Author: jash@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu ============================================================================= No sex in this one, folks. Just a vivid memory coming back to life. The odds of the guy in the ECE shop actually seeing this or remembering this incident is pretty much near -infinity but I still wish I could let him know how much he changed my life.. I'm always looking for critiques (even flames!!) so feel free to write to me at jash@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu... I have no problem with people e-mailing my stuff around, as long as my name remains with it. And for those of you who suffer under the delusion that women engineers can't possibly be sensual... ============================================================================ DarkNites: ECE shop =================== I wasn't in any kind of mood at all. I had long been in the state where nothing mattered or even touched me and I had been this way for longer than I cared to remember. My roommate had told me recently in a disgruntled voice that I just wasn't any fun anymore. Sorry babe but I don't really give a damn. My life was just a series of projects, tests and more projects.. And a project was exactly why I was in the ECE shop winding yards of red wire around my fingers, wondering dispassionately how best to murder my project partner. "Excuse me..", came a strong, level voice behind me. I automatically turned around and ran into the most beautiful eyes I had even seen. For the first and only time in my life, I felt The Thunderbolt. I don't really know what the rest of him looked like and I don't care but his eyes and smile were things crafted in heaven. Specifically for me. My mind screeched to a halt. He held out a tangled bundle of black wire to me. "You dropped this..." That voice... Oh God! The shock of pure desire, something totally unfamiliar to that 18 year old virgin, flowed down my body. I swear that if I had been capable of motion, I would have reached for those shoulders and kissed him the way he'd always secretly dreamed someone would. Right there in Learned Hall and started a scandal.. "Uhh..", my mind raced vainly for something inspired to say.. "Thanks." The rest of me recoiled. THAT'S IT???? YOU MORON!! Another beautiful smile and he walked out. Stop him! How? I don't know, goddamit.. How would P. handle this?? I was still scrambling for ideas when he reached the hallway doors and disappeared. Oh HELL! I turned back to the counter, completely disoriented, and the shop assistant was grinning at me knowingly. Embarrassment rose. Dammit, if it was so obvious, why the hell hadn't He done something about it?? I could only live in the hope that he had been too blind to see it. As for the shop guy, he never knew how close he came to having a bag of parts rammed down his throat... I walked back to the 301 lab clutching my brown paper overflowing with chips and wire, reveling in the unusual feeling of rubbery legs. My whole body felt more alive than it had in a year. Singing heart, stupid grin, I had all the symptoms. I noticed the men passing me in the hall, I saw the guys sunning themselves on the courtyard outside the windows. All friends, all definitely off-limits, but for the first time, all very male.. I started living life that day, and I hope I never stop.