Chapter 4

Tuesday Evening

Susan

My mum and Joe's mum went off to the cafe for some refreshment and I was left alone with Joey. I think it was an intentional ploy by his mum to give us some time to ourselves. When I looked over at Joey his eyes were glistening with tears.

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to stop them," he told me. "I'm a bit of a wimp when it comes to fighting."

The fact that you knew that and still faced up to those two large oafs and that makes your actions so brave in my eyes,"

"Or stupid and effectual if you look at from another perspective," he said with a wan smile.

"Not as ineffectual as you seem to think," I told him. I was until recently and international gymnast and your intervention set up the chance for me to pivot on one leg and kick one of them in the balls. That made him lose all interest in the proceedings and then the cavalry arrived in the form of teachers from the dining room since I had not stopped screaming since they attacked you."

"I'm glad of that last bit, "Joey replied, "From what I have heard of the attack if they had been allowed to carry on I would have suffered severe head injuries. To act like that I think they must have been taking some form of drugs. I've heard that some pushers have been selling cocaine to idiotic pupils at the school gates."

"If they were taking drugs, then these guys will be in even more trouble, because they are now in the hands of the police and they will be tested for alcohol and drugs," I told him."

"It does not alter the fact that I am not much of a buddy though, since I couldn't help you when you got into trouble."

"Don't be daft, Joey, the buddy system was put in place to enable partners to support each other because they were in the unusual predicament of being naked during school hours. It was not intended to meet physical attacks. These things were never meant to happen. Anyway you did your best and it helped. It held them off long enough for the teachers to arrive. That being the case, you did what you had to do and it was good enough in that particular situation."

With that I leaned over and kissed him; not on the cheek this time but on the lips.

Joey

After my attempt at protecting Susan ended with me being severely beaten up I felt completely inadequate, but Susan took my intervention as a sign of courage. I suppose in one sense she was right, I knew when I knew before I started what the end result was going to be so I guess you could call it stupid or brave, take your pick. Anyway I got a surprise when she showed her appreciation of my actions by kissing me on the lips. To say I was a novice at kissing would be understating the case. Apart from pecks from relatives, I had never been kissed in my life until now. I guess the body must respond naturally to certain stimuli since I found my arms going round her body and I pressed my lips harder against hers and my cock instantly hardened. Suddenly she was returning the pressure and her tongue was pressing against my lips and my mouth opened almost automatically and our tongues were thrusting against each other until Susan broke away. She looked at me in surprise.

"That turned out to be some kiss Joey, she said with a smile. "I never suspected that you would be able to kiss like that; I thought you would be a complete novice."

I am" I responded, "apart from relatives I've never been kissed before. Saying that, though, I've never seen you with a boy so I could ask you the same question?"

When I said that Susan looked at me thoughtfully, and then she took her mobile phone out of her pocket and said to me,

"Just give me a minute; I want to speak to your mum?

She dialled the number and when my mother answered she said to her.

"Mrs Smith there is a matter I have spoken to you about for a considerable amount of time, I want to talk to your son about it but it will probably take some time, have I got enough time to do so before you come back to the ward?"

I did not hear my mother's reply but it must have been to say that she could go ahead, because when she put her phone away she said,

"You and I need to have a talk; or more precisely I have to talk to you, but when I start, please don't interrupt me until I finish. Because there is something you need to know about me."

She then went on to relate to me the story of what happened to her as a young gymnast who had been seduced by her coach.

The traumatic thing about it for me was not that he had made me his lover; but that he had betrayed me by have sex with other young girls at the same time as he was fucking me. I thought I was in love with him and he with me. I never considered it rape because I wanted him to do what he did to me and I liked it.

What he did was to make me ashamed of myself and unable to trust men. So I have never been out with a boy since then and I have had regular counselling from your mum. She has helped me more than the psychiatrist whom I saw for ages after these events became public."

"Susan I feel sad about what happened to you, but why are you telling me this?"

Because today you stood up to bullies for me and in doing so you nearly put your life on the line. This proved to be the last piece in the jigsaw of my rehabilitation progress. You could easily have died today if the teachers had not arrived when they did as these boys were not going to stop putting the boot in anytime soon, I think that has finally assured me that there are some boys who will put me before their own needs or desires."

"Then I am happy I have been able to-do that," I told her, " but what has that to do with the kiss we shared?"

"I responded to you Joey, and I kissed you the way I kissed my coach. I like you and I think I want to explore a relationship with you if you would like that, but you have to know about what happened to me and that in a sense I am damaged goods.

"Look Susan, you already know the problems I have with people. I don't relate well to them and I have even more difficulty with girls. I am socially inept and not much of a catch for any girl.

"It doesn't bother you that I had this affair with an older man, or that you have unresolved issues which stem from that?" I asked

Joey laughed out loud when I asked him about this.

"Bother me? I don't think so. In fact it makes me glad that at least one of us will know what we are doing, if we ever get round to having sex."

I smiled at that and thought, 'if I have my way Joey that may be much sooner than you expect.'

Joey

Susan told me about her affair with her coach and was obvious that I might consider this an obstacle to our getting together. That made me laugh because I felt I had greater issues than her because of my lack of social skills and inability to relate to people. I had gone onto the interment to see if there was any medical reason which might be responsible for this. I came to the conclusion that I might be at the lower end of the Asperser syndrome scale. I could relate to my family and was obviously relating quite well to her. I also managed quite well in my relationships with my teachers. When it came to my peers however it was a different story. I did not relate to them at all and what was more worrying to me at any rate was the fact that this did not bother me greatly. I was quite happy to be a loner.

"Listen, Susan, I think I have more unresolved issues than you. Apart from my family, my teachers and my sister's friend, I don't relate to people and I am a bit of a loner. It doesn't worry me, but you might find it more difficult to cope with than I will because of your unresolved issues."

"I don't think so, she said, "Although I have difficulty relating to boys because of my lack of trust; before all this happened I was a very outgoing sort of person and still have other friends among the girls besides my two close friends. I also have a theory about you."