Epilogue

“Hey!” a tall blonde young man called out, chasing after Avery. The crowd was dispersing from her journalism class and she was just heading out the door herself.

“Freddie! What brings you out here?” Avery responded, recognizing her senior staff reporter. She continued on her way to her next class as he kept in pace.

“Just checking in with you. Sunil told me that you didn’t send your story in? Did things not pan out?”

“Oh, it just wasn’t something worth publishing,” Avery said vaguely. “But, thanks for the tip anyways. It was an… interesting investigation.”

Freddie rubbed his head, a little confused about the young journalist’s decision. “That’s not like you to give up a story, Aves. Especially one you’ve spent so long working on. Remember when you nearly got pneumonia doing the polar plunge? What could possibly keep you from putting out this expose?”

Avery simply shrugged and kept walking.

“They didn’t threaten you, did they? If they think they can scare you into keeping your mouth shut…” Freddie started.

Avery waved off the notion with a fanning of her hand, “Nothing like that! It’s just that... ”

“Was it because you went in too deep? Did things that you shouldn’t mention for your own reputation?” Freddie asked with a raised eyebrow. His eyes travelled over Avery’s body.

“Well… they had me perform some highly improper acts. Scandalous even! But that’s not why I’m not publishing the story.” Avery replied with a knowing smile.

The two continued to walk for a while. When it became apparent that Avery wasn’t going to delve deeper into her explanation, Freddie shook his head regretfully and sighed, “That’s too bad, I was looking forward to reading about the seedy underground of Olympia College!”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that it was a total loss…” Avery smiled as she thought back on the experience.

“Did you learn a thing or two?” Freddie mused.

“I learned that I didn’t really do what I did for a story. I did it because I wanted to.” She said affirmatively. “No one else squashed the story, the decision was mine.”

“Well, I guess I can’t **** you to do something you don’t want to...” Freddie admitted.

“That’s right,” Avery confirmed.

“And so the exploits of Melanie Danvers continues unabated,” Freddie sighed wistfully. “Who knows what sordid affairs she concocts next! Secret meetings in hidden halls filled with bacchanal orgies! Pleasures of the flesh to rival the age of Dionysus!”

Avery halted and gave her work mate a serious look. “Freddie, I write stories to share with the people a world that they would otherwise never be unaware of. I do it so they can learn and possibly explore the world themselves. If I were to share this story, it would permanently change the way things are. Either the school comes down on Danvers and shuts down the whole operation or she goes even deeper undercover, making it harder to access. I think she does something good for the community and I don’t want to change that.” She gave him a downcast look and asked with genuine curiosity, “You’re not disappointed, are you?”

After a long pause, Freddie finally said, “Well, it’s a hell of a story… whoever exposes this organization to the general populace will make a name for themselves not just here, but maybe even nationally! A secret sex ring running inside a stately college? That’s stuff that makes the evening news!”

Avery stopped and turned to her colleague. She looked him square in the eyes and asked, “So, why don’t you cover it?”

“I didn’t really have an in, but I knew you would find a way…” the tall blonde admitted.

“So, how did you end up finding out about it anyways?”

“Some things a reporter needs to keep to himself,” Freddie replied with a smug grin.

“Mhmm…” She murmured in a conspiratorial tone as she looked at him with knowing eyes. “I did keep tabs on our lady in question, after the fact. I also found a connection between you and her… a one on one meeting, prior to you letting me in on the story...”

“Oh…. well... yeah, I was doing my due diligence…. You know, I couldn’t just pass on bad information…” Freddie quickly explained.

Avery folded her arms together and nodded her head slowly with an incredulous grin, “Mhmm…” She tilted her head and sized her senior staffer up. “You know, I never told you what happened that night.”

Freddie smirked, “Kind of why I was looking forward to seeing the story in the Herald.”

“Well, maybe you’d like to write the story from YOUR perspective,” Avery teased.

Freddie took a step back, suddenly flushing red on his cheeks, “Uh… what… what do you mean?”

“You think I wouldn’t recognize your behind a mask, Freddie?” It was Avery’s turn to smirk. She took perverse pleasure in watching her advisor squirm. “We’ve worked close enough for me to be familiar with your posture, height and demeanor, even in a sex fueled theater! You’ve only been hovering over me since I joined the news team…”

“Uh… yeah, as a mentor…” Freddie tried to explain, unable to look up from his feet.

“You’re not fooling anyone,” Avery cut him off with a light giggle. “I could tell you were interested from the very start. It’s too bad that it took a scheme set up by Danvers to finally get you to actually do something about it!”

“Wait..” Freddie cried out, suddenly realizing, “you mean to say that if I’d said something before, you might have…”

“I guess we’ll never know now…” Avery retorted before starting off again on her path. She took a few paces away from the stupefied male before stopping to give him a sidelong glance. “Next time, why don’t you try asking me out?”

The redhead continued on, not looking back. She swung her hips tauntingly as she left the man to ponder what might have been. She would have loved to tease him some more, but she had an appointment soon. Melanie needed volunteers for another get together. This one was to help a student get over stage fright by holding a private play. A play with mature themes, nudity and, of course, lots of sex!