Helooked sullen and angry, then he jumped up and came to me, standinginches away."You!" Yes, me. What about me?" You're the girl in my dreams" he said... then he grabbed me and kissedme, right on the mouth!Taken by surprise, I did not resist, even as his tongue pushed on mylips. I did not open my mouth and he finally let go. We were bothpanting hard, his anger and lust to my surprise and shame, combining tocreate an atmosphere thick with doubt, lust, and fear. He did not moveback, and his hand. Alas! I dreamed of no such thing.Hitherto I had been indebted only to the girls of the house for the corruption of my innocence: their luscious talk, in which modesty was far from respected, their de***********ion of their engagements with men, had given me a tolerable insight into the nature and mysteries of their profession, at the same time that they highly provoked an itch of florid warm-spirited blood through every vein: but above all, my bed fellow Phœbe, whose pupil I more immediately. "It's nothing special," I said, "Just some chicken and salad. The real treat is dessert." Oh really?" she said, a smirk on her face."Really really."The rest of the meal we ate in relative silence, exchanging glances and stories about our day. Simple things to pass the time. The food was good and she clearly enjoyed it. We finished and I threw the dishes in the sink and swung open the fridge to produce a dozen chocolate covered strawberries. I looked up at her and smirked. "I couldn't help. ‘I know Elizabeth, I know,’ he told her with a sigh. ‘I don’t want to believe it could happen but I know it could. I guess I’ll just have to try to recognise it and snuff it out if it happens.’ Elizabeth looked at him for a long moment. Then she told him, quietly, ‘Or, you might be forced into making a decision, Stan. I hope it doesn’t come to that. But what’s holding this all together is you, and you’ll have to look out for any antipathy between the two of them. All the time you’re the sole.