Ch. 1 – A Little Less Talk

It all started with a case of mistaken identity. Or disguised identity, or whatever you want to call it, but it was most definitely a mistake. And now Dean Portman was lifting weights, shirtless, sweating and trying very very hard not to stare at his friend's ass while she jogged on the treadmill. They were the only two people in the gym because they both happened to like working out at night. It was a good stress reliever for Dean, and it made him tired. He was still having problems sleeping at Eden Hall; it was just so quiet at night here. And now, he couldn't help noticing how good Julie looked.

It was all Fulton's fault. If he hadn't wanted to go to the park to do some girl watching…

"We need to get laid."

Fulton just grunted and laid back against the grass. "We go to a school full of hot rich chicks. Why are we trying to pick up chicks here?"

"Those girls aren't our type.'

"Our type? Hot is pretty much my type."

"Fult, don't be like that. Help a brother out!"

Fulton rolled his eyes and sat up next to Dean. "Can I at least bum a smoke?"

Dean handed over his pack of Camels and his lighter and scanned the distance for any likely candidates. Fulton lit up for the first time since hockey season ended. They were enjoying the first really nice day of the scarce Minnesota Spring, and with only one month left in their junior year, everyone was ready to kick back and let Summer roll on in. Taking a slow drag, Fulton wondered if Dean would ever just chill out.

"What about those?" Fulton pointed at a couple of joggers at the bottom of the hill. "You like blondes, right?"

Dean raised his eyebrows. "Not bad, Reed. Could be a total dog, but she's got a nice body. Great rack..I'd say a large B."

Fulton squinted at the girls in the distance. "How can you tell what her bra size is if you can't even see her face?"

Giving his best friend a cheeky grin and tossing away the butt of his own cigarette, Dean answered simply, "Practice."

Fulton rolled his eyes and followed his friend down the hill to intersect with Miss B-cup and her brunette companion. Dean had shrugged off his leather jacket and was leaning against a tree waiting for the girls to come around a bend in the trail. Fulton chuckled to himself; he could always tell when Dean was about to go into performance mode.

The two girls came around the bend, breasts jiggling in sports bras, long bare legs striding, pony tails swishing.

"Hey Fulton," Connie said with a wave.

"Hi Portman," Julie called as they jogged past, continuing their workout.

Portman's jaw dropped. Fulton just howled with laughter.

"Dude, you totally almost hit on Julie!"

"Man, shut up." Dean kept staring down the trail. He shook his head and put his jacket back on. "Let's get out of here."

"Whatever you say, bro." Fulton dropped his cigarette and ground it into the grass.

As they strolled out of the park, Fulton could tell something was on Portman's mind. He kept silent, knowing Dean'd prefer to bring it up on his own terms. When they were almost back to the dorms, Dean finally spoke up.

"When did Julie turn into a girl?"

"Uh…she's always been a girl?" Fulton looked at his fellow enforcer rather confused.

"Yeah, I know, but, like, she's always been a Duck. Now she's a girl."

"She's still a Duck…" This was getting more and more confusing.

"Yeah, but, now she..she.." Portman grasped for words, "now she has boobs!"

Unable to hold back any longer, Fulton started laughing again. Dean glared at his best friend.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," he sputtered taking some deep breaths. "So she has boobs. Lots of girls have boobs. Even Goldberg has boobs. What's the deal?"

"I know, but, like…Julie's hot. She didn't used to be…hot."

Fulton nodded. "Well," he grinned, "the good news is that we share the locker room with the girls. The bad news is that if you ever try anything, she'll take your head off. Both of them, probably."

Dean winced in agreement and let the matter drop. The rest of the afternoon they spent terrorizing the new JVs and whistling at cheerleaders.

She hated that Dean was a night person, too. She could almost feel his presence in the back of the gym. She could hear him working out, picture him sweating and shirtless. All she wanted was to finish her run in peace, but like clockwork, Dean'd show up at a mile and a half and she'd have to finish the rest completely distracted. Julie couldn't believe it when he'd shown up mid semester in their freshman year. He'd gotten taller, and from what she had seen of his little penalty strip show, harder. All the girls at Eden had wanted a piece of them, and well, Dean didn't disappoint many. He was such a damn player it went right to his head, and pissed her off. Just because he was hot and a good hockey player didn't mean he should go around kissing every girl that came his way. She was hot, wasn't she? She took good care of her body, ate right, worked out. And she was a good hockey player!

But then, that's probably why boys didn't flock to her, no matter how much she worked out. Ever since the school found out she'd almost broken Scooter's arm for trying to make her do so something she emphatically did not want to do, most guys had steered clear. Her friends, on the other hand, had threatened to go back and finish the job. That thought made her smile. The ducks were still together. The only thing that could make her senior year better than another national championship would be a national championship and someone to pick her up and kiss her senseless after the game.

Her pedometer beeped, breaking her out of her reverie. She immediately went into her cool down routine, and then grabbed her stuff to head to the showers. Walking back through the jungle of equipment, she caught sight of Dean, exactly how she had imagined him. He was working his shoulders, and she watched a little bead of sweat slide down his chest. That's when he made eye contact with her. Blushing furiously she power walked into the safety of the locker room.

Dean swore silently when she caught him staring at her, and thanked Jesus for the miracle that must have occurred to spare his life.

"Think about ducks, think about ducks, think about ducks," he chanted softly through the remainder of his reps.

The Ducks had perfected locker room etiquette within a few months of finding out there was only one attached to the rink. Connie and Julie got to shower, and everyone else had to take their sweaty asses home, because like hell were the two girls going to give up their privileges, and they were quite willing to fight for it. So the boys acquiesced and grumbled but they didn't really mind because they were, after all, boys, and not showering had never bothered them that much. Even Adam got used to it. So Julie wasn't surprised to hear Dean come into the locker room, muttering something, slam his locker, and leave again, all while she was taking a refreshing shower.

Taking a shower had helped to calm…whatever it was that made her all freaky earlier. She hated being a girl sometimes. Hockey, big games, those things were easy. But seeing Dean shirtless, somebody could've shot a puck at her head and she wouldn't have noticed. She wrapped a towel around her and headed to her lockers to get her clothes.

Dean burst through the doors and stopped in his tracks. The Cat Lady was wearing nothing but a towel, her hair wet and kind of wavy. Her eyes went wide at the sight of Dean, and she froze like a deer in the headlights. His mouth opened and closed a couple times before he managed to find his voice, albeit one a little cracklier than usual.

"I..uh..forgot..something."

Julie nodded not taking her eyes off him. Dean couldn't believe how hard it was for him to just breathe normally, let alone walk towards her. He finally got one foot to move, and it made Julie nearly jump out of her skin. Which made her flash a lot more thigh at him, which made him stop in his tracks again.

This time Julie spoke, her heart pounding in her ears. "I'm just..going…to go..over here.." She backed away slowly until she was on the other side of the row of lockers. Dean finally managed to stumble over to his locker, but he realized as he sat down on the bench, he'd completely forgotten what he had wanted.

"Shit," he swore to himself.

"What's wrong?" Julie called from the other bench.

Grimacing at being too loud for his own good, he called back, "Nothing."

He stood up and started rummaging in his locker, hoping to god to remember what it was. Unfortunately, all he could think about was Julie's long legs.

Slightly less panicked, Julie was getting bored. "If you're going to be much longer, could you throw me my clothes?"

"Uh…yeah, sure." He picked up her work out clothes and tossed them over the lockers.

"Gross, not those! They're all sweaty! I just took a shower, remember? I want to be clean and good smelling!"

Dean had to breathe deeply. He did not need to think about Julie in the shower, or how good she probably smelled, or the fact that she was very nearly naked in the same room as him. He was trying his best, but it was starting to have an apparent effect on him anyway. He just wanted to find whatever it was and get out.

"Dean?" she called again.

"What!" he snapped, instantly regretting it.

"Well, I was going to ask for my clothes, but forget it, I'll get them myself."

"Julie, I don't think…" But it was too late, Julie was already around the corner in all her be-toweled glory. She squatted down and began rifling through her gym bag. He couldn't help but watch. She was so graceful about everything, and she had such soft-looking skin…Dean took a step towards her without even realizing it.

When she heard the rustle of Dean's track pants, Julie looked up, and caught him with a very strange expression on his face. It made her blush to see him look at her like that, and she hated blushing. She wanted to look away, but it was too hard right then. Instead, she grabbed the first piece of clothing her hand hit and stood up slowly.

Dean felt something in him snap. Julie was looking at him in this maddeningly sweet, innocent, confused way, and still wearing nothing but a towel. And that was beginning to slip. There was only a few feet between his locker and hers but the distance was palpable to him. All he wanted to do was touch her soft skin, kiss her…

He moved too rapidly for it to be a dream, and he was right next to her, pressing her up against the lockers, breathing in her good, clean smell. Julie's eyes went wide as he crushed her between the cold metal of the lockers, and his own body. Her stomach had been doing flips since he walked into the gym, but now it leapt into her throat, made her whimper. And that was all he could take. Dean kissed her then, urgently, desperate for anything Julie.

She was surprised for the first few moments of the kiss, then hesitant, but Dean never took his mouth off hers, and she finally couldn't help but to kiss him back. His tongue slipped into her mouth, teasing her and tasting her. Dean's hands were in her hair, pulling a little, when Julie decided to nibble on his bottom lip. It made him groan, which made every muscle in Julie's body go tight. Firmly wedged between Dean and the lockers, Julie wrapped her legs around his waist. He untangled his hands and cupped her ass to give her more support. He was kissing her relentlessly, occasionally kissing her jaw or her neck or biting at her earlobe. He liked the neck reaction best so far, because it made her hiss and dig her nails into his back.

Her towel was starting to ride up as she unconsciously pushed herself closer and closer to him. Julie bit his neck sharply then, and as he inhaled his hands found soft naked flesh. He attacked her lips again, wanting more of her than he'd ever dreamed he could. She was squirming in his arms, grinding against him, driving him insane. A finger found the wet slit between her legs, and ran along its length.

Julie's blue eyes flew open. "Dean!" she gasped, her nerves on fire.

"Fuck, I'm sorry babe." He rested his forehead on the lockers behind them, his face pressed into her neck. His warm breath was still giving her goose bumps. She kept her arms wrapped around him, and rested her cheek on his head.

"I'm sorry, I just…"

"Dean…it's okay, really. But we can't…do this."

"I know. I don't know what came over me."

She nodded, his hair tickling her cheek. Slowly and awkwardly she lowered her legs to the floor. Dean sighed heavily in the uncomfortable silence that followed.

Pulling himself away from her, he couldn't bring himself to look her in the eye.

"I guess I'll see you at practice then," he mumbled.

"Yeah, I guess."

Trying hard to disguise the rather obvious problem in his pants, Dean turned and walked out of the locker room. As soon as the door closed, he slumped down to the floor.

"I'm such a fucking idiot."

Julie sat down on the bench, still wearing just her towel and touched her swollen lips.

"What did I just do?" she wondered aloud.