All Novel XO
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As Ray walked Marilyn back to her dorm, he saw her shiver slightly in the chill of the night. He quickly took off his jacket and draped it around her. Marilyn relished her first time to wear a boy’s jacket. She had to endure too often watching the girls in high school wearing their boyfriend’s letter jacket as a claim and commitment. Now she was hoping that she was being claimed.
A moment of panic seized her, Oh my God am I imagining things? Maybe I need to slow down before I run him off from me, she thought. But the ever present look of interest in Ray’s eyes as they walked in the gleam of the nightlights assuaged her concerns as she cradled herself into the warmth of his jacket.
Ray was oblivious to the cold. His primary focus was studying the bewitching figure walking alongside him. All too soon, they had arrived at the dorm building where they finished their conversation and for a brief moment both hesitated as they grasped for a solution to end the night. Ray desperately wanted to kiss her, but wasn’t sure how Marilyn would react.
His focus was to ensure that Marilyn would be receptive to seeing him again. He knew he had to see her again. Marilyn tentatively held her hand out, but she was hoping for so much more as she searched his eyes. Ray gripped the offered hand and in the scant seconds where they uncharacteristically fell silent, they both subtly moved toward each other and gave a soft light kiss to end the night.
As Ray watched Marilyn disappear into the building, he was aware that he was already yearning to see her again. Marilyn walked into her dorm room where her anxious roommates were waiting. “Mary-uh Marilyn, where have you been? You disappeared from us without telling us where you were going!”
Good, Marilyn thought, they were finally recognizing her name as she reluctantly shed herself out of Ray’s jacket. She smiled and held the jacket and sniffed the scent. “Where did you get that?” asked one of her roommates.
She beamed at them and said, “I got this from the man I’m going to marry.”
Across the quad in Ray’s room, he was undergoing a similar interrogation.
“Damn, Ray, one minute you are there and the next time I looked up you were gone! Where the hell did you go?”
Ray could only grin as the questions from his roommates escalated from their curiosity. As guys are wont to do, the questions soon devolved from curiosity to ribald to down right crude.
“Ray, if you got a piece of that tall girl’s ass you were with, I hope you broke her in for me, even if I will have to get a stepladder to screw her!” joshed Henry.
“Yeah, Ray, I would love to play periscope with those tits!” Adam laughed as his hands pantomimed peering closely into the large tits of an imaginary girl.
The room broke up into laughter until everyone came to the uncomfortable realization that Ray was not amused. As the laughter finally died off into uneasy silence, Ray spoke.
“Henry, you and Adam have been my buddies since elementary school. If you want to stay that way, then never say another disparaging word about Marilyn, or I’ll kick your fucking asses.”
The icy calm which Ray quietly employed the threat brought home the realization that a line had been drawn and Ray would tolerate no trespass. Uneasily, the boys drifted off to bed. Ray, remained awake late in the night bringing up images of Marilyn.
The next day in class, Ray was lost at sea as he ambled from one lecture to another. Thank God, none of the professors called on him. There was no telling what answer would have came from his befuddled brain.© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.
Mercifully, the afternoon ended and Ray found himself at the Student’s Commons sitting at an empty table. His cellphone was being toyed in his hand as he debated what to do. Even though, he didn’t have that much practice with relations with girls, he knew the rule was you wait three days before calling them. He never questioned why it was a three day period. He supposed it allowed both parties to engage at a neutral level.
What if I call Marilyn? Would it scare her off? Would she be happy to hear from me? I need a reason to call! How do I explain why I am calling?
Those thought and others flooded into Ray’s analysis as he swayed from fear to desire. GAAAA, he thought, why is it so damn tough to do this, he wondered as his hand finally found the nerve to dial Marilyn’s number.
Marilyn was studying in her room. Well… she was trying to study in her room. All day long, her thoughts were of the wonderful evening she had spent with Ray. She had gone to bed clutching his jacket and drifted to sleep, comfortable in the subtle security of his scent on the leather.
What possessed me to tell those girls I found the man I was going to marry, she fretted. It was only one meeting, just a cup of coffee. How did I build this up? Am I that damn desperate? Hell, I probably scared him so bad that he still hasn’t stopped running.
But then… there was that kiss. That wonderful gentle spark of connection. That instinctive desire to continue. God, he had to feel it as well, Marilyn thought as she tried to concentrate on her English Lit assignment.
Suddenly, her phone started chirping. Strange, it wasn’t time for her weekly check in with her parents. She wasn’t expecting a call from her roommates since they were down the hall visiting some other girls.
“Hello,” she enquired. Ray was instantly transfixed by the voice as he mentally drew up an image of Marilyn to go along with the voice. In a panic, he realized he forgot the preconceived dialogue he intended to use.
“Uh, hi Marilyn, it’s Ray… Ray Thompson… from last night… we had coffee…” Ray cringed as he castigated himself. Idiot, how many Rays’ did she have coffee with last night? Still, he forced himself to stumble forward. “I was calling to see if you’d like to go get another cup of coffee…”
Marilyn had started smiling once she heard his voice and it became bigger after Ray asked his invitation. “Ray, I’d love to. Can I meet you back where we were last night in about half an hour?”
“That would be great, Marilyn. I’ll go grab us a table. See you in a while!”
Her dread from reading Chaucer evaporated as she said goodbye and prepared to go out. What a strange sensation to get made up for a boy. She soon had bounded out of the building and walked briskly to Sally’s. When she arrived, she peered into the crowd and spotted Ray as he rose up.
As Marilyn approached, Ray noticed that she wore his jacket again. Man, it looks so much better on her than it ever did me, he thought as he continued to follow her progress to the table. As they smiled at each other and said hi to one another, the fear slipped away and they relaxed into easy conversation again.
Again, they had remained till closing time and Ray walked her across campus again. When poised at her dorm’s entrance, Marilyn began to shed off Ray’s jacket. Ray told her to keep it since they had a study date at Sally’s scheduled tomorrow so he could help her understand Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. They would probably be there till closing again.
This time there was less hesitation as they moved together for a goodnight kiss. As they meshed, Marilyn greedily snatched a second kiss and reluctantly said goodnight. Ray walked in solitude trying to cope with his feelings while savoring the taste of Marilyn’s lipstick.
The study date led to another the next day and then another. On Friday evening Marilyn and Ray attended a symposium on film noire and shared popcorn as they watched Humphrey Bogart solve the crime and win the heart of Lauren Bacall. Saturday, they attended the University’s football game. The dismal failure of the team couldn’t dampen the enthusiasm both felt being around each other. Sunday, they agreed to go on a picnic in the attendance of several of their friends.
The next week was filled with study dates and the weekend allowed them time to enjoy each other’s company on dates. So it went for the next months as Marilyn and Ray quietly became the core of their group of friends. They had not campaigned for that. It was just a natural reaction that they gave a stability to their group. Ray and Marilyn could only smile and laugh as their satellite of friends’ dating adventures would be analyzed and discussed.