Study Session

Study Session

Josh walked up the cement steps of the dormitory and shifted his heavy book bag on his shoulder as he opened the large wooden door. Inside the lobby was quiet, except for the sounds of cleaning and closing down the cafeteria in the distance. Since his sophomore year Josh had lived in the apartments in the “student ghetto” and the memories of being a freshman living in the dormitories came flooding back. Josh approached the pretty blonde at the reception desk, who smiled when she saw him.

“Can I help you?”
“Sure, I’m here to see Crystal Mayes. Tell her Josh is here”

The girl stopped for a moment and looked at him, then shrugged and picked up the phone sitting next to her heavy, green Children’s Lit textbook. “Crystal, There’s a guy named Josh here to see you.” She hung up the phone, smiled and replied, “She’ll be right down.” Then went back to studying.

“Thanks.” Josh said and eased his book bag off of his shoulder. Before he could completely sink into one of the lobby chairs, the large double wooden doors next to the reception desk opened and a red head with long legs wearing fleece warm-ups appeared. “Hey Josh, you made it! C’mon.” Josh grabbed his bag and followed Crystal through the doors.

Once through the doors they turned and started climbing a narrow staircase to the next floor. Ever since Josh had seen Crystal sitting two rows ahead of him in Psych class he wanted to meet her. The class was easy for Josh and the professor soon learned he could rely on Josh to have the correct answer when called on. The first time it happened Josh found himself the center of attention in the lecture hall with 150 pairs of eyes turned to look at him. When Josh finished giving the answer to the professor one person continued to stare – the redhead. He had smiled back at her and instead of doing the typical girl thing of blushing and looking away quickly she had held her stare longer and slowly turned back to face front with an enigmatic smile on her face. It took two more class periods before Josh found out her name and she approached him and asked if he could come over to her dorm room this Thursday night because she needed his help with something. Midterms were coming up the following week and Josh assumed she wanted help with Psych class. Handing his fake ID to one of his roommates he informed his friends he wouldn’t be going to the bar with them this Thursday night because he had to help a girl “study.”

They made it to the second floor and Crystal grabbed the door and held it open for Josh. He walked through then waited for Crystal to get in front of him again and lead him to her dorm room. “I really appreciate you coming over to help me Josh.”
“It’s okay,” Josh replied “I don’t mind.” He was becoming increasingly distracted watching Crystal’s ass through her sweats as she walked in front of him; like two puppies wrestling under a blanket. She stopped in front of a door halfway down the long hall and inserted the key into the lock. She turned the doorknob and let the door swing open. Grinning up at Josh she said “Well, here we are!” She gestured for Josh to enter her dorm room.

The first thing Josh noticed was a funny, flowery odor in the air. The lights were dim but he began noticing other strange things in her room, like the large, square pieces of fabric hanging on the walls with interlaced swirls and patterns, and the small glass cabinet in the corner filled with jars of dried plants and powders. There were unlit candles all over the room of various sizes. On her desk sitting on a black pedestal was a large glass ball.

“They allow you to have candles in the dorms now?” Josh asked.

“Huh? Oh, no they don’t but I need them for religious reasons.” Crystal answered.

“What, you don’t get enough candle light at church? Josh wondered out loud, trying to keep things light.

“Oh, I don’t attend any Christian service” Crystal said, “I have some mudslides in the fridge, would you like one?”

“Uh, sure.” Josh replied, and accepted the small brown bottle. She opened her own bottle and drank half of it at once. That made Josh grin, she’s nervous, he thought.

“Okay, you need candles for religious reasons but you don’t go to Church, are you Jewish?”

“Nope, not Jewish.”

“Okay I give, what are you then?” Josh turned to see Crystal opening her closet door and pulling out a plastic milk crate and a round flat board. She set the crate on the floor and put the board on top of it. She reached into the closet again and pulled out a small black tablecloth. Crystal shook it open and laid it on top of the board. It was then that Josh saw the five pointed star inside a circle printed on the cloth.

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m Wiccan!” Crystal giggled at Josh and walked over to a shelf. She picked up a small ceramic plate and silver metal goblet and placed them on the table.

“You’re … Wiccan?” Josh asked, as he watched her arrange candles, a bowl of salt and an incense holder on the table. “So do you, uhm … cast spells and stuff?”

“Sometimes, but only to do good, Wiccans never do magic to hurt anyone.” Crystal answered him. She selected a stick of incense from a box on the shelf and lit it. The flowery odor Josh noticed before became stronger.

“Okay, so what does any of this have to do with studying for Psych class? Isn’t that why you asked me to come over?” Josh was beginning to get an uneasy feeling.

“What? Oh NO!!” Crystal giggled again. “I didn’t ask you to come help me study for that! I’m gonna drop that class anyway. I can’t make heads or tails out of what that boring prof is talking about. Why don’t you have a seat Josh?” Crystal said and pulled out the chair from the desk.

Josh sat down and watched her put two long thin white candles in candleholders and place them on opposite ends of the table. She was on her knees on the floor and she took a moment to look at everything on the table, as if making sure everything was in the right place. Josh watched her a few seconds, then he couldn’t hold back any longer. He knocked back the last of his mudslide and asked “If I’m not here to help you study, then just what the hell am I here for?”

Crystal looked at him and smiled. It was the same look she gave him in class before. “When I first saw you, I noticed you have an amazing aura; you have an incredibly strong male energy Josh. The reason why I asked you here tonight is because I need your help with consecrating a new magical tool.”

Josh stared at Crystal, wondering if she had smoked anything before he came over. Did she have any idea how crazy she sounded? “You need me to help you consecrate a tool?”

“Yes,” She continued. “We Wiccans believe that there is a Goddess as well as a God, and in ritual a man and woman represent them both for the rest of the coven. I cast the astrological chart for the consecration ritual and I need to do it tonight, but I need someone to represent the God for me. All you have to do is be here and be male, I’ll do everything else; will you help me Josh?” Crystal reached over and put her hand on his leg, he could feel the heat through his jeans.

“… OOOOOkay, sure. I guess I could help you do this.” Why did he suddenly have a sinking feeling?

“Thank you Josh! I really appreciate it!” She raised up on her knees and wrapped him up in a big hug. As he hugged her back he noticed she wasn’t wearing a bra. “Great! Let’s get started then, okay?” She said, giggling again. She moved away and stood up, grabbing the lighter off of the “altar” as she called it; then grabbing a towel off of the footboard of her bed she walked over to the door and stuffed it in the gap between the door and the floor. She walked back, lit the two candles on the altar and then pulled her sweatshirt over her head and threw it on the bed. Josh just about choked when he saw her bare breasts in the candlelight. Crystal started to bend over to pull her sweatpants down but stopped when she saw the look on Josh’s face. “What’s wrong? Hurry up and take your clothes off okay?”

“WHAT?!? Take my clothes off? What the hell?! You didn’t say anything about getting naked!”

“Josh, Wiccans perform their rituals skyclad, C’mon don’t be a prude geez” She shot back as she bent over and pulled her pants off, her bare ass staring Josh right in the face.

“Jesus Christ.” Josh breathed. “And just what the fuck is skyclad?”

“It means that you are only clad by the sky, or nude. Please take your clothes off, the door is locked and I turned off the phone. No one is going to bother us.”
Knowing this for some reason didn’t make Josh feel any better. He slowly shrugged off his jacket and reached for his belt buckle. Crystal grinned and turned away from him to give him what privacy there was in the single room dorm. As he kicked off his shoes and jeans he watched her open a drawer in her desk and take out a long, slim box. She turned in time to see him kick is shorts over to the corner of the room and cup himself in front of her. His face felt hot and he knew he was blushing. Damn it this was fucking embarrassing.

“Relax Josh, nothing bad is going to happen to you I promise. Now just stand there and let me cast the circle so we can begin.” Josh nodded, and stood still while she started to pour salt into the goblet, which he had not noticed until now had water in it. She stirred the goblet, then started walking around the room in a circle sprinkling water on the floor. She did this again with the incense, then finally, picking up a wand she did it a third time. The incense was starting to make Josh feel lightheaded as the smoke filled the room. Crystal walked to different sides of the circle “invoking” spirits or something to join them. Josh liked what was happening less and less. Part of him wanted to grab his clothes and get the hell out of there and part of him enjoyed watching her boobs bounce as she moved around the room.

Finally Crystal stopped walking around in circles in the room and came back to the altar. She smiled at Josh and said “Okay, are you ready”

“Depends on what I need to be ready for.” Josh muttered.

“We’re going to consecrate my new Athame now.” She replied.

“And what’s an Athame.” Josh asked, trying to not make it obvious he couldn’t take his eyes off of her tits.

“It’s a ritual knife Wiccans use for casting spells and doing magic.”

“Oh.”

Crystal giggled again. “Will you relax? Most guys like this part of the ritual.” She opened the slim box and Josh saw a thin black handle. Crystal picked it up and held it in the candlelight. Josh recognized she had an antique straight razor, like old-fashioned barbers used. Crystal pulled the blade out of the handle and the metal glinted in the dim light of the candles. Josh started to sweat, even though the room felt chilly. “Isn’t it beautiful Josh? This was my grandfather’s. He owned a barbershop many years ago downtown. I thought this would make a great Athame.”

“What do you need me for, give me a shave?” Josh said, He could feel cold fingers of fear beginning to run up and down his spine.

Crystal laughed and shook her head, “don’t be silly, all I need you to do is charge it with your energy.” She knelt down again and began sprinkling water on the blade and passing it through the incense smoke. She reached for a fountain pen and shook it a few times, then began drawing weird symbols on the handle and blade of the razor. Josh could tell even in the dim light that the color of the ink was red. Crystal rose back to her feet and she faced Josh. “This is where I need your help now Josh.” She held up the razor chest level between her boobs, then before Josh could say anything pressed her body up against him with the blade between them. “Put your arms around me Josh and hold me close.”

“What the fuck! That blade is open are you trying to cut me!?!”

“Please Josh, you need to concentrate on your energy going into the Athame. Just hold still you won’t get cut!”

“Oh fuck!” Josh spat out and put his arms around her. He felt the cold metal on his chest as well as her boobs pressing into him. He could also feel wetness from the ink on the razor soaking into his skin. “fuck that better wash off.” He muttered under his breath. He wondered how long they had to stand there like that. He also needed to piss. Most of all he wanted to get away from this crazy bitch as soon as possible. He wondered what his roommate and friends were doing at the bar. Suddenly he felt the blade begin to slip down and with a yelp let go of Crystal and jumped back. The razor clattered on the floor and Crystal landed on her bare ass in front of him.

“Oh NO!” Crystal screeched. “It touched the floor! Why did you jump back damn it now we have to start over again!”

“Oh fuck no! Fuck this! Josh yelled back at her and walked over to his pile of clothes on the floor. He jammed his legs into his jeans and stuffed his feet into his shoes. He stood up zipping his fly “I’m done with this crazy Wiccan bullshit!” He grabbed his underwear and socks and stuffed them into his book bag.

“ Please Josh don’t go, if I don’t do this tonight I’ll have to wait four months before the planets will be in proper alignment again.” Crystal whined.

“ Are you fucking nuts?! The only thing that you need to align is your head! I’m out of here!” Josh shouted back. He grabbed his jacket and book bag, kicked the towel away from the door and unlocked it. He slammed the door and ran down the stairs and out of the dorm as fast as he could. Finding a small stand of trees to duck into he unzipped himself and breathed a sigh of relief as his piss hit the ground. He closed his eyes and breathed clear, incense free air. It was still early enough to go find his friends at the bar until he remembered his roommate had his fake ID. Fuck, guess it’s Xbox tonight. He zipped his fly back up, shouldered his book bag and started the walk back to the student ghetto.

Crystal Mayes wasn’t in class the following week, Josh assumed she dropped out like she said she would. His friends asked him if he got lucky with Crystal but he told them that she really just wanted to study. He took the ribbing from his friends for not getting laid, it was better than admitting what really happened.