Chapter 8

The next day at class everything appeared to be normal, at least to everyone else; though her girlfriends smiled at me in a funny way. I was having second thoughts about becoming intimate with Becky; then with a saucy look in her eyes she whispered to me during one of the breaks that she had played with herself twice the night before, just so she could get to sleep; I couldn’t leave my seat for an hour after that. We got through the rest of the school day without further teasing, but I could tell she was just waiting for me to say something. I did suck my thumb for a second in front her; she had a puzzled look on her face until she remembered the DI’s quote and broke up laughing, fortunately during a break. When class was over JB met up with me, we headed for chow and then the barracks; it was a Thursday night, time for the field-day cleaning of the barracks. We weren’t in the duty section, which bore the brunt of the cleaning; but we still weren’t done until after 8. I studied a bit; I did not want to have to pull a Saturday instruction session that weekend; and was in bed when ‘lights out’ was called.

Next morning, we had the barracks spotless for the CO’s inspection, then attended class and took the weekly exam; I knew I’d aced it when I turned in my paper, Becky had missed two questions; she’d done very well. We were dismissed at 3:30 with a ‘well done’ from the Chief; I told Becky we would probably pick her up at 4; she promised she’d be ready. JB and I met up again and headed for the barracks; we threw our civvies on and were pretty much ready to go, we’d both packed a bag the night before, and had stashed it in the car already.

When I stopped at the exchange, he looked at me questioningly; ‘flowers?’ I mouthed; he jumped out of the car and headed inside. After a second, I parked and followed him in, he just might come out with only a couple of daisies. We talked to the florist a minute or so and explained the situation and how much he wanted to spend; we ended up with a nice fresh bouquet that would easily make the trip in the little cooler we bought. Since we had the cooler; we bought some cold snacks, sodas, and ice; and a little box of chocolates for Becky; we shoved it in the back seat and made it to her barracks right on time. She had a big purse and little bag; she got in the back seat smiling without a word; but we were less than a mile from the base when she made us pull over.

“I know Marines aren’t known for their smarts,” she said, opening the door and climbing out of the back seat, “and I have recent personal experience to confirm that,” she added as she opened JB’s door and motioned him out; “but you guys are crazy if you think I’m going to spend the next three hours in the backseat alone,” she finished as she climbed in next to me, and beckoned JB back in. “Have you told him about us yet, honey?” she asked me. “Did you remember the flowers?” she asked JB.

“Not yet; I figured I’d have plenty of time during the drive,” I told her.

“Carl remembered the flowers,” JB said, “and I’m pretty sure he got you a small box of chocolates; I hope they aren’t meant for me.”

“Okay, get this boat moving, please,” she giggled. As I pulled back out on the road, she turned to JB; “Carl and I are about to be lovers, would be already if he wasn’t so damn level-headed. We don’t want anyone to know, obviously; but he’s pretty sure we can trust you. If we can’t, I’ll tell your fiancé about all the lady sailors hoping to jump your bones.”

JB looked at me and laughed; “I really like her; she’s going to get along great with my girl. We’ll have to spend a few hours together.”

“Thank you,” she told JB, then leaned up to kiss his cheek. “I guess we’re going to drop you off first, then take me home. You got me chocolates?” she squealed at me, “where are they?” turning around in the seat and rooting round in the cooler. Once she found them, and was settled again with sodas for us all, she asked, “It’s a good thing you’re driving, or you’d be getting a big kiss right now,” she told me. “So, what should we talk about for the next three hours?” JB roared; I had to smile myself.

It was a nice trip, Becky and JB chatting back and forth, both laughing a lot; we ate all the chocolates. She finally forgave him for embarrassing her high school basketball team, after he promised he’d never do it again.

“Are all Marines this quick?” she asked, “or is it just you two?”

“We seem to be on the same wavelength most of the time,” JB said, “but there are times I have a hard time keeping up with him, too.”

“He almost had me peeing my panties on our second date, I was laughing so hard,” she told him, “And he didn’t even realize it was a second date.”

“I haven’t been around him long,” JB added, “but that sounds like Carl. Are you sure you want to mess around with him? I’ve got a special needs cousin that might be easier to handle.”

That got Becky laughing; “Oh, I like him too;” she said, talking to me about JB. “We’ll have to have him stick around. Though I’m not sure you two being together a lot is a good idea; I’ll bet you feed off each other’s quips.”

JB laughed again, then sobered quickly. “Okay, I’ve got a secret or two I need to share with you guys also; so just listen a minute.” He paused for a moment, then continued; “My family isn’t rich or anything, but we’ve got some money. My grandfather, father, brother, and a couple uncles are musicians in Nashville; have been for years. Mostly studio players, but they’ve all been on the Grand Ole Opry several times, and on tour with some big names. I play myself; I joined the Corps because I didn’t want that kind of life for myself; I want to do something more meaningful, at least for a while. Anyway, I was pretty sure we’d be putting Carl up in the pool house alone while he was visiting; my folks wouldn’t have any issue with you spending time with him there this weekend, if you want to try to arrange it.”

“Oh JB,” she said with a tremor in her voice, “that would be so wonderful. I was afraid I’d have to rent a sleazy motel room somewhere for a couple hours. What can we do to repay you?”

“Well, don’t tell my fiancé about lady sailors lusting after me. I’m not sure I believe you, and Angie trusts me; but she would surely tease the hell out of me if she heard that.”

Becky laughed; “It’s deal, but I’ve got to say; all you muscular Marines running around has all the Waves looking at most of the male sailors, and considering the difference.”

“Have you seen Carl running without his shirt;” JB asked? “Or playing basketball, that’s something that would get the Waves talking. I think he’s only got about 5% body fat; you could use him for an anatomy lecture.”

“Quit it JB; you’re just trying to embarrass me;” I finally speak up. “It’s not my fault the DI’s made me do all those extra exercises; the stuff they said was funny.”

That got Becky laughing again. “Did he tell you the one about somebody being so dumb, they could fall in a barrel of tits, and come out sucking their thumb?” she asked JB, who roared with laughter.

That started a conversation that lasted until we were almost to Nashville; recounting some of the funny stuff JB and I had heard, with Becky adding a couple herself. Finally, JB directed us to his parent’s house; that was where his fiancé was waiting for him; pretty easy to find. We dropped him off in front with his bag, he almost forgot the flowers; he told us not to come in, or we’d never get away. He waved us away just in time; I assumed the beautiful young woman who came running out to him was his Angie.

We got back on the freeway, and made it to Becky’s house fairly soon; no way I was getting away from there quickly; most of her family was sitting on the front porch, waiting for her. I’d just follow her lead; I told her as we both got out of the car, I got introduced as her friend and classmate just giving her a ride. I’d have probably made a clean getaway if I hadn’t asked to use the bathroom; I finally got away 45 minutes later with a freshly made sandwich in my hand. I made sure she had JB’s address and phone number, and I had hers; I whispered to her to call anytime if she needed anything; she told me to get the boat moving before she forgot herself and kissed me in front of everybody.

I got back to JB’s home around 10; there was a party going on. It was a big older house, very nice; JB was watching for me and introduced me to Angie, and his mom and dad. Angie thanked me for the flowers; when I tried to protest, she leaned forward and gave me a kiss on the cheek. She loved JB, she told me; but he’d never in a million years think of flowers. I told her I’d keep working him, he seemed to be trainable; everyone laughed at that. I got introduced to a hundred people it seemed; a good portion of them seemed to be single females of all ages that wanted to talk to the guy who got JB to bring flowers home to his girl. About 11:30 JB was told there was a phone call from a ‘Becky’ for him; I had to laugh when Angie said she’d take the call. I only heard one side of the conversation; but obviously JB had told Angie all about Becky, and me; it was 10 minutes before I was handed the phone.

“I love her,” Angie told me, “You better get her here soon, or I’ll tell her about all the girls impressed with you having JB bring me flowers.”

I got on the phone; it hadn’t been a good surprise trip home. Her boyfriend was seeing another girl; he was reliably reported to be going to break up with Becky the next time he happened to see her. Her parents weren’t happy about the whole thing, and were already trying to set her up with a guy they knew; I let her vent for a few minutes, then asked if she wanted me to come get her. I hadn’t realized Angie was still standing there; she grabbed the phone from me, and I listened to one side of a conversation again. After another 10 minutes she told Becky that we’d be there in an hour, then hung up.

“Get your keys,” she told me, “I’ll get JB; we’ll be back before anyone knows we’re gone.” I was a little bemused, but did what I was told; a minute later Angie was back with JB and his mother Carol, explaining the situation. JB’s mom seemed to be fine with the whole thing, just told us to call if there were any problems; a minute later we were on the highway, heading east again. Angie chatted the whole way and told us guys what to say and do when we got there; JB just kept nodding his head and smiling, I followed suit; not much traffic that time of night, we were back in front of Becky’s folks house in 45 minutes. Becky was sitting on the front porch with her parents and a couple girlfriends I think; Angie made a beeline to Becky and gave her a big hug. “I’m so glad you can spend the weekend with me, we’ve got so much to talk about!” Angie exclaimed. The woman was young, but also a force of nature; by the time JB and I got to the porch she had all of them nodding their heads and smiling; we were back on the road in 5 minutes, Angie driving. “You guys have been up since 6 AM; I got up at noon,” she explained; “By the way, I love this car!”

I was in the back seat of the Buick for the first time, with Becky holding my hand; I didn’t know what to expect, but Becky was as happy as could be. JB and I got most of the story while Angie and her were talking; the end result was Angie and Becky were now best friends, and I’d better treat her nice; or she’d tell all the single females at the Brooks’ house what an idiot I was. I really didn’t care what those females thought of me, but that didn’t seem to matter. I still wasn’t sure what I should do about Becky; I liked her a lot, but did I need or want to possibly mess with another woman’s life?

Turned out nothing was going to be decided tonight; we got back to JB’s place; the party was still going on, but winding down now. A couple of people had missed us, but it didn’t seem to be a big deal; Becky was introduced to the crowd as JB’s and my friend, Angie stayed right with her. It looked like nothing was going to go badly, so I didn’t need to try to fix anything. The party ended about an hour later, JB and I were really dragging; things were re-arranged so that JB and I were going to be staying the night in the pool house, the girls would be in the main house. That was fine with me and JB; it was now nearing 2 AM and all we wanted to do was get some rest; after everyone left, JB and I were still talking when I fell asleep on the couch.

When my eyes first fluttered open at 6; my first thought was wondering why I was so tired; then yesterday’s events came flooding back. I laid on the couch reconstructing the evening, still wondering what I should do about Becky; fortunately, JB came wandering into the room in his PT gear, yawning.

“Sorry about ruining your reunion with your fiancé yesterday,” I told him; “I hope you or Angie aren’t mad at me, or Becky.”

“Are you kidding? Angie is in her element; having the best time talking with Becky and finding out about her, and you. What’s going on with that, if you don’t mind me asking?”

I had told JB a lot about the women writing me before; he knew about my relationship with Kelly and Irene, and how Mary seemed to be eager to join the group, and that I wasn’t sure about it. He didn’t give me much good advice, but he did let me verbalize my thoughts, and get them organized in my mind. We chatted for a couple minutes, then decided to go for a run, clear our minds.

We were out for an hour; it ended up being more of a jog than a run because we kept talking, we probably didn’t cover more than 7-8 miles, pretty slow for us. I knew almost everything about him and Angie; they’d been together since junior high, and seemed to be made for each other. We talked more about me, and what I should do about ‘my women’, as JB kept referring to them; I asked if I could call Kelly and Irene while there and he told me to not be stupid, to make myself at home. We got back around 7:30; I figured I’d take a chance and call; I was pretty sure they’d be up. The pool house had a phone connected to the main house; I called, and the phone was answered by Kelly.

“Carl!” she squealed. “Where are you, what are you doing? Let me get Irene.”

We chatted for a couple minutes; them passing the phone back and forth on their end; eventually I guess they just shared the handset, holding it between them. I told them where I was and why; I passed the phone to JB, they knew about him but hadn’t talked to him yet; their conversation went on for several minutes. When I finally got the phone back and the initial conversational rush was over, I got down to why I called.

“I’ve got a situation here I’m not comfortable with; and I need to talk to the two of you about it,” I told them.

“You found a girl,” Kelly guessed.

“She means, a girl found you,” Irene spoke up. “We knew this was going to happen; we’re not surprised. What’s her name, tell us about her.”

I talked about Becky, how we’d met and how far we had gone; and how hesitant I was to go any further with her. They kept talking back and forth, asking questions and giving advice I wasn’t really sure about; all of a sudden Becky and Angie came through the sliding glass doors.

“Who are you talking to?” Becky asked with a smile.

“I called Kelly and Irene in Erie, the ones I told you about?” I replied. The girls in Erie could hear me, and started clamoring they wanted to talk with Becky. “They’d like to talk with you, would you like to talk with them?” I asked Becky. She looked at Angie, they both smiled broadly; then told me to tell the girls to hold on a minute, they’d go to the main house and get on the phones there. I chatted with Kelly and Irene for few more moments; when Becky and Angie came on the line, I introduced the four as best as I could, then Angie took over; I guess I should have expected that.

“Okay, Carl,” Angie told me, “We’ve got it from here. You and JB get cleaned up and join us in the kitchen in a little bit for breakfast; we’ll let you know when we need you again,” she chuckled.

When I hung up the phone and told JB what was going on, he just laughed and laughed; “You’re not just in trouble, you are totally screwed. We can take our time; if I know Angie this is not going to be quick. Come on, we’ll clean up and I’ll show you around the property.”

We both showered and shaved, then got dressed. JB gave me the dollar tour, he told me; the nickel tour wasn’t good enough. The ‘pool house’ was not just an over-sized cabana next to the large, sparkling in-ground pool; it was its own little complex of rooms and buildings. Attached behind it there was a large room set up as a professional-grade recording studio; I was amazed at all the equipment and instruments scattered around. There was a good-sized bedroom on both ends of the pool house with their own bathrooms; when I looked at JB he just shrugged. “We have musicians staying over-night all the time. You’re the one that fell asleep on the couch, and it’s a pretty comfortable couch.” There was a small, fully outfitted kitchen, and a small den/library filled with sheet music; it was a little overwhelming and JB was just getting started.

Behind the pool house was a couple large garages, and a barn with a basketball court in front; the garages had an old, converted school bus in one, and a newer RV bus in the other; they seemed to be set up for touring a band. JB told me about that as we walked; he seemed to have slightly understated just how much his family was in the ‘music business’ in Nashville. I finally got out of him that he was involved more than a little bit; he was getting quarterly royalties that pretty much equaled his Marine Corps pay. His family wasn’t famous by any means, and they really preferred it that way; “The entertainment and music business in Nashville can get ‘crazy stupid’; you need to keep it at arm’s length, if you can;” he told me. “But if you can handle the crazy, and not be too stupid, and you’re good enough; you can make some decent money.” The barn had a couple old cars and trucks in it; plus some old farm equipment I really couldn’t identify; JB told me the property was originally the family farm, but was now down to a little over 10 acres; they had sold off most of the property to developers.

We got back to the main house in about 30 minutes, the girls were still on the phone; Angie on the kitchen phone, Becky on an extension in the adjoining living room. They had managed to move and stretch the phones cords so they were almost sitting together; the girls were smiling and obviously having a great time; JB and I were both blown a kiss and waved away. Carol, JB’s mother; was in the kitchen, she gave JB a cup of coffee and I accepted a large glass of orange juice; JB continued with the tour. The house wasn’t a mansion by any means; you could tell it had started as a typical farmhouse and been added onto several times over the years; now it was 3-4 thousand square feet. Very nice, rambling, and comfortable; it was by far the biggest home I’d ever been in, and told JB so.