White Freshman, Black Coeds Ch. 18

"Did you all find everything okay?" I was looking down, not making eye contact, and just nodded meekly. But when she told me the total and I went to hand her the cash, I saw that she was looking at Nia with a knowing look and asked her, not me, "Did everything fit okay?" The two girls busted out laughing, as if they knew each other. But girls were just like that, I'd often thought. Handing me my change, Brie (from her nametag) said, "Thank you, sir. We hope you enjoyed your shopping experience at Ross!" Another dig. She definitely knew, and I was embarrassed as all get-out.

After I'd stepped away a few steps I felt that Nia wasn't right behind me, so I looked back to find the two girls talking. Some of this I overheard, but some Nia filled in for me later:

"Nia, is he your date for the party tonight?" [I'd heard "Nia," and that's probably what made me stop, but the rest was a bit sketchy.]

Nia nodded sheepishly but excitedly, "Uh huh!"

"Girl, he is fine.....!"

"I know, right??"

More conspiratorily, "You like white boys, huh?"

"I don't know for sure yet, but I think so. I definitely like that one!"

"You go ahead on, then. Looks like you got a good one."

"Thanks!"

Then Brie to me, loud, "See you tonight, Mark!"

I'm sure my face was beet red, and I beat a hasty retreat from the store to the anonymity of the minivan. I got in and closed the door, watching Nia stroll out leisurely, swinging the bag I'd forgotten, laughing heartily. I didn't even get out to open her door, that's how mortified I was. In fact, she was laughing so hard at my embarrassment that I hit the 'lock' button quickly and locked her out. When she tried the handle and found it locked she laughed even harder, bending over and probably slapping her knees, but I couldn't see.

Mouthing the words through the glass, "Mark....baby....open....the....door!" Still grinning and chuckling. I just looked at her and shook my head no, not feeling she was contrite enough yet. So she said she was sorry and gave me puppy dog eyes (my Kryptonite) so I reluctantly let her in. Bounding into her seat and leaning over to me in one fluid motion she tried to plant smooches on my cheek but I leaned away. More mock-mad now than embarrassed-mad. I started the car and drove us over to a corner of the big parking lot under some trees.

"Oh Mark, you're so cute when you're embarrassed! Don't worry about her, that's Brie from Zeta Phi. And she likes you, said you're fine." Trying to butter me up, make me feel better. Which was working.

"Last night when you told me you wanted to go to Ross I knew Brie worked there on the weekends, so I ran and asked her if she'd be here today. She said she would, so we hatched this plan for me to get you in the dressing room and....do whatever. She knew it was just her scheduled to work for the morning, and that it's usually slow, so...

'"And if the waiting rooms had filled up and someone asked about that one that "sure was locked for a long time," she would come over and say in a loud voice that it was out of order, locked with a key. So see? It wasn't that risky."

Looking at me now with a tinge of apprehension mixed mostly with wanting confirmation, "You enjoyed it, didn't you?" Almost puppy-dog eyes, her lower lip half-bitten under her front teeth.

That look did it for me, and she was right, I had enjoyed it. So I leaned over and swept her into my arms, exclaiming into the crook of her neck, "Of course I enjoyed it, you sexy French tart!"

Nia giggled joyously and hugged me back.

"Got time for lunch, Nia?" She did. The car said it was 50-seomthing outside, not too-too cold, and the trees looked calm and the sun was out bright for October in Michigan, so I took us to Taco Bell and then to a little park where we could sit out in the sun and talk.

"Nia, you're an amazing creation of God, I have to tell you that. I'm a smart guy, but in you I see my match, maybe more than my match intellectually. And that—well, that makes me appreciate you even more. And my God, your acting skills, first playing Felicia and now Simone. Where does that come from?"

Nia told me she'd always dreamed of being an actress, and had spent all 4 years of high school in the Drama Club, plus whatever classes there were, Theater or whatever. And summer camps for acting, and she was in the Drama Club on campus.

"Well my goodness, all that experience certainly paid off! I think you should be in Hollywood doing that, as good as you are, I really do."

"Thank you, Mark. That's very sweet of you to say. But it may be that your opinion is skewed by how much you like me—" as I started to protest, my feelings hurt a little, she added, "—but whether I'm any good or not, Mom and Dad wouldn't let me, so...."

I started to say something, but what do I know about raising an 18yo daughter? They probably had good reasons.

"But they've let me study Performing Arts here, so maybe one day that'll transform into an acting career... And I do dance too, Interpretive Dance is my favorite, so maybe even that."

"Well I have to tell you, you're a great actress. I honestly lose track sometimes if it's you in there," poking at her forehead, "or your character."

"Thank you so much, Mark." Blushing a little, maybe at the things her character had just done?

"And the French accent?"

"Four years of French in high school, I love the language! Plus an immersive summer in Paris before my Senior year."

"Whaaaat? You stayed in Paris for what, 3 months, 2?"

"Almost 3 months. I stayed with a family with a daughter my age and went to summer school with her, lots of theater-type stuff. I got to play Joan of Arc. Black Joan of Arc, can you believe that?!"

"That's so cool! I've never even been out of Michigan. But one day, when I have money..."

We ate in silence for a while, watching the Canadian geese on the little pond.

"Say Nia, I don't know if I should ask this, because I'm pretty sure what the answer is, but...." Trailing off, too bashful to speak it out in the open like this, under God's watchful eye or whatever.

"What is it, Mark?" Such tenderness in her face and eyes. "You can always ask me or tell me anything." She squeezed my hand for reassurance, which was what I needed in that moment.

"You know, when Simone was bent over in there asking me to put my 'baton blanc' in her—" Nia giggled, "you pronounced that very well!" "Thanks, but when 'she' said that it was so real, so intense that I looked at you for a sign that I should not, but just play along." Nia was watching me carefully, already knowing where this was going, and formulating her answer.

"But I didn't get that from you. I didn't even see you, I only saw lust-filled Simone, and I... Well, that's a big part of why I think you're a great actress, because I have to tell you, I was this close to sliding up behind you and, well....you know. Because she was so real to me, and had made me so horny, and that part of me got to thinking, maybe Nia actually wants this, and...."

"I thought that's what you were going to ask about, and I love you all the more for it, actually. But...I don't know if I can answer truthfully one way or the other. Because I've grown closer to you and care for you and, love you, more and more. I think about it all the time, and I do want to share that with you first. And only you. So yes, when I was Simone in there, if you had tried to 'mount' me I probably would've let you.... Sorry?"

"Don't be sorry, love," pulling her into my shoulder and kissing the top of her head, "because that's what I saw and what I thought might have happened if....." "But I don't think you'd do that with just any guy playing opposite you, would you?"

"Oh no, DEFINITELY not! Only because it was you and I love you and want to share that with you so badly, and yet....I'm not sure we're ready, or rather, that *I'm* ready for that just yet.

"And not because it's a sin or any prudish reason like that, or even that I might get pregnant, because precautions can be taken. But because like you, I see 'that' as like an almost holy ritual, one not to be squandered, but to be celebrated in the proper setting, and at the proper time. Does that make sense?"

"It does, and you said it better than I could have. I too have always thought that should be 'saved for marriage' or whatever. Or at least until you know you've found someone special," squeezing her tight to me there, "who will appreciate it and, I don't know, treasure it as much as you do.

"I've had opportunities, as I'm sure you have too, but I've yet to find anyone I care about enough to want to share that with besides you. So let's keep waiting, yes? But I wanted to check with you on this because back there....whew, that took a lot of willpower..."

"I know it did, Mark, and I appreciate you even more because of the restraint you showed. Not that I was testing you, I really was 'in the moment' as we say in theater, but I'm glad you were strong enough for both of us. And that I can always count on you to do the right thing."

She leaned into me, hugging tightly to my arm and we just sat for a while, processing all these feelings and ideas. She really was a special girl, and when the time was right... Rather, if the time were ever right, for I was enough of a realist even at that age and flooded with hormones, to know that things sometime change, become different than what you expected.

So you have to think through those possibilities and be prepared to accept or accommodate them. There's not much an 8-year old can portend about a stupid drunk driver killing his parents some dark night, but that's where that outlook came from.

"Mark? You may've noticed that I don't much like to talk about the sexual things we've done after we've done them." I had. "I don't know what that is about me, and I hope it doesn't hurt your feelings or anything. But like that night when I was Felicia for you: that was me giving myself to you, that's true. But it was also me giving someone else to you, or my interpretation of that anyway.

"That's why I'd said after, 'Let's let that be between you and Felicia.' Because I honestly don't care who you think about when you're with me, because I know in my heart that part of you is always still with me. I don't know, am I even making sense?" You are.

"Good, because I wanted to bring up Simone. She was just a character I made up literally on the fly, and she morphed a little as it went along, but you....wow, the way you pick up on my silly role-plays and then really get into them, well...that's terribly exciting for me, I just want you to know that. I know you were exasperated at first, and were mad that I wouldn't break character and let you off the hook, but then when you went with it you really got into character yourself. I think at times you really believed I was this Simone St. Clair from Paris..."

"Oh I did, love! I felt guilty over you when Simone put my hand down her panties, and then when I said why I couldn't partake of her generous offer, and I meant every word of that, every word."

"The roleplay gave you something, didn't it? Something different, something extra?"

I said that it did, that both this time as Simone and the first time as Felicia she'd blown my mind (and other things, I said, not being able to resist the double entendre). And that it had made the sex very powerful. "Not that I couldn't have sex with you as yourself, I mean we did that last weekend and it was great. Fantastic even."

"Thank you, Mark, I like how you put that. I don't know, it's weird, but being in theater so long, acting in roles, pretending to be someone else entirely, I guess it's gone to my head somehow and I really enjoy it. And I've really, really enjoyed it these two times with you, letting you believe that I'm someone else. I hope you've enjoyed it too?"

"Oh I have, baby girl! I showed you in there and in the back of the van exactly how much, didn't I?"

"Yes you did, you certainly did. (Do you keep Felicia's bra under your pillow?)"

Busted. But I said proudly, "I certainly do, and I shall treasure it forever!"

Nia giggled and hugged around me, kissing my cheek happily.

"What I really wanted to say was that I'd tried doing something like that once with a boy in high school, but he was either too dumb or too freaked out to play along, so it didn't work out. But you, from the beginning you've picked up on it, and then joined in, and I think it's been really fun for both of us, so.... I guess I'm asking if it would be alright if I continued to do that. Just sometimes though. Because sometimes I'll want us to be just Mark and Nia, two crazy kids exploring and learning and loving each other."

She looked at me with such sincerity, so much wanting 'this' to be okay, that I couldn't stand looking at her any more and turned to fold her into my arms, breathing my consent into her neck. Yes, have me any way you want, just always stay close to me. Please. Or s'il vous plait, as the case may be.

She sniffled and thanked me, breaking from my grasp. Then I sniffled and thanked her, and she then said I was 'the best,' so I had to retort that no, she was the best.... And on like that as young lovers will, until our lips found each other and we communicated through kisses all the feelings we felt that are sometimes best expressed that way than by talking.

I did have to ask about the anal play though, because I was starting to feel guilty about it. I mean, in the moment with Simone it had been fun, but this was Nia, my Nia, and I wanted to know if what I'd done in there had been too much or too weird.

Shushing me with a finger on my lips she said, "Let's let that be between you and Simone." Then with a roguish smile and a twinkle in her eyes she added, "You can ask her if you see her again..."

I had to laugh, and then realize again why I loved her so: she was so clever, so spontaneous, and maybe almost too adventuresome. I mean, we'd just had sex in a store's dressing room, something I never would've initiated on my own.

I pulled up to the curb in front of the House before 2:00, and on the way Nia had told me about pledging a sorority, some of the silly rules and hoops you have to jump through, how you can't mess up, and you sometimes have to do things like decorate for parties or wash the dishes or whatever because you're the new kids and hadn't paid your dues yet. Something like that. It didn't sound like anything I'd be interested in, but it sounded better than pledging a fraternity, from some of the tales I'd heard.

Reaching down into the storage space at the bottom of my door, I said, "Nia, I got a little something for you that I hope you'll like..."

She turned to see me holding a ring-sized velvet box, and a quick look of panic shot across her face. Because you see, I hadn't thought about the optics of holding a closed ring-sized box in front of a girl. Especially a girl I'd just asked to marry me not two hours ago. At the same moment she was figuring out that, no, that can't possibly be what I'm thinking it is, *I* finally realized how it looked and what her reaction meant.

"No, no, it's just a necklace!" As I clumsily opened the springy lid to show her that it was indeed just a necklace. It took some of the romance out of the moment for me, because I'd spent some time picking it out for her. I'd even asked the girls for advice. It had cost me 'just' $40, so it wasn't extra-fancy or anything, but $40 was a whole day's pay at minimum wage then.

"Oh Mark, it's beautiful!" She seemed to really like it; or was she just relieved it wasn't an engagement ring? It was a little gold wire heart, twisted at the top to kind of make it 3-D like. In the upper right arch of the heart was a 'diamond' (cubic zirconia of course). And a 16" gold-plated chain. The girls thought that length would be best for Nia's slender neck.

It was pretty (at least *I* liked it), and I liked the thought of it on her. But it somehow seemed shabby to me now that I was presenting it to her, given the misunderstanding about it being an engagement ring.

"Mark, why so sad? It's beautiful, really! I love it, actually." "Wait, it IS for me, right?" she pretended, which made us both laugh and I felt better.

"Yes, it's for you, silly! I'd never seen you wearing a necklace and thought a pretty girl like you should have one. The girls gave me pointers, then approved when I brought it by to show them."

"Well the girls and you did a very good job choosing it! It's so delicate and classy. Will you put it on me?"

I'd practiced for this moment and was able to deftly get it out of the box and around her neck (Nia holding her poofy hair up out of the way), and then fastened in the back. That was the part I'd practiced most, and I nailed it, first try.

Pulling down the visor to see it on her, she exclaimed, "Oh Mark, it really IS beautiful! Thank you so much!" She leaned over to hug and kiss me. A lot, she kissed me a lot.

I walked her up the walkway to the front door, scanning the big windows, but I didn't see any nosy Sisters on the lookout for The Return of the Young Lovers, so that was good. Off to the other side of the door a little, Nia put her arms across the tops of my shoulders, hands clasped behind, while I rested my hands low on her waistline. Not indecently low, but low enough to feel the gentle swell of her hips and bum.

"Mark, I really enjoy being with you, talking to you. Doing things with you. I hope you know that."

"I do, Nia, and I echo everything you said. The weeks seem so long between when we see each other. When I'm without you."

We kissed goodbye and talked about me and Trey getting there tonight about 9:30. Then we parted and I thought again how I'd found the most wonderful girl in the world.

Saturday night

After getting off at 8:30 (Thanks, Zack! I passed him a 5 even though he hadn't asked for anything. Really, because he hadn't asked for money.), then raced back to my room, showered to get the pizza smell off me, and put on the clothes Nia had picked for me. I'd tell you what they looked like, but: 1) I barely remember, and 2) they'd be so out of date now that you'd laugh. I do remember I wore my black tennis shoes, which Nia had suggested over the white.

Looking at myself in the mirror on the back of the door I thought I looked pretty fly. For a white guy. [Bonus points, reader, if you get the reference.] While I was preening in the mirror, Jake burst in, rushing toward his desk for something, only belatedly seeing me standing at the far end of the room.

"Where are you going looking all snazzy!?"

"Oh, just a little party." Jake looked a little hurt, I guess because I hadn't told him about the party or asked him to come. But then, we'd never like 'gone out' together in the 2 months we'd been roommates. "I'm sorry, bro, I didn't think to ask if I could bring someone [a lie that I felt bad about], but if there's another one I will."

"Nah, it's cool, man. I just came in to grab GTA San Andreas to play with the guys down the hall. You have fun though!" And in a flash he was gone. Looking at my phone I saw that I'd better leave. 'Borrowing' one of Jake's condoms again, I threw on the only cool jacket I had and headed out.