Chapter Text
Chapter 1
They met during Spring Break at the Beach. She had come down with her boyfriend of several years and some of their 'friends'.
Isobel had about had it. They were looking for a new bathing suit for her. Now that they were at the beach there was more of a selection. For some reason, he didn't like the one that she had bought and had worn several times.
"No. That makes you look even more flat chested than you are."
It wasn't the first time he had bitched about her not having big boobs. She was about the flattest one of their group. No, take that back. She was THE flattest of the group.
"I think she looks nice." It was a deep rumble of a voice.
She and Brad looked around in surprise. The voice matched the guy. He looked like he could play defensive lineman for a professional football team.
Brad wasn't about to challenge him so he turned back to her. "See if you can find something that makes you look like you have boobs."
She could see the guy over Brad, and around him. Both eyebrows raised at Brad's comment.
"Dude, not cool." That was from a shorter guy that had come up beside the lineman. He was only shorter than the lineman. Next to normal sized people he would be considered above average in height. He looked at Isobel. "Hi, I'm Dean. The man mountain behind me is Conan. No it's not his real name but it fits better. You want to ditch this douche and hang with us?"
He actually seemed serious. Conan rolled his eyes over Dean's head. "She doesn't know us dumb-shit. She also looks like she has a working brain to know enough not to go off with total strangers."
"I introduced us. We aren't strangers."
There was such fond exasperation in Conan’s expression. He and Dean must have been in each other’s life closely and for a long time to have that kind of acceptance.
"Are you with a group or just Idiot one? I came down with a group of friends of which Idiot two is a part." Conan pointed to Brad for Idiot One and Dean for Idiot Two.
"Harsh. Man. Harsh. I can be an asshole but he is an utter tool." Dean turned back to Isobel and the two girls that were standing with her.
They had come to her defense when Brad had started in on her. They didn't challenge him but quickly spoke up that they thought she looked nice. "You evidently got shorted on the boyfriend front. Conan doesn't have a girlfriend. You can be his girlfriend for the day and get an idea of how this is actually supposed to work. Your new friends can join us. Kind of a safety in numbers thing. Everything in public places. Deal?" He held his hand out to her. She found herself shaking it automatically.
"Great. Go look at stuff while Little Willie and I have a chat." He gave her hand to Conan who gently herded her and the two other girls toward the rear of the store. (It wasn't till much later that she realized that was the last time she saw Brad or Dean.)
"You going to threaten me?"
"Nope." Dean looked at him. "I am going to leave you to the not so tender mercies of the pissed off flat chested females standing behind you." He looked over Brad's head. "Please try to keep the bloodshed to a minimum." Brad turned around and paled. They were taller than he was and reminded him of wolves circling their prey.
As the girls and Isobel were being herded to the back of the store and lost sight of what was going to happen, one of the new girls had a sort of raspy voice. "Bloodshed?" The girl looked up at Conan.
"Most likely not. We are in a public place. They won't even hit him. They will just make him wish they had. What were you looking for when you came in?"
The girls looked at him.
He looked back. "One piece? Two piece? Triangles and string?" The last got a laugh out of the girls.
"I'm stuck with Conan. I have answered to it for so long I have to think when I am supposed to write my real name. Nice to meet you."
"Jenna" was the raspy voiced girl's name.
"Madeline but I usually get called Maddie." was the slightly chubby blonde.
"So? What did you have in mind when you came in?"
Jenna shrugged. "I was curious to see what they had. If there was something that I hadn't seen before. Since it is the beach I was thinking that they would have more variety than what I could get back home." She was wearing a bikini top with a loose shirt over it and shorts.
He looked at Madeline. "I came in with Jenna. I'm not the bikini type." She was wearing a t-shirt with shorts.
He looked her over thoughtfully. "Triangles and string no. Those are for people that don't have the guts to just go ahead and take it all off." He tilted his head the other way. "I saw something that I think would look pretty good. Over here." He took them to a section that the suits were more substantial. It was boy shorts and a fuller top that had a sheer cover up. "This. Try this style on."
Madeline looked at him like he was nuts. "Are you serious?" She looked down at herself.
"Yes I am. I think that you would look very good in something like this." He handed her the suit. "Try it on. Take the girls with you and try it on. And while we are at it." He looked through the section and handed one to Jenna and one to Isobel. "Dressing rooms. Go."
They looked at each other and went to the dressing rooms. He shooed them all into one room. "Think of it as desensitization. You will live. There are worse things than taking your clothes off in front of someone."
“Oh? Like what?” Sarcasm be damned.
“Being emotionally naked with someone. Letting them see your vulnerable underbelly. And trusting them not to gut you.”
“Wow. Okay. That tops trying on a bikini in front of a semi-stranger.”
They looked at each other. They went to the same University. They had mentioned it when Isobel saw Maddie’s t-shirt. When the girls had come to Isobel’s defense the best they could.
Strangers but seemingly drawn together. It was Spring Break. Time to make some changes. A whole week of 'what the hell' and trying new things.
They stripped and put on the suits he had picked out. The bathing suits didn't look bad. Not bad at all. Madeline was surprised. "I actually look good in this. I don't look fat."
"That's because you are not fat." Conan's voice came from outside the room.
Madeline snorted.
"I would ask if you had a boyfriend. But the answer is going to be no. Are you with someone?"
"What do you mean you know I don't have a boyfriend?"
"If you had found the right kind of guy then you would have no doubts that you are desirable just like you are."
Silence from inside the dressing room.
He continued. "Boyfriend is actually two words. Boy and friend. It is sounding like the three of you have found the boy part of the equation and missing out on the friend."
The door opened and Madeline walked out. "What difference is there?"
Conan looked her over. "If you aren't with someone I really need to introduce you to Colton and let you figure it out for yourself." He looked thoughtful. "He is a friend. So I am going to go ahead and make excuses for him. There will be a few minutes of staring at you like a starving wolf before his brain kicks back in. Don't hold that against him."
She looked at the others and then back at him. "Are you serious? I mean really serious? Why does Colton not have a girlfriend?"
"He's found girls. Lots of girls. They don't do much for him. He is looking for a friend that won't judge him on the way he looks."
"Oh. Is he kind of chubby too?"
Conan just looked at her and pulled out his phone. He scrolled through the photos and then handed it to her.
"Holy shit. That's Colton? Wow." She showed it to the other two who made very admiring noises. "Does he model?" She handed the phone back to him.
"So. If the three of you would be so good as to hang around with us I'll introduce you to him."
Madeline looked at him. "Sure. I'm so convinced that he would be interested in me."
"I'm not going to do it if you are going to hurt him. I’ll tell you up front that he doesn’t lie or bullshit. He won’t string you along to get sex then when he is done, walk away. He is loyal to his lovers. Some more than others. Depends on how deep they were in each other. I know there has been one midnight call that had all three of us loading up and going to get the person that ended up in a bad situation. He takes care of his own. Even if you don’t think that you belong to him anymore."
Conan put his back against the wall and slid down some so they were more eye to eye. "He is also a nice guy. He's kind and actually rather sensitive. He's a romantic. He gets these ideas that seem wonderful to him and then gets creamed by his girlfriends because they thought it was stupid. Girlfriends not lovers. There is a difference. They were more interested in him for what he could do for them rather than what he is.”
“The last one that blew up was spectacular. He had this idea that everyone went on picnics during the day. He decided to have a moonlight picnic. His family has a lake house that has a screened in shelter. He spent a good part of the day cleaning it up. Got flowers for the table. I know this because I somehow volunteered to help him. That is what I was informed when he coaxed me out of my nice comfortable bed with a plate of food and amazing coffee. He bakes when he is pissed or stressed. Thank God he’s pretty laid back or I would spend half my life working out. Anyway.”
We hung these metal things that would hold lots of little candles all over the shelter. I was thinking just put Christmas lights up around the top but that wasn't what he wanted. He wanted the real thing. He saw this guy selling bundles of roses. He bought ten dozen. He used mason jars as vases because he just thought it was neat. She had said that she wanted to do something Saturday night about mid-week. He started working on it about Thursday. The flowers were last minute."
"Oh. Wow. What happened? I thought he didn't have a girlfriend? How could that possibly blow up?"
"She had arranged to have him pick her up in front of her dorm. I thought that was kind of odd so Chris and I decided to be in the area. He pulled up in his Jeep which irritated her. When he parked then got out to open the door for her she went straight to hell bitch. He was dressed in jeans and a shirt. I heard him tell her dress casual.”
“He told her that he had arranged to have a picnic at the lake just the two of them.”
“She was dressed to go clubbing. She was going to go clubbing! What the fuck was he thinking? She had mentioned this new club all week long. Wasn't he listening? All her friends would be at the club. Why would they want to go on a picnic? That's what losers did. The kind that couldn't get into the cool clubs. She thought that he understood that kind of thing. Where to be seen and who to be seen with.”
And the crowd of vultures started gathering.
“That's about when he told her that she could do whatever she wanted with whomever she wanted. He was fucking done. It wasn’t like he needed a parasite in his life. And for the record, the cool clubs were a rip-off.”
“Important people invited you to come and stay in their homes. Cooked for you in their kitchens. Let you crash at their place when you showed up drunk at 3:00 a.m. and poured water and aspirin down your ass. Left you with a conveniently placed trashcan to puke in and never mentioned any of it later.”
“Not that she would ever know about anything like that. It was called having friends. Not Facebook acquaintances. He got in his jeep and left.”
“I got the thrill of going to the lake with him and eating the picnic. We lit the candles and drank the wine. The mosquito netting over the bed with a dozen roses pinned in the netting was kind of wasted on me. He might have gone out with girls once or twice since then but he hasn't had a girlfriend. Most of them just needed a guy to escort them somewhere. Someone they could trust."
"Was she stupid?"
"I thought so. His take on it was they just had very different wants."
"He sounds really sweet."
"He's pretty. You just saw one picture and that wasn't him at his best. He's not just good looking; he is up there at pretty. He works hard to keep in shape. So most people think that he has to be an asshole or a shallow jock. People look at him and think they know what he is about by the way he looks and dresses. He likes nice clothes and nice things."
"Okay. I'd love to meet him and I'll be nice to him even if we don't hit it off. What about Jenna? Is there someone that you can introduce her to? I don't want her to be left out."
He looked through his photos on his phone. A slow grin came over his face and he handed Jenna the phone. "Chris. You will either love him or want to kill him. Or both. He's loud. A smartass. Tends toward profanity. But. But if it really bothers you, you can talk to him and tell him why and he will try to rein it in. He spends more time with guys than women so he is out of practice."
She took the phone and the other two girls looked over her shoulder. "He's good looking. Was he posing or something for this? He kinda looks like trouble."
He took the phone. "That's his 'what now' look. He's up for most anything but does have to do a little complaining before he goes along with the more hair brained ideas. I think I've got a couple more." He looked. "Here is a good one of just his face. I was trying to figure out how the camera on the phone worked. He was kind of tired of playing model."
She took the phone again and the girls looked at the close up. "He looks.....intense" was Isobel's comment.
Jenna handed him the phone back. "I'm not so sure about this. I'm not the bad boy type. I've dealt with enough suite-mates and other girls on our floor sobbing when it didn't work out. Both sides wanting to change each other so they would be happy. I'm not exactly an up for anything kind of person. I'm more of a play it safe."
"He thinks. He's thoughtful. He is more the kind that will make sure that you always have gas in your car and all the preventive maintenance done on schedule. He doesn't tend to bring you flowers but he will make sure that you have eaten. Decent food. He cooks and he's decent at it. He doesn't do fancy. You can send him to the store at two in the morning for emergency supplies and he won't bitch. If you don't give him an empty package then he will send you picture after picture on his phone till he knows what he is going after. He's not shy at all about turning around and asking where the hell something is on the feminine supply aisle. He does not embarrass easily. It gets him in trouble sometimes because he doesn't always get why other people do."
"Feminine supply aisle? Really? His girlfriend sent him?"
"No. He would have had a clue what he was going after if it had been his girlfriend. I'm not joking when I say that he tends to keep track of things. He’s going to know your personal schedule better than you do. What kind of supplies you need for most anything.”
We were staying with friends. One of the girls got a surprise. Boy was she ever surprised. It was zero dark thirty. She was upset and embarrassed. The boyfriend was being a jerk. Chris said he would go. It would be nice if one of the girls would go with him because he had been on that aisle and there were a fuckton of things to choose from. There was this fussing and he just got in the car and went. He called her from the store. I went with him. It was hysterical. He started on one end and just asked questions. Do you want tampons? You know those things aren’t really good for you. Stuff is meant to come out you know. Not get packed up in there. But if you’re going to swim I can see them being necessary. Don't you need pads with those too in case you drip? Not while you’re swimming of course but after. I don’t think you’re supposed to leave them in over a certain time period. You do know that don’t you?"
The girls' mouths dropped. Then they started giggling.
"Oh it got better. Okayyy so no dripping mentioned. Got that. No I don’t happen to have periods. Had a cousin that had troubles. That’s where I found out about different stuff. So tampons? Pads? This thing looks like a surfboard with wings. Does that actually work? Do you have a brand you like? One that works better at sucking the stuff up and away? Okaaayyy." He looked around and spotted several women on the aisle. It was obvious they had been listening. He put the phone against his chest and walked over to them. "Hey. Nice night isn't it? I'm on an emergency run 'cause someone got a surprise. Any suggestions?"
They looked in shock. "He just walked up to them and asked?"
"Yep. After they got over the shock one of them took the phone and talked to the girl. Who was kind of in tears from embarrassment and laughing so hard. They came up with something. They got pads, Midol and a heating pad. Handed it and the phone back to him. He thanked them and went off to pay for it."
Jenna looked kind of stunned. "I'm not too sure about him. I like watching movies. Videos actually. Going walking. Parks. Museums and stuff. Maddie and I share a room. We get along fine. I do get kind of tired of always having people around. It makes more sense right now to live in the dorm but it also gets really old. It seems like when most of the girls get into the dorm it is a chance to do everything that their parents have warned them about not doing. About the first couple of months was like girls gone wild. It seems to be what most of the guys were expecting as well. I'm not much into excitement. He sounds like a little more than I want to handle."
"You don't have to handle him. That's part of the point. He doesn't embarrass easily. If that hasn’t been hammered home by now just what I mean by that, I give up. He is pretty even tempered. If he is willing to ask questions about the girl’s period you can imagine that there isn’t much on his ‘will not discuss’ list. Not much upsets him. He is pretty go with the flow. You want to do something. Usually it is fine with him.
He tells you if he has something coming up. He’s more organized than you would think. He will coordinate PDAs daily. He will go with you to rescue your girlfriends. He probably won't take you with him if he has to go and rescue one off his buddies but he will expect you to understand. He will roll out of bed, deal with it, come back and either go back to bed or just stay up and do whatever you had planned."
Isobel raised a finger. “Uh.”
“Yeah?”
“You kinda made it sound like there were unsaid words. Like he will roll out of YOUR bed, deal with it and come back.”
Conan shrugged. “He’s not a big fan of sleeping alone. Not in a bed. It doesn’t mean he expects sex. As long he is close enough to touch that’s about all he really wants most of the time.”
“And the other times?”
“Ever just want somebody to hold you?”
“Oh.”
Maddie chimed in. "Why doesn't he have a girlfriend?"
"He is social but he isn't that much of a partier. Not at clubs. He likes the outdoors. Hiking and camping. Most of the girls that are around aren't all that outdoorsy or active. It was just easier to give up and get one or more of the guys to go with him."
"Okay. I can understand that. I like being outdoors. As long as I can get clean and have indoor plumbing at the end of the day." Jenna looked at him. "Okay. You have talked me into trying it."
Conan looked at Isobel. "You get me."
"What about you?"
"I’m the pick of the litter of course. Ask Colton and Chris. I'm sure that they will be happy to share all sorts of stories about me." He looked at them. "Go ahead and change back unless you want to wear the suits. We can leave and meet up with the others. I would suggest wearing them. You look really nice."
"Let me give the guys a call and let them know that we are going to have company for a while. I'll be with you in a minute."
They agreed. Paid for the suits and left. On a Spring Break adventure.