Chapter 12

Jack survived the next few hours of driving around with Tommy and Kristi. He was relieved that the conversation didn't stay on Taylor's developing body for much longer. The rest of the time the three spent together was relaxed and uneventful.

Eventually they all returned to Tommy's house, where Jack and Kristi kissed goodnight, before Kristi got in her own car and went home. As previously planned, Jack was staying over. When the boys went inside, the house was quiet. It seemed that everyone was asleep.

When the boys had gotten ready for bed, and were getting settled for sleep, Tommy sat up in bed and spoke.

"Son of a bitch," he said.

"What?" Jack replied.

"How stupid am I?"

"How much time have you got for the answer?" Jack quipped.

"Funny, jerkoff."

"What are you talking about, Tommy? What did I do?"

"It just dawned on me why you've been acting the way you have with Kristi."

"Oh really? Well? Let's have it. Let's hear your theory."

"You're seeing somebody else. How the hell did I not know that before? Just tell me one thing ... make it two. First, why would you do that to an awesome girl like Kristi? And second, why wouldn't you at least tell me what was going on?

"Tommy, look ... it's not what you think, seriously."

"Are you, or are you not seeing another girl, Jack?"

"Man, it's just not that simple. It's not a simple yes or no."

"Dude, either you are, or you aren't."

"I ... I don't know how to explain it, Man. I'm sorry but ... I don't know what else to tell you. Can you just trust me when I say it's complicated, and I wish I could explain right now, but I can't?"

"I'll give it a shot, Jack. But there something you should know."

"What, Tommy? What is it?"

"Kristi knows."

"Kristi knows what?"

"That there's someone else."

"There's not ... shit. How do you know that? How do you know she thinks that?"

"She told me. Actually she asked me, and I said 'no way'. But I think she's still suspicious. I didn't realize until just now that she was right. I don't get you at all sometimes, Man."

"I don't believe this."

Jack didn't want to bring it up then, but for the second time it crossed his mind that Tommy might like Kristi. And also for the second time, the idea didn't bother him terribly much. At that point Tommy and Jack had both had enough of the conversation, and they settled down to sleep for the night.

The next morning, after Mr. Young had gone out to run errands and the boys each went to their jobs, Mrs. Young went looking for Taylor so they could talk. Her daughter was in the main floor family room watching TV. Mrs. Young came in and sat across from her on the couch.

"Hey Sweetie," Mrs. Young said. "How's it going?"

"Good Mom," Taylor replied. "What's up?"

"Well, I just wanted to talk to you for a minute."

"O.K."

"Did you um ... Did you get my little gift?"

"Yeah ... yeah I did, Mom."

"What did you think, Honey? Were you shocked?"

"It did kinda' surprise me, Mom. I wasn't shocked or anything. It felt kinda' random."

"I understand. I didn't know if I should do it or not, or if I should talk to you first, or what."

"It's O.K., Mom. It was fine. Thank you."

"You're welcome! So ... um..."

"What, Mom?"

"I was just wondering if you ... I was wondering if you tried it out yet."

"Mom! You really wanna talk to me, about that? Are you sure? Wasn't giving me the thing enough?"

"I just thought you might want to talk, about the thing, or anything. Don't feel like you have to at all. I just want you to know that when I tell you you can always talk to me, I really mean it."

"Well Mom, after this, I won't have any doubt about that anymore!"

"Are you O.K. with this, Honey? Really, tell me. Should I not have gotten you that? It's just that, I thought it was so brave of you to ask me what you did, about when I was your age and all."

"I know. No, Mom. I really do appreciate it. I'm just trying to get used to it, you know? I mean, talking to you about this and everything. Did you talk to Grandma about this stuff?"

"Are you kidding? Of course not! But a lot of times I think it might have helped, if I had been able to talk to her. I probably tried, but I'm sure she couldn't handle it. I mean, I didn't understand most of those feelings I had, about Eddie, or anything back then." Taylor snorted a little laugh at the mention of the name Eddie. "Oh stop. I know it's kind of a funny name these days. Well ... I guess it was kind of dorky twenty five years ago too!"

"No big deal, Mom. Just kind of funny."

"I know, I know. But really, Taylor ... I didn't understand what was going on with me, how I was changing, why I wanted to do the things I wanted to do."

"O.K., Mom. Well, if you really wanna talk about this ... Tell me, what do you mean when you say that, about the things you wanted to do? What does that mean?"

"Well, when you asked me about all that, you were asking me about ... O.K. What's the best way to say ... Masturbation? Weren't you asking me whether or not I masturbated when I was your age?"

"Yeah, you picked-up on it just fine, Mom. That's pretty much what I was getting at."

"O.K., good. I'm glad I was right about what I thought you meant. So, is that what you mean now? Was I talking about masturbation when I said that about the things I wanted to do?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"If we're being honest, Honey, I was doing that. But that wasn't all that I really wanted to be doing."

"What does that mean?"

"It means ... I had a crush on Eddie, right? A big, honkin' crush."

"Right."

"So, I started to think about him all the time. I wanted to hang around him when he was over. I wanted to talk to him. I wanted him ... Basically, I wanted him to notice me, to know I was alive, to see me."

Taylor flashed on her own almost insatiable desire to show her breasts to Jack.

"Oh, yeah ... I get that, Mom. For sure."

"Well, when Eddie was around, I was always trying to be there, like I said. But then when he wasn't around, when I was by myself, I was thinking about him, like, all the time. And one thing just led to another, and while I was thinking about him, I started to think about ... kissing him, and him kissing me, and then ... You get the picture?"

"Absolutely."

"So, I would think about those things and ... you know, start to caress myself. And it felt really, really good."

"You can actually remember that?"

"Pretty well, yeah. Hey! It wasn't all that long ago, you know!"

"I know, I know. So, go on, Mom."

"O.K. The more I did that, the better it felt, and the better it felt, the more I started thinking about..."

"What, Mom?"

"This is kind of embarrassing."

"O.K. Well, it's up to you, Mom. You don't have to tell me."

"No, no, it's O.K. Well, the more I did it, the better it felt, and eventually, I started thinking about Eddie doing those things to me. And then I was hooked."

Taylor couldn't believe how much her mother's story felt like her own. Of course, she figured it wasn't likely that her mother had actually gone to the lengths she herself had gone to with Jack.