Chapter 6

Once again Hannah turned on the water to wash out her rag. As she was leaning over the tub, I softly called her name, but she didn’t respond. I ran a finger down her butt - that was practically sticking in my face.

She jumped and spun around. “Oh, jeez, don’t do that! You’re gonna get me all excited again.”

I mouthed the words, “Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome, I loved it. Now can you hand me that air freshener so we can get this place cleaned up?”

I reached for her hand. “You know that was my first time?”

“Well, you had mentioned about never really kissing a girl before - so, yeah.”

I said, “Hey! I’m trying to be romantic here!” then reached around and smacked her bare ass.

“That does it buster, you better not leave a hand print!”

Before she could take a swing, I stood and grabbed her wrists. With my growing manhood pressing against her belly, I leaned down to kiss her.

She returned the kiss, but then said, “No time for round two - I really do have to clean up. Now cover yourself up and go downstairs to get your clothes.”

Frowning, I replied, “If you say so” as I retrieved my swim trunks from the floor and pulled them up my legs.

I skipped down the hall and bounced down the steps – but came to a screeching halt when I saw her sister Donna sitting on the couch watching TV.

‘Fuck - she’d been here the whole time!’

She turned her head towards me and said, “Well, that was a long shit.”

My gut had a knot in it and my chest tightened. I answered rather sarcastically, “Sometimes you just gotta wait for things to come.”

“Oh wow, that was so funny.”

My fear was quickly turning into anger. I shot back, “What is your problem?“

Jumping up to face me she yelled, “You gonna stick that thing in me too?”

“What? What are you talking about? You’re how old, for Christ’s sake?”

“I’m the same age as Ellen, and you showed it to her.”

I looked away. “That, uh well ... that was a mistake”.

“I bet you enjoyed it though.”

I frantically spun around in search of Hannah. When she was nowhere to be found, I turned back to Donna, “Why am I arguing with a kid?“

She yelled, “Because of what you just did to my sister! I thought maybe you have a thing for little girls.”

“Your sister’s not a little girl!”

“She’s only two years older than me and my boobs are just as big – but she’s all grown up and I’m still a kid?”

“Yes!”

“Or am I just too hideous?”

“No! C’mon, Donna.”

Finally I saw Hannah coming down the steps in gym shorts and a t-shirt. She snuggled up to my side and wrapped her arm around my waist. “He didn’t take advantage of anybody. If I had left it up to him, I’d probably still be waiting for our first kiss.”

Donna answered sarcastically, “Well, what is mom going to think when she finds out her little princess isn’t a virgin anymore?”

Hannah looked scared and yelled, “Are you threatening to tell?” as I restrained her by the shoulders.

The volume only increased as Donna lashed out at her older sister. “No, I’m not telling anyone, but she’s not stupid! How long do you really think you’ll be able to keep it a secret?”

I could feel Hannah trembling as she was nearly in tears. “Stop it! Are you just trying to suck all the joy out of the most special day of my life?”

Donna yelled, “Everyone has sex but me! Forget it!” as she stomped up the steps to her room and slammed the door behind her.

Hannah turned back to me and I wrapped her in my arms and pulled her into my bare chest. I ran my hand through her hair and kissed her on top of her head as she banged a fist against my arm. I whispered, “C’mon, it’ll be okay.”

She looked up at me and asked, “But what if she tells and ruins everything?” as tears ran down her cheeks.

I wiped face. “I’m not sure what’s up with her, but I don’t think she’ll tell. She seemed somewhere between being jealous and calling me a perv.”

Hannah chuckled as she replied, “You’re not a perv. How can anyone resist this?”

I was glad to see her smile again, and I held her for a few more minutes - but saw the clock and knew I couldn’t stay much longer.

I leaned back, with one hand still on her arm and the other stroking her hair. “Not that I don’t enjoy this and all, but I gotta get home. You going to be okay?”

She smiled and nodded, even as another tear trailed down her cheek. “I’ll go see if I can talk to her after a little bit.”

I gave her one more kiss on her head, then stepped back and said, “Excuse me while I get dressed” - then quickly stripped off my swim trunks, again naked as I grabbed my clothes off the couch.

With a panicked look Hannah whispered loudly, “What are you doing? What if Donna comes back?”

I gave her a mischievous smile and said, “Gotta change - I can’t wear those wet trunks under my clothes” as I quickly redressed in my normal boxers, jeans and shirt.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, you just think I want to see it all the time.” With a more serious look, she poked her index finger into my chest. “She’s right though, this isn’t going to be easy to keep from our folks.”

I gave her a short kiss and added, “Call me after school tomorrow - we need to talk about this.”

As I turned to leave, she took my hand and said, “And Joe - that was really special. I’ll never forget my - our - first time. Thank you, it was fantastic.”

Despite the incident with Donna, it was still the happiest day of my life. I felt high as a kite as I bounced through the back door, blurting out, “Hi Mom” as I passed by while she inspected an Avon order on the dining room table.

“I take it you had a good time?”

“Oh, yeah.”

I was up the steps two at a time and headed for my room.

‘You must smell like pussy.’

I stopped mid-stride, then took a step back and turned left into the bathroom. Gazing in the mirror, I could see my hair abnormally sticking every which way.

I quickly stripped and got into a nice hot shower. I relaxed and my mind wandered as the hot jets of water bounced off and ran down my body. I imagined that my hands, soaping my chest, were on Hannah’s. As I was scrubbing down my package, my mind’s eye was filled with the images, not an hour old, of Hannah, naked on my lap, bouncing up and down.

I leaned against the wall, eyes closed, as my fist stroked my soapy cock.

Just then I heard the door open, and before I could react I saw my mother standing inside the bathroom, asking, “Since when do you take a shower at this time of day?”

I squealed “Maaa-om!“ as I turned to hide my throbbing erection, firmly in the grip of my left hand.

She shrugged. “What? Nothing I haven’t seen before! So what’s up?”

‘She’s never seen you jacking off before.’

‘At least, not that I know of.’

With my ass pointed towards her, I looked over my shoulder at my mother. “I got all this chlorine n’at to get out of my hair.”

“Okay – the shampoo’s over there - when you need it. Oh – what I came here for - when you’re done, take your dirty clothes to the basement and put them in the washing machine, so that you have clean ones for school this week.” She then turned back into the hallway and closed the door behind her.

Still horny in the afterglow of losing my virginity to Hannah, my mind was then occupied with the image of my mother staring at my manhood. True, nudity wasn’t a big deal around the house and she’d seen me all the time - but never when I had such a full blown erection.

I got hard again remembering all the times I laid in bed listening to my parents make love on the other side of the wall - how she would moan and pant until she gurgled in orgasm - which until an hour earlier had been my only experience with a woman having sex.

I made sure all of my junk was washed down the drain, then shampooed, dried off and went to my room to grab some fresh clothes.

I slipped on a t-shirt and pair of boxers, then joined the folks for a few hours in the TV room. Archie Bunker, One Day at a Time, Alice, The Jeffersons, and Trapper John M.D.

‘Just another typical night in the Long household.’

What was I supposed to do – jump up and proclaim, ‘Ma! Pa! – I’m a man now! Remember my little cousin? Turns out she’s quite the cock sucker!’

Nah, that would have to wait until I saw Matt the next day at school.

I felt the bed shake.

“Don’t you think it’s time to get up?”

I opened my eyes to see my mother standing over me. I glanced at the alarm.

‘09:55’

“I’ve got five more minutes.”

“And you only got thirty-five until class starts. Get up now and get in the shower.”

I rolled over and clutched my pillow. “Ohhh, I took one last night.”

“Like that’s good enough. Now get your ass up - I’m not going to be here every morning to hand you a clean pair of boxers.”

I sat up and took the underwear. I moaned, “All riiiight“ as I stumbled towards the bathroom.

“And, uh - don’t take all day about it.”

A few minutes later, dressed but with my hair still damp, I was nearly coherent as I came into the kitchen. Mom was pouring a cup of coffee and asked, “I guess there’s no time for breakfast?”

I began flipping through my stuff to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything. “Nah, I’ll get some lunch at the cafeteria.”

“You know - less than two years and you’ll have to get a real job. Get up at like six instead of ten.”

Keys in hand, I looked back at her. “Yes, Dad!”

“He’s not always wrong, you know.”

For the first time since the spring semester, I wore a watch.

‘Ten-twelve. I might make it.’

For that semester I decided to try the highway again. Maybe five minutes later I was into town and onto the four-lane. As soon as I left the on-ramp I hit the accelerator, easing back when I got it up to seventy-five.

‘Look out for cops.’

Leaving the exit-ramp I managed to hit every stop light green as I whizzed past the mall.

‘Six miles in five minutes.’

I was back up to fifty in a thirty-five as the wooded, hilltop campus came into sight. After one last light I pulled into the drive, glanced at Pineland High on the right then picked a lot on the left. Finding no empty spaces, I tried the second one.

‘Over there!’

Some idiot had parked on the yellow line, but I prided myself on my ability to squeeze the Pinto into small spaces, even if I could barely squeeze my body out of the driver’s door.

As I fast walked towards the classroom buildings, I pulled my schedule out of my shirt pocket, clutching it tightly so it wouldn’t be blown away.

‘Linear Algebra. Maple 105. Fuckin’ Foster, again.’

I bolted in the open door then slammed on the brakes to give a quick look around. Lots of familiar faces as most of us who majored in math had the same classes together, year after year. Of course there was an empty desk beside Michelle, even if it was in the front row.

I quickly let my eyes soak in all of her delicious details before I tossed down my notebook and took the seat. “Neighbors again?”

Her New Jersey accent was obvious as she turned and said, “Hey Joe, how’ya doin’?”

Two years before she had wandered into class and took the seat beside me, as she chose to do every semester after that. She was fine - beautiful face, rock hard, slender body, boobs that didn’t sag an inch - and black. And the last I heard, still asking if the boy back home was missing her body.

‘I don’t care what anyone says, I would pound her... ‘

Snapping back to reality, I responded, “Really well - baseball was good, we made the tourney, and I started dating a girl a few weeks back.”

She laid her hand on my arm. “Congratulations, really glad to hear it.”

As the professor entered the room, I whispered, “Ready for Dr. Foster?”

She giggled and shook her head.

The good Doctor rifled through some papers he had spread on his desk. Nothing had changed. His hair was greasy, beard patchy, and half of his polyester shirt hung out over his belt. He pushed his black horned-rim glasses up his nose and looked around the room. “Uh, class - good to see many of you again. This semester we’ll be studying computational linear algebra, which is primarily matrix theory...”

‘Is this really what I want to do?’

I didn’t hear half of what he was saying.

When classed was dismissed an hour later I waited in the hallway. “Matt! You want to get some lunch?”

We’d been best friends since our first day on campus. “Yeah, sure - how you been?”

Out on the sidewalk, headed for the student union, I said, “I’ve been fine, really fine.”

“Really fine? You tryin’ to tell me something?”

“Well, yeah. Yesterday - I lost it!”

“Lost?” He stared at me. “Oh. Oh - you did it? Yesterday?”

“Yeah, we did it!”

He stopped and turned to face me. “And just who is this ‘we’ that you did it with? Anyone I know?”

“You don’t know her. Hannah - Hannah Constantino. Her family moved into town in July.”

“Yeah, and where did yunz guys meet?”

“Well ... her brother plays baseball, and...” I tried to think of a good way to phrase it. “And she’s my cousin.”

“She’s your what?“

I just smiled and held my hands out, palms up, as I replied, “My cousin. First cousin. I hadn’t seen her for five years, and she was so smoking hot, and we just hit it off, and one thing led to another, and another...”

“And how old is this chick?”

I pointed behind him and said, “She goes to Pineland, acrossed the street.”

He looked down, shook his head and sighed. “And who all knows you’re boning your cousin?”

“Besides you - her brother and sister - but I think they’re cool.”

“You think they’re cool?”

“Well, her sister got an attitude last night but Hannah was going to talk to her.”

“I don’t know - you gotta watch out man.”

“C’mon, I love her, I really do. You’re gonna have to meet her.”

He held open the door to the student union for me. “Eh, you know where I live. So how about we go ahead and talk about the Bucs some.”

I finished my food and looked up at the clock. “Twelve-fifteen. I might make it to class on time.”

“How about some air hockey?”

“Not a good idea to skip class on the first day. I’ve got Database next, how about you?”

Pulling out his schedule, Matt said, “Yep, the same. Do you know Penrod? Sounds new.”

We found a pair of seats together near the middle of the room. I nodded to the front and whispered, “Damn, check her out. Nice rack.”

He checked the name scrawled on the blackboard. “Mrs., not Doctor. So she’s married but doesn’t have a Ph.D.”

“It’s not cold in here, so I wonder which one of us is causing that reaction?”

Two hours later we were leaving Operating Systems. I asked Matt, “Are we ever going to use that shit?”

“What’s the matter, man? Despite your good news you don’t seem very enthusiastic today.”

“My grades already suck and I just don’t see how I’m going to learn anything practical here. I’m feeling like this is a big waste of time.”

“School?“

“No, not school - just these classes. Database looks useful, but Operating Systems? What the fuck have I got myself into?”

“I don’t know, man. We’ll see if it gets better on Wednesday.”

I headed out to the parking lot after going to the book store and making a list of prices. I stopped to watch the Pineland football team and marching band practice on their field on the other side of the street, a part of me hoping to glimpse Hannah. I grinned and resumed my walk to the car, figuring the odds were that she and the guys were out on some trail in the woods.

Arriving home later than usual, Dad was already back from school, reading the paper at the kitchen table as Mom was fixing some food at the stove. She asked me, “How was your day, honey?”

I paused, clutching my notebooks. “Pretty good - got Dr. Foster again, but Matt was in all my classes today.” Mom nodded but Dad continued unaffected. “I’m going up to lay down for a little bit - call me when supper’s ready?”

“Sure thing.”

I was out like a light.

“Jooooe.”

I was jolted awake by my mother’s voice and scampered to the steps. “Coming.”

She called up, “No honey, not supper. Hannah’s on the phone.”

“Oh, thanks - I’ll get it up here.”

I slumped against the wall in my parent’s room, next to the end table which held the upstairs phone. I picked up the receiver and gave a cheerful, “Hey!”

“Hi Joe, how are you? I...”

“So how was your first day?”

‘Where is the click?’

“Really good, but you won’t believe what happened. Dave says he’s in love.”

“Your brother Dave, not some random Dave at school?”

She laughed. “Yes, my brother! I get back to the house...”

Click

“ ... and he can’t wait to tell me about this girl in his home room.” Apparently holding her hand over the phone, I heard her yell, “Yeah, I’m taking about you!”

“Love ‘em and leave ‘em Dave has a girl he wants to spend more than five minutes with? I’ll have to talk to him about it at the reunion on Saturday - if they haven’t broken up yet.”

“Well, enough about him, Joe. What are you taking this semester? I guess you have all these really advanced courses that you’re going to get bad grades in?”

“Uh - not funny. But before that - how’s Donna?”

Hannah sighed. “She’s okay.”

“Really? You sure?”

“Yeah, I had a talk with her last night, after you left. I just think she’s having a rough time with puberty, and is feeling kind’a left out. But I want to hear about you.”

“Same old, same old. It’s math and computers – so I have Computational Linear Algebra...”

“Ooh, that sounds like fun.”

“Smart ass ... and Relational Database Design, Operating Systems, Foreign Trade and Survey Research Methods.”

“What’s that survey one about?”

“I don’t have the first class until tomorrow, but I’ve read the syllabus. It’s about how to properly design those surveys that pollsters do, making sure they’re not biased, and how to interpret the results. Sounds interesting.”

She said, “Cool! I have six classes, first A.P. Science...”

“What’s A.P.?”

“Advanced Placement, for us smart kids.”

“We just called it ‘Honors’”.

She continued, “Yeah well, that was when? – so I get biology this year, then Algebra I for my A.P. Math...”

“I had Algebra I in ninth too.”

“Then ... English Composition, U.S. Government, Spanish I and Choir.”

“All that and cross country?”

“Yeah - I don’t get done with practice until four. Oh - that reminds me. Mom’s gonna let Dave drive her car.”

“When’s he getting his license?”

“Oh, he already has one.”

“And I drove his ass around all summer?”

“Yeah, that - but now with me staying after school they won’t always be able to pick me up, and who knows, Dave might actually be going on some dates.”

My mom bellowed, “Joe, supper’s ready!” from the bottom of the steps.

“Comin’ Mom!” Then I said to Hannah, “Hey, what time do you have lunch?”

“At school? From eleven forty-five to twelve-fifteen – why?”

“Monday, Wednesday and Friday I’m off from eleven-twenty until one. If you’re allowed out of the building, maybe you can slip acrossed the road and we can have lunch together. Sit out on a bench, or maybe get something together in the diner?”

“Where’re you gonna be?”

“By the parking lot, between the two classroom buildings. It should only take you a minute or two to get there.”

“Joe, you comin’? Your swiss steak’s getting cold.”

“Yeah, mom.”

Hannah gushed, “Ooh, I can’t wait to see you!”

“Same here! Talk to you later.”

As I entered the kitchen, Mom asked, “So what did Hannah have to say?”

“We were comparing notes on our classes. She’s taking some pretty heady stuff for her grade.”

It was a little past ten that night when my mom called out from the TV room, “Hey Joe, the Bucs are comin’ on.”

Walking out of my room I caught my dad saying, “Whoop-dee-do, the Pie Rats.” He turned to me and asked, “Finish your homework?”

I responded, “It was only the first day of class, and I’m not even buying my books until tomorrow” as I settled into a spot on the love seat next to Mom.

She said, “Let’s watch the game - but I’m not staying up ‘til four in the morning, like Saturday night!”

“Eh, I don’t have any class until twelve-thirty tomorrow. I can sleep in.”

My dad chimed in, “Must be nice!”

Mom seemed to ignore him. “And don’t forget, you have to stop at the bank and then go to the bookstore.”

“I know, I will.” I looked up at my father. “What’s the difference if I don’t get up early? I get my fifteen credits in, and I’m back here by four.”

“And how many nights do you go back up to campus, putting more miles on the car? You playing house with some chickie-poo up there?”

“Chris!”

I thought, ‘Maybe I just want to get away from you.’

“No, I don’t have a girlfriend, on campus. Uh ... you know how I am.”

He shook his head. “Yeah, right. Guess what? You can’t be running around afraid of everything your whole life...”

“I...”

“A year and a half from now and you won’t have daddy paying your bills.”

“I know.”

“And that also means, if some girl does manage to charm your pants off one day, I can’t have you brining home any ‘mistakes.’ Finish school, get a real job, get married, have kids. In that order! Kapeesh?“

‘Shit, I need condoms.’

I nodded my head and replied softly, “Yes sir, I know.”

He frowned and looked me over for several seconds before putting down his magazine. “I’m going to bed. I have work in the morning. You two have fun.”

It was a quick game, as it was only one a.m. when the Dodgers scored two in the bottom of the ninth to win. At least the Pirates still had a three game lead.

The next morning I slurped down a bowl of Cap’n Crunch and was out the door by ten. That gave me two and a half hours for my errands.

First stop was the bank. I knew I was spending most of the money in one place, so I asked, “Can I have two hundreds?” I didn’t intend to sound so sheepish, but I rarely got the chance to touch anything over a twenty. So much money, and it would be gone so quickly.

Two blocks from the bank I saw the Sheetz.

‘Next time. Condoms.’

I’d seen them every time I went into the men’s room, but the large dispensers bolted to wall were always just an object of curiosity.

I grabbed two bottles of Mello-Yello out of the cooler and headed to the register. The young cashier asked, “Anything else?”

I fiddled with my change and handed her a couple of bills. “Uh yeah ... can I have two dollars worth of quarters?”

My face felt warm when her fingers brushed the palm of my outstretched hand. I thought, ‘I wonder if she figured out what you’re buying?’ as I headed to the back of the store.

Fifty cents each. Regular - and ribbed, ‘for her pleasure.’ I spent a minute glancing back and forth.

I jumped when the door opened. It was a middle-aged man headed for the urinal.

‘Just do it!’

I dropped two quarters in the slot on the left and turned the handle, dispensing one foil wrapped ring of regular latex, then repeated the process to receive a second.

‘Try ‘em all.’

Then twice more for the ribbed on the right.

I wedged one into a pocket on the inside of my wallet. When I got to the car I threw the other three in the glove box.

‘What am I going to say if Mom or Dad finds them?’

‘Well, he was the one who warned you not to have any mistakes.’

It was still only eleven by the time I found a parking spot on campus, an hour and a half before my first class. Arriving in the basement level of the library, I looked up my classes on the papers taped to the wall in the hallway outside the book store to double check my list of prices.

Once inside I made my way down each aisle. I frowned as I stared at the first book.

‘Computational Linear Algebra, Second Edition. Twenty nine fucking dollars.’

I cradled it in my arm and went looking for the next one. A few minutes later I placed them all on the counter in front of the cashier who said, “One hundred thirty-three dollars and forty-two cents.”

‘Puta madre.’

Michelle smelled so nice and her breasts were so way up firm and high. The stimulation made me even more anxious to see Hannah. Dr. Foster was illustrating matrix multiplication on the blackboard. I glanced at my watch. ‘Twenty more minutes.’

“Class dismissed. Do the exercises at the end of chapter one for Friday.”

Matt called out, “Hey Joe, wait up!” as I bolted for the door.

“Sorry, gotta run. I’m meeting Hannah for lunch.”

“Oh, I guess three’s a crowd, then.”

“Yep, catch you later.”

‘Twenty minutes.’

I fast walked to the parking lot and arriving at my car exchanged my books for the Sheetz bag I had left in the trunk an hour before.

I sat at one of two picnic tables inside a patch of trees along the main entrance drive. I faced the high school, the college’s commuter lot behind me and one of their classroom buildings to my left. I glanced at my watch. ‘Almost a quarter ‘til.’

I fiddled with the paper sack while I waited. Another minute and movement caught my eye as she crossed the street. I jumped to my feet and waved my arms. “Hannah! Over here!”

She smiled and enthusiastically returned the wave as I made my way towards her. I reached around her and pressed my lips to hers. When I released her she said, “Wow, I missed you too!”

“Well - I haven’t seen you since, you know.”

“Yeah, I know” she smirked.

“So how are you?”

She put her hand on my chest. “Very good, thank you. So whad’ja get me for lunch?”

I took her hand and led her back to the table. As I pulled items out of her bag, I said, “Chipped ham sandwich, with American cheese and mustard - made it myself. For dessert, a pumpkin gob, fresh from Sheetz - and I hope you like Pepsi.”

She surveyed the table, then back at me. “My, aren’t we romantic!”

I smiled and asked, “So how was your day?”

“Oh my God, let me tell you about Mrs. Yoder...” In between bites she continued, “ ... and there’s this junior on the cross country team who won’t keep his eyes off me.”

I sensed she had finished her sentence while I was staring at the trees. She asked, “Hey Joe, something wrong?”

“Been thinking this week - I’m going to drop Math. Switch majors.”

“What? You just giving up when things get tough?” She sat there and stared at me.

“No! You know my grades, I’m just not getting anywhere. I get to class this week and I see it won’t get any better, no matter how hard I try. Math isn’t really what I want to do.”

“Then what is? I thought you were the numbers guy?”

I took a swig of Pepsi and leaned back. “I thought so. I love to do things with numbers, but not like it’s the numbers themselves. It’s the data - how to gather it, organize, it, analyze it. Math is a tool that I want to know how to use. I don’t need to prove why it works.”

“I don’t know - but at least you sound passionate about it. So what else can you take?”

“I’m going to see my adviser about switching to Econ. I’ve already taken several classes. Those are like real world things that can be studied to predict what can happen next. I love to answer questions, to do the research. At least my Database and Survey classes are up that alley.”

“How about intelligence?”

“Like what?”

“Like the C.I.A.”

“You want me to be a spy?”

“No, silly. They have lots of analysts who try to figure out what’s going on, answer all the questions. You’re the big nerd, you’d probably fit right in.”

I smiled and nodded. “Hmm. That sounds like a plan.” I stuffed the last piece of sandwich in my mouth.

Hannah nodded towards my watch. “What time is it?”

“Ten past.”

“I better start heading back.”

I chugged the last of my Pepsi and tossed the empty can in my bag. I asked, “You done with this?” as I reached to pick up her mess.

After swinging by the trash can, we each unwrapped our gobs, walking hand in hand down the asphalt path past the girl’s dorms. I turned to her and asked, “So what do you want to be?”

“I don’t know.”