Chapter 2

The air was cold in my face and on my fingers, but the sun was warm on my back, and I had a great view ahead of me - Allison's butt as she bicycled. We were heading up Clyde's Hill north of town, and the day was one of those crisp, clear days that are featured in Fall Splendor postcards from New England. The leaves were, indeed, pretty, though it would still be a couple of weeks until they were spectacular. I'd been a bit nervous, racing down to Fuzzy's that morning. This was the closest thing to a date I'd ever been on, at least in my mind, and I was strangely afraid I'd be stood up, or that I'd have gotten the time wrong, or the day wrong, or that I'd get a flat. But the worry was for naught. Allison was already there when I arrived, she had a backpack that she said had our lunch, and she promptly asked me where we were going. Her smile was beautiful. This was the first time I'd seen her in something other than a Fuzzy's uniform, and I tried to check her out surreptitiously while I told her our route. She was wearing jeans that were stretched somewhat tightly over her thighs and hips, and a rather bulky sweater that hid the rest of her from view. Her hair was pulled back in a braid. Her cheeks were rosy from the cold, and her eyes twinkled. Not a model's body, nor face, but cute as anything, and far prettier than I deserved!

So after following the river for about eight miles, we were now heading up Clyde's Hill to the Johnson's Wood Park on top. The hill starts out gentle enough, but soon our pace slowed and we began to get warm from the effort. I would have stopped to take off my sweater, but I didn't want to lose momentum. Soon, though, we passed through the gate and into the park, and we quickly found a picnic table in the sun and stopped.

Allison climbed right up on the table, sat down criss-cross, swung her backpack off, and started unpacking all kinds of dishes and tins filled with food. I'd been expecting a bologna sandwich and a bag of chips, but Allison had had another idea. She was popping off lids, revealing fried chicken, cheese, tuna sandwiches, cookies, sliced apples, and pudding. "I hope it's enough," she said, somewhat tentatively.

"It looks fabulous. I can't believe you brought so many things! All I brought was some lemonade," I told her. "Did you make it all?"

"Nah - my mom packed most of it. But I did make the sandwiches."

Lunch was delicious, but what was even better was eating with Allison, and talking about stuff. I showed her the camera I had brought with me - I was taking a photography class, and I actually needed to do some photography for class that day. She also asked me about the rest of my classes.

"I'm taking Creative Writing, Calculus, American History, and Biology," I told her as I finished a dish of chocolate pudding, the final touch to a great lunch. "The writing class is really good - I love my teacher, Ms. Cavanaugh; she's really young, and she's definitely not Academy. She's really cool, and she lets us write about any subject, as long as we write well. She's a really hard grader, though. There's not much to say about calculus and history - I kind of needed to take them, and they're a lot of work and not very exciting, though the history teacher really makes us think. It's definitely not just a read-and-memorize class. I'm taking biology because I might want to major in it in college, and my high school didn't even offer biology. That's partly why I did the PG year - I couldn't very well major in biology without taking it in high school."

As Allison listened to me, she licked her pudding spoon clean. She licked the front, then licked the back, then stuck her finger into the dish and scooped the last little bits on her finger and put her finger in her mouth.

"Hmmm," was her response to my school schedule recital. Or maybe it was "Mmmm", referring to the pudding. Then she swung her legs off the top of the table, and scooted over to where I was standing. She sat back down on the end of the table, and leaned back on her arms, looking up at me. Her legs, dangling off the edge of the table, were swinging back and forth. The sun was in her face, making her squint a bit. She'd taken off her sweater, revealing a tighter, knit turtleneck that showed off some nice-looking breasts that I was trying not to stare at.

She smiled at me and said, "I like biology too." She continued to swing her legs and smile up at me, her head cocked to one side. I kept expecting her to say more, but she didn't. I smiled back, feeling awkward. Suddenly, she burst out laughing.

"Now I know why you never got kissed in high school, David," she blurted out.

"Whadyamean?" I tried, somewhat defensively. I had no idea what she was trying to say.

She got her laughing under control, sat upright, and waved me over. As I got close, she reached up and put her arms loosely around my neck. "What I mean is that you are apparently blind to a blatant come-on. I was hoping you'd try to kiss me this time."

I leaned forward, putting my arms around her, as she pulled my head close to hers for that kiss. And the one that followed. During the third kiss, as my hands began moving on their own accord up and down her back, I felt her tongue push between my lips. I moaned as our tongues touched and hers teased mine. I could feel the warmth of her face near mine. It was overwhelming, and I had to stand up to catch a breath. I'd forgotten to breathe, or I didn't know how, yet, to breathe and kiss at the same time.

Allison patted the table next to her, and I sat down beside her. She reached out, smiling, and took my hand, looking up at my flushed face. "That was nice. You kiss well, for a beginner."

"Thanks," I said, after a moment's silence. "You ever watch Mork and Mindy?" I asked. She nodded. "There's one show where Mork wants to know what kissing is, and Mindy tells him it's when two people touch their lips to each others' and sort of slide them together. 'Sliding lips?' Mork asks, dumbfounded. I thought that episode was hysterical, but of course I was as clueless about kissing as he was. 'Sliding lips' doesn't do it justice."

"Besides being clueless, how did you avoid girls at your old school. You're smart and you're cute enough..."

"At the start of Grade 9, I was little, and geeky, and shy. When puberty hit, late, it was mostly accompanied by lots of pimples. I had industrial strength braces. And my mother dressed me funny. I was still just 5'2" at the end of sophomore year, but grew six inches that summer, and another five between then and the start of senior year. So instead of being little and geeky, I was tall, skinny, geeky, and klutzy. What was there to like? Anyway, in a small town, you get classified early on, and you're kind of stuck with whatever the consensus is. The popular kids stay popular, and the geeks stay geeky, and..."

"Yeah - I know about small towns," she said somewhat sadly. Then. more brightly, she changed the subject. "What's your photography assignment. Maybe I can help." She packed the empty lunch dishes back into her pack as I told her about how I needed to find a contrasty subject - lots of black black and white white. Soon we were off again, in search of light and shadow.

A bridge railing looked pretty good, and we stopped for me to get four shots. I had just one roll; 12 exposures of ASA 400 black-and-white film. Allison, who quickly caught on to what I was looking for, spotted a leafless tree against the sky that was good for two more shots, and a black metal railing on a white park building was worth five more.

We cycled up to the very top of the hill and lay down on our backs on the grass next to the monument. I'd flipped my bicycle so that it stood upside-down, balanced on the seat and handle bars. Idly, I spun the front wheel and let it rotate around and around and around. I watched Allison's face as we rested on the grass. She looked happy and cute. I looked up at the spinning wheel, with the bright sky behind it, and suddenly noticed how the tire, rim, and spokes were silhouetted against the sky. It was a perfect contrast.

I jumped up and grabbed my camera, hoping I could get the picture I wanted. I was pretty sure I only had one or two chances left before running out of film. I set up one photo with the camera very low, so there was grass at the bottom of the picture, with the suspended wheel above, and nothing but blue sky in the background. I was shooting with the sun just out of the picture, hoping I would get backlighting without too much flare.

After taking the shot, I advanced the film. I still had another chance. I debated whether to bracket the exposure on the last scene, or try something different. I looked over at Allison, ready to ask her advice, when I saw her face. I suddenly knew what I wanted to try.

"Allison - come over here and sit down, facing that way - right here, with your head next to the wheel." I got her posed just right, with her face in profile. The wheel was just behind her head, and I positioned the camera so that the hub was right in line with her ears. I told her to sit still and not to smile. In the picture, the wheel looked like one of those medieval halos behind the head of a saint or an angel. Just Allison's head and shoulders, with this perfect circle behind her, with the spokes all pointing back to her center, and all in silhouette. I snapped the shot, then tried advancing the film. No more. I hoped the exposure was correct...

Happy, I put down the camera, and knelt next to Allison, who hadn't moved from the pose. I bent forward and kissed her nose. "Perfect," I told her. Just like the day. Just like her.

I lowered my face a little and kissed her on her lips. Her arms wrapped around me and pulled me down onto the grass with her. Soon she was lying on her back and I was lying half on top of her as we kissed. My hard cock, trapped in my jeans, was pressed against her thigh. Her tongue twirled around mine. My free hand roamed from her shoulder, down over stomach, and hips, and up to where I could feel her bra, but carefully avoiding her breasts. She would have none of that. She broke the kiss, grabbed my hand, and squeezed it.