Chapter 139: Tame, Also Wild

Thursday, May 24, 1984

Angie was up when I got up, which was a bit unusual. I’d slept late, though.

After I had a light breakfast, we headed to Gene’s, my overnight bag in the trunk.

As we were pulling out, Angie said, “I talked to Dad this morning.”

“Oh?”

“I asked if he would mind if we — you, me, Paige, and Jas — met them at the Warwick on Sunday, with the implication that we wouldn’t be here, or at church. He was fine with it.”

“That makes last weekend our last at church,” I said.

“Yeah. That’s fine, though. Dad didn’t seem bothered.”

“So...?”

“I’ve got two rooms reserved at the Warwick,” she said. “It’s not like we won’t be by ourselves a whole lot, very soon, but it’s our graduation, and it’s a big deal. It’s a big deal for them, too, but we’ll have brunch with them to celebrate, and we’ll be at home all day Sunday.”

“Seems reasonable,” I said.

“I’m pretty sure Tony and Jean won’t mind. I know Camille and Francis won’t. We’ll invite them all to join us at brunch, of course.”

“Of course!”

We picked up a bunch of tacos from Rico’s, then picked up Paige (who’d brought an overnight bag with her) and Jas.

Connie was there when we got there, along with Jimmy, Gene, Sue, Amit, Sheila, and Cammie.

We declared the speechwriting team meeting in order and started working.

Connie was still not officially the valedictorian, but the odds that she wasn’t had dropped to a tiny chance. She would find out tomorrow. Twenty-four hours’ notice was hard, but that’s how they’d done it this year. Blame Hurricane Alicia for messing up the schedule one last time.

Still, Connie had a team few valedictorians could dream of. By the time we stopped working at four, she had what sounded like a very good speech.

The plan was for her to practice with Jimmy’s help, noting places where she tripped over her words, or something felt a bit ‘off,’ or ... whatever. We would meet tomorrow afternoon and finish, unless she had any last-minute requests before graduation.

Cammie pulled Angie, Jas, Paige, and me aside before everyone left.

“We’ve talked about it. And talked, and talked, and talked. If you guys still want housemates, Mel and I are in.”

“Yay!” Jas said.

Everyone else nodded agreement, enthusiastically.

“We know it might cramp your style, in terms of ... well, some topics will be off the table,” Cammie said.

“Or not,” I said, with the others nodding along.

“We ... mostly ... there’s no guarantee that we’d be roommates in the dorms, there’s no guarantee that we could swap, and we’d either have to be in the closet to our neighbors or risk living around a bunch of girls who ostracized us. We can’t avoid the dorms with an apartment. Mel can’t afford it, and you know I can’t.”

“We’d help...” Angie started to say.

“We know that,” Cammie said, “But you have a house with plenty of room. We know you, you know us, we all get along, and the worst case is that the people who live near us mock the lezzie house.”

Paige grinned. “‘Or don’t.’”

That got everyone laughing.

“So,” I said, “Plans?”

“I’m free pretty much immediately,” Cammie said, giggling. “I’d already planned on house-sitting and talking with your contractors and whatever. So, pretty much, I can pack up and move anytime. Mel can’t, but that’s fine. She’ll come up occasionally, or I’ll head down here. She wants to see the house, and her parents want pictures, but we’ve told them that the pictures are ‘before’ pictures and there’ll be a lot of remodeling, so they’re not worried or anything. As far as Mel and they are concerned, it’s a rent-to-own thing.”

Jas grinned. “This is going to be so much fun!”

“Yes!” Paige said.

Angie said, “We’re heading up on Wednesday the 30th unless something changes. We’ll have plenty of room for at least enough of your stuff to get you started.”

“That’s fine,” Cammie said. “I don’t need everything right away. The Richardsons would like me out by late June. That seemed more than generous to me. I know I’d have a place to stay. Your parents would put me up, and so would Jasmine’s. I mean, if I didn’t have anywhere to go, the Richardsons would extend things, but they want to put the house on the market in June and hopefully have it sold in time for next school year. All the buyer has to do to be able to get their kids into Spring Branch schools is to is own it.”

“Our parents will let you store as much stuff as you want there, and we’ll make sure the beds are out by late June,” I said.

“Sounds good!” Cammie said.

“We’ll get this all planned and head up to College Station next week,” I said.

“Can’t wait!”

Those of us in Drama had dressed for the Cast Party. We took Sheila with us, with a promise that we’d either take her home or make sure someone else did.

Carole (and her parents, of course) were hosting one last time. The ground rules hadn’t changed much: alcohol only in small quantities, no drugs, plenty of snacks, and tone it down on public sex.

And, no matter what: condoms, if guys were involved!

Also, towels, especially if you were taking advantage of something other than a bed.

The first part of the party was, as it always was, tame. The Zimmermans stayed downstairs and hung out with us a bit. There was a lot of singing and goofing around, games, and so forth.

Once the Zimmermans went upstairs, the party shifted. The dancing got a bit naughtier, there was more making out, and teasing became more sexual.

After a while, Paige called everyone together and made us all be quiet. That was no small task! If anyone is more verbal than debaters, it’s Drama kids, especially when the group is two-thirds girls.

Finally, Paige said, “Shut up!” in a voice probably just quiet enough to keep the Zimmermans upstairs. It worked, thankfully.

She said, “Everyone! This is it for us seniors, so be nice to us!”

That got a laugh.

“Seriously, it’s been a blast, and I know I speak for all of the seniors when I say that. I hope I speak for the rest of you, too!”

There was a lot of nodding from the other kids, and a “Yes, Miss Paige!” from Sam. That caused a bunch of giggling.

“Shut it!” Paige said. “What I mean to say is, we’ll miss you. I hope you’ll miss us. But you had better not make Steffie miss you! I will haunt any of you who drop out and break her heart! You guys can be every bit as great as we’ve been! Perhaps more, because you’re starting to do summer programs earlier.”

A bunch of them clapped and cheered.

“Seriously — we’re a family,” Paige said. “Meg wants to get the debaters together every so often for a reunion. I am hoping Steffie piggybacks on that. If she does, I really want to see all of you there and hear about the amazing things you’ve done! If you’re in College Station, give us a call or just drop by. Make sure we have your number when you go to college. I’m hoping Steffie will keep a master list.”

Everyone nodded at that.

“That’s it! I’m going to get us playing ‘Never Have I Ever’. Rules are simple: we go around the room. You tell us something you’ve never done. Everyone who’s done it loses a piece of clothing. Shoes do not count! Socks count as one. If you do not have socks, you get a freebee there. Also, bras count! Obviously! This gives girls an advantage! Deal with it! We have you outnumbered!”

That got a bunch of laughter.

“Any boys who had the forethought to wear one, it counts for you, too!”

That got more laughter.

“Anyone can opt out at any time. I, for one, am not going to opt out. Once you’re naked, we don’t have ‘penalties,’ but if you and the caller both agree, kisses are a fair compromise.”

That got a bunch of giggling.

I was pretty sure there was an unstated pact amongst the seniors. No one was dropping out, or risking stopping the game, even if we wound up stark naked (which, over time, we all did).

We got going quickly, with a spun bottle landing on Leslie. She’d been relatively quiet, and I knew not that much about her love life, so “Never have I had sex with a guy and a girl at the same time!” was a surprise, simply for the boldness of it.

I stayed clothed. I think she’d meant it to include what I’d done but, as phrased, no.

Three of the guys — and all but three of the girls — lost clothing, though.

By the time the game was called, all of the guys except Brad and Gordon were naked (and they’d dropped out), and most of the girls (including all of the seniors) were naked. In a surprise to nearly everyone, Sierra was the first person overall to wind up naked. I actually suspected she might have fibbed on a few questions intentionally to get naked.

She was very cute.

As you would guess, Jess got a lot of looks. I suspected that nearly everyone except me thought she really didn’t care. Angie and Jas — and maybe Sam and Sierra — probably spotted a few tiny signs of nerves, though.

To me, it was a bit more obvious. Jess didn’t want anyone to know that she was apprehensive, but she was. My guess, for what it was worth, was that she wanted the experience. Hollywood is well known for nude scenes, after all. If Jess did one, the world would see her naked. This was a low-risk way of testing the waters.

I gave her a little smile that she returned. I was also certain she was looking just as much as the rest of us were.

Some of the guys had the usual embarrassing reaction. I avoided that, thankfully. Nothing wrong with it, but it’s a bit of a party foul.

As before, the game pretty much ended the group part of the party.

There was little surprise that Kelly and Breanna snuck off together, and only a bit that Carla, Marsha, Gordon, and James took one of the bedrooms. I suspected none of them were going to get to full-on sex, but who knew? Themselves, I suppose.

Before anything much else could happen, a naked Sam landed in my lap with a grin.

“Hi!” she said, leaning in and giving me a quick kiss.

“Hi, yourself,” I said, wrapping an arm around her.

“Not how I meant to do this, but at least I’ve got you for a few minutes.”

“Timing has been a pain in the ass.”

She nodded. “I did it to myself. When things started, I hadn’t factored in how much I’d care about my grades, or how much I’d really need to study. We did the right thing in waiting.”

“But...” I said.

“Yeah,” she said, sighing. “‘But.’ But ... you’re leaving soon on a summer trip. And I’m leaving for my summer programs before you get back from Nationals. By the time you’re back, I think Memorial will have started.”

“Which might or might not be an issue. A&M starts much later than Memorial.”

She nodded. “So ... what I’m hearing is not you taking advantage of the delay to back out.”

“Yeah. I’m not.”

“Could we...?”

I smiled. “The only night that really works is tomorrow night, but tomorrow night works.”

“Works for me! How about we meet at the mall at five?”

“I can do that.”

She grinned. “Mom and Dad were fine with you taking me to Sadie Hawkins, but explaining you as a second date would be trickier.”

“Parents certainly don’t need to know everything,” I said. Even from my perspective, I could agree with that.

“That... that would be bad,” Sam said, giggling.

“In most cases, at least.”

“Jas’s parents might be okay.”

“There is that,” I said, grinning.

“This is a good plan,” she said. “I really didn’t want to let you get away, but ... tonight...”

I nodded. “Not my ideal.”

“Gonna go tackle Sierra,” she said, winking. “See you tomorrow.”