Chapter 30

FRIDAY, JULY 5, 1991

Both Beast and Tree were wearing ridiculous sunglasses and grinning ear-to-ear at me when I lazily walked out of the garage, yawning as I walked.

Tree opened the door, seemed to consider getting into the back seat before thinking better of it, then held the front seat forward for me to climb into the back of the Monte Carlo.

“Gentlemen,” I greeted them flatly.

Beast gave Tree a meaningful look as he hopped back into the front seat, closing the door.

“He’s clearly not ready to party.”

Both removed their sunglasses, and glared at me in the back seat. Beasts eyebrows raised, then his eyes narrowed as he gave me a full appraisal.

“What did you do today?”

“Oh, not a whole lot,” I diffused with a shrug. “Had to wait on the guy from the phone company to install my new line,” I said with a grin. “Who wants my new number?”

“What else?”

“Well, um, I tried to take a nap this afternoon, but I just couldn’t get to sleep. Took a shower, and here we are.”

“What did you need an afternoon shower for if you weren’t outside working?”

“Oh, I uh, mowed the lawn,” I instantly regretted that lie, as they could plainly see the lawn was in need of a cut.

Beast turned to gaze on the lawn, then turned back to me with a wicked grin on his face.

“You got laid today, didn’t you?”

We sat with the car running, but no music was playing. All eyes were on me for my reaction, and if I were attempting a bluff in poker, I’d have lost big.

“Uh, a gentleman doesn’t...”

“I didn’t ask WHO,” Beast said accusingly. “I just said you did, and you did!”

“You suck,” Tree said flatly, shaking his head at me.

“What can I say?” I shrugged with a wry smile.

How Beast always knew was beyond me, but his perception was always dead on.

“I’ll figure out ‘who’ soon enough,” Beast grinned, slipping the car into reverse, then backed out of our concrete pad to the gravel driveway.

“I figured he might get lucky tonight,” Tree said in disbelief.

“He probably still will,” Beast shook his head. “Remember, try to leave something for the rest of us.”

I took a moment to consider everything and gave them a solid answer.

“Gentlemen, I’ll do my level best to make sure you have a good time tonight, but I make no promises outside of that.”

That seemed to appease them, and the music went to thumping. DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince had struck gold with “Summertime” that summer, and it was currently blasting out of Beasts’ system.

A year and a day ran through my mind, reflecting on all I’d been through in 366 days, thanks in part to the song. These days I tried not to think too much about the past. I tried to focus on the future. But who was in my future? These friends for sure, and Mikey. He was stuck working on another perfect Friday night. I felt for him, but he had his own goals. I had other friends, not as close, but good friends all the same. The guys were easy to deal with. As history had shown, the girls were a harder nut to crack.

Still relatively fresh off my untimely dumping by Deedee, I’d enjoyed a perfect whirlwind day with my best friend. She gave me a taste of what true love might look like, and left me with a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth. Still, she had managed to mostly convince me it was for the best. Her peace offering, in the form of practically hand-delivering Autumn to me, was a pleasant surprise. Clearly the goofy look she left me with was still there, giving Beast his usual clues. I liked her, I decided. Nothing overboard. Nothing serious. I just liked her. I hoped we would be friends for years ahead. Maybe that was the hope of an immature mind, but it was firmly there.

Tonight, there would be Mandy to deal with. Would starting something with her be a betrayal to Autumn, or a confirmation of my intent to play the field a bit this summer? Again, maybe an immature mind thinks it will all work out for the best, even when he’s already survived the worst.

We stopped for pizza slices at the gas station, fueling up for the night ahead. Beast gave me a peek of his treasure in the trunk; a cooler stuffed with iced Budweisers and Miller Lites.

“You’ve done good work here,” I slapped him on the back.

We didn’t want to be first to this particular party, so we tooled around our little town for a little while, talking to friends through the windows of other cars briefly. We appeared to have no plans for the night, and we didn’t breathe a word of where we were eventually headed.

At nearly seven, we struck out for Fork Rapids. It was another great summer night in the Midwest. The weather had been hot and dry for the last few weeks, with the only moisture being the constant humidity we Midwesterners know comes from the corn crops. We cruised into town with windows down, blasting Metallica ahead of our entrance.

Beast navigated through the town that actually sported a few stop lights, something our town did not have need for. Through an older residential neighborhood, we spotted the big old Victorian on a big corner lot. Much had been done to the home to remodel it, but it was still clearly in process, and the exterior was not first on the list for upgrades.

We parked a few houses down and made our way to the door, leaving the cooler in the trunk just to make sure everything was clear first.

The door flew open nearly as quickly as Beast knocked on it.

Mandy, of all people, answered the door.

“Come in! Come in!”

She hustled us into the old home and shut the door behind us. She was clearly pleased to see me, but something was off. She was in a red tank top with a pair of cuffed cutoff jean shorts hugging her round backside.

“OK, Stacey is freaking out. She thinks too many people are here and the party is too big.”

I glanced around the place, It featured very tall ceilings and a freshly redone entry way. I could see four girls I had never met in the kitchen, and a bunch more sitting quietly in the living room. It was not a raging party by any standard.

“More people?!” we heard a familiar voice practically curse. “Oh, it’s you three. Well, as long as no one else comes. I guess...”

The blonde version of Mandy, Stacey was freaking out a little.

“You didn’t bring beer did you?”

“Oh, of course not,” Beast lied.

I was a little disappointed.

“Oh, my gosh, this is getting out of control,” Stacey lamented.

I stepped forward and looked around the main floor again.

“This is everyone,” indicating the kitchen and living room.

“Yeah,” she admitted.

Molly Storz slinked into the room at that moment, eyeing me like a fresh piece of meat. She was in tight, acid washed jeans with some rips in the front of the thighs, letting a little tan flesh peek out. She completed the look with a vintage “Black Sabbath” T-shirt. I appreciated the punkish look she had going on.

“Seems pretty calm to me,” I shrugged. “Is there some way we can help?”

“I dunno, I’m just nervous,” the poor girl squeeked.

“It’s gonna be fine,” Mandy soothed.

“Well, it looks like nothing is going on from the outside,” I offered. “And it’s as quiet as a church from out there too.”

“See,” Molly added in her slightly raspy tone. “It’s fine.”

“OK, but no alcohol!”

“So, you and Molly and Mandy I already know,” I offered bravely. “Who is everyone else?”

“Oh, where are my manners?” Stacey sighed.

“Maybe you would be more comfortable if we all fit in the same room?” I offered.

“The dining room?” Mandy offered.

“The table seats 12,” Stacey admitted. “There are 15 here now, and hopefully no more.”

“Well, we didn’t tell a soul,” I grinned. “It’s just us.”

“Thank you,” Stacey said with a smile, seeming to calm down.

Stacey herded us all into the dining room, a long, narrow room dominated by a long banquet table. The table was fairly freshly made, I could tell, but was built in the old farmhouse style. Certainly Stacey’s dad, a carpenter by trade, had put it together. Beast was similarly impressed.

Stacey was trying to drag a couple of extra chairs into the room as we all awkwardly sat in groups.

“OK, these boys are from County West, just like Mandy. No fighting,” Stacey chided, to a few chuckles.

She pointed to the start of a chain of people around the table.

This is Mark Eggert and Chad Wylert. These are the twins, Matty and Milly. The redhead is Erin O’Brien, that’s April Wertz, that’s Shannon DeJong, Cora Deetz, Megan Miller, and you already know Molly.

The three of us were never going to remember all these names, but we nodded to each of them as they were introduced.

“This is Marcus Robinson, they call him ‘Beast,’” Stacey giggled. “This is Trent Turner, they call him Tree.”

“And he’s Jake Parker,” she said, pointing to me with an odd smile. “And I’m not sure what they call him.”

“Jake is fine,” I said with a lopsided grin.

“Yes he is,” Molly said boldly.

“Hi, Jake,” a few feminine voices said in unison.

“You suck,” Tree whispered at me.

“Shut up and pick your target,” I leveled back under my breath.

The guys were inconsequential, but I seemed to recognize them from somewhere. There were indeed twins, but they were quite plain looking, with dirty blonde hair cut into identical bangs, no makeup to speak of. They were relatively short and wore clothing that covered up whatever assets they may have possessed. Erin O’Brien was tall and thin, but not Autumn thin. Her coppery red hair was thin and short, also cut into bangs. She had pretty eyes and her body seemed nicely developed. April Wertz was a bold looking blonde; short, with a thicker build to accomodate a big chest and ample ass. Her blonde hair was in short curls, and her eyebrows indicated she didn’t start out blonde. She had a pretty face with round features I liked. Shannon was the tallest girl in the room, with an Italian, dark look. She had big, deep brown eyes and long black hair, set up in a ponytail. Small but pert breasts were prominent on the upper part of her chest. Cora Deetz was an interesting little firecracker. She was the shortest in the room, with a wild mane of blonde hair. She had a cute little button nose and expressive doe eyes. She was also in a tank top that showed she was well built for her height. Megan Miller was more toward the plain side, no makeup and mousey brown hair, also cut into bangs. She did have pretty blue eyes though.

“You play catcher, don’t you?”

The question surprised me as I had made my evaluation of the girls, and who I thought my boys should go for.

I looked back at Mark and Chad. “Yeah, do you guys play?”

“Yeah,” both of them said. I looked both over more carefully and recognition came to me.

“You batted ninth,” I said to Mark.

“For that game, yeah. I pitched.”

“Dude, you have to learn to hit the slider,” I laughed.

“Your pitcher is ridiculous,” he said with wide eyes. “Where the hell does that pitch come from? It looks just like his fastball.”

“I can take that pitch out of the park,” I bragged. “But I can tell when it’s coming. Where did you play?” I asked Chad.

“I pitch when he isn’t,” he admitted.

“Ah, yeah. Thought so. You can always tell a pitcher, you just can’t tell him much,” I joked.

“We can tell you run the show,” Mark said. “Our catcher is shy with the signs. Had no idea what pitch we should throw, but he’s the best we have.”

“Well, I’m not sure you guys will see Mitch or me next year. We made varsity for the playoffs, short as that trip was.”

“Yeah, we heard you two had scouts looking at you already,” Chad said in awe.

“Yeah, Mitch does. No one has said a word to me,” I said honestly.

“That’s what we heard at least,” Mark shrugged.

“You boys aren’t going to talk baseball all night, are you?” Mandy threatened in a husky tone.

“Baseball is fun,” I shrugged. “You go from base to base and try to score.”

“Not if you talk about baseball all night,” she warned, giving me a sexy look.

Half the room engaged in the sports conversation laughed while the other half wondered what was so funny.

Unfortunately, the room had sat in the chairs by dividing up the sexes. It was 5 guys at the near end of the room, and 10 girls up the rest of the table. I sat at the foot of the table by the doorway. Little Cora Deetz was clearly appraising me from the head of the table.

I looked to Stacey to get her attention.

“Is this better?” I tilted my head.

“Much,” the more relaxed girl admitted.

“So what’s the game?” I asked in a louder voice. “President and Asshole? Never have I ever? Poker? Strip poker?”

“Truth or dare?” Mandy added saucily, to a few hoots from the girls.

“No drinking games,” Stacey warned me.

I gave her a disarming shrug and a mock look of innocence.

“Spin the bottle,” Molly added helpfully.

“We need to break up this seating anyway,” I complained. “It’s a sausage festival down here.”

That was a suggestion that actually got everyone up and moving.

Girls were moving around the table, forcing the boys up. Mandy shooed Tree from my side, grabbing the spot to my right.

Molly Storz made the same move to my left. Stacey sat next to Mandy, leaving Tree to her right, with a small victory of Shannon sitting next to Tree. I thought that was a perfect match. To his right, Shannon and April had taken seats, leaving Beast at the end of the right side of the table. The Powell twins seemed to be sharing one seat at the head of the table now. Chad sat to their right, first spot along the left side of the table. Erin and Cora filled in to his right, leaving Mark to their right. Megan sat next to Molly on my left. Things were laid out pretty evenly.

I wondered if Beast would go for the short blonde to his left, saucy little thing she was. Unfortunately, he seemed to be chatting up the twins already. Or at least trying to.

The room was alive with chatter and electricity. I didn’t even hate that there were other guys here. Stacey seemed to have calmed down and was actually enjoying herself. I had to smile at what the power of a few simple suggestions could accomplish.

Well, Jake?” Mandy had caught me in my own thoughts.

“Sorry, what?”

“What’s the game?”

“I dunno, not a drinking game,” I teased Stacey.

“We could just go play seven in heaven,” Mandy said boldly out loud, seeming to want to claim her territory.

“That sounds sort of anti-social at this point of the night,” I said, fending her off.

“Well, if everyone got a turn, it wouldn’t be so anti-social,” Molly reasoned from my left, looking at me hungrily.

As much fire as I thought I was playing with being with Autumn, I could see oven mitts might not be enough in this room.

“Well, with truth or dare, you can make seven in heaven one of the dares,” I offered.

“Deal,” both Mandy and Molly said in unison, then gave each other a bit of an icy look. Poor Stacey was stuck in a battle between her best friend and her cousin.

Well, ice was one way to fight fire...

The game started off innocently enough, as it often does. Rules were laid down. The person performing a truth or dare made the next challenge. No one had to go more than once a turn.

A couple of big pitchers of Kool Aid, of all things, were brought to the table to quench thirsts that had been ready for beer.

On the bright side, Tree and Shannon seemed to be developing a rapport. Mandy and Molly both found ways to put their hands on me, but hadn’t stabbed each other yet.

Unfortunately, Beast still seemed a little more enamored with the twins than I’d have liked.

A new round started off with Stacey challenging Tree. The last round had gone in the other direction, and now paybacks could be had.

“Truth or dare?”

Things had gone fairly smoothly, and the questions and dares had been fairly tame. Tree must have been feeling pretty good about things.

“Dare,” he said with a smile.

“Seven in heaven with anyone who will agree to go with you,” Stacey challenged. She was feeling much better about the party and had started instigating much of the naughtiness.

The color drained a little from poor Tree’s face. “I have to choose?”

“Unless you want me to?” Stacey said with a fierce grin.

“Ummmmm...” Tree stalled like a deer in the headlights.

“I’ll go,” Shannon offered, saving my friend the embarrassment.

Cheers erupted around the table, and none were louder than Beast and me. Shannon took Tree’s hand and led him from the room to another loud chorus of cheers. The noise didn’t even seem to bother Stacey.

“Smart way for her to skip her turn,” I said, as if uncovering a conspiracy.

“OH! You’re right,” Stacey laughed. “She almost got away with it. We’re not going to wait though, go ahead April.”

Suddenly on the spot, the chesty little blonde looked to Beast and just blurted it out.

“Truth or dare?”

“Truth,” Beast replied.

April twirled her bottle-blonde curls for a moment, then got a wicked grin on her face.

“How many girls have you slept with?”

Beast leaned forward in his chair, taking a suspicious sip of red Kool Aid, and clearly wishing it was a cold beer.

“Just one,” He said casually, with a guilty grin.

“Well, who?” Mandy asked without an ounce of shame.

“She didn’t phrase the question properly,” I said, shaking my head. “He answered the question she asked.”

Beast gave me a grin and nodded in agreement.

“She didn’t ask ‘who.’”

“Gotta give those questions some thought,” I teased. Molly was clearly doing so from my left. She’d had to watch me give Mandy a tongue kiss right at the table when I went with a dare. It wasn’t enough to scare her off yet. She was in it to win it.

“Truth or dare?” Beast asked Matty, the plain-looking twin to his right.

“Truth,” the shy girl responded.

“Have you or your sister ever fought over, or shared a guy?”

Snickers of laughter rang around the table, and their classmates seemed to know something those of us from another school did not.

“Yes,” the twin responded with a wry grin.

“Well, which?” Beast complained.

“OH, you didn’t phrase the question properly,” April retorted with a sharp look on her face.

More laughs rang out as another turn had been more or less wasted on a poorly phrased question. I started thinking about strategy for myself when the round would head my way.

Here’s where the game was super awkward. The twins had sat next to each other. They each knew everything about the other, and were lined up to each ask the other a question. It was pointless. But then we all got a surprise.

“Truth or dare?” Matty asked her twin Milly.

“Dare!” the shy girl squealed in an out-of-character reply.

The table was stunned, none more so than her classmates and her sister.

Matty fiddled with her watch and took it off, lying it on the table between them.

“Pick a boy and take him to another room for seven in heaven.”

“OOOOH!” the table seemed to reply in unison at the idea.

Milly’s complexion was instantly red from pink. She blushed furiously at both the thought of the action and the prospect of having to ask someone to go do it.

Erin took pity on her friend and made a bold move of her own.

“Any volunteers?”

Chad and Mark seemed intent to study their Kool Aid glasses. There was no help there.

“I suppose I could volunteer,” Beast offered.

Milly got a big smile through her blush and nodded to more cheers around the table.

“I’m timing you two,” Matty said intently.

“Take your time getting it started,” Beast said casually as the pair left the room.

This was getting fun. Chad was up next and looking at Erin.

“Truth or dare?”

The redhead was quick on her feet.

“I’m going to have to go with truth because I don’t know how many more rooms are available,” she laughed.

She was right. We were already missing four people.

“Plenty of good spots left,” Stacey teased.

Chad then put on a display of cockiness that both shocked and impressed me at the same time.

“Truth then? Has anyone kissed you better than me?”

Mandy and I were shocked. The rest of the table seemed quiet and reflective.

“No,” Erin admitted with a little anger in her voice. “But that’s just because I haven’t kissed anyone else since.”

“You didn’t have to answer that part,” Stacey offered.

“Yes. I did,” Erin answered, rolling her eyes. She seemed ready to fix that last truth any time.

“Cora, truth or dare?”

Suddenly on the spot, the little blonde wasn’t quite ready to react.

“Um, truth.”

“OK,” Erin seemed to work through her question in her mind. “Who, at this table, do would you want to make out with?”

The little blonde was a little shy, but not that shy.

“Jake!” She tittered, covering her mouth as she giggled.

I let a little blush form over my cheeks before I diffused. “That’s only because Tree and Beast are occupied.”

“I’m here, I’m here,” Tree said confidently, walking back into the room with a blushing Shannon. He pulled her chair out for her and everything.

I gave him a look of approval. “Nice.”

“OK, Cora, ask Mark,” Stacey demanded, keeping things moving. Cora had been looking my way.

“Truth or dare?”

“Truth,” he answered.

Cora seemed to work up a little courage, then blurted it out.

“Who was your first?”

Mark went quiet, giving the question some thought.

“You wasted that turn. There hasn’t been a first,” he shrugged.

No cheers followed, and the table went a little quiet.

“You should have went dare,” I offered, laughing a little.

Everyone, including Mark, laughed at that one.

“Mark, ask Megan,” Stacey demanded.

“Truth or dare,” he posed to the blue-eyed girl.

“Truth,” she shrugged.

“Same question,” he grinned.

“Same answer,” she said quickly, smiling at the wasted question.

Well, that was two confirmed virgins at the table.

Molly was now conspicuously nodding to Megan, and before Stacey could say anything, Megan was asking.

“Truth or dare?”

“Dare,” Molly leveled flatly in her slightly raspy voice, looking right at me.

“Pick a guy and give him a lap dance,” Megan challenged.

It was clearly staged. Molly was up and whispering to Stacey, who quickly left the room on a mission.

Molly demanded that I get up from my chair, then moved my chair back toward the entry to the room. She pushed me back into the chair and climbed up on my lap, waiting for something.

Stacey padded back into the room with a medium-sized ghetto blaster and plugged it in at the wall. She fiddled for a moment with a tape, then shoved it in and pushed play.

It was rock, but clearly the wrong song as Molly sprang from my lap and toward the boom box. Stacey had pressed pause, and Molly quickly popped the tape back out, turned it around and jammed it back into the player. She huffed for a moment as Stacey shrugged and apologized. The rest of the room looked on in rapt attention as Molly stalked back to me and told me to grab the back legs on my chair.

“No touching,” she admonished. “Unless I tell you to,” She said in that sexy, raspy tone.

Mandy was less than impressed with things as they started rolling, but couldn’t keep her eyes off the action.

Then Stacey turned the power to the overhead chandelier low and pressed play again. There was instant recognition. Poison’s ‘Unskinny Bop’ was thumping out from the boom box, and Molly began to sway in her tight, ripped jeans.

She put her hands on my knees and bent forward a little, just teasing me. All I could see was sexy brown eyes and pouty lips framed by jet-black hair.

“What’s got you so jumpy?” Brett Michaels sang.

C.C. Deville filled in with the famous guitar lick.

“Why can’t you sit still, yeah?”

Molly squatted down fast on the beat and forced my knees apart. She writhed her upper body forward, dragging her chest up my groin as she nibbled my abs through my shirt. I’d never been in a strip club, obviously, and my only exposure to what a lap dance was supposed to look like came from movies or music videos. That said, this girl knew what she was doing.

She raised up against my body, bringing her hip in contact with my groin, grinding against me. She threw a leg over mine and ran her hands through my hair as Poison got to the chorus.

“Unskinny bop Just blows me away, yeah”

Mouths around the table hung open. Mandy had her arms crossed over her chest. Stacey clapped and laughed along with the song. My boys were cheering us on.

Molly swayed her hips to the beat, now sliding back down my body until she was facing my zipper. She grabbed my arms to make sure they were in place and leaned forward to play bite at my crotch. Her gorgeous brown eyes were on mine as she managed to get her teeth on each side of the lump I was making in the left leg of my shorts. She gave my a playful little nibble, then smiled at me with her eyes. I leaned my head back to hide my expression.

“She just loves to play, yeah Unskinny bop, nothin’ more to say.”

Back to the verse, and Molly mercifully removed her face from my crotch, once again nibbling me through my shirt as she danced her way up my body. This time she climbed entirely into my lap, her ankles holding her weight on my thighs as she raised her head up over mine and pressed her B-cups into my face, effectively smothering me in her Black Sabbath T-shirt. I noticed once again how nice she smelled, and I was putty in her hands once again.

The table had gone from shocked to hooting and hollering at Molly’s antics in the doorway.

“Every time I touch you, honey, you get hot I wanna make love, you never stop.”

Still undulating in time with the song, Molly turned around in my lap and used probably her best feature, her ass. She slid her hands down my arms and bounced her little ass against my groin, turning her head to find my lips with hers as she ground her ass cheeks into me. I bravely pulled my hands from the chair legs, pressing my left palm right between her breasts, holding her into me, while my right hand cupped her cheek as she kissed me.

The dance, the effort, had all gotten to the girl as she was a little worn out. As the song ended, she was breathing hard as our kiss ended. I let my left hand slide down her tummy and almost to the buttons of her tight jeans before I realized the entire, now silent, room was staring at us both.

I looked around at the all the eyeballs on us, lifted Molly to sit awkwardly on my left thigh and gave her a little peck on the cheek.

“Uh, hi everyone,” I said sheepishly.

“OUTSTANDING!” Beast roared from behind us. “How long did it take you to teach her that?”

The room fell into laughter as Beast returned with a blushing twin.

“That was all her,” I shrugged.

Molly shrugged as well, then turned to return the kiss to my cheek. She gave me a very meaningful look, then took her seat once again.

“Wow,” Megan said in shock.

“OK, I’ve lost track of whose turn that was,” Stacey said breathlessly.

I dragged my chair back to the table and sat down as Molly turned to me and said, “Truth or dare?”

Holy shit. That wasn’t even her turn. I had a pretty good idea of what she had in mind, and thoughts of doubling down entered my mind. This could go very badly. Or it could go very, very well.

“Dare.”

An incredibly naughty grin bloomed full on Molly’s pretty face, and she simply stood up and offered her hand. She didn’t say a word.

I gave a quick look to Mandy, who looked less than impressed with Molly, but she had made the girl watch while she made out with me at the table earlier. I wasn’t sure what to do, but I had to take the dare or quit the game.

I shrugged and took Molly’s hand, letting her drag me out of my chair.

“Wait!” I stopped Molly in her tracks, stopping at the doorway.

“The game has to go one while we’re gone. Mandy, truth or dare?”

The room was snapped back to reality. Of course I had to ask truth or dare to keep the game going.

Mandy looked down for a quiet moment, then looked me in the eye and said, “Truth.”

I didn’t hesitate.

“Do you mind if I go with Molly?”

“Go right ahead,” she said dismissively.

That seemed like trouble. Then again, this girl wasn’t my girlfriend. What harm could come of it?

“There you have it,” I said, turning to Molly. “Looks like I’m yours.”

The slender girl yanked me by the arm socket toward the stairs, then up them. She led me through an upstairs doorway to a room that had to be Stacey’s. It was a big room with angled ceilings and two gabled windows with a double bed in between. This was more your typical teen girl room, with a splash of pink all over and posters of boy bands.