Let's Swing

by Piquette Fontaine

“I have plenty of friends, I just don't need to see them all the time. Sometimes I like time alone. To collect my thoughts.”

  “Thoughts about how you're doing so well at doing nothing?”

  “Something like that.”

  “So why did you choose English Lit of all subjects?”

  “Figured it'd be the easiest one to get a pass through. Any books I can get the cliff notes for online, or watch a movie if there's an adaptation, and I've always been good at writing essays without studying much for them. Leaves me more time to ponder the imponderables of the universe,” Chelle said in a self-deprecating tone. “Why did you take it?”

  “Well,” Janie said, taking a deep breath, “I always liked reading in high school. I just love being taken away into another world by an author. And I love how you can feel connected with someone even if they've been dead for years, just through their writing. It's like they've left a little piece of themselves behind and sometimes, you know, it got lonely back at home and it was nice to read things and realize that people felt the same way as I did. And my career adviser at college told me that I should study something that would lead to a career but I've always hated that way of thinking. I don't really know what I want to be or do, and I wanted to study something that I'd actually be interested in, sort of learning for learning's sake rather than as a stepping stone to something else. Maybe I'll regret it in the future but right now it feels like the right thing to do. And of course, a part of me wants to be a writer, but then I guess everyone does at some point of their lives.”

  “What would you write about?”

  “I don't know, I guess...whatever came to mind. I suppose I want to read more so that I know what sort of things to write about.”

  “Ah, one of those writers, the ones who never write a word.”

  “Well, maybe,” Janie said, and almost squirmed in her seat. There was something about Chelle that made Janie feel inferior, as if she was pretending to be something that she wasn't, and Chelle wasn't buying any of it.

  “You're a bit of a cliché aren't you,” Chelle said, “but that's okay, you're only young, there's time for you to discover who you are.”

  “You speak as though you're so much older than me. We're the same age, right?”

  Chelle's eyes flickered and a strange expression came across her face for a moment, but only for a moment, and Janie didn't notice.

  “Give or take a few months probably,” she said. Conversation lulled while the rest of the bar was lively. Janie looked around. The evening wasn't going as smoothly as she had planned. Chelle seemed to be troubled, and everything Janie said was met with a sneering comment. Chelle acted as though she knew much more than Janie, and although Janie had lived in a farm town all her life she wasn't as naive as Chelle seemed to think.

  “Anyway, I don't care if I'm a cliché or not, but at least I'm not here to waste time,” Janie said.

  “Look, I don't know who you are but I don't need you judging me. I get enough of that at home. You were the one who came up to me and if you want to be friends then fine, you're not that bad but I've got my reasons for being here and you've got yours, so let's just agree to disagree on the benefits of college,” she said sternly. Janie was silenced, and again they remained sitting with a cone of quiet around them while everyone else seemed to be having fun. Was it just Janie's perception or was everyone else having a better time of it? She wasn't sure, but one thing was certain, she wanted something to change because right now college was turning out to be a big disappointment.

  At one point a couple of guys came up to them, they looked nervous, and Janie's heart pounded inside because nothing like this had ever happened to her before.

  “Can we get you a drink?” one of them asked. They seemed nice enough, and had pleasant smiles, but before Janie could reply Chelle was already rolling her eyes at them.

  “Move along guys, nothing to see here, we're not looking for any company tonight,” she said, and they moved along with looks of disappointment on their faces.

  “What did you do that for?” Janie asked, looking at the two guys as they moved away to another part of the bar.

  “Really? Those guys?” Chelle asked, shaking her head.

  “We could have at least talked to them, there's no harm in that. Did you not here the part where I said that I wanted to make some new friends?”

  “Friends are pointless, you either want someone to screw or someone to love, that's it. Don't waste your time on those loser.”

  “What is your problem? Seriously? They were just a couple of guys. Isn't the whole point of college to meet new people?”

  “If you want to go and talk to them now be my guest, I'm not stopping you,” Chelle said. Janie looked back at the guys again. They'd already started talking to a couple of other girls, and Janie didn't have the confidence to go and interrupt them. Instead, she slumped down in her chair and shot daggers at Chelle with her eyes.

  “Thought so,” Chelle added.

  Janie sighed and looked up at the ceiling. This was quickly becoming a waste of time and she wondered if anything at college would ever go the way she wanted. The one person she picked was the most unsociable, irascible person on the whole campus. Just her luck, she mused. She was about to cut her losses and leave Chelle to her own brand of misery when Chelle said something that made Janie's body stand rigid with tension.

  “I saw the way you were looking at him by the way.”

  “What...what do you mean.” Janie said, trying to keep her voice casual. She brushed her hair around the back of her ears and gulped.

  “Don't try and play coy, you and the professor. Mr. Logan. It's perfectly understandable he certainly has some...desirable traits. Be careful though, getting involved with a professor is a dangerous thing, especially for such a good girl like you,” she said, teasing Janie with her words.

  “I wasn't...I mean...I'm not going to get involved I just...you know, I liked the way he looked...that's all.”

  “Mmm, that's all, well, you never know what's going to happen in the future, but I guess that's one way of getting the unexpected to happen.”

  Soon after that Janie left, feeling like she wasn't going to get anything else out of Chelle. She left the young woman ordering another drink and sitting alone. Janie felt pity for her, but it was obviously her choice to want to be alone, so in a way Janie envied her as well. At that moment Janie didn't want to be alone and she didn't want to be happy being alone. She went back to her room and was pleased to see that her roommate had cleared out, so she crawled into bed and tried to get some sleep. The first day was over, and although it hadn't been perfect at least she could say that she had made a...well, perhaps Chelle wasn't a friend, but at least she knew someone that she hadn't known when she had woken up that morning. And who knew what the next day would bring?

  Chapter Three

  This time she was ready on time and made her way to class without being late. She said hi to Chelle, who was sitting in the same place, but Chelle was evidently a girl of few words, and barely grunted at her. Janie made more of an effort to pay attention in class this time, but she still found her attention wandering thanks to Mr. Logan's irresistible charisma. At the end of the lesson, while Janie was packing up her things, Chelle pushed past her again and walked down to the front. Janie noticed that she went up to the professor and engaged him in conversation. Jealously flushed through her heart at how effortlessly Chelle spoke with him, for Janie knew that if she tried she would stammer nervously like a little schoolgirl. But then Janie noticed both of them looking at her, and her face flushed a deep crimson. She quickly made her way out of the lecture hall, her mind racing with wild thoughts about what Chelle could have been talking to him about.

  What on earth could she mention? The only thing Janie could think was her crush on him, and if that was the case then Janie would die of embarrassment. And why would Chelle even say that in the first place? Did Janie really annoy her that much? Perhaps it was all just a coincid
ence and they just happened to look at her...but no, Janie couldn't believe that for a second. Something was up, and Janie was determined to know what it was.

  In between her classes she looked all over campus for the rest of the day, searching for Chelle, but she didn't find her. She returned to the bar but still there was no sign of her, and it wasn't until late in the evening when she figured she should give up. Her room had been taken over by her roommate again, so she wandered around the grounds of the campus, enjoying the fresh night air. The full moon beamed a silvery glow down around the campus, and it reminded her of the nights when she walked out into the fields and stared at the stars. For all her wish to escape her home there were some things that she missed dearly, and the night sky was one of them. Being in a city there was more light pollution, and when she looked up at the twilight blanket she was saddened to see so fewer stars. With a sigh she walked through the path until she realized that she was alone. Sounds of parties could be heard in the distance and it was just another reminder that she was alone. Perhaps no matter where she went it was simply her destiny to be alone, she pondered, and resigned herself to her fate.

  While she was walking she heard a sound in the darkness. She thought it was footsteps but they seemed softer, and there was no-one else around. Chill crept down her spine as she peered into the darkness for any clue or sign that someone was following here. Then she heard the sound again, a faint rustling. It must be an animal, she said, hoping to placate her nerves, but they swelled up within her and every movement felt like it took a herculean effort. Her throat ran dry and her heart pounded inside her chest as she ventured away from the path and into the darkness.

  “Hello?” she called out in a harsh whisper, and was met with no response. There was nothing but black around, and her insides twisted. She felt like she should run back to the safety of the campus but it didn't matter anymore. If someone was out there they would strike before she could run back, and nobody would miss her.

  There was a rustling again, and she moved past soft leaves. The night air smelled sweet as she moved further away from the campus, until it was there. She looked at it, a huge bear standing in the middle of a clearing. Janie froze and stared at it, holding her breath. She wondered if the bear had seen her, and if there was still a chance for her to move away, and hoped that its hearing wasn't good enough to listen to the furious beating of her heart.

  Then the bear's head turned and its beady black eyes looked at her. Janie gasped, and it was in this moment that her primal urges took over and she turned tail and fled. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her but behind her was the hunter, the bear, it had seen its quarry and it wasn't about to let it slip away. Janie heard its heavy paws thud against the ground as its powerful legs carried it onto her. She felt its claws scrape against her back as it beat her to the ground, and she rolled around, feeling the taste of dirt in her mouth.

  Janie ended up on her back, looking up at the bear, which lumbered over her. She pleaded to no-one for help and tears streamed down her face, for she was sure that that was the moment in which her life was going to end. All it would take was one blow from the bear's hefty paw to rip her head off, or for its sharp teeth to clamp down and tear the skin from her body it end it all, but in the end the bear did neither. Surprisingly it bent down and licked Janie's face. She felt its warm, scratchy tongue pass over her and almost passed out due to the wave of relief. Adrenalin was surging through her body and her chest was heaving. Her lips trembled and she thought she was going to faint as the bear scooped her up and carried her away...

  It was a long journey, and Janie held onto the fur tightly as the bear took her to its lair. She tried to keep track of landmarks so that she knew where she was going but the area was still unfamiliar to her, and everything looked different at night anyway. At first she tried to struggle but there was no hope of escape, so in the end she surrendered and let her body go limp, hoping to save her strength so that when an opportunity to escape did present itself she was ready to take advantage of it.

  The bear took her to a cabin and pushed her down on the porch. It seemed to gesture for her to go in, but surely it couldn't be that intelligent?

  The cabin was furnished and Janie took a seat, curling her legs up into her body and sitting in the corner, for she was trembling with fear. The other bear prowled around the door and then disappeared. Janie continued to rock in the corner, too afraid to do anything but sit there, with a millions thoughts racing through her mind. Eventually her breathing returned to normal and she was able to think a little more clearly. The bear seemed to have left, and she saw an opportunity to leave the cabin. Janie slowly moved, taking care not to make any noise, just in case the bear could hear her. She crept along the floor. Each step seemed to take an eternity, until finally she was at the threshold. But then a great, huge, monstrous bear bound up the porch and roared. Its bellow almost made Janie's ear drums burst and she quivered in fear, and ran back into the house, where she stayed for the rest of the night.

  In the morning she looked at the door. The two bears were there, and then she saw something amazing happen. Before her eyes they yelped in pain and their bodies twisted. They reached out their paws, and it looked like a horrible transformation but she couldn't look away, and she couldn't believe her eyes because the bears turned into Chelle and Mr. Logan. As soon as they changed they came inside and locked the door behind them. They were both naked, and Chelle pulled some loose clothes so they could get dressed. Janie looked at them and backed against the wall.

  “I thought you said you were looking for the unexpected,” Chelle said, and flashed a wicked smile at Janie.

  Chapter Four

  Janie was staring at them.

  “What's going on?” she asked. Mr. Logan walked forward. Janie stared at his impossible physique, and wished that the short cloth covering his groin wasn't there. She gulped, for she was overwhelmed with the force of his charisma, and his sheer masculine energy filled the room and intoxicated her. When he spoke her knees went weak and she felt a twitching sensation in between her legs. She licked her lips and her eyes darted between the two of them, but Chelle offered no aid.

  “It's quite simple. Chelle came to me and told me about you. As you can see, we are outcasts too and it's difficult to connect with other people. Perhaps it is not something you want to face but we have looked for someone else to join with us, someone who knows that pain of being alone, someone who wants to be shown a new world. Chelle recommended you, indeed, you made an impression on me the first time you entered my class. I watched you watching me, and I was struck by the pureness of your beauty.” As he said this he came up to her and caressed her cheek with the outside of his finger. Just the slight touch was enough to send a spark of arousal swimming inside her.

  “But you're...bears?” Janie asked.

  “Every full moon,” Chelle said, and came to stand by Logan, “but the real fun is the day after because we get ravenous and being an animal for that long just brings our passion to the surface and we need someone to join us. We need you.” She turned to face Janie, and then looked back up at Mr. Logan. He slid his arm around Chelle's waist and then pulled her into him for a deep, long kiss. Janie's mouth fell open, both in jealous and disbelief that her fantasy could come true, although it wasn't how she pictured. But being away from the campus and all the misery there didn't feel wrong. In fact, being with the two of them and sharing their secret made Janie feel like she was a part of something bigger than herself. It made her feel like she belonged.

  Chelle licked her lips and smiled at Janie as she bent down and crawled towards her. Being so close, Janie could breathe in Chelle's sweet scent. They locked eyes, and Chelle moved tentatively forward. Janie had never kissed a girl before but there was something about the moment and something about Chelle that she simply couldn't resist. When their lips touched a fire was sparked inside Janie that changed the way she looked at everything. The first kiss was gentle and tender, but then Chelle p
ressed more firmly. Her hand came running through Janie's hair and her hot breath washed over Janie's lips. Chelle's tongue darted out and playfully found Janie's. Janie soon got used to the new sensations flooding through her body and kissed back, allowing her body to melt into Chelle's. Her hands moved around the other girl's curves, feeling the loose top give way. Her fingers found warm, smooth flesh as she closed her eyes and gave herself to the sweet bliss of lust.

  They were only interrupted when they heard Mr. Logan growl with delight at seeing his two girls make out. Chelle giggled, and Janie looked a little embarrassed as the kiss ended.

  “Are you two ready for some fun?” he asked.

  “I...I've never um, you know...” Janie said, feeling like she had to make them aware of that.

  “We know, Mr. Logan said, and held out his hand. “Good noses,” he joked, and then pulled Janie up. He quickly undressed her and then kissed her deeply, placing his strong hands around her head. The blaze of passion spread through her body like wildfire and her hands pressed against his taut, sinewy torso. Her fingers ran through his chest hair as she felt the force of his kiss. He then snapped his fingers and Chelle walked towards him on her knees. She reached around and pulled away the loose cloth, unleashing his thick, hard, throbbing erection. Janie gasped.