Chapter 9

Sammy let the water flow through her hair, luxuriating in the warmth as it flowed over her body, soothing the aches and pains of softball practice.

"Mmm, am I glad it's Friday," she moaned.

Blythe stood under the neighboring shower, head in a similar pose. "You little shit!" she muttered.

Sammy grinned and stuck out her tongue. "Don't worry, there's no more practice until spring. I won't be hitting any more of your pitches into the gap for months."

"Well, that's a good thing, I guess," Blythe grumbled. "I'm just glad you'll be on my side when the season starts."

"Same to you," Sammy said, sincerely.

They walked to their lockers a few minutes later."You remember that you're supposed to be at my house at 2:00 tomorrow, right?" Sammy said.

"Right."

Sammy could sense her trepidation about going to the party.

"Porter and Julie will be riding with us too. So there will be lots of people there that you know. Collette and Dave always throw a good party."

"Um, and did you invite, um, you know..."

"Freddy?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah, Collette said it'd be okay. I told him it's not a date, and he's okay with that. He said he'd bring his guitar."

"Cool."

Barbara grinned at the sound of Bobby thundering down the stairs before he joined everyone in the kitchen. "You're sure in a good mood," she teased.

"And why not? My girlfriend decides to come home for the weekend so we can get together – what's not to like about that?"

"Uh, there will be other people there too, Doofus," Sammy remarked.

"But he'll only have eyes for his sweetie - just like me and my guy," said Julie, holding Porter's arm and batting her eyes at him affectionately. He bent down to kiss her on the nose.

"Shouldn't you be going?" asked Raul.

"We're still waiting on Blythe," Sammy said, with a frown. "And I wanna see Dave!"

"Why don't you guys go on ahead," Bobby suggested. "I'll bring her with me when she shows up."

"You don't mind? I know you want to see Collette, too."

"She'll be busy playing hostess for the first hour anyway. You go ahead."

After the other teens had piled into Sammy's bug and sped off, Bobby turned to his parents. "You know that if you guys want to go out tomorrow I can babysit Gina for you."

"That's sweet of you, Son," said Barbara. "We just might take you up on that," she said, with a grin at Raul.

"Will you and your sister be coming home tonight?" asked Raul.

"Uh, probably not," he said with a blush. "But I will probably have to give Blythe, Julie, and Porter rides home at some point."

"And when were you planning on telling us?" he asked, sternly. Then he laughed.

"That's fine, Son. I'm going to go into the shop tonight to catch up on some things, and it may go late. So, if you think of it while you're having fun over there, give your mom a call after dark to say howdy."

"Oh, Raul, he doesn't need to do that," Barb protested.

"It's no problem, Mom," Bobby said, his protective instincts arising. "Do you need a hand, Dad? Sammy and I know how to pass wrenches and stuff; we could come down and help tomorrow."

"Thanks, but its more paperwork than anything. It'll be fine," he said. Bobby saw a hint of worry from Barbara as Raul gave his wife a reassuring glance. He resolved to call Barbara more than once during the party.

He saw movement outside and turned to see Blythe sprinting up the walk to the door. He opened it before she could knock. She looked panicked.

"Sammy's car's not here; did she already leave?" she panted. "Hi, Mr. and Ms. Ramirez," she added.

"She did, but it's okay; you can ride with me," Bobby said, picking up his backpack that had his swim-suit and a change of clothes in it. He saw Blythe had a similar sized bag slung over her shoulder.

"Oh! I ... uh ... told my mom I was riding with Sammy. But ... okay."

"No drinking, Bobby, if you're going to be driving people home later," said Barbara. He nodded.

"You guys have a good time," said Raul. He went to Bobby and gave him a big hug. "You'll call your mother?" he said softly. Bobby nodded. "I love you, Son," he said more audibly, releasing him. Bobby looked at him curiously for a moment, and then nodded again.

"Love you guys," he said to his parents, holding the door for Blythe as they left.

The old BMW purred quietly as Bobby carefully drove through traffic.

"Sammy said you don't like to go on Dave's wild Jeep rides; I can see why," Blythe said.

"Why's that?"

"Because you drive like my mom."

He grinned. "It's my girlfriend's car; I try to take good care of it. You know, I could have come and picked you up, so you didn't have to run like a maniac to our house."

She nodded, then looked away.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"Uh, just that ... it'd be best if Sammy takes me home later."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Why's that, if you don't mind me asking?"

She looked at him cautiously. "Well, my mom's not ready to see guys yet."

"Oh; I didn't mean a date, I just meant to give you a ride."

"I said my mom's not ready to see guys yet."

"See guys..."

"She's not ready to see any person of the male gender within or about our domicile."

"Ohhhh! I see."

"Right."

"Your parents are divorced I take it?"

"Very."

"Is your dad still in Atlanta?"

"Yeah."

"Damn; that must be hard."

She gave him a brief, sad smile. "Yeah, it is."

"It's too bad about your mom feeling that way about men in general."

She shrugged. "I understand it."

"Yeah, but I meant it's too bad it impacts you. I mean, it's not your fault they got divorced." When she didn't respond, he added, "You know that, right?"

Blythe looked away, watching other cars pass them. "No," she murmured.

"Blythe, seriously, you aren't responsible for..."

"Bobby, thanks; but I don't want to talk about it."

They rode in silence the rest of the way. When they parked in Collette's driveway, Bobby took her hand.

"I'm sorry, Blythe. I was out of line - it's none of my business. I was just trying to help."

"As Sammy would say, 'in your usual clod-like way, '" she replied, mimicking their friend's voice fairly well.

"Something like that," he agreed. "Anyway, still friends?"

She surprised him with a quick hug. She released him so quickly it was like his body had scalded her, but she managed to give him a shy smile. "Yes please," she softly said. "Thank you."

The curtain of an upstairs window that had been slightly parted fell back into place.

Collette answered the door with a broad smile, ignoring Bobby for the moment as she gave Blythe a welcoming hug.

"Here's the girl I've been hearing so much about! Welcome, Blythe, I'm Collette Simpson. You're as pretty as Sammy said you were. Come in, come in!"

"Thanks, Collette," she said shyly.

Once inside, Collette and Bobby wrapped each other up in their arms and locked in a passionate kiss. After a minute, Blythe looked around a little uncomfortably - then spotted Sammy waving her towards what looked to be the kitchen area. She left the two lovers behind and was greeted with a hug by Sammy.

"They'll come up for air eventually," Sammy said. "Do you have your suit on underneath?"

"No."

"C'mon, I'll show you where you can put it on. Usually we sit around for a while, then we strip off and play in the pool before we eat. We'd just be in our suits the whole time during the summer - but it's a little cool to hang out in them this time of year."

Sammy directed Blythe up the stairs ahead of her, making her squeal with one firm smack on the ass on the way. They turned into what was obviously a girl's bedroom, though the closet stood open and mostly empty.

"This is Collette's room, but she lives on campus at USC now. Get changed and come on out back." Sammy turned to leave.

"Could you wait, Sammy? I mean, so you're with me when I come out to meet everyone?"

Sammy smiled affectionately. "Sure, no problem."

"Thanks."

Blythe dug into her bag and pulled out her two piece bathing suit. She stripped down and stepped into the bottoms – they were French cut, but not outrageously revealing. As she picked the top up, Sammy's hands slipped under her arms to cup her naked breasts.