Chapter 3

And then Sandy turned sixteen. Her mom, or occasionally her dad, was in the basement for the entire party. Even though Sandy was the hostess, though, he got several dances in with her. He even found himself in a conversation with her dad. Aside from one or two girls, he was the guest that Mr. Jackson knew best.

“What courses are you taking this marking period, Craig?” He was taking the same courses all year, and he told him the list. “Sounds all academic.” Mr. Jackson seemed to approve of that. After all, he wasn’t the worst choice Sandy could have made.

“Mom and Dad met in college and dropped out to get married. They are bound and determined that their children will finish.” Actually, kids were expected to be perfect. They couldn’t make the mistakes their parents had made, and they damn-well better not do anything their parents had avoided.

He was the last guest to leave, and Sandy walked him out the door and gave him a special kiss. It didn’t match parking after dances, but it was fine anyway, and Sandy was bubbling after her party.

She was still in a good mood at the next dance. It was their first school dance when she was sixteen. They had the first two dances, and a classmate came over to ask her for one. He danced that one by himself. You looked like a loser who couldn’t attract a partner doing that, but everybody who counted knew that he was Sandy’s date. He went to the boys’ room during Ghost Car and then asked Nancy for the next dance. It was Honey Bee and it reminded him of his first dance with Sandy.

He sat out the next dance, and then went looking for Sandy. They could have one more dance before the last one without stretching her dad’s rules too much. He couldn’t find her, and she wasn’t on the dance floor either. He was getting desperate when he finally saw her. She was dancing with another sophomore. He waited while the dance ended, and they talked for a minute. Then he got to her without moving so fast that it was clear that he had been worried.

“May I have the next dance, please?” he asked her. She was his date, but dances were favors she granted not his right. He even asked her for the last dance of a night.

“I don’t know, Craig. I’m feeling tired.” Considering that she had only danced the last dance out of three in which he’d been looking for her, that sounded strange. “You dance, though.” That sounded ominous. “I bet Nancy is free.” And that sounded threatening. Well, he’d been told to go away. He either went away or they had a scene in front of the entire school. He went away.

The next time he saw her she was dancing with Charlie Del Ray. The girl who had been too tired to dance with him danced two dances straight with Charlie. He couldn’t find her for the last dance of the evening. When he did see her, however, she was walking toward him. She at least was going to ride back with him and not with Charlie.

“What did I do?” he asked in the car. At least when she’d pushed his hands away, he had known what he’d done wrong. This way, he had not the least idea what he was being punished for.

“Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I think I have a headache. Could you please take me home?” So, he took her home. He started to get out of the car to walk her to her front door, but she got out faster than he did and ran to the house. He waited there until she was inside.

Monday at school, Sandy sat at a table of all girls. There wasn’t even a seat next to her that he could grab if he was willing to have her make public her freezing him out. After school, he went to the entrance, but she wouldn’t talk to him. He about gave up.

A little more than a week later, he called her up to ask her to the next dance. That was during the day Saturday asking for the next Friday night.

“I’m sorry, Craig,” she said. “I’m busy that night. Goodbye.” Well, he’d been well and truly dumped for the second time in his life. With Deb, at least, he’d seen it coming if not why. With Sandy, he hadn’t seen it coming at all.

Bill was in two of his classes, and Bill and Carol were one of the other couples who had eaten lunch at the table he and Sandy had once shared. He caught up with Bill after History class on Monday.

“Mind if I ask Carol a couple of questions?” he asked him.

“What sort of questions?”

“Questions a girl would know the answers to. For God’s sake, I’m not trying to make time with your girl. If I was, I wouldn’t go through you.”

“Tomorrow at lunch then.” And, Tuesday at lunch he sat at the table on the other side of Bill from Carol.

“Look, Carol,” he asked, “do you know whether Nancy Simmonds has a boyfriend now?”

“She doesn’t. What happened to you and Sandy?” That was a damned good question.

“I’d like to know that myself,” he confessed. “She won’t speak to me, even to tell me that.”

Still, he had a chance with Nancy. At least there was nobody who’d want to fight him if he asked her to a dance. He did the next morning before first period.

“Nancy, would you go to the dance Friday with me?”

“Why, Craig, what happened to Sandy?”

“I’m not going with her anymore.”

“Then I’d be happy to.”

“Give me your phone number, and I’ll call to set up the other details.” When he called to get her address, she told him to pick her up early and speak to her dad.

“Craig,” Bill called him going out of History class Friday morning. They walked together until the kids around them weren’t anybody they really knew. “You and Sandy had a song. You danced it with another girl. That’s what Carol told me. Sandy is still upset.”

At first, he couldn’t think of what song, then it came to him. It had to be Honey Bee it was the first slow dance they had shared. For that matter, it was the second. And he’d danced it with Nancy. What Sandy had never told him was that she regarded it as their song. Well, you couldn’t understand females. Dad said he didn’t, and he’d been married forever.

When he found Nancy’s house, Mr. Simmonds met him at the door and let him in. He set a 10:30 curfew ‘since it’s a first date.’ When Nancy came downstairs, they left for the dance. After the two first dances that night, he almost left Nancy. But Mr. Simmonds hadn’t said anything about her dancing with other guys.

“Are you supposed to dance with other guys when I bring you?” he asked. “Does your dad or mom insist upon that?”

“Why no. That sounds weird.”

“Well, some parents do, and parents are weird. Well, instead of this dance would you like some Coke?” So, they sat out that dance. They danced most of the time, though, and they danced with each other. Afterwards, he found his usual parking space. “Would you like to get in back?” he asked, and she got in back immediately.

He’d been telling himself to take one step at a time with Nancy. She was a nice girl, not some slut. Still, she was a nice junior, and he knew that the rules for juniors were different from the rules for sophomores, much less freshmen, and Sandy had been a freshman for most of their time together. In the back seat, he cupped her face in his hands before kissing her. That was a good place for his hands to keep them from wandering. They kissed for a few minutes, and then he kissed all over her face. When he returned from her ear, he licked her lips. Their tongues met, and he felt a thrill. He held the back of her head and kissed her hard. As he relaxed, his hands wandered over her covered tits. He broke the kiss once to check his watch, but they had plenty of time. He went back to kissing her and stroking her tits. The next time he checked, it was getting close to her curfew.

“Maybe we should get back into the front seat, he said.” On the way, she shoved her blouse back into her waistband. “Tell me when you recognize where we are,” he said, “I’m not sure of the best route to your house.”

She directed him, and he memorized the route back. She lived in a part of town that he didn’t really know his way around. He knew all the streets around where he lived and where Sandy lived, but Nancy lived a little north and much farther west than the high school. When they got to her house, she got out before he did.

“Did I do something wrong?” he asked.

“Heavens no.”

“Well, don’t you want me to walk you to your door?” She obviously hadn’t wanted him to, but he was tired of reading girls’ minds. She could tell him what he’d done wrong. But she was silent while they climbed up the stairs to her porch. When he thanked her for the date, she stood until he started to kiss her. Then she wrapped her arms around his neck and returned the kiss. It was a long and juicy kiss before she opened the door.

Talking to Nancy in school was a problem. He phoned her Monday evening to ask her to see a movie on Friday.

When he came to pick her up, she wasn’t ready. He had a few minutes stilted conversation with Mr. Simmonds before she came downstairs. Nancy had two younger sisters who looked at him as if he were an exhibit in a museum. When Nancy came down, she glared at them. She was perfectly nice to him, though. When he stopped to get popcorn, she headed up the stairs to the balcony. When he put his arm around her, she accepted it.

Later, in the back seat, he unbuttoned her blouse. She pulled his head so that they were kissing harder. He stroked her bra and then all the smooth skin. When he reached for her bra strap, she leaned forward. It took him two tries, but she kept leaning until he got both snaps open. Then she relaxed back. She clearly wasn’t going to remove the blouse, much less her bra. He could feel her tits, though. They were smaller than Sandy’s. Her nipples responded to his touch. He suddenly wanted -- no needed -- to kiss them. He kissed the side of her face and down her neck. He pushed the blouse aside and kept kissing lower. He just raised the bra out of his way and kissed her soft tit. Then he was at the nipple.

“Craig!” she said, but she pulled him toward her for a minute. Then she pushed him away. “Not so hard.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Gently, and the other one.” She moved his head to the nipple on the tit closer to him. “Lick it.” When he did, the sensation was as arousing as licking her tongue. His boner was hard in his pants. A long time later, his back was aching. He straightened and kissed over her face ending at her mouth. When he looked at his watch, it was after 10:30. She glanced at her watch, but she didn’t say anything. Maybe his was wrong.

He got out first and adjusted his cock while she was getting her clothes snapped and buttoned. He was in the seat while she tucked her blouse into her skirt. Then she got in, and he started for her house. This time, he got there without her help. There was no light by her front door, though.

“Thanks for the date,” he said when they were on the porch.

“Thank you.” She stood waiting for his kiss. When he kissed her, she flowed against him. He had to take responsibility for holding her straight, but he could feel every inch of her pressing into every inch of him. Her mouth was open, and her tongue met his. This went on and on until there was a blinding light. She sprang back and looked at her watch. Then she snatched open the door.

“Karen,” she shouted, “I’m going to kill you.” There was a giggle disappearing into the distances of the house. She turned back in the doorway. “Craig, I’m sorry. Now you know what I have to put up with. Thanks again. It was a great evening.” She went in and closed the door. He returned to the car. When he looked at his watch, it was 10:51.

“The porch light is off until 11:00 when I’m on a date,” she explained when he called her Monday night. “When Dad turns it on, I’m supposed to come inside immediately. That’s when Dad turns it on. When Karen turns it on, it means she’s out of bed after her bed time and that I’ll murder her in her sleep. She thinks it’s funny, the retard.” Apparently, killing her sister wasn’t anything permanent.

“Well, I have a sister, too. I know what pains they can be. The reason I called you, though, was to ask you to the sock hop on Friday.”

“Why, thank you.” She was waiting when he rang her doorbell and slipped out without letting him see in. They were getting to know each other as dancers better, when they sat out, they sat with another couple of Juniors. Ted was sort of a friend of his, not a close one, and Paula was in History with him and had been in English the year before. Both had gone to grammar school with Nancy. He’d sort of met Sandy’s friends, and she’d sort of met his, but they were in different years. He and Nancy had the same friends, maybe they were close to different ones, but they all knew the same ones.

In the back seat, Nancy took care of her own clothes during the first kiss. Then he kissed all over her face and ears and neck before going lower. When he licked her nipples, she pulled his face against her chest with her tits on either side. The porch was dark when they got there. He pressed her back against the doorway and held her butt while they kissed. The light came on, he jumped, and she straightened up. She went inside.

Mom and Dad planned to go out on the next Friday night, and they warned him in plenty of time. He called Nancy and asked her to the movies on Saturday. He heard Mom and Dad come back from their friends’ party well after midnight. They were laughing, and Dad had clearly had enough to drink that he would have been grounded for life if he’d got behind the wheel with half that amount in him. They had enjoyed much the better evening. The rain was coming down hard Saturday night, and the radio threatened worse for later.

“Can’t you call it off?” Mom asked. “Driving in that weather could be dangerous.”

“Well, it’s not the liquid outside that causes most crashes.”

“That’s my car, young man,” Dad said. “One more word from you, and you can walk -- or swim -- to the movies.”

“Yes, sir. But Nancy has my number, and she hasn’t called it off. I don’t know what her rules are for school nights, but I don’t want to wimp out over a little rain. If she wants to, she can.”

When he got to Nancy’s, Mr. Simmonds answered the door. Nancy was there in jeans and what looked like a man’s flannel shirt.

“Look, with this weather,” Mr. Simmonds said, “I want you to come right back. You can come in, but we don’t want to be worrying about Nancy all night.” Well, he couldn’t object. Anyway, the trip to the back seat on a dirt road might be a mess in that weather. Nancy put on a raincoat, and he put up his umbrella to lead her to the passenger seat in the car. They sat with their raincoats on their laps in the balcony. That, at least, made it easier to hide his boner. He wondered about whether the coat on Nancy’s lap would hide his hand, but they hadn’t done anything like that, and she was wearing jeans. His hand wandered down to her tit, and she didn’t object. Still, this would be a short date. When they came out of the movie, they really needed the umbrella, but umbrella and raincoats weren’t enough. He finally left her inside and got the car. When he pulled up outside the movie house, she ran out.

They parked in the driveway and walked under the umbrella to her house. Mrs. Simmonds met them.

“Let me take your coat,” she told Craig. She ushered them into the kitchen where there was a table with a cake and two place settings. “There is ice cream, too,” she said. “Not my choice for an evening like this, but I know kids.” She waited until Craig sat down, and then she left them closing the door behind her. Nancy cut a generous slice of cake for Craig and a smaller slice for herself. She went to the refrigerator.

“Coke or ginger ale?” she asked.

“Ginger ale.”

“The ice cream is chocolate. Want some?”

“Please.” If he wasn’t going to get his greatest pleasure, Nancy’s family was going to feed him. She brought over a generous bowl for him and a smaller serving for herself. They ate in silence. Before they finished, she gestured for him to stay down and silently rose and crept over to a door in a corner of the kitchen. She jerked it open and looked inside.

“The babies weren’t there, for a wonder,” she said. “Give me a minute.” She heard her climb some stairs. He didn’t hear her come back, and he saw that she was wearing slippers. His own feet were wet, and he understood her reason for changing. She got a chair and placed it under the doorknob blocking the door closed. She came back and moved her bowl and glass next to his. She gestured him back and sat on his lap. She bent over to lick his lips. “Somehow, your cake tastes better than mine did.” With that invitation, he kissed her. Soon his hands were covering her shirt. When he started unbuttoning it, though, her hands stopped him. She got up, and he rose after her.

“Come over here,” she said. She led him to the door by which her mom had left and then moved him against it. “Don’t touch the buttons.” She pulled her shirt out of her jeans and then reached up behind herself under it. Clearly, she was unsnapping her bra. “Here.” She turned her back to him and backed into him. She took his hands and moved them under the edge of her shirt. He eased them up until he was touching her tits. “Yeah.”

They stood there with his hands traveling all over her tits. He bent down to kiss her neck and then her shoulder through the shirt. She shivered when he licked the back of her ear. She backed into him, and he backed into the door. He clasped her tits while she pressed back and rubbed against his boner. Once, there was a clap of thunder right outside, and they both jumped. He had no idea how long it had been, but he began to feel a desperate need to piss before he heard a gentle knock at the door behind him.

“I don’t mean to interrupt,” said Mr. Simmonds, “but Nancy needs her beauty sleep. So, for that matter, do I.” He jumped, but Nancy simply reached back to adjust her bra. When she opened the door, Mr. Simmonds was in his bath robe. He gave Craig the coat and umbrella he’d brought. The rain was still coming down, but not so hard. When he got home, he ran to the bathroom and pissed holding his raincoat open with his elbows. Dad was there when he came out.

“Where in hell have you been? Do you know what time it is?”

“12:17.” He had to glance at his watch to check first.

“We were worried sick. With this storm, we could see you lying in a ditch somewhere.” It was probably the car’s lying in the ditch that worried Dad.

“It’s not as late as you got home last night.”

“I’m an adult. If you’re going to be this late, call! We were worried.” He finally escaped to his room. He hung his raincoat in his closet. Dad rousted him out in the morning for church, not something that they had been enforcing since he had begun work in the supermarket. He was slow enough getting started that he had to leave without breakfast. Dad forgave him enough that he got to drive on the way back. Still, he was awfully hungry at dinner time.

When he called Monday to invite Nancy to the next dance, she responded by inviting him to have dinner with her family Friday night before the dance.

Nancy’s mom was polite and welcomed him. Nancy’s dad was polite, too, but he seemed to want to know who Craig was. And, of course, Craig wasn’t anything; he was a high-school student. He told him about his courses and that his parents wanted him to go to college. He told about having been a bag boy the summer before and that he didn’t want to go back.

“Work too hard?” asked Mr. Simmons.

“A lot harder for me than for most guys,” he said. “Mom got me that job, she worked there as a cashier, and so did my sister that summer.” Mr. Simmonds laughed. It wasn’t funny; he wanted out from under Mom’s wing.

When Mrs. Simmons called “dinner,” Nancy came down with her sisters. Her dad and mom sat at the ends of the table, Nancy sat between him and her dad. Karen sat across from him, and Martha, an even younger sister, sat across from Nancy. Their grace was “God is great, and...” He felt that this was rather childish, but Martha was really a child. Mrs. Simmonds had cooked spaghetti, good spaghetti. After he said so and there was a little more talk about the food, Karen started in. She’d got back a test on multiplying fractions, and her dad wasn’t happy.

“Fractions are hard,” Karen said.

“They are hard to add,” Craig replied, “but they are easy to multiply. You’ve ridden the L?” She had. “Well, it’s like L tracks. One track is the numerators; the other is the denominators. The wheels never jump from one track to the other, and neither should you.”

“But then you have to simplify.”

“It’s the same thing. You multiply 2/3 times 5/6. Well, 5/6 is 5 over 2 times 3. The answer is 2 times 5 over 2 times 3 times 3. That’s 2 over 2 times 5 over 3 times 3. You know what 2 over 2 is.”

“One.”

“And what’s 3 times 3?”

“Nine.”

“So, it’s 1 times 5 over 9. And 1 times anything is that thing. So, your answer is 5 over 9. The only problem is finding the ones to take out.” Mr. Simmonds was looking at him. “Sorry. It wasn’t my place.”

“Be my guest,” said Mr. Simmonds. “Are you sure that isn’t what you want to do with your life, teach?”

“Sir. I’ve spent my life in classrooms, and I’d be happy if I never saw another. The idea of spending the rest of my life there is enough to make me cut my throat.” Mr. Simmonds laughed, and Mrs. Simmonds joined in. Nancy and her sisters, who faced classrooms every day, didn’t find it any funnier than he did.

“You understand,” Mr. Simmonds said when blueberry pie had been served for dessert, “that midnight was a special case because we wanted you to come straight back here. Nancy’s curfew tonight is 11:00.”

“You set the rules. I understand that.”

“You were no help,” Nancy said in the car. “I think that having to be in by eleven is ridiculous.”

“Well, I didn’t say that it was the right rule. I said that he set the rules. You can fight your family all you want. They’re still your family. If I try to fight them, they’ll say that you can’t date me.”

“And you want to date me?” she asked.

“No. I’m in this car by accident.” There was a long pause, while he thought that his sarcasm might have been a mistake. “Of course, I want to date you. I asked you, and I asked you for the other dates we had.”

“After you asked Carol.”

“I asked Carol about you. I didn’t ask her for a date. I asked Carol in particular because she would know, and she wouldn’t get insulted that I wanted you and not her. She was with Bill -- still is.” He couldn’t figure out why they were having this fight, and it was a fight although they hadn’t raised their voices. What was bothering Nancy? “Look, if I’ve done something wrong, tell me. Tell me straight out.”

“You haven’t done anything to me, though you did pay more attention at the table to Karen than you did to me.”

“Well, I wanted your family to like me. I thought that you already liked me.”

“I do like you.” She didn’t sound like it.

“Then let’s not fight. Let’s enjoy the dance.”

“You’re right,” Nancy said. And he did enjoy most of it.

When he saw Sandy dance past wriggling for Charlie, however, he didn’t enjoy that sight at all. When he’d parked the car and they had moved into the back seat, they had a long, wet kiss. When he started to unbutton her blouse, however, Nancy stopped him and gestured for him to sit back. He was really disappointed before she started removing her own blouse. She took off the bra, too, and was bare above the waist.

“Be very gentle with me tonight,” Nancy said. “I got a hickey last week.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. Be gentle.” So, he kissed her tits gently. When he started licking them instead, she said “Yeah.” She stopped him long before 11:00 and got dressed again. She went back to kisses, though, until it was time to get back into the front seat again. They got back with time to spare and spent that time kissing standing on the porch. When he cupped her tit, Nancy moved his hand away, but she moved it to her butt. He pulled her against him and kissed her more deeply until the light came on. Then she went in.

They were definitely a couple. Nancy’s phone restrictions were worse than his, and he could understand that -- she was one of 3 girls. He negotiated a little easing of his own rules, although Mom made it clear that this easing didn’t apply when Linda was home. He couldn’t argue with that, and the limits weren’t much of a problem when Nancy’s were much tighter. The problem was that Nancy and he didn’t really have any time to talk in school. He called her on Monday to invite her out on Friday, but he would have been furious if she had said she had another date.

The weather grew colder, and he and his friends gave up outside basketball. That meant giving up basketball except for gym class. He was gym-class good at the game, but nowhere near even bench-warmer acceptable for the team. Nancy wore a zippered jacket for their next movie date but took it off and put it on her lap in the balcony. He set the heater in the car on high when they left the next movie. Even so, it was a little chilly in the back seat. She opened her blouse and unhooked her bra, but she kept them on. When he touched her tit, she shivered.

“Your hand is cold,” Nancy said, breaking their kiss.

“Sorry.”

“Well, you can’t help it.”

“Well, my lips are warm,” he said.

“Prove it.” So, he kissed her tits. She held his head against them. Lacking access of his hands to her tits, he slipped his left hand under her skirt. He held her knee, and then moved inward. She closed her legs, trapping his hand between her knees. “That’s enough,” she said.

“I’m sorry. I’ll take it out if you let it go.”

“I said that was enough. I didn’t say that it was too far.” And so, he caressed her nylon-covered knee and kissed or licked her tit until their time was up.

At the next dance, he and Nancy were doing a two-step when Sandy came by clinging to Charlie’s neck. She had never danced that way with him, and this was less than two months after she had dumped him. He nearly stumbled, and Nancy grabbed his shoulder.

He wore gloves when he left the dance and didn’t take the left one off until he was in the back seat with Nancy. She seemed to appreciate that his hand was a little warmer. He held her knee, and she stopped him maybe an inch higher this time. He kept the pattern up after the next movie, and she seemed happy. That night, on the dark of her porch, he kissed her deeply while he held her butt to pull her hard against him. She tensed one butt cheek and then the other, and he squeezed the tensed cheek harder as she did. Suddenly, though, the light went on again. They both checked their watches. They had 7 minutes by his. Nancy grabbed the door handle, but it was locked.

“Damn you, Karen,” she shouted. “I will murder you.” She got out her key and unlocked the door.

When he got to her house before the next dance, he was a little early. Nancy was still upstairs, but Karen let him in.

“Fractions are a little easier with the way you explained them,” she said. “I got a C on my last test.”

“I’m glad. You know, I have an older sister myself.”

“I didn’t know,” Karen said.

“Well, I do, and I fought with her just as you fight with Nancy. Still, I never did anything to you, did I?”

“No.”

“And, when you turn the light on when Nancy and I are on the porch, you’re not only bothering Nancy, you’re bothering me. And I don’t think that’s a fair return for helping you on your math.” At that point, Nancy came downstairs, and they left. In the back seat after the dance, Nancy stopped him when he put his hand on her knee.

“That hand is cold,” she said.

“I’m sorry. I wore gloves.”

“Well, it still feels freezing. You might enjoy it.” As a matter of fact, the warmth was one small part of the pleasure of feeling her leg. “It freezes me to death.” She made no move to open her jacket, either. So, they had nothing but kisses. “You might not like this date,” she said.

“That’s ridiculous.” He had wanted more, even expected more, but he had liked the kisses and the dances with her in his arms. “I asked you, after all, to come to a dance.”

“Yeah, but I was your second choice. You would rather have danced with Sandy.”

“Nancy!” She should never have said that, and he should deny it. She wouldn’t believe his denial, though, and he didn’t think he could pretend that it was real.

“I’m sorry. I’m just in a bad mood. I’m not mad at you; I’m mad at me. It’s almost time, too.” So, he took her home, although they had lots of time, especially since she didn’t have to get dressed again. She held her finger to her lips in a ‘shh’ gesture on the porch. She took out her key and fit it into the lock. Then, however, she came into his arms for a kiss. He barely could feel anything from the hug, but his hands were on her butt anyway until the light came on.

During the next movie, he sat with his left hand in his right armpit and his right arm around her shoulders. Afterwards, she didn’t complain that his hand was cold. She did pull her knees together, though. Silently, he stopped where his hand was, and she relaxed. He didn’t go any further, but he did nuzzle her tits and lick her nipples.