Chapter 5

"THAT THUNDER IN YOUR HEART AT NIGHT, WHEN YOU'RE KNEELING IN THE DARK, THAT SAYS YOU'RE NEVER GONNA LEAVE HER"

MAY 18, 1978

I don't talk out of school. Even the first time around, I would've known that--if I had had anything to talk about then. I wasn't stupid. I saw the bragging--and what that did to the girls being bragged about. What Kara and I did was only our own business.

However, I had to admit, I wonder if anyone had figured it out. Kara and I couldn't keep our hands off of one another--even in school. We'd walk from the bus to the entrance--and it would start as holding hands and would end with our arms wrapped around one another. And, at least to me, it showed on her face. It had only been a few days, of course, but she was glowing--at least to my eyes. I wondered if anyone else noticed.

I did know that she had told one person. "I had to tell somebody, or I was going to burst!" she told me on the phone Monday night. I wasn't going to tell, but I was the guy. I figured who she told was her business. And I especially didn't mind, because the person she had told was Kelly.

And Kelly, when she saw me on that staircase Tuesday morning, giggled and said, "Nice going, stud--you made Kara very, very happy."

"That makes two of us," I grinned.

"So, tell me--if I had told you six months ago that you were going to lose your virginity to Kara Pocharsky, what would you have done?" she asked.

"Had you locked up, because you clearly would've been insane." She giggled at that one.

So, Kelly knew, but that was Kara's doing, and I didn't mind. I wasn't going to tell anyone.

Well, actually, I was. Just one. There's an exception to every rule, right? And I knew about what Kara had said--wanting to tell someone or you'd burst. Besides which, there's some people that you can just trust.

On this date, the 18th, I missed the bus. On purpose. But I didn't tell Beth that, I just found her and sheepishly admitted that I had missed the bus again. She laughed, and we started walking to her house.

I was waiting until we got to the railroad tracks. And when we got there, Beth gave me the perfect opening.

"Hey, Eddie, tell me--what has gotten into you? You're in a mood today--all week, in fact. It's like you're floating on a cloud. What's up?"

"OK, I'll tell you. I haven't told a soul this, and the only person I ever planned on telling was you." She nodded. Then I told her. "Saturday afternoon, I lost my virginity. Kara and I had sex for the first time."

Poor Beth. She was carrying a few books in her hand. She dropped them! She just stood there, looking at me like I was an alien being or something, while I scrambled around trying to grab the papers that had fallen out of her books before they blew away down the railroad tracks!

I finally got them all gathered up, and handed them to her. She was still staring at me. "You OK, Beffy?" I asked.

"You... you... had SEX?"

"Yeah."

"Eddie. You're thirteen years old!"

"So, I started young."

"Eddie! I mean, GOD! What if she gets pregnant or something?"

"We took care of that, Beth. Do you think I'm stupid?"

"No. You're not. I should've realized you'd think of that. Or Kara would."

"It was me," I grinned. "She was ready to go all the way a week before. I'm the one that reminded her that I didn't have anything."

"Oh," she said, thinking about that. "So you almost did it a week ago, but stopped, and then did it this past Saturday?"

"Yeah."

"So, this wasn't a spur of the moment thing."

"Not at all."

"Hmmm," she said, "well that makes me feel a little better. But, still! I don't even think I could conceive of having sex this young!"

"Well, there's two big differences between you and me."

"Yeah, I'm not a boy," she teased.

"That means nothing. I didn't start this, you know--Kara did. So boy and girl means nothing. No, the two differences I was thinking of were this. First, you take that whole Catholic thing much more seriously than I do. You don't believe in premarital sex."

"Yeah."

"And, secondly, you're not in love."

"True enough. Though even if I were in love, I think the Catholic thing would still take precedence." Her voice dropped a bit. "Especially considering my current situation."

"Ah," I said, "you believe that if you had sex without marriage, you wouldn't go to heaven. And at this point you're pretty much counting on heaven."

"Exactly. You don't agree with me."

"No, I don't, but I don't have to live with your beliefs, you do."

"You think that, even though you've had sex out of wedlock, you'd still go to heaven if you died tomorrow?"

I grinned at her. "First you'd have to get me to believe in heaven."

She gasped. "You don't?"

"No."

"What do you think happens to us when we die?"

"Nothingness."

"Jeez, Eddie!"

"Don't get me wrong; I hope you're right and I'm wrong. Believe me, I dearly hope that. How can I not? But I just can't buy it."

"Do you believe in God?"

"That's a good one. I don't know." Actually, if I had been asked this before I 'came back', the answer was a definite "no". I was a confirmed atheist in my previous adult life. Now, I wasn't so sure. I mean, something sent me back 30 years. I have no idea what it was, but scientific explanations didn't make much sense.

"Well, if there might be a God, then there might be a heaven, right?"

"Possibly." Of course, if there were a heaven, why wasn't I there? Or hell, even? Why had I been sent back? Of course, I couldn't say this to Beth. "I'll say this, though--I don't believe in much of the Bible, especially the Old Testament. And, if there is a God, I don't think he's worried about sex. This all comes from centuries of religious pooh-bahs trying to control people--especially women. If there's a God, I really don't think he cares who we screw, or when."

"You really think that?"

"I really do. Those wait-until-marriage rules made sense 100 years ago, and earlier--when people entered puberty at 14 and got married at 16. Nowadays, we enter puberty at 11 and get married after college."

She giggled. "I never thought of it that way."

"Plus, if God didn't want us to have sex, he wouldn't have made it so damn fun."

She laughed again. "So, was it?"

"Was it what?"

"Fun?"

"It was a whole hell of a lot of fun," I grinned.

"Yeah, I'll bet. Like I said, you're a guy."

"I think it's safe to say that Kara enjoyed herself."

"I think I might just ask her," Beth grinned.

"Go ahead. I do not plan to talk about this, that's not right. But she won't mind that I told you."

"She really enjoyed it?"

"She told me she did. It seemed like she did."

She looked at me. "You have changed a lot in the past few months, you know. I always used to worry about you."

"With good reason," I said. "But I'm a lot better. Honestly, I can't believe I've actually had sex already--and with Kara Pocharsky, of all people. But life's a lot better than it was, or than I thought it would be--and not just because of that, either."

"Good, I really am glad," she said.

MAY 20th, 1978

Saturday. Date day. Though we didn't go on an actual date.

It was funny--one of my unfulfilled fantasies in my 'former life' was to make love outdoors. Though I'd always though of a beach at night, not Braddox Hill in the middle of the day. But it was still a trip.

Kara's house being available for our first time was a fluke, and we knew it. And, I'll be honest--I wasn't all that willing to go without. And Kara was really unwilling to go without. So, she met me at her door with another picnic lunch.

"Oh, a picnic," her mother said. "That's so sweet and romantic." Somehow, we made it out her door and around the corner before we started laughing.

"Yep, sweet and romantic," she said, still laughing. "We've got all the ingredients for a sweet romantic picnic. Sandwiches, sodas, a big blanket--and rubbers!" She shot a sideways glance at me. "You did remember the rubbers?"

"Of course," I said. "I think I'll keep one in my wallet at all times, just in case you get frisky."

She cracked up. "How sweet and romantic. If only my mother knew."

"Don't even think that," I said.

"Tell me about it," she sighed. "I'm the Perfect Daughter. She'd be beside herself if she knew I'd lost my virginity at 13. Honestly, that's the only thing that bugs me about this whole thing. And only a little--but it does bug me. I really do love my parents, and they'd be really disappointed in me if they knew."

"Well, I know you're Catholic," I said.

"That's not a big huge deal, though. It's the age. If I were 18, 20, it wouldn't be an issue, even if I weren't married. My parents go to church, but they don't believe a lot of the peripheral stuff."

"Ah. So it's the age. That's a knee-jerk reaction, though. It's just a number. You're far more mature than most 20-year-olds. I'm not as mature as you are, but I was the one that stopped it when we didn't have anything--so at least I'm responsible." And, no, I didn't consider myself mature, even considering my 'real' age. I was immature at 42, and I'd regressed with the time trip. It was, however, better than the first time around. I'd been very immature then.

"You're pretty mature," she argued. "Especially in some ways. The way you treat girls is extremely mature."

I chuckled at that. "Have you forgotten the two years that I followed you around like a lovesick idiot?"

"No," she laughed, "but that's not what I'm talking about. Kelly and I had a discussion about this. Most guys our age think with their you-know-what. And that makes them treat girls as a, I don't know, receptacle or something. Plus, lots of guys our age are way too into that macho crap. Like that'll impress girls. You know, the caveman act."

"Problem is, that does impress a lot of girls," I said. "You're a rare bird."

"I think you'd be surprised," she said. "I have a prediction to make. When I leave for school in September, you're going to have your pick of girls to go out with."

"Excuse me?"

"It's been mentioned to me, Ed. Girls see how you treat me. And they see how a lot of other guys treat them. And they've noticed the difference."

"Whatever you say," I laughed.

"Mark my words."

I just grinned at her. By this time, we'd reached the top of the hill. We spread out the blanket and dug into the food, chatting while we ate. When we were done eating, I tackled Kara onto the blanket.

"Animal! Beast! Taking advantage of me like that!" Kara laughed.

"And you love every minute of it," I said.

"Too true," she said. Then she couldn't say anything else, because she was getting kissed.

We made out for a while. In the middle, I snaked my hand up her shirt. Expecting to encounter a bra, I was surprised when my fingers hit bare skin. She broke the kiss, smiled and me, and said, "Easier access. That's why I wore a skirt, too." Then she went back to kissing me. Believe me, I wasn't complaining!

We kept kissing, my hand fondling her boob. Then I broke off the kiss, and scrambled down between her legs. She let out a little squeal as I pulled at her panties. Discarding them, I crawled up between her legs, pushing her skirt up around her waist. She was right--nice and easy access. Plus, if we heard voices coming up the hill, it'd be easier to 'fix ourselves.'

I dove in and started licking at her labia, spreading her juices around, feeling her labia swell as her arousal built. I dipped my tongue into her opening, and she let out a muffled squeal.

"Damn, I don't want to yell," she gasped. I knew what she meant--Braddox Hill wasn't that isolated. "I should've saved some food--you know, put something in my mouth to keep me quiet," she giggled. I ran my tongue up and down her pussy again, and she let out another half-gasp half-squeal. That's when I got a devious idea.

"Kara. You want to play?"

"I thought that's what we were doing," she giggled.

"Something new. Do you know what a 69 is?"

"No," she said.

I scrambled out from between her legs and lie on my back next to her. "OK, now straddle me. Legs around my head, facing down." She giggled and did just that. "OK," I said from under her skirt, "Now, lean down over me. I'm the six, and you're the nine--get it?"

"Oh, yeah, I get it!" she said. She certainly did--she was undoing my fly right away. Before I could even get back to work on her pussy, she had my dick out and her mouth around it. I went back to her pussy, starting with the long licks again, and she moaned around my dick.

I'd done 69 before, in the old life, and it was always fun--but, sometimes it was hard to concentrate. Especially for the girl. If you wanted a flat-out blowjob, 69 really wasn't the way to do it. However, with Kara, my lapping away at her pussy seemed to spur her on. She absolutely devoured me. And, when I got to the point where I was nudging her clit with my tongue, she just flat-out Hoovered me.

It was incredible. I managed to keep my own concentration, working away at her pussy, but she was sucking the daylights out of me. I figured that this wasn't going to take long, and I was right. Knowing she wasn't thrilled with the taste the first time she had done this, I managed to hiss "Cumming!" at her right before I did. She ignored me, and kept sucking on my dick, working her mouth up and down on it.

I grunted and exploded into her mouth. She swallowed without a problem, except for a few dribbles. Then she sat up a bit, settling her pussy deeper onto my mouth, and sighed. I'd managed to keep her on the edge the whole time she was blowing me--so now I zeroed in on her clit so I could push her over.

If anyone had happened up the hill just then, they would've run into quite a sight. You couldn't see my head at all--we'd never taken Kara's skirt off, so it had settled back down around her thighs, obscuring my head. It almost looked like she was sitting on a stool. Except that stool had a body. And that body's dick was still hanging out of its fly. Oh, and, most girls don't writhe quite that much if they're sitting on a stool!

Suddenly, she reared up, jammed her pussy into my face, and came. Luckily, she managed not to howl. But she was panting, and her whole body was shaking, as I nibbled on her clit. Afterwards, she collapsed forward on top of me, which gave me enough clearance to take a couple of much-needed deep breaths!

She climbed off of me and settled her head on my chest. "God," she gasped. "God. This just keeps getting better and better. Where'd you get that 69 thing?"

"I told you--Penthouse Forum."

"I really do need a subscription," she smiled. I started laughing. "What's so funny?" she asked.

"You," I said. "I always thought of you as some kind of Polly Pureheart. Little did I know you were an animal."

"Me? How about you?" she laughed. "Ed Bovilas, the maladjusted nerd, makes me cum like a banshee. Never would've bet on that," she teased with a smirk. "Seriously--it was Don Nixon that got me thinking about all this."

"Huh?" I said.

She smiled. "Not that I would've with him. I knew I wouldn't. But he kept pressing things, and I knew where he wanted to be headed, right? So it made me think about it. Look, I told you he fondled my boobs through my shirt. Well, it didn't turn me on, because he was clueless, but it came close, you know? I guess I could see where it would turn me on if it were somebody that had a clue. So I thought about it. And I asked myself what I'd do if I found myself turned on. I decided that it depended on the guy--but I guess it made me more open to it." She grinned at me. "Then you came along. God. Do you know what you did to me that first time you grabbed my boob, in the sleeping bag when we were camped out? Hell, I was half tempted to jump you right there. It was such a difference, I guess that made me really start thinking about it. And that's without getting into how good a kisser you are. So, yeah, I might have been pure and innocent and all that, but I'd started thinking about it. The way you make me feel just pushed me over."

"Ah. Whereas I'd been thinking about it, with you specifically, since sixth grade."

"Pervert."

"You know it."

"Good. Put that thing in me!" she demanded, rolling over onto her back.

I found my wallet and got a rubber out, and put it on. Then I eased myself into her. "Damn, so good," she hissed. I had to agree.

She wrapped her legs around my waist, giving me a perfect angle. I started moving in and out of her, slowly at first. She hooked her ankles behind my ass and almost immediately began thrusting back up at me. Where she picked that up, I have no idea--it was all instinct. I pushed all the way into her--her humping up to meet me--and held for a couple of seconds, grinding myself into her. She squealed at that.

I did that a few more times, then picked up the pace a bit. She wheezed every time I pulled out, and grunted every time I hit bottom. She still had her skirt on, but it was bunched up around her waist, and the 'thwack' of our bodies mixed with her grunting and echoed off the trees surrounding us. That, actually, was a wee bit worrisome. If anyone was standing in their backyard in one of the houses at the bottom of the hill, there was a chance we could be heard. Ah, well--the chances you take when you're 13 and want to get laid!

Kara, luckily, wasn't too loud. I wasn't all that worried, just a little. Not enough to distract me, that was for sure! I kept moving in and out of her, grinding a little on the downstroke. "Oh, God, so close," she hissed. I started going faster, and I could see her build up. Her eyes were closed tight, her mouth in an O, and her face flushed. Her hands came up and gripped my shoulders. I still had my shirt on, but I could feel her fingernails dig in to my shoulders.

She kept thrusting up against me, harder and harder, as I plunged into her. After a minute, she stiffened. Her fingernails dug hard into my shoulders, and her ass came right off the ground. She yelped a little, and her eyes opened wide. I felt her pussy clamp down hard on my dick.

I hadn't been all that close--worrying about the noise must've distracted me a wee bit--but watching her cum changed all that. I kept sliding in and out of her, stringing her orgasm out a bit, and then I came into the rubber.

Afterwards, curled up together underneath the blue sky, she sighed. "I was right. This just keeps getting better and better."

I could only agree.

MAY 31, 1978

BROOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Springsteen, that is. My first Bruce concert, over 21 years early from the first time.

As I've said, I had this show on a bootleg in the old life, so I had heard it. Now that was strange. I was attending a show I'd already heard. Wrap that one around your brain for a bit!

What's more, the show was a bit of an oddity. It was the Darkness tour, supporting the Darkness On The Edge Of Town album. There was only one problem--the album wasn't out yet. Y'see, there was a delay. At the last minute, Bruce decided to remix the track The Promised Land, pushing the album release date back. However, the beginning of the tour was already booked, so the tour started on time--May 20th or something like that. This was one of the first dates on the tour. The album wouldn't be out for another week.

The conundrum was this--as far as Bruce was concerned, this was the Darkness tour. So he was playing songs from Darkness. Which hadn't been released yet.

When someone puts on as good a show as Bruce Springsteen does, this is not a big deal. Bruce was notorious for pulling songs out of his ass, and it didn't matter. Few performers could get away with playing a show containing seven or eight songs from an album that wasn't out yet--but Bruce could. That wasn't the problem.

The problem was--these were new songs, right? Nobody was supposed to know them. In fact, there were murmurs going around the hall: "This must be stuff from the new album." Some people, of course, had seen the first two shows of the stand and were into their third hearing of some of these songs. But I wasn't.

The point is, I wasn't supposed to know any of these songs--but of course I did. And I had to act like I didn't know any of them. Not for Kara--she wasn't a big enough Springsteen fan yet to know the difference--but cousin Sandy sure would!

So, I didn't know these songs. I couldn't know these songs. I had to pretend I didn't know these songs. Which meant I COULDN'T SING ALONG!!! Man, it sucked! Do you know how hard it is for me to not sing along at a show when I know the words? Especially at a show like Bruce, which is riotous. And he opened with "Badlands", the first cut off of Darkness and one of my all-time favorites. When he got to the "For the ones who had a notion, a notion deep inside, it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive" verse, I think I was biting my damn tongue to keep from singing along. And "Prove It All Night." I couldn't sing along to "Prove It All Night"? I'd spent 20 years singing along to that song, in the car with the radio blasting and the windows rolled down, bellowing away at the top of my lungs! And here he was playing it live and I couldn't sing along. Ah, me.

Luckily, that was the only downside to the whole thing. What an UNBELIEVABLE show. It was stupendous. And he played enough of the old stuff that I could get away with singing along to. "Born To Run," for instance. Of course, I made sure I sang the "Strap your hands cross my engines" line right at Kara.

He played "Rosalita" and "Thunder Road" and "Spirit In The Night" and a few other things I could sing along to. Kara was amused. I can sing, and she obviously knows it--having heard it in English class--so she told me she wasn't grinning at my singing. She was grinning at how into it I was. But, as the show went on, she got into it as well--quite a lot. She started the show as a mild Bruce fan who thought it would be a cool show--and left with an expression on her face like she had just seen the second coming!

So, I got to see Bruce 21 years earlier than I did the first time around. I got to see him with Kara. I got to actually hear him play "The Promise", a legendary unreleased track that he played live sometimes (it was finally released in 1998). And I got to listen to Kara babble about how cool it was when she snuggled up next to me in the back seat of Sandy's car on the ride home.

JUNE 9th, 1978

Things were obviously going too good.

I had to relive one of my least favorite days today. Another beating. This one was extra-special, though. The first time around, I was actually holding my own in the fight. This time around, I was more than holding my own. And the guy who was beating on me did the same thing--grabbed my head and slammed it into a brick wall.