Alkalians (63 page)

Sean slowly nods, a quizzical look on
his face. “Well. Sounds to me like it was meant to be. So, how did
it go wrong? How did you two break up, how did she come to hate you
so much?”

“
There were a few factors
that did it, and I’m afraid one of them was definitely my fault. We
remained very tight, sleeping together a few more times, getting
bolder in it with each one, the rest of the year. When we came back
as intermediates the next year, though, things began to change. We
each found ourselves gaining followers and ascending to being boss
students, me because of my charm, nobility, and fighting prowess,
and Lyn because of her compassion for others and the way she could
rally them around her, especially the other girls. Well, our
relationship began to flaw there, as we each had opposing views of
how to be a boss student, and soon we would argue every other time
we were together.

“
But then, instead of
trying to resolve our differences, I made things worse. All of our
bitter arguing had turned me off to courting with Lyn, and at the
same time I was becoming more, ah, curious of other women,
including the ones flocking around Lyn. I wondered to myself, is it
any different, with others? And so, one night, I gave into the
temptation and, sure enough, it was different. It had been
surprisingly easy to charm her and lure her into the same bed, and
it was such sweet relief to be so close, to be inside, someone
other than Lyn. But I wasn’t satisfied. I wanted to see how far I
could go, how many women I could sleep with, and there were plenty
who were willing to serve me. And then, as I had foolishly not
considered, Lyn herself stumbles upon me in the middle of it with
another girl. To make matters worse, it was with one of her
lackeys.

“
That was the night I saw
a side of Lyn no one may have ever seen before. She was
furious.
Beyond
furious, her eyes burned with something I had never seen
before, something that scared me. Shrieking and cussing up a storm,
she chased the poor girl out of the room, then turned on me, and I
couldn’t get a word in on my defense against her verbal onslaught.
And it was when I reached for her, only to have her fingers lash
out like claws and leave my face bleeding, that I knew it was over
between us. I don’t know what I felt in me, rage, horror, guilt,
despair, but whatever it was I kept it down, composed myself as the
calm noble I was, and left her with a polite, but cold, farewell.
We haven’t seen the other eye-to-eye since, and now here we are, as
seniors. Our final year together, and we still have left ourselves
unresolved.”

Sean, fixated to James’ recollection,
gulps as he nods again. “Yeah. That would do it. I’ve dealt with
that enraged side of her before, and I can sympathize with anyone
else who has. It would be cool if you two could make up, but, you
don’t seem to have made an effort to do so yourself.”

“
Yeah. I’m guilty of that,
as well. It’s just too easy, too rewarding, to please myself with
other women than to try and earn Lyn’s trust again. And we were
still openly opposed in our practices as boss students, but, after
all that’s happened this year, that may no longer be the
case.”

“
Hmm? Whatcha
saying?”

“
I’m saying, Sean, that
things are changing again. I used to be one of those on top, the
ones with all the power, and now I am one of the fallen. If I ever
want to look good in others’ eyes again, if I want to keep up my
relations with the women, I have to change as well. I shall have to
at last concede that my way, the old way, of being a boss student
is gone, and that the new way, Matt’s way,
Lyn’s
way, is here to
stay.”

“
Ah. Okay. Well, that’s a
good thing for everyone, right? You could start to repair the bonds
you’ve broken!”

“
Yes, I could. Or I could
make new ones.”

“
Huh?”

“
Uh, never mind that. I
find myself weary now, after all this story telling I’ve bored you
with. Why don’t you run along now, find someone else to bother, or
perhaps try your luck again with Cynthia?”

“
Oh, um, okay. I guess I
could do that.” Sean straightens up, squares his shoulders, and
heads for the door. “Oh, and James? Maybe you’re not such a bad
guy, after all.”

“
Heh, yeah. Maybe I’m
not.” After Sean had closed the door behind him, though, James
isn’t sure of it. If he could still have feelings for Lyn, after
all this time, then why was he still plotting to have Rose next?
Before he could dissect the matter further, the door is knocked
upon again, and for the third time the green-haired nurse checks on
him. “Are you alright in here, James?”

“
Well, I don’t know
anymore, ah, Jesse. Do I look alright to you?”

“
Oh, I think you do,
actually.” She closes the door after entering the room, comes over
beside the bed, and checks the monitoring machine. “In fact, I
think you’re fit to be let go.” Jesse turns to him, a sly
expression crossing her as she takes the wire off him. “But you
could stay here a little while yet, with no one else to disturb
you. I would make sure of that, for you.”

James physically, mentally, and
spiritually sighs as his logic once again falls before his lust.
“If that is your professional opinion, Jesse, then I think I would
be wise to consider it.” He pulls his bed sheets aside, smirking
back up to Jesse as she pulls off her uniform and underclothes
before she slips in next to him, their lips meeting in hot desire
while the sheets cover them both.

***

The day passes into another evening,
abuzz with the news about Cain, his crimes, and his disease.
Throughout the student community the atmosphere is full of
excitement and relief as it was official, beyond a doubt, that
Cain’s reign of terror is over. To commemorate the victory, Matt
finds himself in Lyn’s senior cabin apartment, at her invitation,
and they are alone.

Matt sits on the couch in the living
room of the apartment while in the kitchen Lyn gets them drinks.
His green vest absent to expose his black shirt, he speaks up, “I
get that this victory over Cain is big and everything, Lyn, but to
have drinks at your apartment, just the two of us? Isn’t that kind
of selfish? What about the others?”

“
Oh, we can have a more
complete celebration with them later, Matt. After all, the most of
them are your opponents in the finals two days from now, it would
be bad luck for you all to drink together before it!” Strolling out
of the kitchen with two glasses, Lyn smiles at him. “Plus, I was
thinking you and I could begin discussing how to set up the new
role of the boss students in our community.”

“
Heh, again, just the two
of us? I’m not a boss student myself, remember, and then the
others, Cynthia, Buster…”

“
True, but none of this
would have happened without
you
, Matt. Therefore, you have a
special say in how it will work, from now on.” She sits down next
to Matt, close enough he moves a little to the side, and offers him
one of the glasses. “Here you go, my treat.”

“
Ah, thanks, Lyn.” He
accepts the glass, sniffing at the icy blue liquid. “Um, what kind
of drink is this?”

“
Flajiduer,” Lyn replies
with a smirk before taking a sip. “A special from Tirez. It
relieves stress while producing a chilling sensation.”

Matt nods, looks at the drink again,
and takes a sip, immediately shuddering as it goes down his throat.
“Whoa, chilling, indeed! Aren’t you guys cold enough, up there?”
They both chuckle before each takes another sip, where Matt notices
the strange way Lyn looks at him. “Um, shouldn’t we have toasted,
first?”

“
Oh, right, of course!
Let’s try that again.” She raises her glass. “To the end of Cain’s
regime!”

“
And to a better community
for us all,” Matt adds, tapping her glass with his before they each
have long gulps. He shudders again, feeling flushed a moment, and
sees Lyn blushing as well. He chuckles more nervously before
asking, “So, where do we start?”

“
Well, let’s see,” Lyn
begins, setting her glass down on the coffee table and moving again
close to Matt. “Seeing as you’re a freshman yourself, we’ll start
there. There should be some kind of welcome program to help the
freshmen fit in smoothly with the rest of the community, more
thorough and effective than that silly speech Professor Kaystone
gives each year.”

“
Alright, that makes
sense.” Matt shuffles away again, having caught a sweet smell
coming from Lyn in their close contact. He figures she’s wearing
some kind of perfume. “How would we, er, you do that?”

“
I, I think, we should
have special evenings for them, at the casino. Easier winnings,
bigger payouts, in the gambling hall. Freshmen-only tournaments in
the pit arena. And, maybe, some freshmen exclusive parties in the
dance hall.”

“
Uh huh. I guess that
could work. And, how about with the actual studying?”

Lyn brushes some strands of hair from
her sweaty forehead, smirking and again shuffling close to Matt,
nearly leaning on his shoulder. “We’d just do what I’ve been doing.
Offer to help them personally with their homework, their studying,
in the study halls and such.” She looks to Matt’s pale expression,
her pale eyes twinkling. “How are you feeling, Matt?”

Matt hesitates on a response, clearing
his throat. “Fine, I guess. You weren’t kidding with the drink,
though, I really feel cold.”

“
Oh yes, that’s normal.
Would you like to warm up?”

A different kind of chill comes over
Matt as he looks Lyn in the eye, the scent of her, not some
perfume, deep in his nostrils. “And how would we do
that?”

“
Like this.” With no other
warning but softly petting his cheek, Lyn closes in with her lips,
and Matt dissolves into returning the kiss. Thoughts about the
student community, the boss students’ new priorities, the freshmen,
everything except them in the moment is forgotten as the kiss
deepens in intensity, their hands searching and clinging at each
other. Their bodies, their passion, the very air around them seems
to warm up, and the next thing Matt is aware of they are embraced,
each of them topless, their senses tingling from their chests
pressed together and their nails clawing at their bare
backs.

When they at last take a break from
their kissing, their eyes opening to let Lyn stare deeply into his
dazed ones, she asks, “Liking this, so far?”

“
I, I, I think so, but,
I…”

“
Don’t worry about it,
Matt.” She kisses him again before softly, but sternly, pushing him
back to lay on the couch face-up. Straddling him, her chest bare
above him, she caresses herself while saying, “Don’t worry about
anything, now.” Her hands leaving her chest, visibly rising and
falling with her breathing, she leans forward, lowering her breasts
to Matt.

Under another circumstance, if this
had been his first time, Matt would have been powerless to resist,
to deny what was coming. But because it isn’t, because he had
enough experience already, one part of him observes how Lyn’s
breasts are slightly bigger than Rose’s, yet smaller than Amelia’s,
and another part is waving the red flag. He isn’t supposed to give
into this if he doesn’t really want it.

Just before contact between his face
and Lyn’s breasts, Matt snaps out of it and pushes her back, his
hands pressing spots Amelia had shown him to “turn off” a female
partner. “No, wait, Lyn. I’m sorry, but, we can’t do this. We
shouldn’t do this.”

Shock and confusion on her
face, Lyn is briefly speechless as Matt slips out from under her
and sits up. “But, why? You don’t want this, Matt? You don’t
want
me
?”

“
Not like this, no. This
is, uh, too soon.” Palming his forehead, his eyes clear and sober,
he looks back to Lyn, focused on her veiled eyes instead of her
bare breasts. “I’m sorry, Lyn, but I don’t have strong enough
feelings for you, to do this. It would be wrong of us to do so,
without an honest commitment from us both.”

“…
You, you mean, you don’t
like me?”

“
No!” Matt assures her,
gripping her shoulder firmly. “I like you, Lyn, without a doubt,
but just as a friend. And I want us to still be friends. But, if we
did this, without clear intentions, it could be bad for us, for our
relationship. Do you understand?”

Lyn pauses, her own head clearing at
his words, before she nods. “Yeah. Yeah, I get it. We’re just not
ready for this yet.” Before Matt can try to explain otherwise, she
shyly smiles back at him. “I’m sorry, Matt. I didn’t mean to force
you into it, if you weren’t ready for it.”

“
Ah, it’s alright, Lyn. We
all make mistakes.” Clearing his throat, an awkward moment passes
between the two before Matt says while putting his shirt back on,
“I should get back to my cabin for the night.”

“
Oh, okay.” Lyn reaches
for and puts on her vest, buttoning it closed over her breasts. “I
guess we’ll have to discuss the new boss student priorities
later.”

“
Uh, hehe, yeah.” Matt
stands and goes to the door, grabbing and putting on his green
vest. “Well, have a good night, Lyn!” He flashes her a smile before
turning and opening the door.