Chapter 19: Jeff's New Love

On Saturday, Greg took Jeff over to the Williams house, where they sat together in front of the computer looking up equipment for the rec room. It was only natural for Kari to join them, since she had been with Jeff every day that week and could offer some suggestions. In the end, they decided on three machines that were versatile enough that together they could provide a similar workout to what he was had gotten used to, as well as some free weights and barbell for bench pressing.

The machines were delivered the next week, and Allen, Greg, Jeff, and Kari set to work assembling them. They had to rearrange some of the furniture in the room, but nothing too major since there was plenty of space. The project took most of the day, but finally they had the equipment set up.

Allen said that from now on, instead of Jeff going over to the Williams house, Allen would come over to the Primdale house and they would work on a new routine with the new equipment. Kari, of course, insisted that she come too, saying that she could just as easily work out at the Primdale house as at home, and it would save her father a trip. He agreed, and the next day they all met together downstairs.

Since Jeff already had experience now, he was able to easily adjust his routine to fit the new equipment. With Kari working in as well, it was like a game of musical chairs, with him constantly chasing her around the machines as they switched between them. They ended by bench pressing, and decided to check his progress by maxing out. Jeff was pleased to see that he had closed the gap with her, though she still won by about ten pounds.

Apparently word had gotten out about the pool, because several times over the next couple of weeks, Kari asked if some of her friends could come over in the afternoon and use the pool. Jeff had absolutely no objection to that; a lot of Kari's friends were nice to look at, especially in swimsuits. Sometimes Crystal would come over too, and sometimes she would stay home. Kari's friends Jenny Boyce and Shelly Hooper from the JV volleyball team came over one day, to Jeff's delight. Jenny was a cute blonde that wasn't quite as pretty as Kari, but definitely in the top ten at his school. It was just too bad that she wore the most conservative swimsuit. Shelly had light brown hair, and although not as stunningly gorgeous as Kari or Jenny, she was pretty in her own way. She was a great swimmer; she was planning to get a job as a lifeguard the next summer.

After his experience with Rachael, Jeff was beginning to have a little more confidence around women, and actually managed not to make a fool out of himself with the girls. Jenny was a flirt, and Jeff would have enjoyed her attentions were it not for the fact that Kari seemed to get into a bad mood whenever Jenny and Jeff interacted. That was both astonishing and flattering. It looked as if Kari was actually jealous!

Needless to say, she never invited Jenny back again. The next week she brought over Vanessa Moon and Kayla Fallon. Vanessa had flaming red hair and beautiful green eyes. He was surprised to find out that she knew Kari, because she was also good friends with Jeff's friend Rick. If he had known that before, he might have tried to get Vanessa to introduce him to Kari, though that was certainly a moot point now. Kayla was black, and although Jeff had never really found black girls that attractive, Kayla was certainly the exception to the rule. She was really fun, though not as flirtatious as Jenny had been.

Even Crystal sometimes invited her friends over. First it was the Dover twins, Tammy and Tanya. They were a pair of cute, twelve-year-old brunettes. While he certainly didn't entertain any romantic or sexual notions about them, they were nice to look at, and he figured that in a couple more years they would become a pair of gorgeous teenagers.

Another one of Crystal's friends that she brought over several times was Monica Matheson, a pretty girl with unusually black hair. He recognized her from Brit's twelfth birthday party. She was one of the giggling girls that had flirted with him the whole time, and this continued in the pool. While she was an amateur compared to Jenny, her childish teasing had a certain innocence that made it all the more amusing. He didn't mind it a bit.

Then there was Natalie Ross, or "Nat" as she preferred to be called. She had the tendency to climb all over things, including the trees, the guest house, and Jeff. She never used the stairs to reach the upper deck from below; she always climbed the poles supporting it instead. She had been taking gymnastics and ballet since she was old enough to walk, which explained her limberness. She liked to jump all over Jeff, scrambling up to sit on his shoulders. Being small for her age, she weighed almost nothing, so he was more amused than annoyed. While it could be interpreted as flirtatious, more likely she was just a little hyper and needed releases like that for her excessive energy.

As it turned out, Jeff enjoyed the times when Kari came over by herself even more. It seemed that as the weeks wore on, Allison made excuses to get Lissa and Brit out of the house with increasing frequency. Sometimes Jeff and Kari joined them when the activity wasn't too girlish. But whenever Jeff stayed home, Kari decided to stay with him.

It was during one of these times, about three weeks after he first started training, that something happened that changed their relationship forever.

In the morning Jeff had finally, for the first time, caught up and surpassed Kari in the bench press. That elation was short-lived, however, because after the math lesson while the girls were out shopping, Kari beat him at ping-pong. Still, Jeff had never really been all that competitive, so he didn't mind that she won. They came over and sat down on the couch.

"Jeff, can I ask you a personal question?" said Kari.

"Sure."

"Do you ... do you like me?"

"What? Of course I like you."

"No, I don't mean that. I mean ... Don't be mad, but Allison said that you ... had a crush on me."

"She what?" he exclaimed.

"Please don't be mad, Jeff. Just tell me the truth. I promise, I don't mind either way."

"I know, but it's not something I'm really comfortable just coming out and saying."

"Would it help if I told you first what I think of you?"

"I don't know. It might."

"All right. Until this summer, I just thought of you as a good-looking guy, maybe a little freckly, although that's kind of cleared up lately, who wasn't particularly social. You were always kind of a loner. I'll admit I didn't really give you much thought until you came to my house that first day to work out, but once I found out what you're really like, I'm glad I got to meet you. I want to be friends ... and maybe more."

"More?"

"Yes, more. But I'm not going to elaborate until you tell me how you feel about me."

"Oh, all right. I'd like to be more than friends with you too."

Kari smiled. "I was hoping you'd say that. Would it be all right if I kissed you?"

"Only if I get to kiss you back," he grinned.

"It's a deal!" she exclaimed, then slid her arms around his neck and pressed her lips up against his. He put his arms around her waist and held her to him, kissing her a little awkwardly yet passionately.

When she drew back, she had a smile on her lips as she gazed lovingly into his eyes. "That was nice," she breathed. "I've always wondered what that would feel like."

"Haven't you ever been kissed before?"

"Not since second grade, remember, and he wasn't anywhere near as good a kisser as you are," she laughed.

"Well, I can't claim to be all that experienced either."

"Compared to a second-grade boy?"

"Good point."

"Well, since neither of us is very good at it, maybe we should practice," she said with a grin.

"All right. Now if only we had a boy for you to practice on and a girl for me..."

She laughed and slapped him playfully on the shoulder. "Together, I mean."

"That's an even better idea! Why didn't I think of that?" he joked.

They continued to kiss for half an hour, until Allison returned home with Lissa and Brit. Jeff and Kari hurriedly moved slightly away from each other on the couch so that when Brit came down the stairs, she didn't suspect anything. But later on, just before Kari had to leave, she managed to get him alone for a few seconds and stole a quick kiss. "We'll continue this tomorrow," she grinned.

Jeff was positively ecstatic the rest of the evening. He couldn't hide his happiness, as he grinned like an idiot the whole time. Brit just rolled her eyes, obviously not understanding what was going on, but Allison and Lissa gave him a knowing look.

The next day Allison again took the girls out while Jeff and Kari remained home. They did indeed continue what they had started yesterday. Jeff couldn't believe this was really happening to him. Kari Williams, the most perfect girl in the entire school, was actually kissing him!

He wanted to do more. He wanted to take her to his room and make love to her. Perhaps a more outgoing man would be a little more forward, but Jeff was scared that he might ruin their relationship if he tried anything. So for now, he was content to just hug and kiss her.

She seemed to especially like it when he just put his arm around her and she lay her head on his shoulder. They would do this while watching movies or television, or even just for the sake of doing it. She had a certain romantic streak to her; she loved little touches and caresses, and Jeff was happy to oblige her. She had such soft skin.

Jeff turned fifteen a few days later, and although he had a fun party, he had already received the best birthday present ever. He invited a few of his friends over, including Kari and even Crystal. They made it a pool party, and everyone had a lot of fun.

After that first time they kissed, Jeff and Kari had kept it a secret from the others out of a desire not to be teased by Brit or Crystal, and it had just seemed to become a habit that they wouldn't show affection while others were around. That was too bad, because he would have loved to kiss her while they were in the pool. Or even out of the pool while they wore their swimsuits.

After horsing around outside for a couple of hours, they came in and ate cake and ice cream, and Jeff opened his presents. All in all, it was his best birthday ever, even better than the previous year when they had gone camping.

That was also the first day that Allen didn't stay for Jeff's training. With basketball camp starting, he left Jeff with Kari in the mornings, and the two of them continued to work out together. She insisted that during that time they actually do what they were supposed to do, no matter how much they would rather be doing other things. Jeff did manage to steal a few kisses here and there, and she didn't seem to protest too loudly.

It continued that way for another three weeks as July wound down. It seemed that these days the other girls left them alone almost every day, to Jeff's delight. Kari and he would spend their time "practicing" their kissing, and Jeff was getting increasingly aroused with each session. He didn't know how much longer he could wait, but he was determined to control himself until she was ready.

By this time, Jeff was doing far better than Kari in the bench press, and in fact, was now stronger than her in all of the ways they worked out. On the other hand, on the first day of August when they received their scores back from the previous day's test that Allison had administered to them, they found that for the first time, Kari actually beat his score, if only by a single point. Jeff didn't mind that so much, since as soon as she saw her score she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly, even in front of Allison.

"I think," said Allison, "in light of your achievement, at the very least you deserve a day off, don't you agree?"

"I'm not going to say no to a day off from school," Kari grinned.

"Good," Allison said. "That means I get the day off too. I'm going to take the girls to go see a movie. You two are welcome to come along too, but I have to warn you, it's a chick flick. I doubt Jeff would enjoy it at all."