The Reservist

 

Book 1 - Jackie

By

Ned Kelly

 

 

 

 

Dedicated To:

To all the Service members and their families that I served with, may you always be remembered. – NK.

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER ONE

It was just after 8 pm and Jeopardy had just ended and Bucky had just gotten home from a date with Angela. She was a great girl and had a wonderful body, and loved messing around. She kept saying that she was “not having sex before she got married, because she was going to be a complete virgin on her wedding night”, but then she would say “mouth stuff is not sex” and would go down on him in a heartbeat and had no problem with him doing the same to her. She was still a great date and she was fun to mess around with, even if her definition of “sex” was a little incorrect, in his opinion, but Bucky was having fun with her.

Besides he was okay with her choice because he was actually dating a couple of other girls that did want to have sex, and quite often, so he was thinking about dropping her, but Angela was fun for other reasons. His only real ‘issue’ with her was her constant need to remind him that “she would be a virgin on her wedding night”. One of the things he loved about her was that she loved to look at and play with his dick, almost as soon as she got into the car when he picked her up for a date she would reach over and pull it out. And then when they were “playing around” as she put it, she was fine with it in her hands or mouth, but if he moved or turned the wrong way and got his dick anywhere close to her pussy, she about had a fit and started pushing him off of her thinking he was going to fuck her. It would take him a while to calm her down and get back to the “fun”, but as he said, she was fun for other non-sex reasons. Ah well, he had to work in the morning so was going to take a shower and go to bed.

He had just grabbed a soda from the fridge and was heading through the living room towards the stairs when his father spoke to him.

“Son, remember my company picnic is tomorrow. I’m gonna need your help with it. The guys and I will have the grills going around 1? I’ll expect there by 1:30, 1:45 at the latest, to help out. Understood?”

Turning his to look at his father, Bucky acts like only a teenager can when been being told something he doesn’t want to do “Huh? “What? But dad I gotta work tomorrow at 5. I’m going up to bed now to go to sleep. Are you serious right now? Do you really expect me to work slinging eggs and bacon on a grill for 4 or 5 hours and then burgers for another few hours only to have to do it again while you and your work pals stand around and get drunk? Can’t I just skip it this year? Please?” his voice rising in volume and pitch throughout his tirade.

His mother quietly pipes up with “Bucky, don’t speak to your father like that. You know he doesn’t ask for much.”

Bucky has to take a few calming breaths because it is his mother's typical statement when he says anything contradictory directed towards his father.

Ignoring his complaints, his father raises his voice slightly and continues with “James! No! I’m gonna need your help manning the grill and I’m not going to discuss it further. I reminded you multiple times over the past week. I need your help and that’s final. Make sure you take a change of clothes with you so you can change at work and then come straight to the park. I don’t want to hear any excuses of you saying you forgot your clothes and then came home and fell asleep. I will expect you there by 1330, no later.” And with that, his father picked up the remote, turned back to the tv, and unmuted the show he had been watching. This confirmed that the conversation was in fact, over. As if him slipping into Military Time hadn’t been indication enough that he was pissed and wasn’t going to discuss it further.

Giving a little sigh of acceptance Bucky says “Okay dad, I’ll be there before 1:30. I’m off to bed. Love you both.”

His father never looked up from his show and just simply grunted, his mother simply looked up from her book, smiled at him, and said, “Love you too babe.”

Turning towards the stairs Bucky holds in his sigh of frustration until he reaches the top of the stairs because he knows if he lets it out, it will only lead to yet another lecture from his father.

Bucky was military-born and bred. Son of a patriarchal family in which nearly ever male had served in the military since they set foot on American shores, even before America was America. In fact if the family history was to be believed some of the original settlers fought for the “wrong side” during the French and Indian war in the mid 1700’s and were killed by the British, whoops. In most recent history only Bucky’s grandfather did not serve, but it was only by circumstance that he never did. His grandfather, James David Buchanan, was born in 1909 and was only 8 when World War I started and was then 30 with 2 small children and another on the way when World War II started.

Coming from a poor family with many mouths to feed, and being the eldest male child of, eventually, 13 children he had to work to help his family. His grandfather started working when the men went off to war in 1917, at just 8 years old. He didn’t stop working until he was 63 and got lung cancer. When WWII arrived and he was “too old” to serve, it didn’t stop his supporting of the war and it didn’t stop 3 of his younger brothers from serving either, 2 of whom never returning home. One lost in Europe and one lost in the Pacific. For his entire life Bucky’s grandfather was never seen not flying an American Flag in front of his house, nor not attending either the Memorial Day or Independence Day parades given in his town. He might not have served, but he loved and respected everyone who did.

Of his four children three, including Bucky’s father, joined the military. Of his sons one joined the Air Force and one the Army, and then his older daughter Rose joined the Marine Corps, all of this occurred during the Vietnam era. Luckily only his older son, Joseph, was sent to Vietnam, but returned home successfully with no injuries and only a few wild tales to tell of his few tours of his time there.

His youngest son and child David, Bucky’s father, successfully did what he was unable to and joined the Army before he even graduated High School. David joined a local National Guard unit when he was 17 and was a Corporal before he was 20. After moving a few times due to job shortages, he was forced to switch from the National Guard to the Army Reserves as it was easier in the ’60s-’70s to switch between units when moving between different states; Bucky’s parents had lived in 3 states and 4 years due to the economy at one point. Getting promoted often he was the First Sergeant (E8) of his Reserve unit by 1980, but his full-time job was suffering from the economy again and any day could be his last day of employment.

In the Spring of 1983 “Uncle Sam” came calling and asked if he would be willing to go Full-Time as an Army Recruiter the only issue was that he would have to accept a reduction in rank and give up his E8 and become a Sergeant First Class, an E7, again. After accepting the position Bucky’s father went off to training and came home to be the best he could be, that was 10 years ago and now at almost 50 years old, still ‘stuck’ as a Sergeant First Class his father was feeling the pressure from the decisions he had made years ago.

As Bucky reaches his bedroom the first thing he does is grabs a bag to pack with a change of clothes for the next day. Not really know what the weather is going to be like, he packs a pair of jeans and a pair of shorts. Tossing in a few different shirts, a polo, and a simple print t-shirt, along with clean underwear and socks, finally adding his new Jordan Hi-Tops. He had only worn them a few times but figures this would be a nice occasion.

With his bag packed he puts it on the desk by the door with the stuff he normally took to work in the morning so he wouldn’t forget it, and then went and took his nightly shower. After getting out of the shower he saw himself in the mirror and was reminded of his parent's wedding picture, he was looking more and more like his father every day. Square rounded face with a strong jaw, a nose that could become a little too large with too much drinking (like his father’s), broad shoulders, dark brown hair, and, as one to many girls had put, long beautiful lashes.

Bucky was a nickname, his given name being James Madison Buchanan, James like his grandfather, and he had turned 19 just a month or so before. He, like his father, brother, and most of the rest of his family had joined the military, but unlike them, he had directly joined the Army Reserve shortly after his 17th birthday and went to Basic Training between his Junior and Senior year of High School. Bucky got his nickname shortly after he started playing baseball. There were 4 other kids on the team with the name James or Jim, and 3 other kids name Buchanan, and one of them started with a ‘J’, Jonathan. With all of the similarities in the names and confusions the first day, it only took about 5 minutes for the coach to start calling him “Bucky” and the name stuck. Now everyone from family, to friends, to teachers, to strangers on the street called him “Bucky”, except for his father. His father called him “James” no matter what, unless of course he was extremely happy, or drunk, so basically never.

Checking his alarm once more he climbed into bed and was quickly joined by his nightly bedmate, their housecat Humphrey Bogart. Humphrey was about 6 months old now and was pure white and as cuddly as ever with people he liked, but an asshole with people he didn’t know or hated.

When Bucky’s alarm went off at 3:30 AM, Bucky reached up and turned on the light. Humphrey was curled up on the little pillow Bucky had given him like normal, but the light woke him up enough that he gave a little meow in protest. Humphrey then stood up, stretched, and then curled back up to go to sleep in a slightly different position. Bucky just looked at him and said “Lazy ass cat. But who wouldn’t want the life of a cat? Just lay around all day, eat when you want, and screw when you want, and then take another nap. Quite the life.” Humphrey raised his head to look at him once more, yawned, and just gave another little yip of a meow as if to say “You got that right.” With a little scritch behind his ears, Bucky got out of bed and to leave for another fun-filled day of slinging breakfast and burgers at a fast-food joint.

---

Bucky pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant he worked at just at 4 AM and walked in and said hello to his co-workers and then started prepping for the breakfast rush that was due to start in a little over 2 hours. He had been working here for just over a year and as the morning breakfast grill prepper, it was his job to make sure everything was ready to go when the other workers showed up at 5 AM to start cooking and selling food. The good thing about working there was the high turnover rate of both High School and College age girls who didn’t mind a little No-Strings Attached fun. As long as both they and Bucky understood the rules going into the date or short-term relationship, everything normally worked out fine, the problems started when the rules weren’t made clear at the beginning.

Work was just like any other Summer day in the middle of the week at a fast-food restaurant. Lots of families traveling for vacation, either from here to there or from there to here, or people taking day trips to the beach, or just some that didn’t feel like cooking breakfast or lunch. It wasn’t an especially busy day nor was it a slow day. So when the shift manager asked Bucky at Noon if he wanted to punch out early he jumped at the chance. He figured it would allow him to go to this damn picnic like his father wanted him to and he could make his ‘appearance’. Then he could help his dad make some damn burgers and then he could leave and get home in time for a nap before possibly calling up Chastity for a little fun before he had to go to bed to do it all over tomorrow. So, with a grin on his face, and lusty thoughts on his mind, he punched out and headed out to his car for the bag he had packed the previous night.

As he was walking out to his car for the bag he had packed it was like fate was smiling on him because he almost literally ran into Chastity. She was not only a good friend and co-worker but also had been the local Miss Teen pageant contest winner who went to the Miss Teen Maine state contest the previous year. She stood 5’7” tall, beautiful heart-shaped face, dark brunette hair, almost black, nice B-cups, and what was called “a Dancers Body”. As Bucky had seen that body the way God had intended, he knew it was a perfect as could be.

With a smile as large as could be, Bucky said “Hey there lovely, how are you doing today? Your working? I thought you had today off?”

With a scowl that only slightly marred her pretty face she replied, “Yeah, mom called me in. Someone called out from the lunch and afternoon shift. She needs me to work until 4:30 or 5.”

“Man, that’s a bummer babe. I was gonna give you a call later and see if you were going to be free for dinner and maybe some ‘dancing’.” Bucky said the word “dancing” with a slight tilt to his head to see if Chastity would catch his meaning.

With a grin and a chuckle she did and replied with “Well, I was gonna call you and ask the same thing around 3’ish as I knew that was when you’re normally home and out of the shower.”

Laughing Bucky said, “Next time just call here babe, I can always shower at your house.”

“I’ll do that.”

“Okay, I’ll call you here around 4 to see if you’re going to need a ride or something. But I gotta do something for my Dad right now. His company is putting on a picnic today and he wants me to help him cook some burgers.”

“What? Doesn’t he know that’s what you just did for 8 hours?”

Shrugging Bucky says, “Guess it wasn’t enough.”

“Well, okay then. Talk to you at 4’ish. And make sure you remember the rules!”

Grinning Bucky looked at Chastity starting at the top of her head to the bottom of her feet, “Oh yes my lovely, I remember, I can put my tongue and hands anywhere I want, but my dick only goes into your mouth or your ass.”

“That’s right. My pussy is off limits until I am married and I am not marrying a heathen like you” she says with a wicked grin, “but I’ll let you fuck my ass anytime you want.”

“Damn girl, can’t you tell your mom you got stuck in traffic??”

Flipping her hair around she turns to walk into the building and says over her shoulder “I would but she is standing in the window tapping her watch at us right now.”

Laughing Bucky continues to his car to get his bag, and only then notices the weather. For a late June day in Maine it is not hot, nor is it cold. It is sorta in-between. With this in mind, Bucky decides to wear the jeans and t-shirt that he brought with him. After a quick cleanup and change in the employee area of the restaurant, Bucky is ready to head to the picnic site. It is the same one they used the previous year and is only a few minutes away from where he works. He is quite surprised when he shows up to see a lot more cars than the previous year.

Finally finding a place to park, he gets out and starts looking for someone he knows and sees a face he didn’t expect to see here. Walking up to him he says “Tom, hi there, how have you been.”

“Bucky, hey there son. How have you been? I’ve been good. Tracey’s almost ready to pop any day now. I’m ready to finally be a father.”

“Congrats Tom. When mom and dad told me that you and Tracey were expecting I was so happy for you two, it was some of the best news ever. I wish you all the best.”

“Thanks, man. People still look at us weird, but hey Love is Love.”

“Just think of it this way Tom, in 20-30 years, none of it will matter because you won’t have any hair and she will still be coloring her hair. No one will notice the age difference then.”

Laughing he replies “I guess that’s one way to think about it.”

“So, hey, where’s my dad. I’m supposed to help him burn lunch.”

“Burn lunch!!! Hah - that’s so true knowing your dad.” Laughing harder Tom says “Come with me and I’ll take you to the grill area, I need to see him about something anyways.”

Tom and I walk towards a set of picnic tables that are surrounded by people and among those people are my mother, one of her best military friends Bernice (aka Bernie), and Tom’s wife Tracey. Saying hello to all of them we continue past to where we see my father and 3 other Senior Enlisted men manning the grills frying up a combination of steak, chicken, burgers, hot dogs, sausages, veggies, and a few other things. Every once in a while one of the men will say “Flare up” and use a beer to put out either live or imaginary flames that are flaring up from the grill and then drink most of the beer from the can so that they need a new beer for the next “Flare up”.

As we get closer Tom says “Dave, look who I found.”

My dad looks over and says “Bucky!! You made it. YEAH...hey guys my son made it. Great. Come’re boy, help us man the grill. You do this at yer job all the time, but I bet ya don’t deal with the flar’s like we are here...make sure you have a beer.”

At which point Bucky’s dad hands him a beer, puts him in front of the grill he was standing in front of and says “Ok, watch for the flames to shoot up, wait there’s one! Now yell ‘Flare up’...now dump some beer on it an’ drink some beer. Good. Good. You got this? You keep my spot, I gotta piss.”

With that said, his father turns and walks off towards the bathrooms about 40-45 feet away. Shaking his head slightly Bucky mutters “From one damn grill to another.”

The guy cooking at the grill next to him laughs and says “Don’t worry son, it just means we’ll get the best shit of the bunch.”

Looking over at the guy Bucky thinks he looks vaguely familiar, but he can’t remember when he may have met him so he just nods and says in response “So when do we start serving this shit?”

Smiling he says “When your dad gets back we should be able to pull the first round of burgers and hotdogs off for the young kids. Then it will just be a matter of finishing the steak, chicken, and other shit and serving everyone else.” Looking over at another grill he grabs a pair of tongs and starts flipping some chicken over and then slathering them with more bar-b-que sauce. “Your father told me earlier that you were headed to college in the fall and that you have orientation coming up. You getting excited yet?”

Checking the burgers on his grill, he starts flipping them over as he responds “Yeah, a little. I keep thinking that I might have made a mistake and chosen the wrong school. That maybe I should stay around here and keep working and go to night school at the base for a year or so. But I don’t know, I keep changing my mind almost every day.”

“No way man, every young man needs to experience the freedom of college life. You know what I mean; living on his own, screwing all that young college pussy he can, going to parties, getting drunk, all that fun and games kids do. Man I would give anything to be young and free again. At least as a recruiter I get to see quite a lot of babes while I am recruiting them. Most of their moms ain’t half bad either.”

Wondering if the guy is being serious, Bucky gives him a little bit of a side-eye glance and is just about to respond when the guy laughs and says, “I’m just fucking with you kid. When you get to be my age you have to find joy in almost anything you can. But seriously, I told my kids the same thing, don’t skip out on the college experience. You’ll regret it for the rest of your life if you do.”

Bucky nods his head and is about to respond when he sees his father walking back from the bathroom and up to them at the grills. Reaching them his father says “James, you remember Sgt. Davis don’t you?” indicating the man Bucky had been talking with.

Bucky shrugs and says to his father and, the man he now knows as Sgt. Davis, “Dad, he looks familiar but I don’t remember when or how I met him. Where did you use to work with him? Bangor or Manchester?”

Grinning his father says “Nah son, you met him at those conferences we went on when you were younger. I think the most memorable one was when you were 14 or so, remember when we went to Fox Run? You had a broken arm and still somehow wound up in the pool? Remember now?”

“Oh yeah, I remember you now Sarge, your vulgarness prepared me for Basic. No matter how vulgar my DIs were, they never compared to you.”

Laughing Davis says “No shit kid, hah, glad I could have helped.” Davis then gets a weird look on his face and starts looking around the crowd until he spots someone and then yells “HEY Dumbass!!” A teenage girl a few picnic tables over from the grills turns her head towards Sgt. Davis and gives him the finger. He just waves at her in a ‘come here’ movement and yells back “Get your ass over here for a second. There’s someone you might remember.” She frowns at him but stops talking with who she was talking with and stands up and starts walking over. While she is, Davis turns towards Bucky’s dad and says “I think the burgers and dogs are done. Wanna check’em?”

“Sure bud”, so Bucky’s father puts actions to his words and starts pulling them from the grills and placing them into foil pans, and moving them to tables just in front of the grills. Just as the girl Davis yelled at arrives they hear Bucky’s father yells “Burgers and dogs for kids are ready!” and a line starts to form for the mothers and fathers at the table to grab food for the little children. Bucky looks down at the grill he is still manning for his father because he has refilled it up with steaks and since you need to keep them from burning they must be turned every couple of minutes.

As the line is starting to die down and the steaks are coming along nicely his father says “I’ll take over for a minute, it looks like Davis wants you to meet someone.” So Bucky hands his father the tongs he was using and turns around to see the girl Sgt. Davis had called over. She looks familiar but similar to how Davis was, Bucky can’t place her.

While Bucky was busy with the grill she had been standing there with her father talking, and it seemed like they were arguing somewhat, but when Bucky turned to face them Davis put a grin on his face and said “Sorry about that Bucky, I was just trying to convince Dumbass here that she might like to re-meet someone she used to know. Sweetie, do you remember Bucky from that conference back in New Hampshire? At Fox Run? In 1988?” She was still facing away from him, but she finally turned towards him, and then Bucky then heard her say “Wait Bucky? Bucky is that you?”

Once Bucky got a full look into her face and realized he was looking down into a set of eyes that the last time he had seen them were behind a set of glasses that were thick enough to set a concrete block on fire, he knew who she was. They were the same beautiful brightest blue eyes he had ever seen, they even still had the smallest flecks of green floating around in them. Still surprised that he was looking down at her and not UP at her like he had been the last time, he was barely able to stammer out her name, but he finally said “Jackie?”. Getting her smile and head nod in response was almost enough before the memories, and her hug over took him. And then with a smile, Bucky was transported back almost 5 years to the early fall of 1988 when he had met Jackie for the first time.

 

CHAPTER TWO

Bucky was sitting in the back of his father's Chevy Blazer as they pulled into the driveway of the hotel for the annual Army Recruiting conference. He didn’t want to be here. He wanted to be back home, he didn’t understand why he had to come to another one of these stupid conferences with his parents. He was 14 years old, he was old enough to stay by himself. He decided to say it again one more time to get it on the record, “I don’t know why I have to be here, how come I couldn’t have stayed home?”

Sighing his mother turns around from the front seat and looks at him and says “Look, we have been through this enough, and this is the last time I am going to say it, you’re still too young to stay at home for an entire weekend by yourself.”

“But Nan lives right around the corner. She could come over if I ever needed her.”

“And she just had a friggin’ baby not 10 days ago, I wouldn’t be here myself if it wasn’t so important to your father. Do you really think that your sister would be able to look after you, her husband, and a new baby? All at the same time? What would you eat for Christ’s sake? Damn, don’t you ever think?”

Sighing Bucky just sat back in his seat and looked out the window at the hotel they were going to be spending the weekend at. It was called Fox Run and was someplace in New Hampshire. All he knew is that he had spent 4 hours in the car and was going to have to spend a weekend sharing a room with his parents. And then his father spoke up.

“And what were you going to do at home with a broken arm anyways? It’s not like you can play video games or anything? You were probably just going to sit around feeling sorry for yourself. This way you can come here, meet some kids your age, have some fun, and maybe even screw around a little bit.”

Aghast his mother says “DAVID!!”

His father chuckles and says “What, I was 14 once.” To which his mother just scoffs.

“Yeah, and be tortured by not being able to go into the pool” Bucky groused. “And it’s my finger, not my arm.”

Chuckling his father replies “Sorry, my mistake, but it doesn’t really matter when the cast is up to your elbow.”

“Whatever”

About 45 minutes later they are checked into their room and Bucky is quite surprised to find out it is a mini-suite in that there is a 1/2 wall separating the 2 sleeping areas. While it is not quite separate rooms, it is better than sleeping in beds that are side by side. His father announces that Bucky only has a few moments to get settled as they are meeting one of his counterparts, who have a couple of kids Bucky’s age, in about 10 minutes and that they are all going out to eat. Bucky quickly tosses his bag on his bed, opens the bag to grab a quick change of clothes, and changes into something other than ‘easy travel clothes’, and then announces that he is ready to go.

Meeting his parents at the door with a minute or so to spare they all walk to the elevators and go up a floor and down a few doors where his father knocks and is greeted with “Who the fuck is that?”

My father responds with “Davis, it’s Buchanan, and I’m coming in you Mother Fucker.” Bucky looks at his mother to see how she reacts to his father speaking like this, but she is displaying no emotion on her face. Bucky had never heard his father talk like this outside of deer camp and never in front of his mother, why would he be doing it now? Who is this guy?

Walking into the room Bucky sees the room is about 1/2 full with people and in the middle of the room is someone who just demands attention. Bucky’s father walks right up to him and shakes his hand saying “How the Hell you doin’ Davis? Where’s your wife and my kids?”

The man, who to Bucky seems to be huge, seems to tower over his father who is 6’2” tall. But then again Bucky thinks, ‘what do I know, I’m only 5’ tall and at 14 I can only hope that I still have a growth spurt left in me.’

His father turns and introduces the man to his mother and him. “Sweetie, this is Sgt. Kenneth Davis. Davis, this is my wife Judy and my son James.”

Up close the man seems even taller and more imposing, Bucky is surprised that his head isn’t touching the ceiling and he says the first thing that comes to his mind “Damn, your tall”

Laughing Davis says “No shit Sherlock, bet you didn’t think they could pile shit up this high did you? Well, they can. Wait until you meet my son and daughter, then you’ll really shit a brick. Hold on.” And with that, he turns and says “Shithead, Dumbass, get over here.”

Two kids stand up from where a line of coolers was lined up against the wall, the boy was nearly his father's height and the girl seemed just a bit shorter, but again, at his height, almost everyone seemed tall. The major difference between the two was that the son’s body had filled out mostly and he was relatively good-looking, but she was tall and quite gangly looking, sort of like someone had taken her and stretched her and then never fed her. As they got closer Bucky also noticed that her hair was dark blond, almost brown, which was just past shoulder length and was frizzy as all hell, and lastly, her pale pimply face was mostly hidden behind thick huge glasses. You could tell that with work, she could be pretty, but he had to wonder if she would ever be beautiful.

When they arrived, Davis said “Kids, this is James, Sgt. Buchanan’s son. James, these are my kids, Bill aka Shithead who’s 17, and Jackie aka Dumbass who’s 13. Why don’t you kids get him a drink and then stay the fuck out of the way until dinner, got it, unless you would rather not eat with us? If that’s what you want I can give you some money and you can fend for yourself.”

Bill looked at his sister and me for a moment and then said “Well, actually, I think that John Townsend came with his parents and if he did we were going to meet up with the Simpson twins in the game room. You okay with that?”

With a grin on his face, his father said “Yeah kid, that fine. Just remember to wrap your pecker. And you Sweetie? You wanna go see if Megan and Brad have shown up yet? Maybe introduce them to Bucky?”

“Can I dad? I would rather not be around all you smoking farting pricks if you don’t mind.” Jackie said with a smile.

“Nah baby, go ahead, just make sure no one goes for home plate without buying you dinner first.”

With an embarrassed tilt to her face, Jackie said “DAD!!! Come on…”

Shooing both kids out the door after handing each a wad of bills, the two started towards the door. Jackie looked back at me and said “You coming?”

Bucky looked at his parents who just nodded and his father said “Go.” Bucky already had about $20 in his pockets that his mother had given him earlier that day ‘just in case’ he wanted to visit the game room. The last thing he heard was his father's voice as he crossed the threshold yelling at him “And stay out of the fucking pool!!!”

--

Once out in the hallway the three teens separate as Bill goes one way, and then Bucky and Jackie go the other. Bucky finds it odd to be looking up at a girl who's younger than him and the situation makes him smile. Jackie catches the smile on his face and instantly asks “What’s so funny?”

Trying to take the easy way out, Bucky simply said “Life, life is funny.”

Tilting her head in that weird way she had, she said “How so?”

As they continued to walk down the hall, Bucky explained “Oh, I was just thinking about how odd it is that I am looking up at a girl who's younger than me. I am used to doing it with boys and girls older than me, just not ones younger. It’s a new experience for me. My mom keeps telling me ‘don’t worry Bucky you’ll get your growth spurt soon’. But I am starting to wonder if I ever will. Being 14 and only 5’ sucks. Especially when your father is 6’2 and your brother is 6’4.”

“Well trust me, getting your spurt early is no picnic either. People treat you like a freak. I’m a 5’11 13-year-old. I’m taller than most of my teachers for fucks sake. I may have gotten my growth spurt, but I didn’t get no freaking boobs, ass, anything. I’m a literal walking stick. My mom took me bathing suit shopping for this weekend, and I was HORRIFIED seeing myself in the mirror. You can see and count my ribs and what boobs I had before I grew are GONE. I look disgusting. You won’t be seeing me NEAR the pool this weekend, fuck that shit.”

“Guess that makes two of us. You heard my dad as we were walking out.”

“Yeah, I noticed the cast, what happened?”

“Fucked it up playing indoor soccer, and it was the day before basketball tryouts. And the coach pretty much guaranteed me a spot on the freshman team. Hopefully next year.”

“Yeah, they expected me to play basketball, of course, but with my new height, it's like I have 3 left feet. I am so uncoordinated I can barely run, let alone dribble or move right. Hopefully, with practice, I can get better. I have some friends that play volleyball and I have been playing with them and getting quite good so I might play that instead. Whatever. Here we are, I hope you and Megan like each other, she’s my best friend and my salvation during these weekends.”

Jackie knocks on the door and it is quickly opened by a cute little pixie of a thing. She’s a few inches shorter than Bucky, so maybe 4’8 and their age. She has short dirty-blonde hair pulled back into a pony tail with a few wisps of hair hanging loose to lightly frame her face. Bucky has heard his mother describe girls like her as having a ‘heart-shaped’ face, as in as her face is wider at the top and narrows as it gets closer to the chin. She must know this which is probably why she has her bangs framing her face like that. What really draws your eyes to her face though is her cute button nose, how it has a slight curl at the bottom and was sitting atop a perfect set of bow-shaped lips. It was easy to imagine what it would be like kissing a mouth like that. But most amazingly of all was her almost pale white, close to pure alabaster skin, which was her most striking feature. Almost as if she never got any sun.

While Bucky had been observing Jackie’s friend, the two girls had been talking a mile a minute, like all teenage girls do. Bucky had once heard a comedian joke about ‘the secret to women’, the comedian spent about 25-30 minutes saying that the key was great sex. In Bucky’s simple observation of teenage girls, and really any of his mom’s friends, forget great sex, following and understanding the conversations of girls (or women) when they talked ‘like that’ was ‘secret to women’.

But then again, that would probably be as simple as trying to follow a spaceship at the speed of light. In other words, it was impossible. Seriously, if you were a boy or a man who could digest the conversation of a group of teenage girls who hadn’t seen each other in any period of time; minutes, hours, or ‘like forever’, then it might be possible that you could ultimately solve the ‘secret to the universe’, ‘ the speed of light’ or as the comedian put it ‘the secret to women’.

Bucky eventually gathered that the overall gist of the conversation was “Hi, how are you, who’s this, what are we doing now, look at your hair, I’ve missed you, and finally I’m hungry/are you hungry/let’s see if he’s hungry.” Conversation total time? Possibly 20 or 30 seconds, or maybe 5 minutes, who can tell with girls today.

Megan turned to Bucky with a smile and said “Hi James, I’m Megan, nice to meet you.”

Bucky smiled and said “Hi Megan, nice to meet you too. And it’s Bucky, not James. Only my father calls me James.”

Jackie looks at him shocked for a second and says “Oh, I’m sorry, why didn’t you correct me. And I thought I heard you say ‘Bucky’ but I wasn’t sure who that was.”

Bucky shook his head and said “Nah, it’s ok. I answer to both, but my father is the only one who refuses to call me ‘Bucky’, and my mom only calls me ‘James’ when she’s pissed at me.”

Megan smiles and says “So, now that that’s settled, what do we do now? Just to let you know, I did manage to sneak some wine coolers and beer way from the ‘rents before they made off with their cooler to your parents' room Jackie. We can have our own little party if we want to later.”

With a grin, Jackie pumps her fist and says “Score. Nice once Megs. What about Brad? Is he gonna be around and fuck up things?”

“Nope, he got grounded and had to stay home. They didn’t even want to reward him by making him stay in the hotel room all of the time. They decided it was better to have Grandma come over to take care of him.”

“Oh my God, what did he do?”

Chuckling Megan said “He managed to learn the Mother of all swear words at school last week and then kept ‘saying’ it everywhere he went because he figured no one would be able to understand him. Little did he know but more people than he thought understood ASL. Mom and Dad were not happy when someone made a fuss about it.”

Seeing the puzzled look on Bucky’s face, Jackie explained “Her brother, Brad, is 10 but was born deaf and has been in a special school for the deaf for a few years. ASL is American Sign Language and so sometimes they learn something they shouldn’t and well, it would be the same as a toddler saying the word ‘fuck ’ all the time.”

Finally understanding Bucky starts laughing and says “I get it now. I bet he was none too happy when he signed ‘fuck you’ to the person who understood him and they complained.”

Megan smiled and said “Considering it was an 80-year-old grandmother, no, he was not happy at all. Especially since she walked right up to my mother and chewed her out for letting her son talk to her like that. My mother was outraged as she had no idea what Brad had been signing. She had never learned it in her classes and had no clue what he was really saying. After the first outraged look, she asked him about it and he lied and said it was slang for ‘Whatever’.”

They all laughed at that.

Clapping his hands together, Bucky looked at the two and said “So how about this for a plan. We go to the front desk and ask for the menu for the local pizza place and then order a pizza. After it gets here we bring it back up here, crack open some sodas, and put on HBO or something. Then we can just chill and get to know each other. From what I remember of the last conference, I don’t seem to remember many other kids our age, do you?”

Megan looked at Jackie who just shrugged and shook her head. Megan then replied for both of them saying “Yeah, I think you’re right. That’s how we became friends a few years ago. We seem to be in the “in-between” age group. Not quite old enough to stay home by ourselves, but not quite young enough to need older siblings to take care of us and there aren’t a lot of us around. The 2 of us started hanging out together so much, we never found anyone else our age we liked to hang out with.”

Bucky nods and then says “Okay then, cool. So, any objections? Order pizza, come back, then eat it with a movie?”

With one last look around the girls say at the same time “Sounds great.”

Megan turns and grabs a copy of a room key from a table next to the door and then we let the door shut behind her. She turns to us and says “Let’s go.”

---

They were back in the room about an hour later pizza in hand. The girls had settled down on a bed and Bucky had settled down on the floor in front of them, each with a soda in hand. Megan had asked if we had wanted something a little stronger, but we had each decided to decline tonight as we were unsure when her parents were going to be back to the room as she said they normally were in bed by 11 pm, sometimes earlier as her mother was still recovering from a health issue. This was fine for us as that was the time our parents had asked us to be back to our rooms anyways.

The movie they were watching, an old military comedy ‘Strypes’ or 'Strips’ or something similar, was just coming to an end when we heard the door start to rattle. They had already cleaned up from their little pizza party and the girls were laying on the bed with their heads facing towards the foot-end which put one the head of one girl on either side of Bucky’s head when Megan’s parents attempted to ‘surprise’ them by flinging the door open and yelling “Surprise”.

Megan looked over at her father and said “Mom, Dad? What’re you doin’?”

Laughing as if he was drunk, he replied “Trying to catch you in the act sweetheart. Did we? Are ya decent? Or did we catch ya in the act of losin’ ya cherry?”

Megan looked aghast at her father and yelled “DAD!!! I don’t believe you!!” she then looked over at her mother who was laughing just as hard as her father and said “MOM!! What the hell!!”

Her mother just looked at her, still chuckling a little, and said “Oh honey, we’re just playing. We know you’re still holding a torch for that J.V. quarterback at school.”

Blushing such a deep shade of red that her pale alabaster skin now looks like a tomato, Megan buries her face in the pillow she was using to prop herself up as they were watching the movie and whines out “I’m so embarrassed. I can’t believe my parents just did that to me.”

Standing Bucky leans down next to her ear and says quietly her “Remind me at breakfast tomorrow to tell you about ‘how’ my mother asked me to pick her pussy willows around Easter last year. Notice I said ‘How’”.

Megan looked up with a strange look on her face and just nods her head ‘Yes’.

Saying goodnight to Megan and her folks, Bucky looked at Jackie and asks “Jackie, you staying here a little longer? Or are you leaving with me?”

Jackie looked around the room for a minute at Megan’s parents who were apparently in the room for the night as her mom appeared to be gathering bedtime apparel and her father had already taken off his pants and was cracking open another beer and was looking for the remote to change the channel on the TV. She looked at me and nodded and said “Yeah, I’ll head out with ya.” With a quick air kiss towards Megan followed by a ‘Goodnight’ said in the direction of Megan’s parents, Jackie walked with me out into the hallway.

Once we were in the hallway we each looked at each other and just started laughing. As soon as we would calm down, we would look at each other again and start laughing again. For Bucky, the worst part was that he would imagine his parents doing that same thing to him. Once he calmed down some and said as much to Jackie she just smiled and said “That was my problem too, I wasn’t laughing at Meg's at all, I was laughing because I was thinking of my mum and da doing it to me,” and then they laughed some more.

After about 15 minutes or so they had calmed down enough that they felt that they could walk up to the elevators where Jackie’s room is located and Bucky ‘drops’ her off at her door. Just as she is about to put her key in the lock Jackie reaches over and pulls Bucky into a hug and says “Thanks for not being a jerk like most boys. See you in the morning.” Then she quickly opens the door and hurries in before Bucky can say or do anything.

Shaking his head he just thinks to himself “Whatever” and takes the stairs down to the first floor and carries on to the room he is sharing with his parents.

Walking up to the room he sees the door is open with the security bolt holding it in place. This normally means that his parents are entertaining some of his father’s colleagues (aka a poker game), or both of his parents have friends over for a nightcap (aka they are sitting around drinking and smoking), or lastly one of his parents just ran to the ice machine for more ice. Honestly, Bucky hopes it is the last one because if it is either of the first two he might not be getting to bed until 3 or 4 in the morning.

Opening the door he is pleased not to see a cloud of smoke come flooding out of the room, nor is he hearing lots of swearing or yelling. Once he is through the small hallway next to the bathroom he just sees his mother sitting at the small table in the room reading a magazine smoking a cigarette and drinking a soda-like any other night. Bucky says “Hey mum, what’s up? Why’s the door open? Where’s dad?”

“Oh, you know your father, he’s out with the boys still. Playing poker or drinking or something. I don’t expect him back until 1 or 2 or so. As to the door, again, you know him. He wasn’t sure if you had a key or not so asked me to leave it propped in case I fell asleep before you got back. I think more likely he wanted it propped open in case he’s too drunk to use his key when HE gets back” and she says the last part with a little laugh. After 26 years of marriage, my mother certainly knows my father best.

Bucky walks over to his mother and kisses her on the cheek like he does every night and says “Okay mum, I’m off to bed. Love ya.”

“Love you too sweetie.”

 

 

 

CHAPTER THREE

When Bucky wakes up in the morning he never heard his father come in the night before, but that is not unusual, Bucky is a heavy sleeper. He wakes up at his usual time of between 6:00-6:15 AM even without an alarm clock, school time habit, and uses the time to get into and out of the bathroom before his parents.

By the time his parents are up and moving it is time to head over for breakfast and so they head over to the restaurant. As usual, his father chooses a table in the middle of the floor, and then they start going up for the breakfast buffet. While at breakfast he runs into both Megan and Jackie and they agree to meet at 9 am in the lobby to see what sort of fun/trouble they can get into. Megan had mentioned wanting to explore the exercise room, but Jackie and Bucky are against it due to their body self-conscience issues so they just respond with “We’ll see”. What Bucky would really like to do is get both Jackie and Megan alone in his room for a couple of hours and see what they are hiding under their clothes, but those are just his 14yo hormones running wild.

About 9 o’clock the 3 of them meet up in the lobby and agree to an assortment of fun things to do for the day. First, they check out the exercise room, which honestly just consists of a couple of NordicTrack machines, a few treadmills, a couple of sets of dumbbells, a set of free weights, and few exercise balls. To say that Megan was underwhelmed with what they had to offer was an understatement. She said they had better equipment at her high school and that that was a stretch as they had crap for equipment.

Bucky and Jackie both laugh at her as she fills out multiple comment cards where she put comments similar to her disbelief of their ‘complete and utter lack of respect for your guests in their desire for the betterment of their health’ and for the ‘unbelievably utterly dismal shape of the Health Club of this purported 3 Star resort in New Hampshire’.

At some point after doing this and that and this and that again, the topic came back around to the Pool and/or Hot-tub. Both Bucky and Jackie were against it for the obvious reasons; Bucky because of his cast and Jackie because she looked like a walking stick, but Megan just had that way about her of wearing you down until you said yes. Finally, the 3 of them were standing in front of Bucky’s mother who was the deciding vote. Bucky’s mom, who appeared to have had either 1 too many mimosa’s with breakfast or had started on the wine coolers way before, just smiled and said “Sure hun, we packed the duct tape so you could take a shower so we’ll just put a bag over your arm and you can just sit in the hot tub. How’s that sound?”

Megan jumped for joy and then grabbed Jackie’s hand and so the 2 of them ran off to get changed. Bucky just stood there for a minute and then said to his mother “Mum, are you sure?”

She just laughed, shook her head, and said “Yeah baby, I’m sure.”

Shaking his head Bucky went off to his room and changed into his bathing suit. When he met the girls back at the pool they were both wearing large T-shirts over their suits and Jackie was doing her best to hold it as tight against her body and as far down towards her feet as she could. It took his mother only a few minutes to wrap his arm in the plastic bag and secure it with duct tape, but once it was secure the 3 of them moved over to the hot tub and proceeded to climb in.

Not hesitating in the least, Jackie walked right down the steps and submerged herself right up to her neck, and still proceeded to hold her T-shirt as tight to her body as she could. Bucky followed her into the hot tub keeping to the left side so that he could keep his left arm out of the water as much as possible and then laid it on the concrete side on a towel he had brought for that purpose. Megan, being last, just as she was about to descend into the hot tub, paused at the top of the steps as with a purpose and with both hands at the hem of her T-shirt grabbed and pulled off her T-shirt as if she was exposing herself fully nude, not in a modest French cut bikini top and bottom. Her cute A-cups on her 4’8” 90-pounds gave her a pretty nice figure.

Jackie took one look at what she was doing and under her breath said “Fucking slut, no wonder why her parents think she’s trying to get laid this weekend.”

Bucky just barely heard what she said, but he heard it well enough that he looked over at her and gave her a look. She looked back at him, blushed a little bit, and just shrugged and said “Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me you wouldn’t do her?”

Bucky looked over at Megan where she was still basically posed at the top of the stairs down into the hot tub as she looked around the pool area and he returned his gaze to Jackie and said “Nope. Too much trouble for my tastes.”

Megan had seen him looking at her, in fact, she had seen lots of guys, and some girls, looking at her, and it had made her feel pretty, wanted even. This was the attention she never got back home. Back home she was the sister ‘of the retard’, ‘of the dummy’, or simply ‘the deaf kid’. When she was home it didn’t matter that she was beautiful, or that she was the best freshman cheerleader on the J.V. squad, or that she got straight A’s, or that she occasionally dated the J.V. quarterback; the only thing that they remembered was that her brother was deaf and they used it to make fun of her. The fact that she hadn’t screwed any of the guys on the team was another major factor also. The problem there was that she was scared to do it. She didn’t want to just have sex with someone just to have sex, what if she banged them and it turned out she did it because of her anger at her brother. In reality, like all girls her age, she just wanted to be wanted.

Once Megan had sufficiently posed and gotten the amount of adulation that she felt was due to her, she came down into the hot tub and crossed over to where Jackie and Bucky were sitting. The tub was a pretty standard hotel tub in that it was 3’ deep in the middle with a bench going around the outside at the mid-height, about 18” high, that you could sit on.

They had settled on the bench directly across from the stairs with Bucky on the left so he could keep his arm laying on a towel laying on the tub edge and keep it out of the water and Megan had settled between him and Jackie. They were just sitting there talking about school, their courses, friends, etc., for about 20-25 minutes and had just been thinking about getting out when Jackie’s brother Brad came into the pool area few of his friends. Approaching Jackie from behind her, probably for just that reason, Brad simply pushes her off of her seat on the bench and sits right down next to Megan.

Brad said “Hey Stick, I thought you said you weren’t comin’ near the pool this weekend at all? Now, what am I gonna tell Ma an’ Pa? I think this makes you a liar?” Then with a smirk, he says “Oh you weren't sitting here were you?”

As soon as he pushed Jackie out of the way and then plopped down in her spot, it was enough of a surprise that Megan stood up and moved to Bucky's left side.

Jackie now standing in the middle of the hot tub gives Bill a pissed-off look and says “What the Hell Bill? Why don't you leave me and my friends alone? And NO, I wasn’t going to come to the pool, but Megan wanted to so here we are. Besides, what’s it matter to you any ways?” Looking over at both of us she continued with “Come on you 2, let's get out of here.”

Waving his hand at her and giving her a shrug that effectively dismisses her, Bill says “Whatever Stick.”

But as Jackie and Bill move to leave the hot tub, Bill turns his attention towards Megan and you can almost see the lust start to ooze out of his eyes, but along with the lust is a combination of desire to control her every want and need. Bill looks at Megan and with a disgustingly slimy smile and says “Hey beautiful, you look smokin' in that bikini. Why don't you dump my sister and this loser here and come join me for something to eat and drink?”

Jackie tries to butt in and say something, but at a glance from both Megan and Bill, she drops her eyes and stays quiet.

Megan smiles sweetly and starts to simply say “No thank you, Bill, I...”

But he cuts her off says with, what he thinks is a charming smile, “Wait before you say no, I'll get my dad's car and we can go someplace else, it doesn't have to be here.”

As soon as Bill had joined them in the hot tub, Bucky had noticed that Megan had been looking at Bill with a strange combination of desire and fear. She finally gives him a large smile, walks over to him, and places a hand on his chest, and says “Okay Bill, but I only have one question about what will happen after our dinner date?”

Bill hasn’t taken his eyes off of Megan since he got into the hot tub, actually, neither none of his 3 friends have, each of which are his age, either 17 or 18 years old. As Megan has to know that if she goes to dinner with him she is going to be expected to go to the “after-party” also.

Bill smiles and says “Oh well, you know, us older teens just get together and have a small party similar to the adults. I'm sure you've heard of them. Tonight will just be a few friends; me, you, my friends here, maybe a few others. It will be after dinner. It will be dancing, drinking, cards; you know, just get to know each other.”

“Is there going to be kissing when we dance?”

Smiling Bill says “Maybe some, you’re beautiful. I want to kiss you now, but probably shouldn't with little kids around?”

“And I can leave anytime I want?” and she proves this by turning and walking out of the hot tub, joining Jackie and Bucky standing on the deck beside the pool.

Following her like a lost puppy Bill climbs out of the hot tub to stand beside the pool with her and says “Well, that will depend on you and how friendly you’re being.”

“What do you mean?”

Again Bill just smiles and says “Just come to the party and you’ll see.”

Megan finally smiles once again and then looks up at Bill, she then walks up really close to him and places her hands on his chest, and even lightly caresses his chest some and then says “Okay, that does sound nice Bill. At least it would if I didn’t know what happened to Jenny Morales last year. Do you remember her coming to your party? Do you remember her begging you to stop after the 3rd time you fucked her doggie-style, but you didn’t stop? You might not because you were too drunk, or at least that was the story you told your dad the next morning. Well, let me tell you this. Every girl at this conference now knows about your parties and you will never, ever, trick another innocent girl into coming to one of your parties again. Now I suggest you and your buddies leave the pool area and stop trolling for jailbait before you get into trouble this year too. Or worse someone tells your father the truth about what really happened last year. Did you know Jenny got pregnant? It was a boy by the way.”

Almost seeing red at how his world has been turned upside down, Bill starts to reach for Megan. Without thinking about it Bucky jumps in front of Bill who is over a foot plus taller than Bucky and does not have a broken arm. Luckily for Bucky when Bill’s right hand comes for Megan’s throat Bucky’s cast is right there on his left arm to block it and it shocks Bill enough that Megan, who was still close enough can push Bill backward into the pool. As Bill starts to fall back into the pool he reacts and grabs the only thing he can, Bucky’s arm-covered cast and then pulls. The effect of this is that both Bill and Bucky go splashing into the pool and the plastic bag that was to protect his arm from water damage is ripped off in the process. Bucky’s cast is soaked as he is dragged to the bottom of the pool.

Of course, all of this happens right in front of the mothers who were sitting in the ‘mom’s corner’ drinking, smoking, and watching the kids, so immediately they are all right up and running over to check on things. One of the moms that happen to come running is Bill and Jackie’s mother who saw the entire thing, and as Bill’s head surface’s she shouts “William Jefferson Davis get your ass out of that pool and back to our room right this instant.” Bill attempts to say something but his mother overrides whatever he was going to try to say with the famous motherly words of “I don’t give a shit, I said now!”

Bucky lifted his left arm above his head and water just pours out of the cast. As both Megan and Jackie see this they both get shocked looks on their faces and say at the same time “Oh shit” and “Oh no”.

Jackie continues with “Is there anything we can do?”

Shaking his head Bucky said “No, I don't think so. I'm just gonna have to tell my mom about it and hope she doesn't kick my ass. Hopefully, my dad doesn't flip over it. He wasn't happy me breaking my finger in the first place because it meant me missing Basketball tryouts, but having to get a new cast is really gonna piss him off.”

Looking determined Megan said “Let me talk to your mother. I think she'll understand when I tell her what happened.”

So with his mother who for some reason was not one of the ones who came running.

---

Amazingly enough, they didn't have to go very far because just as they were turning around to go look for her, she walked up and said “Do you want to explain how you got your arm all wet?”

Before he even got a chance to say anything both Megan and Jackie started talking over one another saying “It was her brother” “It was my brother”.

Bucky looked over at both girls and they instantly shut up and decided that it would be best if he tried to explain. He looked back at his mother and said “Mom long story short, we were just chilling in the hot tub and Jackie's brother came down with a couple of other guys and tried to start trouble. He tried to start something with Jackie, it spilled over onto Megan, we tried to walk away but as we got out of the hot tub he followed out onto the pool deck and tried to grab Megan. I reacted to protect her and then she pushed him so he fell into the pool. As he was falling he pulled me in with him. That's how it got all wet. What you said earlier was right, even with the bag it was a bad idea. We should have never done it, I'm sorry.”

His mother looked at him for a moment or two, then she sighed and said “Well, let me see how bad it is” and she reached out and grabbed it with her hands and put her fingers in both the top and bottom of the cast. She then said, “The doctor said that because your hand was so swollen you might need a new cast about now anyways, let me check something.” His mother then tried to twist his cast to the right and left a few times and asked him if it was rubbing anywhere. When Bucky said “no”, she then pulled the cast towards her a little bit and the cast slid down his arm a few inches. She moved it back into place for a moment and then said “Okay, one more thing” and then she twisted the cast back and forth a few more times again, and with a single strong pull his cast came right off his arm.

“There you go, no more cast for the rest of the weekend.”

“Oh my god, I can shower. Yes.”

To which Megan says to Jackie “Oh my goodness, is that what we have been smelling?”

Looking affronted Bucky replies “No you twit, I have been taking baths for almost 3 weeks. I miss showers, it is so hard to do your hair in a bath.”

Jackie nods her head at that and says “Yeah, you got that right.”

Bucky's mother smiles and says “Well, you kids go play or something. I'll keep this here, but Bucky, remember, your finger is not healed. You need to see the doctor on Monday and I'm pretty sure you'll be getting a new cast then.”

“Aw mom, can't he give me like a splint or something?”

“We'll leave that up to him, but he said 6 weeks and you know how your bones are. Since you refuse to drink milk and are starting to say cheese bothers you, not having calcium means you're going to take longer to heal. You're already smaller than your brother or father were at their ages.”

“Yes, mom.”

“I love you Bucky. I and the girls will probably still be over there if you need or want anything” his mom said waving in the general corner of the pool area.

As the three of them turn to walk away they see that a bunch of the wives/mothers have gathered in a corner of the pool area, including Bucky's mom and Jackie's mom. Megan looks to see if she can see her mother with them but doesn't see her. This doesn't surprise her as around this time of day she is normally laying down. Her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer a few years ago and, while she beat it into remission, she still gets tired easily especially if her routine is changed.

As they reach the doors to exit the pool area Jackie says “Hey, why are we leaving? We've only been here a short time, why should we let Bill ruin our fun? Huh? I say screw him.”

Megan looks over at Bucky, gets a big smile on her face, and says “Yeah, fuck him.” and promptly turns on her heel and heads back towards the hot tub and pool area leaving us in her wake to either leave or follow.

Bucky smiles at Jackie and says “Shall we?”

She replies “We shall.”

---

So they return to a couple of tables that they had claimed and drop their towels and re-enter the hot tub as if nothing had happened. After about 20-25 minutes Jackie says “Wow I'm getting hot, I think I need to cool off. Pool time?”

Both Megan and Bucky agree so they swap over to the pool and proceed to act like kids 5-7 years younger than they are, splashing each other, playing around, and generally just having a good time.

At one point Jackie's mom came over to the side of the pool and said “Hey Jackie, are you and your friends getting hungry at all? It's almost 1.”

They all looked at each other, shrug, and say as one “I could eat” and then proceeded to laugh about it. Her mom responded “Of course you can, your teenagers. I could feed you and then ask the same question and get the same answer.” She smiles and then says “I have already talked to Megan's mom, and yes sweetie she did go to lay down so she could be fresh for tonight, and Bucky's mom, and if you want you can either order something from room service for lunch or go to the dining room and charge it back to our room.”

Jackie looked at Megan and Bucky and when Bucky responded with a small head nod said “Okay mom. We'll go get changed and then just get room service sent to his room if that's okay. That way we don't bother Megan's mom and don't have to worry about Bill.”

“Okay baby, that sounds good. Love you.”

“Love you too mom.”

Both Bucky and Megan reply with “Thank you, Mrs. Davis.”

After grabbing their stuff and heading out of the pool area, the three of them agree to change and meet up in Bucky's room to decide where and what to do about lunch.

The first thing that Bucky does when he reaches the room goes directly into the bathroom and jump right into the shower. He has to admit that it is probably one of the best showers that he has had in months if not years. Knowing that he could stay under the stream for hours if not days, but also that his friends would be there soon, he completes his first shower in weeks a quick one and is in and out in just under 10 minutes.

About 15 minutes after getting to his room he hears a knock on his door and opens it to see Jackie standing there. He welcomes her in and the first thing she says is “Let me guess, no Megan yet?” Shaking his head 'no' waves her further into the room. Jackie continues by saying “That girl will be late to her own wedding, funeral, or whatever else she is invited to.”

Bucky laughs at that and replies “Well, you can tell that she is pretty much a girly girl. My sister is quite the same way. She can take an hour or so to get ready to lay about the house all day.”

Laughing along with me Jackie says “Well, let's just look at the room service menu while we wait because I think the dining room is going to be closed by the time she gets here.”

“Okay, that works for me.”

Sitting on the bed side-by-side Bucky pulls the hotel portfolio onto their laps and they start flipping through it together. According to the Hotel, info provided the dining room serves lunch until 2:30 and the clock on the end table reads about 1:45 pm so they flip to the room service section and both decide that a few chicken tenders appetizers and burgers would be good. Just as the clock flips to 2 pm they hear a knock at the door and Bucky gets up to get it and sees Megan on the other side, even to her it looks like she's been crying.

Bucky asks “Megan, is everything okay?”

With a small sniffle she says “Yeah, I'll be fine. I just needed to spend some time with my mom. She's having a bad day.”

When Jackie hears this she immediately jumps up from the bed and rushes over and says “Meg's honey, it's okay, if you want to go back and be with her, go. We'll be fine.”

“No, no, no, Jackie. Mom told me to come. She had her nap and she's feeling better now. She said it was just all the travel yesterday. She just went to take a shower and then she's going down to get her hair done for tonight.”

“Okay Meg's, as long as you're sure.”

“Yeah, I'm sure. So, did we decide what we're doing for food? Cause I'm starving all of a sudden.”

“Yeah, we're going to get a few chicken tender appetizers and burgers.”

Megan says “Sounds good to me. Please get my burger with American cheese and extra pickles.” She then turns towards the bathroom and says “I'm going to use the bathroom for a moment, I'll be right back.”

Just as they hear the bathroom door click closed Bucky turns to Jackie and quietly asks “What's wrong with her mom?”

Frowning Jackie responds just as quietly “Cancer. Breast cancer. They caught it early a few years ago and she is mostly recovered, but she tires easily sometimes. She has good days and bad days.”

Nodding Bucky says “I understand. We lost a close neighbor to it a few years ago and it devastated her family. I grew up with her kids and now they are without a mother. I just can't imagine.”

Just as Jackie was about to say something in response we hear the bathroom door crack open and Megan yells out “Oh, and please get Ranch dressing for the Chicken tenders. Thanks, guys.”

Bucky looks at Jackie and mouths “Ranch, Ick.”

This causes Jackie to start giggling as quietly as she can and she then makes faces at Bucky trying to get him to crack up also. Bucky just flips her off and picks up the phone to call in the order. He looks back at her and says “What did you want on your burger?”

“Normal crap; lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle. And just a burger, not a cheeseburger, please. And I know Megan, all she will want on her burger is cheese and pickles, nothing else.”

“Okay, 3 burgers coming up. 2 just burgers with normal crap, 1 only cheese and pickles, and 3 tender appetizers. Do we want fries? I know we don't need drinks, we have plenty here.”

“Yeah get some fries.”

“Okay. Fries it is. And adding in her Ranch, BBQ, and Ketchup.”

Five minutes later the room service call had been placed and they said it would be delivered within 20-25 minutes and that yes it would be possible to charge it to another room, we only needed to have a keyholder of that room present.

Megan came out of the bathroom about 10 minutes later looking much better than when she went in. Jackie immediately stands up and goes over to her and embraces her closely to let her know she loves her. Jackie then said to her “Come over here Meg's and sit with us. You know we love ya. Lunch will be here soon and it will make you feel much better.”

As they sit and chat about nothing; school, classes, activities, etc., time passed quickly, and soon there’s a knocking at the door and Bucky’s up to answer it along with Jackie. Bucky help’s the attendant deliver the food to the little table in the room while Jackie showed the attendant her room key and proof that she was a signer for that room. She then signed the bill and off he went. They passed out the food, turned on the TV for some background noise, grabbed some drinks from the cooler in the room, and sat down to eat while still chatting about this, that, and everything.

When they finally thought they were running out of things to talk about Jackie opened up a topic that had been broached the night before by Megan's parents, but not brought up since, the JV Quarterback, and she was not subtle about it at all. Jackie just jumped in with both feet by saying “So, Meg's, tell us about this Quarterback you're all weak in the knees about?”

At the moment Megan was laying on Bucky's bed and so with a surprised 'squeak' she tried to bury her face into the bedspread and then started to shake her head back and forth, but Jackie was relentless. Finally, Megan lifted her head and we could see that she was embarrassed enough that her normally pale face was nearly purple in color, and then with a huge sigh she said “I don't suppose it will ever really matter. He won't ever notice me for me anyways. Everyone at my school only knows me as 'the dummy's sister' or as 'the retards sister' or any number of terms. It is never going to matter how talented or pretty I am, I'll always be 'Brad's sister'.”

She sighed again and then said “We have gone out on a few dates but for some reason, I think they were more because he was forced to. Him being the JV Quarterback and me being the head JV Cheerleader and basically, it was expected. But when I wouldn't put out for him right away he stopped asking and I stopped expecting it.”

Jackie started pissed at this point and said so “Are you shitting me? He expected to bang you on a first date?”

“No, the first time we went out he expected oral. It was the second he expected everything.”

While they were talking about this Bucky was flabbergasted because he had friends in high school who said the same as Megan was saying her JV Quarterback 'expected' when they went out. She was saying these things as he if this JV Quarterback expected them as a part of the deal dating him, that it was just a given.

Without meaning to Bucky muttered, “Wow, I can't believe it.”

Megan turned to him and said “What? What did you say?”

Slightly embarrassed Bucky said “Oh, sorry. I said 'Wow, I can't believe it'. I just can't believe that he would expect that from someone he was dating. I mean, jeez what a dick. You ought to tell everyone at your school the same thing about him as you did about Bill here, especially if he's not the only one. If all of you girls get together and freeze them out it will change their behavior real damn quick.”

Megan looked at Bucky with a shocked look on her face for a moment until she started smiling and said “Holy shit why didn't I think of that. I was so wrapped up in thinking that he and the others were doing it to me because of my brother that I never thought it was as simple as that. That little prick probably told his football buddies that I wouldn't fuck him as 'expected' so they decided to freeze me out. That got back to my cheer friends because they were told what was expected of them and saw what was happening to me, the head cheerleader, oh my, it's simple to see now. Those bastards. They are going to pay now.”

“I take it he started dating someone after you?”

“Oh yes, he did, and not just anyone, my rival, Jessica who's on Color Guard, she and I used to be best friends until 6^th or 7^th grade when we had a falling out at cheer camp.”

Jackie spoke up asking the question I was afraid to ask “What was the fallout over?”

With a grin bordering on evil, Megan answered “Who got to be the pyramid topper.”

Bucky made a not so wild guess and said “Let me guess you.”

Megan's grin never reached her eyes and as she answered “And I still am damn it.”

 

CHAPTER FOUR

Bucky's mother returned to the room around 4 pm and with a simple flick of her eyes let Bucky know that it was time for the girls to be leaving. He walked them out to the hallway and let them know the plan for later as he had been asked by his mother to attend the award ceremonies because his father was getting some award that night, he was always getting something at these damn things, but this one was special for some damn reason. He did know that he was getting kicked out before the dinner so they agreed to meet at the dining room at 7 pm for dinner. The awards ceremony was scheduled from 6-7 pm with his father’s being one of the last ones.

The girls said good-bye and he went back into the room to start getting ready. Since he had already taken a shower all he needed to do was put on his 'nice' clothes as his mother put it. For this occasion, it was a pair of Dockers, dress shirt, and a sweater. She had hemmed and hawed about him wearing a suit coat but didn't think it would be necessary. Him even being there was 'pushing' the boundaries of what was allowed at these events, but the Captain had specifically requested and approved him being there because of the award his father was receiving. As far as Bucky knew, his father wasn't even aware that he was receiving the award nor that Bucky had been invited to witness the event.

Per his mother's instructions, he was to wait for them to get dressed and to leave for the event and to get dressed and to slip into the back of the event hall and to wait for his father to be called to the stage. At that point, they were going to call up him and his mother and present him with his award.

Everything was going off without a hitch and his mother was just getting out of the shower herself when his father came in through the door around 4:30 from one of the many meetings that occur during these conferences. He took one look at Bucky sitting in the chair watching TV and said “What the hell are you doing sitting here in the room? Why aren't you out with your friends doing something?”

Bucky just shrugged back at his dad and said “Not sure, their mom's said something about needing help for tonight or something. I don't know, ask mom.”

After giving him another look, his father walked over to the bathroom door, knocked, and said “Hun, you about done?” Getting a “Yep” in return following the bathroom door opening to his mother walking out in her bra, panties, and pantyhose with her hair and make-up mostly completed she blew an air kiss at his father and said “All yours.”

With another quick look at his son, his father walked over to his kit bag and stripped off his daily work clothes leaving only his boxers on, and then walked into the bathroom for a quick shower and shave. Almost exactly 15 minutes later his father walked back out of the bathroom wearing a clean t-shirt and boxers. He was now freshly showered, shaved, and with new Skin Bracer aftershave and Right Guard deodorant. He walked over to the closet, grabbed his garment bag, and pulled out his Military Dress Blues. Bucky saw this and commented “Holy crap dad, pulling out the big guns tonight huh? There gonna be someone here to impress?”

With a laugh, he replies “No son, orders.” He continues to pull everything together and check that all of his medals are on properly and square and then says “For some reason, they said all of the award winners needed to be wearing their blues this time. You know this is our biggest conference of the year, so it might have something to do with it, but I don't know. Whatever.”

Meanwhile, Bucky's mother had looked over at him giving him a smile and a wink behind his father's back. She was just about to pull her dress up over her hips when his father said “10 minutes hun? Sound good?”

His mom simply replied “Yep babe, sure. No problem” knowing full well that it would be 15 minutes before her husband would be ready.

And she was correct as 15 minutes later Bucky's father was standing in front of the mirror for one final check of everything. His mother walked up and said, “Turn around hun, let me check.” She pulled out her ever-present lint brush and ran it over his jacket a few times, front and back, then up and down his pant legs, again front and back, and made sure all of the medals were aligned perfectly and pronounced him fit to shine. With a nod of his head, he said “Okay, let's go.” Opening the door he went to wave her out but she 'realized' at the last moment she forgot something and said “go ahead, I'll be right there.”

Bucky's mom turned around and walked back to him and said “Remember, the back entrance just after 6 pm. We will be seated down in front so he won't see you and his award could be anytime. It's supposed to be near the end, but they want to make it a big deal so it might be earlier. Okay?”

With a little sigh, Bucky says “Yeah mom, don't worry, now get outta here so I can get changed.”

Giving him a little air kiss so she didn't mess up her makeup, she turns and walks out the door, and then walks down the hallway with her husband knowing what a big night it is for him, but also knowing that he doesn't have a clue.

As soon as they are out the door Bucky pulls out the clothes that his mother chose and approved for him and starts to get dressed. Looking over at the clock he sees it is just after 5 pm and so he should have an hour to get dressed and into position. He knows that his parents have left for the 'mingle hour' before the awards ceremony but he also knows that he doesn't want to hang around the room for nearly an hour so as soon as he is dressed and presentable he grabs the room key and heads out. Thinking about Megan and Jackie he heads towards Megan's room thinking they might be there as they mentioned hanging out there earlier. As he gets closer he sees the door open and her parents walk out. Her mother smiles and says “Hi Bucky, my don't you look nice.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Senate. Are the girls in your room?”

With another smile, she says “Yes they are Bucky. Are you going to stop by and say 'hi' before you come down and sit with us?”

With a puzzled look on his face, Bucky says “Huh? I'm sitting with you?”

1ST Sergeant Senate, Megan's father, laughs at Bucky and says “Yes son, you'll be sitting with me and Mary in the back of the room with the Ross's. This way if Mary starts feeling unwell she can sneak out and no one will notice and the same with Shirley, I don't even know why Mike decided to bring her. That poor girl is about ready to pop she's so huge.”

Laughing at her husband Mrs. Senate says “Maybe because it gives her a weekend away from her other 3 kids. I'm sure you remember was it was like with 3 little ones.”

With a smile towards his wife, he said “Yes love, but at least we were smart enough to spread ours out some. With this one they will have what? 4 kids all under the age of 6-7 years old?”

“Yes dear, something like that. Now come on, let's let Bucky talk to the girls for a few minutes while you and I go mingle with our friends.”

Sgt. Senate looked at Bucky and said “Now, remember what your mom said. Come to the back of the hall just after 1800. Either Mike or I will open the door and bring you right to our table. It should be dark enough that your father shouldn't see you up front like he is. When the time comes you'll walk down with me to make the presentation. Okay.”

“Yes 1ST Sergeant, I got it.”

Smiling again he said “Bucky, how many times have I asked you to call me Ron? You're not in the Army and not one of my soldiers...yet.”

Bucky looked back at him with a smile of his own and simply said “Okay Sarge, sure. I'll call you 'Ron' the moment you can convince my dad that it's okay for me to call you 'Ron'. But until that day I'll either keep calling you '1ST Sergeant', 'Sergeant Senate', or maybe 'Top' if you're lucky. Okay?”

Shaking his head and laughing he said “Okay son, I understand where you’re coming from. Your father taught you well.”

His wife looked at her watch and said “Come on hun, people are waiting.”

Taking her hand and starting to walk down the hall Sgt. Senate said once again to remind him, “Remember, the back door just after 1800.”

Bucky just nodded his head and watched them for a few moments. Then he turned on his heel and continued down the hallway towards their room. Reaching the room he softly knocked on the door and heard some rustling on the other side followed by light talking. As the door cracked open it was immediately followed by a squeal and then the door was flung open and 4 arms pulled him into the room and the door slammed shut behind him.

Bucky was quickly verbally assaulted on all sides by not 2 girls, but 3. All of them were talking at warp speed and asking him what seemed like 20-30 questions at once. He finally had to hold up his hands and yell “Stop! Please! Wait!! Just a minute!!”

In the absolute silence that descended on the room Bucky was amazed to see that yes, in fact, there was a 3^rd girl in the room with them, and it wasn't just any girl either. It was Hannah, his childhood friend, someone he had known since he was 4 or 5 years old. Their fathers had been friends for years, in fact since both of them had joined the Army back when the Vietnam war was still new and her dad faced racism on an almost daily basis.

That was a preview of The Reservist Book 1 - Jackie. To read the rest purchase the book.

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