Chapter 64: Heather Nicole

June 6, 1982, Chicago, Illinois

The phone rang late on Sunday morning, and I answered, hoping it was Bev, but it was my uncle.

“No word yet?”

“No. I spoke to her yesterday, and her doctor says ‘any day now’”

“Why don’t you come to pick up the BMW today,” he offered. “That’ll save you a lot of time when she calls. And you won’t have to wake me up if she calls at 2:00am or some other godforsaken hour!”

“OK. I have a friend coming over to hang out this afternoon,” I said.

“Why don’t you join us for dinner? Lisa is at Jeri’s this weekend and won’t be home until after 9:00pm.”

“I need to check with my friend,” I replied. “She’s fairly shy and reserved.”

“A new girl?”

“Just a friend,” I replied. “I met her in class and we’ve done homework together. Huifen went home for the Summer, but she’ll be back in August and we’ll start seeing each other again.”

“Let me know by 1:00pm so Wendy knows how much food to make.”

“Will do,” I replied. “Thanks for the invite. And thanks for lending me the car.”

“My advice is to pack a bag with everything but your toothbrush and shaving kit and put it in the trunk. Drive to work so if she calls you there, you can leave directly, instead of going home.”

“That makes sense,” I replied. “Thanks. I’ll call you by 1:00pm.”

We said ‘goodbye’ and I hung up, then went back to reading the Sunday Chicago Tribune. About ten minutes later, the phone rang again. Once again, I hoped it was Bev, but it was Shelly.

“What are you doing this week?”

“Waiting for the phone to ring!” I chuckled. “It’s rung twice this morning, and neither time was Bev!”

“Sorry! I was just wondering if I could spend the night on Wednesday?”

“Just you?”

“Bianca’s grandparents, all four of them, are visiting from Mexico, and she can’t really leave.”

“You would need to call before you drive here,” I said. “And there’s a risk that I’ll have to leave.”

“I’m willing to take the risk. What if I stayed Tuesday and Wednesday?”

“You’re welcome, but with the caveat I gave before.”

“OK. What time are you home from work on Tuesday?”

“About 5:45pm,” I replied.

“How about this plan — if Bev calls, you call me; otherwise, I’ll be there at 6:00pm? I’ll pick up Chinese food on the way. If she calls after I’ve left here, we eat and you get on the road.”

“That sounds reasonable,” I replied. “Let me have the number there.”

She gave me the number, which I wrote down and then read back to her. With everything agreed, we said ‘goodbye’, I hung up, and went back to reading the newspaper. The phone didn’t ring again before Violet arrived just after lunch, bringing two cans of Coke and a bag of chips.

“You have an Atari?!” Violet exclaimed. “Which games?”

“Star Raiders and Pac-Man,” I replied. “But I don’t play much.”

“How about a game of Pac-Man?” she asked.

“I’ve tried playing once,” I replied. “You’ll kick my butt!”

“It’ll be fun!”

“Sure, why not?”

I put in the cartridge, hooked up the joysticks, turned on the TV, then turned on the Atari itself. We played for about forty minutes, and Violet did kick my butt quite easily. When we finished playing, I put on the White Sox game against the Rangers, and we sat on the couch with the Cokes and chips.

“I have to go to my uncle’s to pick up the car,” I said. “I plan to leave when the game is finished. You’re welcome to come along and have dinner with us.”

“I, uhm, I’m not sure,” Violet said.

“Sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean to upset you. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“It’s OK,” she said. “It’s just ... well, this is the first time I’ve been to anyone’s house since I was in grade school.”

Something I should have realized. I hadn’t been as careful as I thought I was being.

“It’s my fault,” I replied. “Let’s watch the game, OK?”

“Yes.”

I excused myself briefly to call my uncle to let him know it would just be me, then I sat down next to Violet, but kept some space between us. We had a great time watching the game and talking, though the Sox lost to the Rangers, giving up the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth.

“I had lots of fun!” Violet declared when the game ended. “Make sure you call me to let me know you’re going to Ohio!”

“I promise. Would you like me to walk you home?”

“Yes, but it’s not necessary.”

“I’d like to.”

I walked her home, and after she let herself into the house, I quickly walked back to my apartment, took a quick shower, changed clothes, then walked to the L so I could go to my uncle’s house.

June 8, 1982, Chicago, Illinois

When I left work on Tuesday, I still hadn’t heard from Bev. I didn’t want to bother her, so I stopped in the lobby and used a payphone to call my mom, who said that she’d seen Bev earlier in the day, and that nothing had changed except perhaps Bev being more frustrated and tired of being pregnant. I hoped, for Bev’s sake, that her labor started soon. Even with taking the time to make the call, I was home earlier than I’d told Shelly I would be because I had my uncle’s car. She arrived on time with Kung Pao Chicken and Beef with Broccoli.

“Bianca is bored to tears, but there was no way her parents would let her skate out on her grandparents!” Shelly said as we sat down to eat.

“And you made your escape!”

“I did! Thanks for letting me stay a couple of nights. Well, assuming Bev doesn’t call.”

“I half expected you to drag me to bed as soon as you arrived, just in case!”

Shelly laughed, “I should have! I’ll have to take my chances!”

We ate, sharing the chicken and beef dishes, and cleanup was quick, as we only used two bowls and two forks.

“I have a question and you’re free to decline to answer,” I said.

“Bianca and me?”

I nodded, “Yes.”

“For me, at least, it was just the next logical step. I mean, we had sex in front of each other, then sex together with you, and I wondered what it would be like to have sex with a girl. I liked it, so I wanted to keep doing it.”

“Do you two get together without me?”

“We have, but it’s more exciting when you’re with us.”

“I have the impression that it’s not just a phase.”

“Ask me again when we graduate, but I could see having some kind of three-way relationship with a guy, the way we do with you. We both have kids with him, and the three of us have sex together for the rest of our lives. Or maybe it’s just a ‘Catholic girls go to college’ thing and we’ll both decide we want traditional families. You realize that’s mostly what those parties were about, right? Breaking the rules and violating taboos.”

“Which is why you and Bianca decided to lose your virginities in front of the other girls.”

“Yes. Hannah was the outlier — the only one of us who wasn’t at least raised Catholic. Sylvia goes to church every week, and Lucy most weeks. Paula went with Lucy pretty often.”

“Why is it limited to Catholic girls?” I asked.

Shelly laughed softly, “It’s a trope, but like all stereotypes, it has a basis in truth. A lot of girls are like Paula was, or like Bianca and me, and were raised in very conservative, Catholic homes, and when we got to Loyola, even though it’s a Catholic school, we had WAY more freedom than we’d ever had. I think Bianca mentioned to you about her parents’ rules for being out on New Year’s.”

“She did. But Huifen said something about a fifteenth birthday.”

“Bianca’s «quince». That did change things a bit, but her parents are still very traditional Catholics and expect Bianca to behave like a traditional Catholic. I’m pretty sure that’s part of the thrill for her, you know, playing the game, being with you, and being with me.”

“And you?”

“I went to a Catholic girls’ school, and my secret fantasy was Jillian Miller!”

“And?” I asked with an arched eyebrow.

“Married the day after graduation because she wasn’t nearly as careful as she should have been!”

“I’m curious, but what would you do?”

“Well, the Pill, so long as you take it religiously, is pretty foolproof, but I think at this point, I’d terminate.”

“I see what you did there,” I chuckled. “You aren’t opposed to abortion?”

“I think if the Pope doesn’t like abortion, he shouldn’t consider having one! Same with sex and same with birth control. That’s part of why I quit going to church when I came to Loyola. Well, not true — I went the first two weeks then slept-in because of a party, and haven’t been back.”

“Do the girls who go to church go to confession?”

“No clue, but I have to suspect they don’t. I mean, what do you tell the priest? ‘Bless me, Father, for I have sinned! I fucked a guy, sucked him, and swallowed his cum. I really, really liked it, so I am going to do it again! Oh, and I started taking the Pill, too!’ How do you think THAT would go over?”

“Like a lead balloon, I suspect.”

“You’d certainly be told not to go to Communion, which is the entire point of going to church.”

“Can I ask about that?”

“Sure.”

“Did you really believe you were eating Jesus’ body and drinking his blood?”

“Some people do, but I always thought it was a symbol, not the real thing. Paula said that’s more like what some Protestants believe, because Catholics are supposed to believe it’s the ‘real thing’, like Coke.”

I chuckled, “But there’s no coke in Coke, so it’s not the ‘real thing’! I remember from health class that soft drinks were sold as cure-alls before they became refreshments.”

“True. Take me to bed?”

“It would be my pleasure! What did you have in mind?”

“Slow and as long as you can go, as many times as possible, until you need to go to sleep or the phone rings! If you’re still here in the morning, fuck my brains out, as hard as you can, before we shower and you go to work. Sound good?”

“Sounds great!”

June 9, 1982, Chicago, Illinois

The phone hadn’t rung, and on Wednesday morning, Shelly and I completed Shelly’s request by fucking her hard and fast before we showered. We ate breakfast, and after we cleaned up, I gave her the spare key to the apartment.

“I’ll call you if Bev calls work,” I said. “If that happens, just lock up and take the key with you, because otherwise, you won’t be able to lock the deadbolt. I can get the key when I come back.”

“OK. I plan to go out and do some shopping for things I’ll need for the house.”

“Then I’ll leave a message on the machine. If you see the light blinking, just play the messages, but don’t erase them, OK? And just write a note that you did that.”

“Show me?”

I explained the machine and how to play the messages, including not rewinding the tape after she listened, which would keep the listened-to messages.

“Got it,” she said. “You should call on your way home and I’ll go out and get some food so you don’t have to bother cooking, and you could eat and run, if you had to.”

“Thanks. I really appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome! For Bev’s sake, I hope she calls. If not, round two tonight!”

“Sounds like a plan!”

“One thing is sure,” Shelly said happily, “it’s going to be a GREAT Summer!”

Of that I had no doubt. A Summer of sex with two sexy college girls sounded perfect, though I realized that I was already missing Huifen, and was really looking forward to her coming back to Chicago, even though that would mean significant changes to my behavior. But, when it came right down to it, I concluded that a trade of the craziness of my sex life the past year for Huifen was worth it, and what I wanted.

Of course, I also had to figure out what to do about Bev, and that might upend the entire apple cart, including the Summer of sex. If I made a commitment to her, that would of necessity mean no sex with anyone except her for the rest of my life. I didn’t have a problem with that concept, I just wasn’t sure I could make the necessary commitment at nineteen.

“I need to get going,” I said. “I’ll call you, either at the end of the day when I’m on my way home, or to let you know that Bev called.”

“OK,” Shelly agreed. “Have a good day at work!”

We hugged, kissed, and I left the apartment. I walked down the driveway to the street, unlocked the BMW, got in, and headed for the Hancock Building, hoping that I’d hear from Bev soon. The anticipation was driving me to distraction, and I couldn’t imagine how frustrated she had to be, and how uncomfortable.

“I expected you to call in,” Nick said when I walked into the mailroom.

“Me, too,” I replied. “But not yet. I’m really hoping it happens today or tomorrow, because I would really hate to miss my first day as supervisor.”

“I hear you, but you gotta look out for family, and she’s family, even if you guys aren’t together.”

“Thanks. I heard there’s a bash on Friday night for you, but I’m hoping I’ll be in Ohio by then.”

“Don’t sweat it! I think you have your priorities straight. Just keep them that way when you go to work for Matheson.”

“Let’s just say my personal ethics do not line up with those of the Suits.”

“The most difficult part of moving upstairs will be not letting them drag you into their world. The temptation is going to be strong, and you’ll be under a ton of pressure to become ‘one of the guys’. Just stay strong.”

“My opinion on cheating is the same as yours,” I said.

“Yeah,” Nick chuckled, “but you don’t have a Greek wife who would cut your balls off and serve them to you for breakfast!”

“I better get to work, or Mr. Nelson will have my balls in a sling!”

The morning went along as usual, though I did take some time, as I had the previous day, to sit with Nick and go over some of his tasks that I had never done, so that I at least had a clue when Monday arrived. Lunch came and went with no phone call, and at the end of the day, I called Shelly to let her know I was on my way home. Thirty minutes later, we sat down to burgers, fries, and Cokes, which she’d picked up.

“As soon as we finish eating, we should go to bed,” she said. “I have a feeling the phone will ring tonight.”

“I hope so,” I replied.

We ate, and cleanup involved simply throwing the bags in the trash, then taking it out to the garbage can so it didn’t smell up the apartment. When I returned, Shelly was lying naked in bed.

“Sixty-nine, and I want you to cum in my mouth, then fuck my brains out!”

I smiled and nodded, quickly removed my clothes, and got into bed. Shelly moved on top of me, turned so she could take me into her mouth, and lowered her pussy to my mouth. Of all the girls I’d been with, she tasted the best, though I couldn’t describe why, even if pressed. Tasting her made me rock hard, and we pleasured each other for twenty minutes, with Shelly having three orgasms before I had mine.

Shelly released me, but didn’t move, so I continued licking her, resulting in another orgasm before she took me in her mouth once again. She got me hard, and we shifted positions so we could fuck hard and fast, me trying to drive her through the mattress and she bucking hard as if to throw me off. We both had fantastic orgasms, though she had three to my one, and just after I pulled out, the phone rang.

“Perfect timing!” Shelly said through heavy breaths.

I got up quickly and answered the phone.

“Jonathan Kane,” I said into the phone.

“Jonathan, it’s Mrs. Newton. Bev started having contractions about thirty minutes ago. They’re far enough apart that there’s no rush, but you should probably drive down tonight.”

“Tell Bev I love her, and that I’ll leave right away. See you in just under six hours!”

“Drive safely, Jonathan.”

“I will.”

We said goodbye, and I hung up.

“I need a shower,” I said.

“What?” Shelly smirked. “You don’t want to smell like you were fucking and have your face covered with my pussy juice when you see your friend?”

“That might be a bad idea,” I chuckled.

“It’s early enough. I think I’ll go back to Bianca’s,” Shelly said. “I’ll take a quick shower after you, if that’s OK.”

“It’s OK, though I’ll leave as soon as I’m dressed. Just lock up and take the key with you. I’ll get it from you when I get back.”

“OK.”

“Actually, that might not be necessary,” I said. “I need to make three phone calls, which I’ll do after I shower.”

“Whatever you need,” Shelly said.

I took as quick a shower as I could, making sure I washed off all evidence of sex, then got out of the shower so Shelly could get in. I dried off, applied deodorant, and brushed my teeth, then dressed. As soon as I was dressed, I called Mr. Nelson to let him know I wouldn’t be in the office in the morning and that I planned to be back to work on Monday.

Once that was taken care of, I called Huifen in San Francisco to let her know, then called Violet to let her know. Shelly was dressed and had her things together by the time I completed the calls, so I grabbed my shaving kit and toothbrush, and we left the apartment. At the BMW, Shelly and I hugged and exchanged a quick kiss, then I got in, buckled up, started the engine, and began the drive to Goshen.

June 10, 1982, Clermont County, Ohio

“Hi, Jonathan!” Mrs. Newton exclaimed when she opened the door for me just under six hours after we’d spoken.

“Hi, Mrs. Newton. How’s Bev?”

“She just spoke to her OB, and we’ll leave for the hospital in a few minutes. It’s probably easiest if you drive your car to the hospital. I’m sure Bev will want to ride with you, but I think our car is more comfortable for her.”

“Then let me at least say ‘hello’, I said.

“Hi,” Bev said, coming out of the bathroom sounding VERY tired.

“OK to hug you?”

“Just be careful.”

I gave her a very light hug, and we exchanged a peck on the lips.

“We’re going to Clermont County in Batavia,” Mrs. Newton said to me.

“OK. I know where that is, but I’ll follow you.”

“Bev, honey, your dad is out in the car, and he put the towels on the seat for you in case your water breaks.”

“I’ll walk you to your dad’s car,” I said. “Garage?”

“Yes,” Mrs. Newton confirmed.

I helped Bev to the car, and once she was settled, I got into the BMW and moved it so they could pull past me and I could follow them to the hospital. Just over twenty minutes later, we arrived at the hospital. I parked, while Mr. Newton pulled up to the ER entrance. I locked the car and hurried to join Bev and her mom as they walked into the hospital. An orderly helped her into a wheelchair and Mrs. Newton and I followed him as he pushed her to the elevator, and we went up to Maternity.

The orderly and two nurses helped Bev sit on the bed, then the orderly left so Bev could change into a hospital gown. Once she’d done that, one of the nurses checked her vital signs, which were good, and a doctor came to examine Bev.

“Mom, would you go into the hall and occupy Dad, please?” Bev said.

“I think your father will be VERY happy to not be in the room!” Mrs. Newton declared.

“I’m Doctor Casey, a Resident,” the doctor said to me. “Are you the father?”

“No,” I replied. “Best friend.”

“He’s going to be with me when I deliver,” Bev said. “My water broke in the car on the way here.”