Chapter 40: Twenty-Two, Part II

April 22, 1985, Chicago, Illinois

In the morning, Sofia and I showered together. Contrary to what she'd said in the shower after the sauna, she'd only wanted that one lovemaking session. I did my utmost to make it the best, most loving act we'd ever had, and Sofia had cum repeatedly. Now, we were lovingly washing each other, most likely for the last time.

"Are you OK?" I asked.

"Yes," she replied with a smile. "Remember what I told you? The worst case scenario was that I would come here and become a doctor. You'll be my friend, I'm sure, and you've already said that I could stay here as long as I wished. And I want to remind you of something very important. And that is that you have never misled me, have never treated me badly, and have never taken me for granted. Yes, I felt a bit neglected when so much other stuff was going on in your life, but I realize now that I had unrealistic expectations."

"I appreciate you telling me that. And reminding me. I want you for a friend. A close friend. No matter what."

"Promise me one thing," she said.

"What's that?"

"That if you change your mind about the future, you'll talk to me."

"Of course. I'll talk to you no matter what. But I wouldn't count on anything changing."

"I'm not. I know what's likely to happen. But, on the off chance..."

"I promise," I said. "If I change my mind, you're the next in line..."

Sofia laughed, "Cute! I suppose now's the time to tell you that I've been talking to a guy at Loyola. Nothing serious yet, but I'm going on a date with him next Friday."

"I'm glad to hear that, and I'm also sad, if you know what I mean."

"Oh, I do," she giggled. "Once you've had Sofia Katsaros, you don't want to let her go!"

"You have been hanging around Cindi FAR too long!" I chuckled. "Anything you want to tell me about the guy?"

"He's a Junior in the philosophy department."

"So terminally unemployed?" I smirked. "But no big deal because you'll make plenty of money as a doctor in the US."

"I will! He wants to teach, but he's minoring in English so he could teach English if he needs to. He's super sweet. And he's Greek."

"Interesting. Hopefully that will make your dad happy; I know he was hoping we'd get together."

"My dad had a plan for you and I to be married with three kids, and him and my mom living with us back when I was fifteen!"

"He did seem a bit gung-ho on the topic, didn't he?"

"He likes you. But he never knew about Katt or Pia or Karin or any of the other girls. That might have given him pause."

"Might?" I chuckled.

"Let's go have breakfast. I don't want to be late for class!"

Just as we were leaving my room, the phone rang, and I answered it. It was Karin, calling to wish me a happy birthday, even though we'd spoken the previous morning. We talked for a few minutes, and then Sofia and I went down to have breakfast. We were joined by Kara, Bethany, and Julia, and when we finished eating, Kara, Julia, and I drove down to IIT together.

"That was fun yesterday," Julia said.

Kara giggled, "You got off on kissing Bethany, and then that last dance was so hot I thought you two might end up in bed together!"

"No, I couldn't take it that far," Julia said. "First off, that's a whole different thing than a kiss and a dance, and second, I'd need Dave's permission to do anything that resembled making love. Even with permission, I'm not sure I'd have the guts to go through with it."

"Whose idea was all that stuff yesterday?" I asked.

"Mostly Elyse and Jackie," Kara said. "But they cleared everything with Kathy, who made it clear that nobody was to violate your rules."

"That's Kathy," I said with a grin. "Always playing house mother!"

The day of classes went by surprisingly fast, given what I was anticipating for that evening. Only Kara was waiting for me after my last class, because Julia had taken the El home earlier in the day. We got in the car and headed towards home.

"You're actually serious about making a videotape?" I asked.

"Yes! It'll be fun, don't you think?"

"It's just seems a bit over the top, but if you want to, I'm game."

"We could rent a movie first to watch and see what it's like. You've never seen a movie like that, have you?"

I laughed, "No. You are just full or surprises."

"Someday you'll stop being surprised at who I really am. But I totally understand why you're reacting the way you are. Anyone who knew me when I was sixteen would."

"Speaking of the old you, have you heard from Sandy or Ruth?"

"They're both doing well. They're both at Clermont Junior College. Sandy has a steady boyfriend, and she sees Hope about once every two weeks. Ruth is engaged to Roger. She's planning on being a mom as her career. He has a good union electrician's job so he can easily support her."

"And Susie?"

"She's doing well. Still in college. No real change otherwise."

"It sounds like things are going really well for the kids who escaped."

"I heard that Kent van der Meer is pastoring a small house church," Kara said.

"That sucks," I said. "The man is truly dangerous."

"Mom told me that four families from Grace started a new church and asked him to be their pastor. Now that Sandy is over eighteen, I guess being Hester Prynne doesn't matter anymore."

I shook my head and remained silent until we arrived home. We went inside and I found Alice and Elyse working together on dinner, while Bart and Penny were talking with a bunch of my friends and housemates. Elyse and Kara had invited all the girls' boyfriends, as well as Andrei and his sister, Pete and Melanie, Kurt and Kathy, Jamie and Jackie, Jorge, Wen, Cleveland, Mike, Bert, Charlie, George, Jeremiah, Anala, Prajesh, and Jamal.

"Jeremiah, who's the knockout sitting next to you?" I asked, taking a long look at a very, very pretty black girl who was holding his hand.

He laughed, "You should know who this is! Steve, this is Sharice, my girlfriend. Sharice, this is Steve Adams, whom I've told you so much about."

"It's nice to finally meet you," I said, taking her hand. "Jeremiah has talked about you a lot, but I guess your parents are very conservative."

She smiled, "Yes. Daddy is a pastor, so I have to be a proper pastor's daughter. He said I could come, but we have to leave right after dessert and presents."

"I talked to Elyse," Jeremiah said. "She said she'd keep the alcohol put away until we leave. You know I don't mind, but her daddy would skin me alive."

"I totally understand," I replied. "It's no different from making sure we don't serve beef when Anala and Prajesh are here, or pork when Jamal is here."

"I will NEVER understand how you can go through life without bacon!" Cleveland joked.

"Who does that?" Jamal laughed. "Remember, I'm not a good Muslim any more than Steve is a good Christian! Steve is just very polite. I've eaten bacon before. And you know I drink alcohol. Now, if I was from Iran or Saudi Arabia, then it would matter. But Beirut used to be the party capital of the Middle East!"

"Dinner is in twenty minutes," Elyse called.

"Happy birthday, Penny!" I said, moving to her.

"Happy birthday, Steve!" she said back, winking.

I greeted the rest of our guests and made sure that everyone knew Penny and Bart, and Alice, when she came in to say hello and announce that dinner was ready.

"Fried chicken, chicken stir-fry, and barbecue pulled chicken sandwiches, along with coleslaw and fries. Dig in!"

The food was excellent, and they'd made enough to feed an army. Elyse told me that Alice had taken the day off and had been cooking since 10:00am. Elyse had come home between classes to help, and then once her last class was done, she'd been in the kitchen full time.

"I owe you," I said.

"And I'll collect!" Elyse said quietly. "For yesterday, too! But Penny has to have her brains fucked out all night first! Your room is all set, but wait until everyone leaves before you two disappear. Alice was a bit nervous about that."

"Got it," I said.

I had just filled my plate and sat down when the doorbell rang. Katy jumped up to answer it and I smiled when Joyce walked in, arm-in-arm with Jake.

"Joyce!" I said, "This is a surprise!"

"Are you kidding? Grandfather ordered me to come. And Jake certainly didn't complain about me coming to Chicago!"

"I should have known your grandfather would send you."

"Can I steal you for five minutes? I'll make a plate and you can bring yours."

"Sure," I said. "How's it going, Jake?"

"I have a smoking hot Italian babe on my arm," he grinned. "How do you THINK it's going?"

"Fair enough! Well, you have one more year to work things out before they send you to Nome, Alaska, or some other godforsaken place!"

"More like Groton or Kings Bay. I'm a 'nuc' and that's where most of the boomers are."

"Six months underwater?" I asked, shaking my head. "No thanks, man!"

"I'll be able to retire at 45 with a full pension, then go to work for a Beltway Bandit firm for six figures. I can deal with a couple of tours on a boomer for that! Not to mention the Navy paying for my Master's and PhD if I want them."

"You sound like my friend Aimee, who's going to the Academy. She has a plan like that!"

"Even better for her; Academy grads make flag rank much easier than us ROTC pukes!"

Joyce came back with her plate and we went to my study and sat down, setting our plates on the desk. We started eating and then she told me why she was here.

"Grandfather sent me with your graduation gift and a birthday gift," she said.

"I'll say to you something I'd never say to him — it's not necessary. He's done so much for me already."

"And you'll never say that to me again, Mr. Adams," she said firmly. "Got it? You know how this works."

I nodded, "I do. What favor can I do for you?" I asked.

She smiled, "A guest room for the night would be nice. You don't mind if Jake stays, do you?"

I chuckled, "No, not at all."

"Good. He's taking me out for drinks after dinner, but we'll be back by 11:00pm or so."

"I'll be in bed by then," I said,

Joyce laughed, "I bet you will!"

She opened her purse and handed me an envelope. I took it, and put it in the middle drawer of my desk without looking at it, as was my usual practice.

"We had a meeting yesterday to discuss how we'd start the first week in June. You should probably talk with Elyse and Julia while you're here. We'll set up a meeting of the Board of Directors once I get the names from my professor."

"Cool," she said.

"So you and Jake, huh?" I grinned.

"He doesn't know he's staying the night yet!"

"Uh oh! By the way, how are you doing health-wise?"

"So far, so good. My doctor is confident that it's gone, at least for now. I just have to have annual check-ups at this point."

We left my study and went back to the party. When we'd all eaten our fill, Alice and Elyse brought out two birthday cakes, and Kara and Sofia brought out a couple of gallons of ice cream. Everyone sang Happy Birthday and then Penny and I each blew out the candles on one of the cakes.

"Did you make a wish?" Sharice asked Penny.

"Oh yes, I absolutely did!" she smirked, causing uproarious laughter from my housemates.

Once the cake and ice cream were served, the girls quickly cleared the table and a few minutes later, a mountain of presents appeared. I was just about to start opening presents when the phone rang. Kara hurried to answer it and a moment later, called me to the phone.

"Happy birthday, Big Brother!" I heard my sister say as soon as I picked up the handset.

"Thanks, Squirt! I appreciate it."

"Kara said that you have a house full of people, so I'll keep it short. I love you and can't wait to see you for graduation!"

"Same here!" I said.

"Dad wants to talk to you."

He came on the line.

"Happy birthday, Son," he said.

"Thanks," I said.

"I'm looking forward to your graduation in a few weeks. Everything is all set with Mr. Shaughnessy. I hope you don't mind that I'm combining your birthday and graduation gifts."

"Not at all. You know neither of those is necessary."

"I know. But I'll give them to you on the 18th."

"Thanks."

I hung up and just as I was leaving the study, the phone rang again. It was Jennifer and Josie calling to wish me a 'happy birthday'. They too knew I was in the middle of a party, so they kept the call short. I promised to call later in the week so we could work out our exact plans for the road trip.

I finally got back to the dining room and Penny and I opened our gifts. Several of the girls had bought gifts for Penny as well, and she was excited about the sweaters, makeup, purse, and other personal items that she received from them. Most of my gifts were practical things for around the house, plus a couple of boxes of diskettes which I seemed to go through, like tissues.

As soon as we were done with the gifts, Jeremiah and Sharice said 'goodbye' and left. That was Elyse's cue to open the bar and everyone soon had drinks. Alice allowed Penny a very small amount of wine, and I sipped some of the very expensive bottle of bourbon that Pete and Melanie had given me.

Very soon another string of phone calls began, starting with Stephie. In quick succession after that, I heard from Melanie's parents, Bethany's parents, Josh and Mary, Tatyana, and, last of all, Aimee. When I spoke to her, she asked again about graduation.

"I'll be staying at my friend Melanie's house," I said.

"What time does your sister's graduation end?"

"Probably around 8:30pm or so. It's at Riverfront Coliseum, which is why you're flying us to Lunken instead of Blue Ash."

"How about I pick you up there and we can hang out. Will that be OK?"

"Sure."

"Will your friend's parents object if I spend the night?"

"No. Will your dad?"

She laughed, "No. I informed him that I was doing it! I need a last fling before the Academy. I told you that he knew I wasn't a virgin, so he didn't make a big deal about it."