Chapter 27

THE CELEBRATION at PJ’s was a little less boisterous and a bit shorter than when the Angelines had won the basketball tournament. Far fewer people had attended meets during the season and only the most devoted boosters and parents had been at the State Finals Meet. The girls still displayed their medals and ribbons, ate pizza, and generally horsed around for an hour, then headed for home.

“Um ... Did you know Judith is planning to be with me tonight?” Dennis asked Natalie as they walked home together.

“Yeah,” she said, sounding disappointed.

“We don’t have to...” Dennis started.

“Dennis, do you love her?”

“Um ... Yeah. I mean, I really love all my girlfriends. You’re still Number One and you’d be my only if you wanted,” he said.

“I know. That’s what makes it okay. But what also makes it okay is that Brenda, Diane, Amy, and I are entertaining Tori tonight. She’s declared herself as Number Eleven and we want to know exactly how serious she is.”

“Um ... By the double handful of breasts and the kiss she gave me in the locker room, I think she’s pretty serious.”

“Yeah. And you weren’t even in the shower with her. I think she’s very damn willing. But ... Do you understand the difference between a girl being willing and a girl being serious? Tori’s willing to take Judith’s place tonight and ‘fuck you empty,’ as she said. I think she’s willing to spread her legs for the entire team to go down on her and is ready to get her face wet in any of our pussies. And we’ll let her. She really is a walking wet dream for either boys or girls. But what we don’t know is how serious she is about really being one of us. None of us are making lifelong commitments, no matter how much we talk about it or how many times we make love, but we’re all really committed to each other right now. That’s why I’m okay with Judith being your next lover. We love each other. She isn’t just willing, she’s serious.”

“I think I get it. It’s like...” he cut off and Natalie saw him shiver. She let go of his hand and put her arm around him.

“Yes, it is. It’s like you going up against Les because you thought he might hurt one or all of us. You’re serious. You’re committed. And we’d do the same for you,” Natalie said. Dennis put his arm around her waist. They walked on in silence for another block and instead of Natalie turning down second to go to her house she continued with him toward his house.

“Um ... Are you going to join us tonight?” he asked.

“No. I told you we have Tori tonight. But it’s only four o’clock. Judith won’t arrive until at least story time for Peg. I’ll help get supper ready, but that doesn’t really take long. Whatever can two horny teens do for the next four hours?” she asked. He snorted and hugged her to him.

Of course, they didn’t make love for four hours. They played with Peg, including shooting baskets. Natalie made up a kettle of chili and a pan of cornbread. But while it simmered, she took Dennis’s hand and led him to his new bedroom. She closed and locked the door behind them and started pulling off their clothes. The lovemaking was quick, but intense and loving. Natalie only let him come once because he’d ‘need the rest of that for Judith.’

“Um ... Nat? Would you ... Could I ... I mean...”

“What do you want, love?”

“Can I just look at you for a minute?”

“Um ... Of course. What’s going on?”

“I’m going to have surgery Monday. You know there’s still a non-zero chance that it won’t work. I just ... I want to know that if it happens ... if I can’t see afterward ... at least I will remember having seen the most beautiful person in the world.”

“Oh, Dennis,” Natalie cried. “I love you so much. Positive thoughts. We’ve gotta keep positive thoughts. I want you to look at me when you can see me clearly without your glasses.”

After dinner, she left to head home and crossed paths with Judith arriving. They kissed deeply and Nat ran out to get in Diane’s waiting car.

“I can’t believe my baby sister is going to go have sex with our boyfriend,” Diane said. “Mom wanted to know if I was okay or if I was pulling away.”

“You aren’t pulling away, are you, lover?”

“No. I told her that Judith matured in that way before I did. I’m warming to the idea of penile penetration, but right now, I’m satisfied with oral. Kind of fixated on it, in fact. Is it weird that I’m not as anxious to go all the way as my sister is?”

“I don’t think so. You know, Judith is about the same age as Lana and I’m betting Lana won’t be ready until after we’ve graduated,” Natalie said. “I grant you that Lana has good reasons for not wanting people to touch her, but I think Amy has been holding back, too. And I’m sure Leanne won’t want to go that far for a while, even if she thought she could get away with it.”

“And you know what?” Diane asked. “Of those three—and add in Rosie and Amy and me—I’d just about bet Lana will be the first. It’s not because she’s necessarily more mature, but she’s totally and completely head-over-heels in love with Dennis. With him working on her dad’s farm, they could get together yet this summer. Is this the turn to Tori’s? I still get confused,” she said pointing at the upcoming road.

“Yeah. Left and it’s half a mile on the right.”

They pulled into Tori’s drive and waited for their newest girlfriend to step outside and settle the dogs before they got out of the car.

“I know you say they’re friendly, but they still worry me when it’s just me and them,” Natalie laughed. She bent to pet one of the dogs and got her face thoroughly licked. “Ooh, that’s sloppy.”

“Griff is just happy to see you,” Tori laughed. “You have to come in and meet my parents. They just want to make sure we are indeed going to your house and that there won’t be drugs or alcohol. That last party out at Debbie’s got all our parents to give us kids ‘the talk’ about drugs and alcohol. Notice there hasn’t been a party at Debbie’s since then? I think my parents kind of yelled at Debbie’s dad and stepmom for allowing the keg.”

They went into the house and met Mr. and Mrs. McDonald. The family had been farming this land for many years and were well-known among all the neighbors. Mr. McDonald had once served on the county council. When the kids were in kindergarten and learned ‘Old McDonald Had a Farm,’ most thought they were singing about Tori’s dad.

Natalie gave them the rundown of who would be at the party and where they’d be for the night.

“No boyfriend at this party?” her father asked. Tori rolled her eyes.

“No. This one is just for girlfriends,” Natalie grinned. “I’m sure sometime over the summer we’ll have the boyfriend with us, but that doesn’t mean there will be any serious screwing around going on.”

“Hmm. The playful screwing around is just as dangerous,” Mrs. McDonald said. The McDonalds were savvy and realistic about what kids got up to. And they were often rather blunt. Mrs. McDonald handed a familiar-looking box to Tori. Her eyes popped wide open as Natalie and Diane both started laughing.

“Mom?”

“I understand a box of condoms is the price of admission. I think you’ve been careless about that in the past. Leave this one with your boyfriend and you’ll find another in your room. Don’t be careless.”

“Yes, Mom,” Tori squeaked. She shoved the box of condoms in her overnight bag and headed for the car, holding Natalie’s hand as they followed Diane.

“So, Tori got the same treatment we all did,” Natalie laughed when they got to her house and met up with Brenda and Amy.

“What?” Tori asked.

“Before our first big sleepover with Dennis, our parents made a big deal about embarrassing us by giving each of us a box of condoms. For weeks, there were ten boxes of condoms on his living room coffee table. Whenever one or more of us slept over, his mother made sure to toss a box at us to take to his room,” Diane said. “There was no question about when Natalie and Dennis started doing it, though. They used like a whole box the first weekend.”

“You’ve got to be kidding!” Tori said, looking at Natalie as if she were Wonder Woman.

“We used exactly seven,” Natalie said. “It took us two weeks to go through the other five. Our parents just didn’t understand how much we wanted to sleep together every night.”

“Oh, I think they understood,” Brenda laughed. “And just for the record, Amy’s and my parents didn’t care enough to give us condoms. We had to go buy our own.”

“My parents still believe that no boy would be interested in me. They started on that when I told them I thought my brother was going to rape me. ‘Don’t be silly,’ they said. ‘No boy would be interested in this little girl body. At least wait until you have breasts to make accusations.’ I hate them as much as I hated my brother,” Amy said.

“Oh, geez, Amy. I can’t even imagine all you went through,” Tori said, giving Amy a hug. Amy immediately kissed Tori and it went on for a while. “Um ... just for the record, I’d be interested.” She gave Amy another quick kiss before blushing pink.

“Aren’t you interested in everyone?” Brenda asked.

“I’ve kind of got that reputation, don’t I?” Tori sighed. “But you can ask every boy and girl in our school if they’ve ever had sex with me and if they’re honest, they’d answer ‘no.’ I’m not saying I don’t have any experience because I do and you’d find out about it pretty quickly. I’ve just never been interested in anyone at school until this spring. I didn’t start out interested then. You all just grew on me.”

“We don’t seem to have spoiled your figure,” Diane said. “I mean, by growing on you.” They laughed.

“Why does everyone talk about you like that?” Amy asked.

“Debbie and I are a lot alike. Only she’s still a virgin. I got hit on a lot in junior high. So did Debbie. We took slightly different directions but they were essentially the same. We started talking about all the experience we had and how none of the boys who approached us could add up to what we were getting elsewhere. Then we’d tease them about when they were going to try and get lucky. The thing is, nobody would touch us. We even dropped hints about having had to take antibiotics for personal reasons. Debbie stumbled on that because she got a UT infection when she started using tampons,” Tori said.

The girls all grabbed soft drinks and settled down in the family room to continue gossiping. Tori wanted to know about the sleepovers and who had gone all the way. She was really surprised to find that Judith was only the fifth of the group to spend the night alone with Dennis. It made sense that Leanne and Rosie were still virgins, but she was surprised to find Amy and Diane were as well.