COLLEEN

 

Part 1:

Portrait of an Ice Queen

 

by "Jim"

 

 

Colleen's Big Problems

 

Colleen and Jim grew up in a small town, far from anything important.  They lived on the same tree-shaded side street, and went to the same school, all their lives.  But Jim hardly noticed Colleen, until the year they both turned 12.  That was the year that Colleen started to develop two big problems, the kind that make running inconvenient and uncomfortable.

 

As Colleen and Jim grew up and entered high school, Colleen's "problems" kept getting bigger.  She turned 16 at the end of sophomore year, and that summer, she began to attract a lot of attention.  There were two or three cute guys in the neighborhood whom she liked and wanted to attract, and she often wore tight, bare-midriff blouses that clung deliciously to her voluptuous body, seductively outlining her enormously full, round breasts.  She liked dressing sexy, liked the power her body gave her over guys, and enjoyed showing off her accomplishments.  Her parents wouldn't let her out of the house wearing anything low-cut, but, after all, that's what buttons were for, wasn't it, and she could always undo a couple after her parents were out of sight.

 

But there was a down side to Colleen's voluptuous figure too.  She could not, of course, attract only the guys she wanted, without attracting the many she did not.  She received a lot of unwanted attention, and she was always having to let somebody down.

 

---

 

The Ice Queen

 

Colleen didn't start out nasty.  At the beginning, she was pretty nice, and tried to let guys down gently if they hit on her and she didn't want to date them.  But she didn't stay that way.

 

Across the street there lived the three Kowalski brothers, all her own age or a year older.  She found them boorish, and was never interested in any of them; but as her "problems" continued to grow, the Kowalskis found themselves very interested in her.

 

---

 

One hot summer night, before junior year, the porch light burned out, and Colleen went out to fix it.  How hard could it be?  All she had to do was reach up and screw in a light bulb!  The light flickered on, and Colleen stood bathed in its glow.  Immediately she heard the whoops and catcalls from across the street:  "Hey, hey, hey, waddaya say?", "Watta girl, watta girl!", and "That's for ME!"

 

She hadn't seen them.  They were sitting on their porch, in the dark, drinking beer; their dad was gone, their mom worked nights, and they were home alone.

 

It was hot inside Colleen's house, and maybe she would have liked to sit on her own porch for a while, but she couldn't; she immediately went inside and stayed there, resenting the hell out of those jerks.

 

---

 

It got worse.  Sunday night came, and it was one of Colleen's chores to take out the trash for pickup the next morning.  How hard could it be?  All she had to do was wheel the trash can out to the curb!  Her parents were away, and she was baby-sitting her little brother; she'd put him to bed, and now she was tired, and needed to get this over with before she could go to bed herself.

 

Just as she reached the curb, the Kowalskis, and three of their friends, pulled up in a convertible; they could not have timed their arrival better.  Their speech was slurred, and she could see they were all unpleasantly drunk, their comments to her more crude and offensive than ever.

 

She looked quickly around; it was late, and the street was otherwise deserted.  For the first time, Colleen was truly afraid.  She gauged the number of steps back to her door; she knew the guys could easily outrun her, and if they came after her, she'd never make it.  She forced a smile, acted pleasant, and got the hell back inside as quickly as possible.  She was breathing hard, and her heart was pounding.

 

It was the last time she would let herself get caught out at night -- and the last time she'd ever act nice if she didn't feel like it.  She would never let herself be so humiliated again.

 

---

 

So, junior year came, and as Colleen's "problems" grew, so did her defenses.  She found that she didn't have to be nice, and she wouldn't let guys down easy if they hit on her and she didn't like them.  A lot of them didn't deserve such rough treatment, but, she felt, that was too bad; she didn't deserve the rough treatment other guys gave her, either.  The not-so-cute guys in school learned to give her a wide berth if they didn't want a put-down.  Behind her back, they called her Colleen the Ice Queen; and that was the nicest thing they called her.

 

When she was walking home from school, and the Kowalskis would follow her, making suggestive comments about her chest, there were times that she fervently wished that she really was the Ice Queen; if she had the power, she'd send a blizzard of cold and snow to freeze them in their tracks and stop their stupid chatter!  As it was, with no magic powers forthcoming, the best thing she could do was just ignore them.

 

---

 

"This bra is driving me crazy!"

 

Colleen was walking home from school one Friday with her best friend Sharon, and complaining about the discomfort that her anatomical developments were causing her.  She went on, "Do you think maybe I could go without one tomorrow, if I wore a really tight top?"

 

Sharon sympathized.  In high school, there were various cliques, and it was not unusual for the most beautiful, sexy girls to hang together.  Sharon was no less desirable than Colleen, but unlike Colleen, she was quite available, immensely popular, and had numerous boyfriends -- one might say, too many, and she was developing a reputation.  Perhaps it was no surprise that behind her back, the guys had nicknamed her Sharon Share-a-like.

 

So the girls were just walking along, discussing their ongoing problems with their developing anatomy and foundation garments, particularly Colleen's.  But then, during a pause in the conversation, Colleen thought she heard a few too many footsteps.  She glanced back, and her heart sank.  It was them again, the Kowalskis, walking right behind her and Sharon.  They were being very quiet, and, from the smirk on their faces, she knew they'd heard every word!

 

They didn't stay quiet for long.  Colleen and Sharon kept walking and tried to ignore their comments, but about the time they suggested that Colleen's new nickname should be The Community Chest, she could stand no more.  She lost it and whirled around to yell at them; not only did she unfortunately bounce when she did it, confirming some of the opinions they'd expressed, it also started a whole new round of comments about not standing too close behind her, in case she turned around too fast and whacked you with her boobs.

 

---

 

Not many people understood Colleen well.  She wasn't really "icy," she was just incredibly aggressive, focused, and intense.  She couldn't just be smart, she had to have straight A's; knowledge was power, and so was a good transcript.  She couldn't just be sexy, she had to be 'way sexy; sex was power, if you used it right.  And she couldn't just "play" tennis, she had to be a fierce competitor; she often worked out in the weight room, and enjoyed the physical power the added strength gave her.

 

Colleen was not what most people would think of, when they pictured a small-town girl; and indeed, Colleen herself had never felt that she and the town were a good fit.  Nobody knew where her aggressive, competitive streak had come from; but this town was 'way too small for her ambition, and she longed to get away.  If only high school would please get over with, she thought, and let her go!

 

---

 

Colleen's Other Problem

 

With Colleen, image was all-important, more so than with most other people.  That's why getting hiccups irritated the hell out of her!  Everything else about Colleen had to be intense, so it was almost no surprise that when she got hiccups, they were intense, too; and she hated it.

 

She couldn't stand the other girls with the cute little hiccups, the cute little "heeks" and "hups"; they'd giggle their "excuse me's" and act like it didn't bother them at all.  Some of them even had the nerve to get silent hiccups!  With some of them, there wasn't even any motion; you didn't even know they had hiccups 'til they announced it!  It always seemed like it was easy for them; they'd get some water and be OK in no time at all!

 

But not Colleen.  When she got hiccups, they were loud, wrenching, and unstoppable.  To her, it was an embarrassing loss of control; she would certainly never announce it, nor would she ever put her hand in the common "I've got hiccups" pose.

 

Some people get hiccups for no apparent reason; they just come.  But Colleen's hiccups were usually caused by something identifiable, such as a particular food or beverage, or exertion or stress.  She tried hard to determine what might cause them, and to avoid those things; and sometimes she could go for a whole month without getting a case.  Sooner or later, though, it would happen again; the first violent, wrenching HIC! would rip through her chest, and she knew that she was in for it -- but good!

 

---

 

It was nearly the end of junior year.  Colleen and Jim had seen each other coming and going to school every day, all their lives, and from the time Colleen had started developing at the age of 12, Jim had certainly enjoyed looking at her; but they'd never really met.  And then, one day, just before they both turned 17, he saw her as though for the first time, not as a sex object but as a person -- a person he'd like to get to know.

 

It was a warm, Spring day, and he was walking down the side street where they lived, glad for the shade of the towering elms which lined the street.  He was on the right side, and was nearing the corner.  On the left side ran the wall of the corner grocery.

 

There she was, standing all alone, leaning against the wall.  She was wearing her usual tight, white bare-midriff T-shirt, and 'way short black shorts.  It was the first time he'd noticed how big her "problems" really were; she was getting 'way too big on top!  He'd never dared talk to her before; he knew how she'd put up her defenses whenever most guys hit on her.  And yet, there she was, wearing an outfit guaranteed to encourage it, just in case the right guy happened along!

 

Besides the two big "problems" she always had, she had another, too; she had the hiccups.  He could hear them clear across the street, and he could see her body jerking, and her deliciously large bosoms bouncing gently, with every hic.  She'd probably started while she'd been walking to the store; now she was just leaning against the wall, holding her breath occasionally, eyes closed, a frustrated frown on her face.

 

It certainly wasn't the first time that Jim had seen her with a case of hiccups; he'd noticed her hiccupping, infrequently, all their lives.  But this was the first time he'd seen her all alone with her problem, the first time she'd ever seemed the least bit vulnerable, and he felt a little sorry for her.  There was something about hiccups that made her seem more approachable, and he fervently wished that he'd known a dependable but unusual cure, so he could go over and get to know her; it would be a great ice-breaker, and she'd be so grateful!  But he didn't, and the moment passed.

 

---

 

Behind the Counter

 

Colleen turned 17 just before the end of junior year, and that summer she started working part-time at the corner grocery.  That in itself was not surprising; many of the kids in the neighborhood got their first job in that store, especially the pretty girls; and every year the neighborhood would churn out a fresh batch of 17 year-olds to replace last year's batch, who turned 18 and moved on to better-paying jobs elsewhere.  The arrangement worked out well; the kids were never far from home, and they were in an environment with many people they already knew.

 

But the store was not very large, just enough to keep two people busy at a time; and Colleen, like all the others, did a little of everything.  She might start her shift in the deli, move to the register later, stock some shelves, then finish out the day mopping and sweeping.

 

When she was on the register, her normal revealing clothes were just fine; the owner soon noticed that the number of guys coming in for candy, gum, and soft drinks went 'way up at those times.  But when she was working in the deli, she had to wear a proper uniform, and there was nothing "uniform" about Colleen's shape.  If the rest of the uniform fit, the buttons on top were perpetually straining, and even Jim fantasized that with one good HIC!, she just might pop them all!

 

---

 

As in many small grocery stores, the clerk was situated in a space delimited on three sides by the counter, the front window, and the side wall.  Colleen would occasionally get hiccups while working at the register, though she never understood why.  She wasn't eating, drinking, exercising, or particularly stressed, but occasionally, in her little space, it seemed that she got them just by taking a few steps over to the register and talking to the customer.  She didn't think that qualified as "exercise," but she guessed that her body's opinion was the only one that mattered!

 

It was another one of "those" days behind the counter.  She stepped over to the register to ring up a customer's order.  She smiled and started the usual way, "Hi there, were you able (hic!) to find everything you wanted?"  She kept smiling and talking right through that first damned hiccup, hoping to God the customer hadn't noticed, hoping to God there wouldn't be more.

 

The customer had indeed noticed.  This was a customer with a special "preference," a customer with "radar" that had already clicked on; and he was watching her intently, anxious for the next one.

 

There would be a next one, of course; there always was.  Colleen went about her business with him, keeping her mouth closed and trying to hide her problem; but every five seconds, another hic bounced her body and pooched her stomach the sweetest bit.  After a few hics, she finally had to admit to herself that she had another case, and good manners demanded that she admit it to the customer, too, and excuse herself.

 

Oh, she hated that moment most of all!  She knew in her heart that she had just been sentenced to at least an hour of loud, wrenching, unladylike "hucks," and nothing was going to help!  The phrase stuck in her throat, but she had to say it, and to her they became the most detestable six words in the world:  "Excuse me, I've got the hiccups."

 

Her customer sympathized, and attempted to engage her in conversation, enquiring delicately as to how often this happened, how long her case might last, and what her favorite cures were.  There was, for him, no greater pleasure than talking to a beautiful hiccupper about her hiccups while she was still hiccupping!  He would keep her talking, and she wouldn't be able to hold her breath for any length of time.

 

This was, for him, a once-in-a-lifetime sighting to be savored, to be made to last as long as possible.  There were lots of things for sale by the clerk up at the register, and the customer suddenly found that he needed all kinds of assorted items; of course, each one was accompanied by a question, followed by a period of seeming indecision while he appeared to contemplate his purchase.  He'd do anything to keep this beautiful girl standing only two feet in front of him and hiccupping deliciously, for just a few minutes more!

 

Eventually Colleen sensed his fascination, but at that time in her life she never suspected that anyone was turned on by hiccups.  She thought it was all about her bouncing breasts, since he wasn't looking her in the eye at all anymore!  She wanted to smile and politely quip, "(hic!)  Would you like me to get you (hic!) a chair so you can sit down (hic!) comfortably and enjoy the show?"  But she couldn't; she had to be nice.  Eventually he ran out of reasons to stay, and reluctantly had to take his purchases, and leave her to hiccup in peace.

 

It always took Colleen forever to get rid of her hiccups, and she was stuck in one spot for a long time, right inside the window; and soon enough, one of her many adolescent "admirers" came in to see how hot she looked today.

 

She knew that, by himself, he would give her no trouble; they only became brave and cocky when they were in a group, and needed to show off.  But he was the scout, and soon he would get away, only to bring back all the others, to watch her hiccup and bounce!  Oh, she fervently wished that she could bribe him, charm him, or threaten him into keeping his mouth shut; and failing in that, bind and gag the little SOB and throw him into the back room!  But she couldn't; and soon the word went out among the guys, "Colleen's got hiccups again!", and they all gathered for the afternoon performance.

 

To the guys, this was much better than the occasional case in school, since her summer clothes were tighter and more revealing.  Colleen, even without hiccups, was already the embodiment of many an adolescent guy's fantasies.  Colleen, standing there with hiccups, her huge, firm, round breasts bouncing deliciously, was practically a sex dream!

 

Colleen, not surprisingly, didn't want to embody any adolescent's fantasies, and she certainly didn't want to be any adolescent's sex dream!  She liked the power her body gave her over guys, but they had to be worth having power over, and most of the guys in the neighborhood were not!  She wasn't getting anything out of this at all, and she hated every minute of it!

 

At first glance, most people wouldn't have thought Colleen was vulnerable in any way, but she was. The guys knew that Colleen's hiccups were annoying the heck out of her, and so were most of the guys themselves, and she was doing a slow boil.  When she got really annoyed, her hiccups would accelerate; and it became a little contest to see who could annoy her the most, and get her to hic the fastest, without getting kicked out.  Jim hated it when they would tease her; he respected her as a person, even though he didn't know her.

 

Her hiccups would start at intervals of five seconds.  Almost any guy could get her up to four easily.  It took some skill to get her up to three.  And one guy, who became a local legend, once got her up to two.  But getting her up to intervals of one second was still the ultimate, unrealized goal.  Young adolescent boys, with nothing better to think of, formulated fantastic theories related to the bouncing of Colleen's breasts, and theory said that if the next hic were to come before her breasts finished bouncing from the previous one, the bounce might accelerate to a level that was the stuff of dreams.

 

The younger adolescents couldn't deal with Colleen as a person, only as a sex object, and they teased her just as they would an older sister.  The guys her own age, who knew they had no chance of ever dating her, despised her for rejecting them, so they tormented her, too; and she, in turn, despised them.  But whatever their age, they all had one thing in common:  They waited 'til she got hiccups, and then they made them worse.

 

---

 

The Meeting

 

By the time senior year arrived, Colleen was about 150 pounds, her body a symphony of sensuality.  Muscle and fat were in perfect balance, and there was just the tiniest hint of seductive fullness on her curvacious midriff.  Her "problems" had finally got as big as they were going to be; they would get larger still only if she gained weight, and that was one thing she was determined to prevent!

 

---

 

In senior year, hiccups finally brought Colleen and Jim together.

 

Jim had always thought her a strange contradiction; her body was hot, but her personality was cold.  At least, when they were in the same class together, she provided attractive eye candy.  In English class he staked out the position one row to her right and one seat behind; that put her in a direct line of sight between him and the teacher, so he could gaze at her to his heart's content, with nobody being the wiser.

 

One day, Jim was already seated, and he began to wonder where Colleen was.  He knew that she was in school, and she usually got to class early, but not today.  Finally, she came in just before the bell rang, walking slowly, and Jim could see immediately that she had the hiccups again, though she was trying like anything to hide it.  He figured that she had been getting some water in an unsuccessful attempt to stop.  She sat down, and her hiccups continued.

 

Colleen always turned him on anyway, and he found Colleen with hiccups to be pure sexual heaven!  Part of him liked her, or wanted to, without even knowing her; he could tell that her hiccups made her terribly unhappy, and the part of him that liked her certainly didn't want that.  But part of him didn't like her, figuring that she'd just shoot him down if he ever approached her; and that part of him enjoyed watching her bounce, and hoped that she'd keep going!

 

But as the class progressed, and he continued to watch her, he began to feel a certain admiration for her.  Some girls would just sit there and take it, but not Colleen!  She would hold her breath for a while, exhale, hic two or three times, and try it again; but each time, she held her breath longer and longer.  It was the only tool she had at the moment, and he began to be amazed at her determination; after a while, she was holding her breath for what seemed to be astounding lengths of time!  She was going to cure her hiccups, turn blue, or pass out, whichever came first!

 

It was fascinating for Jim to watch:  This girl who wouldn't give up, locked in a battle of wills against hiccups that wouldn't stop!  Unfortunately for Jim, the little drama was cut short; the teacher eventually noticed Colleen's predicament and sent her out for water.  When she came back, she was OK.  But for Jim it was too late:  Teenage lust had turned to admiration, and then to a certain sense of love!  He just had to get to know this girl better!

 

The next day, Jim screwed his courage all the way up and talked to Colleen; and to his amazement, she agreed to go out with him!  The fact was, there weren't many guys that Colleen liked well enough to bother with; and because she'd shot down so many losers and jerks, she'd got the reputation of being impossible.  She wasn't impossible at all; she simply wanted a cute, well-mannered, determined boy -- one who was determined to obey!

 

---

 

Colleen's First Time

 

Hiccups helped Colleen lose her virginity.

 

She and Jim started dating when they were 17, still seniors in high school, and soon they were going steady.  They both turned 18 about a month before the prom, and were enjoying the extra freedom that being 18 afforded them.

 

He picked her up in his van one Saturday night for their usual date, Colleen of course looking her sexual best.  They had nothing really special planned, only a double-feature at the drive-in.  Just before the movie began, he got them burgers, fries, and cokes from the concession stand.  Maybe Colleen found the burger a little dry, and tried to wash it down by drinking her coke a little too fast, but somehow she got a major case of hiccups that she just couldn't get rid of.

 

"(hic!)  I'm sorry," she apologized, "these are going to go (hic!) on forever!"  She added, in a discouraged tone, "Nothing ever helps me stop!"

 

It seemed that she just had to be right!  The case she'd had in English class had been unusually mild; her hiccups were usually much more violent, and much harder to lose!  Jim tried all the usual cures; then he tried several exotic cures he'd heard of; but nothing did any good.  She continued to hic for three solid hours.  Strangely, she wasn't especially perturbed; she was alone with someone she loved and trusted, and if anyone could melt a little of the Ice Queen, he could.

 

Finally, though, there was only one cure left that he'd heard of and hadn't tried yet.  His buddy's girlfriend got hiccups all the time, and he swore this always worked on her!  By this time, Colleen was desperate enough to try anything, and fortunately, the van afforded them plenty of privacy and room in back.  Colleen soon came, and was greatly relieved to find that her hiccups stopped immediately!

 

It wasn't at all the way she'd imagined her first time might be; but then, she would not be the only person whose first time kind of snuck up on them unexpectedly.  Some girls would have hated the idea of wasting their first time on a hiccup cure in the back of a van, but Colleen wasn't big on sentimental mush.  She'd been a little nervous about her first time, and she actually liked the idea of having had some kind of excuse for doing it and getting past it; although a little piece of her didn't like having to depend on Jim for help like this.  At least she was OK for the rest of the evening, and their relationship advanced to a new level.

 

---

 

The Prom

 

A month later, the senior prom arrived, and of course Colleen went with Jim!

 

Most of the girls at their table were wearing gowns that were rather low-cut, Colleen included, and she couldn't help but notice that she had twice as much on top as anyone else.  She enjoyed the power it gave her over guys; but at the same time, at only 18, it still embarrassed her a little, since it was something she couldn't fully control, and the gown she was wearing certainly showed off a great deal of it.  Paradoxically, her parents had let her go to the prom wearing a gown that showed twice as much as she'd ever showed in the neighborhood behind their backs.

 

At dinner, with eating too fast, and laughing, talking, and swallowing at the same time, darn it if she didn't get hiccups again!  Only Jim heard her mutter, "(hic!)  Son of a..."  This was a very different situation than at the drive-in.  The gown did nothing at all to help her conceal the action in her upper body, and she was acutely embarrassed.  Not all the girls were friends; some were rivals, and she couldn't stand to look ridiculous, or become the center of attention and put on a show for them.

 

She quickly tried holding her breath and drinking water, but when that didn't work right away, she grabbed Jim by the arm, excused them, and headed out to the van, hoping to heck nobody had noticed her predicament.

 

She knew that she was dragging Jim along willy-nilly, so she started to explain, "(hic!)  I'm not going to sit there and (hic!) hiccup like an idiot all night.  Hurry (hic!) up and do me, and if it (hic!) doesn't work, let's get out of here!  (hic!) (hic!) (ohhh...dammit anyway...)"

 

They got into the back of his trusty van.  Fortunately for both of them, Jim was a typical 18-year-old, which meant he was usually ready and able to perform on demand, and Colleen in that dress was a major turn-on anyway.  He could never fully explain why, when Colleen got hiccups, she turned him on even more than usual; maybe it was just the way she bounced, or maybe it was because it was the only time she was the least bit vulnerable and just a little less intimidating.

 

This would be only their second time.  She hadn't given him any more since the night at the drive-in; she wasn't in the habit of giving anything away she didn't have to, and usually, she didn't have to!  It felt good enough when she came, but she hated the dependency, the positioning, and the loss of control.  She needed this now to cure her hiccups, but she was trying as hard as she could to put herself back in charge.  She'd heard that sex was supposed to be this beautiful experience that two people in love shared, but she guessed that was for other people; she just wasn't a "sharer".

 

Colleen herself slowly began to suspect that her hiccups were turning him on.  It seemed strange to her; she'd never heard of such a thing before!  She knew that lots of things about her turned guys on, and she was used to it, but hiccups?  That was a new one.

 

She knew, better than most, how guys act when they're majorly turned on and trying to hide it.  She thought back to the night at the drive-in.  She'd been distracted then, and not paying attention to how Jim was acting; but in retrospect, she could see that he had been getting turned on from the time she'd started to hic!  She watched him now, closely; maybe it was just intuition, but she could sense it again!  Maybe, she thought, she could use it; she really wanted to get this over with before they were missed, and anything that would hurry him along was welcome.  Besides, she always liked to know the right buttons to push.  She took off her gown to protect it from being wrinkled, and they got started.

 

At the beginning, Colleen was hiccupping about once every five seconds, but she was soon breathing harder, and her hiccups started coming every four seconds.  Another minute or two and she was moaning with pleasure despite herself, and her hiccups were up to once every three seconds.  It occurred to her, she could use this!  Her first time, at the drive-in, she hadn't known what to expect, and she'd been pretty submissive, but she'd learned that her hiccups would accelerate to one per second just before she came.  Now her normal personality surfaced, and she began goading him in a way that was pure Colleen:

 

"(hic!)  You like it when I get hiccups, don't (hic!) you?  You love it when I get hic(hic!)cups, don't you?  You'd love it if I (hic!) hiccupped all freakin' night, wouldn't you?  (hic!)  Well, c'mon, you want hiccups, make me (hic!) hiccup, dammit!  They're only three (hic!) seconds apart, and I need to be (hic!) up to one a second!  C'mon, (hic!) dammit, do me!"

 

Abusing him was her way of putting herself back in control, and that was getting her as hot as anything!

 

He realized that he had a snarling little tigress beneath him, alright, and there was only one way he was getting out of this alive!

 

Her hiccups accelerated to intervals of two seconds, and she continued moaning, panting and sweating, yet sarcastically still driving him harder:  "(hic!)  What's the matter, (hic!) aren't my boobs (hic!) big enough?  (hic!)  Don't I hiccup (hic!) loud enough?  (hic!)  C'mon, big boy, (hic!) I'm only up (hic!) to two seconds, (hic!) c'mon, (hic!) c'mon, (hic!) yes, this (hic!) is it, (hic!) oh, yes, (hic!) this is (hic!) it, (hic!) it's... (hic!) it's... (hic!) (hic!) (HIC!) ooo(hic!)hhh!"

 

Her orgasm was exquisite, and her hiccups obligingly shut down.

 

As hard as she had been on Jim, she really did love him (at least, as much as her nature would allow her to), and when they returned to the prom, she did have an unmistakable glow.  The rest of the evening went smoothly; maybe it was just the relief of disaster averted, but she seemed less intense, less "tight" than usual, and they danced and had a wonderful time.

 

---

 

A Romantic Evening

 

Another case of hiccups finally brought Colleen and Jim some true romance.

 

It was a beautiful Saturday night, not long after the prom, and Jim came over to pick Colleen up for a date.

 

Her mom answered the door, and apologized to him, with a worried look on her face, "I don't think Colleen is going to be able to go."  The stairway, which led up to the bedrooms, started just inside the front entrance, and Jim could hear a succession of loud, violent hics coming from upstairs.

 

Her mom heard it too, and continued, "She just started a few minutes ago.  She was rushing around, getting ready, and all of a sudden this happened!  It's always so hard for her to get rid of them... I don't know if you two are going to make it anywhere tonight at all!"

 

Colleen had heard the bell, and soon hurried down the stairs, her breasts bouncing deliciously.  Jim always liked watching her come down the stairs; it was one of his favorite parts of the date.  She knew it, of course, and because she really liked him, she always gave him this.  Not that she felt very sexy right now, of course!

 

"(hic!) (hic!)  I'm sorry," she apologized, "I really got 'em (hic!) bad this time.  (hic!)  I can't go.  (hic!) (hic!) (ohhh...)"

 

"Why don't we stop at my house?" he offered.  "I've still got that jar of my grandma's secret hiccup cure."

 

"(hic!)  Your grandma's...?  (hic!)"

 

"You remember the stuff," he went on.  "We used it the last time you got hiccups, and they stopped right away!"  Turning to Colleen's mom, he continued, "She hated the way it tasted, but one spoon was all it took!"  Coming back to Colleen, he said, "My parents are out of town for the weekend, but I know where it is!"

 

The last time Colleen had got hiccups was at the prom, and she very well remembered how she'd lost them!  Catching on, she played along, "(hic!)  Oh, yeah; I dunno what's (hic!) in it, but it (hic!) really worked, didn't it!"

 

"Well, dear," her mom replied, "if it works for you, by all means!  And bring back a few spoonfuls if you can!"

 

Walking out to the van, Colleen needled him, "(hic!)  Grandma's secret hiccup cure?  (hic!)  Is that the best (hic!) you could come up with?"

 

Since the prom, she and Jim had been out several times, and as their relationship had developed and their love had grown, Colleen's attitude toward him had softened considerably.  She wasn't competing with him, and he wasn't just looking to score; a little warmth had gone a long way in melting the Ice Queen.  Getting ready for her date tonight, she'd almost been a little sorry she'd held back from him for so long, and tonight, she'd thought, maybe they could "do it" romantically like other people.  But now this had happened to her again, and they had to waste it curing her stupid hiccups!

 

Jim's parents really were gone for the weekend, and for once he and Colleen got to do it in a comfortable bed, in pleasant, attractive surroundings.  As they entered the bedroom, she turned to him, took his hand, kissed it and held it between hers, and said, "(hic!)  I'm sorry it (hic!) always has to (hic!) be this way."  He had to listen real hard to hear what she said next:  "I love you."

 

She didn't abuse him this time; she was under no particular pressure, and she was able to relax and enjoy herself, as much as anyone who wanted to get rid of their hiccups could.

 

She stopped hiccupping as soon as she came; then they just cuddled and talked for a while.  When they were ready, they did it again, and, for the first time, Colleen saw what a beautiful expression of their love it really could be.

 

They never did make it out of the house that evening; they just ordered in and cuddled on the sofa, watching TV.  Colleen was falling for Jim harder than she'd ever thought possible, and she had never been so agreeable, chatty, and relaxed before.

 

---

 

Before Jim took Colleen home, they mixed up a little jar of whatever they could find in the kitchen:  Salad dressing, lemon juice, ketchup, maple syrup, vinegar, anything, just so she'd have a jar of "Grandma's secret hiccup cure" to bring home, in case her mom asked.  She fervently hoped that her mom would never actually have her try any of the stuff!  She put it in the fridge, expecting that it would soon get pushed to the back, and she could throw it out without anybody noticing.

 

As luck would have it, the next week her little brother got a bad case, and her mom in desperation gave him a big spoonful!  After he finished choking and gagging, he went to find Colleen and told her, "Uh, sis, I took some of your hiccup medicine!"

 

Colleen was aghast.  "Oh, no!" she replied, "You didn't!"  She tried to remember the number for poison control.

 

"Relax, sis," he told her, "there's plenty left... and it really works!"

 

---

 

Graduation Day

 

High school graduation came at last!

 

Colleen, of course, was the valedictorian; she had demanded nothing less from herself!  Jim was the salutatorian, achieving the number two ranking in the class; Colleen would have settled for nothing less from him, either!

 

It was the day of the graduation ceremony, and everyone was gathered in the staging area, getting into their gowns, and preparing for the processional into the auditorium.

 

Colleen was with Sharon and some of her other friends, in a side room off the main staging area.  She'd been working hard on her commencement address for weeks, and was going over it one more time, with Sharon as her "audience".  If you looked closely, you could see that Colleen's hands were shaking.

 

"Principal Andrews," she began, in a clear, crisp tone, "members of the school board, honored faculty and distinguished guests:  This is (HIC!)"

 

Her eyes opened wide and her hand flew to her mouth.  She held her breath and prayed, "Oh please, just this once, let it be a teaser, oh please, just this (HIC!)"

 

It wasn't a teaser; it never was.  In 20 minutes she had to march into the auditorium to deliver a valedictory address in front of hundreds of students, faculty, parents, and guests -- and she had hiccups.

 

They'd never forgive her if she screwed this up, she thought; she'd never forgive herself!  She was ready to cry.  Oh, she'd got hiccups plenty of times in the past, and most everyone knew that it happened to her once in a while; but was this going to be everyone's last memory of her, standing on the stage, making a fool of herself?  It always took her a long time to get rid of her hiccups, but she didn't have a long time now; she just had to lose them right away!

 

She drank some water and hiccupped louder.  She held her breath and hiccupped faster.  In desperation she wondered if she could pull this off with hiccups; maybe, just maybe, if she could time them perfectly, she could pause right before each hic, keep her mouth closed during the hic, and nobody would know!  It was a wild, fantastic idea that she could actually make it through the whole speech that way, but her hiccups just wouldn't stop, and she didn't know what else to do.  She started again, her voice shaking, her breathing coming faster and faster:

 

"Principal Andrews, members of (hmpf) the school board, honored (hmpf) faculty and distinguished guests:  (hmpf)  This is in(HIC!)deed (HIC!) (HIC!) (HIC!)"

 

It was impossible to time them.  She sat down at a table, buried her face in her hands, and burst into tears.

 

Colleen hadn't cried since she was a child.

 

It was a very bad idea to start now.

 

---

 

Jim was out in the main staging area.  He looked for Colleen, but she was nowhere to be found.  He was a little worried about her; he knew this was a stressful day, and he knew how stress affected her.  He went looking for her, to make sure she was alright.

 

It was a good thing he did.  He found her, and his worst fears were confirmed.  Colleen had the most awful case of hiccups he'd ever seen, at least one per second, and she looked absolutely panic-stricken.  Her girlfriends were nervously milling around, occasionally offering suggestions, but mostly just watching her hiccup, which, of course, only added to the stress she already felt.

 

It was obvious to Jim that she couldn't deliver her address in this condition; she'd be too embarrassed to attend the ceremony at all!  As willful and aggressive as Colleen could sometimes be, she looked so terribly vulnerable now, hiccupping uncontrollably as precious minutes ticked away, with no way to make it stop.  Jim's heart went out to her; for the last four years, she had worked so hard for this day, this once-in-a-lifetime moment in the sun, and now it would be stolen from her by a stupid case of hiccups!

 

Then Jim had an even more alarming thought; if she couldn't go on, would he have to give the address in her place?  Something had to be done, and quick!

 

He went over to Colleen's friend Sharon, and asked her what had happened.  "She started about 10 minutes ago," Sharon told him with a worried frown.  "At first, they were only about five seconds apart, but she kept drinking water and holding her breath, and they just kept getting faster and faster.  I don't know how she can even breathe, the way she is now!"

 

Jim understood.  Never before had Colleen been under such enormous pressure to cure her hiccups; and every time a cure had failed, her stress level had shot up exponentially, until now she was totally frantic!  Sex was obviously not the answer this time; she needed a cure that wasn't "instant," one that wouldn't incite even more panic if it didn't work right away.

 

Jim asked her girlfriends if he and she could be alone for a few minutes.  The girls were out of ideas, and were glad to go; it was, after all, distressing to watch their friend in such a predicament, and to be unable to do anything about it.  Colleen looked up at Jim, and he saw the desperation in her eyes.  All she could manage to say between hiccups was, "Help?"

 

He could see that her breathing was much too fast.  He stood behind her, and gently began massaging her neck and shoulders, speaking softly and soothingly to her, "It's gonna be alright, baby...... you're gonna be fine...... just relax...... try to slow your breathing a little...... you'll be OK in a few minutes......".  Colleen's hiccups began to slow down, and that provided a positive, calming feedback to her, which helped to encourage her, and to calm her even more.  It took a little while, but eventually, just in time, Colleen's hiccups stopped completely.

 

---

 

She made it through a perfect oration without a single hic.  Maybe Jim was prejudiced, but he thought Colleen was the only girl who looked really hot in her graduation gown!  The gowns were, of course, long, flowing, and shapeless, but somehow, Colleen's anatomy managed to overcome it and remain deliciously in evidence.

 

(continued)

 

---

 

jimandgina3@juno.com