Jay saw the girls and he quickly pressed the HOME icon to conceal what he was viewing on the Internet. With a sound of surprise, Jay welcomed them, "Hi girls, what brings you this way this afternoon?"
Heather answered, "The AOPi's are selling boxes of donuts for charity fund raising and I was hoping you and Shawn and some of your friends might want to help us out."
"I'll take a box and if you hang around here very long I am sure you can sell more," Jay replied with a laugh and a smile.
Heather was about to say something else when Jay's cell phone suddenly began to obnoxiously ring. Jay took the call then told the girls whan happened. "Shawn and Jeannie are over at the mall and he's having car trouble. I've gotta run out there and see if I can help. I'll give you a call later."
Jay left quickly giving Heather a peck on the cheek, leaving her and Jill in the computer lab alone. Jill responded, "Well, I guess we could try to sell some more donuts, huh?"
"Sure, the guys around here love to eat."
Heather made a move toward trying to see who else wanted to buy donuts, but instead Jill took a seat where Jay was sitting. "He we might as well surf the web while we have a chance. Our computers are always busy."
Heather agreed to delay their donut sales a few minutes and took the seat to her right. The first web site Jill tried to bring up was very slow to come up. Jill noted, "Wow, the network's slow today, isn't it? Did the Betas pay their ISP bill?" Jill, in her frustration, tried to retreat by hitting the back arrow repeatedly with her index finger. Heather noted the same problem, but showed a bit more patience in her approach. Suddenly a strange web site with a black background appeared on Jill's computer.
"Hey Heather look at this!" She showed her the web site entitled LegsandHeels.Com. "What sort of site is this?"
After looking at the front page for a few moments, she commented, "I don't know, must be some sort of foot and shoe fetish page."
"I believe so."
"I wonder why he was looking at this page?"
"Jill, it could have been even someone before Jay."
Jill changed to the messageboard page and noted, "Maybe so, but I don't see how. Hey wait a minute! Here's a post by someone called JAYWIL! I bet Jay used that as his pseudoname!"
Heather was disturbed, "What do you know about 'pseudonames'! Let me see that!" Jill and Heather finally concluded that this could be Jay's post. Heather suggested, "Let's see what Jay wrote." Jill selected it and it said the following:
"I just found this site and I thought I'd share an experience I've had. This girl who had a crush on me mailed me one of her shoes..." The posts continued to explain the whole story of the events leading up and including their prom date back in the spring that led them to start dating.
Heather was confused and noted, "I wonder what made Jay find this site and post that? It's so odd!"
Jill began to press the back button some more and replied, "Let's see what else he looked at." Jill stopped on a site and commented, "Hey, this is a page made by someone named Snowman - says it specializes in One Shoe stories."
Heather was very interested now, "what are those links?"
"Let's see, here's a site by someone named Kinja. It's also a one shoe page. This is so odd. And here's another by Droppedit, and yet another by some guy named Mikeey."
Heather found some scrap paper and a spare pencil and said to Jill, "Hey we need to get out of here in case Jay gets back and finds us reading this stuff. I'll write down the web sites and we'll look at them on my laptop back in the dorm."
Back at the dorm, Jill and Heather hurriedly connected to their dial-up ISP and began to look deeper into the web sites that they had gotten from Jay's computer. They were amazed to see one shoe stories, one shoe photos, one shoe scenes in movies and television and evidence that men liked such a thing. Jill even talked Heather into completing Nylonman's Shoe Loss Poll, since she had certainly had some recent experiences to share. Jill asked Heather, "So what do you think about all of this?"
"I feel a little guilty, that maybe I am the one who led Jay in this direction. When I mailed him that shoe in the mail it must have turned something on inside."
"What about losing one shoe at the prom and you meeting him in the mall wearing one shoe?"
"That's right. What am I going to do? It's my fault!"
Jill replied, "Well I suppose you have two options. One is to consider him corrupted and break up with him. The other is to play along and continue fulfilling the need you may have started."
"I do consider it my fault, so I guess I could try to play along. But if I tell him I know about his little 'interest' he will wonder how I found out and think I've been spying on him. I also don't want to have to keep losing shoes."
"Maybe that's where I come into the picture. Next time we're all at some party or something, I'll 'help' you lose a shoe then I can give it back to you later.
"How are we going to do that? If you come by and pull it off my foot others will see you do it."
"Well, I've seen you sometimes play with your shoes - you dangling them off your toes, lift your feet partially and out of one then the other. Maybe we can stage something where you shoeplay and leave one of your shoes unattended and I secretly take it away."
Jill and Heather continued to discuss their plan. Heather was glad to have found something that might help her gain Jay's attention, but remembering back to her experience in the mall and at the prom, she did not look forward to being seen in public missing a shoe. However the knowledge she would get it back eventually made the prospect seem easier to take.
Jay and Heather went out that Friday night to dinner and a movie. Heather, who was beginning to become more acclimated to the the 'sorority dress code', wore a red sweater, khaki cropped pants and a pair of brown calfskin leather loafer mules. Heather wore her curly brown hair in a cute ponytail and added a red hair ribbon adornment. It was a rainy night and Jay was gentlemanly enough to bring a large umbrella for them to share.
Jay and Heather had a nice dinner talking about mostly school-related stuff. In between, Jay mentioned his plans to drive up to his Grandfather's in Gainesville to spend the weekend. Heather made a deliberate effort to engage in shoeplay to see if it would capture Jay's attention. She crossed her left leg over her right in the direction of the aisle and allowed her mule to slip down part of the way on her toes. She slapped the sole of the shoe against her foot in a repeated motion. She then nook note as Jay tried to catch several secret glances in her foot's direction. Heather then allowed the mule to take a larger that normal swing and it jumped off her foot and landed off to the side. Heather made no motion toward picking it up, but instead watched Jay's reaction that was guarded but definitely interested. Heather left the shoe on the floor of the restaurant for 15 minutes before leaning over to pick it up. Heather was convinced that she had now caught onto something.
While this was happening, Jay was amazed. Heather had done a sparce amount of shoeplay before but this was certainly more than usual. This was enough to make him give at least a passing thought to consider a bit more closely what he should do about her and Trisha. Decision time was coming very soon since he was about to invite one of them to have a family day-after-Thanksgiving lunch at his grandfather's house in Gainesville. (The one day delay was to give his brother, Bob and his wife, Samantha, time to get there form Austin, Texas, where they lived.) When Jay's grandmother was still living, she loved to have Jay, his older brother, his parents, an aunt and uncle and 2 cousins from his mom's side of the family over for a large meal. She had passed away four years ago and Jay's mom, two aunts and his sister-in-law had taken over the food preparation duties. Jay knew that his family would offer a warm reception to either of these excellent girls. In fact, they would probably jokingly wonder how he could have found someone so nice to date. Jay was humbled and comforted in the fact that he really couldn't lose either way.
The conversation shifted to their weekend. "So Jay, what did you say you needed to help your grandfather with tomorrow?"
Jay was not proud at all about his lie, but he did not know what else to do. "He's getting pretty bad arthritis and he needs help raking leaves and removing some fallen limbs - stuff like that."
"I'll miss you, but I think it's so nice of you to help your grandfather like that."
Jay especially hated to lie when it seemed he was doing something for a family member in need. "What are you going to do, Heather?"
"Jill and I are going to drive over to the Mall of Georgia and look around, grab a hamburger at Fuddruckers, you know - girl stuff."
On the way out of the restaurant, they noticed the rain had increased a little from before and Jay offered, "Would you like me to get the car for you."
Heather considered this generous and gentlemanly offer, but the thought of walking in the rain sharing an umbrella was sort of romantic so she declined, "That's okay, we can just share." One thing Heather and Trisha, and Jay as a matter of fact, had in common was a love for music from the 60's and 70's. Heather thought about the song from the Hollies' called "Bus Stop" where the guy and the girl begin a romance after sharing an umbrella at the bus stop over the summer.
As they began to walk, Heather tried to be careful not to step in any of the deeper puddles. She noticed that what little water had reached her shoes had turned the brown calfskin a contrasting dark color and the bottom sides of her bare feet were getting a little damp. She tried not to notice but instead focused on how much she was enjoying walking close to Jay with her left hand cupped inside Jay's right upper arm as he held the umbrella safely over the two of them.
After taking about ten steps toward their car of the far side of the parking lot. There was a sudden gust of wind and a clasp of thunder - not all that unusual in Georgia in the fall of the year. The rain increaded about tenfold and suddenly the rain began to fall in torrents.
Jay quickly asked, "You want to make a run for it?"
"Okay!"
On that note, Jay began to run pulling Heather along and futily carrying the umbrella which was blocking only about half of the rain that was now coming down sideways. Heather tried to watch where she was stepping, but she seemed to find a few of the larger puddles. They came to a dip in the parking lot and the water was deeper and moving fast and in the same direction they were running. For 2 or 3 steps, Heather felt the force of the water push one shoe the other partially off. She had to keep running just to thrust her toes forward so as to keep her shoe from coming off and being carried away in the flow. Water filled the inside of each of her mules and her feet were now completely wet.
A few seconds later, Jay fumbled with the keys and finally got the door opened for Heather, got her safely inside then walked around and got in himself. Both were short of breath a little and now somewhat wet - especially from the knees down. They were in good spirits and they began to laugh about their folly.
It was too dark to see and confirm, but Heather felt like her shoes had gotten pretty wet. But she was glad to have had a fun bonding experience with Jay. There's nothing like a crisis to bring people together. Heather put out some bait on the end of her hook, "Wow my feet are really wet and my shoes are too.
"Mine too. I'll start the car and turn on the floor heater." Jay then reached in the back and found his gym towel. "I found a towel if that would help." Jay was willing just to let Heather borrow the towel, but to his surprise and excitement, Heather spun in her seat in Jay's direction and placed both feet in his lap between him and the steering wheel. She would have not ordinarily been so bold, but sometimes it the right time to play your 'ace', she reasoned.
Jay readily took off one shoe and wiped it off inside and out. Much of the leather had darkened - especially from the bottom about three-fourths of the way up. There was a lot of water also on the top of her shoe and the entire inside was wet and darkened from the water. He then one at a time, laid her backless loafer mules on the dash, wiped her feet, ankle and lower legs dry, taking the opportunity to caress each foot and admire her pretty red nail polish. Her feet were not as perfect as Trisha's but they were nice by their own merits.
On the dash, it was more obvious to both Jay and Heather that her shoes were discolored from the rainwater. Heather commented on that then placed her shoes on the floor of the car. Jay then backed out of the parking space and drove to the movieplex a couple of miles away. The rain had slowed agin, but this time, Heather allowed Jay to let her out of the car at the entrance to the theater and get a spot in line while Jay parked and joined her.
Once inside it was pretty crowded and they had to sit in the front part of the theater which was the traditional style seating instead of the more comfortable stadium seating. After what seemed to be an endless barrage of dancing hot dogs and movie previews, the movie began and Jay and Heather settled down to enjoy it. Jay reached down and held Heather's hand and she crossed her right leg over her left in his direction and sent her mule into a dangle, much like in the restaurant. Jay took the opportuity when the lighting was right to catch a quick glimpse. Heather enjoyed the opportunity to create some separation between her feet and wet shoes, if they were not in a movie theater with sticky floors, she might have been tempted to just take her shoes off all together and let them dry a bit during the two hour movie.
For half the movie, Heather did little more that allow her mule to hang off her toes. Occasionally she alllowed it to slip a little before bouncing her foot to get it back on her foot better. Then she got an idea so test Jay again, she allowed her shoe to fall completely off, thinking it might land at his feet and lead him to retrieve it for her. During a moment in the movie when it was almost completely dark Heather flexed her toes downward and her mule tumbled and when it landed on the concrete slanted floor of the theater it rolled and slid completely under the seat in front of Jay totally out of sight.
Heather did not immediately realize what had happened. Soon, the lighting in the theater increased and she looked down and did not see her shoe. She felt excitedly anxious sitting there missing a shoe and unsure of exactly where the other one had gone. She looked down at the floor and saw nothing. Again, not wanting to place her bare foot on the nasty feeling floor, Heather decided to sit with her bare foot crossed.
Jay soon noticed that Heather's brown mule was no longer dangling off her foot. The sight of her foot missing a shoe was thrlling and he too looked around on the floor and saw nothing. He stretched out his feet under the seat in front of him with the idea of trying to see if it landed under there. Unknowingly, however he pushed her shoe further under the seat, to the right and a little in front of the feet of the person sitting in the seat. Heather looked for an opportunity to find her shoe. She was willing to leave it off so Jay could be involved in retrieving it afterwards, but she wanted to at least know where it was. During a dark time in the theater she uncrossed her leg and stretched her foot out under the seat in front of her and felt nothing. She tried to get her foot part of the way in the seat in front of Jay but again, nothing.
About 45 minutes later, the movie was over and Heather was nervous after being without her shoe for almost an hour. The lights came on and the person in front of Jay, unknowingly kicked Heather's shoe forward yet another row before turning to walk out. Heather began to look around and Jay quickly detected what had happened and teasingly asked, "Looking for something?"
"My shoe fell off in the middle of the movie and I'm not sure where it landed."
After a few more people in the vicinity left, Jay and Heather got down on hands and knees and looked under the seats in front and in back of them. After a couple of minutes, Jay thought to look under the seats two rows up, "Found it!" Jay retrieved it and placed it back on her foot.
"Thank you! For a moment, I was worried I might have to leave here without it." Jay was excited and Heather was mortified at the thought.
Jay and Heather left the theater and he dropped her off at her dorm for the evening shortly afterwards. Upon his return, Jay logged onto legsandheels.com and recorded the story of what had hapened that night. Although he had no idea that Heather had seen his internet post, Jay suddenly no longer felt comfortable with the handle "JAYWIL" so he picked something totally new for his second post: "WILECOYOTE"
Jill was still awake getting ready for bed when Heather arrived so Heather told her all about the evening.
"Well, I think I'm ready for us to try a shoe loss. I had a trial run tonight." Heather went on to describe what happened during the movie and also running to the car in the rain earlier in the evening.
"So how did he react?"
"It did seem to get his attention. All of it - drying my shoes and feet, the shoeplay and the shoe loss. I think I found some sort of secret "thing" he has.
"Do you feel like you're taking advantage of him?"
"I like to think of it as a win-win situation. I get what I want and he gets what he wants. That's all that matters, right?" Jill suggested they look for more posts from JAYWIL and there were none. They repeated this ritual every night that week and there were no more JAYWIL posts. However, Jay as the new poster WILECOYOTE, wrote several messages. Except for the first one, these were not about Heather, but instead were about Trisha. He was careful never to mention the state of Georgia or her real name. He chose the name 'Jenifer' at random to keep everyone's identity a secret. Jill and Heather read a couple of WILECOYOTE's posts at random, however they failed to read the one what was actually about Heather. Not knowing about any specific shoe loss stories concerning Jay and Trisha, they did not have a clue that the posts they happened to read were about them.
