Chapter 15: Into The Woods

September 8, 1980

Labor Day. The first holiday of the school year. We’d been productive in study group. So far, we were a smashing success, even if you factor into it that we were excellent students. None of us had gotten so much as a B on a test so far. The only low marks were a handful of homework assignments and pop quizzes that one or another of us had messed up. I had a B from a Spanish pop quiz. Sra. Alvarez was famous for throwing pop quizzes if a couple of people couldn’t answer a prompt. One of them smacked me. I’m pretty sure that was an F the first go-round, though. High test grades would compensate for a few bad quiz grades, anyway.

We’d all gone to the game Friday. Our valiant Mustangs did their best, but failed. We all cheered a lot, anyway. We’d recruited parents to drive, since the stadium was pretty far to bike. Yes, it was a ‘home game’. Memorial didn’t have a stadium big enough to host games, so we played home games at the shared school district stadium, a 15 minute drive from the school.

Today was a vacation day. I’m pretty sure the first time around I either did nothing by myself or next to nothing with my friends. A few parents grumbled about taking away ‘family time’, but no one cared that much. We’d skipped our Saturday night get-together and Sunday study session, so there was some ‘family time’.

Our little group had changed. We were still a study group, but at this point we were also a dating group. No way we’d let the parents know that. Andy and Mel had settled into being a couple. They were going to the Homecoming dance together. Debbie and Mike hadn’t; there was no spark there. Both of them had asked to bring in a new person and the rest of us decided that was OK. Debbie had decided on Marcus Reid, who I knew and liked. They seemed to fit. Mike brought Sarah Weiss, who I’d barely talked to. She was short, curly-haired, and cute. At first I thought she was shy. Wrong. She was a riot once she decided we liked her and vice versa.

Today, we had an agenda. More precisely: I had an agenda. I don’t think any of the others would’ve come up with the plan I’d made.

It started with picnic lunches for everyone. The girls took that over. I thought that was sexist, so I collaborated with Mom to bake cookies. I’m an excellent baker — left over from the first go-round, but I’d baked with Mom for years this go-round, too. That impressed Angie, who still teased me in good fun. Lunches included a sandwich (or two; Andy, for one, couldn’t make it on one sandwich, not with his build). They made a giant tossed salad that we’d all share. We had lots of little snacks - carrots and olives; nuts, raisins, M&M’s. The last three would’ve been trail mix, but we kept them separated.

The guys were in charge of beverages. We had soda, water, and tea. With lots of ice in a couple of coolers — it was hot! We also had picnic gear: blankets to sit on, plates and bowls and cups and utensils. Maybe we’d brought more blankets than necessary for a picnic, but hey, must be accidental duplication.

Everyone was going to take the bus to Memorial Park, a giant park along Memorial Drive just inside the loop. We knew it’d be busy on the holiday, but I’d scoped out some parts that looked likely to be empty. It’d be a hike, but we were all in good shape. Who cared about a little hike?

Now, some parents let their kids ride the bus regularly. I was one of those. I’d been riding it on my own as far as downtown for a couple of years. But my plan covered those whose parents wouldn’t have gone for it otherwise. Angie and I would ride the bus outbound as far as the farthest stop any of us used, get off, board the inbound bus with our friends, and welcome each additional person as we got to their stops. Parents were welcome to verify that we were all traveling as a group. Most of the girls’ parents did. Connie’s were trusting and so were Debbie’s. In both cases, it might have helped that one of the guys was using the same stop.

It surprised me when everyone signed on. Some of them had never been on a city bus in their life. For a few (Mike was one), the bus didn’t go very close to their home. Others had a poor opinion of the buses (not entirely unjustified), or had parents who would drive them everywhere. I had been one of those. But, I’d always wanted to come and go on my own, and the bus let me do that, and Mom and Dad approved.

Angie wore a pink blouse and a short black skirt. I’d picked my hunter green shirt and a pair of tan shorts. The first time through, I had suffered for years with an irrational dislike of shorts. I wasn’t about to deal with the heat without them this time around.

Labor Day Noon found the gang of us taking up the entire back of the bus with our baskets and bundles and blankets. We had some games: Frisbees, balls, and Jimmy had brought an entire croquet set, which Andy was lugging. We had two radios (in case one didn’t work). And, this being 1980, we were incommunicado. Our parents knew where we were going — one of the largest urban parks in the nation, over 1600 acres, with thousands upon thousands of trees. We’d be somewhere in all that space.

In 1980, no one thought this was unusual. My kids would have had cell phones with location tracking. Woe be unto any kid who turned tracking off. Us? No way to track us, and no parent expected to know exactly where we were.

After a few stops, Candice got on. She was wearing a cute yellow dress with a flower-print pattern. Sleeveless, short hemline. She grinned when she saw me and twirled, then sat in my lap and gave me a big kiss. Other riders gave us little grins. I hoped they were revisiting some nice memories of their own teen years. I gave her a hug and steadied her as the bus got going.

About thirty minutes and ten stops later, we were there. We got off the bus and walked. And walked, and walked some more. After a while, we came into a wide-open area ringed with pine trees. They’d cut the grass short, and there was no direct line of sight to much of anywhere else. We were pretty sure we were away from the crowd.

We spread out blankets on the ground and set up the picnic, turned on radios, set up the croquet set. It was a party. First go-round included, this was my first high school party that was 100% kids, no parents involved.

We talked, we ate, we played games. Some of us, including Candice and me, and Angie and Dan, danced to the radio.

Mid-afternoon, the second part of the plan unfolded. Each couple grabbed a blanket and scattered. Some stayed in the clearing, some — like Candice and me — ventured a short distance into the trees.

The hormonal fantasies of teenagers (both genders) aside, no one was going to full-on have sex. We’d have all frowned on that. But spending some time in private, no movie theater audience, no people in the park near the library, none of those issues — that was magic.

I picked a spot free of twigs and set out the blanket. One stabbing us might be bad. Candice giggled and contorted herself. As if by magic her bra appeared. She tossed it on the blanket with a grin.

“I need the damn thing, especially when I’m biking. These things aren’t all fun, you know?”

“I get that. I’m glad they’re fun, though, with what they put you through.”

She cocked her head. “That’s a nice way to put it. I like that. Now, enough talking about my boobs. Enough talking at all.” She closed in and kissed me. Soft and warm, with just a hint of tongue. She’d learned. Oh, my, had she learned.

We kissed for a long time, sinking down onto the blanket, stretching out, still kissing. I ran my fingers through her hair, prompting a shiver. Then I started caressing her back, down almost to her ass, up to the back of her neck. She shivered again and clung to me a bit more. “F ... fuck ... Steve ... oh ... yes.”

Her fingers found the buttons of my shirt and fumbled her way through opening them. I let her, of course. I could have done it myself, but that she wanted to? Magic.

Her hands found their way inside my open shirt, caressing. She explored my nipples, caressing and rubbing. I let out a moan of my own.

“Why ... am I ... the only one ... with my hands ... on ... boobs?” She panted. I grinned and moved both hands to her chest, caressing through her shirt. She gasped, moaned, then groaned. “Ohmigod. Y ... yes ... yes!” I tried a light pinch, that got a deeper moan. Then we were kissing again, harder. Her tongue swirled around, exploring, flirting with mine. I shifted a bit; suddenly my pants were really uncomfortable.

I hesitated, then slowly unbuttoned her shirt. I could feel her breath catch. I got most of the way down before a hand stopped me. “N ... not any more ... not yet ... OK?” She looked quite nervous. I smiled and gave her a soft kiss. “Of course it’s OK. You tell me the instant anything’s not OK.” She nodded hard.

I moved one hand to the opening in her shirt and traced two fingers up and down between her boobs. I could feel the sides of each. Candice was gasping and squirming. I felt her tense a little, watched her bite her lip, saw her hand move to take mine. I was ready for her to move it away. Instead, she moved it to her left breast, inside her shirt. It was soft, warm. Part of me knew what bare boobs felt like, of course. For another part of me, this was the first. That second part was winning the argument.

I explored, trying to stay very light, even when she pressed in. My fingers found her nipple and teased around. “Gahh ... nnnn ... nnnnuuhhhhhhh” she let out. “D ... don’t ... don’t s ... stop ... don’tstop ... don’t ... oh!” I didn’t. I circled, rubbed, pinched. Then I realized what was about to happen and kissed her, deeply, fingers rubbing and pinching a little faster.

Candice shuddered and cried out into my mouth, shaking. “NNNNnnnnnnnggggguhhhhhhhhhh”. This time I didn’t have to stop for fear of disturbing the other patrons, and neither did she. I kept rubbing, then slipped my other hand in to find the other nipple. I tweaked it, pinched again. “O ... oh ... oh I ... god ... nnNNNNNNnnngggggahhhhh.”

After a bit, her breathing caught up, and she gasped out, “No more ... no more ... oh god I need to rest no more no more.” I helped her lie down and snuggled in, arms around her, giving her soft, warm kisses.

It took her about five minutes to perk up, shift up to one arm, and look down at her shirt. “Oh god! I have never ... ever ... felt anything like that, or even thought I could!” She turned a cute shade of red. “They’ve always been sensitive but, oh my god, it’s so different when it’s ... um ... I ... someone else.” As what she’d said caught up to her, the red got a lot more prominent.

I smiled, took her hand, gave her a squeeze. “Candice, it’s ... if I had those, my hands would never be anywhere else.” A giggle. Good. “Of course you’ve touched them. It’s not like I haven’t touched myself, and sure, guys are different, but not as different as all that.”

She smiled and took a few deep breaths, which did amazing things to her chest. She was still glowing a bit. “Not that different at all. We ... I mean, I, and, well, what other girls say...” another deep breath or three, “ ... we get just as worked up as guys but, you know, you can’t just ... well ... sometimes it’s safer to not, um ... involve anyone.”

I nodded. “No judgment. Except...” A shiver. “You’re beautiful. And smart. And special. That’s my judgment.”

After allowing me to breathe again after a ferocious kiss, she was all shy again. “So um...”

“Um?”

“Um ... what do you ... think of them?”

“They feel wonderful, and I love what they do for you.”

“I mean ... um...”

“How they look?”

“Yeah, that.”

“I don’t know?” I smiled. “You left your shirt half buttoned, and I just moved my hands. My eyes were mostly on your face.”

“They were?” I nodded. “Why?”

“Because you’re so beautiful when you’re feeling that way.”

She sniffled a few times and kissed me again. Then she sat up a bit, wiggled her chest, and pulled her shirt open.

Her boobs were on the large side, and were going to get bigger, no doubt about it. Perfectly shaped right now, they had no concern for gravity, which was going to be their enemy soon enough. Nice little pencil-eraser nipples stood in her quarter-sized areolae. I took a deep breath. “They’re beautiful, too. Just ... beautiful.” I licked my lips.

Her eyes flicked to my mouth, and color bloomed anew on her cheeks. I took a gamble. “Can I, um ... try?” Licking my lips again. She nodded, mesmerized.