Chapter 10

Hannah looked like she was ready to collapse as she came across the finish line. I waited by the corner of the bleachers as she lifted her hands off her knees and began slowly walking in circles while breathing deeply and continually more slowly.

She spotted me and walked over. “God damn twelfth place.”

“Wow – such language.”

“Bite me. It’s only Tuesday and it’s already been a hell of a week.”

“Are you still...”

“Yes – and I was hoping to kick some butt today, but I just didn’t have it. I wanted to push coming down the stretch and it wasn’t there.”

I reached out and rubbed her arm while trying to muster a reassuring smile. When she leaned her head back and puckered up, I glanced around then bent down to kiss her. “Better?” I asked.

“A little. Was Larry watching?”

I looked around again then nodded. “Yep. He just turned away.”

“Maybe if he knows I’m taken he’ll quit staring at me all the time.”

“Yeah, that’s an idea. You sure you won’t get in trouble for kissing me?”

“We’re not allowed off campus during school hours. Nothing wrong with a little display of affection. Kids are slobbering over each other in the hallway all the time.”

I replied, “Well, that’s good to know” then gave her another quick peck on the lips.

“Hey, can we go get a bite to eat before you take me home?”

“Isn’t you mom cooking supper?”

“Nah – she’s working three to eleven this week. Since Dave doesn’t have to pick me up, he’s probably over at Susie’s. So it would be down to Mickey and Donna and some leftovers. I can call home from the locker room.”

“You gonna take a shower while you’re in there?”

“What? You don’t like my manly aroma?”

When I pulled in the parking lot Hannah remarked, “Oh my – the man who couldn’t afford an extra box of Sno-Caps is taking me to Eat’n Park?”

I smiled and shook my head as we walked in. “You act like this is a fancy place. Anyway, I got forty bucks out of my dad’s sock drawer.”

She stopped and spun around. “Wait – you what?”

I looked away before responding. “He keeps a couple thousand in twenties and hundreds in the back corner of his top drawer, under a pile of socks. Sometimes, if I’m short and don’t want to ask, I slip out a twenty or two.”

I held up two fingers as the hostess approached and she then led us to a table in the corner.

Hannah got comfortable on the bench seat, and as she perused the menu asked, “So you’re feeding me with stolen money?”

“You make that sound like it’s a bad thing.”

She just muttered, “Joseph Long...” as she slowly shook her head.

At that point the waitress stepped up. “What can I get yunz today?”

I glanced again at the menu and replied, “Club sandwich with egg and cheese.”

“Any sides or salad bar?”

“Nah, that’s it.”

“And you, Miss?”

“I’d like the Philly Cheese Steak with mozzarella, onions and peppers, and mayo – with a side of fries.”

When the waitress left I asked, “You still upset about Sunday?”

“My mom had no damn...” Her hand came to her chin as she closed her eyes and looked to be holding back tears. “No right telling anybody about that.”

“Can I ask what happened?”

“No.”

“I mean - were you hurt or anything?”

“It was just very personal, something that I am not proud of, and it doesn’t need shared. Understand?”

“Okay, that’s cool – but I can see how that’s something that sisters might talk about, like if your mom wanted advice. Couldn’t you see you and Donna, twenty years from now, talking about your own kids?”

“Not really.”

“Huh?”

“If you haven’t noticed, we don’t get along too well with her.”

“Yeah, but it’s not like that’ll last forever. Right?”

“That girl needs an attitude adjustment.”

“Isn’t that a little harsh? I know she went off on us that once – but on the other hand Dave has been really mean to her sometimes. What’s the deal?”

Hannah leaned back and sighed. “As you know, the three of us all have different dads. For most of our lives, it was her dad, Tom, who was living with us.”

“Where’s your dad now?”

She looked down and slowly shook her head. “Florida. Married with a couple kids - but I’d rather not talk about him.”

“Sorry.”

“As I was saying, Donna could always run to her daddy while the rest of us got in trouble.”

“That sucks.”

“Yeah, we’re getting our ass beat while she’s in the corner smiling. Then Tom died, Mom got married again, and Princess Donna got knocked off her throne. She’s not taking well to being treated just like me and Dave.”

“Paybacks are a bitch.”

“Not that I want to hurt her, but yep.”

I shook my head. “The things I miss being an only child.”

She smiled and pushed her plate towards me. “You want the rest of my fries?”

“How did you eat all of that sandwich already?”

“I don’t graze on my food, like some people here.”

“Hey – I like to savor the taste.”

“Well don’t take too long. You didn’t call home yet and you still have to drop me off at the house.”

“Does that mean we don’t have time for...”

“We’ll see.”

When we got to the car I asked, “I guess we can’t go to your house.”

“And I’m not parking along the curb. How about that little road into the woods?”

“Fine with me - we’ll be there in five minutes!” I slowed as I rounded the curve, but as I prepared to make the left hand turn into the drive I instead stopped dead in the middle of the road. “Who the hell put a gate there?”

“How about not bouncing my head off the dashboard?” She smiled then shook her head and put her hand on my arm. “What now?”

I looked down the street and spotted the old abandoned elementary school. “There’s a parking lot over there.”

“I don’t want anybody spying on us.”

“Don’t worry – there’s no other buildings facing the other side.”

About forty yards into the lot I backed in on the other side of a loading dock. Still looking concerned, she asked, “Are you sure?”

“Yeah – the only people who can even see we’re here are those coming up over the hill.”

We both unbuckled and shimmied closer to the middle. While I leaned over to kiss her my left hand went for her boob – pushing, squeezing and rubbing through the fabric or her blouse.

She stopped to say, “Here, let me help you” then lifted that blouse high enough for her to reach behind and unsnap her bra.

My hand slid up the bare skin of her belly and chest, then able to caress her bare flesh and rub her hardening nipple between my fingers. I also hardened as her tongue flitted against mine. She broke of the kiss again and glared at me.

“What?” I asked.

“You know, I’m still mad at you.”

“I thought...”

“Your punishment is that you take care of me today. It’s only fair.”

I shrugged. “Yeah, okay - I can do that.”

She motioned to me, “Here – move up” then spun around and carefully leaned back over the emergency brake until her shoulders were against my chest. My left hand then went to her other breast while I spread the fingers on my right and slid it down towards her belly button.

While I kissed her neck and continued to fondle her, she unsnapped her jeans, lifted her butt and slid them down towards her knees. I stretched my right arm far enough for my fingers to slip unfettered inside her pink panties. Her hair was course and my fingers worked to create a pathway. A few seconds later her body stiffened as I felt moisture. She continued to squirm and moan as my hand softly traced circles, struggling to find more skin and less hair.

“Do I have to draw you a map?” She took my hand and pulled it a little higher, then pressed my middle finger down until I felt her nub. “Oh God – yeah! Right there.”

I didn’t dare lose contact as I alternately rubbed her clit between my fingers and pressed down on it in tight circles.

My other arm just tried to hold on as she trashed from side to side. “Oh fuck – that’s it. Don’t stop. Oh – yes, yes, yes.” A few more seconds and she let out a growl as she arched her back and clamped her thighs around my hand.

All at once she went limp, breathing heavily as I wrapped both arms around her from behind. Finally she said, “Let me get up so I can get dressed.”

I licked her juice from my fingers and said, “You’re welcome.”

“Yes, thank you. That was so good.”

“Little Miss Potty Mouth today.”

As she fixed her jeans she said, “That’s your fault.” Then she leaned towards me and whispered, “So good.”

When she reached for her seat belt I asked, “What the ... what about me?”

“You made me mad.”

“That is so mean.”

“But you love me.”

“Yeah, right” I chuckled.

“Oh, by the way – I was supposed to remind you that our homecoming game is on Friday. Seven o’clock against your big, bad Walnut Heights.”

“You know - our coach said only pussies play football at night.”

“Well, you better come or you won’t be seeing any pussy for a while.”

The police cruiser came around the corner to my left just as I was pulling out onto the street. I made sure I never went over twenty-five as he closed to within about fifty yards. My heart pounding, I kept glancing in the rear-view mirror.

‘Just two more blocks.’

Hannah looked over and asked, “What’s the matter?”

“There’s a cop back there. I think he saw us coming out of the school.” When she started to turn her head I exclaimed, “No, don’t look!”

A few more seconds and then I flipped on my blinker and turned left and up the hill, into Hannah’s neighborhood. The cop went straight.

Friday was a nice day for the middle of September – sunny with a high of seventy five, although I knew the next day would be rainy at best.

Normally that might have been a little warm to deck myself out in my red and gray letter jacket adorned with ‘W H’, but with the wind on the hill I found myself zipping it up as I walked through the parking lot at Pineland High School.

After paying my dollar admission, I entered behind the home-side aluminum stands then turned left up the ramp to the walkway along the front edge. The game had started a few minutes earlier, and as I walked my eyes scanned the crowd for familiar faces.

Fortunately, my red and gray stuck out in the sea of blue and red, and soon I spotted a standing Hannah waving to me maybe ten or twelve rows up. I quickly skipped up the steps and then asked several people to excuse me as they made room for my legs to pass. Hannah slid over to allow me to sit between her and Susie and I greeted her with a quick kiss on the cheek.

That was when Susie smacked me on the arm. “Hey tiger.”

“What?”

“Just complimenting you - how impressed I am.”

“About?”

“Well, that eyeful I caught the last time we met and the week before that you certainly had that one over there howling.”

I cringed and turned away, looking down and slowly shaking my head. I’m sure I was blushing as I muttered, “Oh my God.”

Dave said to her, “You know I’m right here?”

“Oh, don’t worry baby, you get as much of me as you want.” She then jumped to her feet, hollering as Pineland broke off a long run. Hannah was rolling her eyes, and snuggled up next to me when I took her hand.

Neither of us spoke much while we relaxed and watched the game, punctuated by her joining the folks around us in cheering whenever Pineland made a good play.

I said, “You know, It’s hard to root for my team over here. I’m afraid I’ll get beat up if I yell too loud.”

Hannah pointed to the far side of the field. “You’re free to go sit in the visitor’s section.”

“Nah, I’m, good.”

As the game approached halftime she squeezed my arm. “This is nice.”

“You don’t have to rub it in that you guys are winning.”

“No, silly – us.”

I smiled and pulled her closer. “Yes it is.”

“Out here, spending time together, being like everybody else.”

“Are you sure we want to be like other people?”

She turned and faced me, looking very serious. “Do you understand how much I love being with you? Knowing you want me? Knowing I make you happy?”

Tears gathering in my eyes, I leaned forward and gave her a quick kiss. “I feel like the luckiest man in the world. I guess this means you’re not mad at me anymore?”

“Well, you were stupid...”

“I didn’t...”

“Joe – shut up. I’m apologizing. Don’t ruin it.”

I held my hands up in surrender. “Okay.”

“I’m still mad at my mom. That’ll take a while.”

“And?”

“And - I’m sorry, it was mean of me to not ... take care of you.”

“Sure was.”

“But I realize you didn’t mean it. You just opened your mouth before thinking – something you’ll need to work on.”

I reached out to pull her into a hug and whispered, “I love you. I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you.”

She poked a finger into my belly. “Better not!”

At halftime Susie asked, “Hey Dave, can you get me a cheeseburger?”

Hannah added, “Yeah Joe - that sounds like a good idea.”

I replied, “But I won’t be able to see who gets to be Homecoming Queen.”

“And why do you need to see that?”

“Just, um ... curious?” I replied. She stared back in response, tapping her foot on the metal bleachers until I asked, “You want mustard on that?”

“Yes, please.”

As Dave and I made our way down to the concourse, I exclaimed, “Is this what’s it’s like to be married? Honey do this! Get me that!”

“I think so – just without the sex.”

“What? Have your mom and Mickey slowed down already?”

Dave stopped and turned towards me. “Dude, that’s my mom.”

“Yeah, but she’s still hot. C’mon, they doing it every night or what?”

He let out a sigh. “They’ve only been married three months, but yeah, it does seem like it’s not as often as it used to be.”

I snickered. “I hear my parents going at it often enough – although I caught Mom telling him to quit begging her for a blow job.”

“Ow wow – that’s gotta suck.”

I burst out laughing. “Gotta suck – I don’t think so!”

“Huh – you got me there! But seriously though, speaking of marriage – what was that you were saying at the drive-in? How serious are you and my sister?”

“I meant it. I’ve never felt like this before.”

“Not just because she’s your first piece of ass?”

“Hell no! I don’t think of her like that.”

“You better not.”

I was startled by a slap on my shoulder. “Hey Dave. Joe! How you doin’?”

I turned to see a tall guy in a Pineland letter jacket. “Hey, T.J. Pretty good – came up to see my team.”

He said, “Scoreboard, dude” as he pointed to the display showing the guest team trailing twelve to eight.

“We still got twenty four minutes to go.”

T.J. turned to Dave. “You with Susie tonight?”

“Yeah – and he’s with my sister. They’re up there in the bleachers while we’re getting them something to eat.”

“For sure. Shelly wanted a Diet Sprite. Hey – there’s a bunch of us going out to the strip mine to party after the game. Yunz want to come along?”

Dave was quick to reply, “Yeah, sure thing!”

I hesitated before asking, “Uh, what are you guys having?”

“Oh, we have, besides our girlfriends – lots of hot dogs and beer and weed. You in?”

‘Weed?’ I thought. “Uh, yeah – I guess so.”

T.J. slapped me on the shoulder again. “That’s great. We’re all meeting up by the flagpole after the game. See you then.”

As I handed Hannah her food and sat down, I said to her, “We ran into T.J. Slavinsky from Coke and he invited us to join a bunch of them out at the strip mine after the game.”

“Where did you tell them I’d be going?”

Susie leaned over me. “Ah, c’mon Hannah – you gotta loosen up. We can go eat, drink and shoot the shit for a while.”

“Oh, I guess so. Would’ve been nice if you’d asked first.”

I said, “But we were down there and you...”

“Doesn’t matter.”

Susie snuggled up to Dave’s arm. “It’s alright, hun. Sounds like a good time to me.”

Twenty minutes after the game ended Hannah and I were in the backseat of Dave’s car as it bounced it’s way down a dirt road that was nearly enveloped by the tall maples and pines that lined it. She asked her brother, “Are you sure you know where you’re going?”

“I’m just following the guys in front of me. Can’t be that much further.”

“This better be worth it.”

I squeezed her thigh. “C’mon, let’s have some fun.”

Almost immediately we exited the woods and the cars pulled into a circle in a gravel area next to the road. The western sky was ablaze in orange and yellow from the setting sun as we all spilled out of the cars and headed to a circle of stones some thirty yards away.

Hannah glanced around. “So this is a strip mine?”

“It was. They dug out the coal and the pit eventually got filled with water.”

“Yeah - just the place to have some fun.”

I wandered away from the group and towards the shoreline with Hannah following along. I bent over, my hand scanning over the ground until I found a rock just the right size to fit between my thumb and index finger.

She gave me a puzzled look and asked, “What are you...” and then I took a crow hop and swung my arm straight overhand, launching the rock high into the air. It splashed down a little bit short of the vertical rock wall on the far side of the water.

“Eh, probably about eighty yards. I’ll get it this time!”

“Joe, you look like an idiot.”

The second looked like it went a little further, but still kicked up a plume of water. “Ahh. One more.”

“No more. Now stop it!”

“You gonna make me?”

“You ever want to touch me again?”

I lunged forward with one arm and grabbed her waist, causing her to shriek and jump back. “Yeah, I’ll touch you!” On the second parry I had her by both hands. She squirmed and giggled as I pulled her closer. Stopping my tickling, I said, “See – I made you laugh!”

She chuckled and looked up at me with doe eyes. “Yeah, you did. Now get me a beer.”

As we made our way back the other guys were struggling to carry a couple of coolers from the trunks of their cars. T.J. gathered up some kindling and doused it with lighter fluid while Greg and Scott started passing out the brew.

As the fire roared to life, Dave spun the can around in his hand and frowned. “What this Milwaukee’s Best shit?”

Greg said, “Don’t bitch – it’s cheap. How else were we gonna afford a couple of twelvers?”

“It’s piss water.” None the less, Dave popped open the can, tilted his head back and swigged about half of it before taking another breath. “It’ll do.”

I was handed two cans and passed one along to Hannah. I smiled down at her and she raised her can and clinked it against mine in response. She then tried to imitate her brother but only lasted about two seconds before lowering her drink and grimacing. “It really isn’t that good.”

“Perhaps if you went a little slower?”

She licked her lips and smiled. “Perhaps.”

When I motioned towards the others she hooked her arm in mine and took a sip as we wandered over to mingle. A couple of conversations later she offered me an empty can and asked, “Can you get me another one?”

Scott was pulling hot dogs out of the cooler when he saw me grabbing a beer out of the other one. “You ain’t even finished with the first!”

“This is for Hannah. I can’t keep up.”

He chuckled and glanced over to the group where she was laughing at some story that Greg must’ve been telling as he stood in the center with his hands flying all around. “She’s Dave’s little sister, right?”

“Not the littlest, but yeah.”

“She seems to be fitting in pretty well. What grade’s she in?”

“Uh ... ninth.”

He glared at me briefly then said, “She is pretty hot.”

“That’s what I said.”

He grinned. “Yeah, man!”

Rejoining the crowd, I lightly bumped Hannah from behind and handed her the beer.

“Took you long enough.”

“You seemed to be having fun without me.”

“Yeah, this isn’t too bad. It does feel good to get out. I apologize for being bitchy earlier.”

I reached my free arm around her and gave a squeeze while kissing the top of her head.

The remaining light was quickly fading as the sun plunged further below the horizon. Also fleeing was the warmth of the day, and soon the group had circled around the fire. The raw hot dogs were passed around for each of us to impale on sticks and hold into the flames. Meanwhile, a doobie had also been lit and was making it’s way around from my right.

While everyone watched, Hannah took the short, glowing marijuana cigarette, holding it between the thumb and index finger of her right hand while she considered it for a second or two. Bringing it to her lips she inhaled and then quickly gagged. Hearing a round of giggles from the others, she pounded her left fist on her chest twice, nodded and said, “I’m alright” - then took a second drag that she managed to hold in a while longer before again coughing up the contents of her lungs.