New Friends, New Experiences Ch. 01

Author's Note: If you're looking for a story with non-stop sex, this story isn't for you.

When I was able to get out of my housing contract with the University of Kentucky, I was ecstatic. No longer would I have to put up with the mean girls who always managed to end up on my floor. Somehow they always knew that they could be as nasty as they wanted to be and I wouldn't fight back. It's just not me; I am a pacifist to a fault. Finally, after two years of having to put up with it, I was set free when I met the academic requirements to move off campus.

Kelly Landers, a girl I knew from the Catholic Newman Center, had a house that her parents had bought; they rented rooms out to college students that Kelly knew and trusted. It was a pretty sweet setup; Kelly's parents got money and we got a place to stay. It was a nice house off Cooper Drive, pretty close to campus. I could ride my bike to and from campus, and I did when the mercurial weather of Kentucky allowed me to. I was set to move in before the start of my junior year.

I was taking some summer courses, so I moved in during June. Since it was during the summer, most of the house mates had gone home, with the exception of A.J. Bowman, one of Kelly's friends from class. Kelly herself was spending the summer vacation in Spain, on a study abroad trip.

If you haven't been to Kentucky in June, let me tell you this: it's so humid that you could wash your hair on a Sunday and not have it be properly dry until Friday. This is a problem for me, as I have wavy brown hair that extends to the middle of my shoulder blades. So when I moved in that Monday, with the record-shattering heat, I was more than glad to see that my new house included an in-ground pool. I hurriedly unpacked all my clothes (seriously, why had I packed so much? I live one county away) and changed into my bikini and a pair of cheer shorts for a swim. Like a lot of girls, I chose a bikini not because I wanted to show myself off—rather, I'd prefer not to—but because of my build.

Proportionately, I have longer legs and a short torso, so one-pieces tend not to fit; because of that, I often buy modest mix-and-match bikini sets. I've always been pretty modest. I never got in trouble at school for breaking dress code, and I went to a strict Catholic school. I am proud of my looks, as I wear a size 6, have 34B/C breasts, and am a fairly typical 5'5"; I like the curves I have. They may not be Marilyn Monroe curves, but they work for me. My favorite things about me are my smile and my eyes. I have great teeth from years of braces, so I take care of them. They're a perfect white, and my eyes are a vivid teal, which sets off well against my cinnamon brown hair. So overall, I like how I look. However, my body is mine, and I prefer to keep it private.

I padded on bare feet through the kitchen and out the patio door. The patio included several chaise chairs, a fire pit, a grill, and the pool. I placed my folded towel on a chair and quickly stepped out of my shorts, putting them beside the towel. The pool beckoned, and I was not one to keep it waiting. The cool water was so refreshing as I descended the cement stairs. Diving deep, I relished the cool water washing over me before I surfaced. Rolling onto my back, I floated around aimlessly for about a half hour. I didn't have to work for the next few days, I had a very nice in-ground pool, and I didn't have a worry in sight. After a while, I got out and lay out to tan. At my house in Versailles, my neighbor's son is a little too interested in me, so I generally don't lay out there. Finally, I had a place that I could sunbathe in peace.

I fell asleep and woke up some time later to a dog licking my hand. "Hey there, buddy," I said as I sat up. It was a cute light brown and white dog, a corgi, by the looks of him. He jumped up beside me and plopped his head in my lap, so I couldn't help but pet him. A car door shut in front of the house; AJ must have come home. A few seconds later, AJ came out the back door. He was tall, at about six feet two inches, with short black hair. He was pretty cute, with a muscular build and an easygoing smile. He had an ovular face, high cheekbones, and a hooked nose, which reminded me of photographs of Sitting Bull. He wasn't movie-star attractive, but he was handsome in a rugged way.

"C'mere, Bugsy!" He called. Bugsy the dog jumped up and trotted to him, and followed obediently at his heels. He strode towards me and held out his hand. "I'm Andrew James Bowman, but I prefer AJ. You must be Maura." He said, showing two rows of perfect white teeth.

I stood and shook his hand. He had a firm enough shake, but toned it down some for me. "Yes, I'm Maura Davidson. You'll be living here over the summer, right?"

"Yep, I'm taking some gen-eds this summer so I can blitz the architecture requirements in the fall. How about you?"

"I'm in pre-pharmacy, taking physics 300 and chemistry 391 over the summer." I responded as I toweled dry.

"Cool. Sorry about Bugsy, he likes the ladies," he laughed.

"Oh, it's all good. He's a little cutie. I like dogs as long as they're not yappy." I said as I sat down and pulled on my shorts. I held out my hands to beckon Bugsy to me, and he jumped into my arms. I reflexively caught him, but it took me by surprise. He licked my face and neck, and I laughed. I'm really ticklish, and he seemed to know exactly where I was ticklish the most.

"If you're hungry, I was about to make some burgers, if you want some." He offered.

"Sure, I'm pretty famished." I chirped. "I'm going to go get dressed."

"Sounds good. I'll get the grill going, it'll be about a half hour." He was already adding charcoal. I went inside and put on a camisole over my bikini top. I thought about swimming later, so I didn't want to get dressed totally. This would at least keep me a little warmer, as the water had cooled me down a lot, and it would cover me up some.

In the kitchen, I found a butcher-paper parcel containing a couple pounds of ground meat. Figuring I should at least help out with supper, I washed my hands and began pressing out patties of meat. I noticed that it was very lean meat. A few minutes went by, and AJ came in to get the meat.

"Oh, thanks for pressing those out. This is venison, I don't think I told you that earlier. Are you still down with that?"

I thought for a second. I had never eaten deer meat before, and was a little hesitant. Being a city girl whose family lived in either suburban Louisville or Lexington, I never really was exposed to eating such things. If we wanted meat, we ate beef, chicken, or pork; never something like venison. I don't know what took hold of me, but I said, "Sure, what the heck. I'll eat anything once." I wondered if I would regret my words.

About a half-hour later, AJ slid a cheese slice on my burger, waited for it to melt a little, and put it on a bun, which he put on my plate. He sliced a tomato and some lettuce, which I then added. I finally bit into it, with no small amount of reservation, and was immediately glad I did. The meat was different from beef; it was a lot more tender and had a different taste that's hard to put into words. "Oh, wow, this is amazing." I said after I swallowed the bite. "Did you...kill the deer?" Part of me immediately regretted that question.

"Yep, I sure did, Maura. I harvested that deer last fall, and made some jerky, some steaks, and ground some up for tacos and burgers. Let me tell you though, it may taste good now, but it tastes a lot better fresh." He took a moment to savor his burger. "I take it you're not around hunters much?" He asked lightly.

"No, not really, my family is from the city. It seems kind of brutal, all this for food. I mean that for the store bought meat too. It has to come from somewhere. I'm not a vegetarian, but I normally eat pretty low on the food chain." I responded. I tried to eat a lot of fruits and veggies for the health benefits, especially given my family history of high cholesterol. "Grain, fruits, and vegetables don't take a lot of resources. Red meat does, and I try to look after my impact on the world."

To my surprise, he responded, "Yeah, I can dig that. We do have to look after Mother Earth. I prefer to eat meat I've hunted myself because of a couple things. The first is, it's cheaper. I use the bow my granddad made and buy a license every year. I get a lot of meat for cheap. Secondly, it's a moral issue. Hog farms and meat farms of any sort are pretty cruel places; they just fatten them up and kill them. No regard is given to the animal's comfort. When I hunt, I know that the animal I take has lived a good life, out in the open where it belongs. I only take shots I know I can make, and that I know will put the animal down without any undue suffering. I only hunt in season, and I only take the animals I need. I don't hunt for sport, and I try to use as much of the animal as I can, from the hide or feathers to the bones and whatnot."

"I never thought about it like that." I looked down at my burger, thinking about our impact on the world. "You said your granddad made your bow?"

At this, AJ's eyes lit up. "Yeah, he did. He was a Lakota Sioux, and spent a lot of his time on Pine Ridge Rez in South Dakota. He lived there for all of his childhood and adolescence. Some of the older men who lived there remembered how to make bows, and taught him. He made a couple that were flops, a couple that were lighter bows that he could grow up with, and then he made this one. He made it when he was eighteen. Most of his kids—my mom, my two aunts and my three uncles—weren't that much into hunting. They thought it something that had died out with Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. Then I came along, and I spent all the time I could hanging around him and listening to his old hunting stories. When he got too old to hunt, and when I was old enough, he passed it down to me. He passed on a few weeks after I showed him the first buck I took with it. I think he just wanted to know someone else was keeping the traditions alive."

"Wow. That's really cool, although I'm sorry he died." I said around a bite of venison. "How do you tan the leather?"

He laughed loudly at this. "Trust me, you don't want to know...not while you're eating or anytime shortly after. I'll tell you later."

We finished eating and swam some. His eyes seemed to linger as I took off my cami and shorts, although it wasn't the same as what my old neighbor did. He seemed legitimately appreciative, not hungry like Jonny was. It still weirded me out a bit. Being looked at sexually isn't something I'm used to.

The next few weeks went by without event. I went to work at my job at Joe Balogna's, an Italian restaurant in what used to be a church; AJ worked as a bartender at the Hot Tin Roof bar. We rarely saw each other with the hours we worked. During the times we were both around, I noticed he was easy to talk to, as well as easy to look at. We got along very well, and I was happy to have a roommate that I could get along with so well. I came home from class one day to see him mowing the back yard shirtless. He was in incredible shape, and I felt the butterflies in my stomach take flight.

One night, after I got off from a terrible day at work, I came home and found AJ and Bugsy on the back deck, with a weird device beside him, it looked like a pot on the bottom with hoses coming out of a stem sticking out the top. He breathed in on a hose and breathed out some smoke.

"Hey, Maura. How was work?"

I collapsed into one of the chaise chairs, curled my legs under me, and took my hair down with a sigh. "To be honest, it sucked. The governor came in, and I didn't realize his wife was such a bitch. Everything I did was wrong according to her. First, the breadsticks didn't have enough garlic, then they were too garlicky, and the shitstorm started there." He coughed out a smoke cloud and stared. I don't think he'd heard me swear in the month we lived together. I'm generally a pretty optimistic and cheerful person, but I tend to let people get to me if they get nasty with me.

"I'm sorry. She always seems like such a sweet person on TV, who'd have thought she was so bitchy? They should remember that we put them in office, and we can just as easily take them out, and being a giant bitch isn't going to help a re-election bid." AJ said as he took a drag on whatever it was he was smoking and blew a series of smoke rings. "Is there anything I can do for you? I could make you a drink, get some ice cream..."

"Yeah, there is, actually. What is that thing, and is it legal?" I gestured to the four foot tall thing beside him. "And if it is legal, can I get some?"

At this, his jaw literally dropped. "Who are you, Maura's edgy twin Laura?" He said with his infectious laugh. "This is a hookah, it's a middle eastern tobacco smoking device. I don't smoke weed, so don't worry about that. It's legal, and you put flavored tobacco up here," he gestured to the top, where some glowing coals sat atop a ceramic bowl with aluminum foil on top. "Then, when you inhale on it, the smoke comes down through the water, where it cools down, and then up through the hose and to you. This flavor is what I call 'Orange Dreamsicle,' a mix of orange and vanilla."

I never thought of myself as a smoker of anything before, but I figured trying it once wouldn't hurt. I held out my hand, and he passed me the hose. As I inhaled, the sweet taste of what really tasted like an orange dreamsicle greeted my taste buds. The fun was short lived as the smoke irritated my lungs. I started coughing and couldn't stop for a minute or so. I finally got myself under control. "Ok, let's try again. I'll go slower this time," I said, inhaling again. I managed to hold the smoke for a few seconds before I exhaled. I didn't cough this time. Taking another drag, I noticed that I started to get light headed. "Woah!" I said, surprised at the feeling. "I thought you said there wasn't weed in here?"

"There's not. Tobacco makes you feel a little high from the lack of oxygen going to your brain. It's not weed, I swear." At that, I looked at him, a little suspicious, to which he just smiled his cute little smile. I took another drag and held it in longer, relishing how I was so easily letting go of the stress. I blew the smoke out my nose and passed the hose back to him. "You know, I can still make you a drink, if you'd like. I'm pretty good at it." He said as he inhaled.

"One vice at a time, cowboy. I don't think I'm ready for that yet. I'm not big on alcohol or other things that change who you are." I smiled at him to let him know I wasn't angry.

"Sounds good. Have you ever drank before?"

"Nope, I never have, not even for my 21st. It's kind of a religious thing," I said as I ran my fingers through my hair.

"Not a drop?" AJ looked at me in disbelief.

"Not one single drop. Until tonight, I'd never smoked anything. I've never gotten a speeding ticket, never had sex, never had anything besides my ears pierced, nothing."

AJ looked me in the eyes. Sometimes when he did that, it freaked me out a little. He had a very piercing gaze; his eyes were a vivid, piercing green like a cat's. "I bet you get a lot of crap, people saying you're too good for them, right?"

"Yeah, a bit." I hoped he wasn't going to give me crap for it; I really wasn't in the mood. Then again, he didn't seem the type to.

"Don't change who you are for other people, Maura. I mean that. If you want to change because it's something you want to do, that's fine; do it. But don't give in to someone who makes you feel like you need to change. In a world of sluts, tramps, and flaky chicks, you are a refreshing change. They just say you're too good to hope to bring you down to their level. There aren't too many good girls left."

I was flattered by this. Few people actually thought of my innocence as a good thing. Most guys just saw it as a hindrance between them and getting some. "Aww, thanks, AJ. I really appreciate that. You're a sweet guy yourself. You're not like a lot of guys I've met here, most of them think I'm too good for them."

"You're not too good for them, they're not worthy of you. There's a difference there." He stood up and sat down on the end of my chaise lounge. "They're probably the guys who want nothing more than to say they took a beautiful girl's virginity. They don't realize sex isn't necessary for a relationship. All mine in the past have done without."

I blushed a bit at his compliments, and felt the familiar butterflies again. "I didn't realize you were a virgin too." I said, scooting a little closer to him. His hand reached out for mine. I took it, smiling as I squeezed his hand gently.

"Yep, I am. I typically don't talk about it one way or another. But over the past month, I have found that I want to get to know you more. Would you want to go out sometime?" His green eyes sparkled as he spoke.

I laughed gently. "You really know how to turn a girl's day around, don't you? Of course I will." We spent the rest of that night talking and smoking under the stars. We went to bed after the tobacco dried out, which was about an hour later.

AJ and I began dating shortly thereafter. One July night, as we were walking back to his Ford truck after our second date at Tolly Ho, a local pub famous for their burgers, a man stepped from the shadows of an alley near where AJ had parked. As he walked towards us, I sensed AJ tense up beside me. The man stopped in front of us, barring our way. I couldn't see his face, as he had a Lexington Legends baseball cap pulled low. We stopped, and AJ passed me the keys to his car. "Go, get in the car, lock the doors," he muttered to me tersely. I didn't bother trying to disagree.

As I stepped off the sidewalk to run across the street to AJ's blue F-150, I turned and saw the man pull out a knife. The man said something, but I couldn't make it out. He was undoubtedly after AJ's money. "Come and take it, asshole!" I heard AJ yell. I got the feeling he was trying to make as much noise as possible, so from the car, I decided to help. I fumbled with the keys before managing to open the door, and I started to honk the horn. This did, however, nothing. No police officer came around the corner. No one looked outside to see what the commotion was. We were very alone.

The man lunged towards AJ, who ducked backwards, grabbing an empty beer bottle from the ground beside a trash can. They circled each other like wolves about to fight, sizing each other up. The man lunged, but as he did, he tripped. AJ took the opportunity to smash the beer bottle over his head. The knife slipped from his grasp, clattering against the sidewalk. AJ dove for it like a football player after a loose ball, and threw it into a nearby utility pole, where it stuck in the wood point-first. The man staggered to his feet after the savage blow, his hat knocked off and his head bleeding. AJ held the broken bottle like a knife, waiting for the man to make a move.

He lunged, and AJ's left fist shot out, catching the man on the chin. He tossed away the broken Corona bottle as the man tried to tackle him. AJ wrapped his left arm around his neck, holding him in a headlock, and began throwing a relentless barrage of punches for his ribs and kidneys, punctuating the punches with devastating knee strikes.

After about twenty unanswered hits landed, he let go of the man, who collapsed in a bleeding, broken heap on the sidewalk. AJ walked away, snatching the knife from the utility pole as he passed it.

He opened the door and collapsed in the driver's seat. He was breathing heavily and sweating profusely. "I...am...gassed." He gasped.

"Oh my God, AJ, are you all right?" I was starting to panic now.

"Yeah...I'm fine...call the cops." He gasped, looking at his knuckles. They were red and slightly swollen.