Chapter 10: Life Is Never Boring, Part II

February, 1983, Chicago, Illinois

Our first joining since the previous Summer was slow and sweet, trying to express our deep love for each other through the motions of our bodies. When we finished, Karin held me tightly and refused to let me move off of her.

"Sleep there, please," she whispered.

I kissed her once more, then adjusted my pillow so that I could rest my head next to hers. It wasn't the most comfortable position, but it was what Karin wanted. The feel of her firm body under mine, her breasts pressing into me, and her arms and legs around me made it difficult to sleep, but I eventually drifted off.

When I woke on Sunday morning, my muscles were stiff and I didn't feel refreshed from sleep, though Karin seemed to have slept soundly and woke with a smile. We kissed and got out of bed and went to the bathroom to shower. We spent a long time under the spray after we'd washed up, hugging, kissing, and just enjoying the warmth. When we finally got out, we dried off and went back to my room to dress.

In a role-reversal from Stockholm, I fixed breakfast for Karin, as well as for Kurt, Kathy, Elyse, and Stephie. Eduardo had gone back to the dorms and would come at lunchtime like the rest of the gang. I didn't have any «filmjölk» to offer Karin, so she ate the same as the rest of us — bacon, eggs, waffles, and juice. When we finished, she helped Elyse clean up.

"So you two sleep over every Saturday night?" Karin asked Kathy.

"Yes. It's much quieter here than the dorms, and that way we can drink on Saturday night and not worry about having to drive back to school."

"And there are more people who will come today?" Karin inquired.

"Yes," Kathy replied. "Jackie, Cindi, Katy, Dave, and Julia will be here, and Eduardo, whom you met last night, will be back as well."

"You guys seem to all be very good friends."

"We are," Kathy confirmed. "It started with just Kurt and me, and then expanded to include the rest. We really can't add too many more people. If Cindi or Jackie get boyfriends, they'd be invited, but otherwise, the apartment is pretty full on Sundays. Did Steve tell you about our philosophical talks?"

"Well, he mentioned that you have some pretty serious discussions, but he didn't tell me the details."

Kathy laughed, "I try to keep them serious, but with that group, it often gets silly, and sex comes up A LOT."

"We are talking about Steve," Karin said with a twinkle in her beautiful blue eyes, "so I'm not surprised!"

Even Stephie, who had been quiet and subdued during breakfast, laughed at Karin's jibe.

Our friends arrived for lunch as usual and I introduced Karin to everyone, then we dug into the cold cuts and fixings and made sandwiches. When everyone had food, we sat in the living room to begin our usual discussion.

"We were talking about mistakes last time," I said, "and about self-evaluation. Anybody want to reveal some deep, dark secret? Or discuss some mistake?"

"You mean besides dating you? A mistake most of us have made?" Elyse asked, causing everyone to laugh.

"Cute, Elyse!" I chuckled. "Just for that, you get to tell us your biggest mistake."

"It had to be Sean, without question," Elyse said after a moment's thought.

"Are you really going to talk about that?" Stephie asked.

"I actually think I need to," Elyse said, then told the story.

There were quite a few shocked looks around the room as she talked about her relationship with Sean that had started when she was fourteen and he was in his early 20s and the things he'd done to her. The surprise was that Eduardo wasn't surprised. She'd clearly felt comfortable enough to have told him about Sean. I realized that I shouldn't have been surprised that he wasn't surprised, because I doubted she would have talked about it if he hadn't known.

"That guy should be reported," Katy said. "I mean, seriously. You were barely fourteen and then he went for a younger girl? That's a Grade A pervert in my book."

"How young is too young to have sex, Katy?" Kathy asked.

"I think under fifteen is probably too young," she said.

"I was fourteen," Karin said firmly. "I knew exactly what I was doing, why I was doing it, and what I wanted from it. Who are you to say I was too young?"

Katy recoiled a bit, "How could you know that at fourteen? How old was the guy?"

"Sixteen and a half," Karin answered.

Jackie laughed, "It had to be Steve when he was in Sweden the first time!"

"Yes, of course!" Karin said with a smile. "Who else? I've only ever been with him. In fact, I've never even kissed anyone but him. And it was the right thing to do, Katy."

"Less than three years apart does make a difference," Katy replied, "but I still think you were too young."

"I was fourteen my first time, too, Katy; you know that," I said. "And the girl was 23, almost 24."

"Still too young!" Katy insisted.

"Don't you think it's up to each person to decide?" Elyse asked. "It's one thing to be sort-of coerced into doing it the way I was, but it's a different thing to go into it willingly and with your eyes wide open the way Karin did."

"Katy, how old were you?" I asked.

"Seventeen," she answered. "I'm guessing that's probably about the average in the room."

"Probably because of a few 'late bloomers' like Stephie, who was eighteen," I said.

"I was twenty," Julia said, drawing a knowing smile from Cindi.

"We did this once before, about a year ago. Shall we just go around the room?" Kurt suggested.

"Sure. Remember the rules — we all agreed to tell the truth here."

"Seventeen," Kurt said.

"Fifteen," Kathy said.

"Eighteen," Stephie said.

"Seventeen," Katy said.

"Fourteen," Elyse said.

"Fourteen," Karin said.

"Seventeen," Jackie said.

"Sixteen," Cindi said.

"Seventeen," Dave said.

"Fifteen," Eduardo said.

"Twenty," Julia said.

"Fourteen," I said. "Roughly, I think that works out to sixteen, Katy. Unless someone wants to do the exact math."

"16.2," Elyse giggled.

"Fucking economics majors!" Cindi said with a laugh. "But it's still less than seventeen, even with the ones who were VERY late bloomers."

"I still say fourteen is too young," Katy said firmly.

"Katy, there's a story there," Jackie said gently. "Truth now, as we all agreed."

"Shit!" Katy said, then sighed, "Yes, there's a story. I came within a hair's breadth of losing my virginity at fourteen. He was twenty, and we got to the point where his dick was pressing against my labia and I froze up and told him to stop. He did, thank God. I wasn't really ready, but he'd gotten me so worked up that I almost did it. I didn't know what I was doing, Jackie. I was too young."

"But isn't what Karin is saying different?" Jackie asked.

"Maybe. But look at the other people in the room who had sex at fourteen. Elyse was basically abused by Sean. Steve was taken advantage of by a much older woman."

"Bullshit!" I exclaimed quickly, interrupting her. "She did NOT take advantage of me. Hell, she was careful the whole way. I wanted it."

"You're a guy. She could have raped you and you'd have been happy," Katy countered. "Hell, guys wouldn't even call it rape."

"Katy, are you trying to say that Steve was raped?" Dave asked. "Really?"

"It's statutory rape for sure. There's a reason for age of consent laws."

"Yes, because stupid old men think they can control my body and tell me what to do with it," Julia said. "That's bullshit. Yes, we need to protect kids, but it doesn't seem to me that Steve was abused in any way. He sure doesn't sound like it. I wanted to have sex long before I was twenty, but guys weren't interested in a nerdy girl with stringy hair and huge glasses. And I wasn't going to do it with just anyone just to do it. It's my decision what to do with my body, not anyone else's."

"That's absolutely true," Karin said. "I'm the one who gets to decide; not anyone else. Katy, would you let a man decide if you could have an abortion? Or is that up to you?"

"It's up to me, of course. But those are two different things!"

"Are they?" Cindi asked. "We're talking about bodily autonomy now. If we can't control our own bodies, we have no freedom. Somebody, somewhere, decides for you. It's like stupid laws that say guys can be drafted but can't have a glass of beer! How stupid is that? Congratulations kid, you get to go to war and get your ass shot off, but hell no, you can't have a drink because it's dangerous! That's just fucked up!"

"Does anyone here agree with me that fourteen is too young? What if it was your own daughter?"

"I can't be a hypocrite," I said, "So I'd have to say that so long as she consented, and was using birth control, that would have to be up to her."

"Yes, I agree," Karin said, nodding her head vigorously.

"Yeah, me too," Kathy said. "I'd prefer she'd wait, but it would be her choice. Do you agree, sweetie?"

"Ask me when we have a daughter that age!" Kurt chuckled. "I might have a different opinion than I do now. For now, I agree with you."

As the discussion continued, it was clear that only Katy thought fourteen was too young, but as Cindi pointed out to her, she was advocating for fifteen, which wasn't that much of a difference, and that her objection was based on personal experience, not rational thought. THAT took the conversation in a completely different direction.

"But all we have to go on is our experiences," Katy argued.

"True," Dave said, "but that doesn't mean you can't have a rational analysis of the situation, taking into account your experience and the things you've learned. But lots of things get in the way of rational analysis. Can any of us be truly dispassionate?"

"I asked my friend Anala something like that because there's an argument in the Bhagavad Gita about being able to do that. To me, it seems to be an insurmountable problem."

"Anala?" Karin asked.

"A Hindu friend of mine that got me started on these kinds of conversations," I answered.

"I'd agree it's going to be really difficult," Stephie said. "How could you ever take emotions or desires out of your thinking? I've seen Yankee do it, but only in very limited circumstances, and he's super logical."

"He's also a drama queen!" Kathy giggled. "Or used to be, anyway. If there ever was someone driven by emotions, it was Steve. And holy cow, what a crazy, wild ride that was!"

"I've never seen a speck of evidence for that, Kathy," Stephie said. "I think I've missed something."

"Ask him about it. He'll tell you. If there's one thing that's true about him, he's an open book."

I gave a quick rundown of some of my more dramatic moments of the past and that brought us close to our usual 4:00pm quitting time.

"Damn, it was just getting really good!" Julia said. "I want to know more!"

"Next week! Same bat-time, same bat-channel!" Kurt said.

Everyone laughed except Eduardo and Karin.

Kurt saw their confused looks and quickly explained about the 60s TV series, Batman using that phrase.

When everyone had left except Stephie, Karin, and Elyse, I started working on dinner. Elyse set the table and Stephie and Karin sat in the living room chatting.

"You worried about them?" Elyse said quietly, tilting her head to the living room.

"Only if they both show up in my bedroom tonight!" I teased.

Elyse laughed out loud, unable to hold it in.

"What are you two discussing in there?" Stephie asked with a silly smile.

"Elyse was asking if I was worried about you two talking, and I said that the only thing that would worry me is if you both showed up in my bedroom tonight!"

Both girls laughed.

"Yankee, you just won't let that one go, will ya'?" Stephie giggled. "Forget it!"

"Exactly," Karin said. "I don't share that way!"

"And here I thought Swedish women were liberated and open-minded," Elyse teased.

"If you open your mind too far, your brain falls out, Elyse!" Stephie retorted.

Karin laughed and gave Stephie a thumbs-up.

After we ate the deep-dish pizza that I made, we sat in the living room with hot chocolate.

"That discussion was interesting," Karin said. "Katy seemed to be a bit, well, conservative, I guess, compared to everyone else."

"She had a bad experience like I did," Elyse said, "and she's let that color her whole outlook."

"But she didn't even come close to what happened to you," Stephie said. "She stopped. You didn't."

"That doesn't make it less traumatic for her," Elyse replied. "Each of us has to make our own decisions."

"Yes, but she objected to that," Karin said. "That's my difficulty with what she was saying. I wouldn't trade what happened when I was fourteen for anything in the world. It was perfect, and it had to be then, otherwise it could never happen."

"How so?" Stephie asked.

"Steve has to agree to let me say," Karin replied, looking to me, "because it's very, very personal for him."

"How about it, Yankee? Is it OK?"

"Wait," Karin interrupted, "why do you call him Yankee?"

"'Cause he's from the North. They's called Yankees," Stephie said, dropping back into her drawl that had mostly disappeared.

"And you are from the South. I see. Odd, but then again, people from southern Sweden are odd, too!" Karin teased.

"Watch it, Pippi Longstocking!" Stephie retorted.

"You know Pippi Långstrump?" Karin asked.

"We have her here, too," I chuckled. "But anyway, sure, Karin, go ahead and tell Elyse and Stephie what happened."

It was interesting hearing the story from Karin's perspective, about how she had planned to seduce me, and how when I had called out Birgit's name, she knew she'd done the right thing, and then offered me everything that she could.

"Wow!" Elyse breathed, "That's just over-the-top. You pretended to be your dead sister and Steve pretended you were her? I've never heard anything like that in my entire life."

"Me either," Stephie said. "And after that, you two didn't make love again until right before Steve came home. Why?"

Karin looked at me and I told her with my eyes that she couldn't give the actual reason. I wasn't prepared to discuss Stephanie with either Stephie or Elyse.

"It was complicated," Karin replied. "Steve was still involved with Jennifer, and he had Pia in Sweden. There were other things, too. So it just made sense for us to wait."

"And then you came to visit him a year later," Elyse said. "Which is when we met."

"Yes, because his sister called me and told me that he was going to commit to Kara after Jennifer broke things off completely. What was really going on was that his sister was trying to keep the way clear for Jennifer. Then I saw him last Summer, too. He cut that trip short because of Kara and almost got engaged to her without telling me."

"He was in love with her," Elyse said, "maybe even more than he was in love with your sister in eighth grade."

"I don't think so," Karin said quietly. "Remember, I made love with him when he thought I was Birgit."

"You know, I'm not sure I can handle all this analysis," I said. "I don't even know what I'm supposed to think or feel right now. And here I have three girls who are all special to me, telling me what I felt and what I should feel."

Elyse laughed, "Get used to it, Steve. Women will be telling you what to think, what to feel, and what to do for the rest of your life! First your wives, then your daughters!"

Stephie and Karin both laughed.

"I don't think so, Elyse," Stephie said. "If that were the case, Becky would have tied him down years ago."

"That's the one who tried to trap him by getting pregnant and then had the abortion?" Karin said.

"Yes," I answered. "That was Becky. Uhm, Stephie, are you staying the night? You could use the sofa bed if you want? Or Elyse or I could drive you back to campus."

"I'll stay if you don't mind. I just need to get some things from your room," Stephie said.

"No, I don't mind. Nothing is hidden from anyone here, that's for sure. You both know what's going on."

"Thanks, Yankee," Stephie said, heading down the hall.

She was back a few minutes later with a few things she set on the end table next to the couch. The four of us talked for a couple of hours before we all headed to bed.

"She's a nice girl," Karin said, as we cuddled in bed. "Someone I would like to have as a friend."

"I think she likes you, too," I answered. "Tomorrow I have class from 10:00am to 4:00pm, so I'll leave around 9:00am and be back around 4:40pm. Wednesday and Friday are the same. I have class on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, but I can be home by noon. I wish I could skip class, but I really can't do that."

"No, you need to go to class, Steve. I knew you had to do that before I booked my tickets. It's fine. We'll have plenty of time to talk and make love. Speaking of which..."

"You want to talk more?" I chuckled.

"Silly boy! No! You know I want to make love!"

I didn't say anything, just simply pulled her on top of me. We kissed softly, and I cupped her butt as she ground gently against me. When I was hard, Karin reached down and held me as she slowly slid down my shaft, sighing softly when I was fully inside her. Karin gently rode me, giving herself a pair of orgasms before I filled her with my cum. She lay on top of me, put her head on my shoulder and sighed. She stretched her legs out, relaxed, and quickly fell asleep on top of me. The weight of Karin's body on mine was emotionally comforting, and despite the slight physical discomfort, I quickly fell asleep.

When we awoke in the morning, Karin was next to me, snuggled close, and I had my arm around her. I had no idea how or when we'd moved to that position, but I felt well rested. We kissed and Karin moved on top of me and we repeated the gentle lovemaking from the previous night, then took a shower together before I cooked breakfast for the four of us. When it was time to leave for class, I kissed Karin goodbye and said that I'd see her before 5:00pm, then Stephie and I headed to IIT.