"Jeez, what's going on over there?" Jamie inquired. "It sounded like the phone was being ripped from the wall."
"Well that has happened, actually more than once," Ryan remembered. "That was just my charming older brother trying to gain some much needed attention," she said as she glared at the brother in question.
"I didn't know you lived with your brother," Jamie said.
"Actually I still live at home," Ryan replied. "Much to my regret, at times," she said as she stuck her tongue out at her grinning brother.
"I don't know why, but you don't seem like the type to live at home," Jamie mused. "I guess you just seem too independent."
"No, that's not really what I'm like," Ryan said easily. "I'm really close to most of the members of my family," she giggled as her brother snuck up behind her and tickled her around the waist. "Stop it!" she shrieked as Jamie laughed at her surprisingly adolescent girlish giggle.
"It sounds kinda wild over there," she finally commented as Ryan continued to giggle.
"It's always wild over here," she agreed as she tried to control her breath. "Oh, I've got those titles for you," she said as she reached into her pants pocket for a folded piece of paper.
"Great," Jamie said. "I'm ready"
After they conversed for a few minutes Ryan excused herself to get ready for work. As she began to walk back down the stairs to her room, her brother spoke from his place on the sofa.
"Was that today's entree, Ryan?"
"No, Conor," she explained patiently. "Actually that one is in your camp. She is a woman from my psych class and she is straight!" she said with mock alarm.
"Not for long, Sis, not for long," he predicted with a chuckle.
After her conversation with Ryan, Jamie hopped in her car and drove to the bookstore they had visited the night before. She knew that the store would definitely have the titles that Ryan had told her about and she guessed that Barnes & Noble might not. After purchasing the books she got back in her Porsche and began the long drive down to Palo Alto. Jack was due to be home by 7 or so and since she imagined the trip could take up to 2 hours she felt she needed to brave the usually heavy traffic to be there when he got home.
Much to Jamie's surprise the trip took merely an hour. So she was in Palo Alto by a little after 6 p.m. She had a key to the apartment, but after the fight she was reticent to show up without his permission. Instead she went to her favorite coffee shop, just down the street from Jack's. She settled herself down at a table with a steaming cup of latte' and began to peruse her purchases. She was immediately engrossed by 'Loving Someone Gay'. The time flew as she concentrated on the book. It seemed like only a few minutes had passed but she glanced at her watch and saw that it was already 7 p.m. She retrieved her cell phone and dialed his familiar number. Jack answered on the 3rd ring.
"Hi," she said as neutrally as possible.
"Jamie," he said, a clear tone of relief in his voice. "I just called your house, but no one knew where you were."
"I'm right down the street, Honey," she relied warmly. "If you want to see me I can be there in 5 minutes."
"Of course I want to see you," he said fervently. "I couldn't stop thinking about you all day."
"Okay, I'll be right there," she agreed, with relief flooding her voice.
By the time she had put her purchased books in her bag and began to exit the shop she could see Jack's long form jogging down the street. That's better than an apology, she thought as she smiled widely at his approaching form.
She walked just a step or two before he was upon her. He lifted her effortlessly off her feet as his arms fully encircled her small waist. He squeezed nearly all of the air out of her lungs as he nestled his head between her shoulder and neck. She leaned back a bit to regard him as he uttered with his eyes closed, "I am so sorry, Jamie. I acted like a total asshole and I hope you can forgive me."
She responded with a tender kiss to his soft lips. That kiss was followed by another, slightly less tender but with a bit more emotion. As he lowered her softly to her feet
he grasped her cheeks with his large hands. He pulled her close for a dizzying series of kisses that left her panting. "Let's go," she rasped out as she grabbed his hand and began to lead him down the street.
The pent up emotion of the past 24 hours began to pulse in her veins as they covered the short distance. As they entered the apartment she grabbed him by the shirt and roughly pushed him against the wall. He gasped a bit in surprise at this totally unexpected display of aggression from his normally demure lover. She pounced upon his mouth and kissed him thoroughly, until she felt his knees begin to buckle. They began to slide down the wall in tandem as she fought frantically to undo his belt. He wrenched his t-shirt over his head as she bent to focus intently on her task. Finally she had loosened his belt and unzipped him. She grabbed his jeans and shorts with her small hands and yanked them as far down his legs as their position would allow her.
He was sitting with his back against the wall, pants around his shins as Jamie straddled his thighs. He grabbed her golf shirt by the hem and pulled it over her compliant outstretched arms. As she threw her arms around his neck for another bout of heated kisses he expertly removed her bra. The only barrier now was her jeans and Jack could not tolerate this encumbrance to her skin for another second. He grasped her around her waist and tumbled them both onto their sides. His nimble hands slid her zipper down with agonizing slowness, hearing the click, click, click as the metal gave way. They both gasped at the sound and at the promise of what lay ahead. Then Jamie pushed her jeans and panties down and out of the way.
She took the opportunity the momentary distraction provided and rolled him onto his back on the hardwood floor. She straddled him again as she grabbed his hands and placed them firmly on her breasts. Using her own hands to guide him she pushed his hands against herself roughly. She began to grind his large hands against her aroused breasts with a brazenness that Jack had never before seen her display.
She dropped her head to his and again began the assault on his lips. Her tongue entered his mouth as she let out a fierce, animalistic groan. His hands never stopped grasping and squeezing her now tender breasts. She slid back a bit onto his lap as he raised his knees. She impaled herself on his aching member and she rode him for a few short moments before she screamed out her release. He followed her seconds later as she collapsed onto his chest.
Their sweat-drenched bodies lay tangled together, arms, legs, jeans all entwined.
"Does that mean I'm forgiven?' he finally asked with a wan smile from his languid stupor.
They passed the rest of the weekend in a familiar pattern. Jamie caught up on most of her reading for the week and completed her short paper on the visit to the bookstore. They sat together in the sunny, small living room focused on their studies. Jamie had gotten current on all of her classes while Jack had just started to make a dent on his by Saturday night. Late in the afternoon she began to make dinner after taking a quick trip to the grocery store. She had decided to make Jack's favorite meal, chicken enchiladas, as a little peace offering. After their bout of passion yesterday evening their relationship seemed back to normal. They did not discuss the fight at all and that was fine with her. Both of them thought that the blow up was a one time only occurrence and neither saw the need to rehash it. That was one thing that both of them appreciated about their relationship. Neither of them needed or wanted a lot of drama to keep them entertained. But even though she was not a drama queen Jamie had to admit that she had never felt as much lust for Jack as she had yesterday. Maybe a blow up is a good idea every once in a while, she thought.
After dinner Jamie watched a movie that she had rented while on her earlier errand. She watched wearing headphones, as Jack was still diligently working away. They sat on the couch together, he sitting up, she lying on her side with her head on a pillow at the other end of the couch, and her legs resting on his lap. His textbook was resting on his thighs, but propped up by her legs.
Around midnight Jack gently stroked her arm to wake her. "C'mon sleeping beauty, time for bed." He helped her to sit up but she only lasted in that position for a moment before she collapsed onto his chest.
"Too tired," she grumbled sleepily.
He turned a bit and reached under her knees with one arm while the other cradled her back. He rose with her in his arms as she nestled down into his embrace.
"My hero," she crooned softly.
They reached the bedroom and Jack placed her on the edge of the bed. He bent to remove her shoes as she fell to the bed in an exhausted heap. He eventually removed the rest of her clothing with not a bit of help from Jamie. He smiled at her as she lay naked, legs hanging off the side of the bed, arms stretched out over her head, just as he had left them after removing her shirt. He took off his clothes as well, taking his just removed t-shirt and placing it over her head. He wrestled her arms into the garment and moved her into a more comfortable position. Then he slipped into a pair of cotton pajama bottoms and joined her. He had never met anyone who fell asleep so soundly or completely. It was a trait that he found undeniably cute, even when it prevented him from making love to her. He pulled her into an embrace, kissing her face and head, and then settling her against his side as they both fell into a deep sleep.
Jamie began to wake just as the dawn was beginning to break. Her first sensation was of a tender, languid touch roaming up and down her bare legs. Hands slowly moved to the front and began a slow, teasing dance on her twitching thighs. Slowly she began to gain some semblance of consciousness. She began to respond to the touch by gently sliding into it. It was clear that she was not fully awake, but also clear that she was not asleep.
The touch moved up her body to tenderly rub her stomach, sides, breasts and arms. Her t-shirt disappeared and the touch now encompassed her whole bare body. Jack was still lying on his side behind her. She began to move her hips in time with his touch. As she arched her back into him sensually he turned her so they lay face to face. He began to slowly, teasingly kiss every part of her that he could reach. After a seeming eternity she was softly moaning and grinding her hips, needing his immediate attention. He responded quickly at this point, slipping into her as she let out a small gasp. They moved together smoothly and she was happily surprised to find herself once more groaning out her release, minutes later.
Jack cuddled her and spoke nonsense words of love into her ear for a few tender moments. The feeling of warmth and contentment overtook her again and she fell back into a sated sleep.
At 10 a.m. Jamie pried her eyes open and forced herself to look at the bedside clock. Wow, I had the strangest dream, she thought. After a quick physical inspection however, she realized that she had not been dreaming. God, two times in two days! What's gotten into him? For that matter, what's gotten into me? Whatever it is I hope it stays around, she laughed to herself.
Jamie felt much better about her relationship with Jack when she returned to Berkeley. By Monday morning she was still in high spirits during her psychology class and she received a good bit of teasing from Ryan after the class was over. "May I assume that things got resolved between you and your boyfriend?" she asked with a twinkle in her clear blue eyes.
Jamie gave her a smirk and replied, "We definitely made up. I'm not sure that we resolved anything, though. That behavior was so out of character for Jack that I'm just going to assume that he was momentarily possessed."
"Hey, I've got my usual hour free, can I interest you in another bottle of juice or three?"
"Yeah," Jamie replied, "that would be nice." As they walked through the campus Ryan was pleased to notice that Jamie chattered away non-stop in her usual style. Jamie was first to reach into her book bag and offered to pay for the drinks so Ryan agreed and picked out a table, watching Jamie struggle to carry the four bottles back.
"I'm not even going to pretend that two of these are for me," she teased.
"Actually, I could drink all four, so you'd better be careful," Ryan replied with a little eyebrow wiggle.
"How do you consume all of the calories you do and stay so thin?" Jamie inquired as she shook her head.
"Well," Ryan said thoughtfully, "I am really active, and then with all of the sweating I do at my job, I find I can eat whatever I want."
"What in the hell do you DO for a living?" Jamie finally blurted out.
Ryan looked slightly confused as she answered, "I'm a personal trainer. I told you that." Jamie began to laugh so hard that tears began to roll down her face. She clutched at her sides as she began to rock back and forth in her chair.
"Gee Jamie, I've had a lot of reactions but never that," Ryan said confusedly.
"No, Ryan, I'm not laughing at your job," she explained. "You had not told me what you do, and I let my fertile imagination run wild. I imagined you as some high paid lesbian prostitute." At this Ryan threw back her head and roared.
After a few moments she wiped the tears from her eyes and gave Jamie a little half scowl. "Hey, it just dawned on me that might have been an insult," she said slowly. "Are you saying I look like a prostitute?"
"No! Of course not!" Jamie explained. "But I couldn't figure out why else you would have to time your clients for an hour, potentially have two at a time, and be able to take naps in between. And, let's be honest Ryan, you are great looking and I could see women paying for the pleasure of your company."
"Hmm," she said as if contemplating switching jobs. "I wonder how many women share that view. Nah, I'd hate to mix business with pleasure," she finally decided with a good natured grin.
They fell into a routine of spending an hour after class chatting before Ryan's Biology Lab. Within a few weeks the habit was so ingrained that they didn't even ask each other before they automatically began the short walk to the vending area.
Jamie had inquired once or twice about Ryan's participation in the AIDS Ride, asking how her training was going. On a crisp, clear, September morning after another such question Ryan looked at her seriously and said, "You know Jamie, if you are at all interested I could get you ready to do the ride." Jamie was nonplussed at the mere suggestion that she could accomplish such a monumental undertaking and quickly demurred.
"Ryan, I don't even own a bike. I haven't ridden at all since high school and I wasn't very serious about it even then. The most energetic thing I do is play golf, and as I always say, if you can smoke while doing it, it isn't a sport."
"Everybody who rides has doubts about their ability Jamie. There were people on the first ride who had every type of physical and emotional disability you can think of. The group has gotten more diverse every year since then. There are 300 pounders. There are people with missing limbs. There are people with AIDS. There were two people last year that had never been on a bike before they started training. From the looks of you," she eyed her carefully up and down, "you have none of the above mentioned excuses."
"Well, I guess you are right. I don't have a really good excuse. Do you really think you could get me ready to do it? It just seems like such a gargantuan task. I'm really out of shape, Ryan. I don't know if it's possible."
"Gee, could you come up with any more excuses?" Ryan teased as her eyes twinkled playfully. "I'm quite confident I could get you ready if you want to try. I've trained people for ultramarathons and I've trained people for triathlons and the principles are the same. Start out slowly and build. I'm not saying it's easy, because it's not. But for me it is one of the most rewarding things I do," Ryan stated firmly. "I lost my dear cousin Michael 10 years ago to AIDS. He was one of the sweetest men I ever knew and he was only 27 when he died. Any small thing that I can do to stop another family from going through that pain is worth any amount of sacrifice to me," she said soberly.
Jamie sat in pensive silence for a few moments. "Well, if you are willing to take on a hopeless case like me, I'm willing to give it a try. Where do we start?"
Ryan beamed a smile that Jamie was forced to return. "I suppose the first order of
business is to get you a bike, assuming you don't have one. Can you afford to spend some money on a bike now?"
"Yeah, I can manage," she said easily.
"When are you free to go shopping?"
"How about tomorrow?" Jamie suggested. "We'd better do it before I lose my nerve."
"It's a deal. I'm free from 10-1 p.m. tomorrow. I normally study during that break but I am amazingly caught up for a change. Is that good for you?"
"Perfect" Jamie agreed.
As agreed Jamie picked Ryan up at 10 a.m. and they drove to her favorite bike shop in Oakland.
"I've been coming here for a long time," Ryan told her. "These guys really know their stuff and they don't try to sell you things you don't need."
They entered the shop to a boisterous welcome from the gray haired man behind the counter. "Hi ya Ryan, long time no see," he said with good humor.
"That's only because you do such a good job on my bikes that I never have to come back. It's your own fault, Bill," she teased.
As he made his way around the counter Ryan made introductions. "Bill, this is my friend Jamie. I've convinced her to ride with me this year in the AIDS ride. But she doesn't have a bike, so you need to fix her up."
"Excellent, Jamie," he said enthusiastically. "With Ryan as your guide you'll do well. She has gotten some pretty hopeless characters through that experience successfully. So what do you have in mind?"
"I know nothing about bikes. You two are the experts. What do you suggest?" she said as she looked at Ryan.
"A road bike would be the best for the ride," Ryan said thoughtfully. "The only downside is that you can't take it off road at all. But it will let you climb hills easier and it goes a lot faster than a mountain bike."
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