Chapter 4: Sunday

Sunday morning I woke up spooned with Beth—a position I hoped I'd be able to repeat often. "You awake, my princess?"

"Don't bother me. I'm living happily ever after," she groaned as I started to give her a morning back rub.

It was during that rub that I realized something that made me really think about Beth and I. I'd given a lot of girls back rubs, as a matter of fact in my little group I was thought of as the guy to go to for a rub. But with every one of those I'd had at least a bit of an ulterior motive—if the girl liked the back rub, perhaps a more intimate rub was possible, and in a few cases that had proved true. But when I thought back to Friday night I realized that when Beth had been stretched out on the couch I had been thinking only about making her feel good, I'll admit my body had reacted like a horny teenager, but mentally I was thinking only about her, not my chances of taking it any farther. What did that mean? Had I been attracted to her as a person from the start? Was it that I felt I had no chance of getting anyplace that eliminated that whole line of reasoning? Was I in love with her? This was obviously going to take more thought than I was capable of in my half-asleep, drowsy Sunday morning state.

We exchanged morning-breath kisses—with some grabs here and there—then got ready for the day.

"So what's the plan for today?" Beth asked.

"I don't know, how about a movie?"

"Sounds good, look where the last one ended up!" She grinned.

"Um ... which car are we taking today?" I said, hopefully.

"How about the Jeep, would that work for you?" Beth doesn't do sarcasm well.

Heading back after the movie we stopped for lunch at one of the local eateries.

"What'cha thinking about?" I asked her after we'd ordered.

"Oh, just what a different weekend this has turned out to be. I mean, when I told my folks I didn't want to go to the wedding, I thought it would just give me a chance to laze around by myself. I certainly never expected to be sharing my time—and my bed!—with a guy. Or that my whole life would change just because I accepted an offer of a ride. Well, that and what am I going to do tomorrow when I have to face everybody at school!

"How about you?" she look over the table and grinned.

"I was thinking about how different my weekend was, too, and that I couldn't believe I was sitting here with the most beautiful girl I've ever known," I put my hand over hers on the table.

Beth blushed and looked a little uncomfortable at the praise. She'd obviously never had anyone say anything like that before. Oh, she'd been praised for her good grades and what a good student she was, but if anyone had told her she was beautiful, it sure hadn't taken hold in her mind.

Our food came about then and the conversation turned to Monday.

"Are you sure I can pull this off?" Beth was starting to get nervous again.

"I'm positive you can. Look, what you'll be wearing is about what every other girl has, so you'll blend in more than you did in your "bag lady" outfits, right?"

"I suppose," she took a deep breath. "I'll never know if I don't try, will I?"

"That's the attitude! You're going to knock 'em dead. The guys won't know what hit them. You're going to have half the school walking around holding their books in front of them just to hide the tents in their jeans. And I'll be right beside you, wearing my Cheshire Cat grin." Beth just laughed as we dug into our meal.

We got back to her house about four, "I hate to ruin the weekend, but I've got a ton of homework to get done by tomorrow, so I'm gonna have to get home. Not to mention our folks are going to be home soon."

Beth sighed, "But I don't want this to end!"

"Neither do I. But just think how much fun we'll have tomorrow. I'll pick you up in the morning."

"Oh God, I hope I'm ready for this." There was the lip-chew again.

"Beth, you're going to be fine. And I'll be with you, for what that's worth."

"Oh, Tommy, without you I know I couldn't do this. You better not abandon me!"

"Don't worry, I'll be there for you. Now give me a kiss and I'll see you tomorrow. I just hope I can get to sleep all by myself!"

"Don't remind me! Just get out of here before I kidnap you and lock you in the basement!"

I escaped, but I wasn't happy about it.