Chemistry of Love

"We could join them on a date?" Jay suggested. "Maybe she'll get to know me better then?"

"Well, we could do that," Kathy said. "But I was going to suggest, she usually spends the night in his room. So we could have my room..." her voice trailed away and she felt her face flushing.

Jay burst into a nervous laugh, and said, "Yes! I mean, if you want to."

"I do want to, Jay." She squeezed his hand. "Don't you?"

"Definitely!" He threw his arms around her. "Can't wait!" he whispered.

"Me neither," she said, enjoying the sense that the other students milling around were admiring their display of affection. She pulled back but kept her arms wrapped around his neck. "So do you have that study group for history to go to now, still?"

"Yes," Jay lied, the history group having become his standard cover story for a tutoring session with Dennis. "I'd better run for it."

He kissed her goodbye, grateful to take his leave before he said anything stupid in the heat of her thrilling invitation. He was also grateful that Dennis had notified him that the tutoring sessions would have to take place in his room from now on; explaining to Kathy why he had to stay in the science building would have been tricky at best. Jay did, though, wonder just why Dennis wanted to keep to his room even more now than he already had been prone to. But that didn't really matter.

Nor, he supposed, did Bill's nonsense. But Jay decided not to let Bill know just yet that he was aware of his lie. Surely Bill would expect him to learn the truth from Kathy soon enough.

Which didn't mean he couldn't have a little fun with the situation. "So how come you and Jen didn't join us in chem yesterday?" he asked Bill at lunch the next day.

"We had some issues to work out," Bill said. "We didn't want to discuss it with the two of you. I'm sure you understand, guy."

"Of course," Jay said.

"I mean, I know this is a small campus, but we're entitled to our privacy."

"I agree completely," Jay said, struggling to keep a straight face.

"Not saying it's anything Jen and I can't work through, but I mean, if it were...it wouldn't be any of your business, you know?"

"Of course it wouldn't."

"Speaking of which, guy, I hope you're being discreet about what you're up to with Kathy."

"We're not up to anything." Yet, Jay added silently.

"That's not what I heard," Bill said.

"What?!"

"it's all over campus, haven't you heard? You've been mouthing off about fucking her last week. I'd have kept that to myself, especially if it isn't even true. And I know you well enough to know it isn't."

"All over campus?" Jay did his best to sound outraged, but he was a bad liar. "Who'd you hear it from?"

"From Jen, you moron!" You think it won't get back to Kathy if it got to Jen? You'll be lucky if she ever speaks to you again, guy!"

"Wow." Jay managed to look shocked. "I guess I'd better call her and let her know I didn't do it!"

"I wouldn't count on her believing you, guy," Bill warned. "She may be a shy little baby, but she's not stupid."

"We'll see," Jay replied. He looked nervous enough to fool Bill, who was gratified to see it when he recalled the awkward silence when he'd joined Jen in class yesterday. Hadn't he shown himself to be her friend's knight in shining armor? As Jay got up to bus his tray and try to smooth things over with Kathy, Bill reasoned that Jen was probably just wary of any friend of Jay's. She would come around, undoubtedly.

Though Jay still didn't know what else Bill had lied to him about, he was sure enough of himself and Kathy to call her and confirm that she hadn't heard anything inappropriate. Kathy found that as endearing as everything else about Jay, but -- having heard nothing untoward at all -- she was still rather mystified about it on Thursday evening as she discussed plans with Jen. "He said, if you do hear anything, please believe I didn't tell anyone anything," Kathy told her. "What do you think inspired that?"

"No idea," Jen lied. She had opted to keep all she had learned last weekend from Kathy for the time being, and it was too late to change course on that now. "Guys are like that, though, you know, Kathy."

"Guys yes, Jay no. You know that, Jen."

"No, I don't," Jen replied, reflecting on what she had learned about Jay's best friend. "Look, I'm happy to let you have the room to yourself tomorrow night, but are you sure you trust Jay?"

"Why shouldn't I trust him, Jen?"

Jen couldn't think of any response that wouldn't raise issues she didn't want to share just yet -- it really was only fair to give Jay the benefit of the doubt that he was innocent in the whole thing -- so she just shrugged.

"Are things okay with you and Brett now?" Kathy asked over her shoulder as she rifled through her underwear drawer. "If you do want to stay here, I can tell Jay it'll just have to wait."

"I think you ought to do that anyway, Kathy," Jen said. "Play a little hard to get and he'll appreciate you a lot more. But yeah, things are fine with Brett. He's apologized, I've accepted, and I've got a plan to make sure what went wrong last week won't happen again."

"Whatever that is," Kathy grumbled, Jen having already refused to discuss it.

"Yes, whatever that is," Jen said. "What are you looking for in there anyway? Surely you'd have found it by now."

"My panties that match this bra," Kathy said, holding up a blue plaid bra that Jen had seen a time or two before. "I was thinking what you said about how guys like it when they match. This is my favorite bra, but I can't find the matching panties anywhere."

"Well, I certainly don't have them," teased Jen, who was rather thinner than Kathy. "Your panties would never stay up on me, you know." After Kathy allowed a frustrated laugh, Jen continued, "Have you checked the laundry?"

"I just washed everything yesterday," Kathy said. "That's when I first noticed they were missing, but I figured I'd just forgotten they were still in the drawer. But they're not."

"I think you should wear something a little racier than those anyway," Jen said. "Maybe something lacy. But you'll have to shave down there for that."

"I refuse," Kathy said. "Love me, love my body as it is. And I'm pretty sure Jay does."

"No guy can refuse a bare pussy, Kathy," Jen said, although it occurred to her now that it had never made much difference to Brett.

"The way you usually talk about guys, I'd say it doesn't have to be bare for that to be true," Kathy said. "And it's a lot less trouble for me that way."

"At least tell me you're not going to wear another one of your librarian ensembles tomorrow," Jen said.

"Why shouldn't I, for a guy who loves libraries?" Kathy quipped.

"Because he's still a guy, Kathy! Don't you get that?"

Kathy opted to ignore that, and keep Jay's praise of her clothes last week to herself, as she set about choosing another underwear ensemble.

Because spring was finally in the air, she settled on a yellow bra and panties under a long dress of the same shade that she hadn't worn all year. A bit girly even by her standards, she conceded while giving herself the once over in the mirror late Friday afternoon, but then she wasn't planning to keep it on all night! When Jay met her in the dorm lounge, she was pleased to note that he was wearing an equally cheerful green shirt. "You look beautiful!" he said, or nearly squealed, as she stood up and he kissed her cheek.

"Thank you! I just wish Jen were here to hear you say that!" Kathy said, taking his arm for the walk downtown.

"Why?"

"I'll explain on the way. There's a lot about Jen that I ought to explain!"

Whether out of nervousness or neither of them wanting to push the other too hard or both, they had planned on a long evening: dinner at a restaurant in town that neither of them had tried yet, followed by a band recital at the campus chapel and perhaps a detour to the coffee house if they were still feeling up to it. But Kathy was already having second thoughts about prolonging the outing before they set foot off campus. "It feels so strange to be so dressed up when no one else is!" she noted. "I feel like I'm in a photo shoot or something."

"I can't complain about the attention," Jay said. "Honestly, I think it's kind of fun to think people are curious about us, you know?"

"Speaking of which, just why did you feel the need to tell me you hadn't been bragging about me the other day?"

"You have your Jen, I have mine," Jay sighed. "Have you met Bill?"

"I've seen him with you," Kathy said.

"Yeah, Bill has a big mouth and he thinks all men do," Jay explained. He seriously considered telling her everything, but it was too happy an occasion for such things.

"Sounds like he and Jen would be a perfect match," Kathy said.

"He thinks so, too, as a matter of fact," Jay couldn't resist telling her. "I know she's taken, but..."

"Poor guy," Kathy said.

But there was no further talk of Bill or Jen that evening. Dinner was long and mellow, followed by a slow walk back to campus in the cool of the late evening and the thrill of seeing and being seen at the chapel concert. Bill's nonsense notwithstanding, they both enjoyed the tongue-wagging they were sure they were inspiring.

Jay was nearly bursting with pride as he and Kathy stepped out onto the chapel patio after the final encore. But he also remembered his manners and his shyness. "So," he said, pausing to admire her in the glow of the nearby streetlamp. "Want to go get that coffee, still?"

"We can if you want to," Kathy said. "But..." she paused and looked down at their feet, then forced herself to look in his eyes. "I'd rather..." She couldn't get the words out and burst into nervous laughter, hoping Jay would be able to finish her sentence himself.

He understood, and eased her embarrassment with a brazen hug that caught the eye of more than one passerby. "I'd rather, too," he whispered.

"Then let's go!" She clutched his hand triumphantly, and her heart was sailing as they strolled back to her dorm.

They made their way upstairs in easy silence, Jay thinking once again how wonderful it was to be with someone who didn't fault him for such things. Kathy tried to open her room door, only to find it was locked. "That's funny," she said, rifling through her purse for her keys, "Jen never used to lock it."

"I heard someone's room got broken into last week," Jay noted. "Maybe she heard about that too."

"No kidding?" Kathy asked. "I hadn't heard." At once she remembered her missing panties, but it made no sense to think anyone would break into her room and steal only those. She found her keys and unlocked the door. "Welcome home," she said, flipping on the light.

She and Jen had cleaned up the cluttered little room as best they could the night before, and it still looked lived-in but tidy as Jay took his first look around. "Women are so much cleaner," he couldn't resist saying.

"I wish Jen were always this neat," Kathy said. She turned on her bedside lamp and, remembering Jen's advice about blocking out the noise ("whether you think there'll be any or not -- if he's any good, there will be!"), she turned on the radio, which she had already tuned to a smooth jazz station that afternoon, and then turned the overhead light off. "Want some wine, Jay?" She reached into her closet for the bottle of merlot she had paid a senior to buy for her that afternoon.

"I'd love some."

"Me too!" Kathy made no effort to hide the giggle in her voice as she said it. No sense in denying she was nervous, after all. She had uncorked the bottle earlier to save the time and trouble, and poured a bit each into the two juice glasses Jen had purloined from the dining hall. She handed Jay one, and held hers up for him to clink.

"To us!" he said, and still standing awkwardly between her bed and Jen's, they both took a drink.

Kathy sat down on her bed, and patted the spot next to her. "Come here, Jay."

"Gladly!" He slipped one arm around her back, and placed the other on her knee, then just as quickly drew it away as if he'd burned it. "Sorry!"

"Jay, it's fine!" Kathy took his hand in hers and placed it back on her knee, even slipping it under the hem of her skirt. "You didn't think we were coming up here to study chemistry, did you?"

"Depends on the kind of chemistry, I guess," Jay quipped.

They both burst into a relaxing laugh. "I walked right into that one, didn't I?" Kathy said. "Now come here!" She leaned in and kissed him before she could let her shyness get the best of her again, and he responded in kind. She felt him withdraw his hand from her legs, but then she felt it slide around her back to hold her tightly. It felt divine. He felt divine in her arms.

She was ready to tear his shirt off at least, but for the moment she contented herself with rubbing his back and, as she grew bolder, his chest. Her first strokes there were rewarded with deep sighs of pleasure and, at long last, a gentle caress on her right breast. "Ooohhhh," she cooed appreciatively.

"Is that okay?" Jay asked. He paused his stroking but didn't remove his hand.

"It is unless you ignore the other one!" Kathy whispered in his ear, following with a playful bite on his earlobe. She thought of taking his other hand to place on her other breast, but he found his way there himself. "Oh, that's perfect, Jay," she said. After a few more playful strokes on his chest, she set about unbuttoning his shirt. He offered no resistance as she pulled it open and over his shoulders, and drew back from her just long enough to undo the cuffs and shrug it off completely.

Rather than return immediately to her breasts, he reached for her glasses. "Can you see okay without these?"

"I can when you're as close as I want you to be!" Talking dirty was getting easier for Kathy by the minute. Nevertheless, she tamped down the temptation to add a comment about how they were the better to see his penis with, and let him pull her glasses off. As she watched him set them on her bedside table, she thought of a better one anyway. "Those feel so good to take off at the end of the day," she said. "Only one thing feels even better to take off."

"Your bra?" Jay guessed.

"I knew you were a smart guy!" she chuckled. She stood up and took his hands to help him up as well. "Speaking of which..." she turned around and held her hair up out of the way, giving him easy access to the clasp of her dress.

He undid the clasp and unzipped, and as she let her hair down and turned back to him, he peeled the dress off as carefully as if he were unwrapping a delicate antique. Kathy could barely breathe as he undressed her, but she was elated at his adoring gaze, which she happily returned on his bare chest. Once he had her dress down around her hips, she pushed it the rest of the way down and then threw herself at him before she could get any more self-conscious about her state of undress.

Not that Jay gave her any cause to be self-conscious. "You're beautiful!" he whispered between nibbles on her ear while fumbling with the clasp of her bra.

"You too, my dear," and she set to work on unbuttoning his pants. It was amazing how empowering it could be to have most of her clothes off! He offered no resistance, but the bulge of his hard cock made slightly harder work of it, although it also offered Kathy more encouragement. She could hardly wait to have it in her hands!

She was just beginning to think she ought to help Jay with undoing her bra when he finally got it. Kathy had just enough time to push his pants down before she pulled back to let him pull the bra away. "There, now, weren't these worth waiting for?" she teased, taking her breasts in her hands.

"And how!" Jay prodded her back onto the bed, though not before she yanked his boxers down and was treated to the first penis she'd ever seen in person. It pointed most endearingly straight at her, and she let out a squeal of delight as she wrapped one hand around it while she welcomed Jay onto the bed to fondle and kiss her breasts.

Kathy saw then that Jen had been right to tell her to turn the radio on, for her gentle stroking had Jay howling in the most wonderful way. His own lips and fingers on her nipples soon had her surprising even herself with her own range. She was grateful for her own resolution to stop stifling her responses last week -- how wonderful to let go!

She didn't know how much time had gone by before Jay reached into her panties. When at last he did, she braced herself for another awkward "Is this okay?" But -- perhaps because of the joyful moan she let out as she felt his fingers in her bush -- there wasn't one, only more tentative but loving strokes over her already-wet pussy.

"Mmm, heavenly," she said. With one final tug on his cock, she let go and said, "Let's get these off, shall we?"

"Please!" Jay said as he sat back and watched Kathy stand up beside the bed and pull her panties off.

For years, Kathy had imagined being utterly humiliated at any man ever seeing her naked. Now that it was happening for the first time, though, she felt only bliss as he sat before her and gazed adoringly upon every inch of her body. She smiled at Jay, planting her hands on her hips as she fought back the temptation to use them to cover up. "Are you nervous, Jay?"

"Huh? No!"

"Me too!" She burst into girlish giggles. "It's okay!"

"Thank you!" he said. "I'm so glad to hear I'm not the only one!" He reached up and held out his hands, and she took them and let him tug her gently back onto the bed.

Despite her bliss at Jay's evident delight with her body, a stab of self-consciousness landed on her mind now that she sat facing him, as she recalled Jen's unsolicited advice. "I'm sorry I didn't shave," she said.

"Don't be!" Now Jay did look her in the eye. "I love the natural look!"

"You do?" Kathy could hardly wait to throw that back in Jen's face! She was now itching for his touch more than ever, and as if on cue, he did touch her again. His gentle caresses on her inner thighs were heavenly.

"I do," Jay confirmed, gazing shamelessly between her legs again. "It looks so...grown up." And Kathy felt a wonderful rush of anticipation as he finally ran his fingers all the way up her leg and through her bush, and curled one finger gently into her vagina.

"Ohhhhhh, Jay!" Kathy leaned back and gripped at the sheets and gave in to the deliciously intense sensation. "Don't stop!"

"Couldn't if I wanted to!" Jay said, and Kathy was sure she felt a second finger working its way in, though she couldn't see because Jay was bending over her to resume kissing her breasts. She wasn't sure just what Jay was doing with his hand, but in that moment she didn't care. It felt like nothing she had felt before, better than the best sensation she had ever given herself in all the years since she had started masturbating back in grade school.

"Faster!" she managed to say between moans of delight. As he obeyed, her moans became louder and huskier and she knew she was going to come any moment now. Her inhibitions utterly gone by now, she let out an utterly cathartic roar as he brought her over the edge.

"Thank you," she whispered, pulling him close to her as he slipped his fingers back out.

"That was beautiful, Kathy," Jay said. "I always wondered what it sounds like in real life..."

"Me too!" Kathy laughed, topping it off with a kiss on his cheek in case he misinterpreted the laugh. "I felt a couple of times there, wow, is it really me making those noises? It's amazing how you lose control, isn't it?"

"Amazing and beautiful!" Jay agreed. He got up on his knees and straddled her. "Do you want to do it now?"

"More than you can imagine!" She took him in both hands and spread her legs.

Three dorms up the way, Jen banged angrily out the door into the dewy spring night. Of course trying to communicate with a blockhead like Brett about intimacy and her own needs wasn't going to do any good. Of course it would only bring him to whine about how he wasn't a girl and didn't know what girls want, and didn't they all really hate sex anyway? At least she had the satisfaction of knowing she'd left him just as frustrated tonight as he usually left her.