STOLEN LOVE

LIFE IN COLLEGE

I did not argue with him, because I knew the alternative was sitting and feeling depressed and sorry for myself - or worse. I did protest when George insisted on me riding with him, but in the end I grabbed the duffle bag the process server had put into the bed of my truck and got in his three year old Toyota Camry. George was quiet on the ride to his house, leaving me alone with my thoughts. Those thoughts went way back to when this all started.

I was an unmotivated and mediocre high school student, preferring to party and get involved with guys instead of studying. So when I graduated from high school, my father showed me some tough love and refused to pay my way through college. Instead, he asked me to go in search of a job and reduced my pocket money.

My mother went along with the old man, so I worked for three years. In a fit of adolescent stupidity that more than proved my father was right about my lack of maturity, I spent recklessly and observed late nights. Proving that my father was right once again, I had no savings. There was nothing significant to show that I worked for the first two years. By the last year, I had become wiser; I was better in spending; I was more obedient to his instructions; and I had something I could point to as my savings.

It was a good plan and I was within a couple of months admitted into college, when my father had become satisfied with my change in behaviour. This time he was convinced that I was better, so I started college at the state university campus in my home town.

I had completed a year of college courses, when I put in to be transferred to another college that was closer to home. I had saved enough during the previous year, so I was fine, money-wise.

I had the money to live in the dorm, but I had so little in common with the typical students there, so the idea did not appeal to me. My parents solved my housing problem by offering me the same deal they had given my younger sister, Joyce. I could move into the guest apartment and live rent free, as long as I obeyed the house rules and kept my grades up.

The apartment was just a great deal. It was about five hundred square feet, with a large bedroom, living room, kitchenette and full bath. It even had a separate entrance from the outside that led to an extension of the driveway where I could park the small car I’d just purchased. Best of all, the room came with an open invitation to supper every night, and my mum was no more than the best cook in the county.

I guess here is a good place to insert a paragraph or two about our close-knit and beautiful family. There are four of us - my mom and dad (Linda and Keith), me, and my sister, Joyce. Joyce is fourteen months younger than me. My father manages a big d**g store and my mom works from home as a commercial illustrator.

My mom and dad grew up as hippies in the 1960s, and still have certain fairly unconventional ideas. They are still crazy in love even after over twenty-six years together, and make no bones about how hot they still are for each other. When I was very much a teenager, they use to embarrass the hell out of me with their open sexuality. They never hid the fact that they usually engaged in hot monkey s*x at the drop of a hint from one or the other.

My sister Joyce, is a writer and editor for a large company. She is engaged to and lives with a computer geek named Paul Ryan. Paul administers a large hospital's computer system. Joyce and I have always been best of friends as well as siblings. We were each other’s confidants and great advisors on the opposite s*x.

Joyce, my Mum, and I were blue-eyed blonds. My father was slightly above average in height and greatly built with light brown hair. The old man’s eyes are light blue.

In the long run, I moved into the guest apartment when I started college. I fell into Law as a major, on the advice of my faculty advisor, because I loved the idea of a law-related job. I dated a guy during my first year of college, but mostly I concentrated on my studies. Unlike when I was in high school, I was now totally focused and highly motivated toward my school work.

I also had a ‘friends with benefits’ casual hook up with the elder brother of Joyce’s best friend from high school, Richard Jones. Richard was some sort of human resources person at a hospital. Richard was a tall, handsome, robustly built, redhead with a hyped up s*x drive. He felt safe using me to dull the edges of his constant horniness while he looked for Miss Right. Miss Right for Richard would have to be a virgin whom he was going disvirgin, and someone who must be sexually energetic.

At the end of my first year of college, I interned for the summer with a medium-sized news company. I lucked out in drawing that position, because "The Broadcasting service of Tenop" had an excellent reputation in the industry. John Weaver headed the company, and his partner Jake Wilson ably handled the business side. My main job at "The Broadcasting service of Tenop" was as John's Personal Assistant and investigator. I went everywhere he did, taking notes. The great thing about John was that he explained every necessary thing and then quizzed me at the end of each day about what I had seen and learned for that day.

I met Martinez Douglas the first day of the second semester of my junior year in college.