Chapter 25: A Gift from Alice

Betsy called me 'The Lord of the Manor, ' on Saturday morning as I was having breakfast in the kitchen. She told me that Ned had taken Mr. Oldham and Suzanne to the airport to catch an early morning flight. They were going to Chicago for a conference or something. I strutted around like I owned the place until I remembered how alone I really was. Without Alice my life was dull and lonely.

I was rereading a letter from my mother when Ned came looking for me. The letter was enclosed in my birthday card. She was really pressing for me to come home.

Ned took me to a driving range where we hit two buckets of golf balls. He said I was too tense, to loosen my grip and swing freely. He was right; I was tense.

I mentioned the letter from my mother on the way home, telling Ned that her letters always ended with a plea for me to come home. I had to admit that I was a little homesick.

"It's Mr. Oldham you'll have to convince Sammy. Both he and Suzanne have become very attached to you since you arrived. We all enjoy having you at the house, but I've seen more change in Suzanne than the rest of us. She's never been married. Work was always her life, but since you've been here she's started coming home with John on Friday evening and she never leaves until we take you back to school on Sunday afternoon. Did you notice how they defended you this last time you got into trouble? They didn't blame you for what you did and Mr. Oldham didn't warn you about squeezing those tennis balls all the time. He told me that he was concerned that you would hurt someone, but he didn't tell you to stop Sam; he didn't even warn you about it."

That was true. Mr. Oldham told me what he expected of me when I first arrived and that was all I heard about how I was to act. He never amended his orders and I always tried to abide by them. I wondered if that was how it would be to have a father. And Ned was right; Suzanne had changed. I loved the way she teased me. How much would I miss them if I went home for my sophomore year?

Ned said they would fire up the grill about six P.M. and that I should come over to his apartment any time I wanted.

After eating a huge sandwich with Betsy keeping me company I went to my room and answered my mother's letter, thanking her for remembering by birthday and telling her I would try to come home.

Looking down at the pool I wondered when we would open it for the season. It was the 22^nd of March and a beautiful spring day. It had been a week since I had done more than walk from class to class. I needed some exercise and decided to go for a run.

As I rounded the tennis courts I spotted Alice. She was poised to make a serve, but stopped and waved her left hand at me, the one holding two tennis balls.

Going to Ned's apartment for dinner was more of an obligation than a treat. I would have been content to eat and be miserable by myself. But this was the first time Ned had invited me to his place over the garage and I was obliged to go. The first surprise was walking into the main room and seeing how big and open it was. The second surprise was when Alice arrived a few minutes after I got there. Nothing had been said about Alice coming.

"Why didn't you walk on your hands the next time you passed the courts?" Alice asked me the moment she walked through the door. She was wearing a dress. I couldn't remember seeing her in a dress before, ever. And rings in her ears, small diamonds that made her ears look tiny. I was speechless, first because Ned and Penelope had invited her, second because she had accepted the invitation and third, how beautiful she was. Like the ear rings, the dress was simple.

"I don't know why I did it the first time around," I answered. My heart was pounding and there was a little lump in my throat that made it hard to talk. The dress was off white, quite a contrast to her dark hair, which had been cut short for the summer. I had noticed the haircut on my first lap around the courts, but I didn't see how short it was because she was wearing a sweatband that completely covered it. "Short," I said, absentmindedly. It was a boy's haircut, cut very short.

"You're taller every time I see you," Alice said, misunderstanding my remark about her hair. I looked down, saw that she was wearing high heels. She was right; I was getting taller.

Alice took both of my hands in hers and we stood there, our eyes fixed, unwavering. She held a wrapped gift at her side. Penelope interrupted our brief reunion. "What's this about walking on his hands?"

I felt Alice's hands squeeze mine as she turned her attention to Penelope, acknowledging her existence for the first time since walking into the apartment. I watched Alice take a few steps and place the gift next to another one. If not for a belt, drawn tight at her waistline, the dress would have hung straight from bodice to hemline. With the short haircut she could have passed for a teenage boy. There was nothing sexy about her body, except to me. I knew what was under the dress, the tiny breasts, the flat tummy, the muscular thighs and the small ass, almost imperceptible beneath the dress. To me, Alice was the sexiest female I had ever known.

"Sammy was running. As he passed the courts I waved at him. He suddenly hopped the fence and walked on his hands. I was just asking why he didn't do it the next time he passed us. We were waiting to see if he would do again, but he didn't. I was disappointed because I wanted to tell everyone that we were good friends."

"Were you showing off?" Ned asked me.

"Yeah, I guess. I do it at school sometimes. It's a lot easier to do when you're not wearing pads and a helmet," I said, mentioning something I had discovered that day. Ned was right about me showing off. I jumped the fence because the grass wouldn't hurt my hands like the track's surface would. If I had known Alice was watching the second time I would have done it again, even if I was ridiculed for showing off.

"I told you to dress casually," Penelope scolded Alice when she tried to cover every inch of her dress with napkins to protect it from the bar-b-que sauce. I had the same concerns; having worn the new sweater that Suzanne gave me.

Ned poured wine and nothing was said when he filled my glass with chardonnay. I hardly noticed myself.

We both ate sparingly. We were too busy catching glimpses of each other. Alice had my complete attention and the looks she gave me said the same about her. I'm sure that Ned and Penelope noticed. Several times, they had to call our names a second time to bring us back into the conversation.

As the night dragged on, seven-thirty, eight, eight-thirty, Alice kept checking her watch and giving me a questioning look. I wondered if she was anxious to go home and put Brenda to bed. But the looks she gave me told me differently. My chest ached with anticipation. Ned and Penelope laughed about something, a private joke that went over my head. "Being fifteen agrees with you Sammy," Penelope said, making me turn my head to see what she was talking about.

"Huh?"

"I SAID, being fifteen agrees with you. You've developed a keen sense of concentration. You seem to tune out everything around you."

"I don't think it has anything to do with being fifteen," Ned said. "Let's see if he can concentrate on eating some cake and opening his presents."

Knowing that Ned had picked up on my infatuation with Alice, I took my eyes off her long enough to open my gifts, a heavy woolen sweater from Ned and Penelope and a bright yellow jersey from Alice. Ned said the sweater they picked out was way too big for me. They hoped I would wear it out before I outgrew it. Alice said the jersey was the right size. She hoped I would give it to her when I outgrew it. I blew out the candles and ate a giant slab of Penelope's cake. Alice tried to focus on the party too but every so often I caught her looking at me, glassy eyed her mouth slightly open like her mind elsewhere.

At nine-thirty they took pity on us when I yawned and said that I had been kept up late playing chess the night before. Ned took the cue.

"We wouldn't want to deprive a fifteen year old from getting his sleep," he said, making Penelope look askance at him.

I got up, thanked Ned and Penelope for the dinner and gift and looked at Alice. She said she should be going too. We said goodnight and were barely down the steps when she jumped into my arms, causing the two gift boxes to fly out of my hand.

"Sammy, I've missed you so much, everything has changed. I'm so sorry about the way I treated you. Can you forgive me?" Her kisses prevented me from answering. I held her and kissed her back. The porch light at the top of the steps went out, causing us to break apart and look up, wondering if Ned was watching us.

"Do you have the key to the cottage?" Alice asked as we rounded corner of the garage.

"No but I can get it. I need to drop these presents off anyway," I said.

Alice came inside the house with me. I found the key to the middle cottage and was thinking of how I could run up to my room to get a condom. "I should drop these off in my room," I said, pointing to the gifts.

"Do you have to?" Alice asked, her arms locked around me, reluctant to let me go.

"I guess not. I'm the only one here tonight so I can leave them right here, let's go."

"You're alone tonight? There's no one else here?"

"That's right. They went to Chicago to a conference."

"You really should put the presents in your room," she said, pulling me up the stairs.

We were barely inside my room when Alice turned to me, her eyes blazing with desire. She kicked off her shoes and for an instant I could see that I was indeed, taller than her. She looked small as she sunk to her knees, unbuckled my belt and lowered my pants. For the second time the gifts went flying.

"You're going to like this," she said as she lowered my shorts, grinning up at me before turning her attention to my cock. I felt her left hand lift my nuts and her right hand run down the back of my leg and back up. She massaged my balls and my thigh and watched as my cock grew. This went on for several minutes. I felt the skin of my sack tighten in her left hand and her right hand rub the inside of my thigh as my cock was getting harder and longer. She had not touched it.

Alice sucked cock the same way she played tennis, superbly, with intensity. She served nothing but aces, used the whole court and rushed the net, all before I got my racket into position.

"Did you like that?" She asked as she licked a droplet of misdirected cum off her upper lip. I was in shock and could only nod to show my approval. Alice stepped back, loosened her belt, unfastened a clasp at the back of her neck and dropped the dress in at puddle on the floor. She stood there, wearing only white bikini-style panties. Seeing me take in the sight, she posed, letting me renew my memory of her slim sculptured frame. Her small breasts stood proud, the impression of her bald pussy under the thin material and her eyes sparkled, telling me she was mine.

I held out my arms and she walked the few paces towards me, silently saying with every step, 'I'm yours.'