Chapter 1

I guess before I get started I should probably tell you at least a little bit about myself. I was born and raised in Houston, but not all of my life was spent there. I did a lot of traveling as a child and teen with both family and friends, so by the time I graduated from high school, I felt pretty well rounded and adjusted; I had managed to put behind me the reflexive responses ingrained from growing up in the "Bible Belt" and accept people and situations as I encountered them. I had always been more than a little on the wild side, and my morals were almost non-existent. With the naivety of an 18 year old, I thought nothing could shock me. I learned differently the summer before I left for college.

I was spending some time with Janet, a friend who lived in a small town of less than 500 people. Except for the fact that her house was right on the main road three blocks from the courthouse, most people would consider her home out in the country. All the traffic that went through town either came down the road that ran past the front of her house or turned from the road that ended in a T intersection in front of her house. She had a large front yard and no back yard to speak of, so all of the traditional back yard things were set up in front of the house behind a 4-foot tall chain link fence. The thing that saw the most use was the 12-foot round trampoline. It sat to the right of the driveway behind the fence. There was a large tree off farther to the right, and the house was to the left of the driveway.

During the day, the trampoline made an ideal place to sit, or lay, and watch the people go by. Everyone knew that the "kids" all gathered on it and always honked or waved as they went past. At night, it was the best place to watch the stars. Since the town rolled up the sidewalks at dusk, there was no interference from artificial light, and the stars looked like large hunks of quartz sitting up in the night sky. The entire town seemed to go to bed at 10:00 on weeknights, and for a city girl like me, that was just unnatural. As I said, I grew up in Houston, and you could always find something to do regardless of the time. Needless to say, that wasn't the case in this little town.

On Saturday night Janet and I made our usual trip to the next town to go dancing. They had a BYOB place that was the closest thing to a real club within 60 miles. People from all of the surrounding towns were there, and the place was packed. She and I went in and claimed a spot at our usual table and started looking for our friends. We had been frequenting this place for several years now, so even though I lived 180 miles away, I still knew quite a few people. I was looking forward to finding Mike. He had been my dance partner for the last year or so, and we had been working on a different version of the most common dance there, the 2-step. I didn't see him immediately, so sat down with a group of friends to enjoy the music.

We sat, talked to friends, and sipped drinks for a while when I happened to spot someone whom I had not seen in several years. As a matter of fact, everyone told me that he had moved to another state, so I never expected to see him again. He was the person that I liked the most in that little town, aside from Janet, and I had sorely missed him when he left. Well, now he was back, at least for a visit, and I had to talk to him. I told Janet that I had spotted an old friend, and wanted to say hi and I might be gone for a while.

Just like in the old days, he was "holding court" over near the corner. There were about 15 people gathered around him trying to get his attention for one reason or another. It took some time to make it through the press of people and come at him from behind. I reached around and put my hands over his eyes, and leaned in carefully dodging his cowboy hat so that my mouth was close to his ear and said "Howdy, cowboy."

"Tracy? Is that really you? I can't believe you're here!" he said as he pulled my hands from his eyes and turned sideways in his chair to pull me onto his lap.

To say that he was startled was an understatement. It had been 2 years since we had seen each other, and when he left, things were at one of those awkward stages in the relationship where neither person is sure how serious things are. Sure, we cared about each other, and we definitely had great sex, but was it more than just friends having sex? Neither of us knew, so each was sort of avoiding the other in hopes that one of us would come up with a way to bring the question out in the open without spoiling what we already had.

I wanted a good reception, but this was much more than I had hoped for. His arms went around my shoulders as he pulled me in for what would turn out to be the first of many kisses for the night. We sat there with me on his lap talking and listening to friends for another 20 minutes or so, when I finally stood up and said, "How 'bout a dance cowboy?"

We threaded our way out onto the dance floor and merged into the endless circle that is the country and western dance pattern. It was just like old times; we fell into the steps that we had always used, and he pulled me tightly to him so my breasts were pressed firmly to his chest; his thigh was between mine as we moved across the floor. Being this close was conducive to private talks, and this was the place where more than one bout of really intense sex had started. I turned my head so that my mouth was close to his ear and said, "I thought I'd never get you to myself. Please tell me that you'll be here for more than just the weekend."

His response delighted me and sent shivers down my spine at the same time. His warm breath caressed my ear and his voice was thick with emotion. "I've come home to stay. I hope you're gonna to be here for a while, too."

Now, my plans had been sort of nebulous, and I had to leave for college at the end of August, but other than that, I really didn't have much else going on that summer. I had quit my job just before high school graduation, and I had planned to have fun before I went off to my new life. I knew that I would have to OK staying for any real length of time with both my parents, and Janet's parents, but another week would be no problem for either, so I could commit to that easily.

"I'll be here at least a week. I gotta go home for Father's day, but other than that, I think I can make arrangements to be here for a while. Why, you interested in renewing old acquaintances?"

"Is that all I was to you, an acquaintance? I'm hurt. Here I thought you would be pinning for me all this time, and I bet that you can't even remember my name."

"Silly, you know better than that - Of course you were more than an acquaintance. I don't have sex with acquaintances. You should know that by now. And as for not remembering your name, I won't even dignify that with a comment."

His breath on my neck and ear was making my blood boil. He knew where all my sensitive spots were, and I had my hair up that night so he was able to get to all of them without having to burrow through hair. The fingers of his right hand were tracing patterns on my back, while the left was pulled in close and intertwined with mine. The music changed to a slow fiddle song and the pace on the dance floor slowed to a crawl. These were my least favorite dances and he knew it. He guided me to the edge of the floor and put both his hands around my waist to push me ahead of him in the crowd.

I had forgotten how big his hands were. I had a small waist, about 18 inches at the time, but most men could not interlace part of their fingers with their hands around my waist. His fingers came together at the second knuckle, and the thumbs overlapped at the first knuckle. He steered me towards the hand-stamp portion of the door, and I stopped to get my stamp. He pulled his right hand off of my waist and got his stamped as well. He replaced his hand on my waist, and herded me through the crowd in the parking lot over to the picnic tables that were just at the edge of the gravel lot. When we were finally through the press of people, he released my waist and stepped forward. He draped an arm across my shoulders. His hand rested familiarly on my shoulder, but I longed for him to pull me closer and rest that large hand on my breast instead. When we finally made it out to the tables, we sat on the table side by side with our boots resting on the bench. The music, which was so loud that it made conversation difficult inside, was a nice background to a quiet conversation on that table.

We sat and talked, catching up on what had happened in the last two years. He was 2 years older than me, so while his physical appearance between 18 and 20 had changed little, he had matured significantly. I, however, had been 16 when he had seen me last. I had a passable figure for a 16-year-old girl, but the 2-year time period had given the curves time to mature. The differences that 2 years of drill team and 2 years of growing up had made to my body were significant. I had gained about 4 inches in my bust and hips, and lost 3 in my waist. Being an 18-year-old girl, I was obsessed about my figure, and I had heard somewhere that a 20 inch gap between waist and bust was the ideal to shoot for. I had finally obtained it, and was quite proud of the body that I had worked so hard for.

That night I was dressed pretty conservatively for me, but then most of my wardrobe was a scandal to the elders in town, and this outfit was no exception. My jeans were snug enough that if I had been wearing anything other than a thong, the lines would have been obvious a block away, and this was accentuated by the fact that they had no back pockets to break-up the swell of my ass. My blouse was black, snug, low-cut, and had a slight opalescent translucency to it. There was just enough left to the imagination to be decent, and I would not have hesitated to wear it in front of my mother. But if the blouse had been cut any lower, I would have come out of the top every time I bent over. I looked good that night, and I knew it. His eyes kept coming back to the exposed tops of my breasts while we talked, and the hand that was over my shoulder began to make its inevitable decent.

Things were going just as well as I had hoped they would, but we had been outside for over and hour, and I knew that I was pressing my luck with Janet. Reluctantly, I turned to him and said, "I hate to do this, but I've gotta get back inside and find Janet so she won't worry that I have done something stupid. I'll see you later?"

"Of course, what time are y'all plannin' on headin' home? I could stop by and see if the light's on when I leave if you aren't plannin' on stayin' later than I am."

"Oh, we usually head home about 1 o'clock. Janet's usually had enough to drink and is tired of dancing, and I am usually tired of the noise by that point. We stay up and wind down for about 2 hours, so we'll be up when you leave. Now the question is, when do you plan to leave?"

"Well, the original plan was to leave at 12:30 or so and head into Houston for breakfast, but I think I can probably get out of that. I'll just be busy dancing with you when everyone leaves, then, no problem."

"Ok, cowboy, I'll save the 12:15 spot for you. You'll have to come and find me though. I'm not working my way through your flock of hangers-on to get a dance that you want."

"I'll find you. That's a promise."

Then he leaned in and his lips met mine. At first it was just a moist closed lip kiss, comfortable, friendly, but with little passion in it. Then his lips parted and his tongue snaked forward to part my lips, which opened immediately to allow entrance. Our tongues wrestled and fought, first in my mouth, then his. If it had been even slightly more private, things might have gotten completely out of hand. As it was, that kiss seemed to go on forever. His hand went to my right breast, and began to rhythmically squeeze my nipple. It was driving me wild. I could feel my labia engorge and the wetness soak my thong immediately. My left nipple was crinkled in sympathy, and both were so hard that I could feel my pulse in them. I was still lost in his mouth when his other hand found my thighs and tried to part them. I had to break the kiss to stop it from ending with us having sex on the picnic table just outside the club.

He gave a little grunt of frustration, and cupped the back of my neck in his strong hand to pull me in for another kiss. Like the last one, this one started out closed lipped, but both of our mouth's opened simultaneously with a moan as I leaned forward and melted against his chest. His tongue trickled fire into my mouth, only to have me return it to him with interest when the wrestling moved from my mouth to his. My tongue traced his teeth and caressed his pallet. His tongue wrapped itself around mine and then tried to push past it to explore my mouth. We were lost in a world of sensation, a world of darkness, touch, taste, and country music mixed with the ever-present call of crickets. Again, the kiss seemed to go on forever, and it seemed that neither of us would ever need to come up for air. Somehow, we were still breathing without breaking or interfering with that most intense kiss. My blood was pounding so loudly in my ears that I couldn't hear anything except my heartbeat. My nipples were so rigid that I thought they would explode with each heartbeat. My head was beginning to spin, and I could feel the start of a major orgasm building. Just as I reached the point where I was ready to risk getting caught out there on the picnic table, he began to pull away, slowly disengaging, bringing our kiss to an end.

The world started to come back to me, and I was keenly aware of the sounds coming out of the club. It was time for me to get back inside. One last kiss on the cheek, and I was ready to head back. "See you at 12:15, cowboy. If you don't find me or Janet, I'll assume that you've decided to have breakfast in Houston and may make other plans."

"I'll find you between 12:00 and 12:15, I promise. You can't kiss me like that and then tell me you might make other plans."

"We'll see. If you're there, great, but don't let me interfere with your plans if you don't want me too. I'm not trying to hone in on someone else's party. You know, I didn't ask, but are you dating anyone right now? If you are, you better not come by. You know what an almighty mess that caused last time."

"Nope, not dating anyone, not seeing anyone, not engaged to anyone, not married. I'm free, single and ready to party."

"Well, don't let me keep you from the party. I think I'm gonna stay out here for another few minutes. I'm not ready for the assault of the music. I'll be in later. On your way in, if you see Janet, tell her that I'm all right and where I am?"

With a nod, he turned and headed to the door. I pulled out my pack of cigarettes, and lit one while I leaned back on one elbow on the table. Then I laid flat on my back with my feet still resting on the bench to admire the stars. The only light close to me was coming from the door when it intermittently opened to let someone in or out of the club. The ember from my cigarette seemed to hover in mid-air, turning brighter then dimming as I drew air through it. After a few minutes, I heard distinct footsteps that could only be Janet. She knew of my habit of coming out here to get away from the noise for a while, so was not surprised to find me in my regular star watching position.

I felt more than heard the shift in the table when she sat next to me. As was our custom, she laid down to look at the stars for a few minutes before even bothering to bring up whatever it was that brought her out here. In this case, I was sure she had seen Brad and needed to know what was going on between the two of us. She knew I took stupid chances with Brad. Not just unprotected sex, but sex in places that we were likely to get caught or get hurt if we were not extremely alert and careful.

With frustration and anger warring in her voice, Janet said, "Well, I see he's back. Are you gonna to take up where you left off, or have you already done so? You were gone for long enough that you could have. You know that you can tell me truth. At this point, I just want to make sure that you don't do anything stupid enough to keep you from going to college in August."

"No, we haven't done anything really stupid yet. I can't promise we won't, but I'll try to make sure that it's nothing really dangerous. He's going to stop by on his way home tonight, and if he sees lights, we'll see from there. This is all so overwhelming. I thought I was over him, and that I had moved on. I really felt like I was free, but one kiss, and I knew that I just couldn't walk away. I'm going to see if I can get him to move to college with me so that we can share an apartment. I don't think that I can be without him for any long period of time. It's like something that's been missing for a while now has finally fallen back into place, and I'm whole again. I know that's stupid, but it's the only description that I have."

"Ok, I only have one request. Please be back in the house, or at least in the front yard with a car engine that is cool by 5 am. The parents'll be up between 5:30 and 6:00, and I'm not ready to take a bunch of crap so you can run around with Brad again. If that shit starts, I'm gonna to have to ask you to go home. I don't want to do that, but I can't stand trying to cover for you when you run off to god knows where for god knows how long. The only other choice you have is to ask permission from my dad and tell him what's going on. I don't know how he'll take it; he may tell you to go home, or he may do something else entirely. That's the choice you have to make. I know that if you go home, you'll have at least a 2 hour drive to see Brad, and that your mother will expect you back at the house by 2 am every night. That would seriously curtail your time with Brad, but it's your choice to make. I guess I'm through being a mother now, and I'll let it drop."

By this time, I had finished my cigarette, and put it out in the coffee can full of sand that sat on the table. I thought about what Janet said before I spoke. There were lots of things running around in my head about the last time that I saw Brad and the amount of trouble that I caused, not just for myself, but for Janet, who was trying to cover for me. I had a cell phone now, so staying in touch was not a problem, but at the same time, I didn't want her to be responsible for trying to keep track of me. Then there was the fact that I would end up not spending as much time with her as I had originally intentioned. The reason I was here was to spend the last large block of time with Janet that I would probably ever get. I intended to take summer school each year in college so that I could get out in a reasonable time, and I had to see both sets of parents during the breaks between semesters. So the best that I could expect was to spend the occasional weekend with her, whether she came to visit me, or I went to visit her, it would still be too short.

Chapter 2 »