Part 6: Friday Evening

Chapter Twenty-Two - Mike

Well, the shower in a baseball locker room after a victory is always a happy place. When you beat a team you haven't beaten in six years, it's a particularly happy place. What I found out that day was, when your girlfriend is there and asks you to help wash up-it's a very happy place.

Of course, it would've been happier if said girlfriend was asking me to help wash something other than some pretty nasty cuts. But, hey, you can't always get what you want, right?

What was a bit strange was being in a shower with my girlfriend with twenty other naked guys. But, you know what? It was fine.

Frankie asked Lily about it. "I was curious, Lil. You're naked in a shower with twenty equally naked guys. Forget, for a minute, that your boyfriend's one of the naked guys. Do you get turned on?"

"Sure," Lily admitted. "Now Mikey turns me on anyway, but I've been in gym showers all week, with naked guys and him not there, and, sure, I get turned on."

"How do you stand it?" he asked. "Look, Lily, don't take this the wrong way-but if Mike weren't one of my best friends, I'd be trying to get you into the corner." She laughed. "Hell, and you're just one naked girl in the shower."

"How do I stand it? I don't, frankly," she admitted. "If I weren't in pain, I'd probably be pulling Mikey in the corner myself for a knee-trembler."

"Those are fun," Ed piped up.

"And you would know, you pussyhound," Lily retorted with a laugh. "Anyhow, no, I don't stand it. Look, you guys know how The Program works. I reserve actual sex for Mike, since Wednesday, but I've had other hands on my pussy this week. He's had other hands on his dick. That's fine. This week makes you horny, that's a fact, and we have no classes together. If he wasn't here, Frankie, you could talk me into a double hand-job without much of a problem. And, I'll tell you, if I were on this team in this shower and didn't have a boyfriend, I'd probably become your community-property chick with very little convincing." Everyone cracked up at that. "But sex is sex. Sex with love involved is better, and more important. However, you made me think. I don't mind coming in here and getting all worked up, because I know I have an outlet. I hadn't thought how it might affect the rest of you guys. If the rest of you would prefer I take my showers elsewhere, tell me. I won't be offended a bit."

"Ah, naw, Lily, you're a teammate," Frankie said. "You take your showers right here with us." Everybody else voiced their assent. "Though I'm thinking about bumping Mikey off," he laughed.

"Oh, yeah, Gutierrez, sure you are," I told him. "Who else would catch your dying quails?"

"Baseball is baseball. Sex is sex," Frankie said. "Ah, no, you know I'm just kidding. And, no, Lily, this is your shower too. It's not your fault I don't have an outlet."

"Sure you do," Ed butt in. "It's called your right hand."

"Notice, if you will," Frankie answered, "how scrawny my right arm is. And how bulked up Ed's is. And you answer for yourself who's been giving that arm a workout. Hint: it ain't the pitcher in this scenario."

"Maybe if you worked your arm out better, you'd be able to throw harder," Ed retorted.

"I do just fine with what I've got," Frankie maintained. "Well, on the baseball field, anyway."

"I think I just got a new life's mission," Lily told him. "Find Frankie a girlfriend."

"Oh, that will be fun to watch," Ed said. "And you thought pitching the ninth inning against a great team with your side all ripped to shreds was tough. You don't know what kind of trouble you just bought."

"Well, maybe I should go for the two-fer, and find you a girlfriend, too, Ed," Lily laughed.

"Ed does not do girlfriends," said Ed. "Ed prefers to play the field. Ed has enough trouble in his life without a girlfriend." He grinned, but I knew what was behind it. "Ed, as you said earlier, is a pussyhound."

Knowing what Lily was like, and knowing what Ed was like, I whispered in Lily's ear, "Drop that one. I'll explain later." She gave me a quizzical look, but didn't bring up Ed and a girlfriend again.

We finally finished the shower, and went to the locker room to get dressed. Lily and I didn't bother, actually-Lily really didn't want to put clothes on over that injury, so I decided to stay nude, too. Heck, it was becoming second nature by now. Though, when we went to leave, she did proudly don her new letterman's jacket.

"You guys hitting The Mariner?" Ed asked.

"I don't think so," I said. "Sure," Lily said at the same time.

"Are you up to it?" I asked.

"Yeah. I'll have to grab a seat cushion or something, but I'm up for it. We have to go to my house, first. The problem is, I don't think I'm up to driving."

"I'll drive your car."

"How will you get home?" she asked.

"We'll think of something." We walked out to her car. She flipped me the keys, I helped her in, and then got in the driver's side.

"Hey, did it bother you what I said in there?" Lily asked.

"No, not at all. Hey, I can see what you mean. We've decided to be true to one another-that doesn't mean your hormones are shut off. That doesn't mean you won't find other people attractive. You were surrounded by 20 naked guys in a shower-if you weren't getting turned on, then I'd worry. And I don't blame Frankie, either." I sighed. "Frankie Gutierrez has horrible luck with girls. I don't necessarily understand it-he's a good guy. I have no capacity to judge a guy's looks-"

"He's a decent-looking guy," she interrupted. "He's particularly decent looking with no clothes on. His arms aren't scrawny, no matter what he says; his chest and legs are nice; and no girl would have a complaint with what's between his legs. I say that in the most clinically detached way, of course," she deadpanned.

"Surrrrre you do."

"You doubt me?" she grinned. "Anyway, if he's not getting girls, it's not because of his looks. And I like him, so I don't see that part of it, either."

"Well, I dunno," I told her. "Actually, I do know, but I don't know how to solve it for him. You're just another in a long line, actually. You made quick friends with Frankie, yes?"

"Yeah. I like him."

"And that's all you'll ever be, friends," I said. "Now, you have a good reason-namely, me." She giggled at that. "But other girls don't. Frankie Gutierrez is more surrounded by girls half the time than I am, which is saying something considering what my home life is like. But they're all 'just friends'. If Frankie had a mile an hour on his fastball for every time he heard that 'just friends' line, he'd throw a hundred."

"Ah. Been there, done that, you know that."

"Yeah, that's right, you have," I realized. "So you understand Frankie's problem."

"Yeah, but I don't know if I have a solution for him. He just has to wait for the right girl, that's all. All I could do was wait for the right guy." She smiled at me. I smiled back. "Now, about the other one. Ed. You were going to explain this to me."

I sighed. "I'm only going to give you the bare bones of this one. Any further details will have to come from Ed. Well, you know about the first blow he got-Marcia, the one that was dating both of us at the same time."

"Yeah," she said.

"The second one was worse. Right after Marcia, he hooked up with Annie Zipelski. We had all known Annie since sixth grade. This happened about this time freshman year. I think they had been growing attracted to each other for some time before they hooked up. So, they finally hooked up, and were going together for a few months."

"Anyhow, suffice it to say that Annie had a horrific situation in her home life. Ed found out about it after those first couple months. He moved heaven and earth to get her out of it-and get her out of it he did. He managed to pretty much save her life." I sighed. "I can't get into more detail than that-as I said, you'll have to ask Ed. That's private. But what I do know is, after he put himself on the line for her, she dumped him, a month later."

"Oh, shit," Lily said.

"Yeah. Now, it was a lot more complicated than that, I know it. I don't know everything-I do know that Ed doesn't completely blame her, that it was a lot more complicated than just a 'Thanks for everything, now get lost' situation. But it devastated him. For a long time. And, since then, just the mention of the words 'girlfriend' or 'love' make him break out in hives. So he hides behind his jokes, and being, as you called it, a pussyhound. Very few people know what makes him that way. Me and Amanda, that's about it."

"Damn, though, he's sixteen years old!" Lily said.

"I know. Hopefully, some day, he'll get over it. The think is, Ed's a healer, a protector. Ed wants to save the world. I know you don't get that from his personality at first glance, but he is. He's the first guy to grab a wounded bird and nurse it back to health. The problem is, when they get back healthy, they fly away. And, with Annie, he realized that people sometimes do the same damn thing. So he closes himself off to all but a very few people-because he can't stand to watch anyone else fly away. "

"Damn," Lily said. "Does Annie still live here?"

"No, she moved to Newburgh about a month after her and Ed ended."

"Damn. I like Ed. He deserves better."

I smiled at her. "In some ways, you're like him, I'm finding out. Find a girlfriend for Frankie, worry about Ed. Save the world."

"Yeah," she smiled back. "The difference between us is that I prefer to be that way for friends. I like my men all healed up by the time they get to me."

"They'd have to be," I grinned. "Anyone lacking intestinal fortitude would wither under you. I was thinking about this-I'm very glad we met now, and not, say, two years ago. I've got a good strong self-image. I know what I want. I can't say I would've been like that two years ago."

"Two years ago I don't know if you would've recognized me," she sighed. "I wasn't all that healthy myself. It took a long time to come to terms with who I am. Sometimes I feel I'm still working on it." Then she smiled at me. "And you help, you know. It really does help that you love me in all my guises."

"I really do," I told her. "Look, growing up the way I did-I've seen all different types of attraction. It's made me come to terms with what I like. I understand that attraction is a weird and not always easily explainable thing. In my case, I know I'm attracted to girls, first and foremost. But, you know what that means to me? I like the female body. I'm sexually attracted to people who have all the requisite female parts. And that's pretty much it. I like the basics of the female form, and don't get turned on by a naked man at all. Where attraction goes from there has nothing to do with 'liking girls'. It has to do with liking people. It has to do with personality traits. To me, you're the perfect mixture. I don't get into 'feminine' and 'masculine' and all that crap for personality traits. You're you-a sexy, sweet, smart, funny girl who also has a will of iron and doesn't mind getting dirty and mucking it up. I love all of it."

"Do you know how long I've waited for you to come into my life?" she sighed happily. " Look, I've been struggling for some time with the less-than-feminine side of my personality. I'm still struggling. Knowing you accept all of me is such a relief, you have no idea."

"You know what? I was going to ask you this anyway. My Mom is having a cookout tomorrow. She has this every spring, right around Opening Day. All her friends are there-and she also invites the kids from the GLBT Teen Crisis Hotline that she runs. I think there will be some people there that I'd like you to meet."

"OK, sounds interesting," she said.

"And Jared and Amanda will be there, you know them. They work on the hotline."

"They do?"

"Amanda is sort-of kind-of bi," I laughed. "Not really, but she's had a few experiences. And the girl she's had those experiences with, Allie Fitzpatrick, is completely bi. They're all friends, so they volunteer together. Ed'll be there, too, but only because he always comes to our parties."

"I'll be there," she said. "Oh, wait a minute, the school carnival is tomorrow!"

"Yeah, we can go to both," I told her. "Mom has her cookouts early. The carnival doesn't start until four, plenty of time. And you can wear clothes to Mom's," I joked.

"Oh, yeah, we'll have to go to the carnival nude, won't we?" she laughed. "Ah well. Ought to be fun."

Chapter Twenty-Three - Lily

After that interesting series of conversations, we were at my house. Mikey helped me get out of my car, and helped me to the door. We walked in, and the whole family was there.

"Oh, my God, Lily!" Mom said after taking one look at me. "What happened to you?"

"An ill-advised slide into home," I admitted ruefully.

"With the winning run," Mike added proudly. "She pitched a two-hit shutout, and scored the winning run in the bottom of the 8^th. And pitched the top of the 9^th like that."

"Wow, that's so awesome!" Amber, my little sister, said.

"Yeah, awesome," I said ruefully. "Awesomely painful."

"But you gutted it out, like you always do," Dad said. "I'm proud of you."

"It really was something," Mike said.

"Well, who drove in the winning run?" I grinned at him.

Mike and I took turns, telling them all about the game, almost a pitch-by-pitch blow. Including the part where I had to clean myself, which made Mom howl. Halfway through, though, Mike leaned into me and whispered. "I'm going out to the car. Be right back." Then he got up.

"Wait a minute!" I said, and followed him into the foyer. "What's up?"

"I'm going to go get my clothes," he said.

"Why?"

"Because I feel uncomfortable being naked around an eleven-year-old. Especially one that keeps staring at me."

"Oh, is she?" I giggled. "I guess I didn't notice."

"What's up?" Lily's mom said, coming into the foyer.

"He's worried about Amber," I told her.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Woodard, I didn't realize Amber would be here, or I would've put some clothes on in the first place."

"Oh, nonsense," Mom said. "She's eleven. She's started puberty already. She's curious. There's no harm in it. That's what The Program is for, isn't it? It's outreach, think of it that way," she continued. "Lily's been around here naked all week. And Amber doesn't have a brother, so you're the next best thing."

"He says she's staring," I told Mom with a giggle.

"Of course she is," Mom said. "Now, you two march back in there and continue this story!"

I grinned at Mike, who just shrugged. We went back in the living room. We finished the story, and my parents were delighted at how the game went. Meanwhile, I took a glance at Amber. She was staring.

After the story was done, I figured it was time. "Amber," I said, "have you ever seen a naked boy before?"

"Uh, no," she admitted.

I looked at Mike, and smiled and nodded. "Do you have any questions?" Mike asked. I knew I could count on him, once he realized nobody else was uncomfortable.

"Well, uh," Amber started hesitantly, "does it hurt when it... you know... gets... uh..." She was blushing furiously.

Mike helped her out. "You mean when it gets hard?" Amber nodded, still blushing. "No, it doesn't hurt. It's a bit, I don't know, I guess 'stretchy' is the best word. But it doesn't hurt. If I stay hard for a very long time, that can hurt a bit."

"How do you get... you know... hard," Amber asked.

"Well, I'm a seventeen-year-old boy. At my age, it's very unpredictable. Someone like your Dad can control it better. I sometimes get hard when the wind blows." We all chuckled at that, except for Amber, who was looking very confused.

"I guess I thought that boys got-that way-around naked girls," she said. "But Lily's naked! And she's your girlfriend! And you're not!"

"Oh, that's just because of The Program. We've spent a lot of time naked around one another this week. We've kind of gotten used to it. If I got hard every time I've seen Lily naked this week, it would hurt."

"It would especially hurt if he got hard when we're out on the baseball field," I said. Amber looked confused. "Do you know what a cup is?"

"No," she said.

"Do you know what a jockstrap is?" Mike asked.

"Oh, yeah, one of the guys at school showed me. Guys wear it when they're playing sports, so stuff doesn't jiggle," she giggled.

"Exactly right," Mike told her. "Well, a cup is a piece of hard plastic that fits into a jockstrap. It protects the 'stuff'" Amber giggled. "Football players wear them. And baseball catchers do, too. If I wasn't wearing one, and I took a foul tip down there, that would be very painful."

"Ah," Amber said.

"And a cup fits tight. When a guy gets an erection, it gets bigger. There's no room inside a cup for that. Plus, it's easier to not get an erection if you're mind is on other things. Your sister is beautiful, and I love her, and when she was standing on the mound naked I might have gotten excited-but I was too busy thinking about what pitch to call next."

"OK, I see," she said. "But if you don't get hard around Lily, then how do you... you know... do it?"

I stifled a giggle-and I saw my parents do the same thing-but Mike really was being a trooper. "I didn't say I didn't get an erection around Lily-I said I didn't get one all the time. There's a difference."

"Amber, if I wanted him to get an erection, he'd have one. There's ways to do that," I told her.

I probably shouldn't have said that, knowing my sister. Because the next statement was predictable. "I wanna see," she said shyly.

"You will, eventually," I said, trying to get out of this.

"Lily, if she wants to see, show her," Mom said. Poor Mikey almost died at that one! "Look, this is educational for her."

"It's not something a girl can ask her father," Dad said. "Her older sister's boyfriend is perfect. In the world we're living in, the more she knows, the better off she is."