Chapter 26

"You want to fuck her, don't you?"

I looked up at the stars. I wondered if one of them was a deity I could beseech. "I know we've had this conversation before, but to refresh my memory. Who do I want to fuck? And why?"

"Allie. You lived with her for five days."

"One, I'm a teenaged boy. I'm red-blooded and full of hormones. Two, Allie is a beautiful, athletic, and limber girl, plus she has red hair. Of course I want to fuck her."

"That's okay. I understand," Tami said without looking at me.

"You don't, or we wouldn't be having this conversation." I didn't add, 'again.' "I like Allie a lot. Physically, I'm attracted to her. But emotionally and spiritually, I'm attracted to you."

Tami smiled.

"If you want me to swear on the stars up there never to touch another girl again, I will. Though I do need a waiver for the play. I have to kiss three girls in it, or Robbie will hurt me."

"No, that's not what I want. And it's okay if you want to fuck Allie. It's just..."

"Tamarone Elizabeth Sharp! If I ever go to jail it will be for strangling the life out of you. Lovingly, of course," I added with a grin. "You are usually a smart, witty, self-confident person, but every now and then you get full of self-doubt, and it drives me nuts."

"I don't..."

"You do. You've been thinking about a beautiful redhead living in my house, and you decided that I couldn't help myself and probably fucked her. Then you decided that it was okay if I slipped. Then you started this conversation to let me know it was okay."

"I... how do you know me so well?"

"My cock wants Allie. Hell, Big Tony wants Darlene, Robbie, Diana, and half-a-dozen others I can think of off the top of my head. But my heart is stubborn. It wants you."

"Tony, why do you put up with me?"

"Like I said, my heart is stubborn. No matter how much I tell it about other fish in the sea and the grass is greener, it wants you. Damn heart."

Tami stopped walking and pulled me into a kiss

"I don't know why you put up with me, but I know why I love you," she said when we finished.

We were nearing the front of the park, so I pulled her toward the front lawn, and a minute later we settled on the swings. "And why is that?" I asked.

"Cause you make me feel good. You make me like being me."

We started swinging. Without trying, we swung together, side by side. In sync.

"You can, if you want?"

"Can what?"

"Fuck Allie. And Darlene, and Diana. And Paula, Alana, and anyone else you want."

"All at once?" I asked, being a smart ass.

"If you want."

"Tami..."

"No, it's okay. That's not my self-doubts talking. It's... it's... I don't want you to miss out on anything."

We swung together for a while as I digested that. Then I started dragging my feet on the ground and came to a stop. When Tami saw me slowing down, she did too. When she'd stopped, I reached over and pulled her toward me. She giggled and moved to my lap.

"You know my sweet little chinchilla..."

"Chinchilla?"

"I've been thinking that I really don't have any pet-names for you. I was trying it on."

"Did it fit?"

I shrugged, "Not even close. You know, Tami, if a meteor lands on my house tonight and I wind up standing in front of St. Peter or whoever guards the gates upstairs, I can honestly tell him, her, or it that I haven't missed out on anything."

Tami looked skeptical.

"You know, my little petunia," I said, pausing as Tami shook her head. "There are guys who make it through four years of high school and never even kiss a girl. There are guys who go through their entire lives and don't fall in love."

"Well, my big strong mastodon..."

"Mastodon?"

Tami grinned. "Even if you haven't missed out, I give you my permission to fuck Allie."

"If it will make you happy I'll go home, see if Mom will drive me over, and plug Big Tony into her pussy right now. I'll even let her mom watch. Then we can stop by Darlene's, and since her step-dad doesn't like me anyway, I can take her right on the coffee table."

"And I'll be waiting here for you when you get back."

"You're strange, woman."

"I'm in love, man."

I figured that was a cue for a kiss if ever there was one. One of us needed a breath mint. Tami must have had something with onions for dinner, but I didn't care.

"You know, as I think about it," I said several minutes later, "Mom was real tired after the game tonight. Said something about screaming herself raw. She's probably not in the mood to drive me to Allie's."

"That's too bad," Tami said and kissed me again.

"And I got real horny talking about it." I sucked on her earlobe.

Tami giggled. "Sorry about that."

"It's all your fault, too." I slipped my hand under her shirt and massaged her breast through her bra.

"I guess I should do something about that." She reached down and gave the crotch of my jeans a squeeze. Big Tony had only been about half hard, but now jumped to attention.

"Is your mom going to be home tomorrow?" I asked as I pushed the cup of her bra up off her breast.

"In the morning. But she'll be gone in the afternoon."

"Damn. Well, in the afternoon we'll..."

"In the afternoon, we have play practice at Robbie's house."

"Damn play. Who's idea was this anyway?"

"Mine," Tami said with a little pout.

"And a great idea it was. What do you think your mom would do if I showed up about nine and she heard moans and groans and bedspring noises coming from your room?"

Tami gave Big Tony another squeeze. "Tony, just because she left us alone in a hotel for an hour once..."

I nodded. "That's what I thought." I kissed her neck.

"Can't you kids find a better place for that?" interrupted a voice from the street.

Mr. Edders was walking his dog. Nasty little mutt. Only a couple of pounds, all hair and teeth. I love dogs, but that thing would make good wolf bait.

"Not at the moment. Think we could use your bedroom?" Tami yelled, surprising the hell out of me. Edders grumbled something and walked away. Tami looked at me staring at her, then laughed. "I know. I've been hanging around Robbie too much."

I was sitting on the porch, enjoying the sunshine. It was a beautiful day for the second day of October, but the forecast said it was supposed to start raining this afternoon. Then forty days and forty nights. Actually, I don't know about forty, but the long-range forecast said seven at least.

I was thinking that it'd be a great day for a swim. The wind was a little cold, but with the sunshine, not too bad. But I'd noticed last night that the manager had drained the pool and locked it up.

Tami walked up. "Are you going to sit there all day?"

"Maybe. At least until my maniacal director makes me sing until my throat is raw."

"But Mikee's parents are gone."

Apparently Tami had joined the neighborhood watch.

"And Alana's at college..."

She was good at it too.

"And Peter's at soccer..."

I wondered if she knew where Jimmy Hoffa and Amelia Earhart were.

"And Kenny's on some highway doing community service..."

"And your point is?"

"You doofus! There's an empty bed, and Mikee says we can use it."

I jumped up. "Why didn't you say so, instead of wasting all this time on the Temple location report." I reached for her hand, and we started walking toward Mikee's house.

"Of course, she expects to get serviced too."

"Serviced?"

"Not her exact word, but close enough."

"I feel so cheap," I complained.

"You love it and you know it."

I grinned and shrugged. When she's right, she's right.