Chapter 17

"The summer flew by," I told Sherri. "I suppose I should have made more of an effort to see Tina, maybe driven up more than the one time. But the fact was, I got buried in my research."

"More than the one time?" Sherri asked. She'd pushed her plate away, satiated with the brunch I'd served, and was now resting her elbows on the table. "So you drove up to Tempe?"

I nodded. "Tina's father made it clear that he didn't want her coming down to Tucson just to see me. So I went up for the Fourth of July. Nobody suggested me spending the night, so I left right after the fireworks and made the late night drive back to Tucson."

"So how did that go?"

"Well ... largely okay, I guess..."

During May and June, I talked to Tina on the phone about once a week, the same as Sharon. I also wrote letters and received prompt replies. She'd talk about her daily life—she had found a job in a local poster shop for the summer—and then say she missed me. More than once, she said she missed our 'cooking lessons' and 'movie nights, ' but she didn't get more explicit than that. It was obvious what she meant.

Toward the end of June, she wrote that her father was flatly refusing her requests to come visit me in Tucson. He'd said that any man worthy of his daughter ought to be willing to drive up. Perhaps, she suggested, I'd like to visit on the Fourth of July?

With some trepidation, I made the two hour drive to Tempe on the Fourth. I did want to see Tina. I did not want to see her father. He might give his daughter some leeway, but I doubted an older guy that had corrupted his daughter would get the same benefit.

I didn't have much chance to worry. As I pulled up in front of the Delgado home, Tina flew out the front door. She threw her arms around me the minute I got out of the car.

"I missed you," she said, hugging me tight.

"I missed you, too," I replied.

After several minutes, Tina reluctantly released her grip and pulled back. I glanced toward the porch. Mr. Delgado stood there, watching us. We slowly walked up, holding hands.

"Glad you could make it, Joe," Mr. Delgado said when we arrived at the porch.

"Thank you for inviting me."

Mr. Delgado made a slight nod of acknowledgement. "Everyone's inside or out back."

"We should go see my mother," Tina said.

I nodded, not pulling my eyes from Mr. Delgado. Tina tugged on my hand and Mr. Delgado nodded, so I turned and followed Tina into the house.

Tina's mom was in the living room with a couple of Tina's aunts. She smiled and stood up when we approached.

"Joe! Glad you could make it!"

"Thank you for inviting me," I said as I clasped Mrs. Delgado's hand.

"Tina's friends are always welcome," she said. "Do you remember my sisters?"

I did, though not perfectly. I remembered their faces more than their names, but Mrs. Delgado reintroduced them anyway, avoiding any embarrassment for me. A few cousins I hadn't met wandered into the room and I was introduced to them as "Tina's boyfriend." Tina just continued to beam and hold my hand. Tina's aunts asked several questions about how school was going, but didn't push when I got into the details of my research. After a polite interval, Tina pulled me away and we headed into the back yard.

"I'm glad you came," she said.

"No problem. Though I hadn't expected so many people." I glanced to the shade, where Tina's sisters and cousins sat, drinking Coke and joking around with each other.

Tina shrugged. "It's always this way. Why do you think I like Tucson so much?"

"I thought it was my charming ways," I said, raising my eyebrows in an obvious tease.

Tina squeezed my hand. "There is that."

"So, any chance we could slip off... ?"

Tina shook her head. "We'd be missed. But Dad'll fire up the grill later and the fireworks will be good."

"Are we gonna watch them from here?"

Tina nodded.

"Sounds fun."

Tina detected the lack of enthusiasm in my voice. "It'll be okay," she said. "What's important is you came."

"I'm sure it'll be fun," I said. I squeezed her hand. "I'm really glad to see you, and that makes it worth it."

"Good."

We found a couple of drinks and settled into the shade near Tina's sisters. They teased us about holding hands, but Tina just rolled her eyes and told them to get over it. She didn't let go, though. Instead she teased one of her sisters about a boy she had a crush on. I wondered if the sister got chaperones as well, but couldn't think of a polite way to ask.

About six, Mr. Delgado came out into the back yard. Tina's brothers immediately hopped up and headed over to him. Soon they were ferrying food and plates from inside while Mr. Delgado fired up the grill.

I watched Tina's brothers for a while, and remembered how they'd done all the clean up the last time I'd visited. And how Tina'd suggested I help too.

"I should help," I said to Tina.

She nodded and let go of my hand.

I took a deep breath and walked over to Mr. Delgado.

"Can I help?"

Mr. Delgado paused and looked at me. "Thanks, but it's under control."

"Oh, uhh..." I looked around. Tina's brothers were still carrying supplies out from the house. I turned back to Mr. Delgado. "That may be true, but I think I should do more than just sit around with Tina. Is there anything I can do?"

Mr. Delgado stared at me for a moment and then smiled.

"You want to do more than spend time with my daughter?" he asked. Then he paused. "Can you do burgers?"

I shrugged. "They're not that hard. Poke 'em occasionally to see if they're the right amount of pink inside and don't let them burn."

"No pink," Mr. Delgado said. Then he thrust a metal spatula into my hand. "I'll go get the steaks." With that, he turned and strode toward the house.

Tina was talking in hushed tones to her sisters. Well, they would've been hushed tones if they didn't start giggling. They kept looking at me wide-eyed between Tina's comments. Feeling embarrassed without knowing why, I turned back to the grill.

As I'd predicted, cooking the hamburgers wasn't hard. I flipped them and nudged them around as Mr. Delgado brought out steaks and hot dogs and chicken. Instead of taking over, he just added the meat to the grill, until it was too crowded for me to flip anything easily. Meanwhile, his sons had gotten the tables set and all the various side dishes ready to serve.

"I'll take over now," Mr. Delgado said as the rest of the extended family began to filter out to the porch. "Go spend some time with my daughter. You've earned it."

I nodded and handed the spatula back to him. Then I joined Tina. Her sisters broke away with giggles and went to get hamburgers. Tina took my hand again.

"What were you talking about?" I asked.

"You."

"I figured. Anything you want to share?"

Tina grinned and shook her head. "No."

I just rolled my eyes.

"Don't worry," she said. "It was all good. I just don't think my Dad would approve of the conversation."

I raised an eyebrow, but didn't actually ask. Tina didn't say anything, so I let it drop. As much as I wanted to know, there was a chance I really didn't want to know.

Instead, Tina and I moved over to the tables and joined the crowd for dinner. My steak was particularly good. After everyone had eaten, I broke away from Tina once again to help her brothers clean up. I caught Mr. Delgado nodding his head when he noticed. I let out a deep breath and finally began to relax.

After dark, the fireworks started. Tina and I sat on one of the picnic table benches and she snuggled in as we watched the explosions above us. They ended all too soon. Tina walked me to my car, so I could get on the road before it was too late. No one else followed us to the front yard, so we stole a few kisses before I reluctantly slid into the driver's seat and began the long drive to Tucson. Tina's father hadn't killed me for corrupting his daughter after all.

The next night, like clockwork, Sharon called.

"So, how did it go?" she asked.

"Okay. We didn't get any time alone, though."

"That sucks."

"No kidding," I said. "Besides the fact that we couldn't talk, it would have been nice for ... other reasons. It's been just long enough that I'm starting to get a little 'anxious, ' if you know what I mean."

Sharon laughed. "I'm not the person to complain to. I've gone much longer than you."

"But you're a girl. You can change that any time you want."

She snorted. "I don't do one night stands. And I haven't found a guy worth dating."

"So find a friend. You don't have to be 'in love' to help take care of each others' needs. You know that."

"That's just as hard. Decent guys don't exactly grow on trees. You're the only guy that's even come close."

But not close enough, I thought, remembering New Year's. "Well, I'd offer to help..."

Sharon laughed again. "I don't think Tina would like that!"

"You're probably right," I said, trying to sound nonchalant. But Tina hadn't minded the pictures, had she? Or Sharon seeing us. Except those weren't the same thing.

"Uh huh."

"Well, it's a moot point," I said. "You're just going to have to find a guy in one of your classes."

"Yeah, like that's going to happen."

"You never know. Tall, dark, captivated by your intelligent questions during lectures."

Sharon snorted but didn't interrupt.

"He waits for you after class ... he asks if you want to go out on Friday ... it could happen."

"I doubt it."

"Well, you have gotten asked out this past year," I said, "even if it never went anywhere."

"None of those guys were good enough."

That got to me. "So who is?" I asked, exasperated. "Besides Allen. He's not available."

Sharon let out a long sigh.

"I've met his girlfriend," I added. "He's not going to be available any time soon. Maybe never."

Sharon sighed again. Her pause dragged out. Finally, "I know. And I guess I haven't given other guys a chance."

"Damn right."

More silence from the other end of the phone.

"Okay," Sharon said. "I'll stop comparing guys to Allen. Or at least I'll try."

That was quick. "Good. It'll be worth it. After all, if I had been comparing every woman to Alicia, I wouldn't have gone out with Tina."

Sharon snorted. "You wouldn't have gone out with Tina if I hadn't pushed you."

"Fine," I said, reacting more to Sharon's tone than her words, "You get my point."

More silence.

"Okay," Sharon said, though her voice didn't carry much conviction.

"So," I said, "if you don't compare the guy to Allen, what are you looking for?"

"I guess someone like you," Sharon answered. "Only available."

I snorted. "You weren't interested when I was available."

"That's because your friendship means too much to me. I don't want to lose a friend again."

"Huh?"

Sharon sighed. "I never told you about Brad, did I?"

"No."

"He was a friend in high school. Just a friend. We were in Knowledge Bowl together. So our junior year, we were both complaining we had no one to go to the prom together. I jokingly suggested we go as friends. He agreed."

"So what happened?"

"We had a great time. After the prom, we went to a keg party at a classmate's house.

"Parents out of town?"

"Yeah."

Sharon paused before continuing.

"Anyway, Brad and I ended up having sex in one of the back bedrooms. The next week, he wouldn't speak to me."

I closed my eyes and winced.

"I'm not going to have something like that happen again," she said.

"I understand."

"So in the meantime," she said, sounding more nonchalant, "I've got to make do with my baths. Speaking of which, when's my next story packet?"

"Mmmm. Give me a couple of days."

The conversation hit a lull. I was getting quietly angry at Brad, but didn't know what to say. Sharon had described things with him as if she was describing a car wreck she'd watched. Not something that had happened to her.

"Well, I should get going," Sharon said.

"Okay. And I'll get you some stories soon."

We said our goodbyes and I hung up. I started fixing dinner and, as I cooked, my mind kept drifting back to Sharon's comment. Someone like me, only available.

That was infuriating. When I'd been available, she hadn't been interested. Oh, she'd been willing to talk about sex. Rather explicitly, in fact. But actually doing anything...

That was the real frustration. We hadn't done things like I wanted to.

But maybe we wouldn't still be friends if we had. I knew I wouldn't cut things off the way Brad had, but I definitely could see it getting weird. Particularly if one of us wanted more than "just friends." We might be just another set of exes in the world.

Instead, I had someone who supported me, through the problems with Alicia and even through the beginnings of a new relationship. Good friends were worth a lot.

Even the occasional erotic story packet. I got Sharon's stories in the mail a couple of days later and she was excited when she received them. The letters and calls with both women continued until the fall semester began and Tina moved back into the dorm. Somehow I'd let July and August slip by without going back up to her family's place.

Tina called the afternoon she arrived.

"Joe! Can you come over to my dorm? We just got done unloading."

"Sure," I said. "You're already done?"

"It didn't take long and Dad wanted to get back on the road."

"I'm on my way."

I dashed out the door without bothering to save the computer file I'd been working on. I decided to walk the couple of blocks to campus, because I knew I wasn't going to be able to find parking. Hopi was closer than Tina's last dorm, which I appreciated.

Halfway there, I remembered that I hadn't saved my file. Then I remembered something else I'd forgotten in my haste to get out the door—condoms. I should have grabbed some condoms.

I called Tina from the lobby phone to let her know I'd arrived. Moments later, she burst threw the door from the hallway and threw her arms around me.

"God, I've missed you," she said.

"I've missed you too."

"C'mon," she said, pulling away and tugging me toward the hall.

"How was the trip down?" I asked as we walked to her room.

"Fine. It was just Dad and me, instead of the whole family like last year."

I waited for her to go on, but she didn't. Instead, Tina pushed open her dorm room door. Boxes and suitcases lay scattered about, some partially unpacked. One of the beds had already been raised above the other into a makeshift bunk. Tina pulled me toward the bottom bed.

"This one yours?"

She nodded. "Marcy and I agreed to that last fall." Tina wrapped her arms around me and kissed me, hard and passionately.

I pulled back. "Where is Marcy?"

"She arrives tomorrow."

"Oh."

I didn't have time to say much more because we were kissing again. Hungry kisses. Sloppy and wet kisses.

Tina started tugging on my shirt, pulling the ends out of my shorts. I returned the favor. She paused long enough to let me pull it up over her head, before removing mine the same way.

"I don't have condoms," I said.

"I don't care."

Well, she's on the Pill.

Tina unhooked her bra before I could get to the clasp. Since I was already reaching out, I placed my hand on her breast instead. She let out a small moan as I caressed her. Then she started tugging on my shorts.

"Let me help you with that," I said. Tina let go long enough for me to back up and pull the rest of my clothes off. At the same time, she finished shucking her own.

I paused and drank in the sight of her naked body. She truly was beautiful. And I'd definitely missed her.

Tina lay back and spread her legs. She beamed at me, expectantly. "Could you... ?"

"You want me to go down on you first?"

"Yes," she said, vigorously nodding her head.

I chuckled and moved between her thighs. I toyed with teasing her, but decided she'd waited long enough—the whole summer actually. I kissed her clit and then began to lick.

Tina let out a long shudder and sighed. I continued to suck on her clit, bringing one hand up and sliding a finger inside her. She was hot and already soaked.

I knew immediately what she wanted. I gently sucked her clit into my mouth, and then began flicking my tongue on the underside. Tina moaned. I crooked my finger and began stroking her with the same rhythm I used to lick her. Tina shuddered and began squirming. I continued to lick and finger her until she let out a gasp and shuddered. Then she went stiff, crying out as her orgasm hit.

Tina smiled at me through half-lidded eyes and I climbed forward and positioned my cock at her entrance. She reached down and lined it up with her opening.

"Ready?" I asked.

Tina nodded.

I slowly eased forward, parting her lips, and sinking my cock into her as deep as I could go. Tina wrapped her arms and legs around me. I began slowly thrusting in and out.

"I've missed you," Tina murmured.

"Me too."

I sped up my thrusts. Tina gasped, but then met my rhythm, pushing her hips back to meet mine. Her pussy was hot around my cock, almost clenching it as I slid in and out.

"I've definitely missed this," I said.

"We'll have to make up for lost time."

"I plan on it."

I decided I wanted to make Tina come. No more talking. I shifted my angle, sliding into her deeper. I sped up again and was rewarded by Tina's gasps. I kissed her, pushing my tongue into her mouth as I plunged my cock into her again and again. Tina's breathing became ragged and she moaned. She was on the edge, and so was I. The pressure in my balls grew, along with the bolts of pleasure that traveled up my spine. With a few more thrusts, Tina let out a loud cry and shuddered, long and hard. Her climax pushed me over the edge and I exploded inside her.

Gasping for my own breath, I slid out of Tina and rolled onto the bed next to her. We shifted around a little until we could both lie on the mattress, side by side.

"More?" Tina asked, fluttering her eyelashes at me.