Chapter 13

Gray clouds blew over Summer Lake on a muggy morning in late July. The wind blasted over the stone lodge and across the parking lot making the American flag whip loudly against the pole over the landscaped circle where the group had agreed to meet.

“What a gloomy day!” Esmie said, wearing cutoff jeans and a flannel shirt tied together like a tube top, exposing her tummy. Despite the wind, it was a warm day. She was so beautiful, Eric thought for the first time of the day and knew it wouldn’t be the last.

Eric shrugged. “Just our luck this is the day we picked to go the quarry. Do you think it’s gonna rain, Queen?” No one else was there yet so he could use her pet name.

“Hopefully not,” Esmie said. “I saw a weather report on the TV as I was getting dressed. Line of storms coming through, but it might miss us. It should be gone by the afternoon.”

“My little weathergirl,” Eric said, kissing her on the cheek. “Everybody traded shifts stuff so we could all go today. It would be a bummer to cancel now.”

“You just want to see me naked at the quarry,” Esmie said with a wry smile.

“I don’t have to take you to the quarry to see you naked anymore, Queen,” Eric said coyly, holding her from behind.

She scoffed. “My my, you’re getting entirely too sassy for my taste,” she said playfully, “I might have to spank you tonight.”

“I’m sorry Queen,” Eric said. He normally had to be so tough in life. Back home with everyone picking on him and Abby, they’d had to fight every day, or at least give off the impression that they would fight. Summer Lake sometimes wasn’t that much different. Even the guys on the landscaping crew, while they weren’t bullies, they were typical working dudes and you couldn’t appear weak or emotional in front of those sorts.

It was so nice to not be tough for a brief moment, to let a woman decide everything and make him bow down to her. He’d done this to some extent for his sister going back to their childhood as he helped her through awkward social situations and then was his soft, sensitive self around her when they were in private. But he couldn’t worship her like this, she was his sister. He could only do this with Esmie, and they both loved it so much.

“I’m here to serve my Queen,” Eric said, playing it up for her since they were still alone.

“Mmm, that’s right,” Esmie said, leaning back into him as he held her. “You’re my slave and will do anything I say, yes?”

“Of course, Queen,” Eric said, squeezing her softly in excitement, his hands on her wonderful bare tummy.

“Even if I say to run away with me after the summer?”

“Yes,” he said. He felt excited and scared. They’d had sex three times without a condom. Even though he pulled out, he knew they were risking it, but she wanted it that way. She even said she’d thrown the rubbers away, although he suspected she’d just hidden them. It did feel wonderful to enter her without any barrier, to feel her body from the inside like that, so warm and loving. Still, he knew any reasonable person like Nick or Abby would be aghast if they knew what he and his girlfriend were up to.

It didn’t matter, though. Esmie wanted to run away with him and that was enough for Eric. The thought of running off with her was scary, but then, hadn’t man and woman been doing that sort of thing since the dawn of time? It seemed like the natural thing to do in this situation. They could work hard and have a life of their own. He wasn’t the college sort anyway, he’d probably be working construction or something similar for a living even if he went back home and finished high school. At age 16, realistically, only a fool would bank on making it in pro football. There were probably a hundred guys like him for every one who made it.

As for his family obligations, he was a burden on his grandfather, especially as their mom would be moving in too when she got out of rehab. Abby had gotten so much more independent this summer, and she was a lesbian now and he had no idea how to help her with that, if she even still needed his help. He could focus on himself and Esmie for a while. They wouldn’t abandon their families, they’d send back money and after a while their relatives would accept that this is just how it was.

The more he thought about it, the more it seemed like this is just what a man and a woman did when they were in this situation. He’d heard plenty of references to it growing up and now it was time for him to step up and do it himself.

“It might even be for the better, Queen,” he said. “If I go back to Milwaukee and you go back to Alabama, you’ll meet somebody else. I can’t ask you to wait until next summer, even if Abby and I do come back here next year.”

Esmie sighed. “I wouldn’t two-time you.”

“I know, but it’s just a long time to ask you to wait,” he said, “And if we broke up, I’d never find a woman like you again, Queen.”

She melted back into his chest. She didn’t say anything, but he could tell she was serious about running away. It made him feel so good to have a woman who was into him like that.

“Is it going to rain?” Lacey said from behind as she approached with Nick. Eric’s roommate looked positively cheerful lately, a stark contrast to his serious and gloomy presence at the start of the summer. He was wearing shorts and a pastel blue shirt, which looked absolutely ridiculous on him, and his Nikon camera on a strap around his neck.

“Maybe, but we’ll be in our bathing suits or naked so who cares?” Nick said playfully. Eric still couldn’t believe that there was a nude beach up here in the quaint and conservative midwest, but it was a very off-the-map quarry and they’d never seen anyone there so far.

“Gee, what if we get struck by lightning?” Lacey asked.

“Eric and Abby are so tall, they’ll act as lightning rods and absorb it for us,” Nick said, “We have nothing to worry about.”

Eric let go of Esmie and acted as if he was being zapped, twitching his arms rapidly and saying “Bzzzzzzt”. Everyone laughed at his antics.

Eric was actually proud of Nick, who now miraculously had a girlfriend but acted like it was no big deal. Nick was staying true to Lacey, and not disrespecting her, but he wasn’t all sappy and obsessed with her like he had been with Abby not even a month prior. Lacey just seemed like a breezy summer girlfriend to Eric’s once-somber roommate.

“Hey guys and girls,” Abby said, appearing now in a brown summer dress. She almost never wore dresses and used to complain mightily when she had to wear one for some occasion back home. Eric knew this was his sister’s only dress, and she looked odd in it, but she seemed halfway comfortable wearing it now. She was changing this summer. “Nicole will meet us on the trail.”

They shrugged and walked across the big parking lot to the trailhead. “That girl’s afraid to be seen in public with us?” Esmie asked casually as they walked.

“Well, yeah,” Abby said, “Laura found out she’s been hanging out with us and said she can’t anymore.”

“Ooh we’re such a bad crowd,” Nick said sarcastically, “We don’t even drink.”

“Yeah but we’re uncool, that’s much worse to Laura Ballard than if we did drugs or got in trouble with Summer Lake management,” Lacey said.

“Oh I see,” Nick said.

“Maybe Nicole won’t show up,” Eric said as they walked. Esmie didn’t do the helpless act today and walked on her own. He thought maybe their relationship had reached a point where she wanted to show him she was strong, not act weak for his attention.

“Eric,” Abby said, walking with them in front as Nick and Lacey hung back, “She will come. She said she would and she keeps her word.”

“Should I go?” Esmie asked.

“No, there are no secrets in the group,” Abby said, “Besides, I think maybe I should talk to both of you about Nicole.”

Eric looked to Esmie awkwardly.

“I want her to be a member of the group,” Abby said, “And she’s my girlfriend. I want you guys to like her. I feel like um, that’s not happening.”

Eric looked to Esmie, but Abby said, “She can’t answer for you. I’m your sister, Eric! Your best friend. Are you mad at me because I’m dating Nicole?”

“What, no!” Eric said impulsively, “You know I’d follow you into the gates of hell, Abby.”

Esmie didn’t look offended. Eric knew she felt just about the same way about Nick and respected the strong sibling relationship.

“Well, half the point of this is that I don’t think being with Nicole is taking me to hell...” she said, “But I do appreciate the loyalty. I’d do anything for you too, that’s what our relationship has always been about. But I’m going to be a lesbian my whole life, even if this is just a summer romance like with you guys.”

Eric winced and hoped Abby didn’t notice the look on his face saying that he and Esmie were no longer a summer romance.

“At any rate, I’m only attracted to women and that’s not going to ever change,” his sister concluded.

“It’s just not something I even thought about, Abby,” Eric said awkwardly. “I accept it, but can we just not talk about it?”

“Well sorry, but you’ve got to talk about it now,” she said, “Look, I need my brother. Sorry, Esmie but you’ve gotta share him.”

Esmie blushed. “With only you I don’t mind, Abby.”

“So Eric, are you still there for me?”

Eric stopped walking. “Yes, of course, Abby. When you put it that way, you know I’ll always be there for you.”

“Sorry to be all dramatic.”

“No, I understand,” Eric said, then said to Esmie, “My sister and I been through a lot. I love you but I love Abby too, as a sister of course.”

“Awkward!” Esmie said in her impish way, “But of course I understand. Even though my brother is just a nerd and not nearly as awesome as Abby, I’m still loyal to him too, as much as to you.”

“Well good,” Abby said, “Then we’re all friends?”

They nodded.

“The group is powerful,” she said. Her old mantra, but Eric liked it now. If this was who Abby was and she couldn’t change it, then he’d just have to go on supporting her, the same as he ever had. It wouldn’t be easy, but what in their lives ever was?

“The group is powerful,” Eric repeated.

Nicole ran the trail through the woods in her sneakers, black running shorts and a red top. The trail was rough and haphazard in places, as it was not formally maintained by Summer Lake and it was simply the result of decades of foot traffic by staffers hiking to the quarry. Nevertheless, she enjoyed the run since she was going to see her friends.

She’d had to wait until Laura left the cabin for the day, and of course her cousin had taken her sweet time. Laura had to drive to the airport to pick up a big shot celebrity, by Summer Lake standards, some 1950s crooner, a second-rate Sinatra, who was playing that weekend. She couldn’t have been happier that her cousin drew such a silly and time-consuming assignment, as it gave Nicole the chance to spend the day with her friends and girlfriend at the quarry. She had been careful to trade lifeguarding shifts with girls outside of the clique so that Gina and Crystal, the spies, didn’t find out she had the day off.

It was pathetic to have to go to this kind of subterfuge just to hang out with her friends. Sure, even if she didn’t agree with it, she could see why a reasonable family wouldn’t want her to have a girlfriend. But her family didn’t even want her to hang out with Abby’s group socially. They were bad influences, undesirables, outcasts. Everything had to be picture perfect in her family, emphasis on the picture part. Appearances were everything. It was better for her to hang out with pretty, popular, and horrible girls like Gina and Crystal than people she actually liked but were in the wrong crowd.

Abby’s friends were so squeaky clean, too. They all got good grades back home, Abby was at least as likely to make the Olympic swimming team as she was herself, Nick was brilliant, Esmie and Eric were good people. The group didn’t even drink alcohol, at least not compared to every other teenager at Summer Lake (Nicole found that hilarious at first). None of that seemed to matter to her family – being weird teenagers from poor, trashy families seemed to be an unpardonable offense.

But she wasn’t going to put up with this for long. She’d be 18 in barely a week. They wouldn’t have any legal power over her anymore, she didn’t have to worry about the worst of the things she’d known they could do to her ever since she got caught with a girl in her dorm room bed. She tried not to think about the other ways they could control her – guilt trips, intimidation, and their favorite of all, dangling that family fortune and trust fund over her head.

She came into the clearing and nearly ran into Eric’s wide backside.

“Oh, sorry I’m late!” she said breathlessly after running two miles of difficult terrain.

“We just got here, baby,” Abby said, walking over and kissing her so shamelessly. Abby was wearing a brown summer dress, very unusual for her girlfriend.

“Hey,” Nicole said warmly, loving the kiss, even if it was also awkward still to do it in front of others.

“Did you get away okay?”

“Yeah,” Nicole said, “Covered my tracks well.”

“Sorry we’re such losers that you have to sneak around to see us,” Esmie said. Perhaps she wasn’t trying to mean, but Nicole could have done without that comment. Then again, the girl didn’t know what Nicole was up risking by hanging out with them.

Nick set up his camera on a big rock and took and used the timer to take a group picture with the quarry as a backdrop. Then each couple posed for a portrait. Nicole thought of objecting, creating photographic evidence of this day seemed like an obvious no-no, but she didn’t want to keep seeming embarrassed to be with the group. She also found herself wanting to have pictures of herself and Abby – they hadn’t taken any yet since Abby didn’t have a camera and Nicole shared hers with the demoness.

“Hey Nick can I have a copy of the pictures?” she asked.

“Sure,” he said, “There’s an old darkroom in the front office I use on Sundays when no one’s around to meddle. The pictures I take of my friends are private.”

Nicole breathed a sigh of relief.

“Taking pictures and developing them himself. Nick, is there any nerdy skill you haven’t mastered?” Eric teased, and Nick gave him the middle finger.

“Well let’s go change,” Abby said, “Or undress, more like, huh?”

“You guys actually get naked here?” Nicole said, “You uh, know that’s mostly a joke, right? The nude beach thing?”

Everyone looked at each other awkwardly.

“Ummm when I came here with the awful people I used to pretend were my friends, the girls mostly wear bathing suits,” Nicole said, “A few of the boys swim naked, and sometimes they talk a girl into it. But it’s not really a nude beach ... this is the midwest after all.”

Everyone looked at each other for a moment, then burst out laughing.

“Why did you guys tell me it’s a nude beach? You made it sound like it was very real!” Abby said through her laughter.

“I just heard the rumors,” Nick said.

“Oh my god, the guys who brought me last summer acted like it was a nude beach,” Lacey said. Everyone laughed more, but it didn’t seem like they were being mean to the girl. “Welp, guess that wasn’t the first time I got exploited. I’m such an idiot.”

Everyone stopped laughing and Nick took her hand. “That’s all in the past Lacey,” he said, “No one here is exploiting you, or ever will.”

Nicole nodded. In the past, she would have made some joke about Lacey being a dumb slut. That impulse disgusted her now. Why would she side with the creeps who’d exploited a girl like that? And yet it had been the obvious move for the old, popular Nicole.

“Well I didn’t even bring a bathing suit,” Abby said. “C’mon let’s go have girl talk and decide what to do.”

Nicole shrugged and followed the girls to a crude clearing in the woods with trampled-down grass.

“Are you serious Nicole? We were parading around naked for the boys for no good reason?” Abby asked her.

“Fraid so,” Nicole said. “If you had fun though, where’s the harm?”

“Yeah!” Abby said, “Well, the naked part felt good, I didn’t care about the boys seeing me.”

“I liked Eric seeing me,” Esmie said, “That was the first time he saw me naked.”

“Well,” Lacey said, undressing casually, “I kinda like being naked in nature. As long as nobody’s going to call me a slut.”

She looked to Nicole, but it seemed more out of insecurity than anything else. “I’m truly sorry I used to be like that,” she said quickly to the pretty blond girl, who was nude now, looking so free and happy, “I was playing up the rich bitch girl, to hide who I really am. It’s no excuse, I was a horrible person.”

“Well I forgive you,” Lacey said, “You seem sincere.”

Nicole smiled. Abby peeled off her dress almost as casually as Lacey. Nicole felt aroused to see her hard-bodied girlfriend naked, even though it was hardly the first time.

“Is this okay baby?” Abby asked.

“Your body’s a lot more than okay,” Nicole said, staring at Abby’s tight abs and pubic hair below.

“Perv,” she said teasingly, “I mean is it okay if I do the nude beach thing?”

“Yeah, of course,” Nicole said, “I’m not though, just not my style. My body is for your eyes only.” She took off her running outfit, revealing a pink bikini underneath it for the beach.

Esmie decided to stay in her bikini too and they all went back out to the beach area, such as it was. The weeds in the sand were growing thick now in mid-summer. The quarry was pretty dinky, Nicole thought, but it was nice to be here with her friends. And girlfriend. Abby looked so hot naked all casually. Nicole thought she was horny like a boy, just staring at Abby’s body and wanting to have sex with her. Girls weren’t supposed to have thoughts like that, but they weren’t supposed to be lesbians in the first place, so it was hard to care about sexual restraint at this point.

They laid out towels and got as comfortable as they could. Lacey made Nick take off his bathing suit and join her in nudity. Nicole looked over at Abby’s brother. Eric had to weigh 250 pounds and he looked rather intimidating. She wasn’t the least bit attracted to him, she had never felt the slightest inclination for boys, but she did appreciate his strength. Perhaps that was why the girls had been so comfortable going nude here, if any other boys did happen along, they wouldn’t bother the girls with Eric there.

“So can you stay long, baby?” Abby asked her.

“Yeah, Laura had to go to the airport to pick up the singer,” she said, “She should be gone until dinner time.”

“Oh I’ve gotta work that concert this weekend, yuck,” Nick said.

“You can only hang out with us when your cousin’s away?” Esmie said.

Nicole rolled over and showed her bruised back and sides to the girl. They were purple and blue by now. “My cousin did that to me when she found out I was hanging out with you guys.”

Everyone was quiet for a while, then Esmie said, “Really? I didn’t know ... I’m sorry.”

“Can’t you report her?” Eric asked.

“To who?” Nicole asked, “Her Dad runs Summer Lake. It’s the biggest tourism draw in the county by far, and the biggest employer since the iron mine closed ... Uncle Mitch is buddies with the sheriff. And if they knew Laura beat on me for being a dyke, they would probably think it was justified.”

Everyone was silent.

“Sorry,” Nicole said.

“No,” Nick said, “We needed to know you’re an outcast like all of us. Even more so. We need to accept Nicole, guys. She’s one of us.”

Nicole didn’t know why Nick was so nice, with how awful she’d been to him. He even had a girlfriend now and was smart enough to know that her lesbianism wasn’t subject to change, so it’s not like he was trying to get in with her. She was touched by his words and tried not to cry.

“I’m sorry, Nicole,” Esmie said finally. “I’ve just never known a lesbian.”

“Well now you know two now,” Nicole said. The small girl came over, leaned down and hugged Nicole where she sat, much to Nicole’s surprise.

“Abby has this corny saying: The group is powerful,” Esmie said.

“It’s not corny!” Abby interjected, and there were giggles.

“Anyway it does make me feel good,” Esmie said, “And I want to live up to it. The whole idea is that we have each other in the group, and we’ll stand by each other to the end. It’s a powerful thing to be with people like that. If Nicole’s your girlfriend then she’s in the group and we stand by her.”

“The group is powerful,” Nicole said. The expression seemed exactly like Abby with that mix of strength and optimism. She liked it a lot.

Everyone lounged on towels with their lovers, spacing out a good distance between each couple. If they raised their voice they could all hear each other, but speaking in a normal tone each could just talk to their partner.

“I talked to my brother,” Abby said, “And his girlfriend. I think I made some progress.”

“That’s good,” Nicole said, knowing it was important to Abby for her brother to accept her. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell him you were gay back home though, as close as you guys are.”

Abby shrugged. “I didn’t know for sure until uh, you know, I kissed you.”

Nicole smiled. “I knew I was gay since I was a little girl. I used to write love letters to my babysitters.”

Abby laughed. “Seriously? Damn,” she said.

“Well it was just puppy love back then,” Nicole said.

“Anyway ... he’ll support me no matter what, but I want him to accept that I’m a lesbian and it’s just how I am,” Abby said.

“Baby steps,” Nicole said with a smile. “You’re way ahead of me though. I still have to swear on a bible that I’m straight whenever my mom calls.”

“Cause you got caught before?”

“Yeah, and now cause Laura knows I’m hanging out with you, and sorry girl but you aren’t exactly the poster girl for heterosexuality.”

Abby smirked. “Just wait till I cut my hair short.”

“I want to too,” Nicole said, stroking her long blond hair, “Abby there’s so much I want to do. As soon as I turn 18, I’ll at start least hanging out with you guys openly.”

“Baby steps,” Abby repeated back with a smile. Nicole thought the girl was frustrated with the slowness of it all, despite her words. It couldn’t be easy for Abby to have a girlfriend who was afraid to be seen with her in public, let alone tell anyone she was your girlfriend.

“Anyway wanna swim?” Nicole asked to get things going, and Abby got up with her. They swam back and forth through the quarry’s deep blue waters, which were warm by then in mid-summer.

“Geeze nobody but us got in,” Abby said as they reached the far wall of the quarry.

“We’re the only ones with a sense of adventure,” Nicole said, doing the backstroke lazily next to her girlfriend through the quiet quarry waters. The sky was framed nicely overhead by the quarry walls and trees atop them.

Abby laughed. “Nick jumped in last time, from the top.”

“Did he drown?” Nicole quipped.

“Uh, almost,” Abby said.

“No shit?”