Chapter 23: The Penultimate Lesson

It was now the middle of June, and the final year of high school was about to end. We had swapped academic standing back and forth all year, by fractions of a point, so that we were to graduate in a statistical tie for first place. To us, it had been a game all through the year. Other than Mrs. Wilson and Jason Wu, no one else knew that we typically studied together, could have written each other's research papers, and challenged each other much more than our teachers ever would.

We had still not publicly 'come out' to any of the other students, nor even to our parents; we had kept our relationship low-key at school, preferring to avoid the excessive public displays that other students went in for. We knew that we were soul mates, destined to be with each other; we didn't need to trumpet it down the hallways of the school each day. The all too infrequent times that we got to be with each other in our preferred fashion were sufficient for us. We knew that the future would only bring more time that we could spend in each other's arms.

As part of the future, we also knew that our university attendance plans had come to fruition, in that we had received the thick envelopes we had expected. We had applied to several universities as insurance, but we had both received the only acceptance that we really wanted. In truth, we had been accepted by every university to which we had applied, and we had been offered full scholarships by every one of them. Our parents had been strutting around as the stack of acceptances had grown, but we had made our decision long before the envelopes came in, so we had accepted the offers the moment we saw them.

As graduation planning got underway, we went to the school administrators and proposed that we jointly deliver the valedictory address, to save them the trouble of trying to decide which one of us to select. It seemed that a collective sigh of relief went up when we made this proposal, and our idea was quickly approved. That left us with one more paper to write, as we would have to prepare a speech for the commencement ceremonies. In idle moments we started bandying ideas back and forth, trying to find the appropriate tone, yet trying to avoid shocking our parents, peers, and teachers. Or, at least trying to lessen the shock to a level that we thought we could get away with.

The one advantage that being seniors brought to us at this time of the year was the smaller number of classes that we had to attend. As final projects got completed, and final exams were written, there were fewer and fewer compulsory lectures. This meant that we could occasionally get a morning in which we didn't need to be up early and off to school. Instead, we could sleep in; or at least, that's what our parents thought.

In truth, it meant that she could sneak out and climb the trellis to my room, just as she had done during that first idyllic summer of our relationship. And, it meant that I could wake up with her in my arms, just as we should.

On this particular morning we had just finished making slow, languid love, in no rush to finish, and with no wish to be anywhere else. She was lying on top of me, chin propped on my chest, her hair flying around her head, glowing in the way that she always did after an orgasm. In her words, she looked hideous; in my words, she was beautiful, and I loved her.

She wrapped her arms around me and hugged me tightly for a moment, then stretched up and kissed me. I folded her in my arms, enjoying the kiss as I had always enjoyed kissing her. She pulled back after a moment, and looked into my eyes. I thought she was about to speak, but she seemed very hesitant for some reason. I had a sudden flashback to the day in my garage nearly two years ago, when she had suggested we become sexual partners.

I lifted an eyebrow at her, and she swallowed, then took a deep breath, and began to speak, somewhat haltingly. "I ... uh that is..." Finally, in a rush, she blurted, "We need to take on another research project."

I looked at her quizzically, but very calmly, because I had an inkling about where this might be going. When she didn't say anything, but started nibbling her lower lip, I finally asked, "Another research project? What about this time?"

"Marriage." Once again, a single word, delivered while her eyes bored into mine. No emotion, no inflection, again just a single word.

"Marriage?"

"Marriage, with you and me, before we go to college this fall, so we can live together, and not in separate dorms where we won't have any privacy."

"You realize that marriage will change things between us." I couldn't resist saying this, since it was almost exactly what I had said two years previously when the subject of sex had been raised. I was on dangerous ground here; I knew where I wanted this conversation to go, but I could easily make her very angry if I said or did the wrong thing.

"Yes, I know that, but I think it will only be for the better."

"You're sure? You know that the 'until death us do part' section of the process means quite a long time. It does rather restrict my trade-in options." I held her tighter, as I knew that she was about to explode, and I had to prepare.

The explosion began as I had expected. Her jaw gaped, and her eyes went wide. She started sputtering, trying to form words, so indignant that she was beyond speech. I tried to kiss her, but she nearly head-butted me avoiding my lips. She was trying to push away, but her hands were trapped under me, and I had a firm grip around her with my arms.

Finally, she managed to collect herself enough to look me in the eye, and speak. "Trade-in options? What the hell do you think this is? A game? Is that all we are to each other?" Tears were starting to flow down her cheeks, and I thought I had taken things too far.

Holding her tightly so she couldn't get away, I slid over to the side of the bed, then rolled a little so that she could free the arm on that side. When she had pulled it clear, and looked like she was about to slap me with it, I said "Open the night table drawer."

"What?"

"Open the drawer in my night table."

"What for?"

"Just do it, please. You'll see why in a second."

She glared at me for a moment, then reached over and pulled the drawer open. "Okay, so now what?"

"There's a small box in the front part of the drawer. Take it out." Curiosity got the better of her, and she brought the box out, placing it on my chest. I rolled slightly to let her pull her other arm free. "Now open it."

She pulled the lid off, and found another, smaller box inside. This one was covered in dark blue velvet. She eyed me suspiciously. "Go ahead, take it out," I told her. She did so, then turned it toward herself, and started to open it. I could see the pinpoints of light reflected on her face as she saw the content, and her complete demeanour softened as her eyes filled with tears. "Gotcha."

She stared at the ring, tears flowing unchecked down her cheeks, and I knew once again that I loved her with all my heart. After a minute, she raised her eyes to mine, and tried to form a question, but couldn't get the words out.

"Yes, I am still a loutish brute, and I don't deserve you, but I do love you, and I really don't want to watch your shapely buttocks disappear from my life." I hugged her once more. "So, with all of that out of the way, I believe that the traditional question is 'will you marry me?'"

There was a pause while she wiped her face, and tried to catch her breath. "Well, I suppose that will all depend on whether I can maintain my trade-in options."

I laughed because I knew that all was once again right. "I deserved that, and I apologize, but you still haven't answered the question."

She stretched up to kiss me, then said, "Well, of course I'll marry you, if only to save you from a life of freedom and fun. You have to tell me though ... how long have you had this ring?"

"If you're agreeing to marry me, then you have to wear the ring, before we deal with any other questions." I took the box from her, and removed the ring, then reached for her left hand. As I slipped the ring on her finger, I said, "With or without a ring, with or without a marriage, you know that I am yours until my last breath." This time she sobbed loudly, and threw herself onto my chest. I wrapped her in my arms, and soothed her until the emotional storm passed.

As she calmed, she lifted her head. "You still haven't answered my question ... how long have you had this ring?"

"Since about Easter. I knew that the subject was going to come up, and I had to make sure that I got the jump on you. You were the one to start the sex project, and traditionally it's the man who 'pops the question' about marriage, so I had to be prepared. You still preempted me slightly, but I will take credit for having the idea first, since the ring has been sitting here waiting."

"When were you planning to ask me?"

"I hadn't completely worked that out. I had vague ideas about doing it during senior prom, or even while we were giving the valedictory address. I had pretty much ruled that one out, because I figured that way too many people would freak."

"Yeah, like my parents, your parents, the entire graduating class..."

"Yes, but think of it this way ... it would have been a performance of epic proportion, remembered for all time. We would be legends within the school, and everyone in the graduating class would know who we are."

"True, but on the other hand, we've been sharing a bed as often as possible for two years without anyone knowing, and possibly with no one suspecting. Flying low has helped us a lot; not getting noticed has meant that we could do pretty much as we pleased, to the pleasure of us both. We might be better off to look at continuing that approach."

"You know I hate it when you're right." I got a punch on the chest for that remark, as I had expected. "In any event, there is one group that we have to come out to in the very near future."

"Yes, our parents."

"Precisely. If we intend to get married before the fall term starts, then we have to tell our parents right away. Otherwise, we won't be able to apply for married students housing, and it will mean the single dorms."

"So, when should we do this?"

"Well, the parents have planned a barbecue and backyard party to celebrate our graduation. That's tonight, so we could hit them up together and get it all over with right away."

She thought for a moment, her eyes fixed on the ring, then kissed me, and said, "I can't think of a better time. That way we'll also have outed ourselves before prom, so there won't be any surprises for the parents that night."

She hugged me again, then we untangled ourselves from the bedding and headed for the shower. A leisurely naked breakfast followed, then we got dressed and headed off to school, since we still had a couple of lectures to attend later in the day. We agreed to meet up after school, and provide moral support before we let our parents know what was happening.

We walked home after school, talking about the upcoming meeting with our parents. In the end, we decided that all we could do was play it by ear, and remember that we loved each other. "Face it", I said, "we're adults, we're engaged, and we're happy. We're announcing it to them, and we don't really need their permission to do anything. What we do want is their support, their love, and their friendship, and we've always had those. There's no reason to think that things will be any different after tonight."

She smiled, a little thoughtfully, then finally shook her head and looked up at me. "You know, there are actually times when a useful thought comes from behind that beetled brutish brow."

"Yes, and I love you too."

She giggled, clasped my hand, and said, "I love you, you actually occasionally make sense, and I think we'll be fine. Now, do we arrive hand-in-hand, or do we come in separately, then sit beside each other?"

"Let's do the separate thing, so they don't think we're ganging up on them right away." Since the actual barbecue was being held in her yard, we agreed that I would simply arrive with my parents, and then we would speak to both sets once the initial pleasantries were over.

A few hours later, that was where we found each other. After an initial round of drinks, the barbecue was lit, the food was being brought out, and the men had taken over the grill. She and I had exchanged a few glances, and when we both judged that the moment was right, she moved to sit beside me.

I cleared my throat, and trying not to seem too nervous, I said, "There's something that we need to talk to you guys about. It's about this fall, when we go away to university."

My Dad looked at my mother, and I saw him raise one eyebrow at her, and tilt his head slightly. Oddly, I saw her father do the same thing to her mother. My Dad finally looked in our direction, and said, "You're going to tell us that the two of you want to live together while you're away." He was smiling while he spoke, but I was still stunned at what he had said.

"Uh ... Well..." I felt her hand steal into mine, and a warm feeling went through me, allowing me to settle my jumpy nerves. "Actually, no, that's not it." Four sets of eyes looked at us, and the mothers noticed our clasped hands. "Well, it sort of is, but actually, we want to get married before we go, so we can live together."

Strangely, none of our parents said anything, but weird things happened. I saw my Dad hold his hand out to her father, and receive what looked like a twenty-dollar bill. Her mother held out a hand to mine, and another bill moved from one to the other. After a moment, realization dawned on me, and I turned to my love. "I think we've been had."

She had a puzzled look on her face, and asked, "What do you mean?"

"I think they've known all along that we've been together, and they were betting on how we would let them know, and what we would want to do."

"How ... how did they know? We were so careful."

My mother could no longer contain herself, and started laughing uproariously. Her mother went into fits of laughter as well, and both of our fathers were grinning at the two of us. My Dad finally said, "Son, every generation thinks that it was the one that invented sex, and thinks they can hide it from their stodgy old parents. You just learned a valuable lesson—mothers always know."

Our two mothers finally pulled themselves together, and calmed down, then looked toward us. "So, has the question actually been asked, and answered?" In reply, my beloved held up her left hand to show them the ring, and both mothers came over to hug her and cry over her. Both fathers came to me, and I stood up to receive handshakes and slaps on the back from both of them.

Her Dad went back to the grill, while mine looked over and asked, "So, you're probably wondering how we knew about the two of you?" As we nodded, he continued. "First, there's a little background about all of us that you probably are not aware of, because we've never made a big deal about it." I wondered what was coming as he took a sip from his beer before continuing. "You see, the four parents here were all at the same university together. The two fathers were roommates, as were the two mothers. We all met one night at a party, and then started dating, except we started out by dating the opposite member from what we are today.

"Now, where it gets juicy, is that we all had moved to the point of having sex on a regular basis before we decided that we liked the opposite partner better. We were all quite amicable about it, so one night, with a little liquor to grease things, we started out in one set of beds, and just changed over, so we woke up with different partners the next morning. We've been together ever since."

She gasped, and said, "So ... so you used to have orgies together?"

"No, no ... nothing like that. The night we switched we were in different rooms. We've never actually done the four-in-a-bed thing, although it might be fun to try. However, what it does mean is that I've seen your mother naked, and had sex with her, and your father has been with his mother. Now, it has been quite a few years, but you should probably resign yourself to knowing that none of the parents here are very uptight when it comes to sex."

She turned to me, trying to digest this revelation, and I gave her a quick hug. "Don't let it get to you. Yes, it's a surprise, but I'm pretty sure that some of what we've done goes beyond that."

My Dad heard this, and said, "Don't be so sure my son. You might be surprised."

I looked at him and grinned. "I'm not revealing secrets at the moment, but I think you're the one that might get surprised." He laughed, and shook his head, then my mother spoke up.

"How long have the two of you been ... a couple?"

"Well, are you actually asking how long we've been dating, or how long we've been having sex?" I felt her hand tighten in mine as I asked the question, and I looked at her reassuringly.

"Well, I guess dating. I'm assuming that dating came first, then sex."

I grinned at my love, who beamed back at me, and nodded. I turned to the mothers and said, almost proudly, "Well, we've never actually been on a date. But we have had a lot of sex, so I guess I'd have to say the sex came first."