22 year-old Emily Duncan's first semester of graduate school couldn't have been going any better. After completing her Bachelor's degree in Psychology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Emily chose to further her studies at the University of Iowa. Iowa offered many things that some of the other grad schools she applied for did not. First, she had bought herself more time away from home back in Oklahoma; second, Iowa had one of the top Psych programs in the Midwest; lastly, she had earned herself a few more semesters of hardcore partying at one of the nation's top party schools.
Emily knew going in that grad school was going to be a challenge and that she wouldn't be able to pull off going to parties and getting trashed every weekend. She was going to have to sacrifice and place her full-ride academic scholarship over her need to party.
It was early November and surprisingly the weather was still pretty decent in Iowa City. There had only been one mild snowstorm so far and the snow was only on the ground for a day before it all melted. Since that point temperatures had been in the 50's and 60's pretty consistently which still gave Emily and many other college students an opportunity to enjoy time outside in their free time. Emily ran track in high school and even had a partial scholarship at Nebraska until she quit the team during her sophomore year as an undergrad. However, even though she wasn't part of a team anymore, she still enjoyed working out and staying in shape.
Emily stood at 5-feet, 9-inches and an athletic 130 pounds. She had shoulder length sandy-blonde hair, 32C breasts, athletic legs and butt, and the perfect smile. Emily was a knockout and she had assets in all the right places to make her popular at all the college parties. On top of the looks, she had the brains too. Emily earned a 3.72 GPA at Nebraska as an undergrad and that was with her spending most of her weekends and even some weeknights in a drunken haze. At Iowa she was looking a perfect 4.0 square in the eyes as long as she didn't slack off too much between now and the end of the semester.
With just five weeks of the semester left before winter break and no papers due for a couple more weeks Emily decided she could have a little fun this weekend. Emily called up some students from her first-year cohort to see if they wanted to get together at her place for some drinks and then maybe go hit up some of the bars afterwards. She was hit-and-miss with most of the people she called, but did convince three girls and a couple guys to join her for the night.
Liz, Serena, Jill, Eric and Mike arrived at Emily's apartment around 10 p.m. and they casually started drinking beers and mixed drinks. After nearly two hours of laughing and socializing, Serena decided to call it a night.
"I'm gonna leave guys, I've got to wake up early tomorrow morning and get started on that paper for Dr. Wilson's class," she said as she finished the last few sips of her mixed drink.
"That paper isn't even due for two more weeks you party-pooper," Liz said, trying not to slur her words too much.
Serena stood up and grabbed her purse and her coat. "I know, but you know me. I hate procrastinating. It's just not my style," she joked.
"Do you need someone to drive you home?" Mike asked.
Jill stood up. "Don't worry about it Mikey," she said as she patted him on the shoulder. "I have only had one drink and that was over an hour ago. I can drive you home Serena."
"Thank you, Jill. It looks like the wind has picked up a bit outside so I really appreciate the offer."
"No problem. I'm getting kinda tired anyway. Just let me go to the bathroom first and we will be on our way."
After Jill was finished in the bathroom they said their goodbyes and headed out the door.
"Jeez, those two really need to learn to let loose and relax every once in a while," Eric said as he went to the fridge to grab another beer. "Anyone else want anything?"
"I will take another screwdriver!" yelled Liz.
"Make that two!" piped Emily as she stood up. "Please excuse me, while I run to the bathroom quick. All those mixed drinks have filled up my bladder."
Emily entered the bathroom, closed the door behind her and sat down on the toilet. She was really drunk and felt like she may be on the verge of passing out. Emily could hear the others talking and laughing back out in the living room and realized how great this semester had been and how close she had become with Liz.
Emily and Liz had become great friends over the past few months. Liz was from Minneapolis and did her undergraduate studies at the University of Minnesota. She was built a lot like Emily, only not as tall. Liz stood about 5-feet, 5-inches with jet black hair and was very athletic. Both girls knew how to party and they never had any problems picking up guys. Emily knew of at least six different guys who Liz had slept with this semester alone and who knows how many others there had been.
While Emily liked to party and have a good time, she had always tried to limit the number of guys she had sex with. Entering college at Nebraska she had a boyfriend of two years and they had fooled around on numerous occasions but never had sex. Part way through Emily's freshman year they called things off due to their distance apart from one another. During a track party at the end of her freshman year Emily lost her virginity to one of the star football players on a one-night stand, not exactly her fondest memory of college.
Emily spent all of her sophomore year and part of her junior year single. Most of her weekends consisted of going to parties, getting drunk, flirting and making out, but hardly ever anything more than that. Occasionally she would go have a quick oral session in the bathroom with some lucky guy, and one night even a girl, but it never went past that because she didn't want to deal with another one-night stand. Emily was content with spending the night with her battery-powered friend, rather than dealing with the shame and humility of a one-night stand the next morning.
At least that was until she met Heath.
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Heath was a classmate of Emily's during second semester of her junior year. He was a pretty big guy, standing at 6-feet, 3-inches and weighing what Emily guessed to be around 230 pounds. He had curly black hair and a goatee that made him look slightly older than the 21 years that he really was. But what Emily really became attached to was his personality. Heath had the perfect combination of intellect and whit that made him fun to be around. However, even though they had become great friends in class, they never spent time together in their free time. At least that was the case until one Friday night a few weeks before finals.
Heath invited Emily over to his place for a party, an invitation that she gladly accepted. Emily had been looking forward to the party all week, however, when she arrived at Heath's apartment at 9 p.m. sharp like she was instructed there were no cars to be found there other than hers. She walked up to the door, contemplating turning back and going home, and knocked. Silence. She knocked again. Silence. Just as she had turned to head back to her car the front door opened and their stood Heath.
"Sorry, I was in the bathroom shaving and I didn't hear you knock. Come on in," he said with a grin.
"Where is everyone? I thought you said there were going to be lots of people..." Emily's voice trailed off as she walked in the front door.
She walked in to find the lights dimmed and a candlelight dinner set for two.
With a puzzled look, Emily turned to Heath. "What is this?"
"Emily, you are the greatest girl I have ever met. You are so much fun to be around. You are the main reason I even go to class on Tuesday and Thursday mornings."
Emily was stunned, she stood there in complete silence.
"I know I may not be the most attractive guy ever, but I think you are absolutely perfect and I would love to spend more time with you."
Emily was at a loss for words. Nobody had ever done anything romantic like this for her. She just stood there staring at the table and how beautiful it was.
After what seemed like an eternity of silence, which in all actuality was really just a few short seconds, Emily spoke up. "Heath, this is beautiful."
"Thanks, I have been working on getting this all set up for about three hours," he said with a smirk.