Chapter 4

I couldn't wait for my parents to leave for work the next morning. Arlene was already in school and I had some special plans for the morning. I had told Patti that I hadn't done any lifting since I left for school. Now I was curious as to just how badly my strength had deteriorated. I planned on working-out in the morning; hopefully I wasn't too out of shape.

My worst fears were realized after I removed one-hundred pounds from the bar and I tried to bench press one-hundred-five. I lowered the bar to my chest and tried to extend my arms, and was barely able to get the bar back to the rack before my arms began to shake. Removing another twenty pounds I was able to do one set of ten before I reached my limit.

"Who am I kidding," I said out loud, "it took me three years of regular lifting to get up to one-hundred -and-five pounds and another three years to drop back to eighty-five. I'll never be able to keep up with Patti. She's going to think I'm just a nerdy wimp."

Dejected, I turned away from the weights and climbed the stairs heading for my room. I changed into a pair of jeans and a tee-shirt and sat in my room sulking. After lunch, I went back downstairs and turned on the stereo and planned out what I was going to say to Patti when she arrived. At three o'clock I heard the garage door open and shut as Patti walked down the cellar stairs. I was surprised to see her dressed in a pair of jeans, a man-tailored shirt and a pair of sandals. Her long red hair was styled just as I remembered from the previous evening.

"Hi Patti, Aren't you going to lift today?"

"Hi Bill. No, I want to talk if you don't mind. I was up all last night thinking about you and me and I want to discuss a couple of things with you."

"That's good, because I have a few things that I have to tell you as well."

Patti walked over to the stereo and shut it off and then sat next to me on the sofa. We sat for what seemed a long time neither of us speaking; then both of us tried to speak at the same time. After a short laugh, I went first.

"Patti, in just the couple of days that I've been home and we've been seeing one another, I've discovered that I'm really beginning to fall for you. You're funny, easy to talk to, fun to be with and, dare I say, sexy beyond words. I think I'm falling in love for the first time in my life.

"Bill..."

"No; let me finish first. I know I have no right to expect that a girl as beautiful as you could ever fall for a guy like me. I've watched you work out and have been overwhelmed by your strength as well as your beauty. How can I hope to compete with you; I would just embarrass myself if I tried. I'm just a nerdy wimp, who can barely lift eighty-five pounds.

"Bill, that's enough," she shouted. "If I wanted to go out with some super-star jock, don't you think I would have? No, I've been down that road before and I discovered that was not what I wanted. I need someone who will love me for who I am; with all my faults and needs. I want someone who is kind, gentle and sensitive. I also need someone who will allow me to be in control and not feel threatened by my dominant personality."

I sat there stunned, totally surprised as to the direction our conversation was taking.

"Bill, when I first moved here and met you and Arlene, I was a physical and emotion wreck. I was thirteen years old. I had been sick for almost two years and had been thrown out of school for fighting. Your sister came over to our house and befriended me; showed me kindness and understanding that I hadn't experienced in a long time. We soon became inseparable and shared everything. She told me all about you; how smart you were; how loving and helpful and protective you were. When I was here I carefully observed you as the two of you interacted. I would go home afterward and lay in bed wishing that I had a brother just like you."

"Soon my body started to change and with that change my emotions changed as well. I grew in height, started to develop up top, and changed almost overnight from a little girl to an immature, emotionally awkward, young woman. I developed a crush on you and tried my hardest for you to notice me. But you never did. To you I was just your little sister's best friend."

"Patti, I'm so sorry; I never knew."

"That's okay Bill, I understand now. Your sister is almost four years younger than you and you just assumed that I was the same age; that I was just a kid. I'm almost two years older than Arlene. She was one of the youngest in our class and I was older when I started school and lost a year when I moved here after missing a year of school, so I was the oldest."

I looked into her eyes and saw the pain that she had contended with and that she had overcome. Now the two-year difference in our ages meant nothing.

"Bill, there's one more thing I have to tell you and show you before our relationship goes any further. When I was eleven years old I started getting sick. At first my parents thought it was just one of the childhood diseases. I started getting fevers and body aches like the flu. They took me several times to the doctor. He prescribed some antibiotics and told us that all I needed was bed rest and that it would pass. I didn't get any better and soon the fevers became more severe. Worst of all my hair started falling out. They took me to a hospital in Chicago where they ran me through a series of tests. Their diagnosis was I had Alopecia, an auto-immune disorder which causes the body to attack the hair follicles and destroy them. In most cases the symptoms are sporadic and eventually disappear. I wasn't that lucky. I suffered a rare form of the disease called Alopecia Universalis. My immune system attacked the follicles on my entire body and destroyed them completely and permanently. I was out of school for almost a year, and when I tried to come back I experienced the ugly side of human behavior. The kids in my school made fun of me, pulled off my wig, teased me and called me names. I lashed out the only way I knew, and began getting into fights nearly every day. My parents decided that rather than try to fight, it would be best if we all just moved to a place where I could start over."

"I learned how to conceal my condition, and had a chance to get people to know me before they found out about it. When they did, it didn't seem to matter anymore."

We were still sitting next to each other on the sofa. Patti moved closer to me and took my hands into hers.

"Look closely at my eyes. Do you see anything unusual?"

I looked into those bright green eyes and was about to say no, when suddenly she closed her eyes and I saw what she wanted me to see. Patti had no eye lashes or brows. Through the clever use of makeup she had transformed the area around her eyes into what the casual observer expected to see, and therefore didn't notice that it was all an illusion.

She released my hands and reached up to her head.

"I wish that this was just as easy to conceal."

She slipped her fingers up under her hairline and lifted her long wavy red hair completely off her head and placed it on the cushion behind her. I was startled to see that she was completely bald. Her head was smooth and shiny just like the woman from the Star Trek movie. Surprisingly, however, her baldness did nothing to diminish her beauty. In fact -- just like the woman in the movie -- it seemed to give her an exotic beauty that was totally captivating.

I was speechless; she took that as disapproval and I saw the hurt in her eyes as she started to move away from me. Before she was out of reach, I placed a hand on the back of her head and pulled her into a long emotion filled embrace. I could feel the little tremors as she began to cry tears of relief and joy as she realized that her baldness meant nothing to me. We kissed for while, I felt her strong arms encompass my body; I never felt so loved.

When she finally ended our embrace, she smiled, wiped away a tear or two that clung to her cheeks. "Thank you, Bill; you have no idea what your acceptance means to me."

We sat for a few more minutes in silence and then she said, "You know it does have some advantages; I never have to shave my legs, or my arm pits. I never have a bad hair day and, because I have several wigs, I can change my look in a few minutes rather than waiting for my hair to grow out like normal girls."

Patti got quiet again, as if she was trying to make up her mind about something. Then, she stood, took my hands in hers, and leaned over and whispered in my ear.

"I have one more thing I have to show you; come on, lets go up to your room."

Patti took me by the hand and, without waiting for my reply, practically dragged me up the cellar steps. I half expected her to throw me over her shoulder as we headed through the kitchen, dining room and living room and up the stairs to my bedroom. Once there she closed the door behind us, and stood next to the bed.

"We don't have a lot of time; your parents will be home in a couple of hours and so will mine."

"What about my sister?"

"I told her to call me at home at five; if she didn't get an answer she should hang around and plan on getting home about six. Don't be surprised; just like Arlene told you, we tell each other everything."

She pulled down the bedspread and pulled down the covers; turned and stood facing me as she began to unbutton her shirt. I was standing at the foot of the bed, still fully clothed, too nervous to move.

"Unless of course you don't want to," she said as she finished unbuttoning her sleeves and slipping the shirt off her shoulders.

There, right in front of me, was the first set of tits that I had ever seen other than in a magazine. She looked so beautiful, her skin was creamy white, her breasts sat high on her chest, they were round half- globes, a little more than a handful, topped with dark pink nipples which extended out about a half an inch. All I could think about was feeling, sucking and nibbling on her tits as I lifted my shirt over my head and began to undue my belt.

"That's better," she said with a laugh. "But ... leave your shorts on; I'll take those off when I'm ready."

She peeled off her jeans and stood before me in just a pair of cotton panties. For a long moment neither of us moved. She took my hand in hers and guided them up onto her tits.

"Patti, I've never..."

"I know. Don't worry, I'll teach you. And what I don't know we'll discover together."

I was shaking as I gently fondled her tits, pulled and twisted her nipples and then felt her hand on the back of my head as she pulled it towards her chest.