Chapter 54: Hustled?

December 21, 1983, West Monroe, Ohio

Author's Note: This chapter has been modified to comply with site guidelines as of 2025-03-29

"I'm not sure that's such a good idea," I said.

"Afraid you'll lose?" Violet asked.

No, I thought, I wasn't afraid of losing at all. In fact, I was sure that, win or lose, I'd win from a certain perspective.

"No, that's not it..." I started.

"Then let's play!"

"Are you sure?"

She nodded, "I can't think of a more fun way to celebrate my birthday!"

I could, and I was sure that what I was thinking was exactly what she was thinking, and she was just working her way up to it. And looking at her, I truly DID want to see her naked. The last shred of willpower was destroyed by imagining what she would look like without her clothes on and how we might use all her pent-up energy. I set the cue ball down and broke, sinking the eleven.

"Stripes again!" I said with a grin.

"Laugh it up, Mike! You won't be laughing when you're standing there naked!"

"Uh-huh," I said.

Despite her confidence, I easily won the game on my third turn with three solids still on the table. She'd had bad luck because each of those three had been against the rail, midway between the pockets. When I called and sank the eight ball, she frowned and reached down to remove a sock.

"Socks count as one," I grinned.

"What?!" she protested.

"They go on in pairs, so they come off in pairs!"

I realized that it was going to be a bit chilly in the basement, so as she removed her other sock, I turned up the baseboard heating to warm the room, though if I won four or five more games, I was pretty sure it would be warm for other reasons!

I racked the balls and Violet took the cue ball in hand, positioned it, and broke, scoring a stripe in the corner pocket. The game was close, but I won when I left her a terrible position with just the eight on the table, and I was able to make a moderately difficult shot to sink it in a corner pocket.

Violet screwed up her face in annoyance and pulled her yellow sweater over her head, revealing a thin cotton blouse. I'd need to win another game before I got to see any real skin, but she was down to four items, and I had six because of my belt.

"Reconsidering your bet?" I asked.

"No!" she declared feistily.

"My break!" I grinned.

I sank a solid and a second one but missed the third shot. And Violet ran the table, not giving me another shot. As I removed my socks, I suddenly wondered if I'd been suckered.

"That was impressive," I said.

"Rack 'em, Mike!" she declared.

It got uglier from there. I was GOOD, but she was GREAT! I probably could have matched her if I'd been playing consistently for two years, but I hadn't, and it showed. I lost four straight games, leaving me with just my jeans and briefs, while she had her blouse, bra, jeans, and panties.

"Feeling a bit less sure now?" she asked with a smirk.

"I'm being hustled," I said.

"No, you aren't! I TOLD you that I practiced."

"And you decided to lull me into complacency?"

"And this is my problem exactly how?" she asked with a smirk.

My own words were coming back to haunt me!

"Your break," I replied.

She did and sank one of each, selecting solids. She didn't run the table, but there were only two solids left when it was my turn. I did my best to muster every last ounce of skill I had to fend off impending defeat at the hands of a bubbly, vivacious sixteen-year-old girl. Of course, as I'd thought, I'd likely win even if I lost, but I didn't want to be humiliated at the pool table.

I took time to thoroughly review the table and considered the best approach to sinking as many stripes as possible before I had to yield back, hoping that if I couldn't run the table, I'd at least get another turn. I managed to sink four, and then Violet sank her two, but the eight ball was basically guarded by the three remaining stripes, so she had to take a 'safety' lest she lose by scratching. That gave me the opening I needed, and with a clear field, I ran the table.

I let out a quiet sigh of relief as Violet removed her blouse, revealing a lacy red bra which accentuated her milky white skin. Her breasts were modest but perfectly proportional to her soft curves. I took a moment to take in the view and then racked the balls for my break. The game was close, but she managed to sink the eight while the eleven was still on the table. I removed my jeans, revealing my black briefs with a VERY obvious bulge.

"Hah!" she exclaimed excitedly. "One to go!"

"Overconfidence will be your undoing," I grinned.

"I only need to win one before you win three! I'm ahead 5–2!"

"We'll see," I said.

I eked out a victory on a very tricky shot to sink my last solid, and then another difficult shot to sink the eight, and was rewarded with Violet taking off her jeans, revealing red lace panties which were just translucent enough to reveal a patch of curly black pubic hair.

"That's better," I grinned.

"Uh-huh," she replied. "Play!"

We did, and at the end, she missed a shot I knew she could have made. In fact, I was sure she had deliberately missed, allowing me to win.

...

"Next one decides it," I grinned.

"Rack 'em!" she declared.

I did, and I suppressed a chuckle when Violet's near-perfect form returned. I had no doubt in my mind that she'd wanted to get down to her panties when I was fully naked. It was close, but she pocketed the eight to take the last game of the set.

"I win!" she exclaimed, her bubbly personality surfacing once again.

...

"I started taking the Pill three months ago," she said. "So I could do what I wanted to do today!"

"Hustle me at pool?" I asked.

She laughed, "Not specifically, but it kind of worked out that way."

"So I'm a target of opportunity?" I asked.

"I always thought you were cute, but I didn't plan in advance for this to turn out this way. But I absolutely want my prize!"

...

"Happy birthday," I whispered.

"A nearly perfect way to celebrate!" she replied through heavy breaths.

"Nearly?"

"Twice more would make it perfect!" she said.

"You're not sore?" I asked.

"No, it was like a pinch, then just crazy pleasure! Can we do it again?"

"Yes. I just need a bit of time to recover."

...

After quick showers, we dressed. I took the wet towels back to the basement with us, and after we dressed, put them into the washing machine. I didn't start it because I needed to clean up our mess from the basement floor and wipe down the rail of the pool table. I grabbed an aerosol can of stain remover and sprayed it on the wet spot on the floor, then wiped down the rail of the pool table. That completed, I used the towel to rub the stain remover into the carpet, and a second towel to blot it. I'd just need to vacuum it in about an hour after it dried.

Violet and I went upstairs, where we each had a Coke, and then I walked her to the door.

"Thanks for the perfect birthday gift!" she said.

"You could have beaten me six straight, right?"

"Yes!" she said with a twinkle in her eye. "But getting your cue in my pocket was what I really wanted!"

"You could have just asked," I said.

"Which would not have been nearly as much fun!"

"True!"

"Anytime you want to play pool," she said saucily, "just let me know!"

We exchanged a soft kiss, and then she left the house. I put on 'Tattoo You' from my dad's Rolling Stones collection, then sat down on the couch and closed my eyes.

"Mike?" I heard a voice say, startling me.

"Hey, Lissa!" I replied, stretching a bit, then standing up.

"Were you sleeping?"

"Yes."

"What did you do while we were gone?" she asked.

"I did my shopping, came home, had lunch, then put on an album. I sat down on the couch and must have dozed off. What time is it?"

"4:00pm. You slept three or four hours?"

"I guess so. But, oh man, did I have the most vivid dream I could ever imagine!"

December 22, 1983, West Monroe, Ohio

On Thursday morning, I went to see Maggie, and we spent an hour talking and cuddling, with just a bit of kissing. As had happened on Saturday, she left when Hannah returned so that she didn't risk being caught by her parents. Hannah let me know she had the house to herself for the morning, and I was tempted, but I had promised Clarissa I'd spend the morning with her.

When I arrived home, Liz was just getting out of bed. She'd been at Violet's party but hadn't come home by the time Clarissa and I had gone to bed.

"Good party?" I asked.

"AWESOME!"

"What time did you finally get home?"

"About 1:00am. Did Mindy tell you what we did yesterday?"

"No."

"Helped Emmy move to her cousin's apartment in Rutherford."

"Did she tell her parents?"

"She left a note. Her dad was at work, and her mom was shopping. She was afraid if she said anything, they'd try to stop her. She just couldn't stay at home after what happened with Jayce."

"I think she was smart to get out of there, and I'm glad her cousin could take her in."

"Mindy, Violet, Valerie, Hannah, and Emmy are coming over today."

"What is Emmy doing for a car?"

"She doesn't need one for now. She can walk to work, and the school bus stops in the apartment complex. Mindy will pick her up today."

"What do you guys plan to do?"

"Hang out. We'll probably play pool. You and Clarissa are welcome to join us. Violet is pretty good."

How had I known that in my dream? And, of course, the 'pig' in me wondered if she was as good as I'd imagined. The somewhat self-controlled Mike wasn't going to find out because she was only sixteen.

"Maybe Liz and I should go out," Clarissa teased. "We can leave you with the other girls."

I'd shared the dream with Clarissa when we'd returned home after Vespers. She'd laughed and teased me about actually doing it, but, in the end, she'd agreed that the fantasy was best kept locked away in my mind.

"Don't encourage him!" Liz protested.

I suppressed a laugh, thinking if she only knew that I didn't NEED encouragement!

"His brain just short-circuited at the thought," Clarissa teased.

"And given that Violet and Valerie are Sophomores," I said, "that's where it has to stay — in my brain!"

"You're just no fun, Petrovich!" Clarissa replied.

"Oh, I am, but if there are no rules, things quickly get out of hand."

"True."

"I'm going to get breakfast," Liz said, turning towards the kitchen.

"So, what's the plan for the day?" I asked Clarissa. "It's up to you. The only planned thing we have to do is pick up Jocelyn and Tasha for the movie."

"I think you should stay and play pool with Violet!" Clarissa said mirthfully, keeping her voice low.

"Right, because feeding my temptation is such a GRAND idea."

"Hang on, Petrovich!" Clarissa said with an evil smile. "Isn't it true that if you look at a woman lustfully, you've already sinned?"

"Yes," I chuckled, knowing exactly where she was going with this line of thought.

"So if you're going to do the time..."

"I may as well do the crime?" I grinned. "If I weren't Orthodox, that might actually make sense. But we don't 'do time', as it were; there is no 'purgatory' to cleanse our sins. Either Jesus atoned for our sins, or he didn't. If he didn't, then nobody can be saved. If he did, then why do we need a place like 'purgatory'? And seriously, if someone can buy your way out with an indulgence, then just exactly how does it 'purge' anything? I'm just asking, mind you."

"I should have known better than to try to trip you up with theology, even teasingly! But didn't the Catholics do away with indulgences?"

"In response to Luther's identification of abuses, they reined them in and stopped the most egregious abuses, such as selling indulgences or charging fees for them. There were some instances of something similar in the Orthodox Church, whereby the Patriarch of Jerusalem was issuing 'certificates of absolution' in exchange for a fee. The thing is, absolution is freely available in the mystery of confession, so it's not clear what those were meant to do.

"I asked Vladyka about it a few years ago, and he said that they were certificates which purported to absolve individuals from their sins, which anyone could obtain, often for a specified sum of money, and this was apparently done to defray the cost of maintaining the Holy Sites in the Middle East. The problem was that the absolution granted by these papers had no connection with any participation of the faithful in the Mystery of Confession nor in the Mystery of the Eucharist."

"That does sound like an indulgence."

"In some cases, I suspect it was. But there is also the legitimate issue of lifting an excommunication, revoking an anathema, or some other ecclesiastical activity that might require a bishop to issue such a writ or decree. That's happened many times, including for men such as Saint John Chrysostom. But that is only done in response to confession and reconciliation or in the case of grave error by the Church towards someone. Those writs could also be issued to correct errors by other bishops on appeal to the Patriarch or to Rome. But with Rome having departed, that honor of hearing all disputes rests with Constantinople."

"Istanbul?"

"We don't use that name, but did you know it's actually Greek?"

"Seriously?"

"Yes. It derives from «εἰς τὴν Πόλιν» (eis tín pólin), which literally means 'to the city'; in English, we'd probably loosely translate it as 'the big city'. So, 'eis tín pólin' in Medieval Greek became 'Istanbul'. But we never use that name in a religious context. It's always the 'Patriarch of Constantinople' or, more generally, the 'Ecumenical Patriarch'. But remember, he's not the boss; he just gets to hold the gavel at meetings.

"In the Orthodox Church, all bishops are equal in every aspect, though the EP does retain the right to hear appeals from other Patriarchates. Appeals rarely happen, and when they do, they are rarely granted. Generally speaking, a bishop would be deposed for interfering in the diocese of another bishop, but traditionally, those appeals were allowed, so they remain available."

"So what happens if a bishop, well, goes off the reservation?"

"The synod of bishops here, or a Patriarchal synod elsewhere, could depose him for heresy or scandalous behavior. Otherwise, there isn't really a recourse."

"So what happens if he's a bad guy?"

I grinned, "There is a tradition which is rarely used of the laity hanging the bishop by his stole from the iconostasis."