Chapter 13

Wednesday-Thursday, May 23-24

It was after 3 p.m. before Kacie had the family room in order to her satisfaction. I helped as much as I could, but I think my biggest contribution was transferring the sheet from the washer to the dryer.

Kacie donned her little bikini again and went out back to tan. I was again given the opportunity to do her back. Once I finished that task, I went to the alley to dispose of the condom wrapper, then headed back inside to listen to some music.

I grabbed my tablet and checked my email for the first time since school let out. Other than the typical spam for credit cards and penile enhancement, the only new message I had was from my buddy Eddie Galvan. He didn’t have much of significance to say, but did indicate he was free this weekend. I wrote him back and invited him to join me at the club on Saturday for the pool opening. Maybe I could lure him into our little dating co-op.

Mom called about 5 to give me instructions for dinner and I headed to the kitchen to get some things started. On the way, I detoured outside to warn Kacie that the parents were on their way and she’d better get dressed. I pulled a package of hamburger patties out of the freezer to thaw and brewed up another gallon of tea.

I returned to my room to put on a shirt just as Kacie emerged from her room in what was becoming her default summer outfit — oversized T-shirt and jogging shorts. With as many pairs of jogging shorts as my sister owned, you’d think she’d won the Boston Marathon or something. I had no memory of her ever running a step unless shopping was involved, but her legs and ass looked great in those shorts.

I told her about my message from Eddie and that I’d invited him to the club. I’d let her and the other girls interrogate him to see if he met their approval.

We headed back into the kitchen to resume dinner preparations. I opened a package of buns and Kacie got some plates out. We decided to wait until the folks were actually here to put the burgers on the grill.

During the meal, Kacie was obviously uncomfortable, squirming in her chair. When Mom asked if anything was wrong, Kacie just murmured something I couldn’t understand. When Mom persisted, Kacie motioned her around the corner.

I have no idea what my sister said, but I clearly heard Mom. “I’ll stop off at the pharmacy tomorrow and get you a stool softener.”

Upon their return to the table, Dad couldn’t help himself.

“What, she got a bug up her ass?”

The glares he received would have cowed any man. Dad was suitably chagrined.

I texted Jed that I would meet him at the lot in 15 minutes to work on snapping and went to put on some shoes before heading out.

As I fielded Jed’s snaps, I told him I’d invited Eddie to the club on Saturday and would let the girls determine his worthiness. Like me, Eddie wasn’t a member of any particular clique. He’d helped me get through junior high Spanish, and I’d helped him with history and social studies. He’d give us a nonjock to match with Erin Bennett. If nothing else, he gave us a Latino to pair up with Erin Aguilar.

Jed mentioned he’d contacted a couple of football teammates who’d played on the junior varsity last fall. I didn’t recognize either name, but he expected them to be at the club Saturday, as well.

“That’ll give us five guys and seven girls,” I said. “Since Morgan, Erin B. and Keri have so many other obligations, that should be enough. But like Kacie said, it wouldn’t hurt to have a couple of guys we can rotate in.

“The main thing is to make sure these guys understand it’s strictly platonic to start. We can mix and match as necessary to please the girls’ parents. If a guy wants to make a move on a girl, get to know her first. This whole thing is so Morgan and I can have some cover.”

OK, that last part may not have been true, but Jed didn’t need to know that.

We worked until Jed had enough. I don’t know how he managed to look at the world upside down between his legs for so long. It made me dizzy just to think about it. I guess it would be much less of an issue during the games when he’d be in that position for a much shorter time.

Kacie was waiting for me in the family room when I got home.

“You owe me,” she said.

“For what?”

“I haven’t been able to sit down all evening,” she said. “My butthole still hurts. I told Mom I had a really difficult BM.”

“Want me to kiss it better?” I said with a leer. “And I remember specifically asking if you were sure you wanted to do that.”

“Yeah, but you’re the boy, so you’re wrong,” she said. “It’s in the rules.”

“What rules?”

“The rules girls make and expect boys to follow.”

“It would help if you girls would inform us boys of these rules and our responsibility to know them.”

“Can’t,” Kacie said.

“Why not?”

“It’s against the rules.”

In the end, I agreed to serve as gofer for Kacie and her gang at the pool Saturday. That would entail getting their drinks and snacks, applying suntan lotion (I know, cruel and unusual punishment, right?), providing towels and whatever other tasks they could think of. If I’d only known then what that would lead to.

We watched TV until time for bed, Kacie laying on her stomach on the sofa while I was relegated to one of the easy chairs. I resolved to not give in so easily the next time my sister wanted to try something different.

Thursday morning went much as the day before, including the pineapple juice at breakfast. Mom told me to be at the pool complex by 10 o’clock. I told her Jed was willing to help out and we all headed out to start our day.

Jed once again tried to kill me with the gassers, but I somehow managed to survive. I could only imagine what the prospects for our football season would be if everyone on the team shared Jed’s dedication to conditioning.

We wrapped up with about 20 minutes of snapping practice, wiped down and headed to the club to do some unauthorized weight work, moving tables and chairs around at the pool. Mom and Mr. Ferguson met us with a diagram of what they wanted.

The end of the pool without cabanas had an open patio-like area dotted with circular picnic tables with umbrellas, sort of like an outdoor cafe. The serving line would stretch down one side of the pool with a dessert table (or two or three) at the far end.

Jed and I were detailed to carry in what looked like long school-lunchroom tables from a truck in the parking lot and put them where the food service staff would set them up. After the first couple of trips, Jed had to show off and carry two tables at a time, holding them over his head like some kind of bearer on a safari. I continued to muddle along with one table at a time, but we still had the truck unloaded by 11:30.

Then followed another 45 minutes of shifting things back and forth until it looked just right. I’m glad we had the diagram to go by or we could have been there all day.