Chapter 6

Kim

Eventually the celebrations concluded and the townspeople settled down to their normal routines. Travis and Sarah went to school and Julie and Hank did whatever they do all day to keep busy. Since they don't have regular office jobs, what they do is anyone's guess, except that they have a nice family dinner prepared each evening when the kids come home from school. Dinners are always sitting down at a table, as a family dinners, because both Julie and Hank believe that it builds a stronger family unit. The topics of discussion are as varied as the menu and sometime become pretty deep conversations about current events, political things or school activities. There are no rules, per se, about how the subject is determined each evening.

One evening, Hank asked Travis. "Travis, since you moved to Missouri, how many different girls have you had sex with?

"I don't know. A few."

"Just for fun, recall the names of the girls, in your head. I don't care to know who they are. Then figure out how many it comes to."

After a minute, Travis responded. "Well, if you count last year and this year, so far, I guess about twenty."

"Twenty?" Julie said, in a raised, startled voice. "You've had sex with twenty different girls?"

"Yeah, I guess. Maybe a few more. I don't know. I don't keep count."

Hank's question was more subtle, "Why so many?"

"I don't know. Some of them call me up and want to go out and we get to some quiet place and they get naked all of a sudden. With others, they are just exciting girls that I meet in school, and I ask out, and then we end up doing it. Why? What's the matter?""

Hank continued, "Is there some particular reason that all these girls call you, instead of other guys?"

"Well, last year, in the beginning, it was because I was a novelty. A new guy that none of them knew or had ever dated. This really isn't a discussion for the table, but ... Then, after the first couple of dates, the word began to spread among a group of senior girls that I would give them oral sex. I think I must be the only guy in the school that does that because that was the first thing they would ask me when they called up for a date. Would I do that for them like I had for one of their friends? I wasn't gonna turn it down, if you know what I mean. And now, this year, the same thing is happening with another group of girls. They are all friends, and I think they all talk between them about this. What's brought this up?"

"I was at the barber shop today, and some of the fellas were there talking and I think they forgot about our relationship. They were talking about the "new kid on the football team" who is trying to fuck every girl in the county. Another man said that he thought you were about half way to your goal. It was good that none of those dads had a daughter because they all suggested that you would be in trouble if you ever tried to date theirs. I think you are developing a reputation that is going to cause you social difficulties very soon."

"I can't help it if they want me to fuck them, can I?"

Julie jumped in, ""You don't have to go out with them, just because they ask. Why don't you find one girl and try to build a relationship?"

"I tried to date one girl that I like, but she won't go out with me."

"Can you blame her?" Julie threw in before Hank could say anything.

"Honey, this is not the time to criticize. Let's try to remain supportive," he scolded her.

"And even if I did find one girl, what am I supposed to do about sex then? What if she doesn't want to have sex? Huh?"

"Travis, I am not trying to run your life or deprive you of anything opportunities uniquely available to high school boys, but I really do think you have a problem developing, and I think we need to come up with some potential solution for you. My guess is that pretty soon you are going to run out of girls that are willing to date you, or worse, parents that will allow their daughters to date you. That, truly, is my bigger fear." Hank was much calmer than Julie. "Once parents get to talking, you will find yourself on the short list of kids their innocent daughters may not date."

"Well, that's a crock."

"I agree that it may be a crock, but that doesn't mean it won't happen. The thing to do is change your approach before it happens."

"How do I do that? And you still haven't said what I should do about sex?"

Having said nothing during the opening of this discussion, Sarah quietly reached out and took her brother's hand. "All you have to do is knock on my door, big brother."

Both Julie and Hank looked at Sarah and wordlessly conveyed their appreciation.

Sarah continued," Have you even talked to her lately? Have you told her what we talked about?"

"No."

"You realize, I hope, that you are going to have to stop dating other girls if you start dating Kim. I know this is a bit complex for a guy to understand, but the problem is that you have to do something that will tell everybody else that you are not having sex with Kim, that you are just dating. Other wise she will never go out with you because she'll think her reputation will be in the gutter."

"How do you come up with that?"

"Look, Travis, you have slept with every girl in our school that you have dated. That's hardly news to any of us, guys or girls. Kim is not ready for sex. I told you that. She doesn't want to have sex with you or with anybody right now. But if the two of you start dating, everyone in school will instantly think she is just like all the other twenty girls. The only way that Kim is even going to be seen with you is if you take some kind of active steps to convince everyone else that she is different from the first twenty."

Hank thought about that for a while and then said, "Travis, I think your sister is correct. If it's like she says it is, with lots of people knowing about your previous exploits, you're going to have to do something that tells everyone that your new girl is different."

Julie, finally able to get a word in, asked, "Is this the Kim that is your friend, Sarah?" Sarah nodded yes. "She seems like a wonderful girl, Travis. I think you may have a hard time convincing her of your intentions."

After a few moments of silence, Hank, as usual, came up with a plan. "I have an idea about how we can begin to solve this problem. During the school break over the Christmas holiday, we could all go skiing again, and this year, you could each bring a friend. Sarah, if you invited Kim, she would get to be with us, and with Travis in a controlled situation that could allow her to develop some level of trust and things. Travis, you could invite one of your friends to balance out the trip. Sarah, do you have any particular guy that you would like to get to know better?"

We left Christmas morning, flying to the Big Sky Lodge in Montana. Hank chartered a plane so that by flying directly there would be no worries about transfers and connections. It was much nicer. Sarah and Kim shared a room, as did Travis and Mike, his friend and teammate. Sarah had chosen him because, while she was not necessarily attracted to him, he had always been nice to her after football practices and had treated her with respect. It didn't hurt anything that he was pretty good looking, too. The first two days, everyone pretty much skied together and skied the entire day each day as well. That was too much for Hank and Julie. They declared at dinner the second night that they intended to sleep in the next morning, and possibly spend at least the morning in the spa. By noon the next day, it was pretty obvious that Travis and Kim were far better skiers than either Sarah or Mike. While Sarah and Mike chose to remain on the intermediate hills, Kim and Travis (at Kim's urging) opted to try out the more advanced, and far more challenging slopes. Kim is truly a very accomplished skier and Travis struggled to keep up with her. Although two years younger, she was wise in the techniques of enticement for she skied just enough faster and just enough more aggressively to be able to tease him and provoke him to keep up with her. After the first few runs, she would finish just ahead of him and then turn to welcome him with open arms. That subtle message was not lost on Travis and he garnered the nerve to open the subject of dating him. They were sitting at a table on the patio of the warming station, enjoying a cup of hot chocolate.