall, beautiful Tri-Delt.

"Hey, Cadence. What's up?"

She looked nervous for half a second before tilting her head, brushing her bangs back from her face, and smiling at me. She stood poised and stared intently at me with those angular green eyes while stating, "I was wondering if you're doing anything Friday night."

I arched an eyebrow and looked curiously at her. In her low heels, we were at the same height, and I stared right back at her as I asked, "Are you asking me out on a date?"

She blushed and looked down for a moment before flicking her gaze back to me. She canted her head and then smiled confidently. "I am."

I blinked in some surprise, and she took a deep breath and continued. "No more games, Ben. No more sorority tasks or pledge points or competitions or crap like that. I'm not asking you out because I want to win something or beat somebody. I like you. I've always liked you. I think that's why I could never just throw myself at you while you still had the pledge bounty on you. I didn't want to just get laid. I can do that anytime I want, and I know you can, too. You intrigue me. And I think I intrigue you."

I stepped a little closer and looked intently into Cadence's eyes. She stared right back and as we held our gazes, I saw a little smile creeping into the corners of her eyes. She knew she had me. "Where do you want to go?" I asked.

"I'll leave that to you."

"You asked me out on a date."

Cadence smirked, looking down and shaking her head. "Y'know, I've never done that before. That was my very first time asking a guy out on a date, and I really don't know what else to do."

I arched an eyebrow but Cadence just beamed at me. She took a step forward, bringing her right up into my face. And with a challenging raised eyebrow of her own, she stated, "You're the guy. It's up to you to plan something that'll impress me."

I grinned. No more pledge games, but Cadence still wanted to play her boy-girl games. She didn't want me to just accept her pursuit. She wanted ME to pursue HER. "Fine," I nodded. "Friday night. I'll pick you up from your dorm room at eight o'clock."

She smiled and turned, already walking away. But two steps along, she coyly glanced back at me over her shoulder. "See you then."

"What do you want for dinner tonight?" Paige said brightly when I walked through the door. "It's a Friday and I'll make you anything you want!"

I sighed and shook my head, unshouldering my pack and heading for my bedroom. "Nothing, Paige."

"Aww, I'm serious. I want to do this for you. How about lasagna? I KNOW you always loved my lasagna."

My stomach growled at me. One part about being so sheltered growing up was that Paige had spent a lot of time learning to be a good housewife. Already the house was cleaner than at any time since the last time Paige was spending most of her nights here. And I remembered quite fondly how good her lasagna could taste. "Ohhh," I groaned at the thought of missing Paige's cooking. "I can't. I'm going out tonight."

"Out? Where?" she followed me into my bedroom and just watched me kicking off my shoes and pulling crap out of my pockets.

"I've got a date."

"A date? With whom?" she pouted. I headed back out of the room and into the bathroom.

She followed me in there as well.

"With a girl. Now Paige, I gotta pee."

"So? Nothing I haven't seen before." She planted her fists against her hips and frowned at me.

I looked at her expectantly and even made a shooing motion. She reminded me of one of those damn bees that followed you around wherever you went. You tried to swat at it but it would just buzz around somewhere else before returning, convinced you were a flower that needed pollinating or something. And all the while you were just hoping you didn't get stung.

Paige sighed and just turned to face away, folding her arms across her chest. It was clear she wasn't going to leave. "Who?" she demanded with her back to me.

I sighed and relaxed my kegel muscles, letting the urine stream finally out of me to splash down into the toilet. "Cadence Carmichael," I finally admitted mid- stream.

"Don't know her."

"She's a Tri-Delt."

"Figures. Haven't you already had half of them?"

"I haven't had half of them," I sighed. "I haven't even had a dozen of them."

"We can work on that."

"What?" I was so surprised by her response that I momentarily lost the stream before resuming.

Paige turned around while I was still peeing. She glanced at my cock and then lifted her gaze back up to my eyes. "If you want, I can help you work on that. Give us time and we'll work through half of them in no time."

I rolled my eyes and then refocused on peeing. "Paige, that's not the point."

"Then what IS the point?"

I sighed. "The point is that I have a date tonight and there's no point in you making dinner for me since I'll be eating dinner out. So if you're hell-bent on making food, why don't you go ask Adrienne what she wants?"

"Adrienne's out. Modeling thing. She had to skip class today."

"Oh, right. Dayna and Brandi then."

"It's a Friday. Dayna's with Kevin. And Brandi isn't home."

I sighed. "Then make food for yourself. Or go back to your own dorm room!"

"Are you kicking me out?" she whined.

I sighed and jiggled my limp penis wearily, shaking out the last few drops. "No. Of course not." I wiped up then tucked myself away, moving to go wash my hands. Despite myself, having a pretty girl like Paige staring at my cock was starting to make it rise.

"Don't you have anywhere you can go tonight? Maybe visit with Gwen?"

Paige shook her head. "Gwen's got a date, too. Same with Ryan and Dawn, and Bert and Robin. I'm all alone..."

I sighed and went into my bedroom, looking through my closet for something to wear. I'd need something suitable for cold weather without being bulky.

Of course, Paige followed me in and then flopped onto my bed. "She pretty?"

"What?"

"Cadence, right? Is she pretty?"

"Of course."

"She got big boobs?"

I sighed and pictured the gorgeous strawberry-blonde freshman Tri-Delt. "You know me."

"You should wear the black and blue sweater. You always looked so hot in it."

"Thank you, Paige." I deliberately reached for the green zip-up, thinking it would go better with Cadence's eyes.

If Paige disapproved of the green sweater, she didn't comment. Instead, she asked, "Would you like me to take care of that before you go?"

"What?" I turned around to find her pointing at my crotch, which had slightly bulged outward after first Paige staring at it and then the stray thought about Cadence's boobs.

"You know what they say about taking a loaded gun on a date," Paige chirped. "I'd be happy to take care of it for you."

"What? No!"

"It looks like it wants to." The damn thing HAD grown bigger at the idea of Paige sucking me to an orgasm before my date.

"Paige," I growled threateningly.

"Oh, poo."

"Now will you please leave me alone to get changed?"

"Why?" She leaned back and propped herself up, clearly content to watch me start stripping off my clothing.

Stupid bees.

"I can't believe you took me ice skating," Cadence complained, but with a smile on her face. "I feel like such a klutz!"

Right as she said this, the tall, leggy girl's right foot slipped out and she started to go down. But I held onto her hand with my other on her waist, stabilizing her just long enough to regain her balance. In the end, she overcompensated by leaning into me and wound up collapsing against my chest, now with both of my arms around her waist. "I've got you," I said warmly.

She blinked and looked into my eyes, a little smile on her face. "Is this what I had to do to fall into your arms? Literally, I had to FALL into your arms?"

I chuckled and helped her up, letting her re-set her skates before relaxing my arms. Then taking her hand, I gently led us to skate over to the ice rink's exit, where we clomped out onto the carpet. "You could've fallen into my arms anytime you wanted to push the issue."

"Not true," she frowned as we found a bench and sat down, sighing with relief at no longer having to balance herself on the unfamiliar ice skates. "You wouldn't have let me get that far; not as long as I was a pledge. Face it: you were having more fun getting all the girls to flirt with you than to actually let one of us land you."

I smiled and thought back to the previous semester. "True," I admitted. "I was having fun with it. But I would have given up the game earlier if you'd come onto me as strongly as some of the others."

"Yeah, right." She rolled her eyes. "Now you're just trying to butter me up so you can get into my panties."

I shook my head. "I'm serious. Ask Dawn. I told her you were at the top of my 'To Do' list."

Cadence rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well if you were really that interested in me, you wouldn't have given the points to Jocelyn, Andie, and Tonya," she said a little bitterly.

I blinked and leaned back. "Hurt you a bit?"

Cadence looked away from me. "What? A guy I had a crush on decided to sleep with three other pledges instead of me? Why would I be hurt?"

I read the sarcasm in her voice and put my hand over hers. "Then why are you here with me now?" I asked sincerely. "Why go out with a guy who has clearly proven himself to be quite the slut?"

Cadence bit her lip and kept her gaze averted for what seemed like a full minute. She sighed and then squeezed my hand back. "Because I wanted to see if things would be different once the game was over."

I arched an eyebrow as she turned to look at me. "What do you mean?"

"The game was just about getting laid. Even you said it was about a 'To Do' list. I don't just want to be 'done' and then abandoned. A lot of the sisters would be fine with that." She snorted. "Hell, from what I hear, a lot of the sisters HAVE been fine with that. You got your pussy; they got their Big Ben Experience. Everybody's happy."

"Except you. You never got your Big Ben Experience."

"I don't want just a Big Ben Experience."

"And what DO you want?"

She leaned in and put her hand on my chest. "I want you."

We stayed there, just looking into each other's eyes for a little while. She looked so sweet and so seductive at the same time, and I felt a powerful urge to kiss her lips right then and there. From the way she kept glancing down at my mouth and puckering slightly, I got the impression she wanted me to.

But I didn't. I wasn't sure of my motives in this case. If I kissed Cadence, I'd want to fuck her. Hell, I'd wanted to fuck her since I saw her in the butterfly costume at the Tri-Delt Halloween party. But right now, listening to the heartfelt tone in her voice, I found that I didn't want to fuck her anymore...

I found that I just might want to make love to her...

But was I ready for that?

When Cadence had first approached me outside Bongo Burger asking for a date, I'd assumed she was finally following through on the flirtations we'd made last semester. I remembered vividly how she'd danced with me at the End of the Year party, promising to be my Barbie Girl. And tonight I'd assumed she'd want to hang out for a little bit, flirting and being coy before retiring someplace to fuck each other's brains out.

But I'd assumed wrong. This wasn't a hookup like things had been between me and Jocelyn or Bridget or any other Tri-Delt I'd been with. And if Cadence wasn't just looking for a booty call, if she was really looking for something more, then I couldn't just act like I had with all of the others. Now, knowing what she wanted from me, if I slept with her I'd be leading her to believe that I might reciprocate those feelings. And I wasn't sure I could do that.

We stared longingly into each other's eyes for a long time. Instead of the tempting seductress, I saw a sweet young girl staring back at me in adoration. And I suddenly felt guilty for some reason, like I was taking advantage of an innocent with a crush that made her very susceptible to a predator like me. With a suddenly dry throat, I rasped, "Why me? I'm just a playboy, banging every hot chick I can find. Why do you want me?"

She smiled enigmatically. "I don't know that I want you yet. That's why I asked for a date. I know I'm drawn to you for some reason I don't quite understand. And I want to find out if you can be the kind of guy that will make me happy."

I wasn't sure what to say. Cadence just smiled and then stood up, suddenly confident and poised despite the unfamiliar ice skates. She started tugging on my hand. "Come on. I want another shot at this skating thing. And if I fall, at least I already know you'll catch me."