Chapter 38: Sankta Lucia

December 1978

On Monday, Kathy Will found me and giddily agreed to my terms and asked when I’d do it with her. I told her that I still thought it was a bad idea. She was desperate.

“Steve, I’ll do anything you want if I can have just one more night where we do it three or four times. Anything. Please?”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” I said firmly. “No.”

“Nobody ever says ‘no’! Now you’ve said ‘no’ twice!”

“That’s right.”

“Fuck you, Steve Adams!” she growled angrily and stormed off.

Jennifer tittered and said softly, “Fuck you, Steve Adams!”

“Yeah, I guess she’s a bit upset. Oh well. Told you I was going to say ‘no’.”

She giggled, “Steve, I’ll do anything you want,” she simpered.

“Jennifer!”

“Sorry,” she pouted unconvincingly.

I just laughed.

“See you after school for the walk to Melanie’s!”

Melanie was improving and was cleared to return to school on the 11th. She’d be in a wheelchair until her leg healed enough for a walking splint, which was expected to be another four weeks. She wasn’t happy about that, but she was happy that she could return to school. Her first session with the psychologist had gone well, at least according to Melanie. I wasn’t sure how I’d determine that she was in a good mental state, but I would have to make such a judgment at some point.

The rest of the week passed quickly. On Friday, Joyce and I had our date, and it went as she planned, sex, dinner, then sex. It was comfortably enjoyable, as always.

At work on Saturday, Kim was constantly eyeing me. I could tell she was waiting for there to be no customers and for Andreas to be in the office. She got her chance around 10:30am.

“Steve, can we get together today after work? Please?”

“Kim, remember, I said this can’t be a permanent thing.”

“I know. But you said I could have it again. Please?”

“I don’t have any plans,” I said. “Let me call my dad and tell him you’ll bring me home.”

I made the call and Dad said ‘OK’. I was surprised how quickly work went.

We spent a few hours at the apartment screwing ourselves silly. It was fun, but as much as I liked Kim, I wasn’t interested in anything ongoing. She was an enthusiastic partner, but I hadn’t developed any feelings for her beyond just being a friend, and I certainly didn’t want her to.

I arrived home early enough to call Becky.

“I asked my parents about New Year’s. Daddy doesn’t like the idea at all. I told him we’re working on our relationship, but he doesn’t want you spending the night and he was pretty clear we couldn’t go to my room.”

“So I’m guessing that will be the case in June, too.”

“I think so. Daddy doesn’t understand what I need.”

“Your dad doesn’t want you having sex with me because we’re not together. I can see his point, Becky.”

“So now what?”

“Will he let you visit me during Christmas break?”

“I’ll check and let you know. I think they will.”

We chatted for a few more minutes and then hung up. I called Jennifer next.

“What are you doing right now?” she asked.

“Talking on the phone to you, Jennifer.”

“Smart ass! I mean, are you busy?”

“No.”

“Can I come over and we can just cuddle and talk for a couple of hours?”

It was only about 7:30pm so I said, “Sure!”

“Mom will bring me right over!”

I went to tell Dad that Jennifer was coming over and we’d be sitting on the couch in the living room. He had no objections. Of course Jeff, who had been playing pool, heard this and ran to turn on the TV. I went back to Dad and complained. My mom said I had no business complaining and should share the room.

“Mom, he did that only AFTER I said we were going to sit in there. If that’s what you say, then Jennifer and I will sit in my room.”

“That’s against the rules, Stephen!”

“Then enforce your rules. I asked Dad for the living room and he approved. That means Jeff can’t be allowed to do what he did and has to move. If you don’t enforce that rule, then you can’t enforce the other one.”

“Steve, be careful,” my dad warned.

“Dad, I’m simply pointing out that she’s doing this on purpose. Either the rules apply or they don’t. She has to decide. I’m fine either way.”

“Well Judy, he’s right. Which is it?”

“Fine. Jeff will move. But this is the last time you speak to me like that, young man!”

“You mean simply pointing out your favoritism?”

“One more word and you are grounded. Do you hear me?”

I nodded and walked out. I was getting really tired of this. Really tired. I’d talk to Dad in the morning. Dad made Jeff leave the living room. I was sure he would do something soon to get me in trouble.

Stephanie came in from a friend’s house and came to sit by me.

“Jennifer will be here in a few minutes. We’re just going to sit here and cuddle and chat. You can join us if you want.”

“Sure! Do I get to cuddle, too?”

“Yeah, with one of your stuffed animals!”

She stuck her tongue out at me.

“Promises, promises,” I teased.

We both laughed.

I grabbed one of the oversized bean bag chairs we had and plopped down in it. Stephanie got one as well and put it next to mine. When Jennifer arrived a few minutes later, she sat in my lap and put her head on my shoulder facing so she could see Stephanie.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“I was just missing you and needed to feel your arms around me.”

“This is nice, though it’s much better naked,” I said.

“I’m game!” Stephanie exclaimed and all three of us laughed.

I gave her a look that made it clear she should tone it down. I could tell by her eyes that she understood. Whether she’d tone it down or not was still a question in my mind.

“What’s bugging you Jennifer?”

“Nothing really, I just want more time with you.”

“Jen, we don’t really go on dates anymore. We should. Joyce and I have our little dinner routine every three weeks or so, just the two of us. You and I spend a lot of time with school friends and now we’re seeing Melanie after school every day.”

“True. We also don’t fuck often enough.”

Stephanie giggled, “Is it ever enough for him?”

Jennifer laughed, “He does seem busy in that regard, doesn’t he!”

I chuckled, “You two need to quit ganging up on me!”

They both stuck their tongues out at me.

“Jennifer? I know right where you can put that. Stephanie? Put yours back in your mouth!”

They both giggled.

The rest of the night was more of the same, just chatting and having a good time. Stephanie was clearly enjoying being included. Jennifer and I agreed that we’d start having a regular Saturday date. I mentioned not having been approached by anyone and she said I should just be patient.

“It’s not like you’re not getting enough sex!” she laughed.

“That’s true!” I agreed. “I had Kim again today. She’s sex-crazed now! But she’s going to have to find another outlet.”

“What’s with you, Big Bro? You’ve ended a bunch of chances for good sex.”

“Stephanie, it’s not like he’s not getting any!” Jennifer smirked.

“True,” my sister agreed, “but it’s not like him.”

“Squirt, it’s too hard to balance that many relationships. I have to keep Joyce and Jennifer front and center. The occasional dalliance and random deflowering is fine.”

“What am I?” Stephanie asked quietly.

“A beautiful deflowering, definitely not a random one! And certainly not a dalliance!” I said softly.

“Stephanie,” Jennifer whispered, “OK to ask a question?”

“Sure.”

“With your brother, is it a one-time thing?”

“That depends on just how good he really is!” she smirked.

They both broke up in laughter.

A few minutes later, Jennifer’s mom arrived, and we kissed goodbye. She hugged Stephanie.

On Sunday morning, Stephanie and I swam and had breakfast together. After they left for church, I went to find Dad.

“Dad, Mom is basically baiting me now. Changing the rules. Favoring Jeff. She’s setting it up, so I have to fail so she can punish me.”

“I know, Son; I’m doing my best.”

“I’d like a rules change. That I can have people in my room so long as the door is open and we stay off the bed.”

“I think that’s reasonable, but your mom won’t.”

“I need private space to talk to my friends, Dad. I’m not going to have sex with them in my room with the door open and you guys home!”

“Your mom doesn’t believe you should have any private space.”

“I know. But this is crazy. I’m fifteen. I need a place where I can be with my friends here at home. What if in the evenings, if I have friends over, can I use the office? You and Mom could watch TV in the other room. That way I can use my computer in here, you know, the one only I use, but Mom requires be kept in here, have my friends over, whatever.”

“Your mom likes using this room.”

“Yes, she does. But I need private space. Can’t you help?”

“OK. I’ll allow you to use your room, but no closing the door and stay off the bed.”

“Thanks, Dad. She’s going to be angry.”

“Yes, but I’ll handle it.”

Beth arrived on time and we started or work on the programs for Doctor Grossi. We made good progress before she had to go home.

Monday was an interesting day. Melanie returned to school. Jennifer and I met her out front and I lifted her from the car into her wheelchair. She had permission to leave each class five minutes early so she could move through the halls before the crush of students during the two minute ‘passing period’ when we went from class to class. Both Jennifer and I had special hall passes so we could help her when needed. One of the office assistants would wheel her from class to class because she wasn’t able to use her arm.

By the end of the day, Melanie was beat. We helped load her into her mom’s car, and then Jennifer and I went to our buses. It was going to be a long road to recovery, but Melanie had Prom in mind and was determined to not only be able to dance, but to have a Prom night to remember.

December 13th, 1978 — St. Lucia’s Day

On Wednesday, I took the bus home and then Dad drove me to Petra’s house. She had invited five other people from Milford High and a Swedish guy who was an exchange student at Glen Este High School. Her host sister, Leslie, an eighth-grader, had invited two friends as well.

Things started off with Petra lighting candles and then she and Mikael, the other Swede, sang the traditional song.

We then sat down to dinner of Swedish meatballs and boiled potatoes. After dinner, we went to the basement and the party turned more typical. There was a table with «pepparkakor» and «Lussekatter», along with punch and soft drinks.

Petra put on some music and she and Mikael started dancing. Most people were dancing, changing partners quite often. There didn’t seem to be any couples amongst the High School kids. Leslie, Petra’s host sister, asked me to dance. The music Petra had chosen was moderately fast, so there wasn’t any close body contact. We danced to a couple of songs, then went to grab some cookies.

Leslie’s friend Cindy came over and asked if I would dance with her, and we danced to a couple of songs. I wasn’t surprised when Erin asked me to dance as well. After the first song, Petra changed the music and there was a slower song. I looked at Erin and she nodded, so I put my hands on her waist and she put hers on my upper arms. Erin was about 5’5” with curly brown hair that hung past her shoulders, hazel eyes, and a really cute smile. She was wearing a soft pink sweater and blue jeans that accented her figure.

The next song was faster, so we let go and danced again. When the song finished, we sat on the couch, me with a Coke and her with punch.

“How can you drink that stuff?” I asked.

“Hawaiian Punch?”

“Yeah.”

“I like it,” she said.

“It’s way too sweet.”

“So am I!” she giggled.

“Good one. But I prefer Coke or Dr Pepper.”

We chatted for a bit and her friend Cindy joined us. Cindy was about the same height, but had short, straight blond hair, blue eyes, and she was wearing a pale blue sweater and jeans. She was every bit as cute as Erin, and they seemed to have similar figures.

“Steve,” Erin said, “our friend Mary Harrison said you could help us with something.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

She blushed.

I had assumed that because Mary was involved, it had to do with sex. Now I was sure.

“Well, we kind of wondered if, well, you know.”

I knew. But there was no way I was going to make it easy on her.

I noticed that Cindy had blushed as well.

“We kind of were talking to Mary about stuff and she was telling us stuff and told us you would do stuff if we wanted to,” Cindy said shyly.

I stifled a laugh.

“Cindy, how old are you two?”

“We just turned fourteen.”

Old enough by my rules, but if they couldn’t even bring themselves to ask, I was concerned. Then again, Kellie had always used ‘do stuff’ as her way of talking about sex and actually, with the exception of Jennifer, Melanie, and Mary, the girls were pretty shy about using any direct references. Well, at least at first. I decided to make things a bit easier on them.

“How do you two know Mary?”

“Cindy and I play chess,” Erin said. “Mary comes down to the Junior High once a week and plays with us. We’re the only two girls and we like having her help us.”

“And what did Mary tell you, Erin?” I asked.

“One day she joked about strip chess.”

Of course she did. That was Mary.

“She told us that she had played it before, once, but that a guy on the team had played it a lot, and with girls from other schools, even. She told us it was a lot of fun.”

“I’m sure. Did she say anything else?”

“Yeah, that it ended up leading to having sex, and it was a lot of fun. We asked her about that and she told us how great it felt and how much fun it was. But she said you had to have the right guy.”

Yeah, that would be Mary.

“So we asked her and she said we should ask you.”

“Ask me what?”

“To play strip chess with us,” Erin said, blushing bright red.

They were both totally cute with what appeared to be nice bodies. I’d have to thank Mary profusely. In fact, if she and Ben weren’t exclusive, I might even consider thanking her in a way she’d really appreciate.

“You want to do that? Both of you?”

They both nodded.

“Erin, Cindy, you know I have a girlfriend, right?”

“Mary says you have two,” Cindy said.

Of course she would!

“But she said your main girlfriend would be OK with it,” Erin said. “She even asked her!”

Special treat. This had to be what Jennifer was referring to. And she was right. I loved my girlfriend.

“So you both want to play strip chess with me? Did Mary tell you the rules?”

“Yes,” Erin said softly, blushing again.

“Yes,” Cindy said.

“And you’re OK with those rules?”

They both nodded.

“I think it’ll be a lot of fun!” I said.

They both smiled widely.

“How about Sunday?” Erin asked. “We can play at my house. My parents will be at the Bengals’ game.”

The Bengals had been terrible so far this year, with a 3-12 record. But that meant at least four or five hours, which should be plenty. I’d have to change my ‘computer date’ with Beth, but I figured she could just come around 5:00pm.

“Where do you live?”

“On Wolfpen-Pleasant Hill, across from Eagle Ridge.”

That was biking distance, but it was going to be in the mid 30s. I considered for a moment, and decided I could do that.

“OK. I can ride my bike. I’m off Klondyke on Overlook. It’s about ten minutes by bike. What time?”

“They leave around 10:00am, so how about 10:30am. They won’t be home before 5:00pm.”

“OK. Sunday at 10:30am. I should leave by 4:00pm to be safe. OK?”

“Yes!” Erin said with a huge smile on her face.

I danced a bit with Petra after that and chatted briefly. She was happy I had been accepted by YFU and told me that I should try to visit Lund when I was there. I told her that would be fun. I thanked her for the party.

My dad picked me up at 9:00pm. I asked him if I could have a party during Christmas break and he said it would be OK. I told him I’d invite about ten people and that Stephanie was welcome to join us and invite her friends as well. We agreed on the 28th. I also asked if it was OK if Becky came over one day.

“I thought you guys broke up, Son.”

“We did. It wasn’t a bad break-up and we’re still friends. We talk every so often. I figured we’d go skating, grab some food and ice cream, and just hang out.”

He said there wouldn’t be a problem. I did need to find out from Stephanie what her plan for Vickie was.

When I got home, I went to find her.

“Did you invite Vickie for Christmas break?”

“Yeah, I have a good plan. Mom and Dad are going out on New Year’s, so I’ll ask if she can come then. I heard Jeff talking about going to a friend’s house for New Year’s, and if he does that, it’ll be easy for you two to do it.”

She smirked and stuck her tongue out. I simply stuck mine out at her as well. We both laughed.

I went to call Jennifer and let her know that I had encountered the special treat.

“Mary thought you would like that. She said those two had been bugging her with sex questions for weeks, so she basically maneuvered them into an opportunity for you. Have fun!”

“I have to call Mary. Too bad I can’t properly thank her!”

Jennifer giggled, “True. Offer it. See what she says.”

“You know my rule.”

“I do, and I know she’s exclusive with Ben. But you can certainly tease her!”

“Oh, of course! I wasn’t thinking that way. Great idea!”

“Jennifer, I’m planning a party for Dec. 28th. Would you be OK if I asked Joyce to come?”

“Playing with fire, Steve? What if we talk and compare notes?” she giggled.

“Does that mean yes?”

“Sure. Both she and I seem comfortable enough with the situation...”

The way she left that hanging, I knew what she meant.

“I’m not inviting Becky to the party. I’ll see her another day, OK?”

She laughed, “Sometimes you’re not so dumb!”

We hung up, and I called Mary.

“Thanks for the treat, Mary.”

“You’re welcome. Have fun with those two!”

“How good are they?”

“No idea. I’m pretty sure they are both virgins, so you’ll have to tell me!” she giggled.

“I meant at chess, Mary; at chess!”

“They’re about your level, I guess, because you haven’t been practicing.”

“OK. It’s too bad I can’t thank you properly!” I teased.

“Oh God! I wish you would! It’s been so long!”

“You and Ben are together and exclusive. You told me that.”

“I know. But your ‘thank you’ would be worth it.”

“No, it wouldn’t, and you know it. I’m good, but not worth wrecking your relationship over. Melanie did that and look where that led.”