Falling and Flying

Falling and Flying

Author's note: Thanks to Randi for inviting me to participate in her, "The Art of Falling" event. I was very flattered. This was a new experience for me. Having to write a story with a theme from scratch and a deadline was un-nerving. I hope you enjoy it.

It's funny how falling feels like flying,

For a little while,

"Fallin and Flyin" Performed by Jeff Bridges

Written by Stephen Bruton & Gary Nicholson

Story:

It was one of those beautiful warm late spring afternoons when the blooms were still fresh and not yet dulled by the punishing summer's heat. David was seated in one of the ubiquitous mass event PVC folding chairs designed to punish its user for their inability to find a way out of attending the event. His powder-white and inadequately padded device was only one of over three thousand meticulously orchestrated in seemingly endless rows on the freshly mown lawn of Central College's football field.

He closed his eyes and gazed skyward to better feel the warmth of the sun's rays on his face. He always found the heat from the spring sun a refreshing validation of the continuous cycle of life. That gave him comfort even in the most troubling times.

His melancholy mood fit perfectly with the emotions of the day. His youngest child, Britton, would be the last of his four children to leave home. Her career path already chosen, she had a job waiting for her out of state.

Her matriculation gave him a sense of pride and accomplishment but also made him doleful. He did not view it as a failure, but rather a tremendous success that all of his kids had chosen to spread their wings and move out of state to build their professional and family lives. After all, isn't that the fundamental parental responsibility, to make sure your children can prosper without you? Still, it made him downcast to think he would be alone now.

David was no longer a young man. Although his icy blue eyes still had a little sparkle left in them, he felt the burden of raising a family and the hard-earned worry lines shown prominently on his face. He was fifty, tired, and unsure of what the future held for him. He thought that many of his fellow attendees must be feeling similar sentiments and grappling with the same uncertainties that burdened his heart.

What was next for him? He sighed and let his mind drift back to the nearly thirty years ago when his odyssey began.

David Christian Broward was in love. He had to be because he never felt anything like this before. He alternately felt euphoria and nausea. The mere sound of her voice made his heart rate jump thirty points. He became a clumsy oaf, always stumbling over things. His grades suffered, but he didn't care.

When he thought about her, and that was pretty much every waking minute, he had trouble breathing. He often found himself sucking in short sharp breaths that never provided enough oxygen for his brain to function critically.

It reminded him of his childhood after having been in a car accident. He had broken two ribs and it hurt to breathe so he would take quick short breaths. That same accident killed his mother. His father was so despondent he slowly drank himself to death when David was only sixteen.

He moved in with his aunt but left home the day after his high school graduation and never looked back. He had enough money from his parents' estate and the accident settlement to get him into college to study engineering. He didn't really love it, but he was always analytical and the work tended to be done in isolation, which he was very comfortable with.

Here he was a twenty-year-old college junior and up until a month ago, he had only been on one date in his entire life. That was two years ago as a freshman. The date was a complete disaster. At the end of their evening, the young lady that he was infatuated with for months before working up the courage to ask out was very polite about it, but told him to never contact her again. It might have had something to do with the fact that he was so anxious that he sweated profusely throughout their uncomfortable dinner. He went through several napkins trying to keep up with it.

David was never a great conversationalist in the first place, and he judged that by his date's fascination with the various shapes of the pasta on her plate, he was doing less than satisfactory in that arena. Of course, she could have just been looking for bugs, but he doubted it. They were able to converse for about thirty seconds on the current state of the weather but not much beyond that

It didn't get any better during the movie. Because of his trepidation in doing something to embarrass himself he got so tense it caused him to have hiccups throughout it. He felt like he was back in fourth grade when he would get the hiccups if called upon to speak during class.

Mercifully the date ended, David felt relief because he knew he would never put himself in that position again. He resigned himself to a lifetime of bachelorhood and callused palms.

He started developing his calluses back in high school. If there was one thing David Broward was good at it was masturbation. He had started to perfect that particular skill back when he was a freshman in high school. He had Ms. Elkins, his grammar class teacher to thank for that.

Ms. Elkins was a goddess. She was an older woman, of course, probably twenty-four or so. And, well she had huge breasts. They were assuredly held in place by a 50's style bullet bra and were highlighted to perfection by the tight sweaters she religiously wore, even when it was ninety-five degrees outside. By his estimation, David had consummated his marriage to her over five hundred times during that school year.

There was a familiar but unusual pattern to Ms. Elkins's class. Her class was the only one that all the boys showed up early for. At the end of the class, the boys all stayed in their seats. They were hunched over their desks with their jackets in their laps, trying to mentally recite the elements in the Periodic Table. The girls were always snickering as they left to head to their next classroom. Fortunately for David and his brethren, their class was right before the morning nutrition break so they had a little more time to gather their wits.

At the time David was sure that Ms. Elkins was oblivious to the effect she was having on the males of the school. She was always very attentive and would walk up and down the aisles closely examining everyone's progress on what ever punctuation exercise would be taking place at the time. She always smelled wonderful and she did seem to pause at the boys' desks more frequently but that was probably because they had more trouble with the intricacies of understanding the rules regarding when to use 'affect' vs.'effect' in a sentence than the young ladies did?

One time, Ms Elkins stopped at David's desk to help him with a particular problem. As she bent over his desk to point out an error in his work, David turned his head in her direction. The view that met his fifteen-year-old pubescent eyes was indescribable. He spontaneously ejaculated into his 501's. His eyes rolled up in his head and he let out a low slow moan, almost a growl really. Two girls in the adjacent aisle snickered.

Ms. Elkins had been saying something which of course he couldn't decipher because his brain was focused elsewhere. When he regained consciousness she patted him on the shoulder and said, "There Davie now isn't that better?" Seemingly ignorant to her effect on poor David, she continued her stroll down the aisle.

"Yes ma'am." He croaked out and the girls snickering turned to raucous laughter. David's face was beet red but he didn't care. He was in an endorphin overload, with every nerve ending in his body on fire. And it was a sensational feeling, not unlike his first encounter with Bristol Calloway shortly after this fall semester began. Only this time with Bristol it was even better, or was it worse?

He was sitting alone, as was usual, on the lawn outside his dorm room typing away on his laptop when a shadow settled on him. He looked up and there she was. And she was perfect. All thoughts of having committed himself to bachelorhood evaporated in an instant. She was looking at him intently. Maybe she feels it too? Then she smiled and continued on her way.

It was a moment of truth for David Broward. His destiny was walking away from him and he sat there paralyzed with fear and feelings of doubt. She kept walking. Get up you moron, do something your future wife is getting away! She's your soulmate, the yin to your yang, DO FUCKING SOMETHING!

But he couldn't. He put his head down and closed his eyes. He was crestfallen with his stupidity and inaction. He had begun to contemplate how he might commit suicide because he was such a loser, his life was obviously over....

"Excuse me, what's your name?"

David didn't recognize the voice but it was as smooth as silk and as warm and comforting as his mother's bosom. When he was a small child his mother often held him tightly to her breast to soothe whatever problem he had incurred. It was his fondest memory of his mother.

He wanted to savor the feelings for a bit. She was standing right in front of him. Had God intervened? He didn't believe that a god existed but if he could find a way to keep her here for a few minutes he might change his mind.

"Uhh, are you all right? You do have a name, right?"

David scrambled to his feet, well really he tripped over them as he was trying to get up, so he had to brush himself off, but he did finally manage to stand. How very gallant of him he thought. "Umm sorry, yes ah David, David Broward is my name."

She stuck out her hand to shake his. "Well hi David, David Broward, I'm Bristol. Did you feel it?"

Now David was incredibly shy, but he wasn't stupid, so he managed to avoid the obvious cliché answer, and simply said, "Y-y-yes."

"Well then, what are you going to do about it?"

"Ahhh...."

She gave a deep sigh of frustration. "I'm going to have to do all the work then, aren't I?"

"Huh?"

"Bristol rolled her eyes. "Never mind, give me your phone." David handed it over dutifully. She proceeded in exasperation to tap in her contact information. "You are taking me out tonight, pick me up at six. Don't worry; so as not to tax your brain too much, I will choose the restaurant."

"O-o-ok."

"You're quite an eloquent conversationalist aren't you David, David Broward? I'll bet you're an engineering major?"

"Yes." Stammered David, Surprisingly, he wasn't that tongue-tied, but he was afraid his usual anxieties with the opposite gender would cause him to start with the hiccups so he thought keeping those triggers to a minimum was important.

"Listen David, David Broward..."

"P-p-please just, just call me David."

"Ok, good, we are making progress, David it is. So, David dress casual, we are probably only going to get pizza, but we do need to explore that connection we both felt before our wedding date, so let's work on expanding your dialogue capabilities between now and six shall we?" She didn't really think he would lose interest in her between now and then but she wanted to make certain, so as she turned and strutted away, she gave him a little extra sway of her hips.

"Ok." Our wedding date? Ok then.

And just like that, they were inseparable. David was happier than he ever remembered. And as his comfort level with Bristol grew so too did his dialogue capabilities. His slightly acerbic sense of humor that he lost when puberty hit him, returned. Bristol had the same sense of humor and it made them both love each other even more. Within a couple of weeks, they knew they were meant to spend the rest of their lives together. They shared a mutual desire for a large family and to live the 'American Dream' as it were.

Their growing love wasn't without some bumps in the road. The initial one was the first time they made love.

"Umm, how was it for you?"

"David, I can safely say, and with great confidence...that was the absolute worst sexual experience of my life. And believe me, I have had a lot of experience, so I'm well qualified to offer that opinion." Bristol stated it as matter of fact, while looking directly into David's eyes. "That was your first time wasn't it?"

A stunned David was speechless. The countless teasing and tormenting episodes about his shyness and awkwardness back in high school came rushing back. His eyes started to water as he tried to jump out of bed, but Bristol was too quick and held him down by lying on top of him, pinning him to the bed.

Despite his embarrassment, her nude sweaty sensuous body was molded perfectly into his, and that coupled with the sexual aura that permeated the room made his cock start to rise immediately. The physiology of her perfect breasts locked against his chest was overcoming his utter embarrassment at his failure. He was mortified because Bristol's eyes started to get wide as she felt his now fully turgid member pressing into her stomach. She quickly pushed herself up with her arms straddling his torso and stared into his unblinking eyes.

"Oh...honey, you are so the man for me."

"Huh?" He was still laboring to get up and away, but she was experiencing a level of strength he didn't know she had.

"David baby, listen to me. I love you with all my heart. I promise I will teach you everything you need to know to please me. We are perfect for each other."

"Ok, but am I going to have to teach you how to please me too?"

"Was that a serious question?" You're a man. Do you think you could ever feel any better than you did the moment you came inside me? I mean ever, in your life?"

David had to admit he could not.

"But honey, I had a feeling that you were a virgin, so I took it easy on you. In the future, I am going to teach you positions you didn't know existed. I'm going to give you blow jobs that would cure a dead man's ED. I am going to make the Kama Sutra seem like Sex for Dummies. If I accidentally kill you in the process, your last words to me will be 'thank you.'"

She did come close to killing him but he survived and soon enough, he was giving as good as he got in the bedroom. His self-confidence grew leaps and bounds too. Although he wasn't naïve enough to think Bristol wasn't still in charge, he viewed their relationship as a true partnership. Together they would take on the world. They planned to get married as soon as they graduated, a little over a year from now.

For a few months David constantly felt like he was flying. Life couldn't have been any better if he were living in a dream. But then, as their junior year was coming to a close, the wheels started to come off.

"David, sweetheart, can we talk for a bit?"

"We always do, don't we? That's our second best thing. What's up?"

"Well, as you know, school will be out in a few weeks."

David was hoping that Bristol was looking for him to take her on an extended vacation, or more likely ask that they move in together off-campus as she lived at home with her mother Holly, and he in the dorms. He was wrong.

"Honey, I'm going to spend this summer traveling around with a group of friends. When I come back I'll be yours forever. It's just sort of a last fling type of experience I'm looking for."

"I thought you were already mine forever?"

"David, for these... past several months we have been virtually exclusive, and..."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What do you mean by virtually?"

"Well, David we never discussed exclusivity so I just assumed..."

"Hold on Bristol. We discussed marriage, we even have a date set for Christ's sake. Doesn't that alone scream exclusivity?" David was shocked, confused, and livid.

"Honey do you believe that I love you?"

"Of course."

"Well as you know I'm a very sexually expressive person. Do you think I was able to teach you about sex so well because I read a couple of books?"

Truthfully, David had known all along that she was a lot more experienced than he because she definitely couldn't have learned all that from Sex for Dummies. But he figured it wasn't any of his business what she had done before, so he never addressed it. That was starting to look like a mistake. But he was entitled, wasn't he? He was very new at this whole relationship thing and he was beginning to understand how deep in over his head he was.

He was torn. Did he want to just skip past it, or delve deeper into the whole 'virtually exclusive thing?' Maybe his best course of action was to ignore it for the moment and focus on their future?

"Look Bristol, let's forget the past and talk about our future. From this day forward I see us as one hundred percent exclusive. Maybe we should even talk about moving in together over the summer?"

"David honey, you haven't been listening to me. I am going away for the summer with some old friends of mine. But when I return and start the senior year I will be yours forever."

Again David was no dummy, he had noticed how conveniently she skipped over the being exclusive part.

"But David, I'm insulted that you would want us to move in together before we are married. Besides, we would miss out on some of the best parts of being newlyweds if we did that. And think of all the fun we will have when I get back in September."

"Ok, I understand that part, so let's talk a little about these 'friends' of yours." He made angry air quotes around the word friends. "Who exactly are they, do I know them?"

"Oh, they're no one special, just a group of kids I knew back in high school. Now that we are all close to graduating, we thought we would have one last fling, sort of an 'Endless Summer' kind of thing." She was being earnest. She was guileless by nature. That was one of the many things that enamored him about her. But, that wasn't making David feel any better at the moment.

"What are their names?"

"Well you don't know any of them, but there is Marcie... Jeanette...." She saw him rolling his finger at her urging her on. "Then there is William, Thomas, and Kent. We used to call ourselves the 'gang of six' back in school."

"You're joking, right? Do you really expect me to be ok with you spending the summer with a group of guys you used to date?"

"David, have I ever lied to you?"

"No, but apparently you've skipped over a few important things during our time together."

"David, I love you. The fates put us together and nothing will tear us apart. You have to trust me. Our love will last forever."

David had an ominous feeling about the whole idea, but he was inexperienced in matters of the heart. In his mind the love he had for her made him feel like he had to trust her so he reluctantly relented. She was of course, ecstatic.

Four months later, Bristol was back and three months pregnant.

"Well, Bristol, your summer sojourn must have agreed with you. It looks like you gained a few pounds." He spate it out with as much sarcasm as he could muster.

"Yeah...about that, we need to talk."

In reality, it was only twenty minutes later, but it seemed a lifetime to David when she finished speaking. It was several more minutes before he could finally speak. "No Bristol, just no! I will not raise another man's baby..."

"David, please just listen to me." She urgently interrupted. It was an accident. I didn't get pregnant on purpose, you know I didn't, but I can't, I won't give up my baby." Abortions were anathema to both of them, so that solution never even entered their minds.

Her tone of voice gave away the desperation she was feeling. "Maybe it would help if you looked at it this way. Do you remember the moment we met? We both fell in love in an instant. That is fate. It is our destiny to be together. We both felt it, right?"