Chapter 3

The Second Week of October

Tina let me know about the rest of their conversation about Tige but there wasn’t much anyone could do, besides getting a restraining order. As we walked from Trig to Chemistry, we talked about who had what tests that week. Tina had a big one coming up in Latin and she felt like she was behind and that wasn’t normal for her.

Mr. Spang explained the lab and told us we’d have two days to determine the answer. He handed out the worksheets and turned us loose. Everyone started for their lab stations but I held Tina back.

“I’d like to start,” she said. “If we finish early, I can study for Latin.”

“Let’s talk it through first. Look,” I said, pointing to our book. “We have four, maybe five ways we could solve this. The first is easy, but it won’t give all the answers. Check it out,” I said pointing to the diagram. If we do the second, we’ll get more answers but we still won’t have them all. Same with the third. But look at this one,” I said, pointing to the more complex approach. “It will take a little longer but we’ll have all the answers. I know how to do this.”

She looked unsure but didn’t see a way around my reasoning. “I don’t want to waste time,” she said. “I think he wants us to do the first and second to reinforce the lesson.”

“Maybe. But that’s from the last chapter. That’s why everyone is setting up to do it. Look at Mr. Spang. He knows. We’ve already been tested on that. Let’s try it my way. You look surprised. Are you surprised that I got this?”

“No. Not at all. I know how smart you are. I’m a little surprised that I missed it. Mostly I’m happy you told me. Not everybody would.”

“What do you mean?”

“I get going and sometimes people who should slow me down, don’t.”

“Like Lisa.”

“Or LuAnn,” she added.

“But Fallon would?”

“Oh yeah. Fallon will tell me whatever she thinks I need to hear. She has no fear in that department. None. Okay. Let’s do it,” she said and we set to work.

As we set up our station, it was obvious to Mr. Spang that we were the only ones trying the last approach. He was trying not to give anything away with his face but I could tell we were on the right track.

“We spent the first ten minutes of class getting instructions. If we don’t hustle up, we’ll have to break it down and finish tomorrow,” she said.

“Attach that tube, raise the beaker on the stand and let’s let it drip. You watch the clock and tell me when to start.”

We were close on time but got it started and then it was a matter of watching and counting. We had a few minutes left to finish our experiment when Mr. Spang announced class was over in five minutes and that we needed to break it down. We were up against the clock. I saw Mr. Spang walk over to watch.

“Any particular reason you chose this approach, Mr. Danielson? Miss Klimenko?”

“Yes sir. We can get all the data with only one test.”

“You’re sure?”

“Pretty sure. We’ll know in about one minute.”

“Cutting it close.”

“We can get it. I know we can.”

He put his hand on my shoulder. “Take your time. I have lunch next period too. Tomorrow, everyone will be playing catch up. Nicely done.”

We left five minutes after everyone else. We were done and would have the next day’s lab for ourselves. Tina was pretty happy, having gained some valuable study time before a test.

“I dub thee Mr. Alchemy,” she said, on the way to our lockers.

“I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or not. Mr. Spang was pretty cool. I bet he does that kind of thing again for our next lab.”

We found our spot and sat. Tina seemed like she was both happy and in a funk at the same time. I tried to cheer her up.

“You were scary amazing last night,” I said. That got her attention.

“Pretty special. Seriously special. I have to make an adjustment on my timeline,” she said. It seemed like she was sort of day dreaming. Then she looked down at me and smiled. “I have to figure out where on my timeline I need to put a special event.”

“What’s that?”

“I need to put a triangle box on it. Triangles on my chart denote change.”

“I don’t get it. What change?”

“I need to put a triangle on it labeled ‘make baby’ and another labeled ‘have baby’ and that means I’ll probably have to make another adjustment or two.”

“I’m pretty sure ‘have baby’ will require way more than an adjustment or two.” She was back in dreamland. “Have you seen how much time Fallon’s mom spends with babies?”

“Sorry. What? Oh. Yeah. That would change a lot, wouldn’t it?”

“My mom took a six-month sabbatical for me and then a year later, she took another one. It’s kind of a game changer.”

“Would you want kids or just sex? Not everybody has kids, you know?”

“Fallon’s parents didn’t. But then they’ve had lots of kids. I don’t know. I don’t think I’m old enough to know. I bet a lot of people our age said they wouldn’t but they did. And probably some the other way around.”

“My mom had kids too soon. But don’t tell Allie that. I think I’d like to plan it rather than be surprised, you know?”

“I think it makes my head hurt to think about it. I know I wouldn’t want to have kids before I got out of college. That would suck.”

We talked some more but we’d sort of lost focus and Tina was distracted. I thought it might be about her sister and Tige. I almost asked but I thought if I did, and that wasn’t the reason she’d be even more distracted. She needed to focus for Latin that afternoon so she could be better prepared for the next day.

We got to her house after school and it was empty. She checked the calendar to make sure her folks would be gone until after eleven.

“You are off in dreamland, baby. You have been ever since Chemistry. What’s going on?”

“I don’t know. I just can’t focus,” she answered.

“That’s not much of an answer. What’s really going on? If I can help, I will.”

She hesitated for a moment and then went for it. “Tara messed up. She never should have gotten involved in Tige Williams’ life but she did and now she can’t get out of it. So, I’m distracted by that. We had a pretty nice time last night. I almost never cum twice but I did and the second was better than the first and that’s never happened before, and then a third, and it’s a little distracting to think I might have been missing out. And I miss Fallon. August, when you two were dating, we didn’t talk much. Now, it’s October and it’s starting out like I won’t get to talk to her much this month and I’ve got a bunch of stuff on my mind and I want to talk to her. You listen well but she’s got years of practice. There.”

“Good. Not good that all those things are distracting you. Good that you told me. You can’t do anything about Tige, right?” She nodded. “So that leaves sex and Fallon.” She nodded again. “And you’re going to have a hard time concentrating for your Latin test until you deal with those two things.”

“I’d like to think I have better ability to concentrate than that. That’s the other thing. I don’t. That’s distracting too. It’s like I don’t have control over a couple of things and it messes with me.”

“Alright. This isn’t a long-term solution but it’s a good short-term solution. Ready?”

“Yes. Please.”

“After we played around last night, was sex on your mind right away?” She shook her head. “Then let’s go to your room. I’ll eliminate that distraction for you and then drive you over to Fallon’s for however long you want to be there.”

“Simple as that.”

“Like Chemistry. Let’s do the experiment. I bet I can get you off quickly and get you to Fallon’s long before dinner.”

“Do I have to?” she asked, pretending it was a big sacrifice.

We went to her room. I brought her to orgasm with my hands while we stood kissing in the middle of the room. She actually came quicker than she had before but she bit the hell out of my lip.

“Oh, my god, Michael. Did I do that? I’m so sorry.” I was bleeding from my top lip, but I was smiling with both of them.

“It’s okay. Wash up or whatever and let me take you to Fallon’s.”

“You’re bleeding. Let me get some Blistex or some ice.”

“It’s kind of a badge of honor, really. Like, ‘hey Michael, how did you get a busted lip’? Sex with Tina. She got frisky, why?”

“Not funny,” she said and then started laughing. “I can’t believe I did that.”

“You did that. Perhaps I need to get better at reading the signs.”

“It’s different. Sex with a person. It’s not just an orgasm, you know?”

“I have, in fact, noticed. As much as I love my hand, sex with a real live person is much different.”

She smacked me. Then got an ice pack and Blistex. She changed and we drove to Fallon’s. On the way over, it dawned on her that our lovemaking session, however brief, was also lopsided.

“I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t do anything for you. You gave me a real nice orgasm and...”

“It’s okay. Your orgasm is over but I’ll have this scar forever.”

“Stop. You will not. Let me see.” I took the ice away and she looked. “It’s stopped bleeding.”

“Dang. I was going to show Fallon.”

“You are bad. You better knock it off. I might bite something else next time.” I didn’t say a word.

I pulled up to Fallon’s house and we walked up together. When Fallon opened the door, I said, “Fallon. My girlfriend is broken. Can you fix her?” They hugged and I promised to pick her up and take her home whenever she needed. Mrs. Lang said she’d take her home later.

When I got home that afternoon, I had a hard time cataloging the day’s events. Too many odds and ends. I went to my room and skimmed through Surfer Magazine for the tenth time that month. Thirty minutes later, Lisa knocked on my door and I let her come in.

We talked about school for a few minutes and then she asked, “So, how’s life after LuAnn?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m pretty sure you know exactly what I mean.”

I had a hunch but didn’t want to say it. I shook my head. “Nope. You’re going to have to spell it out.”

“LuAnn and I have been best friends forever. She’s also a little sex machine. She can hardly sleep at night unless she plays with herself first. We all know it. There’s no way to avoid it. I would bet a week of chores that you two did a lot more than smooch and you did it a lot. I bet she had the best month of sleep she’s had since she was little. I don’t think anyone would be like LuAnn. I’m not. Fallon’s not. Tina’s not. There. So, how’s life after LuAnn?”

“It’s okay, why?”

“I been thinking, that’s why.”

“Keep going.”

“Well, I’m the odd one out, right? I mean, Fallon, LuAnn and Tina have all had you for a boyfriend and got lots of practice. But you’ve had more practice than anyone, right? But then when I was horny and whiny about it, you took pity on me and gave me some practice.”

“I didn’t take pity on you. It just didn’t seem fair.”

“Whatever. And then I thought that I hadn’t been fair to you and had been like encouraging you to date LuAnn in November instead of Tina or Fallon. So, I just wanted to say I was sorry.”

“You don’t need to. It’s okay. But I don’t see how these things connect.”

“You’ve given me about twenty orgasms and I’ve given you about three. So, I’m feeling kind of guilty.”

“So, you came down here to offer to give me seventeen orgasms?”

“Something like that. You didn’t have to do anything for me but you did. And you’re home early so I just thought...”

“That I might be horny and in need of sexual relief.”

“Exactly,” she said and smiled broadly.

“Are you sure you don’t just want to practice?” I saw in her face that I’d nailed it.

“I’d like to practice. Is there anything wrong with that?”

“Other than I’m your brother?”

“Yeah. Besides that. Actually, that’s exactly why I can. Because we don’t have to worry about some emotional attachment or something. Plus, you can teach me more. I don’t think I’m any better at it.”

I thought about it. I was pretty much in the same place Tina had been a couple of hours ago. Distracted and unable to settle down and sex, or the lack thereof was part of it. She saw I was thinking about it.

“When you did me in my room. That was pretty amazing. You held me down so I couldn’t move. I could, like, squirm around but I couldn’t move and then you stroked me until I came. I came really, really hard. Really hard. It’s like my new fantasy. So, I just wanted to say thanks. I’ll leave.”

“It just seems weird, sis. I mean, you’re really cute. Really cute. And if you weren’t my sister, I’d probably ask you out. But you are, so it just seems weird.”

“It’s okay. If you don’t care that your sister is sexually handicapped due to a lack of experience. I’ll just pry into LuAnn’s life.”

“No. Please don’t do that. You were kidding, right?”

“I was kidding. I wouldn’t do that. And no one has talked. No one. And that’s pretty weird.”

“So, if we did anything...”

“Not a word.”

“What about you?” I asked, figuring she’d want me to return the favor.

“I don’t need anything.”

“Really,” I said, not really believing it.

“I just did myself about four times.”

“Are you kidding?”

She shook her head. “That’s why I’m here now. I can offer and seem all selfless and everything. Plus, Mom and Dad are gone until ten.” My eyebrows went up. “Baker’s. They got an invite a month ago. Somebody they know is in town. Way up in Whittier.”

“So, it’s just us until ten or later?” She nodded. “And you want to help me out?” She nodded. “If you really want to help me, I need a geography lesson.”

“Geography? That was like fifth grade or something.”

I reached across the bed and pulled The Joy of Sex out of the night stand. “I have diagrams of the female genital arena. I think that’s what it calls it. I’ve been playing games looking for the places that are most arousing and all that. I need a geography lesson because I think I’m probably missing some spots or playing with some too much and others not enough. That’s what I need. Besides, I can just get hard so you can jack me off.”

“So, you want me to strip down and give you a tour?”

“For starters. And then I want to play around and have you tell me if I’ve got it right.”

“Are you kidding? That would drive me crazy.”

“You said you wanted to help. That would help. If you don’t it’s okay. But I’d like a little something besides the scientific names of everything. Up to you.”

I could see her thinking about it. It’s something I should have asked for two months ago when we were alone at the beach house but it never crossed my mind. With Tina, I thought I’d need some help but I wasn’t going to tell Lisa that.

“Michael, I’m getting excited just thinking about it. You want me to bare my pussy and show you around, and then you’re going to touch me to see what works best?” I nodded. “Do you know what that’s going to lead to?”

“I have a pretty good idea. Either you’ll leave, the most sexually frustrated woman in Costa Mesa. Or ... I’ll have to get you off every ten minutes so we can continue to explore. Up to you.”

“You’d do that?”

“Sort of the price of admission, the way I see it. Totally up to you. I haven’t had any complaints so far. I just think I could do better.” I could see that she was getting excited by the idea. “If you say ‘no’ it’s okay. I’m pretty sure you and I are going to be done practicing together come the first of November, either way. Right now, it’s like I’m honoring an arrangement. On the first, though, it’s like I’m a free agent and after that, I expect to be really faithful. I’m not trying to pressure you or anything. Just telling you that I think that’s the way it’s going to be.”

“And you’re just asking this now so it’s Tina, isn’t it?”

“This isn’t about any of them. It’s about you and me and if you really want to help me. Your call.” I was so totally turned on by the idea that if she said ‘no’ I was going to have to jerk off thinking about my sister.

“Let me go change,” she said and started to leave.

“Into what, Lisa? Really.”

“Oh, yeah. Well, can we do it in my room?”

I nodded and we walked to her room. I whistled the theme song from Andy of Mayberry and she turned to shush me. I thought I knew my way around a pussy pretty well by that time but thought I could still improve. I had a few ideas I wanted to test and, although I was certain Tina would be more than willing to help, her one or two orgasm sessions would probably slow it down a lot.

Lisa and I had gotten past any inhibitions about nudity and sex two months ago so she was ready to jump in. There wasn’t any romance. It was simple physiology. She sat in her bed with her legs spread and I sat between her knees. She took me on a quick tour of what I already knew. I told her I was mostly interested in figuring out what was most and least sensitive, if there could be too much lubrication and if there was one technique that would get you off no matter what had already happened. She had no idea of my level of experience but she must have thought it was pretty good after a month with LuAnn and after a month with Fallon. She was right.

“You’re really pretty, you know. Your pussy, I mean. It’s like really tender and ... well, tender. It’s pretty exciting just to look, because I know how many pleasure buttons it has. Just so you know. I’m licking my lips, just looking at you.” I looked up at her face and she was pretty excited to hear that.

“You have a pretty nice body, you know that, right? I’m thinking lots of unbrotherly thoughts, just so you know.”

“You want to fuck me,” she said, bluntly.

“Well, yeah. I wouldn’t, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to. You’re a lot like LuAnn.”

“That’s a pretty serious compliment.”

“Yeah. Want to take your top off for me?”

She peeled it off and I couldn’t help but stare. “You have really nice tits, but you knew that, too.”

“Yeah, but how often does a girl get told?”

“Yeah, I guess that doesn’t happen very often.” I reached out and held them both, then circled her nipples with my thumbs. “I love it when they get pointy like that.”

“As soon as you do that, my pussy thinks something good is going to happen.”

“And you start getting wet.”

“Normally, but right now, I’m already wet. I can’t believe we’re doing this.”

She gave me the grand tour and when she had finished, I followed the path and asked questions, all the while watching her face. I figured I would get just as much from that as anything she said. I tried to bring her to orgasm without touching her clit and managed to do it and that sort of provided the warm up exercise. I tried to figure out if there was too much clitoral stimulation and discovered there most definitely was. I asked if starting with the lips to get her going and then shifting to the clit once breathing and pulse were racing was best and she assured me it was. I tried it that way and, as it turned out, she was right.

By this time, Lisa had cum four times on her own and twice by my hand. I had no idea what her record was. I tried using tongue on her clit with fingers inside and she came again, then I continued by sucking her clit, flicking it with my tongue and she came again. I had just one more experiment to try. I slid my finger into her to get it wet, then tried to spread that on her little asshole.

“What are you doing?”

“Experimenting. Try to relax.”

“It’s kind of difficult when you’ve got a finger on my butthole.”

“Try,” I said and wet it again. It was winking at me, contracting and relaxing as her body tried to relax. I didn’t think it would work. I wet it again and by then she was pretty wet.

“I don’t think this is going to do anything,” she said.

“It is. I’m going to slide a finger into you and then play with your clit. I think I can get you to cum one more time but you have to relax.”

“Yucky.”

“Maybe, but there’s a lot of nerve endings right there. The book says a lot of people like it. Let’s find out. Try to relax,” I said as I pushed and my finger slid into her. “You’re really hot and it’s tight,” I said. I sawed in and out a couple of times and she started to relax.

“It doesn’t feel bad. And you’re right. There’s a lot of sensation.”

“I bet you could pinch my finger,” I said and she did. “Can you imagine if there was a dick in you?”

“No. I thought you said you were going to eat me, too.”

Impatient woman. I sawed in and out a couple more times and then bent down to play with her pussy. She started jerking and I could feel her clamping onto my finger and then relaxing. When she was close to cumming, her asshole went ballistic, and when she finally came, I thought she was going to break my finger off. When she’d cum, she was done.

“Out, out, out. Please. Ugh.”

I pulled my finger out, wishing there was a ‘pop’ sound as I did but there wasn’t. It was interesting but also seemed kind of gross. I ran to the bathroom and washed my hand thoroughly. When I returned Lisa was wrapped in her blanket, holding her teddy bear.

“You done for the night?” I asked. She shook her head. “I used to have a boner,” I added to see if she was at all interested. It didn’t seem like she was. “I’m going to heat up some leftovers.” She still didn’t move. “Fried monkey brains and giraffe knees. Want some?”

“No, thanks.”

She was done. I left, happy in my experiment and hungrier than horny at that point. I checked the kitchen but there was neither monkey brains nor giraffe knees in the fridge. I had a bowl of chili and some bread, instead. I went back to my room and read a couple chapters from my new criminal justice book. I took note of a few things to ask Mom and Dad about later.

I was going to hit the sack early but decided to call Fallon and check on Tina first. I went downstairs to use the kitchen phone and called. Mrs. Lang greeted me and held the phone for Fallon.

“Hey, baby. How are you?”

“Honest? I miss you terribly.”

“I miss you, too. Really. A lot. Is Tina okay?”

“Yeah,” she dragged it out and it was unconvincing. “Hang on. Let me go around the corner.” I heard movement and a door close and she came back on. “She’ll be okay. She’s pretty used to being in control of things, you know. It’s not like she’s a control freak, but she’s sort of practicing to be one.”

“And she’s not in control right now.”

“No. And she’s not quite sure how to fix it.”

“Anything I can do?”

“No. No. We’ve been here before. She’ll be fine. She just needs to vent a little. She has already but there’s just stuff on her mind.”

“Future plans?”

“Yeah. Did you know she plans to go to USC?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Because it was news to me. And about Tige getting out?”

“I think that happened yesterday,” I said.

“Well, that was news to me too. I usually get this stuff first so it’s just weird. Did you two, umm...”

“Did we what, Fallon?”

“Did you two have, you know?”

“We did not have intercourse, if that’s what you’re asking. I haven’t. I’m a virgin. A fairly experienced virgin but still a virgin, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Sorry. I shouldn’t have asked. You keep your word. I’ll keep talking with her. She’ll be fine. Mom’s taking her home around nine or so. Soon. I might see you tomorrow. You know, sit with her at lunch.”

“That’s fine with me. Fallon, if there was something I did, or something I need to do, you’d tell me, right?”

“Yeah. Definitely. It’s not you. She just had some stuff in her world sort of turned around.” She started whispering. “She can deal with a lot of stress and stuff and she holds it in pretty well, but if it’s too much all at once, the dam bursts and she needs a break. So, Tige, her sister, Latin, you, her plan, sex, sort of all at once.”

“I get it. I know you two have been friends forever, but if this happens again, I think I should be in the middle of it, you know.”

“I know. I told her that. She has you in her plans but then when she’s stressed...”

“Okay, you get it. Thanks for being there for her, Fallon. She bragged on you a lot, just so you know.”

“Well, she bragged on you, too, Michael.”

“Fallon, was this whole month at a time thing a mistake?”

“Do you think it was?”

“No. No. Definitely not. Do you think Tina blew it by going last?”

“Maybe. I wish it was my month. I miss you.”

“You know what Tina told me? She said that if I ended up marrying her, I would be getting you, too. Just no sex because she’s not sharing.”

“Huh. Sex was the only reason I went out with you so that’s no fun. I’ll see you tomorrow. She’s okay, or she will be. Really. A new person in the morning. Trust me.”

“Fallon, I’m having a good time with Tina, but I miss you, too.” It was quiet for a minute. “Bye, Baby.”

“Bye.” We both hung up. What a crazy situation. I needed counsel and not from my folks.

I went past Lisa’s room and she was snoring softly. I shut the door and went back to my room and hit the sack. Lights out by eight. How crazy was that?

I picked up Tina the next morning and she was a new person. She had the entire period of Chemistry to cram for her Latin test. I talked with Mr. Spang while everyone finished up their experiments. He seemed like a pretty cool guy and told me he was happy to see at least one team use their brains, meaning us, of course. I asked him about careers in chemistry and he gave me some ideas.

I walked with Tina to the dome, met Fallon and we carved out a spot so Tina could continue to cram. She was in a Latin class full of seniors and had gotten behind so this was a big deal for her. Anytime anyone came close, Fallon or I would send them packing. We were the official Tina guard dog corps.

When lunch was over, Fallon kissed my cheek and told me thanks for taking care of her friend. I walked Tina to Latin then hurried to Civics. After class, I told the teacher, Mr. Dillon, about my plans. He was interested and happy that I would want to pursue something near and dear to his heart. He was happy until I asked if I could take the final exam early so I could do self-study on criminal justice. He’d never had anyone ask that before but said he’d think about it.

In shop we, learned how to bore out a cylinder, measure the piston, and put new rings on it. I doubted any of our engines would run when the class was over but it was fun anyway. I’d already rebuilt two carburetors for LuAnn’s dad so that was something good from it.

I met Tina outside gym and she seemed like a new person.

“Pass your test?”

“Yeah. I didn’t do too bad.” We got to my truck and I started for her house.

“Good. Wait. What do you mean by not doing too bad?”

“I got a hundred.”

“Good. Let’s do a countdown here. What’s left that’s stressing you?”

“Did you talk to Fallon?”

“A little. We both care about you. So ... what’s left?”

“We talked a lot. Tige, but I can’t do anything about him. Sex but we talked that through and it was just silly. Who cares how much or how many times? If I’m satisfied and you’re happy, who cares if it’s one or a hundred?”

“Well, a hundred might be a bit of a stretch. I honestly can’t imagine more than about forty.” We laughed and it was good to hear.

“My plan. My schedule. I was stressing about it but it was silly. I’m doing everything I can, right now. I am taking the fastest route to USC that I know how to take. It’s mid semester. What could I change? So, I’m just going to keep doing my best.”

“About USC,” I said. “Fallon didn’t know. I think she was hurt that you’d made a decision like that and she wasn’t in the loop.”

“Yeah. I got sidetracked. We haven’t stayed up with each other as much this year. Actually, the last two months.”

“I get it. Probably a good idea you keep your go-to girl in the loop. Does she know why USC is on your board?” She shook her head. “Tina, if she chooses to go somewhere else, are you going to go there instead?” I knew what the answer was and so did Tina but I don’t think she wanted to admit it, at least not out loud. “If she’s central to your decision-making process, it seems to me that you should let her in on that little tidbit.”

“Yeah. Trying to do the right thing and sort of got ahead of myself. Did I do anything to piss you off?”

“No. Not at all. I’m just thinking that if we’re going to do this together, we need to be on the same sheet of music.”

“Definitely. I let the ball drop on that one. Coming in?”

We spent some quality time together and then found a western on TV. We’d gone horseback riding on the beach and she knew nothing about westerns. I knew it was coming on so we settled in for the matinee performance of Red River. What an introduction to the genre. She liked it and I was pleased that she did. After the film, we smooched a bunch and I encouraged her a bunch more. I kind of hated to leave her alone in the house but she was used to it. I was home in time for dinner.

Mom and dad weren’t home yet but Lisa was. “Michael, yesterday was really nice. I mean, you wanted the tour but it was pretty nice for me.”