Chapter 8: Detour Ahead - Bridge Out

As Carissa moved across the darkened front porch, coming back toward me, I was reminded of two things, the slinky movements of a cat stalking a mouse and the proud march of a bantam rooster approaching a hen, yet there was nothing threatening about her movements. Perhaps Grampa Bender’s ‘squeezins’ had dulled my senses and killed some of the pain I’d been feeling over both my foot and my loss of Sandy’s company, but right then I was completely enamoured by that sexy shape moving in the dim light. I was feeling vulnerable, and I knew that I wasn’t in control of the situation, yet I trusted that slinking shadow as she approached and slipped down to kneel on the blanket, right at my side. Somehow she flowed onto my lap without shifting my injured leg. Then I was being kissed by a gorgeous girl for the second time that night. As I kissed her back, one hand began to wander over her back, the other crept up her flank, around toward a breast. Suddenly I had a scary thought - what if Mom or Dad came out to see why the front door was open?

I broke off the kiss suddenly, holding my hands still.

“What about Mom and Dad?” I asked.

“Good point,” she sighed softly. “Dammit. I think they’ve gone to bed and are asleep, but I don’t suppose they’d be very forgiving if they found us in this state on your front porch, would they?”

“Could you blame them?” I chuckled.

“No,” she giggled.

Then suddenly she was wriggling around in my lap and she bent to one side for a second. She sat back up and lifted her hand to my shirt pocket, stuffing something inside. Her panties?

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Those are a promissary note,” she said softly and snuggled against me even tighter. “One day, when both of us are ready, you can collect on it.”

“Unh, this is sort of like what caused Sandy and me to break up,” I said quietly.

“I thought so. Reading between the lines, it sounded like she pushed too hard, too fast, and in the wrong way,” she whispered. “In my case, there’s no hurry. I can wait as long as you want, and even then we both have to know it’s right.”

She started to slide off of my lap, then paused.

“Of course, you know where I’m sleeping tonight and I think from the sound of things that I’ll be all alone in my room,” she giggled softly and gestured in the direction of the soft moans coming from the other end of the porch. “I think those two have a date with destiny.”

“Do you think that they’re going to...” I paused, not knowing how to ask her what I wanted to know without sounding crass.

“I don’t know,” Carissa leaned close and whispered softly. “I do know that Corinna has had a crush on your brother for a very long time and ... well, you know how I feel about you. I know if you asked tonight, I don’t think I could say no and it’s not because of the alcohol or because you broke up with Sandy.”

“But, damn it Carissa, I’m younger than you are and...”

“I’m a little more than eighteen months older, but I suppose to some, that’s a lifetime. In fact just a week ago it would have felt that way for me. Actually, I guess it was, wasn’t it? I was one of the bitches that was going to teach the little professor a lesson. Instead, I fucked up, ‘cause he taught me and the whole damn town one instead. In the process the silly little bastard ended up protecting me and taught me that he and his family are about the nicest people I’ve ever met. Even after I and my sister proved to be real bitches and managed to screw things up so that he broke his leg, he still treated us nicely. So now I really don’t care about your age and mine, I think I’ve got a bigger crush on you than Corinna has on Wil.”

Then she was kissing me, hard! But, she didn’t kiss me for long. Instead she pulled away, stood up, then turned to face me. She slowly moved so her feet were on either side of my legs, then she was moving forward and now I really could smell her, the real scent of her womanhood. She paused. I reached out and touched her ankles, then slowly slid my fingers up the back of her legs, trying not to let the cast on my hand touch her. She moaned softly as I caressed her calves.

“Not behind my knees,” she whispered ever so softly. “I’m really ticklish there.”

So I slipped my hands to the outside of her knees, then once I’d moved above them, I gently felt my way up her thighs.

“You’re covered in goose bumps,” I sighed.

“It’s not because I’m cold,” she sighed. “You’re touch is driving me crazy.”

“Oh.”

I slid my hands higher, feeling the crease where her thighs met her butt and then my fingers were spreading over those wonderful tight globes. I could feel the muscles tense and flex under her skin as she shifted ever so slightly. I gently pulled her forward, but I was unable to judge just how far away she was in the dim light. I was guessing that her pelvis was only inches from my face because of the narrow strip of light between her inner thighs. I paused and stayed completely still and unmoving for a few seconds, then I blew gently, aiming my breath up and then down, hoping it was tickling her skin.

“Oh my God,” she moaned softly and I felt her knees quiver.

“Don’t you like that?” I murmured.

“Oh yes. But we have to stop now,” she whispered.

I ignored her and blew gently once more.

“Please? Oh please don’t,” she sighed as she slowly settled downward, straddling my hips but not pulling away, now her knees were slipping downward on either side of my hips, her body close to mine.

“Are you pulling an ‘Ice Cube’ trip on me?” I asked, leaning forward to give her a brief kiss.

“Oh no, not with you. Never ever!” she said when she could speak again. “But, we can’t do it tonight, not after you just broke up with Sandy and not after we’ve both been drinking. I’m so sorry. I know I’ve been a bitch, teasing again.”

Suddenly she was hugging me and crying on my shoulder. I was aroused and at that moment I was very frustrated, but in my heart I knew she was right. So, I just held her gently and sighed deeply.

Damn it, why had Mom and Dad raised me to respect other people’s decisions? I was holding a beautiful woman again, and once more I’d been tantalized by the main thing that any guy my age wanted, but I was going to pass it up because she’d asked me to hold back. I was doing it even though she’d been teasing me, and I wasn’t going to try to convince her to break her resolve. I was certain it wouldn’t take much to change her mind, but I wasn’t going to try. Even if I didn’t like her decision at the moment, I knew she was probably right, this wasn’t the time or the place for us to do anything.

“Oh, I am so sorry,” she blubbered through her tears.

“Shh,” I hissed, hugging her gently and letting my hands caress her back. “You’re right. It’s not the right time for us to play around.”

“Can you stand ... to hold me ... for a bit?” her voice was a soft plea, broken by tiny sobs.

“Of course,” I heard my voice say and fought down the argument my body was presenting to my mind.

There’s no way to express how much I wanted that girl right then. I wanted to do so many things with her. I wanted to touch her and caress her and ... I forced my mind to stop. I had to, or I was going to get carried away. I tried to concentrate on just about anything else, but I have to admit, holding a beautiful naked woman in your arms is not an easy thing to ignore. I might not have been able to ignore her, but I was able to control my continuing urge to convince her to change her mind. I even managed to hold my hands still instead of allowing them to roam over her smooth skin the way they seemed to want to do.

Finally, after several minutes, Carissa lifted her head and wiped at her cheeks with one hand.

“Do you have a hanky?” she whispered.

“In my hip pocket, but why?” I questioned.

“Because my nose is running, idiot,” she snorted as her hand slid around my waist and down toward my bottom.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m getting my boyfriend’s hanky, then after I blow my nose, I plan to kiss him goodnight.”

“Your boyfriend?”

“Yes, as far as I’m concerned anyway,” she sighed and her fingers wriggled on my butt as she found the pocket she wanted.

“But...”

“Yes, it is and I do like yours. It’s a nice tight butt. Now shut up.”

I could tell that she was getting back her attitude, regaining her control and for some reason that pleased me a lot. As she pulled my hanky out of my pocket, I had a totally off topic question zap into my head; ‘Why were farmers, at least the men, the only people I knew who carried hankies?’ They were something that came in handy for so many things, from dust masks to emergency bandages, or ... or for your girlfriend to wipe her nose, after she’d been crying.

And then I jerked like I’d been shot.

Girlfriend? Carissa? What the hell was going on? Where had that come from?

“Is something wrong?” she whispered as she pressed her cheek to mine.

“I’m not sure you want to know,” I managed to mumble.

“Are you thinking dirty thoughts?” I could hear the edge of a giggle in her voice and was pleased that she was getting her sense of humour back again as well.

“Not really, I was thinking about you. And about me. And about us.”

“And it made you jump?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I nodded slowly. “I’m in shock.”

“What? Why are you in shock about us?”

“Because it took me by surprise,” I grinned, deciding suddenly that I really did like the idea.

“Mmm, at least you’re smiling about it,” she sighed, then suddenly she was kissing me again.

As we were kissing, I finally had the nerve to let my hands roam over her soft body. She didn’t protest and for the second time that night I felt a breast in my hand. But this time, for the first time ever, it was a woman, not a girl. There was less than a year difference in their ages, but it felt like there was a lifetime of difference between the attitudes of Carissa and Sandy.

I felt a nipple swell and harden under my fingers and heard her moan softly, felt her tongue suddenly become a demanding weapon as she french kissed me. Then suddenly, she was pulling back, her hands pressing on my shoulders as she shifted away from me to slowly stand.

“I will not tease you again,” she growled. “We need to take some time before we do this again, because next time...”

And she didn’t even say goodnight, but suddenly I was alone. Well, I was alone except for the soft moans and groans from the other end of the porch. That was something I didn’t need to hear, not in the mood I was in because it would simply frustrate me. Besides, I wanted to give them some privacy.

I rolled to my knees, pushed the blankets and cushions against the wall and grabbed my crutches. In a very short time I was slipping into my bed. I didn’t fall asleep soon though, instead I lay there, trying to think about what had happened and trying to decide what I really felt about everything.

The questions that ran across my mind were like flashes, one following another. Each question seemed to create another question or two. Either that, or else it was tied to an answer that I didn’t have, and to a question that I hadn’t yet answered. There was no way I was going to be able to sleep until I had some sort of resolution to my wild speculations.

Finally I sat up, slipped out of bed and closed my door, then turned on a light and hobbled over to sit down at my desk. I’d decided that if I made some notes about things, I might be able to clear my head enough to sleep.

Since Sandy and Carissa vied for my attention more than any other subjects, their two names went at the top of two different pages. I was going to list what I liked and disliked about each of them.

The first dislike I had for Carissa was that she was older than I was, but did that really matter? We both had the same education, many of the same acquaintances, very similar tastes ... maybe her age wasn’t such a big thing? I crossed it off the list. But what else was there that I didn’t like about her? Okay, I wasn’t pleased about some things, like the actions she and her sister had toward guys, but I decided that was in the past. I’d give her the benefit of the doubt on that one. I didn’t really like the fact that she was a twin, but it seemed to me that Wil was handling that problem. I looked at the page in front of me with one word written at the top and then a scribbled out word under it. Then it struck me, I didn’t really have one thing about her that I absolutely disliked to the point where I wished it was changed.

Glancing at Sandy’s page, I had very different feelings. I knew there were several things about her that I really didn’t feel comfortable with. I lifted the pen to the top of the page. I could start with her insecurities and her shyness, then I could ... I yawned at tht point and started to feel sleepy.

I glanced at the clock, wow, it was almost three in the morning. Forget the lists, I decided. Instead I turned out my light and crawled back into bed. My last thought before I fell asleep was “I wonder if I’m being shallow, the way I’m reacting to these girls?”

I was having such a nice dream. I was being almost smothered in the arms of three or four pretty girls and someone kissed my cheek, then nibbled on my ear lobe and whispered softly; “Wake up Sexy. We need to talk to you.”

“Mmm,” I moaned, trying to lift my arms and hug the girl who’d talked to me, but it seemed like my arms were tied down, I couldn’t seem to move them.

“Chris, wake up. Wil and Corinna are gone and so is your car.”

I thought that sounded like Beth but ... surely she wouldn’t be in my dream? Then someone tickled my nose with a feather and I started to really struggle. I still couldn’t seem to move.

“Chris!” Beth’s voice was right in my ear and it was loud.

I finally realised I was in bed and I was being woken up. The reason I couldn’t move seemed to be the fact that I was rolled up in my blankets. Finally I managed to free myself enough to turn and look up. Beth was there, so was Carissa. Neither of them looked very happy.

“What’s up?” I managed to mumble, my tongue rolling aside the drifts of moss that Grampa Bender’s ‘squeezins’ left on your tongue the next morning. “Is somethin’ wrong?”

“Carissa says Corinna didn’t come to bed last night and Wil’s bed hasn’t been slept in either,” Beth snapped, staring down at me with her hands on her hips. “Your car isn’t here, so at first Mom and Dad thought you were the one who was gone.”

“Okay, so I’m here. What am I supposed to do?” I finally decided I’d had enough of her being bossy. “And who made you Queen of the castle to come marching in here, demanding to know what I was doing when you could obviously see that I was sleeping.”

“Oh don’t get into such a snit,” she answered. “Who else ever does anything weird around here, but you? I’ll bet it ends up that you’re tied up in this some way.”

With that comment, she stormed out and slammed the door behind her. She almost hit Carissa with the door, since she had moved to follow Beth.

“Hey, where are you going so fast, Carissa?” I asked. “I haven’t even had a chance to say good morning.”

“You’re not angry at being wakened?” Carissa asked in a surprised tone.

“I wasn’t annoyed at being woken up. I was pissed that she automatically seemed to think I knew what was going on. I think she even ended up blaming me for whatever it is,” I sighed. “I’ve spent most of my life being blamed for things other people did.”

I patted the bed at my side. “I could use an explanation of what’s going on, at least what you know about it.”

“After making a fool of myself last night, you expect me to sit there and...”

“Nope,” I interrupted. “After the kiss on the cheek and the whisper in my ear this morning, I do though.”

Darn if she didn’t blush, then she giggled.

“You were supposed to be asleep.”

“I was, but I was having a great dream,” I grinned and held out my arms. “Can’t I even have a hug?”

“One quick hug and then we have to get downstairs, your folks want to ask you about last night.”

At least it was a nice long hug and I even managed to sneak in a little kiss, then she pulled away and stood near the door.

“Get your butt in gear, loverboy. Even your folks seem convinced that you must be involved, especially since your car is gone.”

As soon as she went out the door, I hopped out of bed and then cursed at my cast. It was not meant to be thumped on the floor, so now my foot hurt. I reached for the shorts I’d worn the day before and they weren’t on the chair where I’d left them. I couldn’t find them anywhere. My shirt was gone too.

Oh well, I dug in the dresser and found another pair of shorts and another T-shirt, then I hobbled down the hall to the bathroom. In only a few minutes I was headed downstairs to face the music. Maybe Wil had lied to me last night about the jug, maybe something else was going on. I decided the best defence was attack.

“Who stole the shirt and shorts that I was wearing last night?” I demanded as I limped into the kitchen.

“Ah ha,” Dad grunted. “Did you lock your car doors last night?”

“I think so, yeah, I almost an automatic thing I do. Why?”

“Hmmph,” he grunted again. “Were your keys in the pocket of your shorts?”

“Yeah, but ... Are you saying Wil and Corinna came up to my room and got my keys? My wallet and a bunch of other things were in the pockets of those shorts too.”

“Oh, oh,” Carissa squawked. “I’ll bet Corinna has them.”

Suddenly it all made sense in a weird way.

“Quick explanation,” I barked to catch everyone’s attention. “On the way into town last night, Sandy and I had a disagreement, well, more like a battle. She wanted something that I didn’t want and she demanded I take her home right then. I took her home and she stormed out of the car and into the house. I decided I needed to talk to her parents, because I wanted to explain them what had happened and why I felt it wasn’t my fault. I was just getting out of the car when her dad stormed out ready to pound on me, but instead we had a talk. I think he understands what Sandy did and he’s not angry with me.”

“My turn,” Carissa insisted. “ What you people didn’t know is that for years Corinna has had a crush on Wil and last night they got drinking and necking. Actually, I was feeling like a fifth wheel. Then when Chris came home and he looked so down in the dumps I felt sorry for him. Only, I really like him a lot, so I got him to have a drink or two and I joined him.”

She paused and I was going to say something but she held up her hand and silenced me.

“I know that Corinna and I should know better, but it seems as if when we drink any alcohol around your boys we end up taking off our clothes. Chris and I stopped before anything happened, but when I went up to bed, I just scooped up the clothes and ran. I suppose I must have taken Corinna’s clothes too. Maybe Wil came to get Chris’s keys and he grabbed his clothes for Corinna to wear.”

Beth and Mom just looked at each other and shook their heads. Meanwhile Dad was staring at Carissa and I like we each had two heads.

“Are you two telling me that...” Dad started to ask, but the ringing of the telephone interrupted whatever he was going to say. Dad just lifted one hand to warn everyone to be quiet while he handled whoever was disturbing our family meeting and grabbed the phone with the other.

“Hello,” he literally barked, then I could see him calm down. “Oh, good morning, John.”

He suddenly looked surprised and then he shook his head and rolled his eyes as he listened.

“Well, John, what you say to him is your business. He’s over eighteen, so I can’t interfere. I would recommend that they slow down though ... Yeah, both of them ... I don’t think there’s a major rush, is there?” Dad listened for several seconds and then laughed softly. “Now, that sounds like a good idea ... Okay, John, I’m looking forward to it ... Bye for now.”

He hung up the phone and turned to us with a huge grin on his face. “Do you know what that silly pair of idiots did?”

“Who?” we all demanded.

“Wil and Corinna,” Dad chuckled.

“Well, don’t just stand there grinning, tell us what’s happening,” Mom insisted.

“They borrowed Chris’s car because they decided they had to rush to town this morning. They wanted to be sure to catch John Coulter before he went golfing.”

“So they’re just sitting at home?” Carissa asked unbelievingly.

“Yeah, when he got up this morning, your dad found them sitting at the kitchen table, holding hands.”

“Willard. Shit or git off the pot,” Mom barked. “You’re enjoying dragging this out and we’re not.”