Chapter 12

"Do you think you could help me get a job where you're working?" Jenny asked a couple of days later.

"I thought you had something lined up."

"It fell through when they hired the daughter of the owner."

"I'll ask, but..."

"I know, no promises."

Danielle did ask, and had to break the bad news to her cousin. "There's nothing here in Valleys End. They do have an opening in Upper & Lower."

"It's better than nothing. When can I interview with them?"

"You'll have to be naked. I was told that's part of the job."

"So? I can take that."

By the end of the week Jenny was working as a waitress for the same people. Danielle was curious how Jenny was getting along on the job, and her cousin shrugged.

"It's a job, that's the important thing."

"I haven't seen your boyfriend around lately."

"He's busy with something, and will be back in a few weeks."

"You two aren't having problems, are you?"

Jenny shook his head. "I've known this thing of his has been coming for some time. It's part of his studies."

"Did he go to the... ?"

"Alternates? No, nothing like that. He's in West Bay doing a fisheries specialization. I originally thought that meant working on a fishing boat, but he's working in the shipyard building or repairing fishing boats."

"That's ... different. It just seems odd not to see him around."

"I really miss him." Jenny sighed. "He'll be back in two weeks." She grinned. "We'll try to hold down the noise."

"I appreciate that. At least move your bed so the headboard doesn't keep hitting the wall."

"It's heavy."

"So? I'll help you."

As they were moving the bed, it was heavy enough it took both of them, Danielle took the opportunity to ask her cousin about the social life of Valleys End.

"There are plays and concerts nearly every night, as well as the movies. Why? Has some boy asked you out?"

"Well, I think he's nerving himself up to it, and I'm sort of nerving myself up to say yes."

"Oh, because of... ?"

Danielle nodded. "Believe me, Jenny, that sort of experience will turn you off to boys for some time."

"Huh. You just reminded me of a girl named Sandy that I know. She didn't get pregnant or anything, but her experiences with boys made her more interested in girls. She's got the killer body, hair, legs, boobs, face, you name it, she's got it, but when she got in the sack, boys left her cold and uninterested. The only time she got any interest was when she did it with a girl." She shook her head. "I know it happens, I just didn't expect to see it with my own eyes."

"She went to bed with a couple?"

"Of course it was..." Jenny's voice trailed off. "Anyway, yeah, she did. It was an eye-opener. She was really uncomfortable with the whole idea. I mean you're almost expected to go out with a boy, and when the great love of your life, or at least the great lust, is another girl..."

"I knew a couple of boys who were interested in other guys."?She snorted. "The teachers acted as if that was something special, but the other boys were really down on them, and the girls..."

"Bad?"

"Not really, we just treated them as one of the girls. When they got too close to us, and we quickly learned that these two couldn't keep a secret, we got to talking about things guys find uncomfortable, you know, like our periods, cramps, and things like that. I don't care how feminine a boy is, he can't really identify or fake that sort of thing."

Jenny nodded. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Still, it's better than it was. Mom was telling me about how boys like that were treated back in history. AT least girls were more private that way."

"Yeah, guys kind of flaunt it, girls don't."

"That's because we're sneakier. I think boys are seeking validation, you know, that their feelings are all right."

"Girls, too."

"Yeah, but we do that all of the time, not just if we're sleeping with another girl."

"True. So, you said plays, movies, and things like that?"

"Don't forget dancing. The church organizes a dance every Wednesday and Friday."

Danielle liked that. A dance at a church would be chaperoned. It wasn't that she thought anything would happen, it was just ... She remembered those parties, and lying on a blanket on the couch while a boy did his thing. She hadn't really enjoyed it. Oh, it felt pretty good, but it was over too quickly. About the time things began to feel really good, the boy would groan, and that would be it. She didn't think there'd be anything like that.

She hadn't looked to have a boyfriend. There was this one boy in school who was kind of cute, and they sat next to each other a couple of times a day. They talked, first it was just little things associated with class, but lately there'd been more personal things, what they liked or didn't like, comments about teachers or things they'd heard on the news, not too much out of the ordinary.

The school hosted social events, but she'd gone to Fiona's instead of taking part, which was probably a better investment of her time. This wasn't Tiburon. Here you only got good grades by earning them, not by just showing up. There you were more interested in the social scene; here it was something that you fit in around everything else.

Greg didn't seem like the boys back in Tiburon, either. Oh, he was interested in the same thing every teenage boy was, but boys here seemed more constrained. Back in Tiburon guys would come on to a girl at a party, and a girl had to learn how to say no. Of course in the group she hung with a girl was expected to say yes.

Did she like Greg? Sort of. He was a guy, and that made her pause. She wasn't sure how she'd act when they were alone. For that matter she wasn't sure how he would act. She hoped that it would be polite and respectful, not groping her body like she'd experienced.

As she sat at her desk she realized that if he asked her out she'd say yes. But it would depend upon what he asked her to. If it was somewhere where they'd be alone for an extended period, then she wasn't so sure. But if it was something like a church dance, well, that she'd like. There'd be adults around to keep things in hand.