Chapter 8: Hands and Water--on the Edge

IT WAS DALE. Had to be.

Dale had had his eye on Ellie ever since middle school. It didn’t bother Dale that she and I were more or less a permanent item. We weren’t completely exclusive. I never told her she couldn’t go out with someone else. “Go out” meant an afternoon or evening at the movies, plus a burger or something afterwards. We were fourteen or fifteen years old. None of us could drive yet, so it was walk, take your bike, or get a parent or older sibling with a driver license to drive you.

“Look, Ellie, it’s OK with me if you want to go out with other guys. Really. We’ve agreed on that.”

She looked dubious.

“Are you serious, Christopher? Really?”

I hugged her. We hadn’t gotten too far along physically yet, but I had hopes. She seemed to like exploring as much as I did.

“Really. I don’t want you to get hurt, but I know you’ll be smart. Am I still interested?”

At that I pulled her to me and kissed her all over her face and neck and ended up with my lips pressed against hers. She responded. She was in my arms and I was plastered against her. In that minute she was mine, no matter what might happen later on. I dropped my hands to her rear end and squeezed. I moved a little against her.

“Does that answer the question, Ellie?”

She pushed me away. “Down, down.” More laughter. “I get it, Christopher.”

“So, what’s your plan?”

“Dale asked me to go to the movies next Friday night. I didn’t even look to see what’s playing.” She paused. “I know his reputation, and I know he’s not your friend or mine, but I’d kind of like to go.”

“Sure.”

Ellie went out with him alone exactly once. I found her in tears the next day. I held her and patted her back until she quieted. Mateo was with us. I looked at Mateo.

“Do Mateo and I need to pay him a visit, Ellie?”

She grabbed my arm. “No! I don’t want to make it any worse.”

“So, what happened?”

“That asshole. He had hands everywhere when we were in the theatre and the lights went down. It didn’t matter how many times I told him ‘No,’ He’d put his hand somewhere else. On my boob, on my side, on my leg. It’s a good thing I had shorts on instead of a dress. He would have been at my panties in a second.”

She turned to Mateo and hugged him. “It’s OK, Mateo, really. I don’t want to start things. Besides, he has those jerks he hangs around with, and they all seem to be happy to beat up anyone Dale says.”

She turned to me and stepped back into my arms. “Same with you, Christopher. I know I’m safe with you. I sure won’t go out with him alone again. Not in a group, either.”

We were all on the cusp, we knew it, we knew what naked people looked like. The physical was all that mattered. Feelings were a mess for me. Feelings that I could barely follow, much less understand. Pool parties became more fun, especially at night. There wasn’t any booze, our parents would have freaked out. There were never any parties, at least Mateo and Ellie and I never went to them, where the parents weren’t at home. Except that last one when we were officially adults.

Hands can wander under water. Hands can touch and stroke and cup under water. That’s sort of my first memory of sex: water. It was fun, it was exciting, no, thrilling. It was also very very scary, no question about that.

I remembered another time in the summer before our senior year.

I chased Nicole that afternoon in the pool. She was fast. She was slippery. She was loud. I’m not sure how many laps we ended up doing in our twenty-five-meter pool, but it was a lot. I ate her bubbles for the first eight laps, for sure. Part of my problem is that it’s hard to swim and laugh at the same time. I suppose stopping to give Ellie a kiss every time I reached her end of the pool slowed me down a little.

Not as much as you might think, because Nicole would also stop each time she saw me kiss Ellie and give a Bronx cheer or two. I’d be crazy if I didn’t admit that watching Nicole in her one-piece up close as we made the turns didn’t distract me as well. I was breathing hard toward the end, and not entirely because I was winded.

Nicole won, of course. She’s been swimming since she was in kindergarten. Me, too, and Ellie as well, but Nicole was more serious about it than either of us. She was a natural, a Katie Ledecky of the Valley. That’s stupid. Nicole was herself, no one else, although she was a total Katie fan as well.

Ellie and I swam, but neither of us had Nicole’s talent. It’s fair to say we didn’t try as hard as Nicole did, either. The three of us ended up in a group hug. My hands found firm smooth female flesh without being exactly anywhere they shouldn’t have been, and I felt two warm hands on my backside.

“Hey, careful!” I actually wasn’t serious. They could put their hands on my butt any time they wanted to, Ellie and Nicole. In answer I felt two hands pat me a little more. I responded by moving my hands from their waists to their rear ends. Both firm to my touch, and I squeezed.

What I really wanted to do was squeeze some other parts of Ellie. Of Nicole, too, although I’d never admit that aloud. Her smiles and her hugs were constants in my life. I often wondered if she were inviting me to more, but I’d never tried to push it. I thought about it, though.

“Congratulations, Christopher!” Ellie kissed my cheek. So did Nicole. “Your sister beat you again, big guy.” I gave Ellie a squeeze and turned to Nicole and kissed her cheek.

“Congrats, Nicole! You did it again,” I said. I’ve always thought there’s nothing wrong if the other person beat you fair and square, and Nicole never cheated. She didn’t have to. “I’m getting out, you guys.” With that I vaulted onto the deck and turned to give Nicole and Ellie a hand. Neither one really needed it but they accepted. First Nicole, then Ellie. Nicole stumbled a little when she stood up and I grabbed her to steady her. I had a handful of boob before I realized it.

“Sorry, Nicole!”

She laughed.

“Forget it. I’ll let you know if it bothers me.”

That gave me pause. She was inviting me to do it again? Or only saying it was an accident, OK, not a big deal. I’d play it cool and see what happened. It’s not that I was a horndog for my sister. Well, I was a horndog for almost every female I met, including Mom. There were a couple of guys on the swim team who were pretty hot, too. Maybe I’d better save that part of the story for later. Or never.

“Hey, waiting for a hand here, buddy!”

Ellie was laughing, but I think she was a little ticked at the same time. I reached down for her but instead of pushing up she pulled me into the water. I accepted her challenge and wrapped myself around her and kissed her. It wasn’t a short kiss. When I felt her moving against me I dropped my hands to her bottom and lifted her up. She put her legs around my waist and I rutted against her. I humped her.

When I came, I kissed her again and grunted into her ear. “Oh, yeah! Yeah! Take it!” And some other words that I probably shouldn’t repeat here. Ellie was breathing fast but I don’t think she came. She squeezed herself tight against me. I moved back to look in her eyes. “More?” She shook her head.