Chapter 62: Everything Changes

May-June 1981, Milford, Ohio

I woke up on Friday morning with the song Efter Plugget going through my head.

Of course, the song didn’t really apply, since I did have a plan and knew what I was going to do, but it still came to mind.

I swam with Stephanie, then we showered separately and met back in the kitchen for breakfast. It was her last day of school. She asked if I would drive her and Debbie V to school, and I agreed. When I arrived home, Dad took me aside and handed me a check for a thousand dollars.

“I felt this was the best graduation present I could give you,” he said. “It’s drawn on my investment account, so please don’t say anything to your mother.”

“Thanks, I really appreciate it. I’m sorry things turned out the way they did, but I don’t see anything else I can do.”

“I know, Son,” he said with a note of sadness in his voice.

The check reminded me of the envelope from Don Joseph, which I hadn’t opened. I went to my room and pulled it out of the desk drawer I had put it in. I was shocked to find twenty $100 bills. I put the check into the envelope and headed out to drive to the bank and deposit the cash and checks. I realized that as of now, including my own money plus the scholarship money, I had my entire first year of college covered, including tuition, books, an apartment, and living expenses. If things continued to go the way they were, I could probably avoid taking extra money from Don Joseph, though I appreciated having the safety net.

I knew I needed to speak with Don Joseph about Chicago. Having done the two driving jobs for Andreas, I was pretty sure that he’d have something for me to do, other than just writing programs for his various businesses. We did have the dilemma of how to provide support while I was away, but we had worked that out with Beth when I was in Sweden. Krista would just have to handle it. Beth and I would be available, and while we would do a lot of the specialized programming, Krista would be the main contact person in Milford. She was a pretty good programmer at this point, which would help.

I was meeting Larry, Bethany, Kathy, and Mary for lunch today. Josh, who was a Sophomore and Kara, who was a Junior, were still in school, so they couldn’t join us. I left the house around 11:30am and picked-up Mary. Larry was picking up Bethany. The five of us met at Frisch’s and talked about how it felt to have graduated.

“We’re all going to college. In other words, we finished school so we could go to school,” Larry laughed.

“Only now we have to pay for it!” Kathy said.

“Well, the taxpayers paid for it so far, now it’s on us,” I chimed in.

“Are you and Jennifer going to live together in Chicago?” Mary asked.

“That’s the plan. Kathy is going to be in Chicago, too, but I think Evanston is too far for all of us to get a place together.”

“I’m going to live on campus my first year, anyway,” Kathy said. “Though it would be cool if somehow we could work it out after that.”

“Steve could have a harem!” Mary teased.

“You’re just jealous, Mary! Besides, you never did answer my question from Prom!” I teased.

Mary turned red and said nothing. Bethany laughed.

“What’s going on?” Kathy asked.

“Just an inside joke,” I smirked, looking at Mary, who seem to have taken quite an interest in the placemat in front of her.

“Yes, Mary doesn’t appreciate being the butt of a joke,” Bethany said, laughing even harder.

I laughed at that one, and Kathy looked me in the eye and arched an eyebrow. I nodded slightly, and she started laughing as well, as she got what we were teasing Mary about.

“The four of you are just crazy,” Larry chuckled. “Well, Steve will have Jennifer to keep him in line soon enough.”

“Jennifer?” Bethan said, shaking her head. “That’s like asking the fox to guard your henhouse! Kara has been keeping him in line for five months, with a bit of help from Stephanie and me. Think about it — how many new girls have you seen hanging around since Steve and Kara started dating seriously?”

“I guess just Susie,” Larry said, “and I don’t think anything is going on between Steve and her. Wow! You’re right. I used to need to keep a scorecard!”

“Excuse me, but I don’t believe I have ever once told you anything about any girls, Larry!” I said playfully.

“No, but Birgit and I were very close friends. Jennifer and I were close and so are Bethany and I. And I’m not blind, Steve! Want a list?” he said with a laugh.

“No, no. Everyone here is well aware of the list, at least as much as they need to be,” I said.

“Says you!” Mary said, finally speaking. “I’d be very interested in that list.”

“You know, so would I,” Kathy said. “Or at least a count. It’s got to be pretty high!”

“Guess! Kathy and Mary, guess the number!” Bethany teased. “We’ll see who’s closest!”

I shook my head and smiled, asking to ears that were obviously deaf, “Is this necessary?”

“Well, let’s see, I don’t know how many he had in Sweden, so not counting those, I’d say seventeen,” Mary said with a smirk.

“Seventeen? Not counting Sweden?” Kathy said, surprised. “I was going to go with something like ten!”

“You’re both WAY off!” Bethany giggled. “Unless I’m really out of touch, the number has to be about forty, including girls in Sweden! And most, probably around thirty of them, were here. Am I right, Steve?”

“Yes, Sweetheart,” I said, feigning disgust.

“Are you kidding me? That many?” Kathy said, shocked.

“She’s not kidding, Kathy,” Larry said. “My rough count, not including girls in Sweden, is about thirty. I can guess at a couple of girls in Sweden, but I don’t have the details like Bethany does.”

“That averages out to eight new girls per year since eighth grade, and if he’s been behaving since January, and we start counting when he turned fourteen, that means it’s closer to ten new girls per year!” Mary said. “I’m impressed.”

“Oh, it’s more impressive than that,” Bethany said. “More than half of them were virgins!”

“No fucking way!” Kathy said, then giggled and covered her mouth. “Sorry, that just slipped out.”

“It’s true. He’s got to hold some kind of deflowering record for Milford High School!” Bethany teased.

“I think we can change the subject now, thank you very much!” I said.

“Now you know why he’s so damn good, Kathy!” Mary smirked.

“Maybe a plaque at the High School?” Bethany teased. “You know, like they do for athletes or donors!”

“OK, OK. Enough!” I said firmly as everyone laughed.

We had finished our lunch, so we headed out. Mary got into the car with me so I could take her home.

“You just had to tease me about that, didn’t you?” Mary said, a smile showing she wasn’t upset.

“If I can make you flustered and embarrassed? Absolutely!”

“I am SO not surprised you told Bethany. But I suppose you had to once Kara ceded control to her for the Summer.”

“True. And according to them, then I become Jennifer’s problem!” I grinned.

“Steve, were you really serious about doing what I asked? Or were you just teasing?”

“I was, and I still am serious about that. I told you the condition, though. Josh leaves in less than a month, so you need to decide soon,” I chuckled.

“Do you know how frustrating you are, Steve Adams?” she said, trying to sound annoyed but failing.

“Indeed I do,” I chuckled. “It’s one of my best traits! You want me to step way outside my comfort zone, so it’s only right that I set the condition, so you have to as well. Not only that, but then Josh would have the idea, too!”

“You. Are. Evil!” Mary said with a wry smile.

“Don’t I know it! Well, you’ve got about a month to make up your mind. Just let me know!” I said, pulling into her driveway.

“Argh!” she groaned, then leaned over to kiss me goodbye. “You know I’m not steady with Josh. Want to come inside? My parents aren’t home.”

“Not today. We’ll see how things go over the Summer. I’m staying on the straight and narrow.”

There was no need to mention Kathy, because I was pretty sure that was a one-time special thing. I knew Bethany was going to let up on the reins a bit, but for the first time in my life, I didn’t want to just have sex for fun. Kara had fundamentally changed me, and for the better. I wanted Jennifer to see the new me in the Fall. The joking about her allowing me more freedom was fun, but I was pretty sure that Jennifer and I would be better off if we were steady. The only exception would be my sister, at least for a time.

That was probably my best plan for the Summer, too. Stick to Bethany, see Kara, Elyse, and Joyce with no sex, and have the very, very occasional dalliance. Perhaps with Mary, perhaps with Kathy and whatever plan Stephanie had with Shelly and Trish. In fact, that last one might not even be a good idea, because it felt like I was reverting to old forms rather than sticking with new ones. I could justify, at least in my mind, being with Mary and Kathy as simply continuation of on-again, off-again relationships. New girls brought me perilously close to my old ways. I’d need to talk to the Triumvirate about that.

After Mary got out of the car, I checked my watch and headed towards the High School. I would be picking up Kara, Debbie V and Stephanie, and after dropping the two younger girls at home, Kara and I would spend the rest of the day together. I parked in the lot behind the school, waiting for dismissal. It was beginning to hit me that I was done here. The Junior and Senior High Schools had been a part of my life for five years, even if one of those had been spent in Sweden. There were a lot of great memories.

My reminiscing was interrupted by Kara opening the car door and getting in. She leaned over and kissed my cheek.

“I got a better kiss last night!” I said.

“Oh, stop whining!” Kara teased, puckering her lips.

I gave her a peck on the lips and then started the car and drove down to the Junior High parking lot. We had a few minutes to wait for Stephanie and Debbie V.

“That was better, but still not as good as last night, Kara!”

“Unh-uh, Steve Adams. I know better. If I give you a good kiss, like last night, it’ll make me wet and I’ll want to do things I can’t do with you!”

“Spoilsport!” I teased. “It is nice to know I have that effect on you.”

“You know you do! Do you know how difficult this is? Just sitting here, you’ve got me all hot and bothered just by thinking about it!”

I grinned, “Thinking about what, Kara? About me sliding my big, hard dick into your tight little pussy until you cum!”

“Stop it!” she giggled. “You know better, Steve Adams!”

I relented, “Sorry. I shouldn’t tease you like that.”

“No, you shouldn’t! Changing the subject, are we getting together with Joyce next Friday?”

“That’s the plan, yes. What did you want to do tonight?”

“Dinner, obviously. Then it’s up to you,” she said with a grin.

“Oh no, you don’t, Kara Anne Blanchard. You are not making me responsible for you behaving badly! Other than kisses, and occasional teasing, if you want more, you’ll have to ask for it. Explicitly. I’m not going to make that mistake with you! I love you far too much.”

She giggled, “I know you do. And actually, this is as much of a test for you as it is a struggle for me. I want to see how you behave when you don’t have the fetters holding you back. And if I can handle not having your big, hard dick sliding in and out of my tight little pussy until I cum!”

I laughed. “You are so bad. But, about me behaving — the Triumvirate is still in control until August. So it’s not like I have free rein.”

“Bethany is not me. I know she’s going to allow you freedom that I never could. But will you do something for me?”

“Yes, Kara, of course.”

“Be completely honest and open like you have since the Becky incident.”

I thought about it for a moment and decided that I owed Kara this much. I was interested in what her reaction would be.

“I will. Are you sure you want to know?”

“I think so, yes. I know about Bethany, obviously, and she told me in advance about Kathy, so there’s nothing to say there,” Kara said with a smile. “From what I hear, Kathy was quite happy to have your attention one more time.”

“And you don’t have a problem with that?” I asked, a bit apprehensive.

“Yes and no. It’s like your past. I don’t like it, but it’s something I have to live with. Like I told you, I know for a fact you and Jennifer are going to have sex, and I have to deal with it. I know you can keep your vow to me. In fact, if I asked you to keep it all Summer, I am sure you would. But, given I know what’s going to happen, I felt you and Bethany should be able to have your Prom night. And once I decided that, then I had stopped being intimate with you.”

“Believe it or not, when Bethany and I were in the room, I was thinking that it should have been you there with me. Your dad wouldn’t let you go to the dance, and I am absolutely sure he wouldn’t let you stay the night with me,” I sighed, “but it really should have been you, Kara.”

“I know. But this is where we find ourselves. Given what has to happen next year, and all the rules my parents have in place, it’s probably for the best. You and Jennifer will find out if you’re right or not. I know you think you are, and so does your sister. I, on the other hand, think that, in the end, I’m going to be Mrs. Stephen Adams. And that, Steve, is worth letting you go in the short term.”

Stephanie and Debbie V came up to the car just then and Kara got out to let them into the back seat.

“Debbie, what were you doing at the Junior High today?” Kara asked.

“The art teacher teaches at both schools, but her studio is here and that’s where we did our final.”

“I’m a Freshman now!” Stephanie said with glee.

“Congratulations, Squirt, you’re in High School!” I said.

“Well, not the building, but yeah! Besides, it’s better to not be in the other building, Jeff will be a Junior and I don’t want to be there. My Sophomore year I’ll have to be, unfortunately.”

“I think I actually only saw him in school about five times the whole year,” I said. “Maybe it won’t be too bad.”

“We’ll have to ride the bus, and that sucks!” Debbie said. “Mom and dad won’t let me get a car yet.”

“Sorry girls, but I’m going off to college. You’ll need to find someone else to drive you if you don’t want to ride the bus,” I said, putting the car in gear.

After dropping the girls off, I drove into Milford and Kara and I went to sit on a bench by the river. We sat with our arms around each other and talked, and just enjoyed the sunny, hot weather. We decided to go to TGI Friday’s for dinner and after we ate, we went to Farrell’s for ice cream.

“Shall I take you home, Kara?” I asked as we got into the car.

She let out a long sigh. “Yes.”

When I dropped her at her house, we hugged and exchanged a quick peck on the lips and I headed home. It was so nice out that I changed into shorts and a t-shirt and went to sit on the deck and just relax. I stared at the sky and thought about what it was going to be like living in Chicago with Jennifer.