Foolish Wisdom

Devon Layne

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This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and highly improbable.

Cover art by Alenavlad ID 312473738 licensed from Shutterstock.com

Second Edition

ISBN 978-1-939275-32-5

Part I
Summertime

1
Wedding Blues

BETTS THE BITCH struck at five. News at ten.

I thought I’d be nice and make bread for Betts and her girlfriend from college that was coming with her. Turned out it was three girlfriends and Doreen arrived five minutes later.

“Brian, we need your room this week,” Betts announced to me. “There’s too many of us to sleep in my room.”

“You’re just going to take over my room? No asking or anything? Why should I give you my room?”

“Because I need it. I’m getting married Saturday and my bridesmaids are staying with me this week. Just get the stuff out of it you need so we can spread out.” I realized I was a good two inches taller than Betts now. I didn’t exactly tower over her, but when I stood up, she had to look up at me. If I started a big row over this, I was sure Mom would come down on Betts’ side, just because it was a special occasion. But I wasn’t willing to roll over and play dead.

“Okay, Betts. I can sleep in your room this week. You know how I love your satin sheets.” She looked at me with her mouth working like a fish. Apparently, her college friends knew a little about her temperament and there were a couple oohs and a whistle.

“How do you know how he loves your satin sheets, Betts?” One asked. They were all laughing.

“You sleep in the guest room!” she shouted at me.

“Uh-uh. Even trade or no deal.”

“But…” Betts could see a losing battle when it was in front of her, but she was going to try to burn me anyway. “All right, but if you leave come stains all over them like the last time, you wash them yourself.” Oh shit! I was turning red.

“How about if I stay in there, too,” one of the girls said. I hadn’t been introduced to any of them. She was cute, but not that cute. “You know. Just to protect the sheets.” They were all laughing.

“Back off, girl,” Doreen said. “Brian is my date for the week and if anyone guards the sheets, it will be me.”

“I am?”

“Doreen! Isn’t it bad enough you corrupted your own brother without corrupting mine, too?” I fled. I got my clothes and underwear out of the attic and moved my things to protect them at the end of the room. I figured Princess Betts would sleep in my bed while her minions slept on the floor.

“Hurry up! We’re going out and need to get ready.”

I ran downstairs to Betts’ room to toss my things in and hide.

Betts and her girlfriends must have gotten in late because I was sound asleep when I woke up to someone kissing my forehead and then my cheeks. I thought it was Samantha at first and wondered how she’d managed to get into my bedroom. Then my eyes shot open and I sat up, almost knocking Doreen off the bed.

“Doreen? What are you doing in here?”

“Shh. May I slip into bed with you so we can talk quietly?”

“I’m not wearing anything!”

“I promise not to touch. I mean, with my skin. I’ve got pajamas on. Is that why you like Betts’ satin sheets?”

“These are just some old flannel sheets. I’ve never slept in Betts’ satin sheets.”

“Please let me lie down with you. I promise I just want to talk… and be held.” I lifted the sheet and she snuggled in beside me with her back to me. She pulled my arm around her and while I could feel her breasts beneath my wrist, it wasn’t a sexual thing. Apparently, she really did want to just cuddle and talk. “It’s hard to believe I’ve been out of high school a whole year now,” she sighed. “It seems like yesterday that Betts and I were clowning around and seeing each other every day. It was hard enough when she went to Purdue and I stayed here. We saw each other a couple times a month. But now… I know you don’t get along with your sister, Brian, but she’s my best friend and she’s getting married and moving to Seattle. I’ll never see her.” Doreen pulled my hand to her cheek and rubbed her tears against it. She was really hurting and it was the first time I really let it sink in that Betts was moving all the way across the country. How many times had I wished she’d move out and go away? Now it was really happening. I hugged Doreen.

“Brian? I meant what I said earlier,” she whispered after we’d cried ourselves out. “I want you to be my date for this week. Every event. If there’s trouble with transportation, I’ll drive you. I don’t want to be alone with any of them.”

“What’s wrong, Doreen? That doesn’t sound like you.”

“Don’t get me wrong. Allen is a good guy and treats Betts like the princess she is. But the frat brothers he has with him… We were all out this evening and it’s like they consider the bridesmaids their free lays for the week. At least Allen was nice enough to include you as one of the groomsmen. That way, even though we won’t walk down the aisle at the same time, there’s an excuse for me to partner with you the rest of the time. His best man is creepy.”

“I can’t believe they’d behave like that. I don’t know if I can go everywhere they will want to go, though. I’m only fifteen.”

“That’s perfect. I can’t go to a bar with them because my date can’t go.”

“Uh… Doreen. I hate to mention it, but you know there’s rules, right?”

“Yeah. Doug showed me the agreement, including the new amendments. That’s why I sat on the edge of the bed and waited for you to wake up instead of just crawling in with you. Naked.”

“Thank you. I don’t know that I could have handled that.”

“I agree to all the terms of the dating agreement.”

“Okay. I guess this works to my advantage, too. Betts is four years older than me, but Allen is seven years older and so are the rest of his buddies. This way I’ll have someone to pal around with.” We just stayed snuggled up in spoons with Doreen in front of me and she pulled my hand down so it was touching her breast. I had a predictable response.

“You know, I have a friendlier relationship with my brother than you have with Betts,” Doreen whispered. “We’ve always been able to just crawl into bed with each other when something was bothering us.”

“You’ve never… uh… never mind. I don’t want to know.”

“And I wouldn’t tell you,” Doreen answered. “But I know about how guys respond to girls. I’ve got more experience than Betts, but I haven’t done half of what she thinks I have. She uses her virginity like a club to keep Allen in line. He isn’t going to get her cherry until their wedding night. And I bet they’ll have baby number one exactly nine months from this Saturday.”

“I sure hope he knows what he’s in for.”

“He does. He absolutely dotes on her. He’d do anything for her even if she wasn’t holding out on him. But… I was never that way. I didn’t sleep with every boy I dated like everybody believed. But I did have a couple boyfriends I was with and had sex with. It was really good, too. I don’t regret any of it, even when I think of Betts and her intact cherry. Well, what I’m getting at is that I know what condition you’re in.” She flexed her ass cheeks and squeezed my cock between them. Then she started rubbing up and down against me. Her ass felt great, even through her pajama bottoms. “If you need relief, you can go ahead. I didn’t come into your bed to get you frustrated.” She turned the palm of my hand against her breast and encouraged me to squeeze while she rubbed against me. “Go ahead. I don’t mind.”

“Doreen,” I whispered. “Stop now, please. I didn’t let you get in bed with me to jack me off. Thank you, but I really don’t have to come every time I get hard. If I did, I’d spend all day in the bathroom. You are really sweet and… thank you. You should probably go to bed now. With the other girls.”

She rolled in my arms to face me and looked deep into my eyes. I felt like she was trying to mind-meld with me or something.

“Brian, this week while you are my date, I give you my explicit permission to touch me when you want to or need to in any way that the agreement allows and we are alone. I know I’m not one of your real girlfriends but let me be a temporary girlfriend. You are helping me, and as long as it is private and/or appropriate, I want you to have complete access to my body, mind, and soul.”

“It means that much to you?”

“Yes.” She slipped out of bed and stood next to me making quite a show of pulling her pajamas out of her crack. Then she turned back to me. “May I kiss my boyfriend goodnight?”

“Doreen, as long as it is private and/or appropriate, I give you the same permissions for this week.” She kissed me. When she finished, I was regretting not taking her up on her offer. In fact, once she was out of the room, I made a liar of myself and rubbed one off into a handful of tissue.

I was up early, as usual, and the sleepy girls followed their noses down the stairs to the fresh cinnamon rolls. Dad grabbed one on his way to work, but Mom waited for the girls. She was taking the week off to keep the wedding on track.

“Mmm. These are good,” Betts’ dark-complected bridesmaid said. Amazing how Betts hadn’t bothered to introduce any of them to me. This one looked like she could be of some Arabic or Mediterranean heritage. Her eyes were like coal. “Are they Pillsbury?” I groaned.

“Would you believe my little brother actually makes these from scratch?” Betts said.

“No way. It would take hours.”

“It’s after eight-thirty,” I said. “I’ve been up since four-thirty.”

“Just for us?”

“No. Just because I like to cook.”

“Brian,” Mom said, “that reminds me. Don’t forget your interview with Bill and Crystal this afternoon. They said they’d be here at one.”

“Oh, wow! I forgot. I need to make a phone call.”

“Don’t take too long,” Betts commanded. “The florist is supposed to call this morning.” I wished I could just disappear for the week. Like the cinnamon rolls did. I didn’t even get one.

“Liz? Honey, I have to change our date. I have a job interview this afternoon.”

“Is this the thing with Courtney’s parents?”

“I didn’t think anyone knew.”

“Courtney let it slip at graduation yesterday. Brenda heard her and was all over her until she got the details. At least the details Courtney knew. When can we get together?”

“Well, I could come over this morning—like anytime now—but I’d have to be back in time to get a shower and clean clothes before they get here at one. Or we could postpone until tomorrow.”

“Can’t do that. You’ve got plans tomorrow.”

“I do?”

“Yeah. Come over right now. I can’t wait to see you.”

“But he’s supposed to go with the guys to get his tux this afternoon!” I heard Betts complaining to Mom as I grabbed my bike. This was one I wasn’t going to get in on. Mom wouldn’t let Betts conflict with my interview. I knew Bill and Crystal from several times meeting with the girls, even though it was usually Anna that brought them up. Still, I wanted to make a good impression. I was thinking of whipping up a light mid-afternoon snack for them and planned to do my Insalata Caprese. I’d been told not to fix anything in advance because we might want to go out to eat, but I knew I had plenty of butter and a can of clams. Mom had some white wine in the fridge. I could whip up a light dish of linguine and clam sauce in less than half an hour. The Caprese would be easy to do while the clams were sautéing. All that was on my mind when I wheeled my bike into Liz’s drive.

All that left my mind when Liz met me at the door.

She was wearing a pale green pair of panties that were cut high on the hips.

That was all.

I actually thought that after our riding date, my relationship with Liz was going to calm down a little and not be so risky. Seeing her like this, though, my cock ate my brain. She held a hand out and kept me at arm’s length.

“Brian, I give you explicit permission to look at me in any way you’d like. You can even tell me what position you want me in while you look at me. You can look at me as closely as you want. Look at any part of me. But you don’t have my permission to touch me. May I have the same permission, Brian?”

Permission to look but not touch? To look at anything? As closely as I want? If she can do the same? My head was short-circuiting. I was hard as a rock and thought I’d be able to hold Liz in my arms. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to restrain myself with her looking at me the way I was looking at her. It was a new game. Trust Liz to come up with something even more amazing than I’d ever thought of.

“I need you, Brian. I need you to look at me and tell me what you see.”

“Liz, my sweet, sweet Liz. You overwhelm me. For some reason the idea of you just looking at me is more… intimate… embarrassing… daring than anything I’ve ever imagined. I don’t know how to do this, but I give you explicit permission to look at me any way you’d like, but not touch. The same permission you gave me. Anything for you, Liz.”

“Um… Brian? I’ve got kind of a skinny ass but would you follow it to my bedroom? Please?”

I followed. Her ass was skinny compared to, say Brenda or Rose or especially Sugar. But just following it up the stairs to her bedroom was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Her hips flared beneath her tiny waist. Liz was still a good inch or two taller than me—nearly as tall as Jessica. She could probably do the same kind of modeling Jessica did. Except there weren’t many red haired and freckled models appearing on the covers of Seventeen or Mademoiselle or Cosmo. As I watched her legs work going up the stairs, I couldn’t imagine an ass that was more perfect.

Once in her room, Liz went to her bed and sat against the headboard. I started to sit beside her, but she pointed to the other end of the bed.

“First, you have to take off all your clothes but your undershorts, just like I have,” she said. I did as she said, thankful that I had a clean and fairly new pair of briefs on. Then I sat at the foot of the bed facing her.

“God, you’re beautiful, Liz. I don’t think I’ve ever sat where I could just look at you before.”

“Tell me what you see, Brian.” Damn! This was going to be tricky. Did she want me to describe her or tell her about what I saw every time I looked at her, whether she was naked or not? Well, she’d taken the trouble to get naked, or to not dress. Whatever.

“Liz, I see a girl who has been my friend since fifth grade. A girl that I’m really fond of and who I’d defend to my last breath. I see a girl I’ve been more intimate with than… about anyone else in my life. And I see all those physical attributes that make her breathtaking. I see her wild red hair that is the biggest clue to her wild personality. No matter how you try to tame it, it flies off in its own direction, listening to its own spirit. I see your pale skin, made more so by the riot of freckles that decorate it. I look at your freckles and think, ‘I wonder how many there are and how long it would take me to count them all.’ And I always think what fun it would be to try. I especially like that one larger freckle about half an inch above your right nipple. It’s like a guy stranded on a desert island waving a flag and yelling, ‘Look over here!’ And when I look, I see your beautiful, little breasts. I haven’t checked, but I’m pretty sure Whitney’s are smaller, just like she’s taller. Otherwise, they are the smallest breasts I’ve ever seen on an adult woman. It’s like they simply swelled up out of your heart when I looked at you. I want to hold them, kiss them, press them against my chest as we embrace. Sometimes—like now—your little nipples get so hard that they make dents in your shirts. Did you know that I always look when I see you? I see those little points poking your blouse out and I wonder, ‘What’s she thinking of?’ Maybe even, ‘Who is she thinking of?’ Or even, ‘Is she thinking of me?’ I always hope it’s the last.” I had to squeeze my eyes shut for a minute. It’s one thing to see another person, but when you have to describe her, it becomes so much more personal. My emotions almost wrecked me.

“Liz, when I look at your cheeks, I wonder if I was the one who made you blush. Was it me that caused that reddish flush to undermine the freckles on your arms? Long, beautiful arms that I know are strong because I’ve felt them lock me to you. Yet they are so elegant and ethereal. I wonder if you have elfin blood in your veins. I see your ribs and stomach and sometimes I worry that you aren’t getting enough to eat. I wonder if you will ever gain a layer of fat over the muscle that ripples across your stomach. I don’t worry that you are too thin, though. It’s obvious that you are healthy and vibrant and full of life. I can even see the muscles over your tummy vibrating with… what is that? Desire?”

“Stop, Brian! Stop and let me catch my breath.” Tears were streaming from her eyes and I wanted to reach out and hold her, but I’d promised. “You… you really think I’m beautiful?”

“Oh yes, Liz. I’m not going to lie to you and say you are the most beautiful woman in the world. You wouldn’t believe me if I said it and I’d feel like a fool. But that you are the most beautiful Liz that can ever be? I believe that. I believe you shine with beauty and it makes me so happy that I get to see it.”

She panted for a moment, closed her eyes, and caught her breath. The flush started to fade. I just waited.

“My turn,” she said. “I look at you and I still see the boy I loved in first grade. You probably don’t even remember when Mrs. Chapman re-arranged the seats the second week of school. She put me in the back of the room because I was tall and I cried because I couldn’t sit beside you. I sat beside you all through kindergarten. Do you remember that?” I remembered so little about that time. Feeling so alone and as if I had no friends. Had Liz been my friend and I didn’t realize it? “But I see more than that boy. I see how he grew up. I see straight dark brown hair sticking up all over your head when Whitney styled it with that icky gel. I see sharp blue eyes, made slightly bigger by the lenses of the glasses you used to wear before you got contacts. I think those eyes must be like Superman’s x-ray vision, except they see into your soul. I could never lie to those eyes. I see a face that used to be so round and chubby but is lean and smooth now. I wonder if you shave every day or if your face, like some Native American’s, simply doesn’t grow hair.” I kept thinking that any day now, I’d have to shave. I was sure I’d have to, eventually. But I kept my mouth shut.

“You might think this is weird, but girls think about nipples just like boys do. Whenever I think about you sucking on my nipples, I think I’d like to do that to you. They’re so tiny. The whole thing isn’t as big as a quarter and I know when I look at you like this that the little tips get as hard as mine do.” Liz’s fingers brushed her nipples and I found myself unconsciously reflecting her. That light caress of fingers across nipples sent a shiver down my spine. “I love it when we hold each other and I feel your nipples pressed against mine. I’m not much bigger than you are.” I moaned a little as Liz wiggled out of her panties and motioned for me to do the same. Her red hair was curly and sparse. My dark hair was just a tangled bush around the base of my cock—a cock that was straining the limits of hardness. Liz spread her legs but didn’t touch herself. Still, I could see her juices, freed from the panties, begin to flow out of her and down her butt. “I’m going to have to wash my bedding when we’re done,” she giggled. “But I planned for that.” I’d wondered about the fact there were just sheets on her bed and no blankets.

“You’re beautiful, Liz. I’ve never seen anything like what you are showing me. Just looking at you has me so on edge I’m afraid I’ll spurt all over.”

“You know me,” she answered. “I’m ready to go off all the time. Looking at your hard cock makes me want to feel it pumping its seed inside me. Look how my juices are running to make it all slippery for you. I broke my hymen playing with myself a couple years ago. There would be no obstruction to you just sliding in all the way until our short hairs got tangled with each other and your pubic bone was rubbing against my clit.” We both squeezed our eyes shut, concentrating on not coming. I opened my eyes and saw tears leaking from hers.

“That’s what I really see when I look at you, Brian. Remember the first time we got together and I said it would be okay to fuck me? You said I should save myself for someone I love—someone I care about—and not just for a fuck buddy. When I look at you, I see that person. Don’t worry. I don’t expect you to see exactly the same thing. I don’t even see us doing that whole get married and have a dozen kids thing that I talked about. But when you look at me, I know that you do love me a little and that you care for me a lot. We’d never be sitting on my bed naked if you didn’t. You’d never let yourself use me just to get off, and I don’t think you’d let me use you, either. It will be twenty-two-and-a-half months until I’m seventeen and sometime that summer, I want you to undress like me, just like we are now. Only then I want to lie back and open my legs for you to put your cock in me. Brian, I no longer want to fuck you. I want to make love with you until we can’t see straight. I don’t expect to be your first or your only or even your forever. But I want to show you with all my body… exactly… what I see… when I look… at you.”

Liz was panting, still stroking her nipples and down her stomach toward her pussy that was just flowing with her juices. She never touched her clitoris but looking me straight in the eye from four feet away, she slid down, threw her head back, and came. Hard. And while she was coming, I saw my semen splatter against her stomach and her legs. A streak landed across that curly red pubic hair.

I hadn’t even touched myself.

2
Interview

LIZ LET ME BORROW her shower and I cleaned up while she sat next to me and talked. I toweled off while she showered and we dressed. Only after we were both fully clothed did we hug each other and then kiss. When I left, the words “I love you” were still ringing in my ears.

At home, I was hurrying around like crazy getting ready for Bill and Crystal. Everything else got blasted out of my mind. I filed my experience with Liz away to think about later. Alone. At night.

The Prices arrived promptly at one o’clock. Thankfully, my sister and her entourage had left to go help the other guys pick up their tuxes. I’m not sure what help they all needed, but I was thankful they were all gone. They were still making trips back and forth to West Lafayette as well. It was like a week-long holiday for them and even though they were out of school, most of the guys lived in a frat house at Purdue and preferred to drive than to rent a motel room for the whole week. Allen was headed into Chicago on Wednesday morning to pick up his parents, which meant that I’d be cooking something wonderful Wednesday night. I was promised that it would just be our two families and not the whole wedding party.

Bill and Crystal and I sat at the kitchen table after Mom had welcomed them and then made herself scarce.

“So, Brian, besides wanting to sleep with our daughter, why do you want to come to work in a restaurant in Kokomo?” Bill asked. What the fuck? I don’t have much experience, but I’ve never heard of a job interview that started out like that. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.

“Mr. Price, I guess maybe this isn’t the right place for me after all. I thought this was about cooking. I like your daughter a lot, but you must know she’s a lesbian, don’t you?” His eyes popped open like I’d punched him in the stomach and Mrs. Price started laughing at him.

“I told you that was the wrong approach,” she said. “Brian, we’ve got a serious proposition and my husband’s attempt at putting you off-balance just backfired on him.”

“Why would you want me off-balance?”

“Believe it or not, that’s what the restaurant business is like. Sometimes it seems like customers intentionally try to make things hard on you. There’s no question that it is sometimes our fault. We do mess up orders. We do run out of the special. But some people will never be satisfied and only come to a restaurant to complain about it.”

“And as sharp as your response was,” Bill said, “it’s probably not the way we’d want you to respond to a customer. On the other hand, it showed that you could think rapidly and shift the focus. If you can do that without putting the customer on the defensive, it will work.”

“Let’s get back to the real first question, Brian,” Crystal said. “Why do you want to spend your summer working long hours in a hot kitchen for little pay in Kokomo?”

“Well, when you put it that way, sleeping with your daughter sounds like a pretty good motivator,” I laughed. “Really, though? I love to cook. I’ve always just assumed that my career path is going to be to work as a chemist, but ever since Hannah introduced me to my first cookbook by telling me that recipes were like chemistry experiments, I’ve been hooked. I know that being an intern isn’t the same as being a cook. I figure I’ll spend most of my time washing dishes or something. But I want to know if my love of cooking extends to the restaurant profession or if it is really just the way I’m going to relax when I’m feeding my family at night.”

The rest of the interview went fairly well. I guess I asked reasonably intelligent questions. They asked things about what I liked to cook and how I’d feel about making the same thing over and over. Then they laid out a six-week internship program that included work in every part of the restaurant, including the office. I never even thought about that aspect of the business. I was getting really excited. Then I turned to the last page of the week-by-week description. That blew me away. There was a signature I didn’t recognized and a seal. Just above it were the words “Approved for .5 high school credits as ‘Career Exploration Internship’ by Kokomo School Corporation, Dwight Patterson, Superintendent.”

“I get credit for this?” I asked. Of course, it was credit in Kokomo, but still…

“We are using you as our test case to prove the viability of a new school program. We made it a condition of our participation that we could choose an out-of-district student and that the school board would do its best to see that the credits transfer. There are twenty-two companies offering internships around Kokomo this summer so it wasn’t difficult to sell our conditions as a test. The school district set the hours required and the compensation,” Bill said. This was so cool!

“Well, that is almost everything,” Crystal added.

“Almost?” I asked. Yeah. I’m a great straight man.

“Give me a hand, Brian,” Bill said as he stood and headed for the door. At his car, he handed me two bags of groceries and grabbed a cooler. “I want to see how you cook.” We took everything to the kitchen and started unpacking the groceries. Crystal handed me a printed sheet that included a menu and several recipes.

“This is dinner for five. Unlike the restaurant, all five of us have ordered the same menu and the cook gets to eat with us. It will just be your mom and dad, Bill and me, and you—assuming you get everything prepared on schedule so you can eat with us. It’s three-thirty. Dinner is at six o’clock. You have an hour to study the menu, recipes, and ingredients and to decide how to approach it. We’ve given you an hour-and-a-half to actually prepare the food because in a restaurant, some items would be made up in advance. You’ll have to coordinate exactly how to schedule each item so that dinner is a continuous flow from beginning to end without interruption. There is appropriate wine here as well. You need to think about when to prepare and serve each item. During this first hour, you’re free to consult with us and get any explanations that you need. At four-thirty, you are on your own. Don’t make any assumptions. We want to sit down to our meal promptly at six o’clock.”

Holy crap! The printed menu and recipes were five typewritten pages. I set to work. Here I thought I’d whip up a quick Caprese and linguini. This was going to be work. I took advantage of having Bill and Crystal available to clarify what items were and how they’d go about preparing certain items. Then I started organizing everything I’d need, checking each recipe against the ingredients on the table and in the cooler. They even included a spice rack with the spices that were called for in the recipes.

“Crystal, there’s no bacon in the cooler.”

“Nicely done, Brian,” she answered. “You can’t cook a meal unless you know you have the ingredients.” She went to our refrigerator and pulled out a pound of bacon in a butcher wrap. It wasn’t the vacuum-sealed pack that you get at Kroger’s. “We had your mom pick this up yesterday. I’m just glad you didn’t decide to serve bacon for breakfast this morning!”

Bill, Crystal, and Mom left at four-thirty and wished me luck, indicating they’d be back in time for dinner.

I was on high alert through the rest of my prep, grabbing a few sheets of paper that I could plot out my timing for each item on. I had to bake a brownie cake for dessert. There were ingredients for a side salad, appetizers, garlic mashed potatoes, seared lamb chops with red wine and rosemary sauce, caramelized onions, and steamed broccoli. They’d done it again. I saw where the wine was to be served, but the menu also said coffee was to be served with the cake. I checked to make sure we had coffee. The way Betts and her crew went through coffee with the cinnamon rolls this morning, I wasn’t sure if there was any left. Our coffee canister was empty, but there was a bag of beans on the counter. Beans. I tossed them into the VitaMix and ground them to a respectable coarseness.

The cake was in the oven and I’d washed the salad makings when I realized that I needed to set the table as well. I didn’t have that on my schedule. I rushed through getting the potatoes peeled and on to boil then found Mom’s good linen. I looked at the table and realized there was another trap. There was no way I could sit at the table and serve this meal. I would get to eat, but not with the adults. I’d eat in the kitchen. I set the good china and silver on the table with water and wine glasses. I made sure there was a salad fork, a dessert fork, and a coffee spoon then added steak knives for the lamb. I put out bread plates and butter knives, too. Then realized there was no bread on the menu. Damn! This menu just called out for bread. I did the only thing I could. I called Elaine.

“Hello brother/boyfriend,” she said cheerily. “I’m not on your schedule until Friday.”

“I didn’t know I even had a schedule. I need urgent advice.” I must have sounded desperate because she focused immediately. I didn’t have time for bread to rise but Elaine directed me to my James Beard bread book anyway. The answer was perfect.

“Just remember, they have to go into the oven exactly forty minutes before you serve them, and don’t forget to lower the temperature after twenty minutes,” she admonished. I glanced at the clock. I had just time to get them in to serve with the salad. The cake came out of the oven and I raised the temperature to 450°. By the time the oven was hot enough, I had the batter ready and slid it in. There wasn’t anything else on my menu that needed to go in the oven, but I was nervously looking at the clock and my two kitchen timers. I think it was the first time in a year I’d looked at a kitchen timer and not gotten a hard-on. I was just too busy.

The front doorbell rang at the same time my kitchen timer did. I reduced the oven temp to 350° and ran to the door. My parents and the Prices were standing there like they’d just arrived for dinner at a nice restaurant. I smiled at them and invited them to the dining room. Mom actually gasped when she saw the table. I’d taken the first rose out of the flower bed and put it in a bud vase on the table. It all looked pretty elegant and I held Mom’s chair for her and then Crystal’s.

“Brian, there are only four places set. We did tell you there was enough food for five, didn’t we?” Crystal asked.

“Yes, Ma’am,” I said. “I will certainly eat my share, but not at the table with my guests. It will be easier for me to serve you if I’m not pushing my chair away from the table all the time. May I pour you each a glass of wine while you get settled? The appetizers will be out in just…” I glanced at my watch and saw that it was 5:55. “In five minutes.” I already had the wine bottles opened and soon had all of them poured. Then I raced to my room. The one thing I hadn’t thought about. I waded through all the crap my sister and her friends had spread around my room and grabbed a clean white shirt out of my closet. I couldn’t do anything about the fact I was wearing jeans, but at least I’d have a nice shirt on. In the kitchen, I grabbed the bacon-wrapped stuffed mushrooms out of the oven and hoped that opening the door wouldn’t screw up the last ten minutes of the popovers. I blotted them on paper towel and placed them on the appetizer plates. All I’d put on the table were big plates. I’d serve the first two courses on separate plates then collect the plates to replace them with dinner plates for the main course. I popped a mushroom in my mouth just before I took them out and immediately spit it out. Too damned hot! I picked up the tray, watched the second hand on the clock and at exactly six o’clock stepped into the dining room to serve the appetizers.

I figured I had ten minutes before I needed to serve the salad and this time I just nibbled at the mushroom. I’d have never thought of stuffing something that got cooked with cream cheese and scallions. So good! I continued to nibble while I tossed the salad with olive oil and herbs, then added just enough balsamic vinegar to make a light dressing. Once on the salad plates, I added a carefully placed ring of red onion, a shred of carrot, and two flowered radishes on each plate. My timer dinged again and I took the popovers out of the oven. Beautiful! I quickly collected the appetizer plates, simply moving Crystal’s to a spot above her fork since she still had a couple mushrooms on it. I returned a moment later with my tray of salads and served them, remembering the adage, ‘serve from the left, clear from the right.’ Then I returned with the basket of popovers and placed one on each bread plate.

“I don’t remember popovers being on this menu,” Bill said. He didn’t waste time breaking it open and buttering it, though.

“Specialty of the house, sir,” I said. “With our compliments.”

I retreated. According to the timing that Bill and Crystal gave me, I should have twenty to twenty-five minutes to get the main course ready. I got back to the kitchen and put the lamb chops in the frying pan. I used the electric skillet for eight lamb chops so I could have it preheated to exactly what I wanted. The lamb itself only cooked for about four minutes on a side and then went into my oven that was cooling from the popovers while I prepared the sauce. That left my stovetop clear for the onions that were caramelizing, the water coming to a boil under the steamer for broccoli, and my potatoes. As soon as the lamb was in the pan, I drained the potatoes and mashed them. I set them in the oven. They would hold for fifteen minutes.

I ran… walked briskly into the dining room and offered another glass of wine. I checked the plates and removed Dad’s bread plate and salad plate with the large plate under it and Crystal’s now-empty appetizer plate. Then I went back to the kitchen and started prepping the dinner plates. I wolfed down the remaining popover while I got everything ready. I removed everyone else’s salad and bread plates after checking to be sure Mom was finished with hers. Dad snatched the remains of her popover before I took the plate. Hmm. I wondered if I should adjust the portions slightly on the main course. Everyone would get two lamb chops, but perhaps I should increase the amount of potato and vegetable on Dad’s and Bill’s plates.

I tossed my lamb chops into the frying pan and then filled everyone’s dinner plate. I had to make two trips for this because I just wasn’t going to risk trying to carry four dinner plates to the table and didn’t have a tray large enough for them. I stood by, filled everyone’s wine glass from the second bottle, and waited to make sure everything was satisfactory. Then back to the kitchen.

I didn’t have to wait once my chops were done. I’d reserved a little of the sauce from the first eight chops. I started heating the chocolate sauce for the cake, got the ice cream from the freezer so it would soften enough to dip, and plugged the coffee pot in. I nearly collapsed at the table and shoveled the food into my mouth. It was good, but I hardly noticed. The cake was almost like a thick chocolate brownie. I covered it tightly and put it back in the oven to be warm when I put the sauce and ice cream on it. Since I already knew the sauce would be hot and runny, I’d chosen dessert bowls instead of plates. I kept hopping up to look into the dining room to see if they were finished. I was relieved to see that they weren’t hurrying. I drank a whole glass of water and took my time savoring the second lamb chop. I thought the broccoli was a little on the crisp side and wondered if I should have cooked it longer. The instructions didn’t say anything. The onions were incredible. Damn! I’d forgotten the rosemary sprig garnish for the lamb chops. Well, there was nothing I could do about it now.

I cleared the dinner dishes and served dessert and coffee.

“Okay, Brian, how did you manage the coffee?” Crystal laughed. “I was sure we’d have you on that one.”

“I used the Vita Mix to grind the beans. That was pretty sneaky.”

“Sometimes you just have to improvise,” Bill said. “You did a great job.”

“I forgot the garnish on the lamb.”

“You made up for it with the popovers. What inspired you to do that?”

“It just seemed like when I go to a restaurant there’s always bread with the salad. I didn’t have time to bake bread, so I called a friend and she pointed me to the popover recipe in Beard’s bread book.”

“Hannah?” Mom asked.

“No. Elaine.”

“Of course! Call another cook.”

“Well, you must be pretty experienced making these. Popovers are kind of tricky and these were very near perfect.”

“It was the first time I’d ever made them. I sort of figure cooking is like chemistry. If you follow the directions for the experiment exactly, you should get exactly the same results every time.”

“That’s a good place to start,” Bill said. “The next thing you’ll learn is when to depart from the recipe. You’ll taste something and think of some way to make it better. Then that will become your recipe.”

“You’ll also find out that some recipes are just written better than others,” Crystal added. “Following the recipe exactly might not yield the best or even expected results.”

“Did I pass?” I asked.

“With flying colors,” Bill laughed.

By the time I finished cleaning the kitchen, Betts and company had returned home and wanted to know what smelled so good and if there was any left. There was enough cake and ice cream for them, but everything else was gone. I was amazed. The menu and the food that Bill and Crystal brought was exactly the amount needed to feed the five of us. Of course, usually the diners don’t help clean up the mess but Mom and Dad pitched right in to help with washing dishes. Bill and Crystal left to head back to Kokomo and said they’d see me in two weeks.

I had a summer job.

3
Girlfriends

TUESDAY MORNING after breakfast, Doreen told me to get a shower and dress nicely. She took me to the rental shop to make sure my tux fit and that I had everything I needed. She took me to lunch, too. We had a lot of fun and I really felt kind of grown up being out with her. When we got back to the house, she handed me an envelope.

“What’s this?”

“I don’t know. I was contacted yesterday and asked to deliver this to you at precisely one o’clock this afternoon. I’ve kept you out until that time and assume that you can handle the rest yourself. Now go put your tux away and read your letter. I’m staying at home tonight. I’ve had about all I can take of those three sorority sisters. Oh. And by the way, I put your magazines and pictures in your underwear drawer. I really didn’t think you wanted them poking around in them.” The magazines and pictures of Heaven. They’d been on my desk.

“Thank you, Doreen,” I said. “You’re a real friend.”

“Does your pretend girlfriend get a kiss?” Yeah. She sure did.

It was a map. Specifically, it was a treasure map. I smiled. How sweet that Cassie was going to be my playdate this afternoon. And that she thought of this. The only problem was that there was a spot on the map marked start and one marked with an X, but there were no landmarks to find the start point. When I made my first map for Cassie, I told her to line up the mailbox and windsock and stand between two trees to start the search. Then when we did additional treasure searches, they started from the oak that I’d always considered “our tree.” Of course! That had to be the start point for my search for Cassie. The map was kind of difficult to follow and included things like “take ten giant steps toward the fence-post then turn left and look for the big Y.” This could take me all afternoon.

I changed into my jeans and a T-shirt and ran to the woods. I didn’t stop until I’d reached the oak, and then I wasn’t sure I got it right until I spotted her first landmark. I thought it was absurd when I got to the instruction to lie on my belly and crawl under the fallen tree. I figured she must have hidden something on the ground that I couldn’t see unless I was down there. I crawled under and felt the tree move. It scared me half to death and I scrambled through to the other side. I turned to see if the tree was falling and Hannah jumped down on me from the trunk. I knew she hadn’t been there when I got down on my stomach, so she must have used that as her opportunity to run onto the log. We rolled around on the ground sort of wrestling and then she started tickling me and I went crazy. I’ve always been really ticklish and I was helpless against her when she started.

“Stop! Stop! Please! I surrender!” She pulled her hands away but held them threateningly over me so I didn’t dare move. I didn’t really want to move because the position we ended up in had her straddling me and sitting right on my cock. It started to grow almost instantly.

“The winner and new champeen!” she crowed, shaking her hands together, which sent pleasant vibrations right down to where she was sitting.

“I did not expect you!” I laughed.

“Oh, really? I suppose you were expecting my sister. Or maybe a wood nymph to satisfy your craven lusts,” she said. She wiggled against me and I knew she could feel me getting hard.

“Um… maybe we should… uh… change positions a little. I mean…”

“Hmmph. I’m not stupid, Brian. I know what’s happening. I told you before, I don’t mind when it happens. You’re a boy and you can’t help yourself.”

“But I don’t like to force myself on you, Honey.”

“Who’s on top?”

“You are.”

“Brian, may I have your explicit permission to kiss my boyfriend?” It was just a year ago that kissing had caused our break-up. I didn’t know what she had in mind, but the pulse of my cock was probably all the answer she needed.

“Yes,” I croaked. Hannah laid herself down on top of me, not pulling away from our middles at all. Then she kissed me. I was just letting her set the pace, figuring it would just be a little peck, but I couldn’t help but put my arms gently around her. It was a little peck at first, but she came back for a little longer kiss. Then I felt her tongue touch my lips and tease them apart. I dared to touch just the tip of her tongue with mine and she didn’t retreat. I can’t say that we went any deeper than that, but we teased at each other’s tongues for a couple minutes and she rocked against my cock a couple times. Then she sat up and my body ached for the feel of her breasts pressed against my chest again.

“It’s not quite so icky anymore,” she whispered. “Not quite.” She rocked against my cock a couple more times and I caught my breath, not knowing what to say. “I’d better let you up. The afternoon has hardly begun and I don’t want you to have to run home to change clothes.” She rolled off and lay down beside me on the ground. I still had my arm around her. “My head still knows a lot more than my body does,” she said. “I guess my hormones are just slow-acting ones. Tiny time-pills. I’m not ready for making out and doing all the sexy stuff that I know the other girls—well, most of them—like. But I’ve always liked it when you put your arm around me because I feel like we’re buddies. And when we go out on a date this year, I’d be okay with you asking for a kiss when you take me home. You know. Just a little like we just did. I’ll get better at it.”

“Do you want to go back to being my exclusive girlfriend, Hannah? I don’t need to do stuff with anyone else.”

“That would break their hearts. No, Brian. I don’t know if I’ll ever be that ready. Let’s just have fun and enjoy all our girlfriends and boyfriends. Uh… but please don’t tell any of the other boys that we kiss, okay? It’s okay with you and with…” she cut herself off and looked at me. I raised an eyebrow. “All right. It’s okay with you and with Samantha.” She looked around and then leaned in to whisper in my ear. “And with my sister. She’s teaching me, but I don’t think she knows a lot more than I do. You need to help her.”

I wasn’t sure what I could help with, but the image of Hannah and Sarah kissing did something to my heartbeat. I was used to Courtney and Jennifer kissing. It didn’t surprise me much that Hannah kissed Samantha—not since our weekend all together at the dude ranch last summer. But her sister. Wow!

“I don’t think any of the other girls like to kiss girls,” Hannah said. “Except Courtney and Jennifer, but they are so far away. But Samantha and Sarah just give me little kisses and I really love them.” I wasn’t sure if she meant she really loved the kisses or she really loved Samantha and Sarah. Maybe that was really why Hannah didn’t get turned on kissing a boy… er, me. But that reminded me that I hadn’t called anyone this morning.

“Honey, I got a job for the summer,” I said. “Speaking of Courtney and Jennifer, I guess I’ll be seeing them a lot.”

“Did you get the cooking internship with Courtney’s parents?” she asked excitedly.

“Yeah. How did you know? Oh. I forgot they told everyone at graduation.”

“Well, not exactly. They were more like asking all of us if we’d mind if they kidnapped you for the summer. Then they got around to the internship. That’s so cool.”

I told Hannah all about the test meal the night before and how panicked I was that they wouldn’t like it. We lay there and talked for about half an hour and then Hannah got up and offered me a hand up as well.

“My time is up,” she said. “Here. This is your next treasure map. Knock-knock.”

“Who’s there?”

“Timmy, Jimmy, and Joe.”

“Timmy, Jimmy, and Joe Who?”

“Timmy you love me. Jimmy a little kiss. And Joe home.”

“I do love you, Hannah.”

“I know. It makes me feel good.” I hugged her and lightly kissed her lips.

“Now I guess I have to go home, huh? What are you doing?”

“Oh, I have places to be. And you don’t really have to go home. The next map starts right here.” She giggled and jumped over the fallen tree and ran away.

It took me a good ten minutes to follow the directions that were on the next “map.” I guess, properly, you couldn’t call it a map because it was just words and no pictures. The envelope included a compass and I had to look at it to be sure I pointed myself in the right direction. I just hoped I was following the instructions correctly. I was sure I’d messed up when I saw the same fallen tree lying ahead of me with Hannah sitting on it. Well, either I hadn’t followed the directions correctly or I was supposed to spend more time with her. When I got up next to her, though, I realized it wasn’t Hannah. It was her older sister, Sarah.

“Wow! How did you get here?”

“Magical transformation,” Sarah laughed. “You were gone long enough that we had lots of time to make the switch. I even got a little nap in.” She stood up and approached me. “May I hug and kiss my boyfriend?” she asked.

“I’d be delighted,” I said, opening my arms. I won’t say it was a passionate kiss, but it was open and more than just friendly. We held hands and began wandering through the woods kind of aimlessly. You can get turned around and end up someplace you didn’t intend, but you really can’t get lost in our woods. For all that it’s over half a mile long, it’s only about two or three hundred yards wide. You can always figure out where you are.

“My sister, little fixit that she is, says that I should kiss you more often.”

“Why’s that?”

“She says I’m not that good and you’ll teach me to kiss better.” We laughed and I pulled her to a stop.

“May I kiss my girlfriend?” I asked. She whispered her assent and melted into my arms. She was so sweet. Lips like I always knew she’d have and a tongue that responded to me and sought mine out. This was what I loved… I realized what I was thinking and pulled away from Sarah. She looked up at me with those piercing green eyes that were so like her sister’s. “Sarah, I… uh… have to confess something to you.”

“What is it, Brian?” she asked softly.

“When we kiss… well not every time, but sometimes… I realize I’m thinking about—maybe even imagining—Hannah. Please don’t be angry. It just happens sometimes because you are so much alike and I don’t really want to cheat you by thinking of someone else when I’m kissing you, even if it is your sister.”

“Mmm. I see. Well, I guess that evens things out.”

“How?”

“When I kiss her, I sort of imagine that it’s you.” We laughed a little at how absurd either statement was. “What do you think of when we kiss if it’s not about Hannah?”

“Oh. Um. Well. I… uh… sort of think about prom night.”

“It was fun.”

“Yeah, but I think of after the prom when we fell asleep on the couch. I sort of looked at you.”

“Do you have any idea how much I practiced making that top slide down?”

“You really did it on purpose?”

“I really wanted to do something daring and sexy that night, but I was so scared. I knew, though, that if you promised you wouldn’t touch me sexually that you wouldn’t. No other boy has ever seen my breasts. Do you really think of that when we kiss?”

“Yeah.”

“Brian, would you kiss me again and… touch my breasts a little? I’m a little scared, but I would really… like it?” I couldn’t answer that with words. I kissed Sarah and let my hand gradually caress her side until it was just below her left breast. Her breathing sped up as we continued to kiss and her tongue became more active. I continued up and cupped her breast in my hand, squeezing it just a little. And if I imagined it was Hannah’s breast for a moment? Who was going to tell?

Sarah took the compass, which was actually hers, in order to find her way out of the woods. Just before she left me, she handed me a new envelope and said, “I hope you can find your way back to that fallen tree because that’s where the clues in this map start.” Oh, crap! I got my bearings, returned to the oak that I could always find and followed my first map back to the fallen tree. Then I opened the second envelope. It was a detailed map and was so easy to follow that there might as well have been a yellow brick road and a checkered flag at the end. I entered the little clearing where I’d ridden with Elaine on May Day. I half expected her to be there waiting for me, but the clearing was empty. I walked to the middle of the clearing and started to look around me. I heard a rustle and quickly turned to find Samantha facing me.

“Hi, lover,” she said. “Kiss me?” Ah. Samantha of the smoothest, sexiest skin known to mankind. She was almost like a cat rubbing on and around me as we kissed, trying to mold every part of her body to mine. And after both Hannah and Sarah, some parts were hard… to mold around.

“Sam, so sweet. So sexy,” I whispered.

“So available,” she said. “Touch me any way you want outside my clothes.” She was wearing jeans and her chambray shirt and it was obvious she had a bra on, too. But I still let my hands roam all over her body and she rubbed herself against my hard cock until I thought I would explode. We ended up on the ground and she pointed at a rolled-up blanket lying where I’d initially found her. We spread it out and lay down together, continuing our explorations. At last, she pushed away from me. “Brian, your next map is hidden on my body. I give you explicit permission to search me inside and outside my clothing and touch me in any way that the agreement allows. I’m not sixteen yet.” I checked the pocket of her shirt, pushing gently against her breast, but the map wasn’t in the pocket. I took off her hat and looked inside it, then ran my fingers through her thick black hair. She closed her eyes and practically purred. I was pretty sure that the map was probably hidden in her bra. Why else would she be wearing one? I couldn’t help but think of when we rode out in the woods on Rika behind Hannah on Silk and Sam gave me full access to her naked breasts. So, of course, I started with her boots.

Her boots, once off her feet were empty. So were her socks. I took the opportunity to massage her feet for a while and she moaned her appreciation. I pushed my hands into her hip pockets and squeezed her ass, then managed to barely wedge my hand into the front pocket of her jeans. They were all empty.

“May I remove your shirt so I can check inside?” I asked.

“You can remove anything you need to.” I unsnapped her shirt, not ripping it open, but popping one snap at a time. I pulled it off her and, just in case I’d missed something, searched the shirt again. Nothing. The bra didn’t seem to be all that substantial, but I reached around the back to unfasten it. “It fastens in the front,” she whispered. “For convenience.”

“Whose convenience?” I chuckled.

“Just now, for yours.” I found the front clasp and released her beautiful breasts. They weren’t as big as Brenda’s or Rose’s, but they were still substantial and crowned by dark brown areolae and nipples that seemed to pop up at the tip as the cool air hit them. I didn’t bother to search the bra until I’d carefully searched her boobs with both my fingers and my mouth. Sam was moaning but I didn’t find the map. I figured it must be somewhere in her pants, so I looked at her for permission as I took hold of the button on her jeans. I looked up at her face and she nodded. I unfastened and unzipped her. She raised her bottom and I slid her jeans down her legs a little at a time. They were so tight I had to work at getting them off of her.

She had a plain pair of nylon panties on and there was a huge wet spot in the crotch. I searched the jeans to no avail and then looked back at her lying on the blanket in nothing but her panties and her neckerchief. Oh man! I’d undressed her and failed to look in the most obvious place. I reached for the bandanna and carefully untied it. I figured the map must either be stitched to it or maybe even drawn on it, but there was nothing there. Looked at the nearly naked girl lying in front of me.

“I can’t seem to find the map,” I said.

“There’s still one place left to look,” she answered. “But take your time. I feel like you haven’t really examined my soft, silky, smooth legs with, like, your lips or tongue or anything.”

I was going to a whole new level with Samantha. I’d tried to be coy with her up to this point, even though I’d sucked her nipples and kissed her tummy. I’d let my hands fondle her ass and her legs. But if she wanted me to examine her with my lips and my tongue, the time had come. I kissed her feet and her calves and then did a thorough job of kissing her incredible silky thighs. I worked my way higher and higher until I’d kissed all around the edge of her panties. They were pulled tight against her pussy and with as wet as they were, they were almost transparent. I looked up at her face.

“The agreement just says there has to be a layer of clothing between us,” she whispered. As hard as she was breathing, it was almost a rasp. “Please? Please go on?” I licked up the inside of her thigh right to the elastic on her panties and licked the other thigh the same way. Samantha was whimpering. I’d never done it before, but the smell was intoxicating. I lowered my face and licked her pussy through the fabric. The nylon made it a little rough on my tongue, but I was tasting Samantha’s juices. I let my tongue push the fabric between her lips and against her clit and she went ballistic. She was coming and I was tasting her—tasting the juices right out of her smoothly depilated pussy. When I looked again, after she’d released my head from the thigh lock she put it in, I saw the fabric tucked right up inside her crack and juices glistening on her labia. I wasn’t certain if those were her juices or if I’d violated the agreement a little. “You’d… better… look inside for… the map,” she gasped. I took a deep breath to steady myself and pulled her panties down. A slip of soggy paper fell out of the back of her panties. It must have been wedged into her crack. I didn’t really notice. I was looking up close and personal at Samantha’s pussy. Once I pulled her panties off, her pussy opened wide so I could continue to see her juices flowing out of her. “You’ll be sixteen in October,” she said. “I’ll be sixteen in February. Sometime soon after that, I’d like you to take an even closer look at what you are seeing now.” Closer? There was only one way I could get my face closer than what it had just been. I was thinking that Samantha might be my Valentine’s date this year.

I held up the slip of paper and we laughed.

“I hope the ink didn’t run,” she said. “And I’m glad you don’t have to give that to anyone.” I started to unfold the map but Samantha put a hand on mine and asked me to wait a minute. She looked down at my cock, straining against my jeans. “Brian? May I have permission to do for you what you just did for me?” I pulled her to me, totally blinded by lust. I kissed her deeply, caressing her naked breasts and ass, her incredibly smooth skin pressed against me.

“Yes, Samantha. If you think… If you aren’t too grossed out by it… I’d love it.”

“Lie back and relax.” I lay back and Samantha pulled my jeans down leaving my cock barely covered by my briefs. She opened my shirt and rubbed my bare chest, first with her hands and then with her bare breasts. Then she kissed her way down my chest and stomach until she was hovering over my erection. It was poking at the fabric and she covered the tip with her mouth and squeezed rhythmically with her lips against my cockhead. My semen hit the fabric and was almost forced back down my cock. Samantha sucked the moisture right through the fabric. I didn’t know how much of what could get through my cotton briefs, but whatever managed went straight into Samantha’s mouth. When I finished spasming, I could feel that there was still a lot that had pooled around my cock and in my hair. Samantha kissed her way back up my body to my lips and showered me in kisses. She pushed away. “Eight months,” she whispered. “You’d better look at your map now. I’ve gone over my time limit.”

There was no map. It was three simple instructions. “Go to barn. Saddle horse. Pick me up at our tree.”

I had to grin. This time it could only be Cassie. I guessed I was thankful to Samantha all over again for taking the edge off before I went to meet Cassie. Maybe that was her intention. I knew for a fact there was going to be no sex play with the girl I used to meet in the woods to go on treasure hunts. She was standing under the oak when I rode up on Rika. I lifted her up into the saddle and swung on behind her.

“Did you have a fun day?” she asked. I chuckled. Oh yeah!

“It was a great day. Was this all your idea?”

“Mostly. I picked who would make maps except Whitney already left for basketball camp and Hannah said I should have Samantha come. We spent all afternoon yesterday out in the woods helping each other with the maps, but I don’t know what any of them did with their hour. I suppose you did a lot of making out. Well, maybe not with Hannah. Or Sarah. Well, I’m pretty sure you made out with Samantha. She is way over the top in love with you.” Samantha? Really? “I shouldn’t have said that. I’m sorry if I’m not as much fun as the others, but I thought about when you rescued me in the woods and took me home to Daddy a few months ago and wanted to go riding with you. This is nice and I like having your arms around me while you steer.” She was a regular chatterbox as we went through the woods and she talked about her plans for the summer and I told her about Kokomo and what I’d be doing. Eventually, we got to the break in the woods opposite the airstrip from her house. “Go around that way. Daddy will throw a fit if you ride across his runway, and his office is down on that end where he can see out.” She pointed opposite the way that she directed me to ride and I figured that this way we’d be coming in on the blind side. She stopped me at the end of the runway where the house was fully between us and her father’s office. “Help me turn side-saddle,” she said. She swung her right leg forward over Rika’ neck. That caused a moment of embarrassed fumbling as I had to pass the reins from my left hand to my right hand between her legs. Finally, she managed to twist around and get far enough up on my lap that she wasn’t sitting on the horn.

“Whew! That was exciting!” I laughed.

“Yeah. Remind me of that again in a few months, okay? Um… may I have permission to kiss my boyfriend?” she asked. I hadn’t kissed Cassie since that one special kiss at Regionals. I leaned in to her and she wrapped both arms around my neck and opened herself to a deep and loving kiss. I held her in my arms and loved her lips and her tongue. She hugged me fiercely and then asked me to help her down off the horse. She just hung onto my arm as I swung her out and lowered her. She looked up at me. “I’ll walk from here. I just want a few minutes to think about the fact that even though I hurt you when we were little, you still like me enough to be my boyfriend. That makes me tingly inside. ’Night.” She turned and walked slowly toward her house. I reined Rika toward the woods and we trotted.

4
Bitch

MOM AND DAD took Allen and Betts to dinner Tuesday night, which meant that I was home alone with Betts’ three college girlfriends and the other groomsmen. They started harassing me the minute Mom and Dad left.

“Hey, what’s for dinner tonight, chef?” one of them asked.

“I guess whatever you order. There’s a pizza menu by the phone.”

“Are there any of those cinnamon rolls left?”

“You ate them all this morning. I didn’t even get one.”

“Aw. I’m sorry.” She didn’t sound sorry.

“Hey, kid. What’s with that Doreen chick? She’s supposed to be the maid of honor, but she doesn’t want to do anything with the rest of us.” That was the best man. I’d taken a dislike to him the instant I met him. I never bothered to learn any of their names. They didn’t actually introduce themselves. I guess all they knew me as was ‘chef’ or ‘kid.’

“Doreen’s been here the whole time,” I said. “She knew Betts and Allen were going out tonight so she went home.”

“She seems really stuck up,” the guy said. He just wouldn’t let it be.

“She doesn’t know you guys at all,” I said. “The only ones she really knows are Betts and me, and probably ninety percent of the people who will actually attend the wedding.” I’d heard Betts complain that aside from her bridesmaids, who she promised to put up for the week, none of her college friends, or Allen’s either, for that matter, were coming to the wedding. They’d all scattered to their summer jobs and homes. “Besides, I’m her date this week and we’ve done plenty. She took me to pick up my tux this morning and we had a nice lunch.”

“She should be paying attention to the best man. That’s who she’ll walk down the aisle with,” the short plump bridesmaid snarked.

“Yeah. I suppose that means you and I should be getting it on, doesn’t it? After all, I’m the one escorting you down the aisle.” She stood up and marched over to me.

“The only reason I get stuck with you is because I’m short. It’s not because I like runts.”

“Well, the only reason Doreen is stuck with him is because she’s maid of honor. It’s not because she likes assholes.” I might have overdone it with that one because the best man was out of his seat and headed toward me. I ran. Betts’ room has a lock on it and I used it. Shit. I’d probably have to pee out the window. I sure wasn’t going back out there tonight.

Mom and Dad were gone to work before Betts got up in the morning. I had everything prepared for omelets for her gang. I was determined to be nice as if nothing happened the night before, though I considered putting a little extra cayenne in the eggs. When I heard the first person come down the stairs, I started the omelet cooking. It was simple with minced ham, scallions, and Swiss cheese. I heard the toilet flush and flipped the first omelet.

“What did you do to my friends, last night?” Betts growled.

“Nothing. They chased me into your room and I locked the door. I’m sick of being bullied.”

“You must have done something. They left me a note that said you were a prick and they were going out. They didn’t come back last night.”

“They’re probably still fucking each other senseless. What a bunch of assholes.” I set the omelet down in front of her with a cup of coffee.

“What’s this?”

“An omelet.”

“I don’t want this. I want blueberry waffles.” That did it. I’d had my fill. I grabbed the plate off the table in front of her and dumped the omelet in the garbage.

“Now you can fix your own fucking breakfast. You and your friends can all fend for yourselves. I’m not your short-order cook. I’m not the runt you can just order around or insult my friends. You’re the fucking bride to be. You can cook for your own in-laws tonight.” I stormed out of the kitchen and started for my room before I remembered that was where the harpies were staying, even if they weren’t here at the moment. I grabbed my hat and boots and went out to the barn. I didn’t bother with the hayloft except to get some hay for the girls. I grabbed the brush and curry comb and started on Silk. I hadn’t ridden the old girl lately and I was feeling bad for her. Even when I went to get Cassie yesterday, I took Rika. I heard the barn door open again and just kept brushing.

“Brian?” Betts’ voice came from above as if she expected to find me in the hayloft. She dropped back down and headed for the stalls. “Brian?” I heard Betts choke on a sob. Oh, Christ on a stick.

“What!” I barked from the other side of Silk. Betts opened the stall half-door.

“Brian, please don’t be mad at me. Please.” Betts was crying in earnest. Shit. What could I do? I stepped around Silk’s rump and faced her.

“Why not?” I demanded.

“Because I’m the bride. And because I’m scared. What if I made a big mistake, Brian? What if I hate Seattle? What if Allen’s parents hate me? I’ve never even met them. I’m scared.” She collapsed against me, sobbing her heart out. How can you stay mad at your sister when she’s crying like you are the only one in the world who cares? I just held her and tried to say soothing things. “Let’s go up to the hayloft,” she said. What the fuck? I followed her up and she already had my sleeping bag rolled out by the time I got up the ladder. She plopped down on it and held out her arms. “Hold me, please? Hold me because I’m your sister and you really love me even though I’m a bitch. Please?”

“It’s okay, Betts,” I said settling beside her. “You are my sister and I really do love you even though you’re a bitch.” She snorted and we both laughed a little.

“Thanks.” She just held onto me for a couple minutes. “I know you came out here and held Jessica sometimes. She told me after I cornered her when I found out about that horrible Kowalski thing. She said that even after it was all over, she’d never have made it through if you hadn’t been willing to just hold her. I’m sorry I never held you when you needed it, Brian. I’m so sorry. When you did what you did to Kirby and his gang, I was so frightened—so afraid you’d get hurt—I wanted to kill you.”

“Well, that makes sense.”

“Yeah. That’s the problem. Even when I wanted to protect you, I wanted to kill you. Why is that? I would be so scared for you and my response was to be even bitchier. What if that’s the kind of wife I am? Allen will hate me. If I’m that kind of mother, my children will hate me. What am I going to do, Brian? What am I going to do?”

“Look at me, Betts.” She raised her tear-streaked face to me. I wiped a tear away. She was family. My family. I knew at that moment that I’d do anything for her, even if she was a bitch. “Do you love him? Really, down in your heart, love him?” She nodded. “Does he love you?”

“I think so.”

“Let me tell you what I think. He adores you. I’ve never seen anybody so pussy-whipped in my life unless it was me mooning over Jessica. Allen would move mountains for you and then ask if you’d like them rearranged. I don’t know how you two ended up with such crappy college friends. Those six can’t see past their own genitals. The only thing they care about is that Doreen won’t put out for them. I think the girls are at least as bad as the guys. But they aren’t you and Allen. Moving to Seattle will probably be the best thing ever for you. You won’t have any expectations to live up to. No one will know you are really a bitch and you can fool them all.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“I’m serious, Betts. All you have to do is focus on making your husband happy and giving him a reason to keep adoring you. He’s got a good job at that tech company. He’s smart. He’s handsome. He loves you. You can either go get a job and try to make a year of college into something that equals what he has a three-year head start on or go to college out there and get your degree or just be the best person, wife, and companion that you can possibly be.”

“What if he doesn’t like me after we… you know? I’m a virgin. I kept telling him that the only way he’d get in my panties was with a marriage certificate. What if we do it and he realizes it wasn’t worth waiting for? I should have fucked him on our first date. I wanted to.”

“All right, Betts. This is completely inappropriate for your brother to talk to you about, but as the person who shared the same Facts of Life and Love for Teenagers book, I know for a fact that thinking about sex turns you on.”

“I’m still so embarrassed Mom gave you that book,” she said hiding her face against my chest.

“Forget it. I manage to… most of the time. But you know what to look for. When Allen kisses you do you get tingly? Do your nipples get hard when he touches your breasts? Does your pussy get wet?” I hissed in her ear.

“Brian,” she whisper-shouted back at me. She looked up in my eyes and saw I was dead serious. She caught her lower lip in her teeth and nodded.

“Is it him you think about when you masturbate?” Betts blushed crimson but nodded. “And do you come?”

“Oh, God! Yes!” she practically shouted. “Oh, God! You bastard. I feel all those things now, just thinking about him.”

“Betts, Saturday night after your wedding, when you go to bed with him for the first time, open your legs as wide as your heart and let him in. Just show him how much you love him and let nature take care of the rest. Really, Betts. That guy adores you.”

“You are way too old for your age, little brother.” I figured my work here was done and we could go, but Betts kept holding onto me. “Brian? Are you… You haven’t… Have you…?” Someday I was going to get my sister English lessons so she could compose a complete sentence. Man. I supposed that I should let my sister in on what was about to happen, though. After our near blow-out.

“Betts, you know about my agreement and my girlfriends?”

“Yes. Allen about choked when you introduced Jennifer, Courtney, and Hannah as your girlfriends. I didn’t really pay much attention to your agreement.”

“Yeah. Well, Sarah is one of my girlfriends now, too.”

“How many?”

“Sixteen. Plus, one temporary.”

“Okay. This you have to explain.”

“Our agreement states that none of us will engage in any direct skin-to-skin genital contact until we are at least sixteen years old and will refrain from any sexual penetration until we are at least seventeen. We’re all virgins. Well, most of us. Some had already gone that far before they signed the agreement but haven’t since.”

“Okay, so you are waiting till you are a junior. I guess that’s okay. I never expected you to stay a virgin till you married. That was my silly obsession. Now what’s the temporary one all about?”

“Doreen asked me if she could be my girlfriend this week, completely under the terms of the agreement. I can’t make her a part of the full agreement without a unanimous vote of all the other girlfriends and boyfriends.”

“Boyfriends?”

“Six guys, including me, signed the agreement. There’s a total of twenty-two of us. The agreement states that we can date outside the group as long our date agrees to abide by the rules. That includes getting explicit permission from your partner or partners for any activity that could be considered sexual, right down to kissing and holding hands. That’s protected some of the older members of our group like Renee and Candace.” I wasn’t sure if Betts knew Candace had changed her name.

“Wait! Renee Carver? The cheerleader? She was like one of the biggest sluts in school ever since I knew her.”

“Not this year. She dumped that asshole Chad the first week of school and joined our group. We only put the sixteen and seventeen-year-old stipulations on a week ago, so she had no skin-to-skin genital contact all year.”

“Is that possible? Good for her!” Betts sounded genuinely pleased.

“Not only that, but you remember your old friend Lamar?”

“God, yes. I liked him, but it just didn’t work out.”

“Well, he and Renee kind of got sweet on each other this spring after prom and even though they didn’t violate the agreement, they’ve both decided to go to IU this fall.”

“Wow! Okay. You got me distracted. Why does Doreen want to be your temporary girlfriend?”

“Because she’s more scared than you are. Allen’s best man seems to think the bridesmaids are private whores for the groomsmen. Doreen is my date for this entire week and if that asshole makes a move on her, Betts, I will find some way to totally destroy him. You know what I’m capable of. You’ve seen it. You need to get Allen to warn him off. I will not let him harm my girlfriend.”

“Oh, my God! Brian, it won’t come to that, will it? Please don’t ruin my wedding, Brian.”

“Betts! It won’t be me who ruins anything. You need to make sure Allen gets the message across to him. Better yet, let me get some time with Allen tonight. He’s a good guy. I’ll let him know what the situation is. He won’t let it get out of hand.”

“I’ll do it. I’d be sick if anything happened to Doreen. That’s what would ruin the wedding. What makes you tick, Brian? Why would you take on this responsibility? This is way beyond what you should have to do.” I put my hands on either side of Betts’ face and turned her to me. I looked her straight in the eye.

“Life Rule Number One, Betts. Do whatever is necessary to protect and defend the ones you love. Not just because Doreen is my girlfriend or the sister of one of my best friends. But because she is your best friend and you are my sister. You are family, Betts. My. Family.”

Betts shuddered in my grip and nodded to me.

“I’ll make sure Allen talks to you tonight. No. Listens to you.”

“By the way, Doreen is my date for dinner this evening.”

“Oh!”

“She’ll stay the night with you since the other three have gone off to service the groomsmen.”

“Dinner? What are we having for dinner? Are you cooking? Are we going out? I didn’t even think to ask.”

“None of your new in-laws are vegetarians, are they?” I asked.

“Oh, no! I hope not! What would I feed them?”

“Salad. Lots and lots of salad,” I laughed.

The truth, of course, was that Mom had talked a lot more to Allen’s parents than Betts had. She’d asked me in advance whether I could cook that night and took my shopping list to get all the ingredients. She didn’t skimp on anything.

Betts helped me by brushing Rika. As she brushed, she also calmed. I’ve found that to always be the way it works. Horses.

I heard the car crunching on the cinder drive and went out to meet Denise and her father. Betts followed me and I introduced her to them. For all that Betts was nineteen, about to get married, and thinking she was really worldly, she was still a little awed by the fact that I had black friends—even girlfriends. I told Mr. Raymond about Betts getting married this week and that I was going away on a summer internship in ten days. He said he’d be back about three and told us to have fun. Betts hung around with us for a while and helped saddle Rika in her trail saddle. Denise was wearing a brand new pair of riding boots, so we saddled both horses.

“You take really good care of Rika and Silk, Brian,” Betts said. “I think Rika’s happier with you as her rider than she ever was with me. Thank you for being such a great little brother.” She gave me a kiss on the cheek and left me with Denise to have our date. I had a lunch packed for us with cold packs around our sandwiches. I put it in my saddlebags and we rode off down the road.

I didn’t head for the woods behind our house. Denise was calm on Silk and we rode alongside the tarmac on Mosquito Road for half a mile before we cut into Mr. Baron’s farm off on the right side of the road. Mr. Baron was a nice guy and his father had been farming here as long as Grandpa. Unlike my family, though, he still farmed his land and hadn’t divided it and sold it. He had a really nice apple orchard and we guided the horses through it. They were interested in the scent, of course, but it was too early for any fruit to actually be developed on the trees. In the fall it was almost impossible to ride through because the horses wanted to eat everything in the orchard. At the back of the orchard, there was a trail that led into the Baron woodlot, about the same as the woods behind our place. We watched for a good place and I dismounted and helped Denise down. I pulled the bits and tied the horses with halter ropes so they could graze on the lush spring grass. We spread out a blanket and I finally got a chance to just sit by Denise and talk a while.

“I don’t know. I wish Pops would move us out of that neighborhood. We could do it; I know. He is always worried about whether he could afford a house out in a suburb and if that would make him some kind of Oreo.”

“What’s that?”

“Somebody who’s black on the outside and white on the inside. Sort of the opposite of what this horse is.” I’d shown Denise the first time we rode that while Silk’s coat was white, or really light gray, her skin was black. It’s a characteristic of Arabians.

“It seems like if you’ve got the ability to improve your life, you should do it. You shouldn’t be locked into anything just because of the color of your skin.”

“It doesn’t bother you that when you look at my titties, they aren’t snow white with a little sprinkling of freckles like Liz?” she asked.

“Hey. Where’d that come from? First of all, why would that bother me any more than that you’ve got nice round full titties and she’s got little tiny titties? And second, when have I ever seen your titties?”

“I thought you might get to today.” I choked on my sandwich and grabbed my water bottle.

“You should come with a warning label,” I laughed when I could breathe again. “Choking hazard. Do not eat while in the presence of this girl.” We laughed some more and she asked me more about what I was doing in my internship this summer.

“Pops is still worried that you are going to be flipping hamburgers at McDonalds instead of making big bucks designing new drugs.”

“I doubt it. But geez, you know the more I read about the pharmaceutical industry, the less likely I am to try to work there. If I designed a new drug that could really help people, I’d get pretty pissed if the company decided not to release it. And I’d feel terrible if I created something that they started pushing and then I found out five or ten years later that it causes cancer in infants or something. You really have to believe you are God to work like that. It’s worse than being a doctor.”

“Well, you’d know right away if somebody choked on your hamburger at least.” We packed up our lunch site. I folded the blanket and tied it onto her saddle. “Uh… Brian? I hate to ask this, but where’s the nearest toilet? I gotta whiz.”

“Oh.” I reached into my saddle bag and pulled out a small roll of toilet paper. “Just go off in the trees a little way. Bury the toilet paper by scuffing dirt over it when you’re done. And uh… don’t squat your pretty little butt too close to anything with three shiny leaves.”

“Really?”

“We could ride back home, but it’s at least twenty minutes back and then we’d be pretty much done with our ride.” She took the toilet paper and headed off into the woods. I left the horses tied and stepped a few feet the other direction to relieve myself. Guys really have it all over girls when it comes to peeing. I waited a few minutes and Denise came stumbling back. She handed me the rest of the toilet paper and I put it in the saddle bag.

“You really don’t have any secrets when you ride out into the country, do you?” she said. “I almost got it on my pants and had to figure out how to squat without a toilet bowl under me. And then had to change positions so it didn’t run downhill and get on my boots. I can’t believe I’m talking to you about how I peed in the woods.”

“I love it when you blush.” She laughed and then turned to hug me. Whoa! Something’s different here! I untied the horses and we walked hand-in-hand leading them for a while. I kept glancing down at Denise as we walked and there was a lot more movement under her shirt than I noticed before. I was pretty sure I knew why.

“Denise, may I have permission to kiss my girlfriend? I’ve been wanting to ever since you got here.”

“I thought you’d never ask.” I kissed her and Denise showed me that she was a pretty good kisser. Anything she lacked in experience she made up for in enthusiasm. And the feel of her soft squishy breasts pressed up against me got my attention real fast. I was sure now that she’d taken off her bra when she went to pee. “You want to just stop and make out for a while?” she asked when we came up for air.

“Yeah. I’d like that.”

“Can we get the blanket back down? If I peed in the woods, probably something else did, too, and I’d rather not sit in it.” In answer to that, Rika leaned forward and started a long stream. The timing was too good. I grabbed the blanket and we left the horses tied where they were so we could walk away from the fragrance of her urine. We settled down on the blanket and I laid back to give Denise the dominant position. I had a feeling she was driving and I was along for the ride. “Brian,” she said as she settled next to me, “I give you explicit permission to touch me anywhere above my waist, inside or outside my clothes. May I have the same permission?”

“Sweet girl, I thought you’d never ask,” I repeated to her. I don’t have that much experience. Well, I’ve gone a long way with a couple of girls and spent a lot of time going nowhere with a lot more. They were both fun. I have to say, though, that I love kissing. I love everything about kissing from the first light touches to deep tongue-in-the-throat passion. At any stage of that, if you add a girl who will let you touch her breasts, my temperature just skyrockets. But when a girl opens her shirt and presses her naked tits against my bare chest while I kiss her tenderly, just about every nerve in my body short-circuits.

We didn’t try to hump and grind, but we both really enjoyed just holding each other skin-to-skin and kissing. Eventually I glanced at my watch and realized that her dad would be by to pick her up in half an hour. We needed to get back. Denise pulled her shirt completely off and got her bra out of her back pocket. It was fascinating watching her strap herself back in. Almost as much fun as watching one taken off. I put the bridles back on the horses, gave her a boost onto Silk’s back, and we rode home.

5
In-laws

AT HOME, Mr. Raymond was waiting for Denise and spent a minute petting the horses before they took off. I got them to the barn, unsaddled, and hurriedly brushed down before I ran to the house for a shower. Time to change hats.

Doreen and Betts were waiting for me in the kitchen and both were eager to help with dinner. Allen had called when they were ready to leave O’Hare and they should have missed the worst of the Chicago traffic. That meant they’d arrive in about an hour. I put Doreen to work peeling and slicing potatoes and told Betts to set the table. I explained how there would be four plates of food served. Each man was responsible for serving his date. Doreen thought that was a little chauvinistic and I told her she could serve me since she was older and all. That degenerated into a tickle fest. Betts, of course, thought the idea of being served by her man was romantic and was all for it. Doreen looked at me behind Betts’ back and stuck a finger in her mouth like she was gagging.

I had everything ready and prepped for cooking when Mom and Dad got home from work. Allen and his parents arrived a few minutes later. In the midst of the introductions and relaxing in the family room, the phone rang and I ran to get it so no one else would be disturbed. I was going to use the “can’t come to the phone right now” line, but it was Doug’s voice that cut me short.

“Bri, I vote yes.”

“That’s good, Doug. I didn’t expect you to call and tell me directly.”

“I volunteered to make the call. It was unanimous.”

“I’m glad you made the call, Doug. You’re sure you’re okay with it?”

“Man, Doreen is my sister and I love her. We aren’t like you and Betts. Doreen practically raised me and I think she did a damn fine job.” I’d seldom heard Doug so passionate. He really did love his sister. “Bri, there’s one other thing. You know how Hannah is with her sister. I mean, we all see them hold hands and I’ve been out with the two of them and seen them kiss each other. Well, you should know that Doreen and I… We always abide by the terms of the agreement. I hope that doesn’t make us sound perverted or anything.”

Foolish Wisdom

Devon Layne

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