Chapter 2

Jeannie’s turn:

I almost wrecked my brother.

I just turned fourteen. Had a slumber party with some of my friends. I gathered Reena, who’s on my volleyball team and Emma and Sarah who are in gymnastics with me. We all go to the same middle school.

Now I can’t think of any parent of teen girls who might think a slumber party’s about actually slumbering. We talked.

School. Who’s doing what. Teachers, good ones, indifferent ones, ones off their rockers. Of course, classwork and grades – the measure of success – are in there.

“Girl, YOU don’t have anything to worry about. I mean, straight As...” Reena said.

I get defensive. Doing well in school should not be cause for derision. “Emma’s straight As, too. Why are you picking on ME?”

“Because Emma looks like she’s WORKING for her grades. You don’t.”

Emma’s head bobbed assent. “I study ALL the time.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “Just seems like that stuff goes into my head and sticks. Lucky, I guess. I work hard at volleyball and gymnastics, though.”

“Yeah, and you beat me at that, too,” Emma said. “And I train as hard as YOU do.”

“Sorry...”

“Noooo,” Emma soothed. “You do things better...”

So the conversation fluttered around and ended up on sex. We’re all fourteen now. Last time we had a confab like this, we were all virgins. Time to poll the room.

Emma. Virgin.

Sarah. Virgin

Reena. Looked like the cat that ate the canary.

“Noooo,” Sara blurted. “Why’re you keepin’ it to yourself?”

“It’s kinda, well ... Different...” Reena’s usually the most adventurous and forward one of our little group. And this showed up.

“Who?!?” I asked.

“Look, guys,” Renna said. “I almost don’t want to say ... It’s kinda...”

“Spill it,” Emma demanded.

Reena said one word: “Ranger.”

Emma, Sarah and I squealed at the same time. “HE’S YOUR BROTHER!!!!”

Reena’s nothing if not quick-witted. “Just fuckin’ ‘im, not gonna MARRY ‘im!”

Sarah jumped up. “I’m gonna be sick!” and headed to the bathroom. Dunno if she actually threw up, but she made the noises.

The rest of us just stared at Reena.

“Oh, come on, y’all. It’s no big deal. Somebody was gonna be the first...”

I had a flash of a thought. Sitting, talking with Mom. “It SHOULD be special, I guess,” she said, “and maybe way back whenever, it WAS, but nowadays, doesn’t seem like it.”

I thought that whoever it was for me, it had better be special.

“Jeannie?!?” Emma said.

“Huh?!?”

“Where’d you go?”

“I...” Okay, Jeannie, this one’s easy to sidestep. “ ... it’s a bit much to think about.”

Reena snorted. “No big deal. And if I could’ve gotten YOUR brother off by himself, HE would’ve been the first...”

Now I have to deal with an image of Reena and MY brother (I didn’t realize then the significance of ‘my’ in the context of this thought) having sex.

Sarah showed back up.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Emma said. “You puked. Jeannie went into a coma. Damn, Reena! You know how to make an announcement.”

“No big deal,” Reanna repeated. “Over. Done.”

So Emma asked, “Just the one time? Or...”

“Oh, no ... bunches of times. I almost didn’t come here tonight because we might get a chance...”

“Like, at HOME?” Sara blurted.

“Well, yeah,” Reena said, a little petulantly. “No ... in the school quadrangle ... what’d you think?”

“I dunno,” Sara countered. “I can’t imagine...”

Emma’s a bit more focused and pragmatic. “Did it hurt? The first time, I mean?”

Reena shook her head. “No, not really, but I was a little drunk and so was Ranger and we were hot ‘n’ horny from teasing and he was in me before I could change my mind...”

“Drunk?” I questioned.

“Dad’s liquor cabinet. He’s got some stuff that mixes with coke and you can’t hardly taste it. Ranger fixed us each a big one...”

Sara looked serious. “So your brother got you drunk and seduced you...”

“Not exactly,” Reena countered. “I mean ... Saturday night and Mom ‘n’ Dad are at a party somewhere, so we had our own little party.” She giggled at Sarah’s discomfort. “It’s FUN!”

A lot more talking occurred about that subject that night.

I guess that sort of explained why I didn’t have to restrain Reena from sneaking into John’s bedroom that night.

The next morning, John took us all to breakfast then dropped my friends off at their homes. Driving home, I dropped the bomb on him about Reena and her brother. “Told ya she wasn’t selective.”

Found out that MY brother was a virgin, too. I guess guys can be virgins, right?

Then I think I broke him.

One of the conversations last night was about guys wearing jockstraps. Come to think of it, it was Reena talking about seeing her brother in his. Between us, we mused about what one was supposed to do. I decided to ask my brother.

He explained as matter-of-factly as possible.

Maybe it’s hormones. Maybe it’s because we had quite a talk about sex last night. Maybe I should’ve resorted to a little twiddle of my button. Yes, I masturbate. I find it quite calming, a way to counter stress.

But I hadn’t since last night.

So I asked Johnny to model a jockstrap for me.

Kind of a disappointment. I’ve seen him in his briefs. We don’t run around in our underwear, but I’ve seen him in his, he’s seen me in mine, and like I told him, I’ve seen him in his Speedos and he’s seen me in my bikini, and they both show more than underwear usually does.

So he said something about keeping his stuff from dangling and swinging. I asked him to let me see.

He shucked that jock down awfully fast.

Observation one: I’ve glimpsed his penis ... okay, ‘dick’, a time or two. This time I understand the term ‘erection’. It didn’t swing, it stuck straight out.

Johnny explained it away with “It does that on its own sometimes. I can’t control it.”

Observation two: his sack really DOES hang, containing two very obvious balls.

Johnny was looking at me intently and I was too caught up to notice. “You wanna touch?”

Big bell went off in my head. “Reena’s doin’ HER brother!”

So I said, “Nope. I’m good. You can go.”

Okay, I caught THAT look. He kicked the jock loose from his feet, picked it up and fled. I heard his door practically slam. I got up to go explain to him ... I don’t know what I was going to explain. When I got to his closed door I heard him hiss my name.

Sounded ... okay, I guess in one sense he sounded distressed. I opened his door in time to see him roll himself up in his bedspread.

“Did you just call me? Are you okay?”

“No. I’m okay...”

“You were...”

“Wasn’t doin’ nuthin’.”

“You called my name...”

He stammered, “I...”

“This was about ME?!?”

“It’s not your fault. I shouldn’t’ve ... That thing gets excited...”

“Over ME?!?” Okay, yes, I’m fourteen and I know that guys look at girls and see sex. I’d just never put that thought into a phrase where my brother and I were in it together.

“Yes, over you.”

“And so you came back in here and thought about me...” He admitted it.

“Sorry.”

“Is that like, a dream?”

“Fantasy.”

“I heard that guys fantasize when they ... like porn ‘n’ stuff...”

“I don’t have porn. I do have an imagination.”

“And I’m...”

“You’re not the only one ... Others...”

‘Go ahead. Pop my bubble.’ I thought. “Like Reena?”

“She’s come up...”

“So you wanted to do it with Reena...”

“Just in my fantasy. I do know the difference.”

“Good.”

“We’re okay?”

“We’re okay. I do it, too, you know...”

“What?”

“Masturbate. Girls do it, too.”

“So I’ve heard.”

“So it’s okay. Are you okay now?”

“Yeah. I’m okay. Little embarrassed.”

“I’d be embarrassed if you walked in on me. I mean, you’re wrapped up in your bedspread...”

“Uh, yeah ... And I need to go wash it.”

“Oh, yeah ... I heard that when guys do it, it’s messy. Reena says...”

“Wow! Reena gets something right...”

“Nice to know.”

“Now get out. I need to go clean up and put the bedspread in the washer.” He paused. “Unless you wanna...”

“Uh, no. See ya.”

Okay. I went back to my own room and yes, I relieved my tensions. Won’t say what I thought about while I was doing it.

Things changed a bit between me and Johnny after that, but I think we were both suddenly aware that there could be some really disruptive things if we mishandled the situation, so things dropped back to mostly normal. Johnny remained my sweet, helpful big brother, my chauffeur, my occasional tutor, and the one fan I could always depend on to watch my volleyball games.

“You’re just there because it’s a bunch of girls in skimpy uniforms.”

“Y’all’re all fourteen,” he countered.

“You get to moon over Reena.”

“I never mooned over Reena.”

“You DID. You said you fantasized about ‘er.”

“She was a second tier fantasy.”

“Who was first tier?” I asked. Yes, I have an idea.

“Ain’t sayin’. Not any of your business.”

“While we’re talkin’ about Reena, you wanna hear the latest?”

“I’m not sure that I do.”

“Yeah, you do. I told you she wasn’t a good choice.”

“So what do you know?”

“Not just her brother. Some other guys. Says she’s up to five or six...”

“Geez ... That’s why I never...”