Chapter 86: Summer Vacation, Part II

July 15, 2002, Stockholm, Sweden

🎤 Jesse

Birgit, Kjell, and I rode the «Tunnelbana» to the «Danderyds sjukhus» stop, where we changed to a light rail train which we rode to «Djursholms Sveavägen», and from there, walked to the house on «Sveastigen». The entire trip took less than an hour, and I thought about the near impossibility of making a trip like this back home with the CTA, Metra, and PACE, which had nothing remotely like the system of public transportation in Stockholm and its suburbs.

The house was large, not far from a golf course, and had an in-ground swimming pool, something rare in Sweden, though the family dad had stayed with had one. Fortunately, Birgit and I had both packed suits because we planned to swim during our camping trip. I’d simply brought trunks, but Birgit had brought her most revealing bikini and I was sure Kjell was going to have his hands full keeping the other Swedish guys away from her.

He led us to the backyard where it looked like a Viking convention! All but three of the twenty guests were blonde of one shade or another. I remembered Dad and Sofia teasing about him being attracted to her because she was the one who stood out because she wasn’t blonde. Blondes like CeCe were a minority back home, but here there was an abundance, even compared to Stockholm.

“«Hej», Jesse!” Anna called out when she saw us.

She waved us over and introduced us to Maja, who was one of the girls who wasn’t blonde, but she had red hair, and redheads always stood out all over the world. Maja and Anna introduced Birgit and me to the others who hadn’t come into the city over the weekend, and then we grabbed drinks from a cooler.

“There’s beer, if you want it,” Maja offered. “And some of the guys have Vodka, but you’ll have to pay for that because «sprit» is crazy expensive here.”

“Get rid of the government monopoly and allow price competition! Oh, wait, that hasn’t worked for us, either, because taxes on alcohol are outrageous!”

“Anyone can sell «sprit» in the US?” she asked.

“You need a license, but yes. In Chicago, where I live, there are dozens of privately owned liquor stores or other stores that also sell liquor within ten kilometers of my house. I’ll stick to soft drinks. It’s a bad idea to drink and swim.”

“Did you bring a bathing suit?”

“No, I planned to go commando,” I said with a grin.

“‘Go commando’?”

“It usually means no underwear, but I meant no trunks. You know, skinny dipping.”

“You’ve done that?” Maja asked.

“No, because just about anywhere we could go in the US, we’d get arrested for it! But we do use the sauna Swedish style.”

“You’d swim naked?”

“Sure! And I guarantee you my sister would!”

“What year in school are you?”

“Eleventh for me, ninth for my sister. That’s High School, like your ‘gymnasium’, but it’s four years for everyone. You?”

“Ninth,” Maja replied, “like most everyone here. Only Per and Anna are in first year of «gymnasiet». I’m going for «naturvetenskap», which I think is ‘natural science’ in English. I want to go to medical school.”

“You should speak with my Aunt Jessica; she’s a trauma surgeon.”

“I want to be a surgeon!”

“Then talk to Kjell about a time to visit. I’m sure she’ll talk to you.”

“Thank you! Anyway, there’s pizza inside. We’ll swim after everyone eats.”

🎤 Ashley

“Do you like living here?” I asked Bobby when we walked to the park after dinner.

“It’s different from back home, and I like it, but I want to go home.”

“Did you make friends here?”

“Lots. School was fun, but it was hard at first because I was learning Swedish.”

“Dad is going to teach me before I come here to be an exchange student. What’s the most fun thing you’ve done?”

“Last month, dad took me to Kiruna, and we were outside at 3:00am and the sun was shining! It never went down!”

“That’s cool. What else?”

“I learned how to sail a boat. I wish we could go on the camping trip, but everyone has to be fourteen.”

“You know what they’re going to do!” I giggled.

“Nobody cares here! Look at that poster for RFSU across the street.”

“A dancing rubber!” I giggled. “What’s RFSU?”

“«Riksförbundet för sexuell upplysning», which means Swedish Association for Sex Education.”

“If they tried to put that on a billboard in Chicago, half the city would have a stroke!”

“We had sex ed in school already,” Bobby said.

“We don’t get that until eighth grade back home. But we already know more than our teachers!”

“Do you have a boyfriend?”

“No. Boys are too much trouble!”

“Me?”

“No. Just some dumb ones in my class. They’re too chicken to say they like girls, so they tease them and are rude instead!”

“What happened with my brother and Stephie?”

“She was being a bitch, and he decided it wasn’t worth it.”

“Whoa! You say that about your sister?”

“It’s true. She’s chilled a bit, but that’s why she didn’t come on this trip. She went to Ohio to see our grandma and grandpa, and hang out with Aunt Joyce and her kids and Deborah and Krissy and their kids.”

“Do you want to get some «godis»?”

“What’s that?”

“Candy. You go to the store and fill a bag with different kinds from containers and pay by the gram.”

“Sure!”

🎤 Jesse

“«Dansa med mig?»” a cute, compact blonde girl named Freja asked. (“Dance with me?”)

I could figure out she wanted to dance, but I wondered why she didn’t speak English with me, because everyone at the party knew I was from the US.

“«Ja»,” I replied, using 10% of the Swedish words I knew that weren’t used in English like smorgasbord, though we spelled it and pronounced is slightly differently.

The song was fairly slow, and I vaguely recognized it from one of my dad’s Swedish pop CDs. I didn’t know the name of the song or the words, but I knew the group was Gyllene Tider. Freja melted into my arms, and we swayed to the music. When the song finished, she moved back near one of the other girls and I went to stand by Nicholas, but almost immediately Maja asked me to dance.

The next song was one I knew really well —Fernando by ABBA. I took Maja in my arms and she rested her head on my chest. About halfway through the song, she lifted her head.

“Freja likes you,” she said. “But she’s really shy.”

“She asked me to dance,” I replied.

“Yes, because you didn’t ask her. She got up her nerve to ask.”

“I didn’t ask because she and her friend were basically standing in a corner away from everyone!”

“I wasn’t saying you did something wrong,” Maja replied. “You should ask her to dance again.”

“She’s barely said a word to me,” I protested.

“You didn’t notice she was always by you outside, listening to you talk to everyone and following you like a, uhm «hundvalp»?”

“Puppy dog?” I guessed from the context and the fact that the start of the word sounded something like ‘hound’.

“Yes! Puppy dog! I couldn’t remember the English word!”

“Why did she ask me to dance in Swedish?”

“Nerves, I think. She’s quiet and doesn’t talk much. But she’s had the same English classes all of us have had.”

“OK.”

“You’re staying the night, right?” Maja asked.

“Kjell said that was normal for parties.”

“Yes, because otherwise we have to end early for everyone to take the train and «Tunnelbana» before they stop running. There are buses overnight, but they take forever and only go once per hour. Some people live close, so they’ll go home when we end around 2:00am. You can sleep in my bed, if you want.”

Maja ground against me to make it clear that the invitation wasn’t just for ‘sleeping’.

“I, uhm, don’t have any rubbers.”

“I started «p-piller» in January. You know, the pills to stop babies?”

“Birth control pills or ‘the Pill’ in English.”

“It’s short for «preventivpiller», which means just like it sounds.”

“That’s good, but there’s a condition.”

“Condition?” Maja asked. “You mean illness or a problem with your body?”

“No, it means something required. One of my dad’s rules is that anyone we’re with has to have an STI test. You know, for diseases.”

“In Swedish, «könssjukdomar». The American doctor who lives here wrote a book that explained that. We all read it. All of us are on «p-piller» and all of us have had tests recently. And we are all clean, of course.”

I almost laughed because I was in ‘dad’ territory and Loki was being kind, unlike with Birgit, who had been totally frustrated. She didn’t know I knew, but it was pretty obvious from what I’d seen with her and Peter.

“Your parents?”

“It’s none of their business and they won’t be upset,” Maja said firmly.

“I know this might sound strange, but I don’t want to upset Freja.”

“She lives down the street, so she’ll go home when the party ends. Dance with her, have fun, and sleep in my bed with me if you want.”

The other thing I didn’t want to do was upset Anna, because I’d spent time with her the past two days, and it was obvious she liked me. She’d be on the camping trip, so I didn’t want to do anything that would create tension.

“I’d like that,” I said, thinking I could change my mind if I needed to.

We finished our dance and the next song was a fast song, so I decided to dance with Anna and wait for a slow song to dance with Freja.

“Having fun?” Anna asked as we started dancing.

“Yes,” I replied with a grin.

“All the girls like American boys!”

“Good to know!”

“Jesse, when we go camping, do you want to share a tent? I’m pretty sure your sister is going to want to share with Kjell.”

“I’d say that’s about as certain as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west!”

“I’m on «p-piller», so you don’t have to worry about «kondomer».”

And I was positive that she’d had an STI test as well, though I’d have to ask to make sure. This trip was certainly turning out to be very interesting!

🎤 Birgit

“Want to dance?” Per, a total hunk, asked when I Write the Songs began playing.

“Yes!” I exclaimed.

I’d danced with him once already, but it was to a fast song. I’d danced with every guy at the party except Jesse, though I made sure to dance with Kjell the most. When Per held out his arms, I quickly stepped into them and put my arms around him. He was as tall as Jesse, and muscular, whereas Kjell was just a bit taller than me and built more like a runner.

About a minute into the song, it was totally obvious that Per liked me because I felt his bulge pressing on my hip! That made my nipples hard and my panties wet, and I was really tempted to sneak off with him, but that would be mean to Kjell. That didn’t stop me from fantasizing about being naked with Per, our bodies sweaty and rubbing together as he plunged in and out of me.

It was obvious Per had the same idea, because he put his mouth next to my ear and whispered, “We can use a room.”

I wanted to say ‘yes’ in the worst possible way, and I was tempted to go for it, but I couldn’t do that to Kjell.”

“I’m here with Kjell,” I said.

“Oh! Sorry! I didn’t know you were a couple!”

“We aren’t, but he asked me to the party, so I can’t. Sorry.”

“It’s OK. He’s my friend.”

A new thought went through my head just then — that if I could have them both at the same time? I shuddered thinking about it and knew my panties were probably soaked through and my jeans might even be wet! The song finished, Per released me, and after thanking him for the dance, I excused myself to use the bathroom. I locked myself in, pulled down my jeans and panties, and I was so excited by the thought of a threesome for my first time that it only took twenty seconds to bring myself off.

Panting, I sat down on the toilet to relieve myself, and did my best to relax so I could use the bidet to wash and go back to the party.

🎤 Jesse

I asked Freja to dance to I Write the Songs and we went to the dance floor, where she moved close and wrapped her arms tightly around me. This time, though, rather than swaying in unison, she swayed slightly out of sync. She might be shy about talking, but she certainly wasn’t shy about bodies rubbing together, because I could feel her hard nipples through the thin material of our polo shirts and the lightweight bra she was wearing.

I thought about what Maja had said and wondered if she was hinting I should ask Freja to go some place private. She’d made it clear that all the girls were on the Pill and had all been tested, and I had no reason to doubt her, especially given how open Swedes were about everything to do with sex, including the advertising signs with dancing condoms I’d seen on the street.

The song ended, and the next song was a slow Swedish song I’d never heard. Freja didn’t loosen her arms, so we kept dancing. A few seconds into the song, Freja lifted her head and looked into my eyes, and it was blindingly clear she wanted me to make a move. I contemplated kissing her, but decided that wasn’t the wise course of action.

“Would you like to go somewhere?” I asked.

She nodded, released me, and I followed her from the room.

“Where?” I asked.

“«Mitt hus»,” she said, then added, “My house.”

🎤 Birgit

“Where are we sleeping tonight?” I asked Kjell.

“There are blow up mattresses and blankets. We’ll all sleep in here. That’s what we usually do. If you want to be alone together, I can ask Maja.”

“Uhm, no,” I replied, having calmed down. “Let’s wait for the camping trip.”

“Is everything OK?”

“Yes. I just want it to be perfect.”

“I, uhm, well, you know I haven’t done it yet.”

“Me, either. But I know how it works!”

Kjell laughed, “Me, too! You were supposed to share a tent with Anna, but I’m positive she’ll be happy to share with Jesse!”

“Jesse likes tall blonde girls, though that girl he’s dancing with is really hot.”

“Freja,” Kjell replied. “Will I get in trouble if I agree with you?”

“No! I’m not jealous. We aren’t a couple and I know you’ve kissed some, just as I have.”

I’d actually done WAY more than kissing, but that was with Lilibeth, so it didn’t count the same as if I’d been with Peter. I saw Jesse and Freja walk out of the room.

“Looks like Jesse is getting lucky,” I giggled. “But given she was basically drooling over him from the time we got here, I’m not surprised!”

“She’s very, very picky about who she’ll even talk to,” Kjell observed.

I giggled, “Another cherry for Jesse!”

“Cherry?”

“American slang for «oskuld».”

Kjell shrugged, “She’s very private about that, like most of the girls, so I don’t know.”

“But Swedes are so open about it.”

“As a society, yes, but some people are more private than others. Freja is one of the very private ones, unlike, say, Maja, who likes to have fun and doesn’t care who knows. All the girls are probably on p-piller, which nobody really tries to keep secret.”

“What about you? Do you plan to keep it secret?”

“It’ll be obvious to my friends who go sailing and camping with us because we’ll share a tent, but nobody will say anything about it. We aren’t like some guys who brag. Have you heard the song Poängsamling by Factory? It was popular when your dad was living here.”

“Yes. Dad has that CD. It’s the one with Så E’ Livet.”

“Yes. You know what I’m talking about then, right?”

I nodded and sang the two verses, because Dad had used CDs by Factory and Gyllene Tider, along with Henning Mankell books, to help me learn Swedish.

“I know some guys like that,” Kjell said. “But nobody in our group would do that.”

“Do you have a portable CD player? What we call a boombox?”

“Yes. We’ll bring it.”

“Cool! We should put on the CD with Puls and Uphetsad!”

Kjell laughed, “So you like to make love until the stones become gravel?”

That was a line from the first song. The second song was about a guy being sexually attracted to a girl.

“And I get you excited?” I asked.

“Yes!”

🎤 Ashley

“Mom, do you have any insulin?” I asked with a smirk.

“Why?”

“I think I might go into diabetic shock!” I giggled.

“How much candy did you eat?”

“All of it! The store was amazing! Wall to wall candy and you could choose anything you wanted and pay by the gram!”

“I might need to check that store myself!” Suzanne declared.

“Kara Mom,” I smirked, “they had lots of chocolate, too!”

“Bobby discovered the way to a girl’s heart is candy, I see,” Kara Mom said.

“Oh please,” I replied, rolling my eyes. “He’s not even eight! He turns eight about the time I turn eleven.”

“Chelsea and Matthew?” Mom asked.

“If they’re happy, I’m happy! But I have NO plan to decide who to marry before I’m out of college! Birgit agrees!”

“And thus, our daughters strike terror in the hearts of every male over the age of fourteen!” Mom declared.

“Because they’re afraid they can’t handle us!”

Karin laughed, “Are you sure you’re ten?”

“Positive! But I’m Steve Adams’ daughter!”

Mom, Kara Mom, Suzanne, and Karin all laughed.

“How much candy did you eat?” Mom asked.

“About eight pieces,” I replied. “Some Swedish fish, some Gummy Bears, and a piece of hard candy. I have about the same amount left.”