Freshman Orientations Ch. 03

"Freshman Orientations" is a silly, tongue-in-cheek fantasy series about sexual curiosity and first time exploration in college, which reimagines freshman year the way you might have wished it had been... For a complete introduction to the characters, please consider reading from chapter 01.

***

Dylan returned to his dorm after class and heard the elevator ring. He hurried to get inside while another student held it open for him. "Thanks!" he exclaimed.

"You're welcome!" she said, smiling at him. She was cute; a redhead struggling with a large backpack. He cherished any opportunity for a simple exchange with a girl, because he never knew how to talk to them otherwise.

One wall of the elevator was constantly wallpapered with flyers posted by students for assorted reasons, like selling a microwave or looking for a weekend hiking partner. Normally Dylan ignored them, but one caught his attention. It read: "Sexuality in Session - Feeling curious? Shy? Afraid to ask important questions about your body, safe sex, and other intimidating matters? Be brave and join us for a special interactive discussion and hands-on group workshop, in a safe and nonjudgmental environment."

Dylan's mind was instantly racing with a thousand questions. What did "interactive" mean? What kind of workshop? What would they show? What would he have to do if he attended? The girl in the elevator noticed him looking at it and turned to check what he was seeing. He felt awkward and embarrassed, realizing that she was observing his interest in something of that nature. He found himself desperate for the elevator to reach the floor so he could race back to his room and hide.

The elevator rang again and the doors slid open. They both rushed out into the hall, but the girl next to him was faster so he lingered back. The elevator doors slid shut. There had been an url to follow for more information and to sign up for the session, but Dylan was afraid to copy it down in front of the girl in the elevator because he didn't want to admit that he was the type of person this flyer was targeted at. He now regretted not memorizing it. Fortunately, as he made his way down the hallway, there was another copy posted on a bulletin board. Seeing that no one was watching, Dylan grabbed it, stuffed it in his bag, and continued on his way.

Dylan soon forgot all about the flyer.

Later that evening, he had to meet with the lab partner he'd been assigned to for the semester, Gabriela, to discuss the week's assignment. Gabriela was an adorable Puerto Rican girl, with smooth, deep brown skin, big shining eyes, and a mass of beautiful brown curls on her head. She was bubbly, fun to be around, and made Dylan impossibly nervous. They lived on the same floor, and so it was convenient to meet in her dorm room for their study sessions.

He knocked on her door and she let him in. Her roommate, Erika, was often not around, so they were able to work in peace, sitting on her bed with their books and notebooks strewn about. Gabriela always played some upbeat music and had coffee ready for them to power through their work together.

"Hey Dylan!" she said, cheerfully calling him into the room.

"Hi Gabriela," he said, dumping his bag on a chair, "Sorry I'm a little late."

"No problem! How was your day?" she asked, smiling. She was always enthusiastic and asked so many questions, which was intimidating to a non-talkative person like Dylan, but she seemed to genuinely enjoy being his partner. She was one of the few girls he felt he could actually label as a friend, even though they were just partners assigned to one another. They made chit-chat for a few minutes before agreeing to start working.

"Can I just use your bathroom real quick?" Dylan asked.

"Sure," she said, "Do you have your notes from yesterday handy? I can't seem to find mine."

"Yeah, in my bag," Dylan said, hurrying to the bathroom.

The freshman bathrooms were tiny, like the bedrooms themselves. Dylan had to pee badly, but was always afraid that someone could hear him urinating inside. He sat down so he could piss silently against the inner wall of the toilet. While he finished, Dylan carefully lifted the lid of a basket across from the toilet and peeked inside. It was the first time he ventured to do this. Finding that it was a clothing hamper, he suddenly felt excitedly voyeuristic.

He imagined every morning Gabriela and Erika returning from the showers to deposit their used bras and panties in the hamper. Sitting on top was a such bra. He wasn't sure if it was Gabriela's or Erika's. He picked it up, pressed it to his nose, and inhaled. It smelled flowery, like perfume. He rummaged a bit and found someone's panties as well, with no distinguishable scent, however it was still exciting to him that these pieces of clothing had recently been touching their private parts.

Dylan quickly put everything back, carefully trying to reconstruct the contents as he found them, afraid he'd be discovered. Then he washed his hands and headed back to the bedroom. His heart sank. Gabriela had pulled everything out of his bag, looking for his notes. Sitting on top of the bag was the sexuality flyer that Dylan had grabbed and forgotten about. She had clearly seen that he'd taken it from the bulletin board.

Dylan quickly sat on the edge of the bed and began repacking the contents of his bag with things they didn't need, starting with the flyer which he tried to casually slip back inside without her seeing, but it was too late.

"Are you going to that?" she asked, curiously.

"To what?" he replied.

"That sexuality thing, I was wondering about it."

"Oh, I dunno. I just saw it earlier. I haven't looked at what it is yet."

"Okay cool. It seems like it could be interesting, so I might check it out. Maybe I'll see you there?" she said.

Dylan nodded and they got started on their lab work, saying nothing more about the flyer.

However, it gnawed at him all evening and well into the next day. He couldn't believe that Gabriela had expressed interest, let alone expressed a desire to see him there. He waffled back and forth endlessly about whether he should sign up. Deep down, he didn't want to risk the regret he would feel if she went without him and it turned out to be an experience he'd been foolish to ignore.

Finally, when Dylan's roommate wasn't around, he sat on his bed and opened his laptop to check out the site listed in the flyer. The description of the session was very vague and wasn't clear about what they'd be shown, what they'd discuss, or in what way they'd be involved in a "hands-on" workshop. It did, however, state that bringing a partner was not necessary, that they'd be paired with one at the event. Leaving so much to the imagination made Dylan very nervous, and if it wasn't for the fact that Gabriela had already expressed interest in going, he'd probably have chickened out. But secretly, he was glad she had discovered the flyer, because he wanted an excuse to go.

Dylan remembered high school health class. They'd been shown pictures of nude men and women, their bodies at different stages of development, and got to listen to the instructor talk about their private parts in detail. It was thrilling to know that he might be sitting next to Gabriela while they both watched and listened to something like that together. Perhaps she would see those pictures and imagine what his body looked like if he took off all his clothes.

The signup process had a questionnaire. It asked him for his name, age, and some personal questions about sexual behaviors, preferences, and masturbation habits. It also asked him how he felt about casual sexual encounters. It was very unnerving to fill out, but he did, and it told him that he'd successfully reserved a slot.

Dylan didn't know what he was getting into, but what was done was done.

Little was known about what would actually happen at the event. Except, of course, to Valeska, Sean, and Layla. The workshop was all Valeska's idea. Sean was still reeling from their earlier shenanigans, and here he was preparing for another experience, which would no doubt prove as shocking as the previous ones...

***

The morning after Dylan signed up for the workshop, Sean was walking across the quad to class when he spotted a girl taking notice of him. She looked up suddenly from the constant chatter of her friends around her, watching him pass by. The girl looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't quite place her. As he continued to stroll across the wide open expanse of grass, he heard his name being called.

"Hey Sean," a young woman's voice called out. Sean turned to look, discovering that the girl had quickly followed after him.

"Hey, what's up?" he responded, even more curious than he was before.

The young woman was clearly a freshman. She had piercing blue eyes and long, wavy blonde hair with a small strand braided in colorful hair wrapping. Her cheeks were slightly flushed, almost matching her deep red lips, causing him to wonder if she was blushing.

"Hey..." she started, then stopped suddenly, as if realizing she hadn't planned out what she was going to say. "I just wanted to say... um... thank you for that demonstration you did. The one Layla set up." Sean observed that she seemed nervous to even bring it up.

"Oh! Thanks!" said Sean, smiling back at her. "You were there?"

"Yeah. It was pretty cool that you did that. - Oh, I'm Madison by the way."

"Nice to meet you, Madison," Sean replied, extending his hand. She smiled anxiously as they shook. "Yeah, she's definitely blushing," he thought.

"Anyway, uh... it must have been really scary for you to do that in front of us, but we all really appreciated it."

"Oh, thanks," Sean said, impressed that she took the time to thank him personally.

He wondered what it must have been like for her to see an upperclassman couple attend her floor meeting, remove their clothes so that Layla could talk about their bodies, then allow them to examine his state of arousal before he engaged in instructional intercourse. It never ceased to be strange to Sean when the event came up in conversation, especially when meeting strangers, knowing that they'd must have been curious about his body, shocked to see his erection, and his subsequent erotic encounter with Valeska.

"It was, um, fun to see..." Madison continued, "and also really informative." It sounded like she added the last point after feeling embarrassed about admitting that it was fun to watch him have sex.

"Cool, I'm glad you thought so. It wasn't too awkward for you?" he asked, trying to press for more information.

"No, not really. We were mostly just really impressed that you even did it, and uh... how much fun it looked like you were having..." she burst out into nervous laughter. Sean chuckled. "Plus... you know... obviously we enjoyed seeing certain stuff."

Sean found himself incredibly turned on by the awkward banter of this young freshman girl who had obviously been really turned on by what he had done. He wondered if she'd be interested in Valeska's workshop.

"Thanks, I'm flattered," he said, grinning. "Hey, have you heard about this sexuality workshop coming up?"

"Oh- yeah," she said.

"I'm helping to run it, if you're interested. Do you think you'd be brave enough to explore some of the things Layla talked about in our demonstration?"

Madison nearly choked on her response. "I- um... maybe, yeah. Is it... do I have to be... like... naked, like you were?"

"You won't be forced to do anything that you aren't comfortable doing, of course," he replied. "But you might consider giving it a try and seeing how you feel about it. We're hoping that you all open up a little bit and drop your guards so that you can really benefit from the experience."

Madison was bright red at this point, not having a clear answer about what would happen at the event, but being intrigued by the fact that Sean would be there. "Yeah... okay, I'll check it out," she said nervously.

"Great! I hope to see you there, then. Have a great day, Madison!" Sean said, giving her a smile and a wave. She waved back and then slowly went back to her friends, biting her lip anxiously.

As he continued on his way, he reflected on how Valeska had first shared her idea with Layla and he. They had been hanging out in Layla's room, when the topic eventually turned to recent events.

"I still can't believe they did that," Valeska had laughed, referring to the freshman naked party.

"I know! I kinda wish something like that had happened during our freshman year," replied Layla.

"I'm not surprised though, we kinda opened the floodgates on that one," Sean remarked.

"Yeah," said Layla.

"Have you heard of anything else like that, since our demonstration?"

Layla thought for a moment. "Sorta, but not really like that. I've just had non-stop students coming to me for advice. They're suddenly more open with questions about their sex lives, or lack thereof. The boys are just really horny and have no outlet for their feelings. The girls are curious about sex themselves, but weirdly insecure and terrified. So yeah, we opened the floodgates, but the freshman have no understanding about how to proceed with discovering their sexuality."

Valeska smirked at this. Layla continued, "Some of them even want me to set them up on dates, but I'm like, 'that's not exactly what I'm here for...' Anyway, I feel kinda guilty actually."

"Guilty?" Valeska asked.

"That we set this in motion, and it has only led to their frustration and confusion."

"Well... about that..." replied Valeska. Layla raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah, Valeska has a plan. I haven't even heard what it is yet," said Sean, leaning back into a comfortable listening position.

"Well, this is why they're experimenting with nudity. The naked party was a way to discover each other's bodies in a safe environment with all their friends around. We shouldn't be surprised that they're now streaking in the halls," Valeska explained.

"Yeah, well they're new at this. Baby steps, I guess," commented Layla.

Valeska laughed. "Yeah, but with any luck, pretty soon they'll be asking each other to play out their secret fantasies together, just like you two did in the girls' shower."

Layla gasped and exchanged looks with Sean. "You know about that?" he said, nervously.

"Yup, I heard. It's no big deal," she reassured them, sensing how tense and panicked they were. "I know you two have known each other a long time. If it weren't for the fact that I'm aware of the nature of your friendship, and the fact that Layla was the very person that set us up, I'd have been less understanding."

Sean gulped, feeling like he'd dodged a bullet.

"Anyway, regarding my idea. I'd like you to both help me with it. It's sort of my own fantasy. So let's say you owe me then, for what you did behind my back." Valeska smirked.

"Okay, what is it?" asked Layla, inviting her to spill the beans.

Valeska then proceeded to describe the kind of workshop she wanted them to hold, to put the students in touch with one another, at least the ones willing to take a leap of faith, given the right space, the right instruction, and the opportunity to bow out if they weren't ready to proceed with what might be their first real sexual experiences.

When she concluded, Layla and Sean were gobsmacked. "Can we really do that?" asked Sean.

"Well as long as we show them the way to safe sex. Consensual sex. Sex between friends who want to explore with one another, casually, with guidance, and with some of the pressure removed for them, then I think they're sufficiently in the driver's seat and have much to gain from it. I like the idea," Layla confessed.

"Right. There's not much we can do to stop the tidal wave we created, but we can set it right. That's our responsibility now," Valeska added.

They all agreed, and began to put together the logistics.

***

A week later, the evening of the session arrived. A large common room in the dorm, which was used for many functions, had been reserved for the event. Dylan spent the day brooding about what to expect. He could barely focus on his school work because the anxiety kept growing inside. He thought a few times about how he might get out of it, but Gabriela and a general curiosity kept him from doing so.

When the time finally arrived, Dylan got there about ten minutes early, found a spot toward the back of the room, and sat down. Some students were already there, others filed in little by little. Gabriela arrived soon after Dylan did. She glanced around the room, then spotted him and came over. She gave Dylan a smile and a little wave, then sat in a spot directly in front of him.

"Hey Dylan!" she whispered.

"Hi Gabriela!" he whispered back.

"So have you heard anything about what this is gonna be like?" she asked with an anxious curiosity.

"Nope, I have no idea," he replied.

By the time the class filled up it held about twenty-five females and twenty-five males. The signup process was clearly designed to gender-balance the event. There was a constant buzz in the air, as shy students traded thoughts and expectations about the event that lay ahead. Just before the start of the session, Valeska, Layla, and Sean walked in. Sean and Layla hung off to the side as observers while Valeska took center stage.

"Hi everyone!" she said, smiling. They all nervously greeted her. She adjusted the position of some chairs in the front of the room and lowered the lighting slightly. Everyone quieted down, watching her getting ready to speak to them, equally unsure about what was going to be discussed. With her exotic mix of race, tall stature, and smooth way of speaking, she was more than capable of commanding everyone's attention and interest.

"So I'm Valeska," she began, "And I've invited you all here tonight to promote greater understanding of sexuality and health issues. There's a lot of misinformation out there, especially among young people like yourselves who are just starting college, becoming sexually active, who might not feel comfortable asking the important questions that are necessary at this stage in your life. So this class is for you!"

Sean noticed that she was working hard to use a cheerful, calming way of speaking that put everyone at relative ease, given the daunting nature of the discussion taking place. For a while, she talked about broad issues from contraception, to STDs, to peer pressure, and then engaged in embarrassing discussions with the freshmen about what they knew about sex and the human body already. Dylan hid behind Gabriela, not wanting to speak up on any of these matters.

As he looked around the room, gauging everyone's reaction, Sean noticed that Madison had indeed attended, no doubt due to their earlier interaction. He watched her for a few minutes before he saw her turn and cast a look over at him. She smiled and nodded. He smiled back. She seemed critically nervous, but excited to see that he had noticed her. Sean's interest suddenly grew, excited by the prospect of seeing her go through the event that Valeska had planned. He began to realize the thrill of his own attraction to her.

Valeska pointed out what the students had observed earlier: that the room was divided in half by gender. She requested that everyone pair up with a member of the opposite sex, which required some reorganization since most of the guys sat with guys and girls with girls. Gabriela turned her head around and made a motion to ask if Dylan wanted to be her partner. He accepted the invitation. She turned around and they sat crosslegged in front of each other, awaiting instruction.

Valeska gave them a few discussion points to engage with their partner about, which were designed to break the ice and get the students feeling free to talk openly about uncomfortable matters. For example, she prompted them to discuss masturbation. Dylan was absolutely embarrassed to have to discuss that in front of Gabriela, and she seemed embarrassed too.