Chapter 11: Natalie

THERE’S SOMETHING ELSE. The trial was all over as soon as the prosecution introduced my juvenile record.

Natalie.

Natalie was in the same grade as Ellie and me in elementary school. She had some of her classes with us when we got to middle school. Ellie and I were sort of an item, I mean, we weren’t “exclusive” yet, the way older kids talked about it.

Natalie’s parents and mine were old friends, longer than they’d known Ellie’s parents. Dad served with Natalie’s father during the war, and Mom and Natalie’s mother had traveled with them during their training before they were deployed overseas. “Shipped out” is what it was called then.

At any rate, Natalie and I had seen a lot of each other since kindergarten. Maybe even before, I’m not sure. We’d been naked together any number of times the way little kids are, in the bathtub, later in the shower, and in the pool from time to time. Now when I think about it there might have been something with her parents and mine, but I have no way of knowing that for sure.

Anyway, in the summer before eighth grade, it happened.

In California, records of an offense committed by a juvenile, except when the juvenile is tried as an adult, are sealed. After a certain number of years, I don’t remember how long, they are destroyed. In theory, sealed is sealed, and for most of the time that’s true. There are two exceptions, however: one is by court order, and the second depends on the circumstances of the current offense.

In my present case both conditions applied. I was screwed. Never mind that it was a false accusation. I know I’m probably sounding defensive here, but I’m telling the truth. I never hurt Natalie, I never did anything she didn’t want to do.

It was an overnight, probably it was going to be one of our last overnights together. It was the last one, as it turned out. Natalie’s folks put us in the living room with our sleeping bags and blankets and told us to behave ourselves.

We waited until her parents were asleep, or at least as sure as we could be they were asleep. Then we took off our jammies. Of course we did. We were friends and we were curious. We hadn’t seen each other nude for a long time by then, and we both knew and saw what was happening to us.

“You want to do it, Natalie?”

“What, you mean...?”

“Yeah. I’ll go first if you want, but you have to promise to do it, too.”

She nodded.

I stripped pretty fast. There wasn’t much to see, I know that, although I did have the start of an erection.

“Can I see?”

“Sure.” I stood up so she could see and I stepped a little closer to her.

“Get down, will you?”

I sat down and stretched out on my sleeping bag. Natalie put her hand on my tummy and rubbed, not hard. It felt really good and I got a little stiffer. I held my breath when she moved her hand closer. I didn’t have much in the way of pubic hair, a little fuzz, but she scratched with a nail and I liked that, too.

I jumped when she touched me and she let me go.

“Yikes!”

“Ssh, Christopher. Did I hurt you?”

“Uh uh. You surprised me. You didn’t hurt me. It felt good.”

With that she curled her fingers around me and held me for a bit. She didn’t do anything. Neither of us knew anything about erotic zones, but we knew what felt good. After a minute I scootched away from Natalie and her hand.

“Your turn, Natalie.”

She shook her head.

“Uh uh.”

“You promised!” I kept my voice down but she probably could feel the anger in my voice.

“I’m scared, Christopher.”

I heaved myself around so I was sitting beside her and I pulled her to me and hugged her. It wasn’t sexual. It was one friend with another and it was comforting. I felt her shake a little and I wondered if she was crying.

“It’s OK, Natalie, don’t cry. You don’t have to do anything.”

She shook her head against my side.

“Really, it’s OK, Natalie.”

“I want to.”

Her voice was so soft I could barely hear her.

“It’s OK, really. You don’t have to.”

She pulled back and looked into my eyes. She smiled.

“I really do want to, Christopher.” With that she kissed me on the lips. We didn’t linger, I think we didn’t really know how wonderful and arousing a kiss could be back then. Her smile was back.

“Watch.”

With that she pulled her top over her head and let it fall to the side. My breath caught in my throat and my heart began to pound. I had seen lots of pictures of naked girls or women. In art books, sure, and in National Geographic. They were always good for a few images of African women in various states of dress, often nude but for something around their waists. I had some idea of how different breasts could be, from little nubs on the girls to heavy breasts that hung down on older women.

Those African girls were cute. Really cute. Natalie’s breasts were barely bigger than nubs. She’d barely started. I didn’t even think about her mother, but if I had I’d have guessed that she was going to end up pretty stacked.

For now, she smiled, a little shy. I hugged her again and kissed her cheek.

“You’re really pretty, Natalie.”

It was too dark to see if she was blushing, but she kind of pushed my arm in response. I touched the side of her throat and then drew my hand down her chest. I heard her catch her breath.

“Can I touch them?”

I felt Natalie nod. I stroked around them and then moved my fingers up to touch her nipples. They erected a little, although at the time I didn’t really know what that meant. I felt rather than heard her breathing increase. After I’d doodled around her booblets for a little while I kissed her cheek again. I moved my hand down over her tummy.

“Take this off, too, Natalie?”

Once more she shook her head. I didn’t know much but I realized she felt she had to resist at first even though this was something she wanted to do.

“It’s OK, Natalie, you don’t have to.” I kissed her cheek. I figured what had worked before would work again, and I was right. I was smart enough to rub my palm across breast mound and touch her nipple. “I won’t hurt you, you know that.”

“Promise, Christopher?”

“Promise.”

That seemed to satisfy Natalie, and she scooted around to stretch out. She lifted her hips and slid her pajama bottoms down. She had panties with little bluebirds on them, or something. I couldn’t really see for sure in the low light.

I leaned over and kissed one nipple. I didn’t know where this was coming from, but I’d read enough to know this was supposed to be a good thing. Apparently it meant something, because Natalie jumped for a second. Only for a second, however.

“Do that again, Christopher.” She pulled my head to her breast. So I did. I moved back and put my hand, palm flat, on her tummy and began to stroke and rub in little circles. I heard her sigh. She didn’t stop me. I heard a little hum, a little “mmh” which sounded positive. I moved my hand down to the waistband of her panties and stopped.