Chapter 2

Barb’s graduation took the whole family’s time and attention. Sandy didn’t even go to the movies with Craig. His family, of course, were all concerned about Linda’s graduation. The dances were over for the year. Her friend Carol Chase was being put in the shade even worse. Her sister, Anne, got married soon after she graduated.

Craig got a summer job as a bag boy at the same grocery store where his mom worked. He called her up one Wednesday night. “Look,” he said, “I work most weekends, now. And the hours are awful. And, of course, there aren’t any dances. But would you like to go to the movies next Wednesday?”

“Well, it’s not a school night anymore. I’ll ask.”

Her mom didn’t even check with her dad. “Sure, darling. Same rules.” Probably, she could have got a later curfew, but she didn’t make that argument.

“I really enjoyed dancing with you at the prom,” Craig said on the way to the movie theater. “Did you enjoy it?” She had. “Ankles all right, now?” They were.

The theater was emptier than it had been on Friday nights. It was cooler inside, too. Or maybe her summer blouse was too thin. Anyway, Craig’s arm around her kept her warm. She watched the screen but was very conscious of his hand. It caressed her shoulder in the beginning, but it strayed lower until he was touching her bra-covered breast. There was no way he could get close the nipple in that position, so, she didn’t even push the hand away once.

By the time the movie was over, she was feeling quite excited. She’d missed him; she’d missed this. As soon as he’d pulled up the hand brake, she opened her door and moved to the back seat. His kiss was gentle at first, then pressing against her mouth. When his tongue touched her lips, she opened her mouth in welcome. The touch of their tongues was electrifying; his hand on her breast through bra and blouse was even more exciting. He broke the kiss to scatter little kisses all over her face. “I love you, Sandy,” he said. It was the first time he’d mentioned the word.

“I love you, too, Craig.” His hand was fumbling at the buttons on her blouse. She unbuttoned it herself. For the first time, she unbuttoned his shirt as well. While his hands cupped her breasts through the bra, hers traveled over his warm skin. Their mouths hardly left each other. Wondering how much time they had left, she checked her watch. It was after ten!

She pushed him away. “Craig!”

“What’s wrong?”

“What time do you have?”

He checked his watch. “Ten - fifteen. Damn!”

He got out and back behind the wheel. He waited while she straightened her clothes. When she got back in the front seat, he drove her home. “I’m sorry. I got carried away and forgot the time.”

“It didn’t seem like that long.” She had got carried away, too, but she didn’t think it was a good idea to say so. He didn’t even kiss her good night on the porch. Her parents were livid when she got in. She couldn’t go out for another two weeks.

Barb was now working in an office. She was a file clerk; the typing classes she had taken in high school went unused. She contributed some of her new wages to the household accounts. “With your sister working a standard week and contributing money,” her mom told Sandy, “it doesn’t seem fair to ask her for housework beyond her own room.”

So, Sandy learned how to do the wash. She already did dishes and helped her mom in the kitchen.

“The movie,” Craig said when he picked her up for their next date, “is 101 Dalmatians. And the theater is sure to be jammed with little kids.” That didn’t sound appetizing. “Do you want to just go for a hamburger?”

They went to a drive-in. They sat in the car with their windows open and talked over their food. Except for the girl who brought their food, nobody could hear them. It was more privacy than they’d ever had to talk before, even though the talk was just like their after-school talk. He bought her a milkshake when the burgers were done. The heck with her diet.

The sun was down but the sky was still light when the girl had taken their trays away. She didn’t want to park; anybody could see them. Instead of heading to one of their usual places, though, Craig drove out to a farm road. Beyond the first turn, they were surrounded by trees. “Do you want to get in back?” Craig asked.

Once in the back seat, Craig kissed her. He tasted of onions, and she noted that she should order them on her burger when he did. She was looking forward to the taste of his tongue, but he broke away from her mouth to kiss all over her face before she got that treat. He kissed her earlobe and unbuttoned the neck of her blouse to kiss her throat.

When she wanted to touch him, she started on his buttons. He stopped what he was doing to remove his shirt completely. She followed his example, and then they went back into the kiss. His hands roamed all over her skin, and then returned to her bra. His kisses left her mouth to trail down over her face and neck. The kisses on her throat were exciting, then he kissed across her shoulder, just skipping the bra strap.

They had longer than they had ever had before. When they finally broke, it was dark outside. Still, he got her home by nine-thirty. When she changed for bed, however, her panties were soaked. It didn’t smell like pee; it didn’t smell at all, and she hoped he hadn’t noticed. It wasn’t until next morning that she noticed that she had a hickey. She wore a scarf to cover it, and her mom didn’t say anything.

That Monday, she did the wash. Her mom helped make the beds, even hers, and it went much faster with two. (They used already-clean sheets and made all but Barb’s right after stripping them all. Barb took care of her own room.)

Craig’s life had changed with his new job, and they no longer had their daily talks after school. After the movie the next Wednesday, they stopped for shakes at the drive-in. They took them with them in the car, and -- after kissing for a time that was remarkably brief -- they sat in the car finishing their shakes and talking until her curfew time rolled around.

She and her friends all gathered in Mary’s house one day. They were listening to records in Mary’s room. Carol came over too, and when the record was finished, she said: “Mary, you were wrong.”

“About what?”

“I talked with my sister. She says it’s not pee. It comes from the same place, but it’s entirely different stuff.”

Sandy now knew what Mary had been wrong about. But one of the other girls hadn’t been there.

“It’s how a man and a woman make a baby,” Carol said. “Mary said the man pees in his wife. Anne says different. She’s married, and she’s expecting a baby.” They’d all known Anne had got married. The baby was news to Sandy and, apparently, the others. “He puts his thing in her, but what comes out isn’t pee.”

“I still think it’s gross,” said Sue.

“I do, too. But Anne got all big sister when I said that. You know.” Boy did Sandy know! “She said I’d change my mind in a few years.”

“What shall I play next?” asked Mary.

They decided on Sweet Lies:

“Those aren’t tears in my eyes.
Rain drops fell from the skies.
I won’t miss your sweet lies.
Those aren’t tears in my eyes.

“Once you said that you loved me true
And felt for me what I felt for you.
But that was just what you would say
To any girl on any day.”

When the record was over, the other girls all agreed that Peggy Cameron had boys pegged. They would tell you anything, but they would tell the next girl the same thing. Sandy wasn’t sure. She thought that Craig was interested in her. Sure, he danced with other girls, but it was Sandy’s parents who had insisted on that. But she said none of that.

Craig had to buy his own gas and clothes, now. Still, with a steady job, even a little overtime, he had more money to spend, and he spent some of it on her. On Wednesdays, even some Saturdays, he picked her up before her family ate dinner. He took her out for burgers and shakes before the movie. Sometimes, too, they skipped the movie and drove out to their place.

They petted more, but they talked more, too. Each talked about hopes and dreams for the future. Craig’s family expected him to go to college, and he looked forward to that. They never quite talked about having a future together, but Sandy dreamed of that.

Sandy was taking more and more responsibility for the housework. She could remember sneaking into her parents room when she was very small, and she could remember being spanked for it. Now, she often was in there to change the sheets, sometimes to vacuum. Remembering the sneaking -- and the spanking -- she looked around when she went in. She was careful, though, not to touch anything; her mom could come upstairs at any moment.

When her mom was out one morning, however, Sandy looked a lot more carefully. There was a book, Ideal Marriage, at the back of the closet shelf. Glancing at it, she could see why it was hidden back there. She put it carefully back where she had found it. That Saturday, however, her mom and dad were gone for hours and Barb was on a date. She got the book again. It was fascinating stuff. She hid it away where nobody could find it.

Craig warned her when Guns of Navarone returned to Taylor’s Cinema. “I know you didn’t like it much,” he said. “We don’t have to go.”

“Well, I didn’t like it as much as you did. Who could?” And if they didn’t go together, when could he see it? His days were all tied up in the grocery store. “That doesn’t mean that I didn’t like it.”

After they saw the movie, he took her out for a shake at the drive-in. Really, she would just as soon park the whole time. But a good girl couldn’t say that, and he was clearly trying to make the evening special for her.

He got her a sundae for desert on their next date. It was scrumptious, but so was the parking afterwards. This time, Craig not only petted her all over, he kissed her all over. He even kissed her through the bra. That felt wonderful.

During the ride home, though, she felt dampness in her panties. She worried that she had peed herself and Craig would be able to smell it. When she had got home and changed into her night clothes, she sniffed her panties closely. They were definitely wet, but she couldn’t smell a thing.

The next week, reading the book in bed, she discovered what had happened to her. She read about two glands down there which produced fluid when the woman was sexually stimulated. At least it wasn’t pee.

That book was the hardest she had ever read. Even the poems she got in school weren’t that hard. Finally, she mostly looked at the diagrams. When her mom went shopping again, she sneaked the book back in the closet.

Now she had to be careful that Craig didn’t give her hickeys. Still, the kisses on her neck were delightful. Sometimes, when he kissed her neck, she kissed his. One night in the back seat, he kissed her where her neck joined her shoulder. That felt wonderful, and she kissed his shoulder in return. He kissed down over her bra. He stopped when his mouth reached the peak. He opened his mouth wide and sucked her in. She gloried in her feelings. He went on and on, and it felt too good to stop. When it did stop, though, her bra was definitely wet. When she got her blouse back on in preparation for going home, some of the dampness seeped onto it. Luckily, her dad and mom were engrossed in the TV when she went through the living room. The light from the set didn’t show anything.

Craig called her Monday night. “_Three Coins in the Fountain+ is coming back,” he said. “I don’t think it will be at Taylor’s, though. The problem is that it is coming to The Starlite.” The Starlite was a drive-in a good ways away. “And it’s on the bottom of a double feature. There is no way I can get you home by ten.”

“I’ll ask.” And she did.

“The curfew isn’t the only problem,” her mom said. “I don’t want you going to a drive-in.”

“Mom, dad took the whole family to The Starlite a couple of times.”

“So he did, but I don’t want you going to a drive-in with a boy.”

“It’s Three Coins in the Fountain.”

“Which you’ve seen. Which you’ve seen several times. The only good thing about that movie is the opening song, which you have on a record.” Well, she had it on three records, really. But that wasn’t the same thing. “Wait ‘til it comes here.”

“It won’t.”

“Just wait.”

Finally, her mom called up Taylor’s and asked when they would have Three Coins in the Fountain. They wouldn’t have it this release, didn’t know when the next release would be. “Lady, I don’t think the studio knows when the next release will be. Depends on the house this time. It won’t be soon, though.”

It took an hour to wear her mom down. “And get back right after the show lets out, hear?” She heard.

Craig picked her up well after dinner. They got to the drive-in a few minutes before the first show began. Craig didn’t even kiss her, but he did rest his hand on her neck while the first movie was on. He also got them Cokes and chips from the refreshment stand. Considering what was going on in some of the other cars, not that she could see much, he was showing remarkable restraint. Some of the cars around them had their windows rolled up. That not only meant that they were steaming inside, it meant that their speakers weren’t bringing them the sound of the show. None of them, at least among the ones she glanced at when Three Coins ... came on, rolled down their windows. That meant that they missed the magnificent opening song.

The movie was as wonderful as always, and -- with a boy who had driven all this way so she could see the show sitting beside her, even touching her -- more romantic than ever before. Once they were out of the ending mess, Craig drove her straight home. He didn’t even suggest that they park for one minute.

When they got to her house, though, she said, “Craig, wait.” He stopped with his hand on the door. She took his face in both of her hands and kissed him. She even pushed her tongue in his mouth. The kiss couldn’t express her gratitude or how turned on she felt.

After that, he got out and walked her to the door like always. His kiss was as warm as his kisses ever got at her front door, and his hug was as tight. She felt his stiffie pressed against her leg. “Thanks,” she said. Then she had to go in.

Her parents had to have heard the car stop long before she got in the door, but neither mentioned it. Her mom only said, “Enjoy yourself, dear?”

“Oh yes!” she said.

“That’s good,” said her dad.

The summer was dragging to a close, with school looming in the future. Linda was going away to the state university. She and Barb swore undying devotion to each other and promised to write. When each got married, the other would be maid of honor.

“I saw Anne Chase downtown today,” Sandy’s dad said at dinner, “well, Anne Dalton, and not a minute too soon. She was out to here.” He made a gesture in front of his stomach.

“I’m not surprised,” her mom said. Sandy had been surprised when she’d heard about the baby, and she’d think her mom would be, too. It was her mom who had told her that couples should wait a year or two before starting their families.

Craig took her out for burgers and Cokes before the next movie. These days she was having onions on her burgers since Craig had them on his. After the movie, they parked in their spot. In the back seat, Craig kissed her as always, petted over her exposed skin and covered breasts. He was kissing her deeply, his tongue pressed against hers, when she felt him fumbling at the back of her bra.

Did she want this? Not that she had to worry that he was going to get the bra off the way he was going at it. The bra was too tight, even at the last snaps, and she herself couldn’t get it off from that position.

She pushed him away. “Leave it,” she said. “Kiss me again.” He did kiss her, and -- somewhat later -- kissed her breasts again through the bra. Still, it was an old bra. It didn’t quite fit and she wouldn’t want her mouth on it. And, if he had taken it off, she would have had to get out of the car to snap it again -- not something she was willing to do, despite the privacy of the spot.

It was time to buy new school clothes, anyway. And she was years too old to take her mom along on her shopping trips. A few days later she went down to the department store. She could make her own selection of dresses and blouses, but the bins of bras were too confusing. She chose the least threatening of the sales women.

“I think I need some new bras,” she said. She hoped that what she was feeling wasn’t a blush.

“You certainly do, honey.” The woman grabbed a tape measure. “Come with me.” After several embarrassing measurements in a changing room, she finally asked, “How old are you, anyway?”

“Sixteen.” Her birthday would come while she was wearing the new bras, anyway.

“Still growing, then. Well, you are between a B cup and a C. I’d recommend a C. And a 34. That will fit in the last snap, and you can use the later snaps when you grow more.”

She took the woman’s advice, including the advice to buy only one bra then so she could try it out. A C cup was what her mom wore; Barb wore a B. As the one doing the laundry, Sandy knew those things. Still, the 34 C felt much better, if it didn’t seem to clasp her the way the old one did.

It was nearly two weeks later, though, when Craig reached for her bra strap again. She put her hands on his head and leaned forward to deepen the kiss. In that position, Craig could unsnap the bra, though he struggled with it more than she thought reasonable. The new one wasn’t that hard to do.

“Oh Sandy!” he said. He touched her smoothness gently. Soon, though, he was holding them painfully tight.

She pushed his hands away. “Don’t squeeze,” she said.

“I’m sorry.” And he touched them gently again. Instead of returning to her lips, he kissed over her breasts. When his lips reached her nipple, a thrill ran through her. The next time she could think of anything else, Craig was looking at his watch. “Tell me when I can pull out of here,” he said before circling to the front seat.

She pulled the bra into the correct position and shrugged into her blouse. “Drive,” she said, “I can do the rest in a moving car.” He sped up as soon as he’d turned from the rutted farm road to the state highway. He stopped just before he turned down her street, so she could get in the front seat. She was a few minutes late, despite all their care. Her dad bawled her out, but the fault was small enough that he didn’t keep her home because of it.

School started. She had -- everybody had -- a brand-new schedule. Craig and she both had the second lunch period. They ate together, which meant more time to talk than leaving the school together had given them.

Craig invited her to a movie on Wednesday night, just as if school hadn’t started. It as a school night, and her dad raised a fuss. Still, Barb had gone out on school nights, and her dad finally had to see that she was a sophomore now.