Chapter 5

Authors Note: There is an indirect and unconfirmed mention of incest between adults in this chapter. There will be no on-screen incest in the Memories stories.

That said, while things start off with a couple of rough episodes from Jason’s life, I promise that it’s far from a completely depressing chapter.

Summer of 1984

This was one of the most eventful summers in my life. A lot of things happened that either resolved ongoing concerns or created worse problems, some not surfacing until later. All in all, I was growing up.

I’ll back up just a bit ... and cover ‘that kiss’. The one that Lupe laid on me right after we got our exam results.

It was a really good kiss! I was just about to take my friend into my arms when she pulled back and we just stood there, breathing heavily.

“Whoa, that was so hot!” This from Laurel. You remember her, my girlfriend? Yeah, I practically jumped backwards when I remembered. Thankfully, Lupe was too busy staring at her feet and blushing to notice my panic. We’d finally gotten her to wear most of her long, shiny black hair pinned back, or I’d have to wonder how she was feeling. The smile on her face was unmistakable, as was the dark red spreading over her normally caramel colored cheeks.

More importantly, Laurel didn’t seem upset, but quite the opposite. My lover’s eyes were twinkling and her grin was, if anything, even brighter than our dark haired friend’s happy, though now quite bashful smile.

Then we were reminded that we were not exactly alone ... By the half of our class that had either witnessed the kiss or were quickly being filled in on it. It’s amazing how our hearing can practically shut down when we are focused - as I was on the kiss - and then literally come roaring back when the moment ends!

Laurel and I exchanged one of our ‘talk without speaking’ conversations and within moments I was turning to try to do damage control. Meanwhile, Laurel hustled our now mortified friend out of the classroom.

So, yeah, that’s the immediate aftermath of ‘that kiss’. I was not surprised when Lupe avoided me for the rest of the day. I was also not surprised when Jake gave me a raft of shit over it. I was a bit surprised, and a little hurt, when Laurel told me that she was going to spend the afternoon - and evening - with Lupe. But I did understand, and Laurel’s deep, tongue-filled parting kiss was just as full of promises as ever. And she always kept her promises!

“I was ditched by my girlfriend.” I thought it was a funny way to offer to spend time with Jake. His snarky reply of, “You mean, girlfriend*s*?” Didn’t seem as funny to me.

But we did hang out that afternoon and the whole evening. Which shouldn’t seem odd if you knew us for the last several years, but it kinda was. Unusual, that is. Jake had thrown himself into Karate to the exclusion of almost everything else. I’d finally gotten good enough at sparring with him to win a match every once in a while. But he still preferred working out - and sparring practice - at his dojo.

Honestly, I was fine with that. I’d rather not find out just how much better Jake was at hitting than I was at avoiding hits. Still, the conversation flowed pretty well between us. We talked about Springsteen’s new hit song and we cracked up as we demonstrated our (poor) attempts at moonwalking.

Plans were already made to go see Ghostbusters and then Gremlins this Friday as part of his birthday party. Indiana Jones was playing on the Saturday Matinee, and we had plans to see it for the fourth time in two weeks. We both loved the movie, but Jake was a little obsessed. I had no doubt that the fake leather Fedora I had gotten him was going to be his favorite present ever. I bet he wouldn’t take the stupid thing off for weeks.

After grabbing some burgers we rode past his dojo on the way to his place. This made me remember the fedora, I couldn’t wait to joke about him wearing it and his karate uniform to the dojo!

It also reminded me of the upcoming Karate Kid movie. I took the opening to give him shit about looking a lot like the ‘bad guy’. He got a really funny but serious look when he said that Shelly was way prettier than the blonde in the upcoming show.

We rode speechless for a little while after that ... Jake was still broken-hearted even half a year later. We didn’t know it then, but it was just a few weeks later that ‘the blonde that got away’ would be back in our lives, and in Jake’s arms.

But, that was later. For now, I was already griping about Coach’s demand that I increase my wind-sprints and decrease their times, simultaneously. And do it before next weekend’s big state qualifying meet.

His reply of, “Sucks to be you!” Hardly stoked the embers of goodwill, so I demanded that he come in and spot me for weight training. He agreed, saying that we couldn’t rely on his dad to be around, which kinda sucked because I had to agree.

Coach had seemed really distracted lately and would often give me assignments, and then leave me to do them - unsupervised. This was really unusual and had never happened when Jake and I were both in track training. Something had changed since Jake quit his father’s sport.

Standing behind me as he spotted my squat-press, I heard Jake grumbling about his dad spending all of his time with his sister. I glanced up, seeing that he was staring out the window and followed his gaze. We were in the training room/garage at the rear of the property and we could see into the back of the house.

I saw his sister Wendy hobbling around with a single crutch and wearing a brace, and I had to avert my eyes. Her short-shorts and crop-top left nothing to the imagination, and she was a very pretty and well developed girl ... or woman, I guess. I remember that Jake said that they’d just had a party for her 19th birthday, right before the end of school.

Jake’s grumblings were strange, it wasn’t like him to be jealous of his once nearly-crippled sister. He made a few more strange comments during that workout that didn’t make sense, until later, when they did and I wished they hadn’t.

The first big change of the summer caught me totally off guard. It was actually just a week later, three days before State Qualifiers, and once again Coach had left me to ‘finish up’ my workout on my own. While he often did this on days when Jake was working out at the dojo, (which was most days) I was a bit pissed off that he didn’t stay to encourage me with the meet so close at hand.

Having finished my workout, I drained my water bottle but was still really thirsty. I went into the kitchen to get a drink when I heard an odd noise.

I guess I should clarify, it wasn’t odd so much as unexpected. I knew the noises quite well, they were the sounds of sex. Mom was insatiable, (dad’s words) and she and dad were far from discreet. For that matter, Laurel and I were very active as well and she was quite vocal when we were in my room.

So I stood there, half a glass of water in my hand, and tried to make sense of things. Coach was obviously in the house, (it was his voice I was hearing) but nobody else had been home except Wendy-

I got the hell out of there before I found out something that I did not want to know.

I was so freaked out that I skipped training the next day. I gave the excuse that I was a bit sore and wanted to rest up for the meet. I ran for absolute shit at the meet and missed qualifying for State in any of my events for the first time in four years ... including the relay. I felt horrible about letting my teammates down.

Mom was supportive, dad was working, Coach was livid, Jake was dumbfounded, and Laurel ... Well, my girlfriend knew exactly what was going on because I had already told her. Thankfully, she didn’t learn about my times until the end of the day, which is probably just as well.

At least she had qualified for both of her events.

I had never even considered keeping it from Laurel, and I had called her that evening. Both of us tried to analyze it from all angles but the clues all pointed back to something we really didn’t want to deal with.

While still overwhelming, the weight of such a terrible secret was halved by sharing it with my girlfriend. I think I actually read that in a fortune cookie once, but this taught me why ‘truisms’ start with ‘tru’. We decided not to tell anyone else for now as when it came down to it, I only had suspicions and no concrete evidence. We were in agreement that we did not want to try to find that evidence.

This episode also reminded me of just how Blessed I was to have such an amazing girlfriend. I still woke up each day and immediately thanked God for having Laurel in my life. We were incredibly close and, other than her obsession with finding me ‘another wife’, no topic was closed to us. She was my rock as I dithered and agonized over my decision not to go back to Coach.

Before the end of June, I had skipped or cut short so many trainings, (especially when Jake wasn’t around) that Coach blew up at me and told me not to bother coming back until I got my head on straight.

I’d just lost the personal attention of an Olympic medalist trainer and my overwhelming feeling was one of relief.

I knew at the time that my friendship with Jake was badly strained by this, but I simply could not explain myself to him. He said that his dad was really hurt by my ‘abandoning him too’, but ... what could I say?

It wasn’t until later that summer that I realized that Jake didn’t really push me all that hard, not really. It was mostly surface prodding and half-hearted complaining and eventually we repaired the tear in our relationship. I never did resolve things with Coach though, and I’m sad to say that I would lose my chance in just a few years.

Meanwhile, around this time, a series of events brought Shelly back into my life and unsurprisingly, straight back into Jake’s arms.

My dad helped give lessons in ‘beginner’s Tai Chi’ at the “Y”. Shelly started attending and my father told me she was there but left it up to me what to do with that information. Laurel and I talked it over and I attended the next class.

Shelly was different. She was thinner, quieter ... almost washed out, but somehow happier? I took the time to speak with her and was immediately convinced that this was not the same pushy, manipulative girl that was one of my first girlfriends. There was no way I could keep this from Jake, so I didn’t. He later told me that he met her at the next class and the rest, as they say, is history. One of my most earnest prayers that Sunday at church was for Jake and Shelly.

So, like I said, there were a lot of changes going on. The good news was that I have a new training partner and I’m head over heels in love with her. The bad news was that I now had even less time with my best friend. Then again, I hardly saw him anymore once he and Shelly got back together. There was no doubt in my mind that Jake was head over heels in love with his new-old girlfriend. Laurel and I remained cautiously optimistic that Shelly wouldn’t change her mind, again.

Speaking of training, Laurel and I were both dedicated enough to our sports that we were able to avoid being ‘handsy’ while we trained. The unexpected benefits of combining our training styles were not realized until later in the summer. This was mainly because our training was mostly focused on Laurel’s State Track events as I had no more meets until Fall track began. We also had other obligations, (my family outings being the longest) which kept us from noticing a few differences in routine until well into August.

By that time, a whole lot of ‘drama’ had unfolded, and Laurel and I spent a lot of time dealing with the fallout, thankfully becoming even closer.

It was that summer that I finally understood the depth of my father’s commitment to my mom. He wasn’t as reliable or wise as Vern - sorry dad - but he did his best and he really was a dedicated husband. It just sucks that his dedication led him to making decisions that would eventually cost us our family. But that’s ‘tomorrow’s trouble’. To really explain ‘today’s trouble’, I’m going to ask Laurel to tell her side of things.

Laurel’s Summer Tale, Part 1 Laurel Andersen’s POV

The summer started really well and, despite daddy’s warnings, I felt the time was right to start really laying the groundwork to bring Lupe closer to Jake and I.

I chose an afternoon when we girls would have my house to ourselves. It was a rare confluence of Lupe having some free time and momma being out of the house. It was after our ‘spa time’, where we did each other’s hair and nails, and we were sitting on my screened-in back porch waiting for our nails to dry.

I’d been researching different multiple wife marriages and polyamory as best I could without drawing suspicion from the librarian or my teachers. In the end, I decided to stick with the oldest source I could quote. It didn’t hurt that Lupe knew her Bible quite well.

“Hey sweetie, do you know what Genesis Chapters 4, 16, 29 and First Samuel 1 all have in common?”

My bestie stuttered out a laugh, her eyes narrowed even as she couldn’t stop smiling. “What are you up to, tonta?”

Ok, she was already suspicious, which wasn’t great. But calling me silly in Spanish wasn’t ‘bad’, so I pressed forward.

“Seriously, all of those Scriptures have something in common, and it’s all really important to the history of our Faith.” Lupe’s Faith was super important to her, so I knew that if I had any chance, I had to work this angle.

My bestie had this adorable habit of cocking her head and staring off to the side when she was thinking hard. She wore that look now, so I pushed forward while I had the initiative.

“Lamech, Abraham, Jacob, and Elkanah are all examples of men who had more than one wife. There are several examples from throughout history as well, though they aren’t as well known here in America.” I had let myself get a little passionate, so I toned down my voice and clasped my hands.

It was hard not to move my hands when I was emotional, and I could feel a knot in my chest but I pushed forward almost desperately. “I feel a lot like Sarah, but I know that God hasn’t made any promises that I would be messing up if Jason had children with another wife.” My final words were rushed, and I felt that familiar clench in my chest turn into a burn that made it hard to breathe.

I hadn’t realized that I was crying until Lupe was holding me to her chest and stroking my hair. She was mumbling rapidly, and even as good as my Spanish was, she wasn’t making a lot of sense to me. Still, my best friend sounded more exasperated than angry, and her actions were soothing, so I couldn’t help asking, “Are you mad?” I was a little shocked at how small my voice sounded.