Chapter 2

I DIDN’T DATE MUCH after Jessie left. There was no line of girls waiting to pick up the pieces of my life. That’s something about small town schools. Some of the kids in my class had been together since fourth grade. Eventually, they’d marry each other and settle down right there in town, driving to work in Lima. About ten percent of us would leave and go to a four-year college. And never come back. Or, like Jessie’s dad, move to some other city where there was work.

There were a lot of farm kids in the school and most of them would inherit when they’d proved they could handle the work. Like my best friend, Jan. Because he lived out in the country, he got his driver’s license almost as soon as he turned sixteen. He was always willing to have me tag along on a double date if I had one. Seemed Jan had a date with a different girl every weekend. He started with the seniors and worked his way down. He was popular with the girls in every class.

I kept doing odd jobs for old ladies and just putting the meager spending money in my desk drawer. The summer before my senior year, I met Marilyn. She was visiting her grandmother for a few weeks and Mrs. Logan was one of my regulars. In the summer, I’d stop by her house once a week, mow the grass and pull weeds out of her flower beds. Occasionally, she’d ask me to move something heavy inside the house or to carry her groceries.

Marilyn tried to insist that she could do the mowing and weeding so her grandmother didn’t need to pay someone. I could hear them arguing on the front porch one morning when I shut off the mower and started on the weeding.

“I don’t pay Terry to do any of those tasks. He comes by and volunteers to do them. I just give him a little tip afterward to show I appreciate his caring. Every young man needs a little spending money now and then. You should know that since you date them so often.”

“I only date a couple of times a week,” Marilyn protested. “Besides, a guy should have a regular job, not depend on tips. He doesn’t even have a car.”

“Why, Marilyn! Are you suggesting he needs a car in order to date you? I can loan you mine if you’d like to take him out.”

“Grandma! I wasn’t suggesting that!”

“Methinks thou dost protest too much.” The conversation moved indoors and I didn’t need to endure listening to anything else. The idea of going out with Marilyn, though, was appealing to my baser senses. She was pretty damn cute. Definitely thinner than Jessie had been. She seemed to always be waiting on the porch in shorts and a T-shirt when I came by to mow or help her grandmother. And Mrs. Logan seemed to get more generous with her tips.

“Hey, you missed some weeds over there.” Marilyn pointed at a flower box I hadn’t gotten to yet. It would take about five minutes for me to finish the one I was on and the one she pointed to. I just nodded and finished up.

“Satisfied, your majesty?” I asked.

“I’m ... Shit! I’m such a bitch, stuck out here in the middle of nowhere for the summer while my parents are in Texas. This really sucks.”

“Why didn’t you go to Texas with them?”

“Are you kidding? Texas in the summer? The temperature there has been over a hundred every day since they left. Think of this town and its population, only spread out across another hundred square miles. There’s even less to do there than here.” She was a little pouty, but she’d sort of apologized to me and I was feeling ... Well, like I said, she was pretty damned cute in short-shorts and a crop top.

“A few of us are going miniature golfing Saturday. Would you like to come along?”

“Miniature golf? What do you mean ‘a few of us?’ How many?”

“My friend Jan and I like to go up a couple of times in the summer and invite girls to join us. So, it would just be the four of us.”

“So, what you’re really asking is if I’ll go out on a double date with you?”

“I ... uh ... It’s not like I’m asking you to be my girlfriend. I just thought you might enjoy...”

“Yes. Thank you. I’d love to go.”

“You would?”

“Yes. You were serious, weren’t you?”

“Yeah. Serious. Um ... I’ll check with Jan and see what time we’re leaving and let you know. See you later.” I headed home and called Jan to see if I could convince him to get a date to go miniature golfing Saturday. We hadn’t already planned anything.

Jan never had a steady girlfriend. In fact, we sometimes dated the same girl on different weekends. I hadn’t had a steady girlfriend since Jessie moved away and that had been well over a year ago. But Jan was popular and could always call someone up to go out. This week it was Sue who was in the car when Jan came by to pick me up and then get Marilyn. When I saw her, I was pretty sure short-shorts and T-shirts were the only kind of clothes she had. I didn’t mind a bit.

“This is fun,” she said after the windmill hole. “And a little frustrating.” We’d all hit the blade on our first stroke so we decided to count the strokes from the time we got through the tunnel instead of all the strokes it took us to get there.

“Well, you’ve got Terry to take care of the frustration for you. Jan’s going to have his work cut out for him when we get out of here.”

“Um ... I wasn’t talking about that kind of frustration. Exactly. Now that you mention it...”

“Hey, would anyone like a soft drink? We’re at the halfway point.”

“That would be nice. Coke?”

I headed toward the refreshment stand. A moment later, Jan joined me.

“Those two girls are plotting something,” he said. “And when Sue plots something, somebody’s likely to get naked.”

“God! You mean you and she have been ... When did this happen?”

“It hasn’t yet. But damn! She has a fine looking body. Nothing is beyond the realm of possibility.”

We got the Cokes and rejoined the girls who were giggling like crazy as a family of four played through.

“It’s still early. Where to now?” Jan asked as we headed to the car.

“Seven-Eleven for some supplies,” Sue said. “We need some pop and chips.”

“Your charioteer has received the command,” Jan said. “Seven-Eleven it is.”

The girls grabbed a couple of bags of chips and a six-pack of Diet Coke and handed it to us to check out. Then they disappeared and I figured they’d gone to the restroom. Jan and I grabbed another six-pack of the non-diet variety and waited outside for them to show up. A few minutes later they showed up, each carrying a small bag of her own.

“The gravel pit,” Sue announced when Jan asked where we were going to picnic. Oh, shit. None of us had bathing suits with us unless that’s what Sue and Marilyn bought inside. I didn’t think Seven-Eleven carried bikinis. And the gravel pit was known for skinny dipping. I glanced over at Marilyn and she blushed. Oh, my God!

The gravel pit isn’t easy to get to. Not like it’s fenced off or anything. It’s just the old truck road that leads to it is narrow and rutted. Nobody drives all the way down to it. There was one other car parked a little off the road and Jan pulled his in behind it. We grabbed the chips and pop and followed the girls as Sue led the way to the pit. There were lots of ledges and rocks around the edge. It was obvious Sue knew her way. When we got to the gravel pit, we saw another couple on the other side splashing and swimming. The temp was close to ninety and the water looked refreshing.

“Last one in’s a rotten egg!” Sue yelled as she stripped off her shirt, bra, and shorts. Jan was right. She had a spectacular body. Her panties hit the ground about two seconds after Jan’s jeans and she dove into the water. I pulled my T-shirt off and turned to look at Marilyn. She had the hem of her shirt in her hands.

“Good. If I’m going to strip, you should watch. I don’t want to worry about you trying to sneak peeks later.” The shirt came off revealing she had no bra. I unfastened my jeans and kicked my shoes off while never taking my eyes off her as her pretty round butt came into view. My socks and her panties hit the ground at the same time and she just stood there waiting for me to pull off my jockeys. She held out her hand and I took it. “Bet that shrinks when we hit the water,” she laughed, pointing at my cock. “Come on. We’ll do it together. Better two rotten eggs than one.” We stepped to the edge of the rock and jumped in. She didn’t let go of my hand and we kicked to the surface using one hand each.

“Why didn’t you guys warn us it was so cold?” I yelled at Jan. He and Sue were almost to the middle of the pit and turned around to swim toward us.

“What fun would that be?” Sue laughed. “We were just waiting for you to surface so we could tell you.”

“Yeah. Well he shrank and I popped my nips.”

“I didn’t notice that,” I said.

“Better go under and take a look, then.” She put both hands on top of my head and pulled herself up, which pushed me under. She guided my head directly to her left nipple and I obligingly gave it a suck for as long as I could hold my breath. I was afraid at first that she wasn’t going to let me surface.