Chapter 28: Coming together

The first time I met Alice was in August 1985. I was immediately enamored with her. She had none of the attributes I wanted in my dream girl. Her body was lean, her breasts were minuscule and her hair was dark, kept short. On the tennis courts she was demanding, self-absorbed and critical of others. She was very athletic with well-developed arms and muscular legs. She was an inch taller than me. I loved her from the first moment I saw her.

Over time, Alice warmed up to me. She was like an older sister, serving as my advisor and dance instructor. The middle of January she approached me about us becoming involved, saying we were both at a point in our lives where we could help one another. Well shit, I wasn't going to turn her down, even if it was to be on her terms.

For the next seven-weeks we met at the middle cottage on the pretense of resuming the dance lessons. Alice was always the initiator of the meetings and the monitor of how far we advanced sexually. I was content to let her set the pace and for her to be in control of our liaison. During those seven weeks we progressed from making out to touching to intimacy to oral sex, getting to know one another both physically and intellectually. The seven week period between January 25^th and March 8^th was the most intriguing, stimulating and frustrating time of my young life. Everything we did was geared toward my 15^th birthday, March 20^th, which was to be the big day, our final exam as she called it.

Then Alice had second thoughts. Conflict in her personal life caused her to question the things she was doing with me. She missed our eighth week appointment on Saturday the 15^th of March, sending me to the depths of despair. I went through the next week thinking my life was unbearable. It was the end of the third quarter at School and I was lucky to make it through the tests without causing harm to myself or someone else.

On Sunday evening I was invited to have dinner with Ned and Penelope. Alice came. She wore a simple dress, tiny earrings and an innocent, yet promiscuous smile. She looked adorable. She looked at me adoringly. That night in my room she gave me a special birthday present; we made love for the first time. On Monday we stretched a quickie into an afternoon of sex in the middle cottage. Alice was uninhibited. All her concerns about what was normal were gone. She clearly enjoyed sex. She was sexy and she was fun.

We didn't see each other the following weekend. On Friday, the 28^th of March, we spoke on the phone. It was a very enjoyable conversation. But on Saturday night when I couldn't reach her I let doubt enter my mind. The following week was torture, me imagining Alice in the arms of an older man.

On Friday, April the 4^th the tables were turned when Alice came to our school's football game and saw me dancing with a girl from our neighborhood. We went to the movies on Saturday night but we didn't talk. I was gratified that she called it a date but I was left with an empty feeling. I didn't know it then but Alice was inflicted with the same self-doubt that I felt. We should have talked it out.

Everything changed on Friday, April 11^th. Alice called, asking if I wanted to see another movie. I jumped at the chance to see her, even if it meant only being with her. We would sit in the dark theater, hold hands and laugh at dumb things that appeared on the screen. At the end of the date we would kiss. I would go to bed and dream of her. She said she would pick me up.

"I told you to dress casually," she said, scolding me when I got in the car. She was wearing jeans, a sweatshirt and the tiny diamond earrings that made her ears look small.

"Are you going to the movie dressed like that? I'll go back inside and change," I offered.

"You're dressed fine for what we're going to do," she said as she put the gearshift into drive.

"We're not going to a movie? What are we going to do?"

An evil grin crossed her lips. "We're going to a motel."

"Why a motel? Let's go to the cottage," I said, forming a simpler plan than checking into a motel.

"I thought of that, but what would we do with the car? I told my parents I was going to a movie and that meant taking the car."

"We'll put it in the garage. Suzanne left a message. They're not coming home until late. Ned may hear the garage door go up, but who cares. Let's go to the cottage," I urged.

"Are you sure Sammy? We can hide the car in the garage and take it back out before Suzanne and Mr. Oldham get home? Are you sure it will work?"

I convinced her it was a good plan. We turned around and drove back to the garage. I found the extra key that Ned kept hidden under a rock and opened the overhead door. Mr. Oldham's car was there, along with the Volvo and the Limo. Alice was dubious when she saw the Mercedes. I told her they must have brought his car home and drove Suzanne's car to the theater.

We went into the house to get the key to the cottage and Alice climbed all over me. "This is going to be better than a motel room. I hated the thought of signing a register and going into a strange room, but that was the only way I could think of to see you."

We were both nervous. I had trouble finding the key and when I said I needed to go up to my room Alice became impatient, wanting to go directly to the cottage.

"I didn't bring any condoms," I confessed. "I thought we were going to the movies."

"We left them in the cottage bedroom, three as I recall," Alice said, pulling me by the hand.

"They're not there," I said, trying to pull her toward the stairs.

"You didn't. How could you use those rubbers with someone else? Who was it?" Alice was agitated, near tears.

"It's nothing like that. I'll explain later," I said, heading for the stairs.

"I'm coming with you. It's spooky down here. You didn't use them with someone else? Tell me again that it's true."

I took her hand and we went to my room. "We had visitors in the cottages. There were two ladies in the middle one and..."

"I knew it. Were they beautiful and sexy?"

"Yes but not at beautiful and sexy as you. I described them to you when we talked on the phone that night I went to the hotel," I said, seeing what she was thinking and wanting to tease her.

I took both packages of condoms out of my desk drawer and held them up for her to see. "Which one?"

"Did you really do it with them?"

"No, I didn't. It's a funny story. I'll tell you about it later. Let's go."

She sat down on my bed and wouldn't budge until I told her the entire story, how S.F. (Penny) used the condoms to make water balloons.

Alice was skeptical. "How did the subject of 'water balloons' come up in conversation?"

I started the story over, describing the scene at the hotel, how much wine the out-of-towners were drinking and the ride back to the cottages. "They were teasing me, asking if the condoms were mine and if my girlfriend was hot?"

"Really? What did you tell them?

"I said yes." Alice laughed. We were sprawled on my bed, gently caressing each other. "They saw you drive by when we were loading them into the Limo. S.F. (Penny) asked if you were my girlfriend and I said yes."

"Am I your girlfriend?"

"Will you be my girlfriend?"

"Oh Sammy, I've been paranoid. I saw you dancing with a girl and I made that ridiculously rude comment. Then I jumped to conclusions because of the missing condoms. What's happening to me?"

I told her about my own fears. "That Saturday night I called your house and your mother told me you were out. I got the idea in my mind that you were having dinner with a student. It's been making me crazy."

"That was true. I was having dinner with a student. How did you know that?"

I released her and jumped to my feet. "I knew it. I had a vision of you wearing a long black dress with no back. He was putting his hand on your bare back. It's been driving me crazy and now I find out it was true."

She laughed. "I don't own a long black dress and he didn't put his hand on my bare back," Alice said.

"He didn't?" I went back to the bed and she pulled me down next to her.

"He's nine years old. I had dinner with him, his sister who is eight, their mother and their grandfather. Their mother is an accomplished player and she could be teaching them but she prefers to watch me teach them the fundamentals. The grandfather is a member of the club. Now don't you feel foolish for dressing me in a long black dress with no back?"

"Don't you feel foolish for accusing me of using the condoms?"

"Make love to me," she said. We didn't go to the cottage. We repeated everything we had done our first two times together. I tried to be Bruce, slow and gentle but Alice wouldn't allow that. She confessed that she was starving for sex with me.

We were asleep when Mr. Oldham and Suzanne came home. Fortunately, they didn't see the car because they were driving Suzanne's car and she almost never used the garage. Alice shook me. "You're in trouble," she said as she hopped over me and ran into the bathroom. I pulled a blanket up to my chin and pretended to be asleep. My bedroom door opened, spraying a beam of light from the hallway into the room.

"Is he there?" I heard Suzanne ask from down the hall.

"Yes and he has company," Mr. Oldham said as he closed the door.

I got up, opened the bathroom door and motioned for Alice to come out. We dressed quickly. We listened for sounds from Mr. Oldham's room. When it was completely quiet we tiptoed down the stairs. I disarmed the security system. "He knew you were here," I told Alice after we were outside.

"He saw my clothes on the floor," she giggled. "They know about us. You'll have to marry me now Sam."

I didn't know why she was so giddy. It was after one o'clock in the morning. She was going to have to sneak into her own house and hope her parents didn't hear her. If they were awake she would need a story about why she was coming home so late from a movie that was over hours before.

I raised the garage overhead door, knowing Ned would hear it. Alice backed the car out of the garage and I lowered the door.

"Thank you for a wonderful time," she said when I kissed her goodnight.

"Can I see you tomorrow?" I asked.

"I hope so. I'll call you. Don't call me, okay?"

I got back into bed safely, slept restlessly because I was concerned about Alice having to undergo questioning about her whereabouts. I got up early and went downstairs before Molly delivered my orange juice to my room.

Ned came to the house and invited me to hit some golf balls with him. Suzanne came downstairs before we left. She didn't say anything about the night before and I didn't either. But Ned grilled me about it on the way to the driving range.