Seth Stetler worked quietly on the latest software edition for Microsoft. He liked that his job allowed for peace and quiet. People honestly terrified him most of the time. Most people who met Seth at first glance would have no idea why he would be so shy. Seth was 6'2" and was fit physically. Most women thought Seth was incredibly good looking actually. He was also a computer whiz and a graduate of MIT. However, Seth found it hard to connect with other people. Others always seemed to demand so much of him – more than he was either willing or able to give. As far as Microsoft was concerned though, Seth was the New York office's rising star. It made sense to him – technology was where he really felt most comfortable. Despite Seth's lack of confidence with social interaction, he was incredibly confident about his work. People always sought him for guidance and not the other way around. He liked that environment. He could sound like an 'alpha male' when discussing ways to improve applications to the cute and perky blonde girl who worked in his department.

Seth did wonder though. Was his life truly worth anything? He couldn't make other people truly happy. He was capable of deep emotions – but others were most likely not capable of feeling deep emotions towards him. Seth had thought about suicide in the past. He almost went through with it back when he was a freshman in high school. Seth planned to hang himself with a rope. However, Seth left the door open and his older sister Nicole saw what he was about to do. She stopped him from going through with it. Seth never tried suicide again after seeing how horrified his sister looked at the idea of him dying. Until Seth started college, Nicole, his sister, was his only true friend. Going to MIT was the best thing that happened to Seth admittedly. Seth made some friends. They bonded over computer programming and video games. Easy bonds to make. However, Seth still felt very much alone. He always felt like he was an alien from another planet. His mom would always tell him that was because he was just too smart for the rest of the world. Seth never believed her though. He thought it was because he was a timid loser who stuttered when around people he didn't know well.

Seth smacked himself in the head. Think of the positive, Seth reminded himself. Think of that. His family was incredibly proud of him. Seth lived in the city, but his parents didn't live far – in Montclair, New Jersey. It was only a short train ride away. Seth did have some friends from college who also worked in the city. He didn't see them much, but they regularly attended a board game club which met weekly in Times Square. That was tonight, wasn't it? The perfect way to cure the doldrums of a Monday. Seth knew he would probably not meet any potential cute girlfriends tonight, but he enjoyed going. Seth hadn't met a person at the club who could beat him at chess. Most of the people who went thought chess was too 'mainstream'. However, that was his game of choice. Seth thought about deliberately making a crappy move at a chess game to let someone else win – but he reminded himself that his opponent had so much more going for him/her in life than he did. The perfectly well-adjusted guy playing against Seth at chess would have no problem taking a loss at all. That was all Seth had.

**********
It was 8 PM. Seth arrived at the board game club. He ran into his college friend, Roger Wang.

"Yo Seth", said Roger in a chipper tone, "hopefully your Monday wasn't total shit."

"Flushed Monday down the toilet", responded Seth.

"Atta boy, that's what I should have done too. Did you invite Trudy to play board games with us yet?"

Trudy. That was the girl he knew from work.

"I don't think she's the type", said Seth, "so no."

"Don't be such a scaredy cat", said Roger with a smile, "you showed me a picture of her. She's hot."

"Out of my league. Ummm.. we don't speak much."

That was a lie. Trudy would make it her business to speak with Seth at least once a day – even if it was just to say hello. She was as outgoing as Seth was shy. Seth knew that Roger would seize on any opportunity to ask him questions about Trudy.

"I guess I should trust your judgment. After all, you're that fucking prodigy whose brain I would steal before exams."

Seth sighed and then said, "I'm surprised you didn't fail out of MIT then."

"I guess your brain worked for me."

"Want to play chess with me", asked Seth.

"Nah, I am in a Settlers mood tonight."

"Don't you want to be the first person to beat me at chess?"

"Dude, I can't even beat normal people at chess – how do you expect me to beat you?"

"Suit yourself."

Seth gathered the chess board which sat on one of the tables and opened it up. He quietly set up the chessboard and watched. Seth took a sick sense of pride in his abilities to play a decent game of chess. He won some statewide tournament at the age of ten, but was so terrified to pick up his trophy at the awards ceremony that his mother did it for him.

Most of the regular attendees of the board game club had played chess with Seth at least once. A few of the more ambitious ones would regularly challenge him to a game of chess. Seth would have never guessed though that his first opponent of the night would change his life forever.

Seth waited patiently. Barry, an overweight guy in his 20's with a thick beard, eyed Seth and the chessboard with hesitation. Barry had come the closest to beating Seth.

Seth smelled something unexpected in the air. Perfume? Was that on a woman? Most of the women who attended didn't bother making themselves look pretty to play board games. Seth thought he was imagining it, but he saw a skinny yet curvy blonde take a seat in front of him. She was incredibly attractive – even prettier than Trudy. Seth gulped. He wanted to say something to this woman, but his voice box was turned off.

"Hey there", chirped the woman, "looking for someone to play chess?"

"Ummm... yea", responded Seth softly.

"Wow, you must be really committed to play this game", said the woman, "I notice everyone else is doing other things."

Seth didn't want to seem like a creepy loner to this woman. He really didn't. He supposed that couldn't be helped though.

"I guess I just really like chess", said Seth, "I come here every week and almost everybody in this room has played at least one game with me."

"Ah, you are good, huh?"

Seth shrugged.

"I think I can beat you."

"Ummm.. if you don't mind me asking, what's your name?"

"Alicia."

"Seth."

"So great to meet you, Seth!"

"So, let's get this game started?"

**********

Seth and Alicia were playing chess and they were not playing chess. It turned out that Alicia had never played chess in her life. She needed Seth to teach her about the pieces and how they moved. Alicia was a fast learner and incredibly clever though. She was also an easy conversationalist which put Seth in ease. He didn't need to think of any topic to talk about. Alicia asked all the questions. Seth didn't know what to think of this woman. She seemed incredibly impressed with Seth. However, Seth also had good reasons to be incredibly impressed with Alicia.

Besides being a beautiful woman, Alicia worked at a salon in midtown – it was actually the salon Seth knew his sister attended. He didn't bother mentioning that detail to Alicia though. She didn't need to know every detail about his life, even though Seth could sense that Alicia wanted to know everything.

Seth couldn't help but to laugh when Alicia said, "so the horsie, where should I put it? Can I have it jump over your bishop?"

Sure Alicia would capture his bishop, but that move would allow Seth to move closer to capturing Alicia's queen. It was a legal move though, so Seth nodded.

"Awesome", said Alicia with a giggle, "I got your bishop, go me, right!"

"You sure did", said Seth as he pushed his pawn diagonally to take Alicia's knight. This would be one of Seth's easiest wins yet.

The game went on in short bursts after that. Alicia liked to talk. Seth definitely was enjoying being around her. Seth wondered why a woman who didn't even know how to play chess would take such interest in a guy like him. What reason would there be? He didn't fully trust the blond bombshell in front of him.

**************

Seth had it all set for a checkmate at this point. Seth lost his queen, but he had Alicia's king trapped. There was nothing she could do.

"Checkmate", said Seth softly.

"No fair", chuckled Alicia, "didn't your mother teach you to let girls win?"

"If she did, I missed that lesson."

"You are way too smart. I'm glad I played with you though."

"Me too. You did really well for a first-time player by the way."

A lie, but Seth felt the need to flatter Alicia.

"Awwww, thank you sweetie. I don't know about you but.. I have this feeling in my gut – a feeling that we were meant to meet here tonight."

Seth felt his palms sweat. Of course, a hot girl who was interested in him would also be nuts. Of course, too good to be true.

Seth smiled at Alicia and laughed awkwardly.

"You are quite the looker", said Alicia, "I bet you have a really hot girlfriend."

Seth shook his head with embarrassment. Many girls did find him attractive and even mysterious. However, he had trouble maintaining long-term relationships. Seth needed that woman who he could really warm up to – a woman he could be comfortable and himself around.

"Waiting for the right one, huh? I can tell."

Woah, it was just like that Alicia read his mind – uncanny.

"How did you know that was what I was thinking of saying", asked Seth.

"You seem like the picky type. I bet you want someone who can beat you at a game of chess, huh?"

"Not exactly a prerequisite."

"Well, I will get there someday. How about we go over to my place for some fun? Get to know each other better."

Seth couldn't believe this was real. Why did she want him? Seth nodded yes.

Alicia and Seth held hands as they walked out of the board game club. Seth saw some of his board game pals wink at him. Little did they know how badly and easily Seth had screwed up encounters like this in the past. Alicia was certainly the looker though. She also seemed much smarter than how she acted at times – Alicia was probably hardwired to act ditzy around guys who interested her.

"You're soooooo tall", squealed Alicia, "I would have no clue what it is like to be that tall."

"It's not all that it is cracked up to be", responded Seth with a chuckle.

"Yea, I guess the grass is always greener on the other side. And you're a guy and I'm not. So, you went to MIT?"

"Yep. Class of 2011."

"I was in the Boston area too for college. Wellesley. Graduated in '07 though, so we wouldn't have crossed paths."

"All girls school? How did you like that?"

"It was actually great. I had a boyfriend all through college, so that part didn't matter much to me."

Seth knew better not to ask about the boyfriend.

"I know I would hate being in an all boys school. Nothing like a pretty girl to pass the time. Well, MIT is like 75% male, so it isn't exactly a hotbed for chicks."

"None of that matters now, since you have me", said Alicia with a soft yet confident laugh.

The two arrived at Alicia's apartment.

"So, what sort of stuff do you like to do", asked Alicia with a seductive tone.

Seth was able to deduce quite quickly that she wasn't asking about his favorite operating system.

"Well, uhh.. I ummm... every part of your body is ummmm... gorgeous."

"Any more than others?"

Seth definitely did like Alicia's butt. He was just too shy to admit it.

"You seem like an ass man", said Alicia, "am I correct?"

"Ummm.. what gave that away?"

"It's magic, I suppose."

Seth liked Alicia's sarcastic wit.

"Okay, but don't take this the wrong way – but I'm not like most guys.. I am more comfortable taking things kind of slow."

"That's okay", cooed Alicia, "that's not the same thing as not getting the job done at all."

For the next two hours, Seth was in heaven. He loved every inch of Alicia's body from head to toe. Seth loved being able to put his hands onto Alicia's buttocks and feel them jiggle. Alicia definitely seemed to be the master of touch herself. She nibbled on Seth's ear and slowly teased his cock. Seth was always a tad embarrassed about his cock. Some girls he was with thought he was going to have a monster size cock because he was black. Seth's cock was only average-sized at 6". However, Alicia didn't seem to mind at all.

It then happened. Alicia had a condom ready for Seth. He put it on and began to fuck Alicia. Seth couldn't believe this was happening. He was in Heaven.

Seth was gentle and careful. After 15 minutes, he came hard. This was positively incredible. He heard Alicia moan loudly – it sounded like she was having an orgasm too. Hopefully, she wasn't faking it, but it didn't sound fake.

Alicia kissed Seth on the lips and said, "wow, thank you." Seth was exhausted though.

"Is it alright if I sleep over your place tonight?"

"Go right ahead. We can share the same bed too!"

Seth knew there was something else going on. He was crazy about Alicia though. Seth fell asleep quickly, not knowing what was in store for tomorrow.