Innocent Milf

Chapter 32

Chapter 32

Christmas vacation was over before I knew it. Visits with Sascha, Jack, and several days with Cary ran out the week before New Year's. Predictably, Eric intended to go to a wild party on New Year's Eve, leaving the kids with Cary. Our family's traditional movie marathon continued with just my parents and Liss. I still called Cary at midnight to wish her a happy New Year, and we found plenty of chances to be alone before I left for my second semester.

Aaron and Beth seemed intent on making up for lost time upon our return to classes. As a result, I spent more time in the library and music practice rooms than I had before. I added another class to my courseload with permission from the dean, and jumped into my studies with renewed vigor. I didn't know why I wanted to finish college early, but I felt like I was on some sort of clock.

French, Music Theory, Early English Literature, and a handful of other classes kept me busy enough that I almost didn't have time to enjoy my new computer--I was too busy using it to write essays. Cary visited as often as she could, updating me about her work and her kids. Emailing back and forth with Jack, we started planning for Rendezvous. I met with her for weekends when I drove back, and even had lunch with her and Sami. Cary shared her excitement and her melancholy in turns. Eric had been spreading rumors about her, telling people that she was a cradle-robbing deviant who preyed on high school students. She had lost more than one commission because of his web of lies.

It occurred to me--and I told Cary--that the sooner I graduated, the sooner I could get a real job. Then she and I could move into a proper house. With two incomes, it would be easier on her, and she wouldn't have to depend on her inheritance to shore up her occasionally inconsistent income from the gallery. I had expected her to be thrilled with my suggestion, but she just looked sad, so I dropped it. Maybe she didn't like being reminded of financial struggle.

In early March, I accidentally walked in on Aaron and Beth going at it. They had been in such a rush, Aaron forgot to put a tie around the doorknob. Aaron in particular was mortified, and even snapped, "I even bought a tie just for this!" Once I realized that he didn't actually own a necktie prior to my comment about hanging one on the door as the signal that I had a girl, I burst out laughing, and couldn't stop for a while.

Cary had stopped trying to blend in as a college student on campus during her visits, with the result that she showed up more often in elegant russets, creams, and ivory-white ensembles. Of course, it made her look even more gorgeous and classy to me. The Galahad jokes continued, but after the Halloween party they took on a slightly more respectful or affectionate air. I suspected Professor Tully had reported back to the rest of the faculty what an absolute catch Cary was. And always, I wore my ring and Cary wore her bracelet.

During Spring Break, Cary came to visit. We spent our second day at the pool. I had never been a competitive swimmer, but I did enjoy seeing Cary lie under the sun in a bikini. The looks she got from the other sunbathers or swimmers made me feel like I had won the Lottery. Bewitching in her purple bikini that she had bought just for this occasion, Cary spent most of the time smiling at me if she wasn't reading.

"Are you sure you're all right just staying by the pool with me?" she asked, more than once.

"Are you kidding? With you in that bikini, this is the best place to be." I glanced about. "Plus, I'd lose my spot if I got up and left. Some fraternity jerk would plop down right next to you and start offering you margaritas."

Cary rolled her eyes. "Please. I had to work myself up to wearing this in public. It's only the fact that all the other girls here are wearing something similar that I haven't melted into a puddle of embarrassment." She tugged her wide-brimmed hat a little lower. "This is for you, Anybody else who appreciates it... well, they can keep it to themselves."

"Come on. This is nothing compared to parading around in lingerie in front of a bunch of recent graduates for tickets to Mexico," I teased.

Cary tensed, but quickly relaxed, seeing I was joking. "That was special. And it was our first night together. It almost didn't seem real." Her tone grew dreamy and distant. "I can't believe that was almost a year ago already. We sure were wild. But it worked out okay. And we had our perfect evening together afterwards."

I grinned. "Not planning on doing the wet T-shirt contest later, then?"

"Ha! 'Sorority Slaves for Serbian Refugees?' I think I've aged out of the 'sorority' category." Cary wriggled herself a little higher on her chaise-lounge. Her gold bracelet winked in the sun. "Besides,lookat these girls! I feel like a cow."

"You're dreaming," I said flatly. "You're the hottest one here."

Cary's face twisted in a cute moue. "You're sweet to say that. I don't think you've been paying attention to how many barely-dressed coeds have been givingyouthe once-over, Mister Tall, Muscular, and Handsome."

I waved the observation away. "Nah. I'm too pale. It's all that reading inside. I'm losing my Mountain Man bronze. The sun isn't high enough in the sky when I go jogging to make much of a difference in my pasty complexion."

A long silence stretched while I tried to make some headway inGod Emperor of Duneand Cary flipped throughDragonfly in Amber. Cary took a deep breath and said quietly. "I'll do it, if you want."

It took me moment to disentangle my brain from immortal worm-gods and clones, and to understand what she was saying. "Wait, what? Really?"

Cary had drawn her feet up close to her in what I had come to think of as her "nervous" pose. "I don't know why, but I know you like showing me off. I'll go do it if you really want. I've never done a wet T-shirt contest, but I get the gist."

I frowned a little. "I don't need to 'show you off.' You're not a prize horse. You're my girlfriend. My wonderful, sweet, kind Cary. Who is also smoking hot." Cary flushed with more than just the early Arizona spring heat as I spoke. "Of course I'm proud of you. You turn heads all the time, and I'm proud that you chose me. But you don't have to do anything that makes you uncomfortable."

The next pause lasted so long that I figured the subject was closed. Instead, Cary said, "Would you be asking me to do it if I was 19?"

I put down my book and stood, hands on my hips. "Okay, what is this? Are you feeling threatened? I don't care about any of these girls here. Just you."

"You shouldn't miss out," Cary answered evasively. "If that's part of the Spring Break experience, you should have it. And I don't want to spend time away from you. So I'd do it. For you."

"Baker!" I recognized Todd's voice. He had somehow gotten the idea over the past several months that he was my "cool friend" who needed to show me how to be a true college man. When he wasn't encouraging me to hook up with random girls, he was dropping hints about wild parties. He slapped me on the shoulder as he approached. "This is your dream girl, right? I missed her at Halloween."

Cary smiled without warmth, extending a hand. She didn't stand up. "Hello. I'm Cary, Matt's girlfriend."

Todd leaned over her hand, prepared to kiss it. Cary snatched it back and waggled a finger. "Take it easy, there." I interposed myself and gave Todd a warning look.

He held up his hands. "Hey, all's fair in love and war, right?"

I sighed. "Cary, this is my classmate Todd. He's a douche who thinks it's cool to give me terrible advice."

"Harsh, bro." Todd had adopted a surfer-dudeBill and Ted-style voice. "I'm just trying to get you the full college experience. You know? Spring Break is a sacred rite of passage, man!"

Cary stiffened almost imperceptibly. "Of course," she answered, as if Todd had been speaking to her instead of me. "I was just telling Matt the same thing."

"He needs to be out here partying instead of reading by the pool like an old man," Todd pressed. "I bet you were pretty wild back in your day--make him have some fun!"

"Man, fuck off with that 'back in your day' shit," I snapped. "Call my girlfriend old, and I'll break my foot off in your ass."

"Easy, Galahad," Todd said. "She's a total milf! I'm, like, jealous. I'm just trying to recruit her to team 'Keep Matt from turning into an old man before his time.' It's a public service! Besides," he added, looking over my shoulder at Cary, "a lady as pretty as you should be having fun, too. Don't tell me he roped you into his boring book club attitude?"

"You call him Galahad, too?" Cary stammered.

"Oh, yeah. All he does is read and talk about you." He waved his sunglasses at Cary as if evaluating her body. "If I hadn't seen what a babe you are in person, I'd think he was a monk. Old 'No thanks' Baker. Every time a girl so much as says boo to him, he starts rubbing his ring like he's summoning a genie."

I grimaced. I hadn't realized I did that. Todd continued. "Anyway, he turns down every chance for fun I bring his way. Pretty sure he doesn't want to upset you." He tilted his head. "I guess I'd almost say it was worth it. You're easily as hot as he says you are. If you're half as smart as he says you are, you're way too good for Stick-in-the-Mud Galahad."

Cary's expression was halfway between hunted and humiliated. Desperate to cheer her up, I sat down beside her and snaked my hand around her waist and kissed her on the cheek. To Todd, I grunted, "Don't you have some witless wannabe model to try to impress with your dime-store philosophy?"

"Rude. But I know you don't mean it," Todd declared. He looked Cary up and down and shrugged. "You get defensive when you think I'm right." He grinned as he heard a girl's voice calling his name. "Well, speak of the devil, and she shall appear."

A bouncy blonde in a red bikini so revealing it actually made her seem more naked than if she had been really nude came towards him holding a beach ball. "Come on, Todd! We're ready to start again!"

"Jasmine here is gonna be in the wet T-shirt contest this evening," Todd said proudly, hooking an arm around his buxom companion. "She's a real humanitarian, after all."

'Jasmine' grinned naughtily and winked at Cary. "It's for charity. Besides, it's not really Spring Break unless you've gotten your tits out, right?"

Cary coughed, but nodded as if that were a totally reasonable statement.

"Help me out, teammate," Todd said over his shoulder as he and Jasmine left. "Between the two of us, I'm sure we can force him to actually enjoy college the way he's supposed to!" His hand dropped to Jasmine's bottom and squeezed as they headed towards their friends.

It was quiet for a moment before I let out a sigh. "Jesus. I'm sorry. What an asshole."

Cary looked at me with a strange expression that I had been seeing on her face more and more. "Are you really skipping out on fun for my sake?"

I rolled my eyes. "Todd's idea of 'fun' is to fuck his way through each sorority in alphabetical order while telling his girlfriend back home that he's waiting for her. That sort of fun I'm happy to 'skip out' on."

"Don't do that for my sake," Cary said, voice uncharacteristically hard. "If a pretty girl asks you out for coffee, you should go. I know I've been anxious and needy, but I'm not so fragile that you can't have a normal college life." She brushed her hands over my crotch. "I know what's mine."

I smirked and did my Hawkeye voice. "That's yours, for a fact. Looking to get back to our room in a hurry?"

Cary shook her head slowly. "No way. You're going to come bounce a beach ball around with me and a bunch of mostly-naked college girls that make me feel insecure. And then I'm participating in that contest."

* * * * *

* * * * *

That was how I found myself standing next to Cary in a crowd of semi-drunk college party animals in front of a low stage next to a poolside Tiki bar for Spring Break '95. Cary held my hand tightly, but seemed more and more annoyed every time I told her that she didn't need to do this to impress me.

I had switched out for my "evening wear"--cutoff jeans, sandals, and an obnoxious tropical shirt that had seemed funny when I found it at a Goodwill store. Like something the other Hawkeye would wear--fromM.A.S.H.rather thanLast of the Mohicans. My ring hung from a cord around my neck. Cary was in a thin white T-shirt, flip-flops, and denim cutoffs as well. Hers were cut off significantly higher than mine. Her gold bracelet glimmered in the neon lights. Together we looked like a couple of low-rent beach bums.

The setup was pretty simple--girls went on stage, and guys bid more and more money to be the ones to use the hose on them. For an extra fee, they could order one sexy action--a flash, a dance, whatever. All the money went into an oversized striped hat labeled "Relief Fund." A pair of muscular apparently-unflappable security guards stood next to the hat and another pair at either end of the stage.

At the beginning, a guy with a short, dark beard went up and gave a short, impassioned speech about how his people were being systematically hunted down and tortured or killed, and how even a little money could help. Cary made a sad sound to herself as he described families being separated and children being put in cheap, broken orphanages. By the end, we all wanted him to get off the stage--he was killing the mood. But we were all also ready to donate.

"All right, contestants! Five minutes to get ready. Come on up and we'll let you backstage and give you a number." The emcee gestured grandly, and I could see the crowd parting here and there to let the girls through.

I checked once more. Cary had a wild streak, but I didn't want her doing this just because Todd and Jasmine had goaded her into it. "Are you sure?" I asked. "We can donate some other way."

"You don't think I'll look attractive up there?" Cary asked.

"You'll look great. I'll be thrilled, knowing that you're coming home with me." I gritted my teeth, realizing that I would be spending most of my money for the week to be the one to spray water on her. "But you don't need to prove anything to me. I already have eyes only for you. And if somebody else has more cash, then you could be getting your boobs sprayed by some sleazy creep."

"It's for the kids," Cary said simply. "I can do this. And then you'll have a memory of Adventurous Cary to look back on as a memento of Spring Break."

I smiled in mild disbelief and squeezed her close to me. "I like Shy Cary, too. They're both Cary."

Cary took my face in her hands. "After this, take me home and fuck me silly." So saying, she pushed some bills into my hands with a wild grin, and bounded towards the backstage entrance. I watched her firm buttocks and pretty back retreating into the crowd. I frowned as I saw a few hands reach out to try to slap or fondle her.

I made some meaningless small talk with a few of the guys around while we waited. The emcee looked behind a curtain and apparently received some signal. He turned and flourished his microphone, its cable snapping like the tail of a leopard as he moved. "All right, humanitarians! You know the drill--bid as much as you can, and the highest bidder gets to come up onstage and wet down our beautiful volunteers!"

The crowd erupted in semi-drunken cheers.

"Number one, come on up!" The first girl walked on stage. She flounced back and forth, giggled, and introduced herself as "Tiffani with ani." The emcee asked her a few simple biographical questions about her major, her cup size, and her turn-ons.

"Her name isn't Tiffani," I heard a girl say behind me, indignant. "I heard her talking to her friends in the bathroom, andtheycalled her Leigh. And she said she was taking Organic Chemistry."

I smirked. So she was playing up the bimbo aspect to get more money out of this group of horndogs. It was actually really smart. I wondered if Cary would do something similar. I didn't see anybody with a video camera around, but maybe I should have warned her just so that her real name didn't get out there on a "Girls Gone Wild" video.

When bidding started, the cheers were deafening but electrifying. It was hard to be engulfed in a sea of aroused college students and feel nothing. The winner of the bidding was a tall dark-haired Latin dude who introduced himself as Diego before theatrically dropping a $100 bill into the big striped hat.

As Aerosmith blasted through the speakers, Diego used the provided hose to splash water all over "Tiffani." He waved it around in a circle like a lasso, and held it in front of his crotch like a giant floppy green dick. The crowd loved it, and in less than half a minute, Tiffani was soaked, her nipples clearly visible through the fabric of her shirt. I noticed that her shirt had a notch cut in the neckline. She pushed her chest forward and did a cheerleader-type pose, before accepting the hand of one of the security guards to be led off the stage.

So it went for a few more contestants, leaving me to wonder each time if Cary would be the next to emerge. I was equally nervous on her behalf and excited on mine. Her impulsive behavior made me love her even more, but it also made me wonder what her motivation was. Was she trying to make up for lost time in her life? Excited to have a chance to cut loose away from her kids? Or was she trying to impress me, or live up to what she thought I expected from a girlfriend?

Next up was Todd's new friend Jasmine. She strutted back and forth, egging on the crowd and offering to do a sexy dance if anybody would pay the bonus amount into the hat. The bottom of her shirt had been cut into streamers, and a window had been sliced between her neckline and her cleavage. Was somebody backstage just cutting up the girls' shirts? And if so, how did he get that job?

Within a minute, encouraged by both the emcee and Jasmine, a wad of bills was carried up by a stumbling blonde dude. The security guard counted out $175 and dropped it in the hat. The winner immediately sprayed Jasmine all over, prompting her to make a premature ejaculation joke that left the crowd howling. The guy screamed for more money from his friends, who promptly passed up another $50 bill. Jasmine danced for nearly a minute while the guy continued to soak her with the hose.

I wondered how Cary was faring backstage. I imagined her muttering, psyching herself up as she often did when she was about to do something out of her comfort zone. Or maybe she was behaving more like she had at Ty's party: totally committed to the part now that she had decided. If that were the case, she was just as likely to be conspiring with the other contestants. Could she see what was happening on the stage?

"Number seven!" the emcee called. "Come on up!"

Cary bounced out onto the stage, clearly adopting a similar ingénue mannerism as she had at Ty's party. She looked back and forth, locating me and smiling. Her T-shirt had undergone a transformation--it was slashed in a couple of places, and had been cut in half down the middle, and knotted together, revealing very deep cleavage.

The emcee took a look at her and raised an eyebrow. "All right, cutie. What'syourname?"

Cary giggled--a high-pitched empty-headed sound so unlike her natural laugh that I found myself doing a double-take. "I'm Candy," she chirped. The crowd cheered and hooted. Cary grabbed her own wrist and pulled her arms straight down in front of her, pressing her boobs together and forward under her shirt. Her newly-slashed shirt made a perfect window for her impressive cleavage.

"Candy," the emcee repeated with relish. "Of course you are. What's your major, Candy?"