Chapter 23: Meeting Of The Hearts

November 22, 1981

After some consideration, I told Mom and Dad I was skipping study group to spend time with my girlfriend. Given that we’d dated last weekend, and I’d gotten ahead on studies, I figured that’d be OK, and it was, as was skipping the family lunch. I arrived at Jasmine’s at noon.

I’d said we’d most likely go out to lunch, and that I expected her parents to be home once we got back. That her parents didn’t care what she got up to in her room? Not a wise thing to mention.

I walked to the door. As before, she was out the door before I could knock, and met me in a big hug and kiss. “Yay! So, go out to eat, or stay home and...?” She grinned and winked.

“If we’re going to get food, we should do that first, since I’m expected home for family dinner.”

“I like the idea. Some place quick, though.”

“Burger King?”

“Not that quick! Well, in a way, maybe that quick. Food court at the mall?”

“That sounds fine, sure!”

We talked some in the car, avoiding the elephant in the room, talking about classes, things like that. She wanted Chinese food; that sounded good to me, so we picked a couple things to split. We sat on the same side of the booth and held hands a lot.

“Do you know what you’re doing for the holidays?” she asked.

“I don’t, but then, I also think I do.”

She giggled. “Well, that’s cryptic.”

“There’s been a family trip to California that we’ve been thinking about for a long time. We put it off last summer because of Angie’s arrival — which made perfect sense. But Dad’s been hinting for a while that it’s back on, and recently he’s been hinting not to make plans during Christmas break. Knowing him, and the way he handled the last vacation, I suspect he’ll let us know soon.”

“That sounds awesome! I’ll miss you, but it’ll be fine.”

“Yeah! The same. I think the idea will be to do Disney, stuff like that.” I wasn’t about to mention that trips at Christmas break had bad associations for me just now. That was just an unfortunate coincidence in timing, nothing more, and I wouldn’t let last year’s events poison Christmas this year.

“Unrelated, but, next weekend? I can’t make it Thursday or Friday.”

“As far as I know, I have nothing Saturday. The weekend after that we’re all at Klein Forest; I’m not sure I can skip study group, but that weekend we could get away with Thursday. Then Saturday after that, then ... vacation, probably. Maybe we can get another date in.”

She giggled. “Good! The more time the better, I think.”

“Me, too, but then, you know that.”

“I am irresistible!” She squeezed my hand. “Look, um ... how are we doing this? Today, I mean? I feel weird talking about it, but I like the pace we’re on. I feel like ... like we’re building something bigger than just, you know — ‘You’re hot, I’m hot, let’s fuck’.”

Fortunately I wasn’t mid-bite, because that might have caused a choking hazard. “I wouldn’t have put it that way, but I know what you mean. I’m fine with everything, but maybe we go for a ... oh, there’s no baseball analogy, but, technically still third base but, more?”

She laughed and squeezed my hand. “I like that. I mean, I want to just hop into bed with you and just get it on. A lot! But, I feel like it’ll be better if we wait. But more? More is great. You do know you come highly recommended?” she said with a wink.

“Um ... well ... actually, no, I don’t know that.” She laughed at that. “I know about girl talk. I know it happens. As far as I know, there are only a select number of girls who could make personal recommendations and there are issues with them doing that.”

“Most of it isn’t direct, though neither Candice nor Nancy were hesitant to share their praise at the time. The way you put that, though, makes me think...”

“I can neither confirm nor deny.”

“Of course you can’t. And, even if we’re together, you know the ground rules don’t require you to tell me who, especially if it’s someone you can’t mention. Or even what, though I mostly expect that, unless ... well ... sometimes saying you did something at a particular time would tell me who, and, yeah. All that.”

I nodded. “I’m going to be as open as I can be, I promise. It’s not good for any relationship to keep too many secrets.”

She bit her lip. “I agree, with the caveat that sometimes a few secrets help a relationship. I’d guess my parents have a few little things that aren’t bad but are better not known.”

“I can see that. It’s a matter of ethics. I guess ... well, I have an analogy. Someone I know has a father who doesn’t like spiders. She and her sister kept a pet tarantula for years while they were teenagers. Years later she asked him, ‘Hey, dad, you must have known about the tarantula, right?’ His response? ‘I could have lived the rest of my life not knowing there was a spider in the house!’ So, it’s something he wouldn’t have liked — but it didn’t hurt him. So, telling him wasn’t necessary and was a mistake.”

“Exactly! I like that. If it’s not significant for someone to know, and would upset them, then it’s OK to keep it a secret. But if, say, the spider was dangerous, they shouldn’t have had it. Or, if it got out, you’d have to tell.”

“Yeah. I’m fine with that as a ground rule.” I was considering my giant secret, of course. It was significant; it mattered. But it was something I just couldn’t share anytime soon. Maybe one day? It would take an enormous amount of thought to share it with a romantic partner, and an enormous amount of trust. But, could I justify never sharing it? It merited a great deal of thought.

“I’ll be as open as I can be, too. Well, that’s a weird way to put it. I could be totally open by doing nothing that might be out of bounds, but the whole point of ground rules is to not, like, just be boring and monogamous. So, as open as reasonable, maybe.”

“Works for me.”

“I’m...” She bit her lip a second. “Look. Everyone knows I share. I mean, in Drama. And once we’re, like, completely an item? You are going to have several people after you. Right away. And it’s OK with me if you go for it. Blanket statement: anyone in Drama, as of right now, is just fine. Most of them would be happy if I was there, too, and I plan to be, at least sometimes.”

“Um ... interesting. Tempting. I’d say that I’d be happy just being with you, but...”

“But that violates the spirit of things, like we just said, and I bet you can’t say that it wouldn’t be fun. And fun is enough. Unless you feel you’re doing something wrong, but if you did, our conversations would’ve been different.”

I nodded. “Yeah. No, there’s nothing wrong with it, not with our relationship. And, yes, it’d be fun, I imagine.” I smirked a bit.

“Just to be clear. It won’t be just girls. But I know you aren’t interested, and they’ll take no for an answer. And I know you’ll turn them down gently.”

I nodded. “Won’t be the first time, and we stayed friends.”

She laughed. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?”

“So, one thing. It’s not like we’ll proclaim that we’re ... non-exclusive ... but I think I should tell my closest friends, because otherwise they’re going to think we’re cheating, when things happen. And if asked, I’ll just be honest, but try to not say more than I need to.”

“That works. My closest friends assume it’ll be open. It’d be big news if I was exclusive, and they’d probably stage an intervention thinking you’d brainwashed me!”

I hesitated. “It just occurred to me. It’d be hard for you to date outside Drama circles, wouldn’t it? Unless you had reason to think the guy could handle it.”

She blushed. “Busted!” she added, laughing a bit. “Yeah. I’ve tried, a little. It’s rough. I’ve ... um ... some of the reactions have been ... bad. Both ways. Either someone accusing me of being a slut or someone not understanding that ‘not exclusive’ doesn’t mean ‘everything goes’. Discretion is a big deal, but your friends are as close as mine, I think. They’ll see through a lot of things.”

“Definitely.”

She looked down at the mostly demolished lunch. “We might want to consider heading home about now.”

“I’m in favor.”

We cleared the trash and headed to the car, again talking about more mundane topics on the way. At her house, we walked in together. She waved to her mom, and I somehow did the same without turning red. We headed for her room and she shut the door. “Wow, you managed the mama gauntlet! I’m impressed!”

“It wasn’t easy. My gut still says to watch out for fathers with shotguns. Even if you don’t have firearms, there are neighbors.”

She grinned and giggled. “My body, my choice, now that they consider me old enough. They trust me to use good judgment and be careful. I imagine, really — though your parents wouldn’t say it, or let you use the house — they must feel the same way. You have too much freedom otherwise. That car is more than adequate all by itself! If I didn’t have a ready bedroom, we’d have taken advantage for sure,” she grinned.

“Know what?” “Mmm?” “No advantage taken thus far.”

She grinned. “OK, then! Now I have a goal. Must christen the back seat of my boyfriend’s car!”

“I’m ... not saying no.”

“Wise of you! Not for the first time, but some time? Definitely!”

She moved in close and we kissed again, deeply. By the time we broke the kiss, she was tugging at my clothes. While she was working on my shirt, I unbuttoned her dress. Then she went for my belt, and I unhooked her bra. Arms were getting tangled, and there was a lot of giggling, but we were down to just one piece each quickly.

She grinned, whispered, “Me first!” then tugged my underwear off. Sproing! She grinned. “Ooh! Nice!”

“As I’ve said, when girls have said that in the past, I don’t get what girls see in those, but, I’m forever grateful that they do!”

She giggled. “Yeah, well, a couple boys I know will be sad you feel that way!”

I tugged her panties down, off. She’d shaved except for a tiny patch at the top. “Very, very nice.”

“I think of it as more ... naughty ... but I appreciate the compliment!”

“Sooooooo...”

“I want to do something wildly impractical and silly to start, just because.”

“Uh ... OK.”

“Lie down!”

I did, and she moved over me in a 69 position. I laughed. “OK, I get why you’d say what you said.”

“Ready ... set...” and she gulped me into her mouth. I swiped over her lips. She was spicy, sweet, just a hint of earthiness. She was, pretty much, yummy. We both moaned and dug in. 69 can be silly, distracting, and yes, impractical, but it can be a lot of fun, too, and it was. My hands played with her ass and her boobs, her hands were busy on my cock and my chest, and we both spent a fair bit of time giggling. And moaning. And groaning. And... “J ... Jasmine ... gonna...”

“Yes! Yesssss!”

I exploded into her mouth. Her lips clamped shut, swallowing. Then a shudder went through her. Somehow, she kept swallowing. “NNnnnnngggggggguuuhhhhhhhhh!” I squeezed her ass and attacked her clit, flicking, swiping. “G ... ggg ... gggggaaAAAWWWDDDD!”

She rolled off to the side. I moved around, wrapped her in my arms, and kissed her deeply. She kissed right back, moaning, pressing in, eager. I caressed her back, squeezed her ass, making her sigh, then giggle. “That was ... pretty incredible! You’re good at that!”

“Thanks!” I grinned a bit. “I need to stay in practice, though.”

She giggled. “I suppose I can make the supreme sacrifice of letting you practice on me.”

I lazily moved my fingers over her boobs while we talked. She looked down and blushed a bit. “I’m glad you like them. I worry people will think they’re too small, but then, you were with Nancy, and she’s even smaller than me.”