Episode 5: Undesired
"Ouch, good move!"
"Thanks," replied Jesse. She was sitting at a table in the Student U-nion across from Gimpy. A chessboard sat between them. "I was worried I might be rusty. Haven't played in awhile."
"Me neither." Gimpy looked at the board, trying to figure out his next move. "None of my associates seem interested in the game, and Nitz isn't enough of a challenge."
Jesse laughed. "And Rocko and Cal aren't the types to play chess."
Gimpy shuddered, remembering his sole attempt at trying to teach Cal the game. "Never speak of Cal and chess in the same sentence again! Oh, the horror...!"
Jesse laughed again. "That bad?" Gimpy nodded. "Anyways, I'm surprised you made the effort to come over here, instead of having me go over to your place."
Gimpy shrugged. "I didn't want my men to get the wrong idea."
Jesse nodded. "'Girls are the enemy' and all that bullshit." She shook her head. "Geez, you lot act like you're a bunch of ten year olds who still think girls are yucky and have cooties."
A sheepish grin appeared on Gimpy's face. Better change the subject quick, he thought. He wasn't very good at understanding women, and Jesse was no different. "So, no Halloween party for you?"
"Nah, I've got better things to spend money on than dressing up in some silly costume." She took a sip of coffee. "I hear Nitz and the Ditzy Redhead went to a party."
"Yes, at Rocko's frat house," said Gimpy, still contemplating his next move. "Nitz went as Cyclops, from the X Men."
"And I suppose Kimmy went as Jean Grey."
"No," replied Gimpy, shaking his head. "She went as Wonder Woman."
Jesse rolled her eyes and smiled. "Big surprise. She acts like she's a superwoman and tries to do 10 things at once in real life, so why not pretend to be one for a few hours?"
"Can't argue with that," replied Gimpy as he moved his next piece.
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Kimmy and Nitz danced amongst the crowd on the main floor of the Alpha Alpha frathouse. The building was packed with partygoers dressed in all sorts of costumes, and a few who wore normal clothes. Loud music boomed from a large stereo system that took up one wall of the large living room, and dozens of moving bodies somehow managed to occupy a space that shouldn't have been able to hold them all.
Attending a function put on by a fraternity wasn't something Kimmy usually did. After all, as she'd told Nitz, she considered the typical fraternity "another institution that supports the maintenance of the patriarchial status quo in our society." But the occasional exception like a Halloween party really wouldn't hurt. Besides, where else would one get to see the spectacle of Rocko...dressed up as Rocko. Rocko was wearing the oversized mascot style costume of himself he'd created the year before when he was trying to start a rivalry between State U. and Central State Junior Community College. He already managed to bang the oversized foam head into various objects, and he was sure to cause even more mayhem with it once he started to get drunk.
When the song they were dancing to ended Kimmy said, "Let's take a break, okay?" Nitz nodded his agreement and they moved to the edge of the staircase, which by some unwritten agreement stayed clear of dancers. "Are you having a good time?" asked Kimmy just as the music started again, drowning out her question.
"What?" Nitz yelled.
"I said, are you having a good time?" Kimmy yelled back. She could barely hear Nitz reply yes even though he was obviously shouting. She frowned, realising they'd shout themselves hoarse trying to talk here. "Let's go upstairs."
"Good idea," shouted Nitz. Together they made their way up to the second floor, the wall of sound from downstairs dropping down to a dull throb as they did. "Now, that's better," said Nitz in relief.
"You can say that again. It's like being in a factory down there." Kimmy looked around the hall, taking in the dirty tan carpet and walls that badly needed a new coat of paint. "Not a very interesting place, is it?"
"I don't think decorating is their top priority," said Nitz in amusement. A door at the end of the hall opened, and someone dressed as a cowboy stepped out of what was obviously the bathroom. Nitz and Kimmy stepped to one side to let him pass.
It was obvious to Kimmy that standing there would be kind of distracting if they had to move out of the way every few minutes for people coming down the hall, and she had an idea to do a bit more than just stand there chatting with Nitz. Spotting an open door she grabbed Nitz's hand and pulled him into one of the second floor rooms. "I think its time for a little private discussion," she said.
"Private discussion?" asked Nitz.
Kimmy smiled. She thought it was sweet how Nitz could be a little naïve at times. But he figured out what she meant pretty quickly.
"Ah, I understand," he said after a few seconds. He pushed the door shut. "Some things need to be, ummm, 'discussed' in private." Smiling, he slipped his arms around her and pulled her close.
"You know Cyclops, on Paradise Island they wouldn't allow a man to do what you're doing now," Kimmy said mischieviously as she felt Nitz's hands start to move very slowly down her back.
"Well, fortunately for me this isn't Paradise Island," replied Nitz. "I doubt, my dear Wonder Woman, they'd let me do this either," he added as he moved to kiss her.
Their kiss was brief, the sound of the doorknob rattling drawing their attention. The door swung open and a familiar large-nosed figure, dressed in a police officer costume, walked in. "Woah, like, sooorry dude," mumbled the student Nitz usually refered to as Dave the Stoner, realising someone was already in the room. "I was, like, looking for a place for a bit of herbal refreshment," he added, miming smoking, "if you know what I mean. Didn't wanna put a bummer on your fun."
"That's all right," said Kimmy. "But you might want to sneak outside to do it. After all whoever this room belongs to might not like people smoking in here."
"Yaah, I never thought of that," Dave drawled. "Don't wanna piss the frat dudes off." He reached into a pocket and pulled out a couple of leaflets. "There's gonna be, like, a pro-legalisation rally in a couple of days, and this has got the 411 on it. Maybe ya wanna come?"
Nitz took a quick look at the leaflet. "I'll think about it," he said.
"Cooool. Later." With a wave Dave walked out the door.
The couple stood for a moment after Dave left, smiling at each other. "So, your room or mine?" Kimmy finally asked.
"Better make it yours. There always seems to be someone walking into mine." Nitz shook his head. "Can you believe that? Dave the Stoner, dressed up as a cop? He'd win the 'State U. student most likely to get arrested' award if there was such a thing."
"I doubt he would see the irony," replied Kimmy as she took Nitz's arm and they walked out of the room.
"I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't realise he's dressed up as a cop," added Nitz with a smirk, drawing a chuckle from Kimmy.
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Of course the Halloween party at the Alpha Alpha frathouse was far from the only one that night. State U.'s Alpha Sigma Sigma sorority was staging theirs in a rented hall just off campus. Much to the chagrin of many of the other male guests Cal was there, and as usual was the centre of most of the female attention. Fortunately for Cal none of the male guests had usable weapons as part of their costumes. Especially the guy dressed as Elmer Fudd given that Cal wore a blue bunny costume. His "shotgun" wouldn't have even made a good club, being just a couple of cardboard tubes glued together.
Cal was of course oblivious to the hostility. He was having too much fun with the ladies. He'd had a good time so far dancing with a bunch of them, and now he was taking a break with a large group of them at a table near the dance floor. But even as he did he was keeping an eye out for any interesting ladies he might have missed.
"Who's that lady?" asked Cal, pointing to a young woman standing by the punch bowl. She was dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood, wearing a red hooded cape over a long red dress. Her dark brown hair was tied in a long braid hanging over one shoulder.
"Oh, that's Karen Lasky," said one of the sorority girls standing near Cal. "She's not a member of Alpha Sigma Sigma, but she's a friend of one of our members."
"I think its time to go get some punch," said Cal, and he started to walk towards the punch bowl.
Several of the young women he had been sitting with sighed as they watched him walk away. It seemed Cal had had set his sights on a new "nice lady."
Cal walked over to the bowl and ladled himself out a glass of punch. "Hey lady," he said in his usual friendly tone.
"Hey," she replied.
Cal took a sip of his punch. Much to his surprise Karen walked away, heading towards a couple of women sitting at one of the tables.
Cal blinked in confusion. That wasn't what was supposed to happen. She was supposed to be excited to meet him, and ask if she could spend some time with him. Just like the other ladies Cal was interested in did when he started to talk to them. He stood for a minute trying to figure out why she'd walked away. Maybe she wasn't feeling well or something like that. Yes, that was probably it. He'd just have to try again. Maybe he could run into her tomorrow or the next day when she was feeling better.
Confident he would have better luck next time he walked back towards the group of women he'd been socialising with. After all, he could still have lots of fun with the other nice ladies before the night was through.
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It was a couple of days after the Halloween party when Cal ran into Karen Lasky again. He was in the main library, looking for some books for one of his assignments when he saw her. As before she had her brown hair tied into a long braid, and Cal thought she looked very desirable in a pair of bluejeans and a State U. sweatshirt. With a smile he walked towards her. He was confident that this time she'd want to go out with him. Besides, one of the books he needed was on the shelf she was browsing.
Cal came to a stop beside her, and started looking for the book he needed. Seeing it was in he grabbed it, and said "Hey lady," in his cheeriest voice.
Karen smiled. "And hello to you," she said. She bent down and grabbed a book from one of the lower shelves. Nodding to herself, she added the book to several others she was carrying under one arm, and started walking towards the staircase to the main floor and the checkout desk.
Cal let out a whine as he watched her walk away. He just couldn't understand what was going on. She had walked away again, for the second time! That certainly wasn't what he expected to happen. This kind of thing just didn't happen to him. Confused, he leaned heavily on the bookshelf, making it wobble.
"Young man, please be careful. We don't want that shelf knocked over yet again," said one of the library staff as she pushed a cart of books past him.
"Oh, sorry librarylady," he said apologetically. He stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do next. He soon decided that there was only one answer, and started towards the stairs.
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"Not enough Bruce Campbell," muttered Nitz as the end credits of the movie Moontrap rolled across the TV screen. Kimmy was busy with some Drama Dept. thing that evening, so he had decided to take it easy and rent a video, choosing the low budget sci fi production since he hadn't seen it before. He decided not to mention watching it to Gimpy, since it starred Walter Koenig of Star Trek fame. The last time he'd watched something with a Star Trek connection and told Gimpy the hacker hadn't talked to him for a week.
As Nitz hit the rewind button on his remote control Cal walked into the room, a large frown on his face. "Hey guy, I've got a problem. Can you help me out Nitzguy?"
"Sure, if I can," said Nitz with a nod, leaning forward in his chair. "So what's your problem exactly?"
"I'm having lady troubles guy," said Cal forlornly. "This lady, I want to go out with her guy, but she doesn't wanna."
Nitz stared at Cal. "So, let me get this straight. You're upset because some girl isn't interested in you. Even though you've no doubt got a bunch of other girls just lining up for the chance."
"Yeah guy."
"But Cal, not every girl is interested in you." And thank goodness Kimmy is one of them, thought Nitz.
Cal pouted. "I've never wanted any of those ladies guy. But I want this pretty lady, and she's not interested. That's never happened before!"
Nitz looked skeptical. "You're not seriously telling me you've never been rejected by a girl before."
Cal shook his head. "Never. Well, there was the time I tried to be New Cal because of the I Hate Cal newsgroup and the ladies didn't like me anymore, but when I went back to being Old Cal all the ladies liked me again, so that doesn't really count."
Knowing Cal as well as he did, a suspicion suddenly came to mind. "Well, have you actually tried to ask her out?"
Cal's expression brightened. "You mean like they do on TV guy?"
Why am I not surprised, thought Nitz as Cal confirmed his suspicion. "Sure Cal. Most of us actually have to ask a girl before she'll go out with us."
"Okay guy, I'll try it!" Cal replied, nodding his head enthusiastically. "Thanks Nitzguy, you always have the best advice!" he said as he walked out the door.
"Glad to help," Nitz called after him. He heard Cal exchange greetings with Jesse, who then walked in.
"Hey Nitz," she said rather unenthusiastically as she sat down on his bed. "You mind if I hang around for a bit?"
"Not at all." He looked at her for several moments, taking in the unhappy expression on her face. "So, I take it you're having problems."
Jesse sighed, a morose expression on her face. "Yeah, I just got my latest French test back. I barely passed." She shook her head. "I'm having really lousy luck with the class. I just can't seem to get my head around all those verb tenses and gender things."
"I'm surprised you didn't take Chinese and get easy marks."
"What would the point of that be? I already speak Cantonese, and State U. doesn't offer Mandarin. I wanted to learn something I don't know." A hint of a smile crossed her lips. "I was gonna take introductory Japanese, but the Japanese teacher ran off with one of the accountants from the administration office."
"I heard it was someone from maintenance," replied Nitz, prompting a chuckle from Jesse. "Anyways, its still early, so maybe your marks will improve."
"Maybe, but I don't want things to get out of hand. I'd hate to have to take summer school to get the language credit. And I hate doing poorly in a class just on principal." She looked at Nitz speculatively. "You wouldn't by any chance...."
"Sorry Jess," Nitz said, shaking his head. "I took German in high school, and that's what I took here."
"Heh, I took German in high school too. But I didn't have a choice. Our school was too small to offer more than one language, so it ended up being German because the boys' Phys. Ed teacher spoke German."
"If you're really worried you should probably hunt up a tutor. I'm sure the French Club could probably recommend someone."
"Yeah, you're right." Jesse pulled up her legs and rested her chin on her knees. "Thanks for listening to me mope."
"No problem. Besides, it makes a nice change from me making you listen to my problems."
Jesse frowned. "Yeah, you haven't done that in a while. I hope what I said a while back didn't make you gunshy about asking for help."
"No, it didn't, not at all," replied Nitz, waving his hands. "Things have been going good so far this year, and I haven't really had any problems I couldn't figure out on my own. Of course going out with Kimmy probably has something to do with it." A goofy little smile appeared on his face.
There's that smile again, thought Jesse. She had a suspicion what it meant, but didn't want to find out for sure. "Well good. Because if you ever need help its there, all you have to do is ask."
"And that goes both ways," Nitz responded. "I'm here to help if you ever need it. After all, besides being your friend I owe you."
"Greetings friend Nitz!" Nitz and Jesse looked over at the computer, seeing the inevitable webcam window with Gimpy's face in it.
"Hi Gimpy. Whatever your problem is, I'm sure I can solve it," said Nitz with a confident grin on his face. "I'm on kind of a roll today."
"Problem? I don't have a problem. I just wanted to see what you were up to since I haven't talked to you in a couple of days."
"Oh. Well, I guess that's probably a record for us."
"Indeed." Gimpy frowned as Jesse moved into camera range. "So, the agent of the Dark Side is with you," he said grumpily.
"My, aren't we pissy today," was Jesse's amused response. She looked at Nitz, smiling at his questioning look. "We had a chess game the other night, and I beat him."
Nitz nodded in understanding, a wide grin on his face. "A girl, he was beaten by a girl," he said in a reasonable approximation of Gimpy's voice.
Jesse laughed. "Girls are the enemy!" she said in unison with Nitz, and they both laughed.
"Hmph, I'll ask you not to mock my personal beliefs," replied Gimpy tartly.
"So Nitz, should we stop mocking his personal beliefs?" asked Jesse.
Together they shook their heads. "Naaaah, I don't think so," said Nitz.
"Well, I'm not going to sit here and be insulted! G Prime, signing off!" said Gimpy as the webcam window winked out.
Jesse and Nitz smiled at each other. "Somehow I don't think Gimpy was taking all that too seriously," Nitz mused.
"Yeah, I think I saw a trace of a smile on his face as he signed off," replied Jesse. She sat back down on the bed, and her smile became wistful. It was times like this that made her glad she had patched things up with Nitz. She'd come in feeling down, but a few minutes talking with Nitz, and helping him tease Gimpy, had made her feel a lot better. Sure, she could have talked with Lisa about things, or even Kruger or Brodie in a pinch. But there was just something about Nitz that always made her feel just a little bit more comfortable about opening up about her feelings.
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Cal didn't wait long before putting Nitz's advice into action. The morning after he talked to his best friend he went looking for Karen. Finding her at an outdoor table on the quad he sat down on the bench opposite her. "Good morning Karenlady. I was wondering if you'd like to go out with me?"
She smiled at him, but shook her head. "It's very nice of you to ask, but no, I'm not interested."
Cal walked away less than happy, but determined to try again. He knew how much a lot of women liked flowers, so the next day he went out and bought some flowers and tried again.
"How nice. I really like daisies," said Karen as she admired the flowers. "But I'm afraid the answer is still no."
Frustrated but still hopeful Cal tried again the next day, going all out. He bought her not only flowers but some candy, and he wore a nice shirt and tie, although he wore them over his usual shorts and sandals.
But the answer was once more the same, "No."
Karen wasn't surprised to see Cal approach her for a fourth time the next day. "Hi," she said as he sat down beside her on a bench on the quad. "Are you going to ask again?"
Cal shook his head. "No lady," he replied, a serious look on his face. "I'm gonna ask why you won't go out with me."
"I'm sorry, but I'm just not interested," she said sincerely.
"But why?" asked Cal plaintively, reminding her of a little kid.
"I'm just not. I know you're a nice guy, and a couple of my friends say how great you are at satisfying a woman, but I'm just not interested in you." A nervous smile appeared on her face. "Besides, there's this guy I'm interested in, and I've finally gotten the courage together to ask him out."
"Oh, I can understand that," said Cal. If there was some other guy that made sense.
"In fact, there he is over there!" she said excitedly. "I sent him a note asking him to meet me here today. I just hope he's interested!" She jumped to her feet. "I'm sorry, but I have to run. See you around."
Cal watched her jog away. He'd tried, but it hadn't worked. It seemed he had finally experienced what he knew other people did, being attracted to someone who just wasn't attracted back.
When she came to a stop Cal's eyes widened in disbelief. "She wants to go out with that guy, instead of me?"
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"So, you lookin' for the schedule for that hands on introduction to lesbianism seminar?"
Jesse turned from the bulletin board she was looking at towards Kruger. "Actually Kruger that was last week," she responded with a straight face. "This one girl, she sure knew what to do with her tongue. Stuff like that makes lesbianism seem really appealing."
"#$%, can't I ever make you squirm?" asked Kruger with a laugh.
"You'll have to try better than that," she said with a grin. "Actually I'm looking for a French tutor. I'm doing lousy in that class, and I wanna get a hand on it before things get too bad."
Kruger straightened up a bit from his usual slouch, confidence in his eyes. "Stop your looking. You've got the best ^%&% choice right in front of you."
"You speak French," said Jesse skeptically, one eyebrow raised.
"Yeah, there's something about reading Satre and Camus in the original language that's kinda appealing." A leer appeared on Kruger's face. "'Sides, lotsa babes like it when you whisper something in French in their ear. You can be talking about your ass and they think its romantic and shit 'cuz its French, and they get all hot and bothered."
Jesse shook her head and let out an exaggerated sigh. "Kruger, you are most certainly the king of romance," she said sarcastically. "However do women resist you?"
Kruger chuckled, not at all offended by her dig. "Seriously, if you want some help I'll do it. And for free too."
"Sure, why not? But come on, I should pay you."
Kruger's expression became one of near indignation. "No way, I will not take a $^&%^ cent. I'm doin' this cuz you're my friend. If you wanna buy me lunch or a beer sometime for helping you, fine, but no $&% way am I taking your money."
"Okay, okay! Far be it from me to turn down free tuition!"
"Good." Kruger looked over Jesse's shoulder. "Heh, look at Evans," he said, pointing across the quad. "He %&^ looks like his best friend just $%^% died."
Jesse turned to look at an obviously upset Cal. "Well, I just saw Nitz a couple minutes ago over by the Student U-nion, so that's probably not it." She looked back at Kruger, a knowing smirk on her face. "But hey, what do you care about Cal anyways?"
"Oh, I ^#% don't," replied Kruger, shaking his head. "Its just that the guy always seems so $&% happy that its weird to see him look like that. 'Course if I got laid as much as he does I'd probably be smiling like a #%%& nut too."
Jesse made a face. "Ick, the last thing the world needs is another Cal. Even if it meant the national cyncism index dropped 75% with your contribution absent."
"Damn, you are $&%^ on today," said Kruger appreciatively.
"Why thank you," said Jesse with a small bow. "It's nice to have an appreciative audience. And don't forget, I'll be here for the rest of the week, performing daily."
Kruger grinned broadly as he reached for his cigarettes.
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"Hey best buddies," called out Cal forlornly as he walked to where Rocko and Nitz were standing. Rocko had been trying to convince Nitz to tag along to a local bar to watch a pay for view boxing match that evening, even though Nitz wasn't much on boxing.
"Hey Cal," replied Nitz. "So, how did things go with that girl you were trying to ask out?"
"Its really sad Nitzguy. She said no, and she's asked some guy to be her boyfriend." Cal's frown deepened. "I don't get it guy. Why would she go out with this other guy when she could have me?"
"I'm sorry to hear that Cal," said Nitz. "But hey, there are still lots of other girls who want to go out with you."
"Yeah, way too damn many," grumbled Rocko.
Cal looked over Rocko's shoulder. "Here she comes with her boyfriend, and that makes me really sad. So I'm gonna go someplace where I can't see them, and then I won't be so sad, okay?"
"Sure Cal, if that will make you feel better," said Nitz in a sympathetic tone of voice.
"Right, like I give a rat's ass whether you hang around or not," growled Rocko.
"Okay best buddies, see you later!" replied Cal as he turned and headed towards the main library building.
"So, what's this chick like?" asked Rocko as he watched Cal leave.
"Brunette with a long braid," replied Nitz. "That's her there," he said as he pointed at an approaching couple.
Rocko looked in the direction Nitz was pointing. His eyes widened when he saw who was walking with Karen. "For once, I gotta agree with Cal," he said with a shake of his head. "Look who that chick is walking with. Cal may be a wad, but at least he's a good looking wad. But that wussy...."
Nitz nodded. It was Spud, Gimpy's nemesis at Tekerson, dressed in his usual gold Star Trek captain's shirt and black pants. As Rocko had said, he was no competition for Cal in the looks department. He was short, scrawny, homely, and lacked a trace of even Gimpy's peculiar sort of charisma. It wasn't hard to guess why he had the nickname Spud. "Well, you know what they say, love is blind."
"More like 'love is strange,' like they sing in that old song," countered Rocko.
"You may have a point," mused Nitz.
"Ouch, good move!"
"Thanks," replied Jesse. She was sitting at a table in the Student U-nion across from Gimpy. A chessboard sat between them. "I was worried I might be rusty. Haven't played in awhile."
"Me neither." Gimpy looked at the board, trying to figure out his next move. "None of my associates seem interested in the game, and Nitz isn't enough of a challenge."
Jesse laughed. "And Rocko and Cal aren't the types to play chess."
Gimpy shuddered, remembering his sole attempt at trying to teach Cal the game. "Never speak of Cal and chess in the same sentence again! Oh, the horror...!"
Jesse laughed again. "That bad?" Gimpy nodded. "Anyways, I'm surprised you made the effort to come over here, instead of having me go over to your place."
Gimpy shrugged. "I didn't want my men to get the wrong idea."
Jesse nodded. "'Girls are the enemy' and all that bullshit." She shook her head. "Geez, you lot act like you're a bunch of ten year olds who still think girls are yucky and have cooties."
A sheepish grin appeared on Gimpy's face. Better change the subject quick, he thought. He wasn't very good at understanding women, and Jesse was no different. "So, no Halloween party for you?"
"Nah, I've got better things to spend money on than dressing up in some silly costume." She took a sip of coffee. "I hear Nitz and the Ditzy Redhead went to a party."
"Yes, at Rocko's frat house," said Gimpy, still contemplating his next move. "Nitz went as Cyclops, from the X Men."
"And I suppose Kimmy went as Jean Grey."
"No," replied Gimpy, shaking his head. "She went as Wonder Woman."
Jesse rolled her eyes and smiled. "Big surprise. She acts like she's a superwoman and tries to do 10 things at once in real life, so why not pretend to be one for a few hours?"
"Can't argue with that," replied Gimpy as he moved his next piece.
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Kimmy and Nitz danced amongst the crowd on the main floor of the Alpha Alpha frathouse. The building was packed with partygoers dressed in all sorts of costumes, and a few who wore normal clothes. Loud music boomed from a large stereo system that took up one wall of the large living room, and dozens of moving bodies somehow managed to occupy a space that shouldn't have been able to hold them all.
Attending a function put on by a fraternity wasn't something Kimmy usually did. After all, as she'd told Nitz, she considered the typical fraternity "another institution that supports the maintenance of the patriarchial status quo in our society." But the occasional exception like a Halloween party really wouldn't hurt. Besides, where else would one get to see the spectacle of Rocko...dressed up as Rocko. Rocko was wearing the oversized mascot style costume of himself he'd created the year before when he was trying to start a rivalry between State U. and Central State Junior Community College. He already managed to bang the oversized foam head into various objects, and he was sure to cause even more mayhem with it once he started to get drunk.
When the song they were dancing to ended Kimmy said, "Let's take a break, okay?" Nitz nodded his agreement and they moved to the edge of the staircase, which by some unwritten agreement stayed clear of dancers. "Are you having a good time?" asked Kimmy just as the music started again, drowning out her question.
"What?" Nitz yelled.
"I said, are you having a good time?" Kimmy yelled back. She could barely hear Nitz reply yes even though he was obviously shouting. She frowned, realising they'd shout themselves hoarse trying to talk here. "Let's go upstairs."
"Good idea," shouted Nitz. Together they made their way up to the second floor, the wall of sound from downstairs dropping down to a dull throb as they did. "Now, that's better," said Nitz in relief.
"You can say that again. It's like being in a factory down there." Kimmy looked around the hall, taking in the dirty tan carpet and walls that badly needed a new coat of paint. "Not a very interesting place, is it?"
"I don't think decorating is their top priority," said Nitz in amusement. A door at the end of the hall opened, and someone dressed as a cowboy stepped out of what was obviously the bathroom. Nitz and Kimmy stepped to one side to let him pass.
It was obvious to Kimmy that standing there would be kind of distracting if they had to move out of the way every few minutes for people coming down the hall, and she had an idea to do a bit more than just stand there chatting with Nitz. Spotting an open door she grabbed Nitz's hand and pulled him into one of the second floor rooms. "I think its time for a little private discussion," she said.
"Private discussion?" asked Nitz.
Kimmy smiled. She thought it was sweet how Nitz could be a little naïve at times. But he figured out what she meant pretty quickly.
"Ah, I understand," he said after a few seconds. He pushed the door shut. "Some things need to be, ummm, 'discussed' in private." Smiling, he slipped his arms around her and pulled her close.
"You know Cyclops, on Paradise Island they wouldn't allow a man to do what you're doing now," Kimmy said mischieviously as she felt Nitz's hands start to move very slowly down her back.
"Well, fortunately for me this isn't Paradise Island," replied Nitz. "I doubt, my dear Wonder Woman, they'd let me do this either," he added as he moved to kiss her.
Their kiss was brief, the sound of the doorknob rattling drawing their attention. The door swung open and a familiar large-nosed figure, dressed in a police officer costume, walked in. "Woah, like, sooorry dude," mumbled the student Nitz usually refered to as Dave the Stoner, realising someone was already in the room. "I was, like, looking for a place for a bit of herbal refreshment," he added, miming smoking, "if you know what I mean. Didn't wanna put a bummer on your fun."
"That's all right," said Kimmy. "But you might want to sneak outside to do it. After all whoever this room belongs to might not like people smoking in here."
"Yaah, I never thought of that," Dave drawled. "Don't wanna piss the frat dudes off." He reached into a pocket and pulled out a couple of leaflets. "There's gonna be, like, a pro-legalisation rally in a couple of days, and this has got the 411 on it. Maybe ya wanna come?"
Nitz took a quick look at the leaflet. "I'll think about it," he said.
"Cooool. Later." With a wave Dave walked out the door.
The couple stood for a moment after Dave left, smiling at each other. "So, your room or mine?" Kimmy finally asked.
"Better make it yours. There always seems to be someone walking into mine." Nitz shook his head. "Can you believe that? Dave the Stoner, dressed up as a cop? He'd win the 'State U. student most likely to get arrested' award if there was such a thing."
"I doubt he would see the irony," replied Kimmy as she took Nitz's arm and they walked out of the room.
"I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't realise he's dressed up as a cop," added Nitz with a smirk, drawing a chuckle from Kimmy.
-------------------
Of course the Halloween party at the Alpha Alpha frathouse was far from the only one that night. State U.'s Alpha Sigma Sigma sorority was staging theirs in a rented hall just off campus. Much to the chagrin of many of the other male guests Cal was there, and as usual was the centre of most of the female attention. Fortunately for Cal none of the male guests had usable weapons as part of their costumes. Especially the guy dressed as Elmer Fudd given that Cal wore a blue bunny costume. His "shotgun" wouldn't have even made a good club, being just a couple of cardboard tubes glued together.
Cal was of course oblivious to the hostility. He was having too much fun with the ladies. He'd had a good time so far dancing with a bunch of them, and now he was taking a break with a large group of them at a table near the dance floor. But even as he did he was keeping an eye out for any interesting ladies he might have missed.
"Who's that lady?" asked Cal, pointing to a young woman standing by the punch bowl. She was dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood, wearing a red hooded cape over a long red dress. Her dark brown hair was tied in a long braid hanging over one shoulder.
"Oh, that's Karen Lasky," said one of the sorority girls standing near Cal. "She's not a member of Alpha Sigma Sigma, but she's a friend of one of our members."
"I think its time to go get some punch," said Cal, and he started to walk towards the punch bowl.
Several of the young women he had been sitting with sighed as they watched him walk away. It seemed Cal had had set his sights on a new "nice lady."
Cal walked over to the bowl and ladled himself out a glass of punch. "Hey lady," he said in his usual friendly tone.
"Hey," she replied.
Cal took a sip of his punch. Much to his surprise Karen walked away, heading towards a couple of women sitting at one of the tables.
Cal blinked in confusion. That wasn't what was supposed to happen. She was supposed to be excited to meet him, and ask if she could spend some time with him. Just like the other ladies Cal was interested in did when he started to talk to them. He stood for a minute trying to figure out why she'd walked away. Maybe she wasn't feeling well or something like that. Yes, that was probably it. He'd just have to try again. Maybe he could run into her tomorrow or the next day when she was feeling better.
Confident he would have better luck next time he walked back towards the group of women he'd been socialising with. After all, he could still have lots of fun with the other nice ladies before the night was through.
------------------------
It was a couple of days after the Halloween party when Cal ran into Karen Lasky again. He was in the main library, looking for some books for one of his assignments when he saw her. As before she had her brown hair tied into a long braid, and Cal thought she looked very desirable in a pair of bluejeans and a State U. sweatshirt. With a smile he walked towards her. He was confident that this time she'd want to go out with him. Besides, one of the books he needed was on the shelf she was browsing.
Cal came to a stop beside her, and started looking for the book he needed. Seeing it was in he grabbed it, and said "Hey lady," in his cheeriest voice.
Karen smiled. "And hello to you," she said. She bent down and grabbed a book from one of the lower shelves. Nodding to herself, she added the book to several others she was carrying under one arm, and started walking towards the staircase to the main floor and the checkout desk.
Cal let out a whine as he watched her walk away. He just couldn't understand what was going on. She had walked away again, for the second time! That certainly wasn't what he expected to happen. This kind of thing just didn't happen to him. Confused, he leaned heavily on the bookshelf, making it wobble.
"Young man, please be careful. We don't want that shelf knocked over yet again," said one of the library staff as she pushed a cart of books past him.
"Oh, sorry librarylady," he said apologetically. He stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do next. He soon decided that there was only one answer, and started towards the stairs.
---------------------------------
"Not enough Bruce Campbell," muttered Nitz as the end credits of the movie Moontrap rolled across the TV screen. Kimmy was busy with some Drama Dept. thing that evening, so he had decided to take it easy and rent a video, choosing the low budget sci fi production since he hadn't seen it before. He decided not to mention watching it to Gimpy, since it starred Walter Koenig of Star Trek fame. The last time he'd watched something with a Star Trek connection and told Gimpy the hacker hadn't talked to him for a week.
As Nitz hit the rewind button on his remote control Cal walked into the room, a large frown on his face. "Hey guy, I've got a problem. Can you help me out Nitzguy?"
"Sure, if I can," said Nitz with a nod, leaning forward in his chair. "So what's your problem exactly?"
"I'm having lady troubles guy," said Cal forlornly. "This lady, I want to go out with her guy, but she doesn't wanna."
Nitz stared at Cal. "So, let me get this straight. You're upset because some girl isn't interested in you. Even though you've no doubt got a bunch of other girls just lining up for the chance."
"Yeah guy."
"But Cal, not every girl is interested in you." And thank goodness Kimmy is one of them, thought Nitz.
Cal pouted. "I've never wanted any of those ladies guy. But I want this pretty lady, and she's not interested. That's never happened before!"
Nitz looked skeptical. "You're not seriously telling me you've never been rejected by a girl before."
Cal shook his head. "Never. Well, there was the time I tried to be New Cal because of the I Hate Cal newsgroup and the ladies didn't like me anymore, but when I went back to being Old Cal all the ladies liked me again, so that doesn't really count."
Knowing Cal as well as he did, a suspicion suddenly came to mind. "Well, have you actually tried to ask her out?"
Cal's expression brightened. "You mean like they do on TV guy?"
Why am I not surprised, thought Nitz as Cal confirmed his suspicion. "Sure Cal. Most of us actually have to ask a girl before she'll go out with us."
"Okay guy, I'll try it!" Cal replied, nodding his head enthusiastically. "Thanks Nitzguy, you always have the best advice!" he said as he walked out the door.
"Glad to help," Nitz called after him. He heard Cal exchange greetings with Jesse, who then walked in.
"Hey Nitz," she said rather unenthusiastically as she sat down on his bed. "You mind if I hang around for a bit?"
"Not at all." He looked at her for several moments, taking in the unhappy expression on her face. "So, I take it you're having problems."
Jesse sighed, a morose expression on her face. "Yeah, I just got my latest French test back. I barely passed." She shook her head. "I'm having really lousy luck with the class. I just can't seem to get my head around all those verb tenses and gender things."
"I'm surprised you didn't take Chinese and get easy marks."
"What would the point of that be? I already speak Cantonese, and State U. doesn't offer Mandarin. I wanted to learn something I don't know." A hint of a smile crossed her lips. "I was gonna take introductory Japanese, but the Japanese teacher ran off with one of the accountants from the administration office."
"I heard it was someone from maintenance," replied Nitz, prompting a chuckle from Jesse. "Anyways, its still early, so maybe your marks will improve."
"Maybe, but I don't want things to get out of hand. I'd hate to have to take summer school to get the language credit. And I hate doing poorly in a class just on principal." She looked at Nitz speculatively. "You wouldn't by any chance...."
"Sorry Jess," Nitz said, shaking his head. "I took German in high school, and that's what I took here."
"Heh, I took German in high school too. But I didn't have a choice. Our school was too small to offer more than one language, so it ended up being German because the boys' Phys. Ed teacher spoke German."
"If you're really worried you should probably hunt up a tutor. I'm sure the French Club could probably recommend someone."
"Yeah, you're right." Jesse pulled up her legs and rested her chin on her knees. "Thanks for listening to me mope."
"No problem. Besides, it makes a nice change from me making you listen to my problems."
Jesse frowned. "Yeah, you haven't done that in a while. I hope what I said a while back didn't make you gunshy about asking for help."
"No, it didn't, not at all," replied Nitz, waving his hands. "Things have been going good so far this year, and I haven't really had any problems I couldn't figure out on my own. Of course going out with Kimmy probably has something to do with it." A goofy little smile appeared on his face.
There's that smile again, thought Jesse. She had a suspicion what it meant, but didn't want to find out for sure. "Well good. Because if you ever need help its there, all you have to do is ask."
"And that goes both ways," Nitz responded. "I'm here to help if you ever need it. After all, besides being your friend I owe you."
"Greetings friend Nitz!" Nitz and Jesse looked over at the computer, seeing the inevitable webcam window with Gimpy's face in it.
"Hi Gimpy. Whatever your problem is, I'm sure I can solve it," said Nitz with a confident grin on his face. "I'm on kind of a roll today."
"Problem? I don't have a problem. I just wanted to see what you were up to since I haven't talked to you in a couple of days."
"Oh. Well, I guess that's probably a record for us."
"Indeed." Gimpy frowned as Jesse moved into camera range. "So, the agent of the Dark Side is with you," he said grumpily.
"My, aren't we pissy today," was Jesse's amused response. She looked at Nitz, smiling at his questioning look. "We had a chess game the other night, and I beat him."
Nitz nodded in understanding, a wide grin on his face. "A girl, he was beaten by a girl," he said in a reasonable approximation of Gimpy's voice.
Jesse laughed. "Girls are the enemy!" she said in unison with Nitz, and they both laughed.
"Hmph, I'll ask you not to mock my personal beliefs," replied Gimpy tartly.
"So Nitz, should we stop mocking his personal beliefs?" asked Jesse.
Together they shook their heads. "Naaaah, I don't think so," said Nitz.
"Well, I'm not going to sit here and be insulted! G Prime, signing off!" said Gimpy as the webcam window winked out.
Jesse and Nitz smiled at each other. "Somehow I don't think Gimpy was taking all that too seriously," Nitz mused.
"Yeah, I think I saw a trace of a smile on his face as he signed off," replied Jesse. She sat back down on the bed, and her smile became wistful. It was times like this that made her glad she had patched things up with Nitz. She'd come in feeling down, but a few minutes talking with Nitz, and helping him tease Gimpy, had made her feel a lot better. Sure, she could have talked with Lisa about things, or even Kruger or Brodie in a pinch. But there was just something about Nitz that always made her feel just a little bit more comfortable about opening up about her feelings.
---------------------------
Cal didn't wait long before putting Nitz's advice into action. The morning after he talked to his best friend he went looking for Karen. Finding her at an outdoor table on the quad he sat down on the bench opposite her. "Good morning Karenlady. I was wondering if you'd like to go out with me?"
She smiled at him, but shook her head. "It's very nice of you to ask, but no, I'm not interested."
Cal walked away less than happy, but determined to try again. He knew how much a lot of women liked flowers, so the next day he went out and bought some flowers and tried again.
"How nice. I really like daisies," said Karen as she admired the flowers. "But I'm afraid the answer is still no."
Frustrated but still hopeful Cal tried again the next day, going all out. He bought her not only flowers but some candy, and he wore a nice shirt and tie, although he wore them over his usual shorts and sandals.
But the answer was once more the same, "No."
Karen wasn't surprised to see Cal approach her for a fourth time the next day. "Hi," she said as he sat down beside her on a bench on the quad. "Are you going to ask again?"
Cal shook his head. "No lady," he replied, a serious look on his face. "I'm gonna ask why you won't go out with me."
"I'm sorry, but I'm just not interested," she said sincerely.
"But why?" asked Cal plaintively, reminding her of a little kid.
"I'm just not. I know you're a nice guy, and a couple of my friends say how great you are at satisfying a woman, but I'm just not interested in you." A nervous smile appeared on her face. "Besides, there's this guy I'm interested in, and I've finally gotten the courage together to ask him out."
"Oh, I can understand that," said Cal. If there was some other guy that made sense.
"In fact, there he is over there!" she said excitedly. "I sent him a note asking him to meet me here today. I just hope he's interested!" She jumped to her feet. "I'm sorry, but I have to run. See you around."
Cal watched her jog away. He'd tried, but it hadn't worked. It seemed he had finally experienced what he knew other people did, being attracted to someone who just wasn't attracted back.
When she came to a stop Cal's eyes widened in disbelief. "She wants to go out with that guy, instead of me?"
-----------------------------
"So, you lookin' for the schedule for that hands on introduction to lesbianism seminar?"
Jesse turned from the bulletin board she was looking at towards Kruger. "Actually Kruger that was last week," she responded with a straight face. "This one girl, she sure knew what to do with her tongue. Stuff like that makes lesbianism seem really appealing."
"#$%, can't I ever make you squirm?" asked Kruger with a laugh.
"You'll have to try better than that," she said with a grin. "Actually I'm looking for a French tutor. I'm doing lousy in that class, and I wanna get a hand on it before things get too bad."
Kruger straightened up a bit from his usual slouch, confidence in his eyes. "Stop your looking. You've got the best ^%&% choice right in front of you."
"You speak French," said Jesse skeptically, one eyebrow raised.
"Yeah, there's something about reading Satre and Camus in the original language that's kinda appealing." A leer appeared on Kruger's face. "'Sides, lotsa babes like it when you whisper something in French in their ear. You can be talking about your ass and they think its romantic and shit 'cuz its French, and they get all hot and bothered."
Jesse shook her head and let out an exaggerated sigh. "Kruger, you are most certainly the king of romance," she said sarcastically. "However do women resist you?"
Kruger chuckled, not at all offended by her dig. "Seriously, if you want some help I'll do it. And for free too."
"Sure, why not? But come on, I should pay you."
Kruger's expression became one of near indignation. "No way, I will not take a $^&%^ cent. I'm doin' this cuz you're my friend. If you wanna buy me lunch or a beer sometime for helping you, fine, but no $&% way am I taking your money."
"Okay, okay! Far be it from me to turn down free tuition!"
"Good." Kruger looked over Jesse's shoulder. "Heh, look at Evans," he said, pointing across the quad. "He %&^ looks like his best friend just $%^% died."
Jesse turned to look at an obviously upset Cal. "Well, I just saw Nitz a couple minutes ago over by the Student U-nion, so that's probably not it." She looked back at Kruger, a knowing smirk on her face. "But hey, what do you care about Cal anyways?"
"Oh, I ^#% don't," replied Kruger, shaking his head. "Its just that the guy always seems so $&% happy that its weird to see him look like that. 'Course if I got laid as much as he does I'd probably be smiling like a #%%& nut too."
Jesse made a face. "Ick, the last thing the world needs is another Cal. Even if it meant the national cyncism index dropped 75% with your contribution absent."
"Damn, you are $&%^ on today," said Kruger appreciatively.
"Why thank you," said Jesse with a small bow. "It's nice to have an appreciative audience. And don't forget, I'll be here for the rest of the week, performing daily."
Kruger grinned broadly as he reached for his cigarettes.
---------------------------
"Hey best buddies," called out Cal forlornly as he walked to where Rocko and Nitz were standing. Rocko had been trying to convince Nitz to tag along to a local bar to watch a pay for view boxing match that evening, even though Nitz wasn't much on boxing.
"Hey Cal," replied Nitz. "So, how did things go with that girl you were trying to ask out?"
"Its really sad Nitzguy. She said no, and she's asked some guy to be her boyfriend." Cal's frown deepened. "I don't get it guy. Why would she go out with this other guy when she could have me?"
"I'm sorry to hear that Cal," said Nitz. "But hey, there are still lots of other girls who want to go out with you."
"Yeah, way too damn many," grumbled Rocko.
Cal looked over Rocko's shoulder. "Here she comes with her boyfriend, and that makes me really sad. So I'm gonna go someplace where I can't see them, and then I won't be so sad, okay?"
"Sure Cal, if that will make you feel better," said Nitz in a sympathetic tone of voice.
"Right, like I give a rat's ass whether you hang around or not," growled Rocko.
"Okay best buddies, see you later!" replied Cal as he turned and headed towards the main library building.
"So, what's this chick like?" asked Rocko as he watched Cal leave.
"Brunette with a long braid," replied Nitz. "That's her there," he said as he pointed at an approaching couple.
Rocko looked in the direction Nitz was pointing. His eyes widened when he saw who was walking with Karen. "For once, I gotta agree with Cal," he said with a shake of his head. "Look who that chick is walking with. Cal may be a wad, but at least he's a good looking wad. But that wussy...."
Nitz nodded. It was Spud, Gimpy's nemesis at Tekerson, dressed in his usual gold Star Trek captain's shirt and black pants. As Rocko had said, he was no competition for Cal in the looks department. He was short, scrawny, homely, and lacked a trace of even Gimpy's peculiar sort of charisma. It wasn't hard to guess why he had the nickname Spud. "Well, you know what they say, love is blind."
"More like 'love is strange,' like they sing in that old song," countered Rocko.
"You may have a point," mused Nitz.