Chapter 18: Dating and Dancing

MY DREAM of walking with two beautiful girls snuggled up against me was quickly dispelled. As soon as we were outdoors and I put an arm around Christine, Ronda put an arm around her from the other side.

“At least I’m going to be warm going home,” Chris giggled. And so, we walked the five blocks with Chris sandwiched between us. It wasn’t that Ronda avoided contact with me or me with her. She poked me in the ribs a couple of times and I grabbed her hand once as she shook a finger at me over some stupid joke I’d told. Chris mostly just laughed at us.

Then we got to Ronda’s house and walked her to the door. I’m not exactly sure how it came about, but before I knew it, Chris and Ronda were in a clinch and kissing each other. It looked pretty intense. Then they broke apart and Chris whispered, “Wow!”

Ronda looked at me and then surprisingly gave me a little kiss on the lips. “You can get the rest of that from Christine,” she said. “‘Night, you two.”

Christine and I walked the rest of the way to her house just as close together as she’d been with Ronda on the other side. When we got to her door, Chris turned in my arms and hugged me.

“Ronda said she’d teach me how to give you a better kiss,” Chris whispered. “She did.”

“It looked like you were really into kissing each other,” I said.

“She told me that was the best way to learn. Want to learn from me?”

“Christine, you know I’d love to kiss you.” With that, I pulled her to me and kissed her.

Then the surprises started. I really liked kissing Christine, but when her tongue touched my lips, the intensity went up about 100%. I wasn’t sure what to do, but I licked at her lips a little and then her tongue touched mine. And we stayed like that for a long time, our tongues just lightly touching and gliding across each other.

“I really liked that,” I whispered when we pulled back a little.

“Me, too. I think I’d like to do it again.”

We kissed some more.

“My lips are going to get chapped out here in the cold if we do any more of that right now,” she whispered. “We’ll save more for next time.”

“Want to go out next weekend?” I asked.

“Can’t next weekend. Why don’t you ask Roxie out next week? I’ll go with you to see the new movie that’s opening the weekend after. Okay?”

“Um ... Okay. But why would I ask Roxie out? I’d rather just wait for you,” I said. After that kiss, I wasn’t really interested in anyone else at all.

“Because we aren’t going steady, right? If you don’t go out with anyone else, no one will ask me out. I mean, not like I want to just date every guy in school, but I just started dating and I’d like to see what it’s like before I tie myself down to just one guy. Is that okay?”

I wasn’t sure. The thought of Christine dating another guy or kissing him made a knot in my stomach. Then I thought of her kiss with Ronda and thought maybe she wasn’t talking about a guy. I sighed.

“I’ll give it a try. I guess there’s nothing much else to do.”

“Okay. Then give me one more of those delicious kisses and walk home thinking about me,” she said.

That kiss was even more intense than the others as we started really exploring each other’s mouths with our tongues. We were both panting when we finally parted and she whispered ‘Good night.’

Thinking about her on the way home? My cock was pointing straight out showing me the way. I went home and opened my album of private pictures to the one of Christine topless, gesturing to me to come closer. I scarcely had to touch myself before I exploded.

I hadn’t been prepared for my US History test Friday and Coach Hennessey scowled at me when he handed it back Monday.

“If you can’t pay attention in class, try at least reading the textbook,” he said.

I knew I was falling behind in some of my homework. I was spending way too much time in the studio. Mom would throw a fit if my grades all went in the toilet. I’d be lucky if she let me keep the studio at all. I went back to my calendar and found some of the people who had scheduled senior retakes. I went to a couple of them and rescheduled for a little later. Like next month. It wasn’t urgent to have the photos in until April, so I had time for that. I knew they were worried about what pictures they were going to buy, but I really had to do some studying.

I hated to take up all my studio time with the seniors, but I rescheduled everyone for weekends. I’d had a good session with Joe Smiley on Sunday. I hadn’t done a guy in the studio before and was a little unsure of what he’d want.

He looked like he came straight from church, dressed in a nice dark suit, white shirt, and striped tie. He was pretty thin and had light brown hair. He wore squarish black rimmed glasses. It was a pretty common style in school. I welcomed him and invited him to look over the gallery while I set the blue backdrop and lighting. He had a smile when he returned to the stool.

“You sure get some cute girls up here,” he said. “I want a photo like that.”

I cringed a little. I wasn’t sure what it was he might want.

“Let’s get the yearbook photo out of the way and then we can go from there,” I said. I could see right away from his proofs what the problem was with his photo. There was glare on his glasses and you couldn’t see his eyes at all. I knew I could take care of that. I seated him and adjusted the lights so there was no glare from the glasses.

The prevailing style of yearbook photos was to have the subject looking off somewhere other than at the camera. I changed that up a little and had Joe look straight at me with his shoulders canted a little to the right. He had an easy smile and we took several variations before I asked him what he had in mind for his Attic Allure photo.

“Like a secret identity,” he said. “Someone no one would expect was me.” I wasn’t sure what he was getting at, but he grabbed his hat—an old fashioned fedora—and pulled off his tie. Then he unbuttoned three buttons of his shirt and turned his jacket collar up. He took off his glasses and put them with his tie. Then took a position in a kind of slouch, looking at the floor. I snapped a photo, but I saw what he was going for.

“Let me change to the black backdrop,” I said. I found a streetlamp decoration among the storage things that looked like it had been for a window display. It was a little short, but I put it on a box to raise it just above his head height. Then I went about finding the right way to set the lights so it looked like he was standing in the light of that one street lamp.

He saw what I was doing and nodded. He pulled off his jacket and shirt and stripped out of his undershirt. Then he put the shirt back on, unbuttoned to about mid-chest, and left it hanging outside his pants. He got up beside the lamp and started to lean against it, then realized it wasn’t that stable. He just took a pose that looked like he was casually leaning against it. Things were beginning to look right. The tricky part of this would be to make it look like his face was backlit by the street lamp, but still have enough fill from the front that you could make out his features.

The sum total was that I got great pictures of him in what was obviously the Attic Allure style. I would be asking for permission to put that photo in my gallery. I’d need a special permission for limited display since he wasn’t part of my model crew.

Anyway, I was clear for photos and could study all week until my next sessions on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. So, when I spotted her in the hall on Wednesday, I asked Roxie if she’d like to go out this weekend. She agreed and we decided to go to a play called Our Town that was being produced by the high school in Huntertown.

I shot another retake on Saturday afternoon and then got ready to go on my date. Chris had come to do makeup for the senior and when she left, she grinned at me and put a hand on my cheek. I thought she was going to kiss me, but she just said, “Have fun on your date.”

Roxie looked nice. I stopped and met her parents before we left. She was wearing a short skirt, sweater, and black shoes with bobby socks. I hadn’t noticed how cute she was, mostly because I hadn’t been looking at any of the other girls in our class. Maybe I was getting jaded by the number of girls I’d seen naked.

Roxie never hesitated when she got in the car. She slid right over to the center seat so she could lean against me. I had to concentrate on keeping my hands on the wheel instead of wrapping an arm around her.

“It’s so cultured of you to take me to a play instead of a movie or bowling or something,” Roxie said. “Is this what you do in Chicago for dates?”

“I never really went on dates in Calumet. Sometimes a bunch of us would meet to go get a hamburger, but mostly, we went to school dances like we do in Tenbrook. I guess some of the older kids would go into Chicago if they wanted something cultured like a play or concert. That was nothing I could ever afford to do.”

“Then I feel really special.” She made a kissy noise at me, but she didn’t try to actually kiss me while I was driving.

When I got to the Huntertown school and parked, I ran around to her side to open the door. She scooted over and stuck a leg out, exposing herself all the way to her pink panties. She didn’t seem to notice, or to mind if she did notice. She just took hold of my hand and held it as we went to get tickets.

It was a pretty good show, but kind of sad, I guess. I mean the kids grew up next door to each other, fell in love, got married, had kids, and then she died. The whole last act was set in the graveyard with her among the dead people.

About the time the lights went down for the second act, Roxie pulled at my hand and leaned into me.

“You can put your arm around me,” she whispered.

I guess the invitation wasn’t quite enough and she pulled my arm around her shoulders. Every once in a while, as George and Emily prepared to get married, Roxie gripped my thigh or reached over to touch my chest. At the beginning of the third act, Roxie pulled my hand down off her shoulder and under her arm to hold with her other hand against her side. Like just barely below her breast. It was kind of hard to concentrate on the last act.

I knew how dangerous it was, but I drove home with my arm around Roxie except when I had to shift gears. That gave us about twelve or thirteen miles with her holding my hand over her shoulder and just at the top of her chest, while she talked about how sad the play was and asked if I believed people don’t understand the value of life when they live it. I could see the point in the play. I thought we tended to get all involved in what we were doing and didn’t take time to see the larger world around us. I was about to comment on the war and what was going on when Roxie spoke.

“That’s why I want to do everything. I want to experience everything and go everyplace and try everything that comes my way.”

She lived out in the country, about two miles north of town on a farm. I pulled into her driveway and parked, turning off the car so I could walk her to her door. As soon as I was parked, Roxie was kind of all over me. She got me turned toward her so we could kiss. That first kiss might not have been as fabulous as kissing Chris, but it was still a real charge.

“Ronda said you could teach me a lot about kissing,” Roxie whispered. “Show me. Show me everything.”

Well, I’m not sure how Ronda would know. And the more Roxie and I kissed, the more I doubted I had anything I could teach her. She was an avid kisser and we worked over each other’s mouth and tongue. I’d had the heat on in the car, so Roxie’s coat was open and I’d slid my hand around her as we kissed so I was holding her close to me. And I can’t describe how it happened, but somehow while we were really involved in a tongue battle, my hand just kind of moved on its own around to cup her right breast and squeeze a little.

Roxie didn’t push me away. In fact, her kissing became even more enthusiastic as I marveled at the very first breast I’d ever had in my hand. And Roxie had an abundant supply of breast to fill my hand and then some.

“Wow! You are some kisser, Roxie,” I said as I looked at her, my hand still planted on her breast. She looked down and then took hold of it, not moving it away, but just holding it there.

“You, too, Nate. Maybe next time we go out, we’ll do more.”

Then she pulled my hand away from her soft sweater and softer breast and started to slide over. I jumped out of the car and held her hand as we walked to her back door. She gave me one more deep kiss and then I went back to the car as she went inside.

Damn! The first tit I ever held!

“Did you have fun this weekend?” Chris asked when she slid into the seat next to me in English class.

“Yeah. It was good.”

I wasn’t sure how else I should answer. I’d done another photo session Sunday and still managed to read the first chapter of The Great Gatsby. This was going to be our major reading for second semester as well as a bunch of short stories. We were going to have a US History series combined with our English class on trends of the twentieth century, focusing on the boom and bust cycles as influenced by the two great wars. I wished Christine was in the same US History class I was, but our schedules were different.

“How was your weekend?” I asked when we had a break.

“Yeah. Good. It was different, but I had some fun. Maybe tell you about it next weekend.”

That was right. We’d already promised to go out together this weekend. I was wondering if I should take Roxie out again. I mean, geez! The girl kissed like a demon and let me feel her up while we were into it. And she’d said we’d do more next time. I wasn’t sure if she meant we’d do more kissing or if she meant she’d go even further. Either way.

Well, I was committed. And when I stopped to think about it, aside from making out, I’d much rather spend time with Christine than Roxie.

“Where are you taking me this Saturday?” Roxie asked when she stopped me in the hall Wednesday. “Or are we just going to go park somewhere?”

“Um ... I’m sorry, Roxie. I already have a date Saturday with Christine,” I explained. “I had a really good time with you. Maybe next week.”

The look of utter distaste she gave me dispelled any thoughts I had of going out with her again.

“No more nookie for you,” she spat. I guess that adventure was over.

I went to the basketball game Friday night feeling like I was close to all caught up on my homework. There was a dance afterward and I went, just wondering what the experience would be this time.

And once again, Christine found me and we went out for half a dozen dances before we came off the floor and she went to join the girls. I saw Roxie headed toward me, but before she got there, Ronda stepped up in front of me.

“Time to swing, Nate,” she said. Well, that was all right with me. Ronda was a hell of a good dancer and people actually gave us room on the dance floor to do our thing. We must have danced for close to half an hour.

“Ronda, I love dancing with you,” I said. “It’s so much fun.”

“Good. Then you can escort me to the Homecoming Valentine Dance.” The school figured it could economize some by having the basketball homecoming dance on Valentine’s weekend. Valentine’s Day wasn’t until Monday, but everyone figured the Saturday dance and party would be plenty.

“Um ... Ronda. I mean ... thank you for asking me, but I really was hoping I’d be able to take Christine,” I said. I wondered if that was going to get me the same virtual slap in the face that Roxie gave me. I mean, Ronda was truly a knockout, but she’d made it pretty clear that I only interested her as a photographer and as a dance partner.

“Okay,” she said, nodding her head.

“Huh?”

“Okay. You can take both of us. You can ask her when we walk home tonight. Now come with me and let me introduce you to a couple of lonely seniors who really want to dance,” she said.

I wasn’t too sure what just transpired. It sounded like I was walking Christine and Ronda home from the dance again tonight. That was good. Ronda took me over to another group of girls who were sitting on the bleachers.

“Hey, Joan. Have you met Nate? He’s like the official school photographer, but he’s a little shy. He’s been asking about you, though, so I figured I should bring him over and ask you to dance with him or he’d never work up the nerve to do it,” Ronda said.

“Um ... Hi, Nate,” Joan said. “I guess I could dance with you, but I can’t do all the fancy stuff Ronda does.”

“That’s okay,” I said. “It’s pretty exhausting and I’d rather not get known for performing all the time. Thank you for dancing with me.” Whatever Ronda’s game was, I was just playing along.

Joan was a nice girl with dark blonde hair, a short skirt that was just a little longer than the minis so many girls were wearing in non-school hours, and the usual kind of tight sweater over a well-armored bra. We danced a couple of numbers and loosened up a little. It turned out that Joan was pretty fun and incredibly smart. It looked like she’d be valedictorian of her class. Yeah, Joan was a senior. I thought I should ask her out, but she declined. I escorted her back to her spot on the bleachers and just turned to the next person on the bench.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know your name. I’m Nate. Would you like to dance?”

“Um ... Sure,” she said. “I’m Lynn. It’s nice to meet you, Nate.” We got to the dance floor just as the music slowed down and I took her into my arms. She just melted into me as we shuffled around the floor, perhaps a little more energetically than the other dancers who pretty much just clutched and shuffled, ignoring the music. I was about to ask her out when she pulled away from me.

“Thanks for the dance, Lynn,” I started.

“You’re welcome. Excuse me now, please. My boyfriend is ready to leave.”

Her what? She headed back to her bench to collect her purse and coat and a guy I recognized as having been on the line in football took her hand and led her out of the gym.

Then, Chris and Ronda were on my arms and we began the last dance of the evening.

“I didn’t introduce you to Lynn,” Ronda hissed at me. “Don’t you look at a girl’s hand before you ask her out?”

“Her hand?”

“The engagement ring?” Ronda said. I hadn’t even noticed. “A photographer is supposed to be more observant.”

In a repeat of two weeks ago, I wrapped an arm around Chris from one side and Ronda put an arm around her from the other. We walked home. At Ronda’s door, we paused for that kiss goodnight that I figured Ronda would give Chris.

“Christine, Nate wants to create a scandal at school.”

“Really? That would be fun. What do you want to do, Nate? Post a bunch of girls’ naked pictures?” she laughed.

“No! I wouldn’t do a thing like that,” I protested.

“Well, ask her,” Ronda prompted.

“I wanted to ask you to go to the Homecoming Valentine Dance with me,” I said.

“Of course! I was hoping you’d ask,” Chris said. “That wasn’t very scandalous.”

“Oh, that’s because you’re only half of what he wants. Dear Nate wants to take me to the Homecoming Valentine Dance, too,” Ronda said. I started to protest, but Chris was all over it.

“That would be scandalous! But I see the sense in it. You know, I don’t dance as well as you do, Ronda. So, I guess he’d be taking you to dance with and me to make out with.”

Huh? The conversation was going too fast for me to keep up. Make out with Chris? Anytime!

“Well, I have to have someone escort me to the presentation of the court,” Ronda said. “They’d throw a fit if you did it.”

“Oh, yeah. That’s fine. As long as I get to dance with him sometimes.”