Potion Perfect

by Billie Dale

  Still holding my hand, he leads me into The Common’s cafeteria area.

  Walking through the doors, I expect stares and hateful glares from the many students in the room. Shocked when other than a few ‘hellos’ to Kohl most continue with their meals. The room is crowded with round white tables, six black padded chairs at each, a food line at the back with various food stations scattered to the right. The left side of the room is a wall of windows allowing us a great view of the gray, cloud-covered, winter sky.

  “So, what does Tensanne Craig like to eat?”

  Looking down to my body, I mumble, “Everything, obviously.”

  He must have heard me judging by his squinty eyes that scream, “Really? Did you really say that?”

  I scramble to recover, “I think I’ll have a salad, a Diet Coke, and some chocolate pudding. Have you ever had the pudding? For something that comes from a can, it’s the best thing that will ever hit your tongue.”

  His eyes heat to molten blue, “Best thing to hit my tongue, huh?”

  “I mean the best chocolate to hit your tongue.”

  I grab a tray and he shakes his head, smiling at me.

  “Nope, this one’s my treat,” he insists taking the tray from my hands.

  “But, I.”

  “No, I asked you to lunch. It’s my treat. Now, come on,” he commands.

  The Common’s is your typical college eating area. You grab a tray and move down the line selecting which items you want from the ones offered for the day, ending with a cooler full of milk, water, energy drinks and hair net covered lady taking your money or punching your student card. If you’re a wise punch card user, you grab enough on your tray to put in baggies and take back to your room for late night studying munchies.

  Today’s offerings are Turkey Manhattan, meatloaf, steamed carrots, mashed potatoes and broccoli with desserts of chocolate cake, chocolate pudding, carrot cake and Jell-O. You can take as much or as little as you want so long as you have the money to pay for it.

  Off to the side of the main line are a salad bar, a cereal bar, a burger station, a pizza warming carousel, an ice cream machine and a fountain soda machine. The burger station will make you any kind of sandwich you want. Hamburger, chicken or, for the vegetarian crowd, a veggie burger. All with a side order of fries. The pizza carousel offering five levels of different kinds of pizza for the day.

  The smell of food fills the air but my nerves from being here with him outweigh my growling stomach.

  Kohl is grabbing everything. He has meatloaf, broccoli, three puddings and Jell-O. When we reach the register, he tells the lady he also wants to add a hamburger, a salad bar, a slice of pizza and two fountain drinks to his order.

  Good God, where is he going to put all that food?

  Taking the tray to a table in the center of the room, he hands me my salad bar plate and heads to the burger station to order his sandwich while I make my salad. I’ve never been a huge ‘rabbit food’ type person but today a salad sounded good. Maybe Ronnie was right and I’m coming down with something, I think piling my plate with salad mix, some cheese, croutons, light dressing then heading back to the table. Kohl is there with both our soda cups filled and his mountain of food removed from the tray. Our table is a buffet. Pizza, pudding, burger, fries, meatloaf, Jell-O, broccoli; I can’t believe how much food is sitting in front of us.

  “Do you always eat this much food?”

  “Yep, gotta carb up to keep up my strength. Coach is grinding us to get ready for the season. Plus, I figured I would be able to tempt you into helping me eat some of it,” he replies waving a French fry under my nose.

  Inhaling the salty, greasy scent, I can’t resist. I chomp down on the third wave pass my nose, nipping his finger. A moan slips out from my lips when the salty goodness hits my tongue.

  Laughing when I give in to the temptation he pushes the plate my direction, pausing when the moan leaves my lips. His tongue darts out to wet his plump bottom lip, my eyes following its path wondering if his lips are as soft as they look.

  Shaking his head, “See, I knew you didn’t just want a salad,” he gloats.

  * * *

  Kohl

  A salad. She just wants a salad and pudding. Who the fuck just wants to eat salad and pudding? Her description of the pudding is one of the most erotic things I have ever heard and sent the blood rushing south straight to my dick. She didn’t even realize what she’d said.

  I love the blush that stains her cheeks, it takes my thoughts straight to other ways I could warm her skin with my body rubbing along hers. I know she would taste so much better on my tongue than any chocolate pudding; unless she was offering to let me eat pudding off her body. Then it would be the best-tasting thing to hit my tongue.

  If she could see inside my brain, she would never speak to me again; or would she? Maybe she would be on board with my ‘I’m in lust with Tensanne Craig’ train of thought.

  Filling up my tray, I know I’ll be able to tempt her with some of this food. I will make sure that girl’s curves stay rockin’ if I have to feed her myself. I’m starving. Coach Turner has been kicking our asses at practice, our first game only two weeks away.

  A comfortable silence settles between us while we continue to eat our lunch. The comfort fades when she stops picking at her salad and grabs a pudding. Taking a heaping spoonful, she brings the tip of her wet pink tongue out to lick off little dollops of pudding, closing her eyes and humming her pleasure between each lick. I imagine her flicking my balls with that tongue while she strokes me with her hand. When her lips wrap around the spoon and she sucks the pudding into her mouth I have to divert my eyes to keep from exploding in my pants.

  Watching her eat is possibly the sexiest thing I have ever seen. Is she doing this on purpose? Does she have any idea how she is making the simple act of eating pudding like watching porn? I could pound nails with my dick right now. I could pound her right now, right here, on top of this table. I would push all this food off on the floor, except for the pudding, lay her body down on the flat surface, spread her legs, smother her pussy in chocolate pudding and take my time laving every nook and cranny finding out what makes her squirm and what makes her scream my name. I have to scoot my chair further under the table to hide the painful erection my thoughts have created currently pressing against the elastic edge of my basketball pants.

  She is so naïve, I know the answers to my questions. Her innocence is written plain as day all over her red, flushed cheeks.

  I’m in a trance; a ‘watching as Tensanne eats pudding’ trance. Resting my head on my hand I enjoy the exotic show.

  My trance fading when I see the spoon stop midway to her pink luscious lips. Her eyes widen and her hand begins to shake causing the pudding to tremor and fall off the spoon onto the table.

  Her body jerks up, slamming her chair back, “Thank you for lunch. I-I gotta go,” she says. Grabbing her bag and running out of the cafeteria before I can mutter one word to ask what’s going on.

  Then I hear him.

  “Hey, Ten, did you leave any food for the rest of us?” Chase laughs walking into the room.

  Fucking Chase Masters.

  Hanging on the chair where she was sitting is her coat. It’s thirty degrees outside, she’s only wearing a t-shirt, my t-shirt. She’s going to freeze. Throwing everything on the tray, I rush to dump it on the conveyor belt to the kitchen. Grabbing her coat, I jog to the door.

  Grabbing my arm, “Where are you rushing to, Black?” Chase asks, eyeing the coat in my hands. “Is that Ten’s coat? Were you here with her? Getting your fat girl fix?” he says, jerking her coat from my hands, holding it to his nose breathing in deep. “Damn she’s fat and ugly but fuck she smells good. Cover her head, leave the tits and pussy open and I just might be able to fuck her without puking,” he jokes to his buddies behind him.

  Firing rage burns along my neck, down my arms to my hands that are clenched tightly in fists itching to shut his mouth by knocking his tee
th out. I can’t hit him, the coach would throw me off the team. Without basketball, I lose my scholarship which means I lose my chance at a college degree. I must swallow the wrath, save it for later when I can work it out in the weight room. If I start hitting him now I won’t stop until he’s unable to talk.

  Ripping it back from his hands, “Fuck you, Masters. I don’t have time for your stupid hateful shit. Leave Tensanne alone,” fuming I race toward the door.

  “Awe, does Kohl have a crush on the fat chick? Want to get a little more cushin’ for the pushin’? If I couldn’t get those legs to open, there’s no way she’ll open them for you.”

  Stopping in my tracks, I spin to face him. Shaking from the fury pumping through my veins. “Just leave her alone and keep your fucking hands to yourself or we’ll see how well you play with a broken hand.”

  Stepping up so were nose to nose, “You ain’t got the balls to take me out, Black. You wouldn’t risk your poor boy scholarship for that, for a fatty.”

  Lowering my voice so that only he can here, through a malicious smile, “Accidents happen on the court all the time and you don’t know what I would risk for her. You don’t know anything beyond your own ego. It would be horrible if you tripped and landed on it wrong. Broken fingers, perhaps a sprained ankle, you never know when your feet will get tangled up with another player or take an elbow to the nose. Leave her the hell alone. You’ve done enough; we all know you sent out that photo. Would suck if the cops found out, huh?”

  “I don’t know what your yapping about, Black. I haven’t done anything, yet.”

  I don’t have time to continue fighting with him, Ten is out there in the freezing cold without a coat. Shoving past him, I rush out to track her down with his final comment repeating in my head. Letting Chase know how much he could get to me by using Tensanne was a huge mistake on my part but I couldn’t listen to his asshole mouth any longer.

  I run all the way to her dorm, following the route I’m sure she would take and I still haven’t seen her. Breathing the frigid air into my lungs releases most of the rage that built up from dealing with Chase. When I reach the door for her dorm, I must wait until someone leaves the building so I can get in without an access card. Shit, I don’t know what room is hers, I’ll have to ask someone. Once I get in, I feel like a slab of meat hanging on a hook when several sets of female eyes turn my way.

  It’s every college man’s fantasy. Women of every shape and size, hair color and nationality fill the room. They all know who I am, most know the reputation I have judging by the ogling looks they’re giving me. Only one woman is on my mind and I need help from these ladies to find her, turning on the charm I ask, “Could any of you beautiful ladies point me in the direction of Tensanne Craig’s room?”

  The bustling sounds of the room fall silent and all eyes on me widen. They all seem perplexed at the room I’m searching for. Finally, a stacked, curvy redhead tells me she’s in room 412 but not before stuffing her phone number in my hand while batting her eyelashes and giving me a lascivious grin.

  Thanking her, I rush to the stairs, taking them two at a time, tossing the wadded-up phone number on the floor, until I reach the fourth floor. Any other day I would have stayed and indulged in what her body language was offering me but today my focus in on one woman. Catching my breath, I knock lightly when I reach her door, a stunning blonde I’ve seen with Ten around campus greets me with a glare that contradicts her debutante features.

  “Ten, why is Kohl Black at our door holding your coat?” she inquires over her shoulder with a thick southern accent dripping with displeasure.

  Ten appears beside her, face windblown red with a thick white blanket wrapped around her shoulders her lips tinted a little blue and her body quaking from her walk in the cold.

  Anger infuses me once again knowing she risked freezing in her haste to escape Chase. “I tried to catch you, why did you leave so quick?” I ask fighting to keep my voice unaffected by my ire, knowing the reason but curious if she’ll tell me.

  Taking her coat from my hands, “Thanks for returning it. How did you know what room was mine?”

  She dodged the question. I can’t believe she would rather freeze walking across campus than to trust me to defend her. Proving this is only the beginning of the uphill battle I have ahead of me in building trust with her.

  “Some red head downstairs told me, but that doesn’t matter. It’s too cold to be out without being covered. Why did you run off ?” I’m not letting the question go. I’m too pissed at seeing her frozen body to let this slide, I want to climb inside the blanket, strip our clothes and warm her with my body heat instead.

  “I didn’t want you to have to deal with the fall out of being seen with me in front of Chase,” she sighs, burying her face in the blanket wrapped around her head.

  Grabbing her blanket wrapped hands, I pull her to me so our bodies are flush, I bend my knees so my eyes meet hers, “Don’t ever pull that shit again. I told you I wouldn’t have been there with you if I didn’t want to be. I can handle Chase Masters. Never run from him, don’t let him win. I promise you he won’t say anything in front of me; if he does, it’ll be the last thing he says for a while,” I state pecking her lightly on the forehead.

  Her breath catches, her eyes fill with tears prompting the blond to pull her from my hold. My body missing the feel of hers the second it’s gone.

  “Thanks for returning her coat, Kohl. May I speak to you in the hall for a minute?” she asks, “Ten, don’t you have to get ready for Advanced Chem class?”

  “Yes,” she nods turning her back to me, calls over her shoulder, “Thanks again for lunch and my jacket, Kohl.”

  Unsure if she is still going to meet me tonight but still hopeful, I ask, “I’ll still see you at eleven tonight, right?”

  The blond is giving me the evil eye when Ten nods her head yes. Despite the curse, her eyes are throwing at me I give myself a high five internally. I can’t stop the happy glee jumping around on my insides that reflects in the smile on my face. That smile fades when I meet the eyes of a tall blond with fire raging in her eyes, aimed right at me while she pulls the door shut.

  As soon as the door clicks, she shoves my shoulder pushing me backwards, “What in the sam-hellfire do you think you’re doing?” she spews.

  Scratching the back of my neck, staring off over her shoulder, I play dumb, “What do you mean?”

  “You know what the fuck I mean. Why are you with Ten and why are you asking to meet up with her?” Squaring her shoulders, steel grey eyes glaring hard at me, I know I can’t joke with her. If I stand a chance at becoming close to Ten, this furious chick is my way in; if I can get her approval it might put me one step closer.

  “I like her. I really like her,” I admit deciding honesty is the best way to go. “I want to get to know her better.”

  Squinting one eye at me, her lips pursed, I swear she’s digging into my brain with laser vision. “You like her?” she asks skeptically, “Why?”

  “Why? I don’t know. I’m drawn to her. She’s smart, like make you feel stupid in her presence smart, she seems like she would be fun if you could get her to loosen up some, she’s so magnetic and under all her shyness I think she’s full of sass. From the little time I’ve spent with her, I like her,” I say, crossing my arms and squaring my stance. I will not back down on this one, I want Tensanne and even though this woman is terrifying, in a send your balls away from your body kind of way, she is not going to scare me away.

  Her face softens at my words, “She’s been through hell so far this year, Kohl. I swear on my Mama’s banana pudding that if you do anything to hurt her or make it to where she wants to go home again, I will find you, castrate you and send your balls to Timbuktu.”

  “Hold it, what? What do you mean she was going to leave?” I ask, saddened that her world has gotten too rough and she wants to run from it.

  “Yes, she was just talking about taking satellite classes from home because she doesn�
��t want to deal with it all anymore. Do you realize she’s only seventeen years old? That whole viral photo really hurt her. Any plans you have of getting in her pants, you can let breeze right out of that thick jock head of yours. She’s not going to be your new plaything.”

  “I want to be her friend,” I lie, there is no way I’m letting her know how much I really want to touch her best friend. I have no intentions of making her my “plaything”, if, no—when I get to touch Tensanne and feed this need inside me, one touch will never be enough.

  “Just know I’m watching,” she says moving two fingers in the shape of a ‘v’ back and forth from her eyes to mine. “Remember what I said. If your intentions are anything but pure you need to walk the fuck away right now. DO NOT HURT HER,” she commands, going back in the room slamming the door in my face.

  Smiling to myself while I leave the dorm because I faced the first battle of being friends with Ten and I won, sort of. Now I can’t wait until eleven o’clock tonight so I get to spend some more time with Tensanne Craig.

  Chapter Eight

  Does anyone really care how much wood could a wood chuck, chuck or if Sally really sells seashells by the seashore? Then why the hell do we keep asking?

  —Tensanne’s rambling

  Tensanne

  FLUTTERING AROUND THE room grabbing my supplies for Chem class, Ronnie comes back in from her talk with Kohl with a satisfied grin.

  “What was that all about?” I ask.

  “Just making sure his intentions were pure. Insuring he wasn’t trying to get something he shouldn’t and I may or may not have threatened to send his balls to Timbuktu if he did anything stupid.”

  “I’m not sure if I should thank you or be angry. I’ll go with a shoulder shrug and head to class. Do you think he really likes me?” I ask, fidgeting with the edge of my shirt.

  “I don’t like that goofy grin you have right now. Stop the crush you have forming. From what I have heard and from talking to him, he seems like a good guy but he has a reputation of love them and leave them. Tread lightly, question everything, use your head and keep any emotions hidden,” she tells me. “You want to meet up for dinner after class?”