“Mia, look at me,” she looked up, tentatively. He smiled at her and ran his thumb along her high cheekbone, then pushed a mass of curls away from her face. He brought his lips close to hers. “Really, really crazy about you, Mia. I want to be with you all the time. I never want to leave you at the end of the day.”
“Then don’t,” she whispered.
He smiled, his lips up against hers and he could feel her returning the smile. He took her face in his hands and kissed her lips softly. She made a soft ‘mmmm’ sound which he felt immediately between his legs. He kissed her lips harder until she opened her mouth, letting his tongue slip in to find hers. Mia’s tongue met his, cautiously at first and then a little bolder in its exploration. She let her fingers rake through his thick luxurious hair, pulling him deeper into her mouth. The urgency of their kisses increased until they were both breathless.
Schooner pulled away and reached up to Mia’s bed and pulled down her blanket and draped it over them. Her head was back on his chest and he kissed the top of her head again.
“Oh Baby Girl,” he sighed, “you have no idea of what you do to me.”
“It’s smoochal,” they both laughed.
She snuggled deeper into his chest as he wrapped his arms around her tighter and within minutes they both drifted off to sleep.
CHAPTER 16
It was still dark out when Schooner woke up with stiff joints the next morning from sleeping on the throw pillows on the floor. He didn’t want to wake Mia, but she was draped on him and he needed to get up for tennis practice. He maneuvered into a seated position with one arm behind Mia’s shoulders and the other under her knees, struggled to his feet and carried her to her bed. He gently laid her down and tucked the blanket around her. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he just looked at her and gently moved her curls from her face. She stirred, eyes opening a little, a smile overtaking her face.
He bent down and kissed her softly, “Hey you…,” he whispered.
“What time is it?”
“It’s really early. Go back to sleep. I’ve got to head over to the tennis center.”
“Mmmm,” she sleepily stretched her body and just watching her made him hard. “If I don’t leave now-,” he thought.
“I’ll bring you coffee and a bagel.”
She smiled, “My keys are on the desk.”
He kissed her softly and headed for the door. “I’ll see you soon, Baby Girl.”
She was already curled up and back to sleep by the time he closed the door.
With her keys in hand (her keychain had a little silver camera charm hanging from it), he exited her dorm. First he needed to go back to his dorm, change clothes and grab his racquets.
He wasn’t two steps out of Mia’s dorm, when two of his teammates jogged by, racquets in hand, “Slumming Moore?”
He heard their cackles and “Freaking crazy, son of a bitch. If he doesn’t want his girlfriend anymore, I’ll take her off his hands.”
Reality was ramming its way into his bubble and he felt both sadness and anger start to surround him. He clenched Mia’s keychain tighter in his hand.
CHAPTER 17
She was in the same position, had not moved an inch, when he returned several hours later. He put the coffee and bagels down on her desk.
Sitting down on the desk chair across from her bed, he watched her for a few moments. Feeling his heart start to do that brim and overflow thing it had been doing lately, he said a silent, “thank you” to her for showing him who he really was, allowing that person to just be and exist. And amazingly, she seemed to really like that person.
Silently, he pulled off his tennis shoes and socks, then stood and pulled off his baby blue Izod shirt and white tennis shorts. Standing there in blue plaid boxers, he made his way over to her bed, lifted the covers and crawled in next to her. He spooned up against her tightly, pulling her snugly against his chest.
“Mmm,” she moaned, fitting herself against him securely. He smiled into her hair thinking, “Sorry about the morning surprise.” But he wasn’t sorry at all — he’d had a raging hard on for days just at the thought of her.
Pressing his hard cock against the back of her sweatpants, he was surprised to feel her grinding back against him. He wasn’t even sure if she was awake.
“You’re killing me,” he moved her curls back and whispered in her ear. Softly, he began running his lips down her neck before burying his face in the nook.
He slipped his hand underneath her sweatshirt, quickly discovering she wasn’t wearing a bra. He cupped her right breast, the skin was so soft and he pressed it in his hand. She moaned into her pillow and he took that as an invitation to continue. He slung a leg over hers, using his long limbs to pull her tighter against his hard cock and found her nipple with his thumb and forefinger. He gently rolled her nipple, which responded immediately, and added a little more pressure, until it was a hard peak. He continued to nuzzle into her neck and she moaned, “That feels good.”
He pinched her nipple tightly, “And this?”
“Mmm, really good.”
He pressed his hips into her, “And this?”
“Really, really good.” She ground her ass against his hard cock.
He grazed her neck with his teeth, gently biting her smooth, flawless skin, “And this?”
“Too good.”
“Too good? Should I stop?” He teased.
“Nooooo,” she protested, continuing her slow grind against his cock.
“You are trouble, Baby Girl.”
She chuckled, “Certainly you’re not just figuring that out now.” He pinched her nipple harder and she groaned.
“I knew you were trouble the minute I laid eyes on you,” he paused, “serious trouble.”
Mia rolled over and turned to him, initiating a kiss. This was the first kiss that she had initiated and he smiled. Running her hands over his chest, which still had some of its golden tan from summer, she picked at the smattering of golden blonde hairs.
“What are you smiling at?” He asked.
“You’re so big.” She marveled at his chest and arm muscles, running her hands lightly over them.
He laughed and pulled her against his hard cock, “Mmm, yes, I am.”
Her eyes widened and she blushed, “Schooner,” she stuttered, “I, uh, don’t know if I’m doing things right.”
Her innocence and honesty were just adorable. He threw his head back and laughed. She looked hurt. “No, no, no, Baby Girl — don’t look like that. Feel that,” he ground himself against her. Her eyes opened wide, “That means you are doing everything very right.” He kissed her softly. She was so sweet.
“Oh please,” she rolled her eyes, “guys get hard at anything”.
“Baby Girl,” he raked her curls from her face, “you can’t even imagine what I want to do to you.”
“But you haven’t,” she whispered.
Schooner sighed, “No, I haven’t.” He inhaled deeply and blew it out slowly. Her eyes were intent upon him and he spent a very long moment pushing his fingers through her curls. “There’s a big Pink Elephant in this room. Pink being the operative word,” he muttered, picturing CJ’s pink robe, pink sweaters, pink frilly blouses. “No secret that I’ve got a girlfriend.” Two big tears popped from Mia’s green eyes and started their journey down her freckled cheeks. Schooner brushed them away with his thumb. “Don’t cry.”
Mia looked at Schooner with a dubious glance, silently asking, “How can I not?”
“Mia, I don’t feel for her what I feel for you,” he let that sink in, but she just continued looking at him sad-eyed, not breathing. She was clearly waiting for the other shoe to drop. “I have never felt for anyone what I feel for you. This is the first time in my life I have felt that I can really be me in a relationship. And you still like me. And that amazes me.”
“Still like you? Of course I like you. Schooner, you are smart, funny, sweet, giving, so much fun to be with. You are a really good person. Why would I
not like you?”
He leaned forward and kissed her lips lightly. She had just listed for him what she thought his greatest attributes were and not one of them had to do with his looks.
“I have spent my life acting, Mia. I’m good at playing a lot of roles. I’m just not really good at being me.”
She cocked her head to the side, taking in what he was saying, but not really understanding it.
“And then you came along. And I could be me. I have never felt so connected to another person or so happy.”
She smiled and more tears sprung from her eyes.
“You are so sweet and innocent and I want to make this really special for you. You mean that much to me, Mia,” he reached out, running his fingers down her cheek. “I’m going to end it with CJ. But she’s not here, so I can’t do that and I’m not going to call her and ruin the rest of her trip. I owe it to her to do it in person.”
He closed his eyes and exhaled slowly, “I want your first time to be amazing, Mia. Your first time is going to be amazing.”
She leaned forward and kissed him.
“It would be really wrong not to end it with CJ first though,” he continued, “and then when we are together there is nothing hanging over our heads.”
“And you wonder why I like you, Schooner?”
He felt a huge weight lift. Soon he’d be able to tell CJ. Soon he would be Mia’s first lover. Something very possessive inside of him knew that he wanted to be her first lover and her last lover. He pulled her to him, placing her body under his. With hands on either side of her head, he kissed her deeply. He let his hard cock grind into her so that she would absolutely have no doubt just how much he wanted her.
The next day he showed up in Mia’s dorm room with a large travel duffle bag filled with clothes, toiletries, and other personal items. He also brought his racquets. With the exception of the time he had to spend on the courts, Schooner would be spending the rest of January with Mia. He didn’t want to be away from her for a second. He could not remember a time when he had felt so happy or so free. He never imagined being himself could actually be so easy.
CHAPTER 18
The days leading up to the group presentation were the happiest days Schooner could remember. Their presentation was coming along and was going to be kick-ass, they just knew it. Professor Stevens had invited the whole class back to a party at his home after the presentations were over and they were all really looking forward to that.
Schooner and Mia poured over the tennis schedule, two to three weekends per month he’d be playing in matches and about half of them would require travel, taking him away for a few days.
“I miss you already.” Mia told him, sitting in his lap at her desk. He pulled her face in for a kiss.
“I’m going to really miss this,” he tightened his arms around her waist, “when Caroline gets back and I’ve got to move back into my dorm”.
“Ugh, it’s going to suck,” she pouted, “I like waking up with you.”
He leaned down and bit her pouty lower lip. “Grrrrr. I love waking up with you.”
“I didn’t know I could feel so addicted to someone,” she admitted, a surprised look fleeting past her eyes. “I didn’t know I’d ever want to,” she paused, thinking. “It scares me. Yet, I don’t want to lose this.”
Schooner pulled her head against his chest and rested his chin on top of her head. “We won’t lose this. I promise.”
She looked up at him, searching his eyes, silently begging him to keep his promise, he thought. And for him, in that moment, the floodgates broke. He took her face in his hands, kissed her eyes, her cheeks, the tip of her nose and then softly her lips. “Baby Girl,” he sighed, “I love you.”
Mia’s eyes widened, registering her surprise.
He was nodding his head, “I love you. I really do. And I’ve never said that to anyone. I don’t want to freak you out, Mia, and I’m sorry if I am, but I could see us together forever. Can’t you?”
Her face broke into a huge smile and fat tears coursed down her cheeks. And she just nodded her head. Schooner took her face in his hands and started out softly kissing her lips, intensifying as she weaved her fingers into his hair, gently pulling. He heard a growl sound rumbling from the base of his throat and picked Mia up as he stood. Her legs were wrapped around his waist as he walked to the bed, their kiss never breaking.
He laid her down on her back and got beside her, facing her on his side. He pushed her irreverent mass of dark curls from her face and kissed her softly.
He leaned down next to her ear and whispered, “I want to make you happy.”
Mia put her hand to his face, brushing her thumb across his cheek and smiling into his beautiful clear blue eyes. “You make me very happy.”
Schooner reached down and unbuttoned the top button on her Levi’s. He slid the zipper down and eased his hand into her underwear. His eyes never left hers and the smile on his face was real. He dipped a finger into her and she moaned.
“I love how wet you are.” He pulled his wet finger out and rubbed it on her clit. Her eyes grew large with surprise and he laughed, “Did I get the right spot.” All she could do was nod vigorously. “Feels good, huh?” She continued to nod, her smile matching his. He pulled her jeans and underwear down together and she kicked them off her feet. “Much better,” he acknowledged. He dipped two fingers into her and moved them to a spot on the front wall that made her gasp. His smile took on a devilish lilt — he knew he had her now.
He pulled his fingers out of her and slipped his forefinger into his mouth, sucking it slowly. “You taste good,” he ran his middle finger, which had just been inside of her, along her lips. She reached for his hand and sucked his middle finger into her mouth, tasting herself. She licked his finger from base to tip and then sucked it back in her mouth. “You are killing me,” he growled.
She smiled, “Good.”
And he laughed. Bending down, he nipped her playfully on her hipbone and kept nipping in a line to the top of her thighs. “Now we’ll see who is going to kill who,” and with that he buried his face in her, taking the tip of his tongue and licking slowly from back to front. When he reached her clit, he stopped and pulled his tongue away.
“Noooooo,” she moaned.
He smiled and without lifting his head said, “No? As in no more? Ok, if that’s what you want.”
“Motherfucker,” she growled and he smiled at her “Inner New Yorker” surfacing and the shy girl getting lost somewhere in the heat of the moment. He felt her hands in his hair, pressing his face back toward her pussy.
“Are you trying to tell me you want more?” He was most amused, “I’m not quite understanding what you are telling me, Mia.”
“Son of a bitch!” She yelled, laughing at the same time.
“Umm, hate to break it to you, but those are not the magic words to get you what you want.”
She sprang up in one move and knocked him on his back, surprising him. “Then, I’ll just take what I want.”
“What is it you want, Baby Girl?” He was breathless.
“You,” she stared intently into his eyes. Suddenly very serious.
“Why is that?”
“Because,” she searched his face, “because I love you.”
And there they were, the words he had shared with her earlier. And she was now saying them back to him. He hadn’t scared her away. He smiled at his sweet little freckle-faced Baby Girl, flipped her back over onto her back and made his way down between her thighs again. “Excuse me,” he said, “but I was rudely interrupted.”
CHAPTER 19
The four were all jumping with nervous energy as they got ready to give the oral part of their group presentation. They had a thirty page supporting document that would also be a part of determining their grade, but the presentation was what would kick it off and if they could nail it, they would be halfway home.
The “baby” of the group was taking the lead, because she was clearly the most fearle
ss. She was also a great communicator, especially on subjects about which she was passionate. Schooner ran his hands up and down her arms as she took deep breaths.
“You ok?” He asked.
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll be fine once I’m up there. This is the hardest part, it’s like being a horse at the gate. Just let me run and I’m fine.”
And that she was. They got up in front of the lecture hall and Mia kicked it off. Slides, music, analysis — they had it all. It flowed, it was logical, it was passionate, it was interesting and at points, even pushed the envelope.
Schooner watched Professor Stevens’ composed face as they presented, thinking “I bet he’s a great poker player.” But even great poker players have their tell and his was at the corners of his eyes. His pride in watching Mia was evident. She was clearly what made teaching at the collegiate level satisfying for him. Schooner was so proud of her, and a tinge jealous at the same time of another man being entranced by her, even if it was just intellectually. They each took turns presenting and ended with a breathtaking and emotional slideshow to music portraying the dichotomy of the promise and the betrayal.
The class cheered when they finished and Professor Stevens joined the four at the front of the lecture hall, casually slinging an arm around Mia’s shoulder.
“Wow!” He exclaimed, “I am actually speechless. What we all just witnessed was a Master class in American Popular Culture. I am really proud of all of you. You took on some of the voices that others would have overlooked.” He looked directly at Schooner, “Phil Ochs — what a joy to see him getting his due. Well done.” Schooner beamed. “Ok everyone, let’s take a fifteen minute break while the next group sets up.”
The four gathered their materials and headed out into the hall for a group hug and high fives. It was an amazing culmination of a month long high. Friendship, love, learning, success, growth — the four were flying high.
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