Danny Ch 04 1

I was eating my lunch in the Student Union cafeteria and reviewing class notes when Claudia joined me.

"We still on for tonight?" she asked.

"We are" I said and we set a time.

We had a very nice date and I behaved myself. I was going to let Claudia set the pace since she was, in spite of what had been said at the Friday night meeting with Pauline, uncharted territory. As we left Harry's she said:

"Bad news baby. Aunt Flo came to visit this afternoon and it will be Thursday before she leaves. It will be Friday before I can do what I want to do with you."

I knew what "Aunt Flo" meant because I'd heard my mom and sister use the term a time or two. Pauline just referred to it as 'her time' and with her it never slowed us down. "That's what anal is for sugar; so we don't have to go without."

It didn't really upset me because after the workout Pauline put me through over the weekend I wasn't sure that I could have done Claudia much good if she had wanted to play at the end of our date. She did give me several hot kisses when I took her back to the dorm.

We dated on Tuesday and Wednesday and had some very hot make out sessions and on Wednesday she told me she would give me a hand job or head to hold me until Aunt Flo was gone but I told her no.

"Not until I can give as good as I get."

She gave me a long look and then said, "I'm beginning to see some of what Pauline sees in you."

I could have mentioned anal, but as I said earlier Claudia was uncharted territory and just might find the thought of anal sex as repulsive or dirty and depraved and might have her telling me to take a hike. I wasn't ready for that. At least not just yet.

Friday night Claudia invited me in to her room at the dorm and I found out that she was every bit as accomplished as Pauline and Mrs. French when it came to tings sexual.

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Claudine and I got together two and sometimes three times a week and every other weekend Pauline came home. Surprisingly the routine helped my grades go up. I didn't have to waste time trying to get a girl a girl to go out with me and then working on the relationship and because of that I had more time to study.

Then the holidays came and Claudia went home to St. Louis and Pauline came home from Walton. Then Pauline went back to Walton and Claudia came back to school. The routine continued until summer vacation and then Claudia went home and Pauline came home.

During the time Pauline was home she constantly talked about where we would live when we got married, how many children we were going to have and things like that. I began to believe that she was serious about us getting married when we graduated.

One thing we never talked about was what she did when she was at school or what I did when she was away. She knew what I was doing and I of course assumed that she was doing the same thing. I didn't know for sure and I damned sure wasn't going to ask.

There were a couple of sticky spots during the vacation. Two times Pauline invited me to her parents' house for an afternoon barbecue and both times I felt awkward around Mrs. French. We never did find ourselves alone so we didn't have a chance to talk and I never found out what had happened the last time I had been with her. But I did wonder what kind of relationship I was going to have with her if Pauline's plans did come to fruition.

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In the fall we went back to the routine. Things went along that way for the next couple of years and then in my senior year things went to shit on me. I never knew the story about what happened because neither mom nor dad would talk about it, but something bad must have happened because they split up and divorced.

We lived in a no-fault state and so everything had to be split fifty/fifty. Apparently neither one wanted the house so it was sold. I did know that mom got half of the business and that mom didn't want to buy out dad's half and she wouldn't sell her half to him. Dad apparently didn't want any ties to mom and when she wouldn't sell to him he sold his half to somebody else. Mom wasn't interested in the business with dad gone so she sold off her half.

Of course all of it had an impact on me and in more ways than one. It hit me both emotionally and financially. When dad moved out Nancy and I ended up staying with mom until it was sold. It was awkward as hell living with her and being afraid to say anything that might be the wrong thing to say and since neither parent would clue us in as to what was wrong anything we said could have been the wrong thing.

On the other side I was still working part time at the business so I saw him almost every day and I couldn't talk to him either except about things pertaining to work. Then the house was sold and I was put in the position of who did I want to live with? I guess it didn't bother Nancy the way it did me and she chose to stay with mom. To me it didn't matter which one I went with; it would make the other parent think I was choosing sides. Just try to imagine it. If I chose to stay with mom dad would think I loved her more than I loved him or maybe even thing I was siding with mom against him. And it would be the same with mom if I went with dad.

I was pretty much an emotional mess and I guess the two of them must have figured it out because they did get together enough to solve my problem. The house was almost paid for and they had a lot of equity to split. Each of them gave me some money to start out on my own - twelve thousand from mom and fourteen thousand from dad. With the money I was able to move into an off-campus apartment. I was able to breathe a little freer and since I wanted both of them to know I wasn't taking sides I made it a point to have dinner with each of them at least once a week.

Losing the family dynamic was only half of the hit I took. The other half came when mom and dad couldn't work out the split of the business and sold it. From the time I was fourteen my job future was assured. I would go to work full time in the family business when I graduated and eventually take it over when he retired. Suddenly that was gone and I had to figure out what I was going to do when I graduated.

I didn't even have a part time job anymore. The new owner reorganized and let twenty percent of the work force go and that twenty percent included all of the part time help. A good part of my classmates had a leg up on me because during their summer vacations that had interned some place and thus had links to possible future employment. The same could have been said of me, but my link had just been severed.

With only a month to go until graduation I started on a job search sending out resumes and checking out Internet job sites.

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There was one benefit from my parent's separation - though I would have gladly forgone it if mom and dad would have stayed together - and that was I had a place where Claudia and I (and Pauline when she came to town) could spend full nights together and wake up warm and cuddly in the morning.

The time we spent together did have its awkward moments like when her fiancée called and we were in the middle of making love and of course it also happened when Pauline called and I was in the saddle and going for glory.

We each handled it differently. When Gary called I pulled away and moved out of the room to give Pauline some privacy, but when I was Pauline calling Claudia would stay there and fondle my cock or go down on me while I talked. I did try to push her away, but I do have to admit that it was probably a half-hearted and feeble effort. Face it! How many guys are going to push away a girl who is giving you a blow job especially since only moments before you were trying to fuck each other's socks off.

I never called Pauline so I never interrupted her, but Claudia would call Gary and when she did I would tease her ad say things like:

"You think he's doing what we were doing when he called you?"

She would give me a dirty look and usually the finger and I would just smile and leave the room. I never did understand how she could react that way when she acted the way she did when Pauline called me. But when she hung up the phone she would come looking for me and go right for my dick.

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I started getting replies to the resumes I sent out and I set up several interviews and most of them were out of state. I thought I did well in the four interviews I'd had, but none of them offered me anything; just said they would review things and let me know.

Three days before graduation I received a phone call from Appsolar Industries and they offered me a position. I accepted the offer even though it meant the death of Pauline's plans. Appsolar was located in St. Louis which was twelve hundred miles away. Pauline would be going to work for her father and she fully expected to take over the business when he retired. I couldn't see sustaining any kind of relationship with that much distance between us.

Then things got weird.

Even though Claudia spent a good many nights with me (3 0r 4 a week) she still had a room in the dorms. She would stop in there everyday to check for mail or messages and then would come over to my place and we would have dinner together even if she didn't spend the night.

I was sitting at the kitchen table going over a list of what I would need to do to move to St. Louis when she came in. "Guess what" she said as she came in the door. "I've got a job." It surprised me because as far as I knew she hadn't even been looking. Her plans, at least as far as I knew, were to graduate, get married to Gary, spend a couple of months doing nothing but relaxing from the four year college grind and playing at being a newlywed. After that she would go looking for a job.

She was all smiles when she came up to me, kissed me and said, "Take your clothes off. I want to celebrate."

"It will be a celebration for both of us. I got one today too. I do have a question for you though. Does Gary know my name or anything about me?"

"No. Why?"

"Because if he knew who I was it might be awkward if I were to run into the two of you in St. Louis."

"Why would you bring up something like that?"

"Because that is where my new job is. I'll be moving to St. Louis to go to work for Appsolar Industries."

Her eyes got big and she asked, "Where?"

"Appsolar Industries."

"Oh shit! This could get sticky. Really really sticky."

"Why?"

"Because that is where Gary works and that's where I'll be working too. Gary is the Manager of Human Resources and he got me a job in the Accounting department. Where are you going?"

"Quality Control and Vendor Support. It should be okay. As long as Gary doesn't know my name we shouldn't have a problem. All he will know is that we were classmates in some shared classes. I'll admit it will be hard to keep my hands off of you, but I can do it."

"God I hope so."

"You said something about celebrating" I said as I stood up and headed for the bedroom. Claudia followed me and it turned into a long and exhausting evening.

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Pauline and I graduated on the same day so neither of us were able to attend the other's ceremony. Claudia had packed the night before and left for St. Louis right after receiving her sheepskin. I spent the evening boxing up things for the move to Missouri and about nine the phone rang. It was Pauline.

"Is Claudia there or is it clear for me to come over?"

"Claudia left for St. Louis this afternoon."

"Good. Be there in ten."

I hadn't talked to Pauine since getting my job so I figured it was going to be a bad night when she showed up and saw me packing.

I was right. She saw the boxes when she came in and asked:

"What's all of this?"

"Packing up to move."

"Move where?"

"St. Louis."

"Why in the hell would you mo...shit! That cunt Claudia! The bitch lied to me about a fiancée back home and I fell for it."

"No! Claudia did not get her hooks in me. The only job offer I got was in St. Louis. Claudia has nothing to do with my moving there."

"Maybe not, but she will be there and I won't. What about our plans? I planned on being married by the middle of August."

"Get serious Pauline. You have never talked to me about weddings."

"Bullshit Danny. You know damned well I planned on marrying you as soon as we graduated."

"That was your plan Pauline, but I never bought into it one hundred percent. I've always said that a lot could happen over four years of college that might change things. And a lot has happened in the four years. The biggest of them is my parent's marriage cratering. My assured job disappeared when the business was sold. I had to start looking for a job and I couldn't find one here. I sent out over sixty resumes and only got five interviews out of the bunch. Out of the five interviews I got one job offer and it is in St. Louis. I'm not against marrying you Pauline, but for it to happen you are going to have to live in St. Louis."

"You know I can't do that. I promised my dad that I would go to work for him if he would help pay for college. Scholarships alone wouldn't get it done and I didn't want to spend the next ten to twenty years trying to pay back student loans. I had to take his help. I have to go to work for him."

"That's why I've always said that things could change in four years and they have. There is nothing here in the way of work for me unless I want to flip burgers or work in a gas station convenience store and I didn't spend four years in college just to do that. I'm going to St. Louis."

She gave me a hard and pretty nasty look and then said, "Fuck you Danny!" and then she turned and left.

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Two days later I was in St. Louis and apartment hunting. I found one I liked and three days later I was moved in and the day after that I started work at my new job.

My first day there was weird. For the first thing you want to guess who gave me my new employee orientation? Yep! None other than Gary. Naturally he commented on the fact that his fiancée had gone to the same school and I said, "Oh? What was her name?" He told me and I said that I knew her and that we had taken some classes together and then he told me that she also worked there.

"Great! It will be nice to have someone here that I know. It will make settling in easier."

"Just don't forget that she is already spoken for."

The very next day when I went into the breakroom to get some coffee I saw Claudia sitting at a table and I walked over and joined her. Loud enough for those sitting close enough to hear I said:

"Claudia! I didn't know you worked here. I never expected to see a classmate here. I remember you once saying you lived in St. Louis. Maybe you can show me around."

"I'm afraid my fiancée wouldn't much care for that."

"He won't mind a friend sitting with you here will he?"

"Probably not."

The rest of the conversation was general in nature and served to establish to those overhearing that we were just classmates who found each other working in the same place.

Remember I said 'first' when I said that things got weird? There was a second. My third day on the job I walked into the breakroom and saw Mandy Light sitting at a table and she wasn't alone. She was sitting with a guy and that guy was none other than Donny Haight. I was just getting ready to turn and get the hell out of there when she turned her head, saw me and cried out:

"Danny? Is that you?" and she was up and rushing toward me. She wrapped her arms around me and hugged me and over her shoulder I saw Haight shooting daggers at me. I also saw, off to the left, Claudia sitting at a table and taking in the whole thing. Mandy tried to get me to join her at her table, but I begged off and told her I was meeting Claudia. Mandy asked me where I was working and I told her and she told me she would catch up with me latter and she went back to her table and I headed for Claudia.

"Smile and pretend you are glad to see me" I said as I sat down. "I need some cover here."

"Not that I'm not glad to see you, but what was all that?"

"A past I'd just as soon forget."

"Oh no you don't Dan; fill me in."

I told her of my history with Mandy and my history with Haight and she laughed and said;

The Gods must love fucking with you sweetie. How else can you explain it?"

"All I need now is for Pauline to walk in the door" and damned if we both didn't look toward the door to see if it would happen.

I was pretty busy for the rest of the day learning the ins and outs of a new job so I didn't give any thought to the situation I was in. It was brought home at quitting time when I got out to the parking lot and found Mandy waiting for me by my car. She knew it was mine because I was still driving the Torino.

She ran up to me, threw her arms around me and kissed me.

"Oh God but I have missed you."

While she was saying that I noticed that we were pretty much the center of attention. Several cars away I saw Haight sitting in a car and scowling at me and I saw Claudia standing by her car, looking at us and laughing. Me, being the asshole I can sometimes be, I couldn't resist taking a shot at Mandy.

"Yeah" I said, "I noticed. Not one phone call, not one letter, no communication at all in four years. Yep. You sure missed me."

"Well you never made any effort to contact me either."

"How the hell could I? You never let me know where you were. You, on the other hand, knew exactly where I was."

"That's all behind us now. You are here and I don't see a ring on your finger so I'm applying for the position I had before I had to move."

"I'm not sure that is a good idea. I'm brand new here and I've got a lot to learn and I doubt that I'll have much in the way of free time for a while. Now if you will excuse me I need to be getting home to my apartment. I still have a lot of unpacking to do."

I got in my car and headed for home. I figured that since I hadn't given mandy any encouragement that would be the end of it. Silly me! I pulled up and parked at the apartment and as I was getting out of the car Mandy pulled up and parked next to me. She got out of her car and said:

"I can fix us some dinner while you unpack and after we eat I'll give you some special dessert."

I wasn't dense so I knew what she meant by "special dessert" so I said to myself, "Why fight it Dan" and I headed for my apartment.

Mandy was pretty much the same insatiable piece that I remembered and I didn't get any unpacking done. Didn't get dinner either.

We woke up together at six and had another go round before dressing for work. I followed her to a Village Inn where over breakfast I asked her how she was going to square our night together with her boyfriend.

"What boyfriend?"

"Donny Haight was looking at you rather possessively in the breakroom and later in the parking lot."

"He isn't my boyfriend. We did date a lot because we knew each other before we came to work here and it was easier to connect with an old friend while making new ones. He wants more and to be honest I would probably have settled for him if you hadn't come along. Now that you are here he is history."

I owed Haight nothing and I didn't like the asshole anyway and I wasn't dumb enough to pass up sure pussy even if I didn't think it would be going anywhere. I just said I wasn't dumb so yes, I did pick up on Mandy's "I don't see a ring so I'm applying for the position." I'm not saying for sure that it couldn't happen because people can change, but I remembered how Mandy used to bounce from guy to guy way back when. Time would tell.

I was a realist and I was in a new place and knew very few people and normally it would have taken months to meet people, start dating and eventually find a bed buddy, but with Mandy I had an immediate bed buddy so I went with the flow.