Chapter 14

Bailee's turn:

I should've bought a fleshtone-colored ring. The one Lane gave me, it's brand new, and it's shiny and it got noticed. I should've printed out a FAQ sheet to cover all the questions: 'No, I'm not pregnant.' 'No, it's not a student, the guy's older and has a great job.' 'Yes, it's about love. Sex is a horrible reason to marry somebody.' 'No, I hadn't noticed that I act different and dress better.'

Even teachers. Make that 'Especially teachers' because high school teachers of academic subjects tend to protect those students, especially the ones who aren't arrogant assholes about it.

Mizz Coleman. Math. Well, this year it's entry-level calculus. "He's older?"

"Yes, ma'am. Thirteen years."

"And you're not pregnant."

"No, ma'am. I don't play that game. Lane's a good guy."

"What kind of work does he do?"

"He's an engineer. Electrical."

"Oh. That's ... those guys are smart, usually."

"He IS that," I said.

"So ... Bailee, I worry. If I'm overcautious, I'm sorry, but you don't look abused."

"I am poorly abused. He has no idea of how to conduct a proper exploitation. His only shortcoming." I smiled. "Thank you for caring, but I'm really okay."

"Okay, Bailee," she returned, "but if you ever need to talk about anything, I'm here."

"Thank you so much, Mizz Coleman."

The students were a mixed bag. There were a few that I just KNEW were thinking 'Uh-huh! She'll be showin' in a couple of months' while their mouths were saying "Well, GOOD for YOU!"

Then there were the ones that looked at me askance because announcing that I was married was an open admittance that I was engaging in sex, although most of them were servicing a guy a week.

Do I sound a bit jaded? Do you wonder why? Still, just because others may have problems doesn't mean I have problems. They can say what they wish, but whoever talks to me pleasantly gets pleasantness in return.

End of the day. I meet Nicole at her locker. We stow away a few things, gather a few things, and walk out.

One more. Guy comes walking up pretty fast. "Hey, uh, Lee..."

"Yeah, Ryan." Ryan's in one of my classes this year. Two last year. Nice guy. Pretty smart, too.

"I heard you got married. Saw your ring in English, but I couldn't get to you..."

"Oh, yeah. I did. See?"

"Wow." His head sagged. "Dammit. I was gonna..."

"Gonna what?" I asked him.

"Ask you out."

"You're a bit late. I think that move would not impress my husband now," I said.

He looked at me, then Nicole, then back at me. "Stupid."

"What's stupid?" I asked.

"I should've asked..."

"What about you 'n' Morgan?" I remembered seeing him with her, and heard the word through the ever-present grapevine.

"Yeah. Right. Intellectual incompatibilities," he said. "I can do calculus and she has to sing that song to remember all the letters in the alphabet."

"Nice hooters, though," I smirked.

"Lee!" Nicole squeaked.

"Well, there had to be SOMETHING that he found attractive," I said. "Right, Ryan?"

He hung his head. "Guilty. And the hair. Don't forget the hair."

"Yes. Blonde. Definitely blonde. I'm almost certain that's what the bottle says, anyway."

I caught Nicole wincing again.

"You know, three months ago, I might've entertained your request. But as I said, too late."

"Well, good luck. Have I met 'im? He's a student, right?"

"Nope. Not for the last decade."

"Older guy?"

"You're fast," I laughed. "Ryan, I'm flattered, really, but there's no 'here' here. Don't mind having you as a friend, but like I said, I have a husband."

"Okay. That's it, then."

"Till death us do part, buddy."

He peeled off to go to his car. Nicole and I continued to walk.

"If he tells Morgan what you said about 'er..."

"It'll be the second time she's heard it. I had to uncork on her and her little clique before Christmas. She made some catty comment about my brown phase, something about 'mud-colored'. I used the 'hair color off the bottle' comment and her choice of hooters over IQ points."

"I missed that," Nicole giggled.

"It almost got real, babe," I said. "You have to be careful when you knock out the underpinnings of somebody's whole reason for existing. A couple of her clique giggling didn't help." I chuckled. "Needless to say, I didn't get invited to 'er Christmas party."

"I bet not. And I'm stealin' that 'has to sing the song to remember the alphabet' line."

"It's in the public domain," I laughed. "Don't remember where I heard it first. It applies, though."

"It applies to half our classmates," she said. "So when can I meet 'im?"

"Maybe tomorrow. Never know how his day's gone. I don't think I'd like being blindsided, so I'm not going to do that to him."

"Can't call 'im?"

"He's at work. I could, if it was an emergency, but just routine stuff..."

"Yeah, I understand. Just don't have much going on this evening ... Or any other evening."

"Talk to Ryan."

"Don't be cruel."

"No, I'm serious."

We paused the conversation long enough to get into the car, then joined the start-stop exodus out of the parking lot.

"Lee, I don't delude myself..."

"About what? Having a brain?"

"Fifty pounds extra. Pizza face."

"Who carries on a great conversation. If I was interested, which I wasn't, I would've asked 'im."

"And if he says no and starts laughing?"

"Then that's a bit of data. And you'll know. Right now you don't know."

"I could be crushed."

"You could be. Would it be the first time?"

She shook her head.

"Figured. There are a lot of idiots."

"They're teenaged guys. Blonde hair and tits count for a lot."

"Well let's look at this from the other side. Ol' Ryan, he's not bad looking, don't you think?"

"He dated Morgan. She's like, second tier."

"Yep. So let's just arbitrarily say ol' Ryan's second tier himself. Have you even thought about some of the third tier guys? I mean, not necessarily some ugly knuckledragger. A girl's got to have her standards, but maybe one of the guys in our AP classes."

"None of them ever asked me either. They're still hoping for blonde hair and tits."

"And I revert to my original proposal. Approach them."

"Oh, yeah..."

"Nicole, don't fight me here. I'm not suggesting that you waltz up and say, 'Hi, you 'n' me, we belong together forever.' Not even, 'Hi baby. How 'bout a date?' Just a little bit of conversation, a few words today, a few words tomorrow, a smile or two," I told her.

"I think I see..."

"Unreal expectations," I said.

"But your guy, Lane, he's pretty good looking..."

"Wasn't fishing in the same pond," I smiled. "Actually, wasn't fishing at all. That's an alternative, Nicky. You don't have to find your lifemate in high school. I did. But I sort of stepped on a magic insect or something."

She giggled. "Oh, yeah ... And in the meantime I continue my wild social schedule?"

"That was Phase Two, right? Telling a guy 'I wouldn't mind if you and I went to a movie. Friends, you know.'"

"I know. What do I have to lose, right?"

"Well," I said, "I'm not telling you to jump in full throttle. Ease into it."

"Oh, yeah, I guess I start with a real ugly one and work my way up to the class president."

"Now you're just being evil," I laughed.

"Yes, I am. And I am fortunate to have an equally evil friend," she laughed in return. "And I wouldn't mind if we did a study session. This calculus is a bit of a stretch. And physics."

"Let me talk to Lane. I mean, I'd have to bring you home afterward..."

"I bet I could talk Mom into picking me up after a – study session."

"You work your end, I'll work mine..."

She started giggling. "If you're gonna start talking about your sex life..."

And I realized what I said. I felt my face flush.

"Gotcha!" Nicole laughed. "Not often that I get ANYBODY, much less YOU!"

I dropped Nicole at her house in a neat subdivision, then worked my way over to our trailer park.

I had a few minutes before Sherry got home and I had a couple of worksheets to complete for school, so I did those, then unloaded last night's dishes from the washer and loaded in the bowls and cups from breakfast. The vacuum cleaner occupied the rest of my time until I saw Sherry's car pull into her drive.

I bounced over there and got to her before she opened her front door.

"I'm dying to hear," she said. "I must live vicariously through you."

I grinned as she let me into her living room.

"You don't have to look that damned happy," she laughed.

"Oh, gosh, Sherry! Everything you said. And then some. It's WONDERFUL."

"Oh, really? Wow, Lee! Two million years of human existence, and YOU discovered that sex is fun!"

"My smart-assed cousin, it just as well be that way. As a matter of fact, I can just about tell you when the universe began..."

Smirk. "That was a week ago."

"Oh, yeah ... it was, wasn't it?"

"So then it boils down to you enjoying your one night honeymoon."

"Which I did."

"And him?"

Giggle. "Wore that weenie OUT! We both have chapped lips and I almost couldn't walk. You don't realize what muscles you're using."

"Okay!" she laughed. "Now I'm just a little jealous."

"Be jealous," I said, "but you told me stuff that I don't think I would've learned on my own in one week. Or maybe a lifetime. We did it like you said. He DID! I didn't tell 'im to be like that, but he DID! Tried everything he could to make me pass out." Giggle. "Some of 'em WORKED!"

"Told you he was a good one," Sherry said, a little wistfully.

"You're right," I said. "And I tried everything I could imagine. What you told me, and then some. What HE liked. I can't thank you enough."

"I can't exactly say 'no regrets', Lee," Sherry told me. "Seeing how happy you are makes me realize what I turned loose."

"Sherry," I replied, "It's not just the sex, you know. Everything. I finally have THE guy. We can talk for hours, just driving 'round, watching TV, listening to music. Even reading. Both of us at the same time."

"I kinda got that treatment, you know," Sherry said wistfully. "A friend like that..."

"He is," I said, then it dawned on me how much Sherry was REGRETTING passing Lane on to me. But Lane said he'd never break up a marriage. "The guy's honorable."

"I know," said Sherry. "And if I'd pushed the idea of me leaving my husband, I think Lane would've dumped me on the spot. But he was a good friend. And ... Dammit! You get ALL of it."

"I can't share 'im, Sherry," I blurted, not even thinking.

"Oh, gosh, Lee baby, I wasn't going there. Really. Well, I thought about it, but no, we can't do that."

"I love 'im, Sherry. For real. And when the 'new' wears off of this marriage thing, I'm gonna still love 'im. And I gotta be right to him. I have no doubt that he's gonna do right for me."

"I know," she said. "that's why I wouldn't ... didn't ask."