Chapter 5

Like a downhill skier who closes his eyes and pictures every gate, bump, and turn in the run, Freddy Nelson was mentally riffing through Mark Knopfler's guitar work in Dire Strait's "Romeo and Juliet."

Doing that while also walking and checking out passing girls meant he often wandered distractedly into people's path in the high school halls. But most of them got out of his way.

His clothes said he was a 'bad boy': black cords, a black Aerosmith t-shirt, and black Converse tennis shoes. His dark hair hung past his collar looking disheveled, though closer inspection would show it was clean and recently cut. He had black nail polish on the little fingers of each hand, which flickered in and out of view as his fingers played his imaginary guitar.

He finished the song, and looked up to verify he was where he was supposed to be. He leaned against the wall to wait. "Hey, ladies," he offered to a couple of pretty freshmen girls passing by, eliciting a burst of giggles and blushes as they kept walking.

A few minutes later, Julie, Porter, Sammy, and Blythe came around the corner, headed towards him. He was on their path towards the exit to the student parking lot, where the group would load up to carpool home in Sammy's VW bug.

Julie had a hand stuck into one of Porter's back pockets to hold his hip against hers as they walked, and heard him suck in his breath. She looked up to see Freddy standing in their path. When their eyes met, he smiled at her.

Blythe noticed Porter tensing up. "Trouble?"she asked quietly.

"Not really," Julie said, hugging Porter's arm more tightly to her. Porter glanced sharply at her. "Relax, sweetie," she said to him.

Freddy and Julie had been lovers a few times in the last couple years without any emotional attachment. He played at parties in a band with a couple other guys. He was smooth and semi-dangerous looking, which combined with rock music, alcohol, and pot made him an attractive choice for girls looking for hook-ups.

Sammy knew Freddy through different means - he'd been on her Little League baseball team. Though he hadn't been a standout player, he was valued for cracking everyone up with corny jokes, keeping them loose. They'd been casual friends in middle school, before they'd begun hanging out with different crowds.

'He sure seems bigger this year, ' she thought, 'must have had a growth spurt.'

"Hey Julie, Porter. Well hey Sammy, didn't expect to see you." Freddy said. 'Wow, Sammy's become ... beautiful, ' he thought, before looking back to Julie. He could easily see the hostility in Porter's eyes.

Sammy tilted her head at his odd greeting. "Um, yeah, I still go to school here. Geez you sure grew over the summer."

"I didn't mean ... um, yeah, I did," he said, his voice softening.

Her eyes narrowed when she saw his gaze move towards her chest. But she relaxed when they didn't linger; they dropped further to his own large-looking feet, his smile becoming a grimace of embarrassment.

"Hey, no, Freddy! I meant that as a compliment."

"Oh, okay," his smile returning tentatively.

Blythe's defenses immediately lowered. She understood being self-conscious about body size. Seeing his bravado slip, Porter also relaxed a bit; Julie felt that and it made her smile.

"My name's Blythe," the tall blonde blurted, extending her hand.

"Hey ... Freddy." They shook, and Freddy's cocky bad boy persona slipped back into place. Blythe's confidence withered as it did.

"Anyway," Freddy said, turning to Porter, "I wanted to catch you and say I'm sorry again for hitting on Julie yesterday, man. I really didn't know you guys were together."

A light bulb lit up in Sammy's head. Freddy's appearance here wasn't a coincidence.

"It's okay," Porter said noncommittally, and an awkward silence ensued.

"Yeah," Freddy said, trying to come up with a change of subject, "I guess I should have hit on my old buddy Sammy here, instead," he blurted. A moment later, 'What the fuck are you thinking?' flashed through his mind.

"Hey, hey, hey," Sammy said with a grin. "I have a boyfriend, too, numb nuts."

He nodded, grateful she hadn't taken offence. "Yeah, I see you and Bobby together all the time."

Sammy laughed. "I live with Bobby; he's my stepbrother. My boyfriend's Dave Simpson."

"Oh, sorry, I guess I haven't seen you with him as much."

Sammy started to say something, stopped, then shrugged her shoulders. "He has a new toy, his own car; excuse me, I mean JEEP," she said, rolling her eyes. "But now Blythe here," she said, deflecting the focus away from herself, "doesn't currently have a boyfriend."

Blythe gave Sammy a dirty look. Then she and Freddy eyed each other.

"Looks kinda scruffy," Blythe offered, speaking more boldly than she felt.

"He's not as bad as he looks," Julie said with a smile, drawing a frown from Porter.

Freddy thought Blythe looked pretty hot. Emboldened by Julie's endorsement, he drawled, "Wanna come to one of my band's shows sometime?"

Before Blythe could respond, Julie intervened. "I think we'll get back to you on that, Freddy, so put your eyes back in your head for now." Blythe and Porter both blushed furiously.

"Maybe we can arrange a supervised play-date at my house sometime," Sammy offered, "to see if you know how to act around a lady like Blythe, Freddy."

Freddy's eyes lit up. "That sounds great! I mean, yeah, sure, whatever."

The girls all laughed. "Okay, now shoo," Sammy said, pushing him aside to clear the way for her group to pass.

"Later," Freddy called after them, watching admiringly as the girl's butts moved with the unconscious sensuality of blossoming young women.

As Sammy suspected, Bobby Taylor had pulled Freddy aside, asking him to intercept Julie and her boyfriend to reassure them that he wasn't still after Julie. He and Julie had never been more than recreational anyway.

And as luck would have it, he'd been pushed towards a couple other hot girls in the process – Sammy sounded annoyed with her boyfriend, and Blythe was new to the school, looking to make new friends. And Sammy might invite him to her house? Thanks, Bobby!

"Hope they like music," he thought with a grin. He began guitar riffing again, this time with "Stairway to Heaven."

Sammy, Julie, and Blythe were doing homework and chatting in Sammy's bedroom. Porter had begged off joining them after he and Julie had a quiet conversation and a brief kiss goodbye; Julie was unusually quiet.

"Porter wasn't happy about seeing Freddy again, I take it?" Sammy asked her.

"No, he sure wasn't. Yesterday during one of the few moments I wasn't holding Porter's hand, Freddy came up and asked if I wanted to 'party' this weekend. Porter heard it, and I think he expected me to slap him, but I just laughed, said no thanks, and introduced him to Porter.

"I mean, Freddy's a total horn dog - but the times we got together it wasn't like he forced me or anything. I'd be at a party where he was playing; sometimes I hit on him, sometimes he hit on me. When we both said 'yes' we hooked up. That doesn't make Freddy a vampire or anything."

She frowned. "But it's kind of hard to explain that to Porter without sounding like a complete slut. All I can do is keep saying I won't do it again. And I have to say, I'm starting to get a little tired of saying it. When is he gonna just know it and believe it?"

Before Julie could lapse too deep into melancholy, Sammy tried to change the subject.

"All that doesn't sound like Freddy would make very good dating material for Blythe, does it?" Sammy observed. "He's sure a lot smoother with the ladies than he used to be."

"He doesn't want me anyway, he wants you," Blythe replied.

"Yeah, what was that all about?" asked Julie. "You know him?"

"I knew him in his 'pre-black-clothes days, ' years ago. And I thought I successfully re-pointed him your way today," Sammy said to Blythe. "But if all he's after is sex, the play-date thing won't happen."

"Oh, I don't know," said Julie. "I think Freddy's trainable. The girls he's been with haven't been into having a relationship with him, either. I know I wasn't. I think if a girl wanted to stay together, he might want that in return."

"So if we put him through enough hoops before he gets any, he could be trained?" Sammy laughed.

"Yeah, I think so."

"Uh, guys, you know I've never, uh, 'given any' to anyone, right?" stammered Blythe.

"That's okay," said Sammy.

"Well, I can't train him if I don't know what I'm doing."

"We meant train him to be nice to you," said Julie, "and to stop propositioning other girls in the hallways if he starts dating you - that kind of thing. As far as sex goes, if you decide you want to, he'd be a good guy for a first time," she said factually.

"He would?" Blythe squeaked.

"Oh yeah, he's a good lover. I mean, he never blew my doors off like Bobby can, but I'd put him pretty high on the list." She grinned wryly. "At least, as best as I can remember."

Seeing Blythe turning purple, Sammy couldn't resist piling on. "Good sized dick?"

"Just average, but that's another reason he'd be a good first time. Not that you would know, missy, since all you've ever had are jumbo sized guys."

Now it was Sammy's turn to blush. Seeing a chance to fight back, Blythe said, "Is Dave really 'jumbo sized, ' Sammy?'"

When Sammy just squirmed and didn't answer, Julie offered: "That I only have visual knowledge of, though it was pressed up against my ass once. But he's in the same league as Bobby."

"So you've been with your step-brother too?" Blythe asked Sammy tentatively.

"God, you guys! Fine, yes, but it was before our parents got married. Well, I mean, practically before. The last time was during their honeymoon, and right after that, he started going out with Collette and I started going out with Dave."

"So the step brother and sister are dating a brother and a sister now. And I dated Bobby before all that," Julie offered.

"And Dave's as big as Bobby, right?" asked Blythe.

"Well, they're big ... in different ways."

"Right," commented Julie. "Well, nobody could be longer than Bobby, so Dave's..."

"Yes, Dave is, well, he's thicker than Bobby," Sammy confirmed. She picked up some note paper and fanned her face. "My, is it warm in here?" Then she scooted back to the headboard of her bed, spread her legs, and fanned the paper to push air up under her skirt. The other girls nearly rolled onto the floor laughing.