Chapter 10

That afternoon, the girls packed me and a couple of bags that I wasn’t allowed to see into Lana’s car and dragged me off on an adventure I wasn’t allowed to be in on ‘til we got there.

I was surprised when we pulled up to Revere Beach on the Atlantic ocean. “What are we doing here?” I asked, surprised.

“The weather is fantastic and the water’s probably cold enough to count as icing your leg,” Lana explained as Becky passed her something from the bags in the backseat. “You were bummed out because you couldn’t come to the beach with us, well, we’re taking you to the beach anyway. Change into this here,” she said, passing me what she’d gotten from Becky which turned out to be my swimsuit.

I laughed and nodded, squirming a bit to get my shorts and underwear down and off before carefully sliding the suit up my legs and over my hips. Lana reached down by my feet to get the discarded shorts and underwear, passing them to Becky who made them disappear into the bags she had back there with her.

They had me leave my crutches in the car and they each supported me on one side as we made our way down the sand to find a place to set up. We spread out towels and then Becky and Lana stripped off their clothes, revealing bikinis that made my mouth water for each of them. We lay down to take in some sun and I was suddenly grateful for this since I’d become very pale from staying inside so much.

They made sure I didn’t burn, four hands liberally applying sunblock to me front and back. Becky even unwrapped my ankle and slathered lotion on my injured foot. I returned the favor with as much detail to attention, making sure that every inch was covered, slipping my fingertips beneath the material of their suits to spread sunblock everywhere that might see the light of day and a few places that were in no danger of it.

We lay back on our towels and chatted idly about friends, school, home and Lilly whom I’d started thinking of as ‘our sister’. We lay there hand in hand for a lot of the afternoon, flipping over onto our stomachs to get some sun on our backs too.

Toward the middle of the afternoon, the girls wanted to go swimming and I told them to go ahead. I’d make sure nothing blew away here. They looked reluctant to leave me alone here, but I told them that trying to paddle with my ankle injured would probably hurt as bad as trying to walk on it and they nodded before taking off down the sand to the water.

I watched them run down the sand and counted myself lucky again as my eyes were glued to their asses as they ran, barely concealed by the suits they wore. I was sporting a bit of an erection and I adjusted it so it was in a more comfortable position.

The rest of the afternoon passed uneventfully. They returned from the water and dripped water from their hair all over me, making me squirm and complain with a smile on my face. The girls got some whistles and cat-calls, but said that wasn’t abnormal for when they came to the beach. “Creeps gotta creep,” Lana said with a sour look on her face as a pair of guys called over to them to leave me and go have fun with them.

I looked at the guys and shook my head. “They’re probably college age,” I said. “Trying to pick up two teenage girls is a good way to end up charged with committing something that starts with ‘statutory’. Besides, I’d bet my left crutch and my right nut that between them they wouldn’t know how to please a girl. Otherwise they wouldn’t be trolling the beach on the buddy system. Remember, always swim with a buddy if you’re in over your head.”

They laughed loudly and the three of us looked over at them, letting them know that they were the subject of the joke. We decided that we’d had enough of the beach for one day and started to pack up. I wrapped my ankle while they got dressed and then I slipped on my shorts and put my shoe back on my good foot. They helped me up and we started up the beach toward the car.

We hadn’t gotten far when the college guys caught up to us and tried to get the girls to go with them again. “Just ditch the crip and we can have the party to end all parties,” the big one said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Lana lost her mind. One minute she was supporting me and the next minute I was teetering and she’d turned and planted her foot directly into the guy’s crotch as hard as she could.

He folded up like a lawn chair, my eyes went wide, his friend said “Whoa!” in shock, Becky started laughing so hard, I wasn’t sure which of us was supporting the other and Lana was shrieking at the fallen jock red-faced.

“THAT’S OUR BOYFRIEND YOU’RE CALLING A CRIP! IF WE WANT A PARTY, IT’LL BE WITH HIM AND IT’LL BE BETTER FOR BOTH OF US THAN ANYTHING YOU COULD EVER DO, YOU PIECE OF SHIT! SO FUCK OFF!”. She punctuated the last part by kicking him again.

She was wild, possessed and there was a rage in her eyes that made me wonder if she was going to kick him again. “Well, I don’t think any of us expected that,” I said dryly. “Least of all him.”

Lana turned toward the other guy, snarling and spoiling for a fight and he backed up. “Hey! I’m cool. Mad respect to you bro,” he directed at me, still backing away from Lana. “Sorry for bothering you guys. I’m just gonna make sure he’s not dead and leave you alone.”

Becky was still laughing at the guy on the ground who’d rolled over onto his side and puked on the sand. Her arm slipped from around me and I teetered for a moment before I put my other foot down gingerly to try and balance. I growled against the pain and chose instead to sit down hard, figuring that the sand was soft enough to make that less painful than trying to stand on both feet.

That pulled Lana’s attention and suddenly she was at my side, making sure I was okay. I nodded and told her I’d just lost my balance and tried to use my bad ankle to recover before thinking better of it.

She helped me back up and we got back to the car with some difficulty, Becky still consumed with laughter and piled in.

When we were back on the road, I looked at Lana and asked if she was okay.

“Me? You might have re-injured your ankle. I’m more worried about you,” she shot back.

I shook my head. “I don’t think I hurt it any more. I sat down as soon as it felt painful. You flew off the handle though. I’m worried about why.”

“You’re not a cripple!” she blurted out. “Him calling you names made me so mad. It was like he thought he deserved us because you were hurt.”

“People call me names all the time. Becky, back me up on this. I get the top marks in English, Math and any science that uses formulas. That makes me a nerd, geek, dork or any of a half dozen other names. If that makes Hulk angry then half the freshmen this year are going to need ice packs this semester.” I put a hand on her shoulder and pointed to a McDonald’s and asked her to pull into the parking lot so we could talk.

She nodded and we went through the drive-thru to get shakes before parking.

“I love you more than words can say and I’m not mad at you for what you did,” I told her, holding her hand tightly. “I love the fact that you’ve got my back. I’m worried about how out of control you were though. It was super-personal to you.”

She sighed and swore softly to herself. “A girl in my class last year that was out with some friends and they got approached by some college guys who said they had some beer and were going to a party. Some of the guys went, but all the other girls turned them down. She figured she was safe since there was a few guys from her class that were going with her. When they got to the party, they got drinking and next thing she knew, she was loaded drunk and some guy she’d never met was on top of her. She was a virgin and she didn’t even know the guy’s name. After he was done, there was another guy. And another and another. She said she passed out a few times and they’d slap her awake. She doesn’t know how many guys raped her. She didn’t know which of them had gotten her pregnant, but she couldn’t handle telling her parents or dealing with the baby or any of it. She killed herself a couple of weeks after she found out they’d gotten her pregnant. That guy could have been one of them. I don’t know for sure. I do know that’s what he was looking for was to take us home or to some slimy frat-house and get us drunk so we’d have sex.”

She sighed and took a sip from her shake before explaining what she’d been feeling. “Between what happened to Sally and what he wanted from us and what he called you and how he thought we’d just dump you there and take off with him, I couldn’t listen to another word from him,” she finished up.

“Well look on the bright side,” Becky said with a sunny smile. “The next time anyone hears another word from him, his voice will be a lot higher.”

We all laughed at that and I reached over to hug Lana comfortingly. “I don’t think he would have tried anything, but I was really worried. I couldn’t have fought him if he started trouble. I was glad you were there to stop trouble before it started.”

I kissed her cheek and told her I loved her and then I reached out to Becky and pulled her close so I could kiss her too. “I love you too, but you make a lousy crutch.” I smiled to let her know I wasn’t mad that she’d let me go.

“Sorry,” she said, chagrined.

We went home and had dinner with Mom and Lilly who was talking up a storm about last night’s slumber party and telling the girls all about who was coming to hers next week. Becky knew some of the girls, but most of them were a year behind us both, so she wasn’t very close to them.

I was mostly bored by the talk, but kept up with the conversation rather than checking out and wandering in my own thoughts even though I had a fair few things to think about these days.

We stayed around the table when dinner was done, the five of us chatting for a while longer before I decided I needed some quiet time. I stood and kissed my girls, announcing that I was going to go through the rest of the new book and put my foot up. I was worried about it after putting weight on it earlier. I’d taken a few steps on it the day before, but with guard rails supporting a lot of my weight. The thought that I might have made it worse filled me with dread.

Lana came down a few minutes later with an ice pack and helped me get settled. “You want me to stay with you?” she asked apprehensively and I was about to tell her to go talk with the girls when it occurred to me that she needed reassurance after the outburst leaving the beach.

I smiled and nodded and she bounded into bed with me, pulling me close. Instead of picking up the book on Japanese again, I stroked her hair and let her be quiet for a few minutes. “Today really bothered you, huh?” I asked gently when we’d been settled for a few minutes.

She fussed a little, rubbing her face on my chest like a kitten for a moment before nodding. “I should have just ignored him and walked you back to the car. I’ve had guys like that make comments when I was at the beach before. I don’t know why I got so mad.”

“Have you ever been there with your boyfriend before?” I asked, pointing out the difference to her.

She shook her head and looked at me waiting for me to say more.

“We’re together and it’s new and we love it. We love each other. We want the whole world to know. When someone sees us together and acts like it doesn’t matter it makes me mad too. I wished I was a lot taller, stronger and my ankle was good when he followed us up the beach. I wanted to put him on the ground too. Your reaction was just more ... visceral than mine. You’ve got good reason for that. I was just worried about what sparked it. Now I know.”

She put her head down and shrugged, rubbing her face on my chest again. “Yeah, but I should have stayed with you. You were counting on me and I left you alone.”

“That happens,” I said gently. “It’ll happen again to both of us. There’ll be days that you need me and I’ll be in class or I’ll need you when you’re away at college or studying and we’ll have to be strong in those moments. Just remember, I love you very much, you’re always in my thoughts and I’m always with you in my heart. That should get us both through the times we need to lean on each other.”

She looked up at me and I could tell she was still feeling a bit down about it, but she was coming around. I leaned down and kissed her softly, pouring my feelings into the kiss.