Big Brown Eyes

Some original writing to share. This story may be inspired by actual events, lol! Audio version at end.

He was in so far over his head; he didn’t know what to do.

None of it seemed real. Here he was, lying in bed with a young woman in HER dorm room. There wasn’t anything “going on”. Because, if he was honest with himself, he didn’t really have any idea of what to do. What he did know was that he didn’t want to go away.

There were these big, brown eyes…

Doug Brown arrived at college that fall with a look that said he was ready to conquer the world. Inside was a very different feeling. This was the first time that he’d ever lived “on his own”. That challenge terrified him for the first couple of weeks of school. Slowly, he realized it wasn’t too much for him. First semester freshman classes were easy. He’d end the term with a perfect 4.0. His roommate was…okay. They didn’t have much in common, and quickly established lives that only overlapped at the beginning and end of each day. They’d parted ways at Winter Break.

There’d been this girl in one of his classes. They’d sat near to one another, and chatted a little. Then a little more. When a project had come up in class, she’d looked right at him. The obvious thing seemed to be to ask her if she wanted to work together. So he did. And she did. Then they did.

Which led to just hanging out.

And sitting right next to one another.

Talking about what classes they were thinking about next semester.

Because, maybe…

They’d hugged a couple times and held hands. And Doug had no idea what was going on. Except that his heart raced a little when he’d see her across a room. He loved to make her laugh and made a bit of an idiot of himself on several occasions. Neither of them had anyone at home. Doug had never had a girlfriend before. There were a couple “summer romances” that amounted to exactly zero. In four years at high school, he’d had a total of three dates. One of them was going to a movie with a female friend. They’d known each other for a couple years, strictly platonic, and had wanted to see the same movie. It had generated a lot of teasing from their mutual friend group and nothing else. The other two were dances with girls he only knew slightly. Again, nothing. He had no clue what to do with a girlfriend. Health class had given him an uncomfortable understanding of human plumbing, but that was somewhere down the road.

A bunch of their friends had an end of semester party, and he’d gotten drunk. Drunk enough that his father asked about his hangover the next morning at pickup. There’d been an awkward hug before he and his dad drove away.

When he came back from break, she greeted him with a big hug. A full body hug that made things happen. Hanging out every day became a thing. Meeting in the Dining Hall for meals. Long talks about nothing, mostly.

And then she invited him to her dorm room. Doug was pretty sure he’d blushed when he mumbled his agreement. She had a single room. There weren’t a lot of places to sit. Which is how they ended lying on the bed. He was far enough away to be polite, but close enough to feel the warmth of her breath.

And that’s when he really looked into her eyes. Big, brown eyes that seemed to take him very seriously. Were very interested in him. Eyes that drew him in while scaring the crap out of him.

Those big, brown eyes…

Me reading the story. Hope you enjoy.

(Copyright 2025 J. D. Phillippi, All Rights Reserved)