The Ponytail Express

The Ponytail Express

A story about a guy with an MC ability to smell really good and the situations it brings.

Part 1: Study Habits

They met at The Node, a café in the Commons area of the University of Cantella Forks. Most of the stores were closed on Sunday so there was a minimum of foot traffic. Regardless, small pockets of students clustered in various areas, busily studying for the upcoming finals.

Few noticed the tall, slim 19-year-old stroll into the café. He purchased two burritos, a mocha with no whip cream, and a water. The Barista greeted him. “Hey man. You’ve been in here before, right?” The tall, slim man nodded. “You’re meeting Deb, right?” The Barista’s eyes widened with hope. Fred nodded a second time, requesting a coffee sleeve. “Hey buddy, you get out of the hospital, or are you a lab rat?”

“The second thing.” Fred forgot he still wore the medical bracelet from the clinical trials that began Friday and carried through the weekend. He had driven straight over and was both tired and relieved in equal measure. The weekend had been a series of several blood draws, and Fred had used the time to study for the upcoming trigonometry final. He found an out of the way booth, took the food out and waited about 30 seconds until she walked in.

Deborah Stallings was two months younger than Fred. She stood at 5’6″ and kept herself in great shape. She sported a pair of lightweight loose fit shorts that she clearly wore for comfort, a UCF “Go Cats” loose fitting sweatshirt that only slightly hid her 34-28-38 figure and a minimum of makeup, but she still got plenty of notice, in large part due to her amazing legs. Deb was a sports fanatic and was on the university swim team. Brown eyes and long blonde hair done in a ponytail framed a kind face. She wore an air of confidence like a suit that you go to work in every day.

Fred was thankful they had become friends; one of few he had made in his first year of college. The pair met first semester in abnormal psyche class. Fred noticed Deb was having a tough go of it, and they were table buddies, so he offered his help, and she had suggested they begin studying together. Second semester they found themselves in Trig, Fred’s nemesis class. Under Deb’s tutelage, he brought his grade up to a high B and with finals a week away he was poised for an A. The way Fred saw it, they had saved each other’s grade point average and had bonded over the experience.

Deb had been up front with Fred, instilling a “banter & business” arrangement. She was not really looking for a relationship in any case, instead preferring to excel in her classes. Fred was not too dejected with the arrangement but had decided the “Friend Zone” was better than the “No Zone”. One benefit of the current situation is that he noticed how competitive Deb was in her relationships. One of the rumors that Fred had a double verification on was that she knocked out a boyfriend that had gotten a bit too hands-y with her.

Deb spotted him and flashed a bright smile. “Freddy!” She saw the coffee and instantly melted, sliding into the booth across from Freddy after giving him a playful punch on his shoulder.

“Mmmmm, Caffeine.” She intoned in a low voice. She took a sip. “Extra shot of espresso?” She glanced at her cellphone and put it on the table, screen side facing up.

“To your specifications.” Freddy grinned, pulling hash browns and a burrito out of the bag. “There’s another egg and sausage burrito in there if you want it.”

She fixed him with a stare as her eyes narrowed. A smile danced on her lips. “You are the devil, sir. I give in to your temptation. By the way, thank you thank you thank you.”

“Anything for you, your egg-cellency.” Freddy pulled the second burrito from the bag and handed it to Deb. There was incidental contact, and if he was not so focused on his food, he might have noticed Deb’s eyes glaze over momentarily. For her part, she had gotten the faintest whiff of sandalwood. She took the top of the coffee cup off for better access to the coffee and the pair ate for a few minutes in silence. She responded to a few texts on her cell.

“So,” Freddy began between chews. “What’s on the agenda today?”

Deb considered more than the question itself as she enjoyed her burrito. She nodded. Freddy sensed a change in her behavior as she looked at him with intensity. She caught the faint scent of vanilla.

“I’m concerned about you, Freddy.” As he masticated, Deb took the floor. “The NireCue Institute says it only tests harmless drugs, but you don’t really know that for sure and you’ve been there a lot over this last semester. I know the money is good, but you do not need it. At some point you should prioritize health over finances.”

Fred was about to reply but she held a hand up.

“I have a great idea, Freddy. As you know, I am Captain for the Express. We need a scorekeeper and I think you would be great.”

He laughed. “Deb, let me address both of the things. One, the clinical trials are for medications that lower blood pressure. I can tell because I get a raging headache from the meds. I’m coming down from one right now as a matter of fact. It’s also going to be a couple of months until I can qualify for another trial, but I’ll hold off for a bit since it’s summer.” Deb’s lower lip extended in concern. “Second, you want me to keep score for your summer softball team.”

“Yes, I do. As you know, the city softball league has been at only seven teams for the last three years.” Fred nodded. Deb finished her coffee, licking her lips. She waved back to a collection of students at another table. “There used to be eight teams, but the Screaming Celts got into trouble during the Championship. The team got banned, then got dissolved.”

“Ever find out why?” Fred put his medical bracelet and the rest of the food refuse in the bag. As he reached across to put the remains of her meal in the bag, she noted the scent of vanilla with a hint of sandalwood.

“Hey Freddy, are you a cologne guy?”

“No, just straight soap and water at NireCue. Why, pray tell?” Fred was curious about the sudden change in subject.

Deb scrutinized the guy sitting across from her. She liked Fred and had been trying to get him to socialize more. He was a bit of an introvert and one of her projects over the last several months of school was to coax him out his shell. To that end, she was trying to set him up on dates. She had figured that getting him to agree to be scorekeeper of a woman’s softball team would be the ideal position for him to either sink or swim. She was concerned that he might be holding a torch for her but had communicated to him that she was not interested. The cologne smell, though incredibly nice, felt like a possible attempt to woo her. She had experienced a lot of that since she had blossomed into quite the beauty. She decided to take him at his word for now.

“Give me a ride back to the dorms?” She asked.

“No problem.” Came his reply.

In minutes, they were in Fred’s ride, a ’98 Dodge Dakota pickup. The smell of vanilla and sandalwood in the pickup was prevalent, but not overpowering. She responded to a few texts and began feeling relaxed and something else…

Arousal.

“Say Deb,” Fred began, and Deb jumped a little in response. “Tell me the rest of the story about the Screaming Celts incident.”

“I’ll tell you all I know.” She began, squirming a little in the seat. The story was a good thing to focus on as they drove.

“It had something to do with a fight during a party the night before the championship game. Some folks got hospitalized and the hotel they were staying got damaged. There was some legal action. No one did any serious jail time though. City politics got involved and it was a big enough deal that the pressure prompted the league to ban the team permanently and issue 2-year suspensions to everyone on the team, except Sheena Cassidy, the team captain. She got the only lifetime ban ever given. It is too bad because the Celts were a great team. They had a clean up hitter named Mia Ryan. She set the record for both home runs and RBIs in a season. I was 16 at the time and I saw some of their games. The league is still recovering from the incident. The whole league was almost shut down.”

Fred drove while Deb talked, listening intently. He noticed she had something of a glassy-eyed stare and seemed almost drunk. She looked like she was blushing, but also, she seemed like she was bothered about something. He filed it away but said nothing for the time being.

“Yikes. The story is missing some key specifics, but I get the point. Any of the suspended girls coming back this year?”

“Yes.” Deb answered. “Three of them, but not the one I want.”

“The one you want?” Fred pulled into the dorm parking lot and slowed, getting ready to drop her off. God, she was beautiful, he thought.

“Mia Ryan. I want to find her and get her on my team. It’s only a matter of time.” She looked at Fred. “Well thanks for the lift, Mr. Scorekeeper. You should come over later, we’ll study together.”

He nodded agreement. Deb leaned over to punch him affectionately on the shoulder but instead she found herself grabbing it and squeezing. Before Fred could respond she popped the door open.

“Freddy, are you sure you didn’t get a new cologne or soap?”

He gave her the same smile he had given many times before, but it was only now that her heart fluttered, her stomach bottomed out, and she shivered all in the same nanosecond.

“Still negative, ghost rider. I was thinking about getting some air freshener strips for the truck, though. Why?”

“Smells good.” She got out of the truck. “Come over this afternoon, 4pm.” It came out more insistent than she had intended, but she wanted him to show, simple as that. It was all she could do to not molest him in the truck.

“Since you put it that way, absolutely.” He spoke.

She walked quickly to her dorm; thankful she was the only occupant. She quickly straightened her room, then showered.

As the warm water cascaded over her toned body, her hand found it’s way between her legs. She began to fantasize that instead of getting out of the truck, she had unzipped Freddy’s pants and slowly and with great care, began sucking his cock. Deb was not surprised at all to find he tasted like a vanilla latte. Gradually, as she took him deeper into her mouth, she was rewarded with his quickening breath. She felt one of his hands caressing her hair gently. The other hand reached over her back, snaking under both her shorts and panties, caressing her ass before discovering how wet she was. His fingers began applying an easy yet insistent pressure before beginning to saw in and out of her folds, in and out rhythmically in time with her own ministrations to his manhood with her mouth. As she increased her pace, so too did he match her with his fingers perfectly. Her hips gyrated in little circles in response to Fred’s fingers, and soon she was deepthroating him and loving the sensation. So focused on giving the best the blowjob she could, she realized suddenly she had yet to make any eye contact with him. Suddenly the left hand that had been gentle grabbed her hair and pulled. Not suddenly, but with enough pain that she could feel. It was exquisite, urging her closer to her impending orgasm as her tongue circled around his cock.

“Take it all.” He groaned, and as the first rope of semen exploded down her throat, she came hard on Freddy’s hand, her hips spasming. With that, she was back in the shower, somehow managing to still stand, back against the shower stall door. After she came down from the unexpectedly intense orgasm, she turned off the water.

“What the hell?” Deb had her fantasies, but none as vivid or strong as the experience she had just had. Having given a few blowjobs, she had never liked them much. Her sexual fantasies had usually involved her being pleased, like threesomes with 2 guys, one with her high school principal and a policeman and several others with various people. In her fantasies, she was the user; never the used. Submission was not her thing.

This was something entirely different, and it involved Freddy, one of the most harmless guys she knew. She had grown to like him, but Deborah was looking for a driver, not a passenger. And Freddy, for all his positives, was a passenger. Things were different now, however; she had to admit her own feelings. She found herself worried that with this new phase of their relationship, could they still be friends? She considered calling and cancelling with him, but instead decided to text a friend of hers.

Deborah: Onvipa, you there? I need your help!

Onvipa: Always for you, beautiful D!

Deb: I am crushing on Freddy.

Onvipa: Mr Invisible? How did THAT happen?

Deb: It just happened. He drove me back from the Node and it just happened.

Onvipa: What did he do

Deb: He smiled at me?

Onvipa: D you need to get a grip

Deb: Constructive advice only, Onvi!

Onvipa: You like him?

Deb: Yeah. He’s nice.

Onvipa: Do you trust him?

Deb: Kinda

Onvipa: Then two options. Either you don’t trust him so you stop seeing him altogether,or you give him a chance to see if he’s on the up and up.

Deb: Thanks, Onvi! See you tomorrow morning in class?

Onvipa: See you D!

Deb spent the rest of the day in the dorm hall, talking to folks in the community lounge and utilizing the fitness room. The last hour she spent prepping for Fred. She had not felt this nervous since her first prom.

Fred decided to screw the elevator and took the stairs instead, bounding up two at a time. He was in good shape, but not what he would call “Deb shape”. Deb could probably run a marathon in a week whereas it would take him a few months of intense training to possibly be able to do it. Doing things like taking the stairs as well as regularly walking and eating well kept him in good shape.

“Cardio for the win.” He muttered. There were a few other people busy in the common area of the dorm, but they were subdued. As usual no one said hi to Fred…not that he minded. He was a little surprised that she was still in her room and not out with book in hand at one of the tables. He shrugged off the backpack and knocked on her door. She heard her say “Come in” and he felt a twinge of nervousness.

Her room was one of the few singles on the floors. They were usually reserved for Hall monitors and TA’s and such, but she somehow managed to fenagle one. As he came in there was an entry with a bathroom and shower, then another door that led into her room proper. That door was open and when he came inside, he wondered if this were impromptu, or if she had been attempting to make the place more romantic. Normal lights were off, and shades cracked enough to bring in a little natural light, but Fred caught the scent of lavender candles.

Everything else paled in comparison to her. She had changed into a coral blouse that showed off her figure nicely. The V neck showed off both her ample cleavage and part of her chest tattoo. It ran under her breasts and across her chest and over the last school year Fred had seen only subtle hints of it. Only now came the sudden realization that he might be seeing it in the next few minutes for reasons that escaped him. For the last year Deb hadn’t been the least bit attracted to him and now she was coming on to him hard.

“Welcome, Freddy. It’s limited space, but it should be good for studying.” She came up and hugged him. Fred was not usually the hugging type, but this was Deb, so he dropped his book bag and wrapped his arms around her. It began awkward for Fred, but she smelled heavenly and felt even better. As her body pressed up against his she breathed deeply. He felt the swell of her breasts and his cock sprang to life. She must have felt it too, which was probably why she pressed into it right before she gently pulled away.

“Yeah, it’s…nice…in here.” Fred stammered, watching Deb saunter seductively to a small reefer, bending over to pull out two bottles of water, showing off her firm ass. There was a one chair in the room, her trig book was open, and there were papers neatly stacked. Fred’s mouth was getting drier by the second.

“Should I have brought flowers?” He joked.

“Your trig homework should suffice.” She leaned up against her desk facing him, setting down his bottle while gesturing to the chair.”

“Take a seat, Freddy. Thank you for coming by. Our goal tonight is to bring you through some inverse trigonometric functions. You up for it?” She took a languid sip of water while casting a sultry look Fred’s way.

Fred had a lot of thoughts going on in his head, none of which involved leaving. He fished his trig book out of the backpack and brought it to the desk, sitting down. Deb used her side of the desk as a chair so she could sit and look directly down on Fred. She had a commanding view of his homework, and he had a commanding view of her tantalizing legs, which were at eye level.

“Let’s do this.” He answered. Fred was having trouble squaring the over-the-top romantic overtures with what he previously knew about Deb. Maybe it was a psychological trick to get him to focus? A way for her to let off steam, perhaps. How well did he really know her? Either way, he needed to study so that is what he was going to concentrate on. He pulled his laptop out of the bookbag and sat in the chair, setting up. He caught Deb eyeing the bulge in his pants as she took another sip of water and reminded himself for the tenth time that he needed to get an A on his trig final.

For the next hour, the pair buckled down, focusing on studies. Deb thought it was cute the way Freddy tried to play off her flirtations. She had to give him respect. Most guys would never have exercised the same restraint. She liked the fact he was there to study regardless of the vibe she was putting out. Fred had checked her out many times over the last year, but he had never been creepy or overt about it. He also wore the same cologne or soap he had earlier, and it gave her water a slightly vanilla flavor that she liked. As they went over problems together, she would brush up against his hand, or make some contact with his right arm with her leg, each contact bringing a low-grade jolt to her sex drive. She went to the bathroom once and realized she had begun sweating. She came back in and turned on the fan. She would surreptitiously lean in while showing him something and inhale Fred’s smell. It was turning her on and she found herself beginning to lose focus. She could see down his shirt; she had failed to notice how much extra muscle Freddy had put on during the school year. She decided he must have been working to improve himself like she’d advised him to do periodically. She began to think there was hope for Freddy yet.

She had tried setting him up with friends, but either they or he had rebuffed them. She remembered Onvipa Sakul, one of her better friends, thinking he was alright but was obviously held a torch for Deb. She had never seen him with either another woman or a man. He had either kept his romantic life private or didn’t have one. Then she caught the hint of sandalwood and decided what Freddy needed was a physical release. He needed to have an orgasm. God knew she needed to, and she was close as it was.

Fred looked at Deb’s alarm clock. It said 5:16pm. He had just finished his last equation and decided it was time to find out what was going on. He could tell Deb had been checking him out, and over the last several minutes he sensed she was getting ready to jump him. He was surprised to find out he was slightly annoyed. He had been interested in her no doubt all year long, but he had to give Deb respect; she had laid down ground rules right off the bat. The same ground rules she was in clear violation of at this very minute and for the last hour.

“Ok Deb, I want you to answer me truthfully. Tell me what’s going on.” In his annoyance, it came out as a command more than a question. Fred noticed Deb’s eyes go glassy before she spoke.

“I’m attracted to you,” she said, conversationally. It almost sounded like a question; like something she was struggling to come to grips with. “It happened this morning in that old truck on the way over. Maybe before then at the Node. I had a fantasy about you today in the shower after you dropped me off. It was the best sexual fantasy I ever had in my life. I don’t know how, and I don’t know why, but now I’m wondering.”

Seconds passed. Neither moved. Fred cleared his throat.

“Wondering what?” Fred asked, taking a healthy swig of water while looking at Deb, whose eyes were no longer glassy. She had horrified look on her face. Telling him that was something she obviously hadn’t wanted to do.

“Why I told you everything.” She stood up and looked down at Fred. There was a look of fear there.

A light clicked on in Fred’s brain. He decided to try something.

“Deb-”

“I think you should le-”

“Deb, calm down and be quiet for a moment.”

To both Fred and Deb’s surprise, she stopped talking and seemed to relax. She slightly arched her back and her shoulders slumped a bit. Fred could tell she was trying to say something but could not. She was also too relaxed to panic.

“Deb, take deep, cleansing breaths and mentally count to ten.”

She began to, much to Fred’s amazement. She was obeying him. As she did, she seemed to relax even more. He wondered again why this was happening and realized Deb didn’t know, either. Some part of Fred still believed this might be either a joke or a test.

“Deb, still remain relaxed, but on the mental count of five you can talk again, ok?”

Fred mentally had gotten to one before Deb started talking.

“I think you should leave.” She warned. He could tell she had meant to yell but was too relaxed. She also put herself in a fighter stance.

Fred blanched. What the fuck just happened? Thinking quickly, and realizing he had nothing left to lose, he decided to roll the dice.

“Deb, keep your voice down to conversational levels. By the way, 5 means a slow steady count down from 5. Just in case.” As he talked, he began putting his laptop back into his bookbag. “Also, please don’t use violence on me. I am your friend.” He saw her eyes glass over again.

“You…are…my…friend?”

He laughed ironically. “Actually, you are attracted to me apparently. You said it yourself moments before…” He had to cut himself off, he was going to make a stalker analogy but decided that might not be the best play. “Before you weren’t.”

“I am…attracted to you.” Deb swayed. “You smell good.”

Fred walked over to Deb, slowly and as non-threateningly as he could, still trying to piece together the madness of the last couple of minutes.

“When I gave you a command to say what you were really feeling, you were honest. But since you didn’t want to be or hadn’t planned on it, it was act that went against your free will. You freaked out, which is something I think I would have done, too, frankly. Fuck!”

It was Fred’s turn to try to calm down. Deb seemed to be in a sort of euphoric trance state and was repeating what he said in a low voice. It was somewhat disturbing to the young man.

“So, here’s what is going to happen. I’m going to put my cellphone down here and leave the room. When I leave the room, you will count down from 20 and forget everything from the moment I asked you to tell me what’s really going on.”

Fred repeated that and made Deb repeat it back.

“You will remember that we studied, and you had a great time. You will remember how attracted you were to me. You will feel safe with me. Are you currently dating anybody?”

“No. I was thinking about dating you.”

Fred blushed.

“That’s good. I want you to keep thinking that. You will dream about you and me in various sexual situations…” Fred almost laughed. He realized how ridiculous he sounded, but what the hell. “Your attraction to me will grow every time we touch.” Fred wondered if that was too much.

“Dream…sexual…talk or touch…” Deb was spellbound. Fred still couldn’t believe it and suddenly had a great idea. He began whispering in Deb’s ear. Once satisfied, Fred grabbed his things except for his cell and left. He wandered out into the lounge and waved at a couple of students who didn’t seem to notice him. He took his time going down the stairs again. He walked out into the warm evening air and loitered for a bit until he heard Deb yelling for him.

“Freddy! Here’s your phone!” She slowed to a jog, but still almost crashed into him before handing the cell over. He took it, making sure to touch her hand when he did. Her already flushed cheeks turned a darker hue of red.

“Thanks Deb. Got so focused I forgot.”

“Hey, anytime. What are friends for?” She punched him in the shoulder affectionately. “Just don’t forget your laptop tomorrow.”

“Noted.” Fred laughed. “Say Deb, can we get together sometime tomorrow maybe to go over what the scorekeeper job will entail?”

She beamed. “Hell yeah? How about tomorrow night?”

“Let’s do 7pm tomorrow night, my dorm room.”

She considered that but shook her head.

“Nah. My room again, let’s shoot for 8pm.”

“Sounds good to me.” He spread his arms out for a hug.

“Bring it in.” He spoke. Deb brought it, giving him a fierce hug.

It was just as awesome as before, perhaps even better. However, Fred had been on an emotional rollercoaster and was more relieved than aroused. There were still a lot of questions that needed answers, but he was looking forward to Monday night for a change.