Chapter 7: Spring break

Usually, Marilyn could study better at Andy’s than at the house. Sure, they made love before getting down to work, and on Saturdays she cooked a meal. When they did sit down to study, though, his example kept her studying longer and with fewer breaks than the constant coming and going of the study room allowed. Even if he said nothing, even when he didn’t know what she was studying, Andy’s presence seemed to communicate, “Studying for tomorrow afternoon? You should have that done and be studying for day after tomorrow.” Her sisters’ stances tended to communicate, “Studying for tomorrow afternoon? Why? You have time after tomorrow morning’s classes. You could be watching TV instead.” For that matter, maybe having made love allowed her to concentrate on the class work better. Certainly, she could concentrate longer knowing that they would make love whenever she finished.

One Wednesday, however, he surprised her when she had her books spread out on her side of the table.

“You know. You said you would make a list of the household chores that will be my responsibility. You should make that list this quarter.” Well, she’d never said that she would assign his responsibilities. She had suggested that they discuss which responsibilities each would take. That she assign the responsibilities was his counterproposal. Actually, what she’d first asked was whether the chores he was willing to do and the chores she was willing to do left any holes. Anyway, assigning them for life sounded like a weird abstraction. What sort of house would they have?

“Why?” If she understood his reasons, she could express her objections.

“Well, I’m going to have to learn almost all of them. The best time to learn would be this summer. If Mrs. Bryant doesn’t teach me, you’ll have to when we’re married.”

“Really, Andy, you should know all the tasks. I’m never going to expect you to do all of them at the same time, but we might need to change them off. For a short time, you might need to do everything. What if I broke a leg?” What if she delivered a baby? Although she wasn’t going to raise that possibility until she’d decided some things. “And there will be different tasks to assign in different sorts of houses. Do you know how to mow the lawn?”

“Actually, I do. Dad didn’t think it was a job to assign a woman. Well, then make a list of the things I’ll need to know. I’ll try to learn them this summer.”

“Not today. I’ve my study planned out.”

“Not today,” Andy agreed. “This quarter. Actually, you could leave it ‘til Spring Break.”

“You’ll lie in my arms every night when we’re married?” he asked that Saturday as they spooned up to sleep.

“Yeah!” The idea sounded great, especially when he was surrounding her with his warmth.

“Do different schools use different stories in their Lit books?” he asked the next morning while they were in the car going to church.

“Yeah, mostly.” There were different textbooks. A few of the stories would be the same between textbooks.

“When we’re married and you’re teaching Lit, would you want me to read the stories you’ll be teaching?”

“Maybe.”

Andy said, “I’ll be out of school. I’ll be working, but probably not having much assigned reading. If you want, I’ll read what you teach. Should I read all the Shakespeare plays? I’ve only read Macbeth and Lear.” By that time, they were near the church, and she couldn’t figure out what brought on his question. She asked on the ride back.

“Well,” he answered, “you’ll sleep in my arms every night. You agreed. That’s what I get. If a few chores aren’t enough, what more will you want? I figure that you won’t want to be married to a guy who is ignorant of your field.” Well, the Lit books would make sense, and they wouldn’t be much of a slog for a bright guy like Andy. A teacher, however, might have classes in all four grades of high school -- even more in some school districts. Reading all those Lit books might take a while. All of Shakespeare’s plays was a little much. She hadn’t read anything like half of them, and she was an English major.

“Andy, it will be great if you take an interest in my work. I don’t want to make it an assignment.” She didn’t plan to learn engineering, after all.

“Well, getting to know you looks like part of marriage.” And, of course, her dean’s-list scholar would see knowing Marilyn as meaning knowing what she’d be teaching.

“You’re sweet.” And he gave her a sweet kiss in the entryway of the house.

As the weeks went by, they kept asking each other how they’d live when they were married. Andy started it, but she soon joined in. They’d start out living in an apartment and buy a house when they were sure of staying where they were and had the money for the down payment.

“And we’ll both share in economic decisions?” She’d heard some of Mom’s friends bitching about that.

“Sure. You’ll sleep in my arms every night?”

“Andy?” She’d answered that question.

“I don’t doubt you. I just like to hear you say it.” Well, she liked to hear him say that he loved her, and Andy was good about that.

“I’ll sleep in your arms for every night of our married life.”

“You’re a darling!”

When Spring Break was nearly upon them, they decided to spend it together. It was neither a hard decision nor something they disagreed on. What was hard was breaking it to Mom.

“Really, dear! I suppose Andy is staying down there, too.” She considered saying that she didn’t know. But that wouldn’t convince Mom who knew for certain that they’d slept together twice. She would have no illusions that they’d stopped.

“Sure. You’d rather I went to Key West?” she asked. Traditionally, Spring Break was a time to visit some vacation spot, meet some new guys, and sleep with at least one of them. Mom didn’t know that she was going to marry Andy, but she had to know that she might. And he wasn’t going to give her some venereal disease, either.

“I just hope you’re being careful, dear.”

“Mom!” She knew about her being on the Pill.

Andy had a later class on Friday this quarter. He picked her up at the house right after that class let out. She was waiting with her suitcase and all her books.

“Yeah,” Margot said when she saw the pile of books. “Like you’re going to study on Spring Break.”

“It will make the rest of the year easier.”

“I’m going to be working on my tan.” Then Andy rang the bell. She met him at the door, and he picked her up for a hot kiss. Then he set her down and picked up her suitcase and books. She waved goodbye to Margot on her way to the car.

Once in the apartment, he picked her up again. This time, he kissed her tits through blouse and bra. She unbuttoned what she could reach of his shirt. Then he put her down, and they got rid of their clothes. He opened the closet door to reveal the mirror.

“Too cold?”

“Nice and warm.” Indeed, the apartment was too hot, although it felt cooler without clothes. He gestured towards the closet, and they met in front of the mirror. As they both faced it, he bent to kiss her shoulder while stroking her tits.

“See, they stand up so prettily.” As he brought one hand down her stomach, she spread her legs. He stroked her mound and the inside of her thighs. She stepped far enough to the side so she could see his cock in the mirror.

“You’re teasing me.” She took his hand and moved it where it belonged. When she felt his finger touch her already-wet lips, she could see the cock jump in response. She watched in the mirror as one hand stroked her nipples and the other stroked her cleft. When he wasn’t kissing her neck or ear, he watched, too. She could see herself blush as she could feel herself tense. The tenseness was visible in the mirror, too.

As the lightning struck, she could see herself wriggle. Andy’s arms held her up as every one of her muscles jumped. He continued holding her as she slumped. The sight was arousing as hell, but a little embarrassing.

“Darling,” he said. “I love you. You are so sexy, so beautiful.” Finally, she straightened. “Love.” He pulled on her shoulder to turn her around. By now, she was glad to have the mirror out of her sight.

He picked her up. He kissed her mouth and then, lifting her further, her tits. He carried her a few steps and rested her back against the wall. They shared a wet kiss while he gripped her ass with both hands.

“Fit me in,” he said. She reached around her ass to spread her lips with her left hand while she pointed his cock between them with her right. As she was lowered, the hairs on his chest rubbed against her nipples while he spread her and then filled her.

“Darling,” he said. When he moved back, she threw her arms around his neck to hold on. Her legs were tight around his waist. He stopped where they had a side view in the mirror. “Gorgeous,” he said. As he raised her, she could feel him going out. She could even see part of his cock behind his hand in the mirror. “Oh, love,” he said as he lowered her and filled her again. On the next stroke, she cooperated with arms and legs. Seeing him move her in the mirror, feeling him against her tits and her entire front, filled and emptied by the motions, her arousal peaked.

She saw herself shake in the mirror as the lightning struck. He grabbed her shoulder with one hand, but he kept the other hand supporting her ass. All that motion aroused her even more, and the lightning struck again. Then she felt him pulse inside her.

He slowly lowered them both to the floor. She had the corner of the closet doorway supporting her back. When she recovered, she eased her feet down until they were supporting her. Andy reached a hand back and fell backwards until his hand could support him. When she stood up, he sat down on the floor before rolling onto his knees. Then he rose. She was standing straight up, and little Andys were running out onto her leg.

“Bed?” he asked.

“Later.” She went into the john to wipe herself off with a little toilet paper. When she got out, he was already in bed under the sheet. When she joined him, he hugged her. His skin felt hot, too hot for the day. Well, Mom had said that you could have sex standing up. Actually, though, only Andy had been standing up.

“It’s a little warm for this close of a hug,” she told him.

“When we’re married, we’ll have to have air conditioning in the bedroom.” Giving up future hugs wasn’t on his agenda. He didn’t even relax the present one. He was, however, eager to make it comfortable for her. Well, when she got too warm, she’d get up to cook dinner.

Anyway, he’d brought up their future married life. She’d considered faithfulness as a requirement. It was in the service, of course, and when you were in love or talking about marriage, much less both, it went without saying. The problem with Andy, though, is that you were never quite sure what went without saying. Faithfulness in marriage was violated by one hell of a lot more men than had to be told that you ate meals sitting down. Well...

“Andy, you haven’t had sex with another woman since we started dating?” When he didn’t answer, she added, “That was a question.”

“Nor before.” Well, she’d known that. “I’ve never made love with anyone else in my life.” Which wasn’t really the problem.

“Well, if you do in the future, it will be a deal breaker. I’ll file for divorce.” Unless it happens soon enough that she’d break the engagement instead, but she didn’t really worry about that. She didn’t want him making out, either. “If you so much as kiss another woman, you’ll sleep on the couch.”

“Okay ... The Moppet?”

“Kissing family and such is quite all right. I’ll even let you kiss women over fifty and girls under five.” What she was afraid of wasn’t this sort of kiss. She was afraid of his getting involved in either romance or sex.

“Okay. I won’t.” He didn’t sound like he realized how serious she was about this. It was equally possible, though, that he didn’t consider his breaking her rule possible at all.

It was too warm to stay here, and too early to cook dinner.

“Remember the list of chores I wanted you to learn? You wanted me to write out a list. I think this is a good time to do it.”

“Aww...”

“The goal you articulated was for me to lie in your arms at night. I should work, for the night is coming.” He didn’t look persuaded, but when she pushed his arm away, he only tightened it for a moment. Christ! She felt like a lion tamer in the ring. She had to dominate by will, because he’d win every time if it came down to a test of strength. Will triumphed yet again, however. He removed his arm, and she got up. She put on her jeans and panties. It was hot in the room, and he’d get to ogle her tits in compensation for not being able to hug her. He got up when she sat down to write.

“Pack your dirty clothes?”

“Yeah. I really feel odd about your doing my laundry.”

“Well, I’ll do chores when we’re married. You said so. That might as well include laundry. It’s a lot for you to carry. So, I’ll do laundry when we’re married. We’re going to be married for this week.” Sometimes, Andy’s statements were convoluted and off the point. Sometimes, though, like right then, he said just the right words.

He stripped and made the bed before he went out to do the laundry. The list really didn’t take long. Housework might take long to do, but there were only so many tasks. She decided to leave dusting off. She’d do it when the dust bothered her, and that didn’t happen very often. She was going to be a teacher, not a compulsive housewife.

Vacuum rugs Windows Cook Kitchen surfaces Tub and sink Toilet (Dishes) (Laundry) (Sweep)

She figured she should give him credit for what he already knew. He came back much faster than she’d expected.

“Forget something?”

“Remembered something.” He came over to kiss her. He lifted her on to the chair, and the kisses went to her tits. This going topless did save a lot of time. “The machine is doing the wash without my help.”

“So, you decided to come back to do me.”

“Nah! Just some minor tribute to your beauty.” And he kissed down over her stomach. He didn’t try to open her jeans, though. Then they had a nice kiss with her doing the bending over. When his tongue had checked out her mouth and hers had checked out his, she drew away.

“I did the list.” She started to bend down to get it, but he moved faster. He glanced at it and put it in his pocket. He turned her around and started kissing slowly down her back. He was holding her tits and kissing between her shoulder blades when he glanced at his watch.

“Time to get stuff in the dryer.” He lifted her back to the floor, with a hug on the way, before he left. She got out her book on teaching grammar.

When he came back, he gave her the list instead of a kiss. He’d changed it.

CLEAN: Vacuum rugs Windows

Kitchen surfaces Tub and sink Toilet (Dishes) (Laundry) (Sweep)

COOK:

“I don’t think I could learn to cook everything this summer. Not even everything Mrs. Bryant cooks during that time. I’ll be in the hardware store most days.” He was right.

“You’re right. Let me think.” She had taken years to learn to cook. She hadn’t concentrated on it, but Mom had taught her a lot, and she’d taken Home Ec. She’d despised Home Ec. She, after all, was going to have a career as an educator. Then, after learning to cook, she’d practiced the Beef Stroganoff she’d fed Andy three or four times with Mom watching before doing it by herself. And, really, she was proud of her (few) show-off dishes like that. “Why don’t you learn what she can teach you about lunches and snacks? Does she use cookbooks?”

“I don’t think so. I haven’t seen her use them, but, after all, I wasn’t checking on that.” She didn’t think so, either. Mrs. Bryant looked like the sort of cook who had learned in the kitchen. Well, Andy was the sort to learn from books. If he learned how to read a cookbook, he would be able to make any recipe from those directions as well as she could. The problem was cookbooks weren’t written for Andys. He hadn’t been raised by wolves, but sometimes it was difficult to tell that.

“Well, I’ll handle the fancy stuff and the main meals. You learn the basic stuff and how to take care of emergencies.” Hamburgers, tuna salad, toasted cheese sandwiches, canned soup -- when she was under deadline pressure (or suffering from morning sickness, but she hadn’t decided about babies yet) those would be enough, and being able to eat them without breaking off work to cook them would be a godsend.

When he went to get the stuff from the dryer, she put on bra and blouse and started dinner. He praised her spaghetti inordinately. She figured his constant claim that her cooking was delicious was silly. On the other hand, like his father said about his saying that she was the prettiest girl on campus, maybe it tasted better because he loved her. Then, too, it really did taste better than cold stuff out of a can. After dinner, they cuddled for a little. Her clothes were in two piles at the head and the foot of the bed.