Somebody put a Moody Blues disc in the changer and “Nights in White Satin” started to play.  I put down my beer and pulled Darlene out onto the makeshift dance floor.  As I took her in my arms I saw Gail over on the other side of the room looking daggers at me.  “What’s up with that?” I thought as Darlene and I started to move to the music.  Darlene moved in tight against me and murmured:

“This is nice.  I could do this the rest of the night.”

I felt her 36 Ds press into my chest and thought that I could too.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Actually, it was Gail I had to thank for Darlene being where she was just then.  Gail Marcela Luoma and I had been going steady since the ninth grade.  We had our little spats over typical teenage stuff and we broke up and then got back together a good half dozen times during our four years in high school.  The day we graduated from high school my parents threw a graduation party for me and as Gail and I sat on the swing in the backyard and sipped the non-alcoholic punch that was being served (I wouldn’t be eighteen for three more weeks and my parents WOULD NOT let me have anything alcoholic until I was eighteen) Gail flat out asked me if I had given any thought to the future.

“Like what?”

“What are we going to do?”

“Go to college, find a job and get married.”

“In that order?”

“Pretty much.  Can’t afford to get married and go to school.  And after school I’ll need a job to support us.”

“That’s a long time to wait.”

“Only four years.”

“But you do see us married?”

“Of course.”

She slid closer, kissed me and said, “I needed to know that.”

It was in the middle of our sophomore year that things changed.  I had managed to save some money from my part-time job at Grease Monkey and I bought Gail an engagement ring.  I took her out to dinner and then we hit a kegger at the Alpha Gamma house.  We danced and had our usual good time.  We drove out to Steven’s Point and had some backseat fun and then I drove her home.  On her front porch I went to my knee and handed her the little velvet covered box and said:

“Gail Marcella Luoma will you do me the great honor of becoming my wife?”

I don’t know exactly what I expected her to say.  It could have been something like:

“Oh wow Robbie, of course I will” or something more formal like. “Gail Macella Luoma would love to become Gail Macella Barnett.”

But what I got as I knelt there looking up at her with a smile on my face was:

“Gee Robbie; I don’t know what to say.  We have been together a long time, but I don’t know.  Marriage is such a big step.  For the last couple of months I’ve actually been thinking of talking to you about our relationship.”

By then my smile was gone and I was standing.  “What about our relationship?”

“We have been together a long time Robbie.  Neither one of us has ever spent any time with anyone else.  I think we need to take a break from each other.  Date a few other people.  Make sure that we are really right for each other.”

“Date others?  I suppose you already have someone in mind?  Have you been seeing him behind my back?  Why now?  Why didn’t you do this a year or two ago?”

I reached out and took the ring box out of her hand and then I turned and walked away without saying another word.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 

Was I upset?  Damn right I was!  But mid-terms were coming up and I was determined to keep my GPA at 3.75 or above so I pushed Gail to the back of my mind and buried my head in books and course work.  I did well on my mids and on the Friday after my last exam I hit a party at the Delta house.

 I was talking to a couple of guys and sipping a beer when Gail came in with some guy I didn’t know.  She didn’t see me so I just faded into the background and watched.  There was some kissy-face and he had his hand on her ass as they danced and a couple of times I saw him put his hands on her tits and Gail just smiled at him.

Until then I really hadn’t accepted what Gail had told me on her front porch.  I really thought that after mid-terms were over I would call her and by then she would have reconsidered and we would be back together.  About an hour after Gail and her date got there she noticed me for the first time and when she looked at me I turned my back on her, got another beer and then went into the game room to shoot some eight ball.  A couple of times I saw looking at me, but I ignored her.

It was close to midnight when I decided it was time for me to leave.  As I was headed for the door I passed by Gail and she smiled at me and said, “Hi Robbie.”  I gave her the nastiest look I was capable of and kept on walking.

Two days later I was driving down Hancock and I saw her walking arm in arm with a guy and it wasn’t the same guy she had been at the party with.  I spent a couple of days in a funk and I don’t know how long it might have gone on if not for Amy.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I was at the library doing some research for a term paper when Amy walked up to the table where I was sitting and sat down across from me.  We made small talk for a bit and then Amy said:

“I heard that you and Gail are no longer a couple.  Any truth to that?”

“Afraid so.  She decided that it would be best for us if we took a break from each other and dated others for a while.”

“So are you?”

“Am I what?”

“Dating others.”

“I haven’t yet.”

“Are you going to?”

I might be a little slow sometimes, but I’m not totally dense so I looked at her, smiled and asked:

“Would you like to be the first?”

I took Amy out the next night and found out something that I had never known about her.  I’d known Amy since the eighth grade and I had never known that she was a nasty little slut and I mean that in a good way.  Our first date was to go to Marsha Moose’s birthday party.  I picked Amy up and we hadn’t gone two blocks before she slid over next to me and her hands went to my fly.

“You pay attention to your driving” she said, “And I’ll take care of Junior here.”

  I was hard as a rock by the time she got “Junior” out and she gave it a couple of strokes and then went down on me.  I was stunned!  I had dated Gail almost three years before she would even let me play with her tits and four years before we exchanged cherries and Gail had never gone down on me.  And there I was, ten minutes into my first date with Amy and she had my cock in her mouth.  After about four minutes I had to pull over to the side of the road because I was having a hard time paying attention to my driving.  When she had me on the edge of busting my nuts I told her I was going to cum and I expected her to pull her mouth off of me, but she didn’t.  She took it all and when I was limp she said:

“Think that might keep your mind on me and what we will be doing after the party?”

I probably should have finished the rest of the drive giving silent thanks to Gail for making it all possible, but the truth is I didn’t think of Gail at all.  Not even a smidgen.  At least not until halfway through the party when Gail showed up with some guy.  She didn’t seem all that happy to see me there and having a good time with Amy.  I was already in my “after the party” frame of mind and I ignored Gail and who she was with. 

As we left the party Amy asked me if I could afford a motel room or were we going to have to settle for the back seat of my car.  Luckily I had been paid that afternoon and Amy told me to drive to the Shangri-la Motel on Maple and for $56.20 I got a bed that didn’t get slept on.  It did get used from 11:40 PM until 6:20, but it did not get slept on.

Amy thought I was pulling her leg when I told her that I had never eaten pussy and she made damned sure I was proficient at it before we left that motel room the next morning.  Spending time with Amy was enlightening.  Not only did she give me my first blow job and teach me to eat pussy she got me into my fist sixty-nine and gave me my first taste of anal.  God, but did that girl love it up the butt. 

Amy and I seemed to have a built in radar or something that let us hone in on Gail.  It didn’t seem to matter where Amy and I went, Gail would be there.  I enjoyed the hell out of ignoring her.

Unfortunately for me my relationship with Amy only lasted just a little over three weeks, but for those three weeks Amy did her best to fuck me blind.  The one night after Amy had reduced me to a quivering wreck she said:

“It has been fun Rob, but I won’t be seeing you any more.  Jerry’s back so I have to go back to being a good little girl.”

It turned out that Amy had a boyfriend who had gone somewhere for a month or so and Amy had chosen me to take up the slack while he was gone.  There wasn’t much I could say except, “I had a great time too.  Keep me in mind if he ever goes away again,”

“I will sweetie; you can count on it.”

The next couple of times I saw Gail I was dateless and although I never spoke to her I got the distinct impression that she was pleased that I was alone.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I had known Darlene for a little over a year.  We were both Business Management majors and so we shared a lot of the same classes.  She was an extremely good looking girl and I found my eyes wandering her way quite often, but I was with Gail and then with Amy so even though I looked that was as far as it went until a week after Amy said “bye-bye.” 

The class was Production and Project Management III and Professor Harkin broke the class into five student teams and gave each team a project.  Darlene and I ended up on the same team.  If you have ever been in a situation like that you know how it goes. 

There will be one or two who are driven to get an A on the project and they will bury themselves in it. 

There will be one who only wants to get the “friggin” class out of the way and is willing to accept a C.  That person will only do the bare minimum to get by. 

There will be one who is way over his head in the class and who should not even be there and the last one will have too much on his plate to begin with.  The one with too much on his plate will almost never get their part of the project done.  Something else will always get in the way.

“I had this paper that I just had to get in to Professor XXXX and I thought that once I got that out of the way I’d have enough time to do the project  I’m really sorry” or something like that.

The one over their head will just look at you confused when you ask them how their part of the project is coming along.

The one just wanting to get the class behind them will do so-so work, just enough to get by.

The two driven to get an A will have been there before and they know how it is going to go and they tune the others out and regardless of what is assigned to the other three, the two achievers do it all.  The two in this case being Darlene and me.  As a result we spent a lot of time in each others company as we did the research and worked on the project. 

When it was over and we turned the project in (we got a B – Harkins was an asshole!) I mentioned to Darlene that we had spent an awful lot of time together without having much fun and then I asked her if she would like to go out with me.  She said she would love to and the first date led to a second and the second to a third and the third is where we were stared at by Gail.

I don’t know what made me do it, but Gail staring daggers at Darlene and me must have tripped a trigger somewhere in my brain and I looked at Gail, smiled and then bent my head and kissed Darlene.  The kiss caught Darlene by surprise, but after a moments hesitation she returned it and added just a touch of tongue.  I broke the kiss, smiled at Gail again and then ignored Gail for the rest of the evening.  That kiss led to a steamy make out session between Darlene and me when we left the party and I got as far as getting her bra unhooked and my hands on her tits before she shut me down.  Was I disappointed?  Yeah, but I realized that not every girl was like Amy.  It was going to take just a little longer to get to Darlene.  I was in a pretty good mood when I hit the sack that night.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It was the next day when I found out what had been going on.  I was at the library doing some research again.  I was in the stacks looking for a particular book when I heard a familiar voice.  On the other side of the row I was in there were four tables.  I pushed a couple of books aside and looked through the gap and I saw Gail sitting at the closest table with her best friend Donna.  I was just getting ready to slide the books back into place and continue to look for the book I wanted when I heard part of what Gail was saying.  “…scratch the bitch’s eyes out.”  That sounded interesting so I stayed where I was and turned an ear toward the two girls.

“First that slut Amy and now that big titted bitch and God only knows who else that I don’t know about.”

“I don’t understand” Donna said, “It is what you wanted.”

“No it isn’t.”

“Oh come on girlfriend, get a grip.  You are the one who told Rob you needed to take a break from each other and date other people.”

“But I meant me, not him.  He was supposed to wait for me to come back to him.”

“I don’t believe you.  You can’t possibly be that stupid.  Rob is a very nice guy.  Even if he didn’t go looking on his own as soon as the word was out that you were out of the picture girls were going to be going after him.  Hell Gail, the only reason I haven’t taken a shot is because of our friendship.  I was just waiting for you to hook up with some guy and start going steady with him and then I was going to try my luck with Rob.”

“Oh God, I didn’t need to hear that.  I don’t want other girls chasing after Rob.  He’s mine!”

“He was yours.  He didn’t walk away from you Gail; God knows why, but you let him go.”

“I didn’t mean to let him go.  It’s just that I’ve only been with Rob.  Since ninth grade he has been the only one.  I just wanted to see what a couple of other guys would be like.”

“Well it looks like Rob decided to see what a couple of other girls would be like.”

“What am I going to do Donna?  I don’t want some one else with my Rob.”

“Then you had better hurry up and get back to him before he finds a honey that he wants to get permanent with.”

“You’re right.  I just hope it isn’t too late.”

Well now, wasn’t that interesting I thought as I slid the books back in place.  I found the one I was looking for and left the library.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I had mixed emotions as I left the library and headed for my next class.  I was pissed that Gail thought she had me so wrapped around her finger that she could do whatever she wanted and I would just sit there and stare at the wall hoping for her to come back to me.  On the other hand I knew that Gail was meant to be my other half.  I missed her and I wanted her back and I was happy to hear that she considered me “hers” and that she wanted me, but I also knew that if I let her get away with what she had done she might think she could do something like that again later on down the line.

Not if I could help it!

The first call came an hour after I got home.  I saw from the cell phone display that the call was from Gail so I ignored it and let it go to voicemail and then I listened to it.

“Rob honey, this is Gail.  Please call me as soon as you get this.”

I deleted the message.  I had eleven calls from Gail over the next two days and I didn’t take one of them.  The weekend came and I went camping with some friends.  I turned my cell off as soon as I got in the car and didn’t turn it back on until we got home early Monday morning.  I had fourteen missed messages and seventeen voicemails – all from Gail – and I deleted them all without listening to them.  Since I wasn’t taking her calls I expected Gail to try and catch me coming out of a class so I kept an eye out for her.  My plan was to avoid her for a week and then talk with her and even then I planned to string her out for a while.

I was having lunch at the school cafeteria when Darlene sat down at the table with me.  She looked pissed.  Before I could even say “Hi” she lit into me.

“I thought better of you Rob.  I thought you were a nice guy, but it turns out that you are an asshole like all the rest of them.”

I looked at her stunned.  “What did I do to bring this on” I finally managed to get out.

“You know damned well what you did.  Just because I wouldn’t let you in my pants the other night you walked away.  Don’t waste time on them if you can’t fuck them, right?”

“Whoa up there lady; it isn’t that way at all.”

“Oh no?  You had my blouse off and my bra undone.  You had your hands on my breasts and you don’t consider that intimate enough to give me a phone call in the next day or so?  It has been six days and not a word from you.”

“I’m sorry.  I guess I should have called you even if it was to tell you that I couldn’t see you again.  Please believe me when I say that my not scoring that night had nothing to do with it.”

“Then why didn’t you call?”

“I discovered something that turned my life upside down.”

“Like what?”

I hesitated for a moment and then thought, “Oh what the hell” and then I told Darlene the story.

“She did that to you and you are actually thinking of taking her back?”

“Not until I’ve made her suffer a little.”

“Why not make her suffer a lot?”

“How?”

“Rub her nose in the fact that you are doing what she said she wanted to do.”

“And that would be?”

“Dating others, lots of others.”

“That would be a nice idea if it wasn’t so impractical.”

“Why would it be impractical?”

“Because of the time it takes to meet a girl, get to know her well enough to ask her out and then manage to be where Gail could see us.  It would take months to do even two or three and I don’t want to let things between me and Gail go on that long.”

“How about if you don’t have to waste all that time meeting girls and going through all that rigmarole?”

“How do I do that?”

“I’ll bet I can get my sister and a couple of my girlfriends to help out.”

“Why would they do that?”

“The fun of it and the possibility of a quick, no emotional attachment fuck.”

“What!”

“Girls talk sweetie and Amy told a few of us that you are pretty damned good in the sack.  A lot of us girls are in no hurry to be tied down this early in life, but we are still curious.  The only reason that you and I haven’t gotten it on yet is because I didn’t want you to think I was too easy.  You got my bra off last time and next time you would have gotten your hands in my panties and the date after that you would have scored.  Now that I know how things are you will get lucky tonight.  That is you will if you want to.”

“Like I would say no?”

“I can’t promise that you will score with the others, but then the real purpose is to be seen and tweak your girlfriend’s nose, right?”

“Right.”

“Pick me up at six and by then I will have talked to the others I have in mind.  Between now and then make a list of places where we will be likely to run across your girlfriend.”

I picked Darlene up at six and we started driving around and hitting places where Gail might be.  As we drove Darlene told me that I would be dating her sister Debbie the next night, a girl named Sue the night after that and the next night would be a girl named Cindy.  We hit five places before we found Gail.  She was sitting at a table with her friend Donna.  I saw her see me as I came through the door and she started to slide off her seat to come to me until she noticed that Darlene was with me.  Darlene and I sat on the other side of the room and acted like two people on a date would normally act.

Somebody put some money in the juke box and when a slow tune came up Darlene and I got up and danced.  I kept track of Gail out of the corner of my eye and she never took her eyes off of us.  We stayed about an hour and then left.  Gail stared at us all the way out the door.  Outside I said:

“Now what?”

“I want to sample what the silly bitch walked away from.  I would prefer a bed to a backseat, but I’ll take what I can get.”

I was only too happy to spring for a room at the Shangri-la and I am pleased that Darlene did not think that I was a disappointment.  The next day Darlene called me at four in the afternoon and told me there was a change in plans.  Something had come up and Debbie couldn’t make it so she swapped evenings with Sue.  She told me what time and where to meet and the next day I was at the appointed place at the appointed time and was introduced to Sue.  Then Darlene took off and left us to get acquainted.  Sue and I discussed what we would do when we found Gail and then we took off looking.  We never did find Gail, but we did hit places where plenty of Sue’s friends were.  The last place we hit I saw Donna sitting in a booth with some guy and she saw us so I knew that between Donna and Gail’s other friends that the word would get back to her.  We stayed long enough for a drink and a couple of dances and then we left.

There was absolutely no chemistry between Sue and me so I took her home and thanked her for her help.  She wished me luck, kissed me on the cheek and then got out of the car.

I talked to Darlene the next morning and she told me that Cindy had decided not to participate and that she would take Cindy’s place in the rotation.  She also told me that Debbie was expecting me to pick her up around six.  I’d no sooner disconnected than the phone rang and I saw that the call was from Gail.  I let it go to voicemail just as I had the other six calls I had gotten from her that day.  I didn’t listen to them because I was afraid they would weaken my resolve.  I would take my date with Darlene’s sister Debbie and hope that we would run into Gail that night.  She would have seen me with four different girls by then and I would call her the next day.  If we didn’t run into her then I would have to decide on going with what I had or to play it out a little longer.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

My cell phone went off and I reached over and picked it up from the bedside table.  I looked at the display and saw that the call was from Gail.  I pushed the button and said:

“Hello?”

“Hi Robbie, its Gail.  How have you been?”

“Actually I’ve been pretty good.  How about you?”

“Not so hot and that’s what I need to talk to you about.  Could you meet me for lunch sometime today?”

“I don’t think I can Gail.  I’ve got a pretty heavy schedule for today.  But you have me on the phone and I have a few minutes right now.”

“I would rather do this face to face, but I guess the phone will have to do.  It is about our situation Robbie; about this thing about seeing others.”

“I want to thank you for that Gail.  When you brought it up I wasn’t happy about it at all, but over the last couple of weeks I came to realize that you were right.  There hadn’t been anyone else for either of us for almost six years.  We did need to step back from each other and get a new or different perspective.  We had what we thought was a good thing going for us, but what did we know.  I mean being wrapped up in each other since the ninth grade kept us from experiencing anything else.  How could we possibly know that we were right for each other without at least checking to see what else was out there?  You were right in what you did and I want to thank you for it.  If you hadn’t decided to do what you did I would never have met the girl of my dreams.”

“What are you saying Rob?”

“I’ve found my other half Gail; the yin to my yang, my spiritual soul mate.”

“You found some one else?”

“Yes I have.”

“You bastard!  You miserable fucking bastard!  How could you do that to me?”

“Hey Gail, it was your idea.”

“Fuck you, you bastard” she snarled as she disconnected.”

I looked over at Debbie and said, “Well that certainly went well.”

“Put the phone down lover.  We still have some time before you have to leave and I have a couple of very good ideas on how to fill that time.”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I’d arrived at the apartment that Darlene and Debbie shared and Darlene introduced us.  I have no idea if it as love at first sight or lust at first sight, but whatever it was I felt a spark when Debbie’s hand touched mine and my heart started pounding like a trip hammer.  I was staring into her eyes and I could not let go of her hand.  Darlene looked from me to Debbie and then back at me and said:

“Whoa!  I’d better get out of here and let you two get acquainted.”

She grabbed her purse and left leaving me standing there still holding Debbie’s hand.  After a moment Debbie said:

“Did you feel it too?”

“Oh God yes.”

“One thing up front.  I don’t care about before now, but from now on Darlene is off limits.”

“Agreed.”

“My bedroom is back this way” and she led me to it.