Chapter 15

Wednesday was just about as crazy as Tuesday had been. The temperatures were back down a bit but still tolerable with no more snow on the horizon. It’s funny because an inch or two of snow caused people in Charleston to go crazy. Me too, I guess. But it was gone. Morning classes were the same as they always were. I got a couple of congratulations from people I passed in the hallway. I guess word had gotten out. Swimmers don’t generally get the attention that other athletes do and I didn’t mind that we didn’t. But it was kind of fun.

At lunch, Kim asked if I wanted to sit with the squad again. She said they’d like it and we could go back to my table the next day. I agreed and we joined them. As soon as I got there, conversation stopped completely. For about a second. And then everyone laughed, except Giggles.

I thanked them for coming out to watch and they made a bunch of comments about how much fun it was to watch and I got a bunch of questions about different guys on our team and a particular swimmer from Colleton County.

“You ladies are bad. You come out to cheer on the swim team and then ogle the swimmers.”

“It’s the Speedos,” Kim said, and everyone laughed, except Giggles.

“Turnabout is fair play,” said Fling. I was getting used to the nicknames.

“What do you mean, turnabout?”

“C’mon, Aquaman. We’re cheerleaders. Some guys come to games to watch us, so this time we got to watch you,” said Spot.

I thought about that a minute and they were quiet and let me. “I bet it’s all the time, isn’t it?”

“All the time,” they all echoed.

“Is that a bad thing? You’re all pretty and you probably knew this would happen, right?”

“How did you feel, yesterday?” Giggles asked.

I looked her in the eye. “Fast, mostly. I was focused on swimming. It’s probably a good thing or I would have been pretty self-conscious.”

“You look good, Aquaman,” Bounce said seriously.

“I was impressed,” Giggles added and no one said a word.

I looked at her and grinned and she finally smiled, then quickly covered her mouth. She had braces. Ah. It made perfect sense.

“How long until they come off,” I asked.

“Two months,” she said as though it was forever.

“You’re beautiful, Melanie. I know you can’t wait. Everyone will smile with you when they come off.”

She blushed. “It’s been so long and that’s the nicest thing anyone has said to me in a while. Except for these guys.”

“Well, you are. I’m glad you smiled for me.” Kim put her arm around me and hugged me while Giggles looked down. She nodded.

I looked at the rest of the squad and they seemed appreciative that I had said that.

“Speedos are tiny,” Fling said, and everyone giggled.

“Regular swim trunks would slow you down.”

“I know something else that would slow you down,” Spot said.

“Stop it, you guys,” Kim said and she looked serious.

“No,” Spot said. “Seriously. It would be impossible to see any more without them getting thrown out of school. I liked it. And you,” she said, and reached across to put her hands on my left. “Are a hunk. There. Okay, Kim. I won’t say anything more.”

“Thank you,” Kim answered.

“But you are,” she said again.

“Thanks? I guess?”

“He’s my hunk so go find your own.”

If that wasn’t crazy enough, Coach Miller came and sat down across from me and next to Giggles. It was pretty rare for a teacher to sit with students.

“Melanie,” he said to Giggles, then looked around. He greeted each girl by name. “Annette, Alice, Lisa, Lori, Frontier Woman.” Everyone laughed at that and so did coach. I wish I had a picture of Coach Miller sitting next to Giggles while they both laughed.

“Word gets around, Kimberly. It’s a great nickname. I won’t take up much of your time. I just need to talk to Aquaman for a moment if that’s okay.”

“Sure, Coach. I don’t think I’ve seen you laugh before. Where did this Aquaman come from, anyway?”

“You didn’t hear it on the morning announcements?”

“Great,” I said, not sure whether to laugh or not.

“May as well get used to it. Well, let’s get down to business. Jack, I knew this yesterday but was a little busy with the other guys. And, I wanted to confirm it. Your time in the one hundred freestyle yesterday was fast, you know that. I knew you had potential at freestyle but you’ve seemed set on butterfly and I have no problem with that, either. But your time yesterday was fast enough to take a spot at regionals in April. You currently have the fifth fastest in the region. Three people would have to beat that between now and then, but as it stands, you’ve got a spot. Congratulations.”

“But there are other ... Really?”

“Really. Don’t think it will be a piece of cake though. The guy you beat yesterday is one of the fastest in the state and to be honest, he had an off day. But he swam fast enough to push you. Nice job, Jack. I know you’ve been putting a lot of work into your butterfly and it shows. But I want you to work on your freestyle a lot more. Pendleton knows the stroke. He just doesn’t have the power you do. Your time yesterday was obviously the fastest for PG this year.”

“Thanks Coach. I appreciate you telling me.”

“That’s not all. You need to see Mr. Pringle. It’s a little late in the season but not too late. Give him your size and he’ll order a jacket for you. You earned it. And not just yesterday.”

“Wow. Thanks, Coach.”

“You earned it. You’re only the second freshman to start, albeit for unusual reasons. But I’ve been here a while and you made the most of the opportunity. I want to give you a chance to compete at fifty and see if you can qualify for that, too. Fifty’s a burner, Jack. Quickest race in swimming but you’ve earned a chance to try. Keep it up,” he said and turned away from me. “Ladies. Nice to see you all at our meet yesterday. Should we expect more of that support?”

“Oh, I’ll be there,” Giggles said and everyone laughed. Coach didn’t get it, stood and left.

Kim put her arm around me and smiled. “Get your own. And you can all ogle some other swimmer next time.” That was followed by an embarrassing round of disappointed awes.

“Doesn’t look like you’ll wearing that jacket much, Pierce,” Coach hollered over his shoulder as he walked away. I didn’t think he missed much.

Porter-Gaud lettermen frequently gave their Letterman Jackets to their girlfriends. It was a bit of a status thing and very rare for a freshman to have either a letterman jacket or a steady girlfriend, and certainly no one like Frontier Woman.

“No swimming for you today,” Kim said. “That might be why Coach came over. You know, to tell you the news personally, rather than let you find out second hand. That was nice of him.”

“Yeah. He didn’t have to do that. He knows all your names. Do you all have him for a class?”

“I do,” Bounce said. No one else said anything. “I have him for history. He knew all our names the first day. I think it’s just what he does, you know? He probably knows everyone in the school.”

“Is he a good history teacher?” I asked.

“The best. But he sure isn’t interested in excuses. He’s got two baskets on his desk to turn papers in. One says, ‘papers I grade tonight’ and the other says ‘papers I grade this summer’ for late papers. No one turns in late papers. But he’s really good.”

“What are you going to do with your extra hour this afternoon?” Kim asked.

“I hadn’t thought that far ahead. Mom and I are taking the week off from lifting and she’s going out with a friend tonight. I guess I’ll read more of Riders of the Purple Sage.”

“No way. You started it?” I nodded.

“You two are sickening,” Giggles said. “It’s like somebody spilled syrup. Ack,” she said and laughed. I guessed that once I’d seen her braces, it didn’t matter.

“What are you thinking about, Jack?” Spot asked. “I can see your wheels spinning. Something Coach Miller said and not just what we all heard.” Spot surprised me with that. She rarely shared personal observations.

“I thought I had my high school future sorted out. I talked to Mrs. Augustine and it’s possible for me to graduate in three years. So, I thought that’s what I’d do. And then Coach says I’ve qualified in regionals for my second stroke. I’m supposed to be a butterfly specialist and here I am competing in freestyle. If I go to regionals, I’ll be competing against a bunch of seniors.”

“I don’t get it,” Kim said. “You swim your best and see how it goes.”

“I kind of like the idea of winning. It’s pretty unlikely that I would win or even come in second or third this year. But if I worked at it, by the time I was a senior, I might have a really good chance to really compete, not just at regionals but at state.”

“Oh. And if you graduate in three, you lose that last year,” Kim said.

“Yeah. It’s not a big deal but it’s a possibility I’d never even considered. I mean, who cares, right? Does anyone know who the South Carolina state champion was for any event in swimming last year?”

“You’d know. I’d know,” Kim said.

“I’d know,” Giggles added.

“Stop it. He’s mine,” Kim said and everyone laughed. They all heard what Giggles had said about me the day before but I wasn’t supposed to know.

The bell rang, ending lunch and we all picked up our stuff and headed for the door.

“Call me when you get home,” I said to Kim.

“We’ll see.”

“Puhleese,” I said and she laughed.

I had let my carpool buddies know I didn’t need a ride. After last class I set off walking. I hadn’t gotten out of the parking lot when I heard a familiar voice behind me.

“Hey, Stud, wait up.” That brought a smile to my face, my posture instantly improved and I walked back to meet her.

“Are you skipping?” I asked.

“We all are. We get the day off because we cheered at the swim meet yesterday. Spot asked for it. Tada.”

“Sweet. Your house? It’s closer and I can call home.”

“Or yours. Mom and Dad are at home right now. They think they’re going to be out late tonight.”

“Hot date?”

“No. Kind of a big case.”

“I thought they did estate planning. Emergency late night planning?”

“No. Reading of a will. It doesn’t happen often and it’s usually during business hours. They’re usually home by six or seven at the latest. Ever hear of Mills Pinkney?”

“Yeah. Old money. One of the richest guys in town.”

“Now he’s one of the richest dead guys in town. They’re reading the will tonight and my parents know there’s going to be family and their attorneys from all over the country there tonight. I think most of them are just up from Savannah. But they read at eight and Dad thinks they’ll be there until midnight. He said if they can’t wrap it up by then, he’ll postpone finishing until tomorrow.”

“Empty house.”

“Except for me. You too, though,” she said.

“Do you have homework?”

“Done. You?”

“Done. So, what do we do for three hours?” I asked.

“Let’s walk to Folly and Windermere. There’s a phone booth and you can call. Tell her you’re going to my house but we’ll go to the marina.”

“What’s at the marina? Boats?”

“Boat. Our boat.”

“Really? What kind?”

“Sailboat. Blue water cruiser. It’s a twenty-eight-foot Bristol. It’s getting old but Dad loves it. He says it’s a bottomless hole for him to throw money into but it’s his bottomless hole.”

“Twenty-eight feet is pretty big, right?”

“Big enough to have a cabin,” she said with a big smile. We started walking faster.

We got to the payphone and I dialed home. There was no answer so I hung up. Then thought better of it and called back for messages. “Hey, Buddy. Veronica and I are shopping. I didn’t have anything to wear. Shopping and then dinner and dancing. I probably won’t be home until late. I’ll disappoint Veronica if I don’t make an evening of it. There’s money in the jar. Call out for pizza. Love you.”

I told Kim and we started walking for my house. The boat would be fine on another day but we had food and privacy at my house. As we walked, a bunch of questions came to mind that I sort of wanted answers too. Mostly, I wanted to smooch Kim, but I also wanted to know a few things.

“Can I ask you a question or two?” I said and Kim immediately knew I was serious.

“Yes. Sure. What’s on your mind?”

“If you don’t want to answer, that’s okay. You know why Sally and I aren’t together. How about you and Birch? What happened?”

“I like Birch fine. He’s kind of like a big brother more than a boyfriend, though. I thought I might grow into it but he ended it before that could happen. Not me.”

“I have a hard time believing that.”

“No. It’s true. He wasn’t really specific but I can guess.”

“Guess, if you want to. I do it all the time. I’d kind of like to know.”

She hesitated a moment. “This is only a guess so please don’t tell Birch.” I shook my head. “I think I intimidated him. You think the whole Frontier Woman thing is fun. I think Birch doesn’t know how to hunt or ride, or maybe even fish, and I think it bothered him. In a world of hunter gatherers women are supposed to gather and men are supposed to hunt. So, I think that I intimidated him. I also think, and if you ever say I said this, I’ll deny it and then ask your mom for the dull knife.”

“Lips are sealed.”

“I’m pretty. Birch is nice enough but he’s not what you would call handsome. I think he thought that if I dated him, it would just be until I found someone better. You know, better looking. It didn’t matter that he’s got a lot going for him. He thinks I have more and it fed his insecurity. That’s all just a guess. I could be way off the mark. I probably am. But you know, there are some really nice guys who wouldn’t ask me out because they think I’m out of their league or something.”

“That would probably include me.”

“That’s because I’m a sophomore and it’s taboo for a girl to date down a grade. It’s stupid. You would have asked me if you were a sophomore or junior. Who cares but, quick, name another couple where the girl is older?”

It didn’t take me long to come up with a list. “I can’t think of one. Mom says most girls mature faster than most boys, at least at this age.”

“There are freshmen who think fart noises are hilarious.”

“Who wouldn’t laugh at a great fart noise?”

“Please don’t,” she said.

“I’m kidding.” I looked over and she was trying not to laugh. “Okay, you knew that. So ... next question. What are we doing?”

“What do you mean? Walking to your house.”

“Yeah. And then?”

“Oh, Jack,” she said with pity in her voice.

“Stop it. What I mean is, what is your limit? I guess that’s a good way to ask. Because, here’s the thing, I was borderline crazy yesterday. Talk about wound up. And for me, it would help to know what our limits are before we get there. If you take your top off again ... if I feel today the way I did yesterday ... Well, I just want to make the decision while I’m semi-rational. I do not want to go past your limit and I’m still trying to figure out my own.”

“I don’t think most guys would ask that. Well, we’ve been to first base. That’s pretty nice. You probably guessed that I don’t have a lot of experience.”

“Didn’t. You do now. Man, you learn fast. Seriously.”

She smiled at that. “And second base seems nice. I’m not sure where the line is between second and third is, though. I mean, what exactly is third base? Is that a stupid question? It is.”

“No. And that’s what I want to know. Third base, the best way I know how to describe it, is sex without intercourse. If I use my hands or mouth to give you an orgasm, that’s third base.”

“And if I do that for you?”

“And if you do that for me.”

“And home is fucking.”

“Pretty much. I know I’m not going there. Not today.”

“But you’d go to third today?” she asked.

“That’s just it. My brother and I had a long talk about this a couple of months ago and it stuck. It’s important to me. Sex without emotional investment is just sex. I could pay for that, I guess. But that’s not what I want. So, I guess the question is, how emotionally invested in you am I? Did that even make sense?”

“Yeah. Do you love me?”

“There’s that word. That’s the kicker. I don’t know. I might. I even want to. I hadn’t even thought of that before but I guess it’s true. I want to love you. But I don’t know if I do yet.”

“If you don’t, do you stop at second base?”

“I don’t know. Do you think you love me?”

“I think so. But I don’t know, either. How do you know?”

“I don’t know. I do know, for an absolute fact, that I am deeply in lust with you.”

“Very funny.”

“I also know that you were pretty wound up yesterday. You said so. All the guys in Speedos, the talk from the girls and stuff. So, maybe you might not have done what you did yesterday if it wasn’t for that.”

“Maybe. But I did and it felt pretty good,” she said.

“No kidding. I think about you all the time. I think that’s a sign of love.”

“But you think of chocolate all the time. Think of another thing,” she said.

“I want you to succeed. I want you to do well.”

“Okay. That’s good. I know I was thrilled at how well you did yesterday. Good. Think of something else. Oh, wait. I want my friends to like you. Since I picked my friends and I value their opinions, then if they like you, too, it’s a good thing. I introduced you to my friends, oh, and my parents, for that reason.”

“And I did that with you and Franklin and Karen. So, it’s like a validation thing. That’s a good one. Oh, here’s one. I think it is. I want to be better. I want you to have better than me so I try to be better. So, that’s like self-sacrifice or something.”

“Like reading Riders of the Purple Sage?” she asked.

“Yeah. It’s not much of a sacrifice because it’s actually pretty fun. Ah, having my best races, ever, with you watching. I don’t want you to date the guy that came in second.”

“These are all good. I think they’re just indicators though. I don’t think they prove it.”

“That’s probably true. But there does seem to be a preponderance of evidence,” I said.

“You got that from Dad. But, yeah. So, I guess when we get to your house, are we going to zing past second on our way to third?”

I couldn’t believe she’d asked that. Going to third base was the most emotionally intense thing I’d ever done and she was talking about it as though we were going to play miniature golf. As much as I liked Kim, I knew that I still loved Sally, even if it wasn’t in a romantic way anymore. I was quiet as I tried to think it through.

“Too soon?” she asked and I realized I’d been zoned out a little.

“Maybe. Maybe even probably.”

“Okay. I get it.”

I wasn’t sure she did. It was so weird.

“I want to, you know? But I’m kind of afraid to.”

“Wow. You are not a normal guy! At least I don’t think you are.”

“Yeah. I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t date a normal guy. I’m probably an idiot.” We got to my driveway and walked up it quietly. I unlocked the door and we stepped inside. Like Kim had done when we were at her house, I hollered to make certain we were alone. “Let’s go to the library.”

We walked in and sat down in chairs facing each other. I thought hard about what I wanted and what I wanted to say and nothing seemed to be obvious to me.

“I’ve only kissed one other girl,” I said. Kim nodded. “I’ve only done anything with one other girl and you know her. I don’t want to say what I have or haven’t done with her but if I know things, you’ll know it’s because of her.” I stopped because I couldn’t go any further.

“And you know I’ll figure it out because it’s not rocket science.”

“Pretty much.”

“What if Sally said it was okay?”

“Sally,” I started and then stopped. I didn’t even know how to advance the conversation. “When Sally left, I was a mess for a month. You know how much of a mess I was. I don’t know about Sally. I don’t know if she would tell me. She told me to date you. I told her about our conversations and she knows that I find you really attractive. I didn’t tell her that you kissed me that one day but just about everything else. Anyway, I don’t know how she is right now. She has a couple of invitations to a dance but she hasn’t gone out yet and even if she does, she’s starting from scratch. You and I knew each other before Sally and I ever got serious.”

“And you don’t feel comfortable calling her and saying, ‘Hey, Sally. Kim and I are about to get naked together and she knows you’re the only person I ever dated so can we just skip the pretending so I can talk openly?’”

“Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”

“Okay, then how do we get past that? Like I already know how you know to kiss. By kissing Sally.”

“Let me think about it a minute.” She waited while I ran it through my head. Sally was six hundred miles away and I didn’t think there was much chance she’d come back, at least not to stay. I trusted Kim not to do anything to ruin it. If I couldn’t confide in Kim then our relationship didn’t mean as much as I thought. I didn’t see a problem but I thought I could make certain. I explained my thinking to Kim.

“If the roles were reversed, would you be okay with it?”

“You mean if I was in Sally’s place in Nashville?” I nodded and she thought about it for a minute. “Yeah. I’d be okay with that. Besides, who would I tell?”

“Okay. I don’t want you to feel like I’ve betrayed a trust with Sally and that I’d do that with you.”

“No. Of course not. You’re ridiculously careful. I trust you and I think Sally would trust you to make good decisions.”

Good enough for me. “Sally and I went to third base. We never went all the way. Franklin warned me that sex like that would be really intense and dangerous to your emotions. Turns out, he was right. Maybe everybody isn’t like that but I guess I am.”

“What does that mean for us?”

“I guess it means that I want to know that I love you before we go to third base.” I couldn’t believe I was saying that. “Does that even make sense?”

“Yeah. You know more than me on this, and I guess your brother knows even more,” she said and looked at me like she was disappointed.

“First base with you is pretty nice,” I said, standing up.

“And second?”

“I might like to go to second base,” I said and she stood up too. We stepped together and hugged. “You feel pretty good to me. You feel really good.”

“Good. You too. Speedos aren’t very big,” she said out of the blue.

“No. I guess not. The squad liked that, huh.”

“Yeah. Everybody liked that Italian looking guy from Colleton but they liked you, too. Plus, Birch is pretty solid, even if he isn’t handsome.”

“Birch is pretty solid,” I said and realized Kim’s hands were traveling around my body to see how solid I was. “Do I feel as solid as Birch?”

“You will in three years, that’s for sure. You feel good to me now, though. Solid is kind of a turn-on. You have nice shoulders,” she said. She had worked her hands up under my arms to hold my shoulders from the back.

“Thanks. I lift but I think a lot of that is from butterfly.”

She dropped her hands and stepped back, then put her hands on my sides and squeezed. She smiled at me and I had to smile back. “What’s this from?”

“Mostly just swimming, I think. There’s a lot of twisting, when you breathe. I don’t do a lot for my abs and obliques so it has to be swimming.”

“Obliques.”

“Sides. I have a poster of different muscles in the gym,” I said as she reached around behind me. “Those would be my glutes.”

“Those would be your ass,” she said as she squeezed my butt for all she was worth. We both laughed. “You have a nice ass,” she said.

“Nice. Thanks, I guess.”

“It’s sort of a big deal. The entire squad thought so. Even Spot but she didn’t say it.”

“But you stopped them,” I said.

“I slowed them down. It’s funny. They all thought I was crazy for going to talk to you back in November.”

“But not now?”

“No,” she said and leaned away so she could focus on me. “No. They don’t think so now.”

I felt a little uneasy and I know that’s not what she was trying to do. I put my hands on either side of her face and kissed her. Just an easy, gentle kiss. I broke the kiss and let my hands slide down to her neck. She closed her eyes and practically purred. Sally loved my hands on her neck and now, so did Kim. I let my thumbs caress her, up near her ears and she smiled.

I made a quarter turn and let my left hand drop down her front to cover her boob.

“I just felt your whole body relax when I did that. That’s so awesome. That you would relax.”

“I feel good. You feel good.”

“Wow. Do you have any idea what that does to me? You’re practically purring.”

“Uh huh,” she responded and let her hands slide down to my hips. I gently squeezed her boob and then slid my hand to the bottom of it and cupped it. She purred some more.

“Your boobs are glorious.”

“I’m glad you like them.”

I slid my hand up, underneath her top and began to slide it up toward her bra. “You’re warm and your skin is so smooth.” My hand reached her bra. It felt lacy and thin. “My hand is in heaven.”

“You feel pretty good, too, you know.”

“Hello! Jack? I could use some help,” Mom hollered from the foyer. What the heck?

My eyes must have gotten big as saucers and I broke from Kim like she was poison. What was Mom doing home?

“In the library,” I hollered. “Coming.” I looked at Kim and said, “Guess I need to see what this is about. She’s supposed to be gone.” I started out the door and realized I was either busted or not. “You’re so beautiful. Come on and let’s see what’s going on.”

We walked together to the foyer and heard Mom in the kitchen. “There’s more in the car. Hi, Kim. You can help, too.”

“Mom, what happened?” She was dirty, her hair was down and messed up and she had bags of groceries on the counter.

She gave me a “don’t ask” look and said, “Just go get the rest and I’ll tell you.”

Kim and I brought a load of groceries in from the car. Kim pulled stuff from the bags and set it on the counter and I helped Mom put it all away. Finished, she fell into one of the chairs at the kitchen table. She looked beat.

“So, what happened?” I asked.

She looked at us suspiciously. “You first. What have you two been up to?”

I looked at Kim and she looked at me and it was all either of us could do to keep from laughing.

“We’ve been getting to know each other better,” I said with the straightest face I could manage.

“Uh, huh. I’ll bet.” She turned to Kim. “Is he a good kisser?”

“Umm.”

“He won’t talk so you’re on the spot.”

Kim smiled and said, “I refuse to answer on the grounds that it might incriminate us.”

“Your silly grins already incriminate you. First base. Too much of a leadoff and I will throw you out.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said knowing we could close that subject quickly. “What happened?”

“What a disaster. First, I couldn’t find anything in the stores that I liked. Everything is neon and I’m not eighteen. Anyway, I finally found something and on our way to another store, we passed the club Veronica wanted to go to. We could see it had a sign on the door so we pulled in to see what it said. Kitchen fire and they were closed until sometime next week. We went past her second-choice club and Tuesday is wet T shirt contest night. Nope. I don’t think I’m going to find dating material at a wet T shirt club. We were both frustrated and not in the mood so I dropped her off and went grocery shopping. We’re out of everything so I made it a big trip and on the way home, I got a flat. The trunk was full of groceries and no one stopped so I had to put all the groceries in the back seat and change it myself. The spare was low so I had to limp to a gas station to get some air. Just a disaster. So, tell me again what you two have been doing?”

“Sorry, Mom. That sounds like a crappy afternoon.”

“You have no idea. Kim?”

“We’re still new so getting to know each other,” she answered, trying to sound confident.

“Uh huh. You do realize that I was a teenager once. Don’t let him paw you, Kim.”

“No, ma’am. He’s a gentleman.” Mom didn’t look convinced and everyone was pretty serious until Kim asked, “Is it okay if I paw him?”

It was dead silent for about two seconds and then we all started laughing.

“OUT. Go on. Out. Thank you for the help, now, out of my kitchen. Sakes.” Mom didn’t know whether to laugh or scream. I took Kim’s hand and we left, laughing. “First base. Do you two hear me?” she hollered but we were laughing just as loud as she was hollering.

We stopped in the library and I held Kim’s shoulders. “I’m pretty happy with first base, if you want to know.”

“Your mom almost lost it completely.”

“It was pretty funny. She knows we’re not stopping at first base.”

“No. Not stopping at first. Walk me home?”

“I can do that.” I stuck my head around the corner and told Mom I’d be back in an hour or so. She warned me about anything beyond first base again and then Kim and I started walking the mile to her house. It was more like a mile and a half but it only seemed that long when I walked back from her house alone.