Chapter 13: Fourth of July Fireworks, Part I

July 1982, Milford, Ohio

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were nearly identical — swimming and breakfast with Stephanie, spending the day with Kara, finding time for a sauna, and making love in the evening. I did end up sleeping alone on Saturday night because I took Kara home so she could go to church in the morning with her mom. She would drive to my house after church to help set up for the party, which was starting at 2:00pm and might even continue after fireworks, depending on how everyone felt.

On Sunday morning, I swam with Stephanie and had breakfast with her and my dad. She told me that as of Saturday, everyone she’d talked to would be at the party. That meant that we’d have Bethany, Kathy, Ed, Larry, Joyce, Terry, Tracey, Marty, Pete, Melanie, Elyse, Anna, Donna W, Debbie V, Phillip, Tracy V, Trish, Shelly, Krista, Mary, Susie, Johnny, Jessica, Beth, Brent, Ralph, and Janet. According to Stephanie, Jessica and Krista were both bringing guys with them. We’d have nearly 30 people, which would mean a fairly roaring party. Stephanie didn’t know that Sandy was supposed to be at the party, and I still wondered if she’d actually show up.

“Dad, if everyone does show up like Stephanie says, we’ll have around 30 people here from 2:00pm until we leave for fireworks. Some of us may come back afterwards.”

“I have tickets to a show. Your mom and I will be gone at 2:00pm and go visit your grandmother, then go to dinner and the show, and we’ll be out until about midnight. Just remember you can’t use the pool after midnight and to keep the music down after midnight and there won’t be a problem. I’ve already spoken to your mom about it and let her know I’ve approved everything.”

“Thanks. I really do appreciate it. Do you realize she pretty much hasn’t said a word to me in months?”

“Yes. I think she’s more or less given up at this point. Just don’t do anything to provoke her, please.”

“Dad, him being here provokes Mom!” Stephanie interjected. “It’s just she’s not saying anything for some reason.”

I wondered if the issue with Jeff was the reason. She might suspect that I knew, but so long as I didn’t say anything, she could continue to pretend that it hadn’t happened. I knew for sure that if she pissed me off, I was going to make sure that everyone knew her little secret.

“Maybe so, Stephanie,” Dad said, “but there seems to be an uneasy truce, and I’ll accept that as the best we can do at the moment.”

After we finished breakfast and cleaned up, Stephanie went to get ready for church and I went to make some phone calls. My first one was to Karin, restarting our regular Sunday calls. Our talk had restored the potential for the future, though Karin was realistic about it. After our usual ten minute talk, I had short talks with Sofia, Tina, and Pia. I hung out with my dad until 10:00am, then called Washington to talk to Tanya.

“Father says I may come to Chicago next month, if you still wish it.”

“I do! How about sometime during the week of the 8th?”

“Is when I am thinking is good as well. Is two weeks before I go to Boston. Father will make airline arrangements and I will call you with details.”

“I look forward to seeing you, Tatyana Ivanovna!”

“And I, Stephen Rayevich!”

Stephanie arrived home from church just before 11:00am and we went to Fazio’s, K-Mart, and United Dairy Farmers to get everything that we’d need for the party. Around 4:00pm, someone would go out to pick up some Lee’s Famous Recipe Fried Chicken, and I made a mental note to call in the order so it was ready on time. I did that when we arrived home, after putting away all the groceries. Kara arrived a few minutes later.

The three of us spent about an hour working in the kitchen before Bethany and Ed arrived. They pitched in to help us get everything ready. We put the finishing touches in place about ten minutes before the first guests arrived. By 2:30pm, everyone was there except Sandy. I was beginning to wonder if she’d changed her mind when the phone rang. Stephanie answered and told me it was for me. I went into my dad’s office to have some quiet, picked up the phone, and discovered Sandy was on the line.

“Is it OK if I bring Ruth?”

“It’s up to you, Sandy. You’re the one who’ll have issues, not me.”

“She wants to come.”

“Then bring her. I’ll see you soon.”

I hung up and went back to my guests. I found Jessica, and she introduced me to Joey, her boyfriend. She’d met him at the Y where she was lifeguarding. I asked a question with my eyes and she smiled and nodded; she’d found her date for Tracey’s parties. I smiled and then went to find Krista and meet the guy who she’d brought. She introduced me to Vince, but called him a friend, not a boyfriend. I went to the small circle where Kara, Bethany, and Kathy were standing with Elyse, who didn’t look happy.

“What’s up, Elyse?” I asked, hugging her.

“Warren. He got back together with his girlfriend from tenth grade. He broke up with me.”

“Wow. Did he say why?”

“Not really. He hemmed and hawed and didn’t really say anything. I got the idea that he just couldn’t deal with our,” she waved her hand to include the five of us standing together, “lifestyle.”

“I thought he was doing reasonably well and adapting,” I protested. “He even said so. And he seemed OK, too.”

“You don’t read guys very well, Steve,” Kathy said. “I don’t mean that to disparage you, just to say that you read girls pretty well, but guys are more difficult for you.”

“He doesn’t ALWAYS read girls really well,” Kara said with what appeared to me to be a knowing smile, “but he usually does.”

“What did I miss, Kathy?” I asked, ignoring Kara’s Smart Aleck comment.

“Think back to that ice-breaker afternoon,” Kathy said. “We know Elyse is the most reserved amongst us when it comes to sexuality, at least in public, but Warren was WAY more uncomfortable than Elyse was. When Elyse sat on Kurt’s lap, she kissed him without much thought. What happened when I sat on Warren’s lap?”

“Nothing. At least until Elyse said something to him.”

“Exactly. Sure, he put on a good front afterwards, but that smile was forced. He had a real problem with seeing you and Kurt kiss Elyse, and just as big of a problem kissing me and Stephie. He couldn’t deal with it.”

“Uhm, neither could I,” Kara said. “I couldn’t kiss another guy.”

“And that’s fine,” Kathy acknowledged, “Warren should have said ‘no’ if he was uncomfortable. Maybe the peer pressure got to him, maybe not. But I don’t think any amount of peer pressure would change your mind, Kara, and we wouldn’t want it to. We just wouldn’t do that kind of thing with you there because we know it’s a limit you’ve created.”

“I feel like I’m going to ruin things when I come there,” Kara said softly.

“No, you aren’t!” Kathy said firmly. “That entire afternoon was about Warren. None of the rest of us NEEDED to do it. Well, maybe Stephie, because she’s really inexperienced.”

Elyse laughed, “Not any more she’s not!”

Kathy smiled, “Good point! Being with Steve will do that to you! As I was going to say, Kara, we’ll adapt to the people who are there. Not to mention the fact that Steve won’t be allowed to kiss anyone like that when you guys are a couple, which you plan to be. But that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun as a group!”

“The girls are right, Kara,” I said. “You will NOT cause problems. But let’s get back to Elyse. How are you doing?”

“You know I had my concerns about Warren from the beginning,” Elyse said. “I shared those with you, Steve. I was afraid he couldn’t handle how open and free we all are. Maybe I’ll come down to IIT and check out the guys! It’s something close to 90 percent guys!”

Kara giggled, “Oooh! Lots of options!”

“Watch out, Steve!” Bethany giggled, “Kara’s going to kick you to the curb!”

“I am supremely confident that is not going to happen!” I said smugly.

“As you should be, Snuggle Bear,” Kara replied, looping her arm in mine.

The doorbell rang, and I went to open it. As expected, it was Sandy with her friend Ruth. They looked a lot alike, including the way they wore their dirty blonde hair. Both were about 5’6”, slim, with smallish breasts, and blue eyes. They weren’t quite close enough in looks to be sisters, though they could be cousins. I invited them in and went back to my small group.

“The deck is available and so is the pool for anyone who wants to use them,” Stephanie announced.

“I’m going to swim,” Kara said. “Want to join me?”

“Sure,” I said.

“Me too!” Bethany said.

The other girls agreed as well. We headed down the hall to put on our suits. The girls went into Stephanie’s room and I went into mine. I shut the door, but it opened almost immediately and Kara walked in with her bag. She locked the door behind her and started changing.

I chuckled, “Not changing with the girls?”

“You’ve seen it all before, and besides, I want you to be the first to see my new bathing suit.”

I quickly started to change, but what I saw made me stop just as I was about to take off my underwear.

“Kara?!” I said, shocked.

“Do you like it?” she asked, striking a pose.

“Are you kidding? That’s enough to give every guy here a stroke or pass out from lack of blood to the brain! Are you really going to wear that swimming?”

“Yes!” she grinned.

Kara had put on a sexy white bikini. I was completely blown away. It wasn’t quite as skimpy as the one that Mary had, nor even the red one my little sister had, but it was breathtaking. I quickly finished changing, wondering if I needed to take a cold shower to get rid of my erection.

“I can tell you like it,” she grinned, coming over to hug me.

“What ever possessed you buy a bikini?” I asked.

“If I can sit naked in the sauna with Pete or Marty, I can wear this swimming!”

“I’m not complaining, not in the least!”

She pressed her hand into my swimsuit. “Do you need me to help you out, Snuggle Bear?” she said with a smirk.

Without waiting for an answer, Kara dropped to her knees, pulled down my underwear and took me into her mouth, quickly engulfing me. She put her hands on my butt and began bobbing quickly, swirling her tongue. I let the pleasure build quickly and less than two minutes later, I filled her mouth with cum. She released me, swallowed, then licked me clean. She handed me my bathing suit, helped me pull it up, then stood up and French kissed me.

“All better?” she grinned.

“Yes!” I smiled.

“You know I really love feeling you pulse in my mouth, feeling your cum shoot in, and tasting you. It’s such an amazing thing to do for you!”

“I do know,” I replied. “Now let’s go swim before we’re missed!”

I was right about the reaction — Johnny, Ralph, Brent, and Terry looked like they were about to have heart attacks or strokes. Sandy’s eyes went wide, and so did Mary’s. More interesting was the lack of reaction from Bethany, Kathy, Joyce, and Stephanie. They had clearly known beforehand. And speaking of my sister, she was wearing her equally heart-attack-inducing red bikini. I went over to her as she was about to get on the diving board.

“That bathing suit brings back great memories,” I whispered.

“They could be yours again any time you want, Big Brother!” she whispered back.

“Wear that more often and I’ll have a hell of a time resisting, Squirt!” I teased.

“If only you meant that, Big Brother,” she said, diving off the end of the board.

I saw Sandy standing by the sliding glass door that separated the house proper from the swimming pool and walked over.

“Remember, you have to swim if you want to dance, Sandy,” I said. “You can change in my sister’s room.”

“You’ll really dance with me?” she asked.

“Of course. I said I would!”

She bit her lower lip and nodded, then turned and walked away. I wondered if she could really get into the pool with the rest of us. As I jumped in the pool, Larry, Ralph, and Brent came out in their suits to join us. In the next five minutes, nearly everyone was in the pool and it was quite crowded. There were several girls in bikinis — Kara, Stephanie, Krista, Jessica, Tracy V, Debbie V, and Mary. Bethany had on a one-piece, but it wasn’t nearly as conservative as the one she’d worn years ago.

Sandy and Ruth came out the sliding glass door wearing very conservative one-piece suits with wide straps, no cleavage, and plenty of material. They both looked good in their suits, but also looked very embarrassed. They tentatively got into the pool and tried to not be too close to any of the guys. That was a lost cause given that we had around twenty-five people in a pool that was 20’x50’, and included a ten-foot-deep ‘deep end’.

Just before 4:00pm I asked Pete if he or Melanie would run down to Famous Recipe to get the chicken and he said he’d do it. While he went out, I got the charcoal in the grill started, and Stephanie and Kara got the hamburgers and brats for the grill onto plates and took the buns out of their packages. Terry and Ralph offered to run the grill, and I happily handed over the spatula and tongs.

By 5:00pm, everyone was eating, and Larry and Johnny relived Terry and Ralph so they could eat as well. It was nearly 6:00pm before the thirty hungry teenagers had eaten their fill and the tongs and spatula could be put aside. Joyce and Bethany served ice cream cones and most everyone went out on the deck just in time for a thunderstorm to roll in. We dashed into the house to avoid the rain, hoping that it wouldn’t ruin the fireworks.

The storm cleared before 7:00pm and left only scattered, high clouds ensuring good viewing conditions for the fireworks. When we’d finished eating our ice cream, we rearranged the furniture for dancing, uncovered the pool table, set up the video game system, and got out a couple of chess boards and a deck of Uno cards. People split up for various activities. I played pool for a bit, winning each game until I yielded the cue voluntarily to let others have a turn.

I walked over to Kara, who asked me to dance with her. I led her to clear space and joined Joyce and Terry, Tracey and Marty, and Debbie and Phillip, who were already dancing. We danced to a few fast and moderate songs, then to a slow song when Ed and Stephanie and Ralph and Janet came out to dance as well. Kara rested her head on my chest and held me tight as we swayed together. We went to get something to drink as the song finished.

Sandy walked over to where we were standing.

“Is it still OK to dance with Steve?” she asked Kara in a soft, shy voice.

“It’s up to him. I’m OK with it,” Kara replied.

“Steve, will you dance with me?” she asked, almost in a whisper.

“Sure, Sandy. Let me have Stephanie put on a mix tape of slow songs.”

Kara followed me over to Stephanie. I asked my sister to put on the slow mix tape and then Kara pulled me aside.

“Remember, you promised to do what she asked,” Kara smirked.

“A dance, Kara,” I replied with a chuckle. “That’s what she asked for. I know you’re just yanking my chain at this point.”

I walked over to Sandy, who had gone to stand next to Ruth.

“Stephanie’s putting in a mix tape with a bunch of slow songs,” I said.