Chapter 7: Finishing the Academic Year

And then it was Christmas. I had bought a beautiful long dress for Tara, in anticipation of her Prom in June, and to repay her for the Halloween gown. Mom and Dad surprised me with my own car! I was not expecting this. Unfortunately, the Department of Motor Vehicles insisted on a photograph for my driving license. It was the first official record of my ugly face.

My senior year in high school ground on, one endless day after another. I put minimal effort into my entirely unimportant courses. During my “lunch” periods, in the library, I would complete any homework assignments. Rather than being anxious, at school I was now just utterly detached. The place was like a hornets nest. I moved around carefully so as not to disturb anything and get stung. But I also focused less on whether my birthmark was being seen, at least by other students.

My main focus was to enjoy my relationship with Ariel. As my first sexual and romantic partner, she could make me moist with just a look. It became kind of routine for us to head to Ariel’s house for after school trysts. Presumably, Tara and Carson were enjoying similar romps in our house, with no worries from Mom and her openness to our love lives.

After so many years of isolation, I wasn’t going to be neglecting Ariel’s hot body. Not a chance.

On the other hand, though, Tara was Ariel’s best friend for so many years. And for all of Carson’s virtues, Tara wanted time with Ariel too. Truth be told, I was learning something else about myself. Ariel just didn’t come equipped with a penis, and that was starting to gnaw at me more and more.

I had seen women wearing strap-on fake cocks in porn on my phone. But the thought of Ariel wearing a harness was (to me) ludicrous, not lusty. Worse, introducing a plastic or rubber fake into my body made me queasy. We were still banging away happily, but the intensity was starting to seep away, I felt.

There was one other issue I was wrestling with. I felt that from a social standpoint, I had made some good progress during this last year of high school. But I was still too inhibited to even speak casually to people, and I rarely went out in public where my face might be seen. My experiences had been “safe” up until now. On Halloween I was masked. Carson already knew me well, and we didn’t venture out of the house anyway. Ariel and I were in public only once together (on our first date), and she also knew me well so my stain wasn’t a problem for her.

Confession time: when Ariel was eating me out, sometimes I imagined that tongue belonged to the legendary Carson, on loan from Tara. I would never propose such a swap to my sister; it was strictly a fantasy.

One new habit for me was I started to prepare dinners for the family. This was an enormous relief to my parents who would arrive home in the evenings exhausted from work. Not because of physical labor, but because they both had sedentary “all day in the office chair” jobs.

For my nuclear family I have to begin with my dad. He’s Martin Vinke. And he is an engineer at the Feather River Nuclear Power Plant. Yeah, sorry, I’ve told that joke a hundred times. He’s 45, average height, maybe 40 lbs. overweight, brown hair, blue eyes. Mom is Elaine “Lainie” Bridger Vinke, also 40s, tall, curvy, blonde, blue eyes. She is an office manager at a big law firm. Already discussed, my sister Theresa “Tara” Vinke.

As the academic year was (finally!) coming to an end, Tara was preparing for her Junior Prom. Tara and her loyal boyfriend Carson had stayed together through the entire year, so he was her escort.

Other young men had asked to be her Prom date, but Tara had politely declined them. Ariel made her own Prom proposal to Tara, while knowing it was a futile gesture. “Ariel, there is no girl on this planet I would prefer over you.” Followed by a three minute misty hug between them.