At first, they talked about trains, and then they talked about Linterna. Michelle had been to Jefferson University earlier in the year, to visit a Pine Hills graduate from a previous year. He asked her if she’d applied there, and she said she had not.
“I’m not going to college next year,” she said. “If I go to college, it’ll have to be a state school, and I’d have to move there. I’m not ready to move out of Pine Hills.”
“So what will you do next year?”
“Work. My sister works at Macy’s… she says they’ll hire me. I’ll just work and live at home. I need to think more about what I want to do with my life before I go to college.”
Charlie looked out the window as the train passed a herd of black horses in an enclosure. “I’ll probably live at home, too. I’ll probably take this train every day to Jefferson and back. I’ll get used to this ride.” He added, “If I get in, I mean.”
“Right.” She smiled.
They passed through the small towns that lay between Pine Hills and Linterna, each of them with their own stop. A few people got off, but more got on, and the train gradually filled up, until every seat was taken and a few people stood in the aisles.
Finally, the tinny recorded voice on the speaker announced, “Next stop, Campus Road, Jefferson University. Repeat, next stop, Campus Road, Jefferson University.”
Charlie and Michelle waited until the train slowed to a stop, then made their way down the aisle to the doors. They stepped out onto the platform. Across the street from the train station, Charlie could see the small shopping area called The Village, a maze of cafes, boutique clothing stores and bohemian craft shops that lay just across from the Jefferson campus. Charlie checked his phone for the time. It said 1:40.
“Jefferson is a few blocks that way, on the other side of the stores,” he told Michelle. “I need to get over there and find the film department. Do you want to hang out here, and we’ll meet afterwards?”
“Okay. Where do you want to meet?”
“I’ll text you when I’m done. Shouldn’t be longer than half an hour. Just let me know where you are, and I’ll find you.”
“Okay.”
They walked across the street. At the corner, Michelle wished him good luck and told him to not be nervous. She turned left into The Village while Charlie continued walking straight. He turned his head and watched her as she walked away.
He picked up a map of the campus at the security station, which wasn’t entirely necessary, since the night before he’d found the film department on the same map on the school’s website. But he was glad to have the map in hand, just in case. He walked through the campus at a brisk pace. Even though he was on schedule to get there ten minutes early, he still worried that an unforeseen event would delay him.
He found the film department building. The door to the building was propped ajar, and inside he found an empty waiting area. An ink board was set up on an easel, and he read his name written in large letters: CHARLIE TUCKER, 2 PM. Below his name, he read other names, for interview appointments after his. He didn’t see where else to go, so he sat and waited.
At around 1:59 PM, a thin boy with dirty blonde hair in a ponytail and horn-rimmed glasses came out into the waiting area. He was followed by a pretty woman with long dark hair. The woman smiled at Charlie. “Charlie Tucker?” she asked.
“Yes.”
She offered her hand, and he shook it. “Harriet Behzadi,” she introduced herself. “Associate professor of film. Will you follow me? Do you have your stuff?”
Charlie followed her into a room with a computer hooked up to a large monitor. A man with short hair and glasses waited there. He introduced himself as Brent Greene. Charlie took the seat they offered him, and Harriet also sat.
They spent the first ten minutes asking Charlie the usual questions. What career goals did he have? Why was he interested in the Apex program? Who did he consider to be his influences? Charlie answered each question carefully, but he couldn’t tell how he was doing. Brent smiled and nodded encouragingly at everything he said, almost like it was a habit. Harriet, on the other hand, looked very serious, her face an impenetrable mask.
“Let’s see what you’ve got,” Brent said. Charlie attached his portable drive to the computer. He went to the drive and launched his editing reel.
They watched for a minute. “You like sports?” Brent asked as the monitor played a portion of a basketball game, which Charlie had edited together from the footage of four cameras.
“I like the way it edits together,” Charlie said. “I’m not really a fan of any particular team.”
They watched some other events he’d edited together: an awards assembly; a pep rally; a football game. Afterwards, Charlie showed them a short film from his Video II class called “The Chase”, which involved a police officer chasing a fugitive through a park. (Charlie played the police officer and Greg played the fugitive.)
“I can see you have a good technical understanding of film, Charlie,” Harriet said. “Everything you’ve shown us demonstrates you know how to use a camera and you know how to edit. But I’m wondering if you have anything that shows more of your artistic side?”
“Artistic side?”
“Yes. This film of yours, it’s not so different from your sports edits, right? It’s basically a well-shot and well-edited action sequence. I wonder if you have something that shows more of your range… something with more depth.”
Charlie went to the main directory of his drive. Something with more depth? He had basketball games, football games, track meets, assemblies. He had his work from his Video classes, but most of those weren’t much more than class exercises. “The Chase” was the best one, and he had to concede her point, it was more technical than artistic.
He noticed a file on the drive. “Uh…I do have this project I’ve been working on… for my… ah… girlfriend. A gift for her, a graduation gift. It’s kind of the story of her high school experience.”
“Okay, let’s see it,” Harriet said.
Charlie prayed he wasn’t making a huge mistake. He moved the mouse to the file “MICHPROJ” and launched it.
On the monitor, Michelle’s face appeared.
***
When the video ended, Harriet was smiling. “Oh, that was beautiful,” she said. “Your girlfriend is really going to love it.”
“Nice work,” Brent said. “Great transitions, great use of music. Some interesting choices, but they all worked.”
“It has a lot of emotional resonance,” Harriet said. “I can tell you really put your heart into it.”
“Thank you,” Charlie said.
Brent looked at the clock. “We’ve gone a bit over. We’re going to have to cut it off here. Thanks for coming in, Charlie. We’ll be letting everyone know what we’ve decided in a couple weeks.”
“Thank you,” Charlie said again. He stood and disconnected his drive, stowing it back in his bag. When he was ready, Harriet walked with him back to the waiting area.
To his surprise, Michelle sat in a chair waiting for him. A short-haired girl with purple hair also waited, presumably the next interview. “Oh!” Harriet’s face lit up. “You didn’t tell me she came with you!”
“Yes,” Charlie said. “This is Michelle.”
“Glad to meet you, Michelle.” Harriet beamed. She shook Charlie’s hand one last time. “See you later, Charlie.” As Michelle stood, Harriet spoke to the purple-haired girl, inviting her into the room that Charlie had just left.
“What was that about?” Michelle asked as they left the building.
“You didn’t go shopping?”
“I did… for a little bit… but then I decided I’d rather wait for you. Did that woman recognize me? It seemed like she did…”
“Um…” Charlie considered what to say, then decided to just tell the truth. “I showed them a little project I’ve been working on. They asked to see something more artistic… Um… anyway
s, It’s kind of meant to be a gift for you, and they watched it.”
“Really?” Michelle was delighted. “A gift for me? You made me a video?”
“Yeah…”
“Oh, I want to see it! Can I watch it?”
Charlie looked away, embarrassed. “No! I mean, not yet. It’s not really done.”
“Okay!” Michelle leaned in close to him, looping her arm around his. “I can wait. But I really want to see it.” She pressed against his side, and the subtle scent of her perfume made him feel like he was walking through a garden of blooming flowers. They made their way back towards The Village, to find someplace to have a late lunch.
***
By the time they stood again on the platform, waiting for the train back to Pine Hills, the sun cast an orange glow on the faces of the waiting passengers, and Charlie knew it would be dark when they finally reached their destination.
“Thanks again for lunch,” Michelle murmured from beside him. “And for my pin.” She’d attached the silver butterfly pin to the lapel of her jacket as soon as he’d bought it for her. It was something that had caught her eye while they browsed through a few of the shops after leaving the restaurant.
“You came all this way with me,” Charlie said. “The least I could do is buy you lunch.”
The train pulled up to the platform and the doors opened. Charlie could see through the windows that this train would be more crowded than the train earlier in the afternoon. As they stepped into the train car, Charlie looked for a spot where they could sit together, but didn’t see anything. Michelle ended up next to an old man wearing thick glasses, and Charlie sat across the aisle next to a large sleeping woman in an overcoat. At least they sat next to each other, just with the aisle cutting between them.
At first, some of the passengers had to stand, and one man moved to stand in the aisle directly between them. A seat opened up at the next stop, and the man sat, so that Charlie could see Michelle again. He smiled at her, but it was still difficult to have a conversation across the aisle, when people kept walking between them. Night fell, and soon the windows of the train only showed darkness outside.
The old man sitting next to Michelle stood to leave, and she stood up as well to let him out. Charlie thought they would finally be able to sit together, but Michelle didn’t return to her seat; instead, she took hold of the strap that hung just over Charlie’s seat and stood right next to him. Charlie looked up at her, confused. He considered offering his seat to her, but why would she take it when she had a perfectly good empty seat behind her?
The train started to move, and she swayed with the motion, her leg bumping against his hand. He gazed thoughtfully at the hem of her dress, which stopped just above her knees. Was it coincidence that she was positioned so that the bare skin of her leg kept touching his hand? He looked up at her, but she kept her eyes towards the front of the train. Again, her leg bumped his hand.
Charlie could hear the low snore of the woman next to him, deep in slumber, paying no attention. He adjusted his arm, letting it fall loose by his side, so that the back of his fingers pressed just above Michelle’s right knee. She didn’t step away or even look down. She kept her eyes towards the front of the train, as if she didn’t even notice his touch.
Charlie felt his pulse accelerating. He began to move his finger against Michelle’s leg, stroking the smooth skin above her knee. He remembered her standing naked in front of him, that first Saturday, and how she had rubbed her hand again and again over this same spot on her leg, as if feeling for pants that weren’t there. Such beautiful long legs, so smooth, so velvety soft.
Slowly, his hand rose, a little bit higher with each stroke, creeping up her leg, moving further under her dress. He peeked up at her, but she still pretended as if nothing was happening. She carefully avoided looking down at him, even as his hand stroked her upper thigh.
His fingers found the edge of her panties crossing over her hip. He traced his index finger along this line, back and forth, back and forth, each time going a little bit further, moving closer and closer to her inner thigh.
Michelle shifted slightly, widening her stance. She still had her eyes pointed towards the front of the train.
Charlie could feel the warmth radiating from between her legs. His fingers skated over the middle of her silky panties, crossing from one leg to the other, then back again. He brought three fingers between her legs, lightly stroking her across the bottom of her panties. The fabric felt perfectly smooth at first, but as he explored closer, he thought he could feel the outline of her labia underneath the silk. He peeked up at her again, and aside from nibbling on her bottom lip, she looked completely nonchalant. No one would have known by looking at her that he had a hand up her dress tracing the line of her pussy through her panties.
The train slowed for the next stop, and Charlie quickly withdrew his hand. A few passengers rose from their seats to leave. Charlie took the opportunity to stretch up and check the remaining passengers. Only a handful remained in their car: the sleeping woman next to Charlie; a short-haired woman in a leather jacket who was wearing giant headphones; an old black man whose eyes sagged halfway down, as if he was on the verge of passing out; two Indian women towards the back wearing nurse trainee uniforms.
The train started moving again. Charlie gazed at Michelle’s yellow dress. He wondered if she wore a pair of matching yellow panties. So far he had felt the silky fabric of her panties, but hadn’t actually seen them. He glanced up and found that she was looking directly down at him. She had the hint of a smile on her lips and her eyes were twinkling. It was a mischievous look, a playful look. A look that asked, “What will you do now?”
Charlie returned his gaze to her dress. If he wanted to know the color of her panties, then why not simply look? He caught the hem of the dress and wound it around his finger, hiking the dress up, exposing her long legs inch by inch. Finally, he had it high enough that he could see where her legs converged, her panties a triangle of chaste white.
He held the dress at her belly with one hand while his other hand stroked the surface of those panties, following the curve down between her legs, tracing the crevice of her pussy. He pushed against the middle of the cloth experimentally, feeling it give underneath, and he knew that if he tore a tiny hole in her panties right there, he could probably sink his finger into her up to the second knuckle.
Charlie could see a nervous flush on Michelle’s face as he stroked her. He could tell it made her anxious to be so exposed, but he also knew she wasn’t going to ask him to stop. He removed his hand from between her legs and beckoned her to lean down. When Michelle complied, lowering her face to his, Charlie stretched up and kissed her lips. While they kissed, he slid his hand down the front of her panties and cupped her pussy. She let out a moan, continuing to kiss him while his fingers pushed inside her. She was very wet, and his fingers slid in easily.
The recorded voice over the speakers announced the next stop. Charlie pulled away from kissing Michelle, but continued to finger her inside her panties. As the train started to slow, Charlie could see out of the corner of his eye that the two Indian women in the back gathered their belongings. He pulled his hand out of Michelle’s panties, but then on a whim caught the sides of the panties and tugged them down her hips. Michelle obediently brought her legs closer together so he could slide her panties all the way down to her boots, then she daintily stepped out of them, nudging them to the side with her toe. Charlie glanced at the discarded garment on the floor of the train but didn’t make a move to pick it up.
The train stopped and the two Indian women walked past Michelle on their way to the door. Charlie couldn’t tell if they noticed the pair of panties in the middle of the aisle. If they did, they didn’t say anything.
The Indian women stepped off the train and no one boarded. After a minute, the train started moving again. Charlie reached down for his bag and brought it up to his lap. He unzipped the main compartment and rumma
ged around inside for a few seconds before finding what he was looking for. He carefully extracted a cylindrical device. Michelle’s vibrator. When he showed it to her, her mouth was in the shape of an ‘O’.
“Did you ever wonder where this went?”
“Um… kind of…” She looked very flustered, eyeing the device nervously.
He hiked up her dress again, exposing her bare pussy. “I have some of your clothes, too,” he told her as he pushed the vibrator into her. “Don’t forget to get them from me when we get to Pine Hills.”
“Ah!….”
“Does that feel good? When I move it in and out like this?”
“Ah… ahh….”
“I’m not sure how to turn it on, though. Will you turn it on for me?”
Michelle looked very agitated now, and her hand trembled as she reached down and fumbled with the vibrator. It started to buzz. She clutched the strap above her head as Charlie began to move the vibrator against her clit.
“Oh! It’s so loud…” she whispered.
“Too loud?”
“Uh huh…”
“Well, this woman here is asleep. That other woman in the front is wearing headphones, she’s not even paying attention. What about the guy behind us? Can he hear the buzzing?”
Michelle glanced that way, then quickly glanced back. “Yes. He’s watching.”
Charlie looked over his shoulder. The old man was indeed looking in their direction, but he was blinking blearily, as if not sure what he was seeing. “I think he’s drunk,” Charlie murmured.
“Still… he’s watching…”
“He is. I’m pretty sure he can see everything.” Charlie pushed the vibrator into her. “Hey, listen. It’s quieter when it’s all the way inside you.”
“Oh my god…”
“It won’t stay in by itself, though. Look, it’s sliding out.” Charlie caught it and pushed it in again.
Saturday Night School 2: Risky Behavior Page 5