Chapter 31: The Rolling Lovemobile

By Christmas, I had received so many offers and calls from scouts and coaches from around the country, that even I was convinced that I would be able to play college soccer on a scholarship. Pick's offer sheet arrived, and he followed up with several phone calls. Florida was offering me a full scholarship, room and board, reimbursement for books and fees, plus an employment package that would pay me for working about ten hours a week in one of the stadium gift shops.

I also got offers from Minnesota and Indiana in the Big Ten, from Creighton, Maryland, Rhode Island, Boston College, UConn, NYU, Texas, UCLA, Oregon, and Arizona. Some offers, I was sure, were a result of working with Katrina Sorenno, who played on the UCLA women's team, and James Bricker, the starting keeper for UConn, as well as Tasha Wallace of Arizona, all of whom I knew from working for Duane Olchick over the summer. I also got offers with incentives from other SEC schools, including some under-the-table offers that were very generous. My dad thought those offers were more to keep me from going to Pick's program than anything else. He said that one scout from one of the schools had told him in confidence that they were afraid Pick was building up a dynasty, kind of like what John Wooden had built for the UCLA basketball program.

My parents knew, and probably Pick knew, but nobody else was aware that I had every intention of signing up with Florida. Pick Cropper was the first to show his faith in me, and he had Jesse Wilhoit playing for him. I thought I would fit in well there.

My dad, meanwhile, was so happy that he wouldn't have to pony up for my college education, that he broke into my college fund and bought me a nice used car for Christmas, a two year old VW Rabbit. No more begging rides to school from Jake or taking the dreaded school bus. Freedom! The only problem was that the Rabbit had bucket seats in front, so Luscious couldn't cuddle up next to me as we drove somewhere. The back seat was a little cramped, too, not that it mattered much. Kay and I were just fooling around a little. She had already made it quite clear that she wasn't about to give up her virginity in the back seat of a rolling lovemobile, though she was certainly open to considerable latitude when it came to other worldly pleasures. Yes, the Rabbit served us quite nicely.

Another big event among my friends came early in the spring, when Jaimie and Jake came out as a couple. Everybody at school already knew about it, of course, but, with Prom coming up, they both decided that it was past time for them to quit hiding their relationship from their parents. To that end, things were inadvertently made much easier for them by Jaimie's younger sister, Tara.

Tara had always been the wild child of the neighborhood, a tomboyish girl who wanted to play sports. She loved playing basketball, baseball, football, soccer, even hockey, but what she really excelled at was running. She could run faster than any other girl I knew, and was by far the fastest kid in junior high. She might even have been faster than Eric Johnson was when he was her age. Now, fourteen years old and in eighth grade, she still was a fast runner.

And, from what I had heard from my younger brother Stephen, Tara was getting pretty fast in other ways, too, having discovered the pleasures of the flesh. In fact, even her parents had heard or seen some things, and were trying to intervene to head off her pattern of behavior and experimentation. The two sisters, meanwhile, were in a stalemate. Jaimie knew some things about Tara, which kept Tara's mouth shut about Jaimie's involvement with Jake, around and around and around. After Mr. and Mrs. Jacks found out about some of Tara's activities, however, their concern focused on Tara, and somehow Jaimie's deceptions seemed pretty minor. Once they found out about it, when Jake and Jaimie went to them and told them about their plans to attend Prom together, they reluctantly accepted the fact that the two of them, next door neighbors, were dating.

One Saturday evening in April, Jaimie and Jake were sharing a booth with us at Mike's Pizza.

"So, Tara's been acting up again, Jaimie?" I asked. Stephen had told me that Tara was known as the Blowjob Queen of Central Junior High.

"I don't know what's going through the tiny brains of junior high kids," Jaimie said disgustedly.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I try to talk to her and all, and she's like, 'All the kids are doing it, it's no big deal.' I'm trying to tell her that it is a big deal, but she doesn't believe me."

"What, having sex and all?" asked Kayla.

"No, it's not like that," replied Jaimie. "They're not having sex. I mean, they're not, like, screwing or anything, but they are engaging in other sex acts. But she doesn't think oral sex and stuff is the same thing as sex. It's just like it's something casual and friendly, like a hug or something."

"Some hug," said Jake, waggling his eyebrows.

Jaimie slugged him in the arm, almost a reflexive action, and then continued. "She says that a lot of girls at her school treat it the same way. It's not just her giving a boy she knows some head, it's mutual. She even says that some girls even go down on other girls, just so they can each get off. It's not sex, it's just fun and games."

"Wow. It seems like it could be a pretty dangerous game," said Kayla.

"Yeah. I just don't get it. I mean, I would feel really strange doing something like that with somebody I really didn't have any feelings about, you know? I mean, putting your mouth next to somebody else's genitals seems a lot more... personal... than they are considering."

Jake and I both laughed. "Yes, it seems pretty personal, all right," I agreed with a chuckle. Luscious kicked me under the table and gave me a quick look of warning.

"I agree with you," said Kayla after a moment. "But these kids don't see it the same way. It's what, social instead of personal? Something like that, anyway. I'm glad I'm not in junior high anymore. I just don't understand it."

"It's their method of birth control, maybe," suggested Jake. "I mean, if you're just engaging in oral sex, or even... um... mutual masturbation, you're really staying, technically speaking, a virgin. It's a way of having the pleasure, and at the same time escaping the possibility of getting pregnant."

"Birth control?" Jaimie was startled by the suggestion. Her eyes got wide as she looked at Jake, but I could see her concentration shift inward as she considered what he was saying. "Hmmm... maybe that's true," she murmured, almost to herself.

"And there's still the worry about passing around diseases," said Kayla. "I mean, VD is still around, and, unless they lied during Sex Ed, it can still be passed through oral contact."

"Hey, have you guys heard about this new disease they've been reporting about lately?" I had just remembered a news report I had seen on TV. "Something about a new gay disease, I forget what it's called, but it shows up as odd, rare forms of cancers."

"A gay disease?" Jake asked. "Some kind of fudge-packer's cancer?"

"Ewww. That's really gross," complained Jaimie, as she hit his bicep again.

"I don't think they know how it's passed, but it seems to be most common among gays, primarily in New York and London."

"Yes, I remember hearing about that," said Kayla. "And now it's showing up in Haiti, too, right?"

"Yeah, I think I heard that, too," I replied.

"Well, if it's a homo disease, so what?" asked Jake.

"Nothing," I said. "Unless it's passed through homosexual oral sex. I mean, how does a disease stay confined to a lifestyle like that? What's to keep it from spreading to girls, then?"

That wasn't a very pleasant thought for any of us. We could only hope that it stayed confined to the gay community, and that they found a cure quickly.

Later that night, Kayla and I were sitting together, mostly naked in the back seat of my car, catching our breath after an intense session of touching and stroking each other to completion. I had my arm around her, and she was leaning on my shoulder, idly doodling with the arrow of hair running from my belly button down to my pubic hair.

"You've never done that, have you, Sean?" she asked quietly. "Been casual about oral sex like Tara, I mean."

"No, of course not," I replied.

She lifted up and looked into my eyes. "I'm not going to ask you about your sex partners, Sean. I know that you and Molly... had sex... I mean, you guys fucked. Right?" I simply nodded, wary about where she was going with this line of conversation. "I don't care if there's been anyone else you've... done anything... with," she continued. "I want you to know, Sean, that I..."

"Shhhh," I said, putting a finger to her lips. "You don't have to tell me anything, Kay."

She shook her head, and gently pushed my finger away from her. "I know. You know that I've never... that I'm a virgin... at least, technically." She giggled a little embarrassedly, perhaps thinking, as I was, that she certainly was an experienced virgin. "And you were the first boy I ever did... anything... with." She put her head back down on my shoulder, perhaps so she wouldn't have to look at me while she confessed. "But I also did a few... things... with Brandon."

For some reason, my heart was trip-hammering in my chest. "Oh?" I said, trying to be nonchalant about this new information.

She looked up briefly, gauging my reaction, before resting her head back down and continuing. "Not much, really. I... I did take him into my... my mouth... a couple of times. And I let him... touch me... once or twice."

She sat up, facing straight ahead, looking out the front windshield, but seeing something other than the trees and the starlight that was all that was visible through the glass. She crossed her arms beneath her breasts, hugging herself as if she was cold.

"It was kind of like what Tara's doing, and that bothers me," she whispered. "It didn't mean anything. We were friends, that's all. He knew I was in love with you, and I would drop him for you at a moment's notice, but we did it anyway. I mean, at the time I didn't think of it as anything more than... I don't know, maybe using him to experiment on? Recreation? But now, thinking back, I feel kind of... slimy. Dirty." She shivered.