10.
Rising Tide
Stephanie kissed me on the
cheek
and pulled me closer to her as we danced. In the background, Boyz 2
Men's "I'll Make Love to You" was playing, the dance-floor was crowded
with hormonal teenagers, and it appeared that the evening's prospects
were looking good. The Country Club was packed with high school
kids celebrating my birthday with me. Everybody appeared to be having a
great time, and Stephanie was sending out signals that said that this
night
was only going to get better.
In the few weeks we'd been
dating, it became clear to me that Stephanie was a wild girl. Although
she
was still a virgin, she was a lot more aggressive than Staci had ever
been. Not that I wasn't moving things pretty fast myself. By our third
week together, I had her giving me handjobs when we made out. Here on
the dance floor, I got the distinct impression I'd be able to take it
to the next level tonight, assuming we could sneak off somewhere
without arousing the suspicions of her mom, who was one of the
chaperones.
As we danced together to the
sensuous strains of the Boyz 2 Men tune, she kissed my cheek and pulled
me closer, and I felt my dick turning to wood. She felt it too. I
kissed her on the neck and began to suck gently. She started to sigh
and I said, "Hey, why don't we get outta here and get a little fresh
air?" I wanted to take advantage of the moment. I realized I didn't
have a plan or a place in mind, but I figured I'd come up with
something.
We made our way through a
crowd of entangled teenagers and walked toward the food tables. After a
minute, Stephanie excused herself to talk to her best friend
Caitlyn--in
the ladies' room, of course. As she walked away, I let my eyes and ears
take in the sights and sounds of the evening.
The party had turned out just
right, I mused. More and more people had started hearing about the
party by word of mouth, and it got harder and harder to limit the guest
list. Every day during the week before the party, I was asking my
parents for permission to invite ten more or so. I slid the first extra
ten under the radar; after that, though, I started getting some grief.
But Matt came to my rescue. First, he offered to kick in some of his
summer earnings to help pay. Second, he did some checking and found out
that we'd be able to rent the pool and a lifeguard. Although that added
to the cost of the party, it also increased the available space, so it
wouldn't be too hard to manage the expanded guest list. By the time all
was said and done, there were 125 kids at my birthday party, including
half the varsity football team and their dates. And my parents didn't
even ask us to add more chaperones.
Matt and I had started setting
things up about three hours before the party. He'd brought his sound
system for the clubhouse, and our friend and teammate Ruben had offered
his for the pool area. Mine wasn't worth shit so I didn't bother with
it. We collected CDs from everybody and had hundreds to choose from.
Matt had gotten guys from our freshman team to take turns spinning
tunes and had devised a schedule for each guy to man one of the sound
systems for a shift.
Matt's mom Pam and my mom were
there with us early, helping us decorate the place and
getting all the food set up. Pam had pretty much taken charge, and
before we realized what was happening, she was ordering us around,
telling us how to arrange things. After we'd set up the clubhouse, she
and my mom went home and left us to set up the pool area. Chaperones
were scheduled to get there about half an hour before the party was
supposed to begin.
Matt and I were arranging the
food and drinks at the bar area of the pool, when he looked at me,
grinning, and said, "I think it's gonna go over big, Phillips!"
I laughed back at him,
excited, and we high-fived.
We finished up about the time
the chaperones began to drift in. Heading into the pool's dressing
room, we stripped out of our street clothes. I watched Matt as he
pushed his jeans and boxers down over his hips and onto the floor. He's beautiful, I thought absently,
then immediately dismissed the
thought and stepped out of my own slacks. After we'd put on our swim
trunks, we each grabbed one of the poolside lounges and stretched out
next to each other, facing the pool and taking in the beautiful day.
We sat there quietly for a
while, then Matt broke the silence. "So..." he began, "is Stephanie
gonna
give you the birthday present you really want?"
"If I have anything to say
about it, she will," I replied.
"How are you gonna pull that
off?"
"Just let me worry about
that," I said. "You better be thinking about your own chances."
Stephanie
and Matt's date, Laura Mason, would be here any minute.
"Hell, Andy, it's as good as
done. You know I'm irresistible."
"We'll see."
About fifteen minutes before
it was time to start, Stephanie showed up; not too long after, Laura
arrived. They changed into their swimsuits, then we fired up the
stereo, and
the four of us jumped into the pool. Soon the lifeguard arrived, and we
were set.
The party started by the pool,
and guests began arriving quickly. Almost everybody came in street
clothes and went into the dressing rooms to change, but a few people
came in swimsuits and packed their street gear separately. Within the
first half-hour of the party, it became clear that we'd have a good
contingent of upperclassmen football players and their girlfriends or
dates. I noted Matt surveying the crowd and smiling with satisfaction.
The pool area was already full
of kids in full party mode when Cole Martin, my Varsity Bro, arrived.
He was wearing swimwear, a tank top, and a pair of sandals. He walked
over to the edge of the pool and gazed across it to see who was there;
then he set a sports bag down next to a chair, jumped into the pool,
and swam over to me.
"Hey, Cole," I greeted him.
"Hey yourself, freshman," he
said, flashing me his melt-the-ladies smile.
Then he grabbed me and before
I had a chance to react, he started dunking me. After I'd recovered
from the surprise, I put up a pretty good fight, but damn, he was
strong. He got me dunked fifteen times, one for each year. People were
laughing at me and everybody applauded him. Coughing out a few gallons
of water, I spewed out, "Thanks a lot, asshole," but I couldn't help
but smile.
He climbed out of the water
and motioned me out with him. We walked over to where he'd set his
sports bag down and he shook it gently. I could hear glass bottles
clinking against each other. I raised my eyebrows and he smiled. "Let's
try it again, freshman: 'Thanks a lot, Cole, you awesome stud.'"
"Thanks a lot Cole, you
awesome stud," I laughed. "Is that really what I think it is?"
"As promised," he said, and
dived back into the pool.
As the evening went by, we
opened up the clubhouse and people started getting out of the pool and
going inside. Matt had gotten dressed and had gone inside with Laura. I
got out not too much later, and headed toward the dressing room to put
on my clothes. Cole was right behind me. As I went over to my locker he
grabbed a spot on the bench next to me and said, "Hey, you're not
pissed about the dunking, are you?"
"No way, Cole, it's all good.
I'm glad to see you, and I'm jazzed about the Everclear."
"Not a problem, freshman, but
you're gonna have to pay me so I can pay my brother back," he said as
he began undressing.
As we talked, I let my eyes
wander discreetly over Cole's form. He never hurt for attention from
the opposite sex and it was clear why. Cole was about six feet tall and
weighed about 165; he was rock-solid without looking steroidal. He had
jet-black hair and a stunning face; sometimes that face looked like the
dictionary definition of "innocent," and sometimes it looked as if he
were about to pull off the world's biggest bank robbery. Cole's eyes
were a deep blue, much deeper than Matt's, and his skin was pale
and flawless. His pecs were solid and understated; he had a
tightly-chiseled six-pack, and the thinnest suggestion of a
treasure trail leading downward. As he pulled off his swimsuit I was
jolted by the intense black of his pubes against the alabaster skin of
his groin. I noticed also, and tried not to notice my noticing, the
long, thick, cut cock, about the size of my own. A hefty set of balls
hung down about as far as his dick, and his thighs, lightly dusted with
black hair, gave way to a somewhat thicker dusting of hair from the
knees on down. I couldn't see a flaw, and probably studied him for a
minute too long, because he caught me looking at him. He smiled a
little, but didn't say anything in response. His attention was focused
mainly on what he was saying to me.
"We're gonna put you boys on
the map tonight, freshman, so you're gonna owe me some big favors. Most
of the varsity team is here."
"That's awesome, Cole," I
said. It occurred me that I was a little awestruck by this jock. I
laughed at myself some on the inside; I wasn't usually much into
hero-worship, but Cole had been a good guy to me and had taken me under
his wing. As a result, I couldn't look at him without feeling...what
was it? A deep sense of appreciation.
Yeah, that's what it was. Yep.
We finished dressing and
walked out together. I met Stephanie coming out of the dressing room,
and
the three of us walked into the clubhouse. Cole went to hit on some of
the girls, and Stephanie and I saw Matt and Laura talking to Matt's
nemesis, Jared Jacobson. As we walked over, Jared saw us and said,
"Phillips, happy birthday, dude. Looks like this won't be a complete
disaster after all."
I snarled a little and was
about to lay into him but Matt quickly slapped a hand on my shoulder
and responded for me: "Hell, no. These people here, they know who got
it goin' on."
Jared returned a weak smile,
opened his mouth, and mumbled, "Okay, okay. I'm gonna walk around and
see who's here."
"Wait up," Matt said. "Come
over here for a minute."
The two of them walked over to
where Matt's Varsity Bro, Jeff Blizzard, was standing. I could see Matt
introducing Jared and Jeff; then Jeff reached down discreetly into a
sports bag lying by the chair where he was standing. He pulled
out a
bottle of Everclear, and dumped a little into Jared's cup of Coke.
Jared's face brightened visibly; he shook hands with Jeff and went off
to find some of his adoring fans to tell them about his new friendship
with the varsity quarterback.
Matt made his way back to
where Stephanie and Laura and I were standing. "He's playing lacrosse
this
year," Matt said, grimacing. "Fuckin' lacrosse!"
I laughed and asked, "So what
was all that 'be-my-homie' stuff about?"
"Well, it's like you said," he
replied. "Boy's gotta learn his place, right along with the rest of his
little dick-lickers. So I introduced him to Jeff. It's like, already
you gotta go through us to get in with the upperclassmen."
"So you think you got him
neutralized now?"
"Fuck, Andy, did you see him
practically blowin' his wad over Blizzard ? Jacobson's my bitch."
Stephanie asked, "What's the
big
deal about that guy? Why are y'all talking like that about him?"
"He went to our junior high,
and he thinks he's the shit," I said. "We're just trying to let him
know that this ain't junior high anymore and the rules are gonna be
different."
Stephanie rolled her eyes.
"Whatever. I don't get boys at all."
I kissed her on the cheek and
said, "Just be patient; you will."
Matt laughed as Stephanie
blushed.
As the evening went on, some
people went back to the pool, some danced, and some made out in the
dark. The chaperones discreetly cooperated as long as couples didn't
get too openly obscene.
After I'd greeted just about
everybody, I began paying more deliberate and exclusive attention to
Stephanie. We danced a lot, made out some, danced some more, talked
with
friends, and danced still more. I was happy the party was shaping up as
a success; I was even happier with the signals I was getting from
Stephanie.
I shook myself out of my
reverie as I waited for Stephanie to finish her conference in the
ladies'
room, and pulled my wallet out of my back pocket. I opened it up and
discovered that the condom I'd placed in it earlier in the summer had
started to wear through its wrapper, probably from the friction of my
wallet rubbing against my back pocket. The lube had totally dried out
and the condom looked unusable. Disgusted, I stuck it into my pocket.
Great.
On top of that, my horniness
was beginning to make things uncomfortable underneath my slacks. I
looked around and adjusted myself a little.
Cole and Jeff were standing at
the food tables; they'd been watching me as I walked off the dance
floor with Stephanie, and as I waited, they came up to me smiling and
laughing. Cole said, "What's up, birthday boy?" Then nodding at the
bulge in my slacks, he added with a leer, "Never mind, I can see
for myself."
I felt myself turn a deep red,
and replied, "Fuck you."
"My ass is definitely not what
you're lookin' for, pal," Cole quipped. As Jeff smirked, Cole
continued, "I'm bettin' you're thinking about doin' the nasty with your
woman, or am I wrong?"
With some belligerence, I
responded, "What's it to ya?"
"Now don't get all pissy with
me, freshman," Cole said. "I'm about to do you a favor. Where are you
thinking about going with your girl?"
"I don't know," I muttered.
"Don't worry about it, I'll work it out."
Cole reached into his pocket,
pulled out a set of keys on a key ring, and handed them to me. "How
'bout my van?"
My eyes got wide; Cole's van
had a custom sound system, and a mattress in the back. Used for
camping, of course. I looked at him with some suspicion. "Really?"
"Really, dude. What are
Varsity Bros for, if we can't help out a younger Bro in need? And
here's a little something for atmosphere." With that, he reached into
one of the several ice chests under the tables, pulled out an ice-cold
six-pack of Cokes, and set it on the table. Then he walked over to the
stereo system and selected a few mood-setting CD's from the stacks. He
looked around to see if anyone was watching, picked up a sports bag
from off the floor, set it on a nearby chair, and opened it. After he
packed the CDs he'd chosen into the bag, he reached in and pulled out
an unopened fifth of Everclear and brought it over to me. He looked
around
briefly to see who was watching, then said, "Put this and the Cokes in
the bag and take it with you."
"Wow," I replied. "Thanks,
Cole." I put the bottle back into bag, added the six-pack of Cokes, and
zipped it up and set it by my feet. Then, remembering, my face
darkened. "But I can't. I'm screwed. Look at this, goddammit," I said,
reaching into my pocket and holding up the ruined condom.
Jeff started laughing like a
hyena. "Freshman, you are such a loser," he guffawed. "So smooth,
Phillips. Maybe you oughta check the inventory once in a while."
"Shut up, Jeff," Cole replied,
grinning at him. "No problemo, dude. Glove compartment, front seat,
passenger's side, I got a whole bunch of 'em; help yourself." He
hesitated a minute. "But they're Magnums, so you still might be out of
luck."
I smiled wickedly at him.
"That won't be a problem."
"Oh, man," groaned Jeff. "This
kid's waaaaay too full of himself already, Martin. Are you sure you
wanna set him up for an easy score like this?"
Cole smiled at me and said,
"He's just jealous 'cause he uses Trojan Extra-Smalls."
As Jeff began to talk trash
back at Cole, I saw Stephanie coming out of the ladies' room and
heading
toward us. I nodded in her direction. Cole saw her coming, and said,
"I'll give you half an hour and even cover for you with her mom if she
asks."
I frowned. "What'll you tell
her?"
"Let me worry about that,
freshman. I promise I won't bust you. Just go on. And try to remember
which hole to put it in," he said, grinning wickedly.
That wisecrack annoyed me, but
he was doing me a huge favor, so I ignored it.
"Thanks," I said, stuffing his
keys in my pocket as Stephanie joined us. "Let's go listen to some
music, Stephanie," I said as I grabbed the sports bag and walked with
her out the
clubhouse door into the parking lot.
Cole had parked his van on the
southeast end of the lot, next to a large oak tree. Just past the
tree was the entrance to a jogging trail
that headed off into a wooded area. We walked toward the van hand in
hand, stopping once in a while to make out a little. There was a bench
by the oak tree, and when we reached it we sat down. The day had been
fiercely hot, but the night was pleasant. We sat and talked for a
little while, then Stephanie said, "What's in the bag?"
I zipped it open and said,
"Just stuff for us to make our own party." I showed her the Everclear
and the Cokes and the CDs.
Stephanie smiled and said,
"You're
such a bad boy."
"You don't even know," I said
to her, arching my eyebrows like a mad scientist with an evil plan.
Pointing to the van, I said, "This is Cole's vehicle." Then I pulled
Cole's keys out of my pocket and said, "This is Cole's birthday present
to me. Let's step inside and see if you can top that."
I opened the back of the van
and said, "Climb in and get comfortable; I'm gonna turn the van on and
get the AC and the stereo going." Stephanie got in and I shut the door
behind her. Then I went around to the front, got in on the driver's
side, turned on the van and put the Boyz 2 Men CD in the stereo. I
reached over to the glove compartment on the passenger side and opened
it. Cole was right; there were about two dozen wrapped Trojan Magnums
inside. I grabbed a handful, threw them into the sports bag, and went
around back to join Stephanie.
She was already stretched out
on Cole's mattress. When I got in, she sat up. I broke a Coke out of
the six-pack and handed it to her, took one myself, then opened up the
Everclear and said, "Drink some of your Coke so there's room for this."
We drank a few swallows and I poured some Everclear into each of our
Cokes. I leaned over and kissed her, and holding my drink toward her I
said, "To us...and to this night." She brought her drink up and tapped
mine with it; we each took a belt of the spiked Cokes, then she lay
back on the mattress, pulling me down on top of her. I began kissing
her on the lips, on the neck.
We stayed in that position for
awhile, making out. Things got more and more intense, and before too
long I began thrusting against her crotch with mine. I put my lips on
hers and began kissing her feverishly, until she opened her mouth and
our tongues danced with each other as the heat intensified. Finally I
said, "I want to see all of you, Stephanie," and with that I began
unbuttoning her shirt.
She smiled at me uncertainly
and said, "I've never done this before, Andy. I'm not sure I'm ready."
Continuing to unbutton her I
said, "We'll only take this as far as you want."
After I'd gotten her shirt
completely unbuttoned, I pulled mine over my head and off. Then I took
my shoes and socks off, loosened my belt, and pushed my slacks down off
my hips. Soon I was dressed only in my boxers. At that point I
positioned myself over her again, kissed her for awhile, and continued
undressing her. I got her shirt off and she helped me with her bra.
When she was naked from the waist up, I began kissing her on the neck,
and gradually moving down to her nipples, I began to kiss and suck on
them gently. She responded by moaning softly and caressing my back with
her hands. I thrust gently against her and she put her hands inside my
boxers until her hands were stroking my asscheeks and pulling my
midsection tighter into her. Then she pulled my boxers down around my
thighs. I pushed them down past my knees and kicked them off. I rolled
over onto my side, kissing her. She looked at my rock-hard cock, then
looked up at me. I said, "Touch me, Stephanie." She reached out, took
my
cock into her hand, and started to stroke it gently; but I pulled back
and said, "Wait." I rolled over onto my stomach and positioned my
shoulders at her hips, then unbuttoned her jeans and peeled them off.
She had a pair of white lace panties on and I eased them down until she
was naked too.
I moved my body up until our
midsections were even with each other once again. I gently lowered my
body down, holding myself up a little with my arms, and kissed her on
the mouth, the chest, the nipples. My dick thrust lightly against her;
the sensation of her pubic hair tickling me intensified my lust. But
she began to tense up. "Andy, I'm not sure about this," she moaned.
"It's okay, I promise I'll be
gentle," I told her.
"I'm a little nervous; I don't
know if I can do this," she said. "Why don't you just let me touch it
for you?"
Damn. Was she gonna back out
after getting me this far? If I wasn't going to get to home plate, I
was determined to get as much as I could. I looked at her and replied,
"I'd like it better if you kissed it for me."
She looked at me uncertainly
for a moment, so I said, "It would feel so good, Stephanie, it would be
the
most awesome birthday present I ever got." And with that I held her
close to me and rolled us over so that I was lying on my back and she
was on top of me.
"C'mon, Stephanie, kiss me all
over," I said. And with that, she started kissing me on the neck. I
caressed her body as she kissed me, and gradually she moved down. She
kissed my chest and ran her tongue over each of my nipples like I'd
done for her. Then she continued her southward course, until she
reached my pubes. She kissed me right above the penis, giggling at the
way my pubes were tickling her nose. Then she skipped over my penis and
began planting kisses on my balls.
The sensation was almost more
intense than I could stand. Soon she took my hard cock in her hand and
then began kissing it. It was maddening; I had to have more.
"Stephanie, I
moaned, "put it in your mouth...please." She looked at me uncertainly,
then opened her mouth and wrapped it around the head of my penis.
I was leaking like crazy, and
she took her mouth off my penis and said, "It's kinda salty; is that
sperm?" I said, "No; that's just to help lubricate things for...well,
you know." She put me back in her mouth and started moving her lips up
and down on my penis.
There's no such thing as a bad
blow job, as any guy will tell you, but she hadn't quite figured out
how to keep from scraping me with her teeth; and I knew there was no
way she was going to let me blast off in her mouth. I had to have her,
and I figured the only way I was gonna get her was to get her needing
it as much as I did. So I lifted her gently off me and said,
"Okay...your turn."
I rolled her over onto her
back and began kissing her on her nipples like she'd done to me. As I
was kissing her breasts, I brought one of my hands down below her
waist. I caressed her pubic hair as I kissed her and sucked
gently on her nipples, then I gently put a finger inside her and began
to stroke. Her nipples got harder and she started to moan even louder.
I planted a trail of kisses down her torso until my face was at her
crotch. I was turned on beyond belief; going down on someone was
something I'd never done before. Slowly I spread her apart a little
with my hands, and got my head between her legs, and began licking her
with my tongue. The scent of her and the raw sexuality of eating her
out was driving thought out of my head and pushing me forward on a wave
of pure lust. I spread the lips of her pussy apart and began thrusting
my tongue into her deeply, occasionally licking her clit. After
tongue-fucking her for a while, I decided to concentrate completely on
her clit, circling my tongue around it at increasing speed, and
eventually stroking it directly with my tongue.
Stephanie's moans had become
deep,
heavy, rapid breaths. I came up for air, replaced my tongue with a
finger, and, still massaging her clit, climbed higher until I was
positioned on top of her once again.
"Stephanie," I panted, "I have
to
have you, babe." She was in no condition to disagree. She put her hands
on my back, pulled me into her and said, "Okay...don't hurt me."
I reached over to my side and
into the sports bag, felt around until I found a condom, then pulled it
out. Continuing to kiss her and lick her nipples, I tore open the
wrapper, pulled out the condom and unrolled it over my cock.
I probed her opening gently
with my fingers and guided the head of my dick into place, then thrust
gently. I eased slowly into her, pushing in just a little further with
each thrust. Then she grimaced, and I felt something give. She gasped,
and as I looked down I saw there was a little bit of blood. My first
reaction was, Ohmygod, I've torn her
up. Then I realized what had
happened. And, once I'd stopped panicking over thinking I might have
hurt her, my next thought was, shit...Cole's
gonna fuckin' KILL me for
this getting his mattress sheets all nasty.
But we were both too far into
it for me to worry much about messing up Cole's sheets. As I eased
myself all the way into her and began stroking in and out, I continued
to kiss and caress her. Before too long her grimace gave way to a
wide-eyed look of surprise and pleasure. As I had with Staci, I made
sure I stroked Stephanie's clit with every thrust of my dick.
As I lay on top of her,
drilling her on the same mattress where my Varsity Bro had done the
deed with a number of girls, I could feel her lust intensify in sync
with my own. She put her hands on my ass as I was pounding away, and
began pulling me hard into her with each thrust, literally slamming me
into her. Then sometimes she'd run her fingers up and down my back,
with increasing pressure, until she was scratching me hard with her
fingernails and moaning. It was raw and primal and I loved it. I could
tell she did too.
After about ten minutes, I
couldn't take it anymore. My breathing got more ragged and faster, and
I lifted my face up so that I could look at hers as I came. I thrust
deep inside of her and exploded.
It was a miracle that I didn't
break the condom from the resulting explosion of jizz. I'd never had as
intense an orgasm in my life. I hadn't gotten the timing quite right,
though, I could tell; she was still not quite there. So, recovering,
with my softening dick still inside her, I began stroking her clit
gently with a finger. Her breathing got faster and shallower and her
moans grew louder, until she tensed and cried out, and climaxed. She
pulled me tighter into her and began kissing me frantically on the
lips, on the cheek, on the neck; then, as her breath began to slow and
her body seemed to relax, she started to laugh a little. Gradually I
pulled out of her and rolled over on my back, spent. I pulled the
condom off, tied it in a knot so it wouldn't leak, and laid it down
beside me next to its opened wrapper. Then I turned my
attention back to Stephanie.
She lay next to me, stroking
my torso with her hand and smiling. A tear rolled down her cheek. I
looked at her in alarm and said, "What's wrong?"
She smiled and hugged me and
said, "Nothing's wrong, Andy. I'm crying because it was so good; it was
everything I hoped my first time would be." She snuggled up against me
and planted more kisses on my check and chest.
We were quiet for a while,
then she sat up and looked around. "How long have we been here?"
"About half an hour."
She frowned. "We probably
better get dressed and back in there before we get caught."
We put our clothes back on and
tried to look and act like we hadn't just had wild sex. I picked up
the condom wrapper, the Coke cans, and the Everclear, and stuffed
everything
into the sports bag, then I opened the back door and we stepped out. I
went around to the driver's seat, ejected the CD, turned off Cole's
van, and locked it up. As we began making our way back to the
clubhouse, she kissed me one more time and said "Happy birthday, Andy."
We walked arm in arm, talking and laughing. As we got to the front
door, I kissed her one last time; then we opened the door and walked
in, and she went to find one of her friends. I walked over to the food
table and put Cole's sports bag back under the table. Nobody said much
of anything to us when we came in; we hadn't been missed.
Cole was on the floor dancing
with Amy Wilson, a varsity cheerleader. When the song was over he
walked back toward the food table. While he was still about twenty feet
away, he saw me and grinned.
"Everything work out okay?"
I flashed him a thumbs-up
sign, handed him his keys, pointed down to his sports bag, and grinned.
"Perfect." Then I added, "Umm, I think I need to wash your sheets,
though. It was her first time."
"Gross, man. Tell you what,
freshman, you can wash the rest of my sports gear too," he said. I
turned up my nose, but doing laundry for the varsity team was one of
the standard annoyances the freshman team had to put up with anyway.
"Come by tomorrow and pick all that shit up."
"Okay. Hey, Cole, thanks, man,
that was incredible," I said.
"You owe me for the Trojans,
stud," he added. "Just help me keep the supply stocked and you can use
the van whenever I'm not using it."
"I may take you up on that
once I get my driver's license."
"You don't have to have a
driver's license for the way you were driving tonight," he grinned.
I laughed, traded high fives
with him, and went to find Stephanie.
All night long kids went back
and forth between the clubhouse and the pool, changing from swimwear to
street clothes and back. A fair percentage of the kids on the guest
list managed to find their way to the Everclear, and there were dark
corners in the clubhouse and hidden places behind hedges on the pool
lawn where couples managed to sneak off and make out. I heard several
voices laughing from the jogging trail, and my teammate Ruben, who'd
taken his own date for a walk in that direction, reported that there
was some pretty heavy action going on out there too.
The party wasn't successful
only from a sex-and-booze standpoint; I introduced a lot of my
classmates to many of the upperclassmen. There were junior and senior
football players, cheerleaders, and class officers at my party; Cole
and Jeff had delivered a good group, as they'd promised. I'd met most
of them before and Cole and Jeff introduced me to the few I hadn't. As
I went about introducing some of the freshmen to some of the
upperclassmen, I grinned at the thought of what a good start we'd made
on implementing Matt's goofy "let's-become-big-studs" plan.
As the evening drew to a
close, and it was time for everyone to go home, it occurred to me that
I hadn't seen Matt in a while. I wanted him to help me see the guests
off so I started looking around. He wasn't anywhere in the clubhouse so
I walked over to the pool. I found him there with Laura. They were
making out on the lawn at the far side of the pool area. Laura's hand
was rubbing the front of Matt's swim trunks. It looked like Mr.
Irresistible didn't make it to home plate. But I was also betting it
wouldn't take too many more dates.
As I began to head back to the
clubhouse, he saw me on the far side of the pool, and in a few minutes
he and Laura had gotten up, gone in and changed back into street
clothes, and joined me while I said goodbye to my guests. With Matt and
Stephanie and Laura beside me, I said goodbye to as many people as I
could,
thanking them for coming. Everybody clearly had a great time. The
presence of the Varsity football players and their dates and friends
had turned the party into an Event that everyone was glad to be a part
of. Matt was right, I thought to myself: this whole "popularity" thing
is kinda stupid, but it can be used to your advantage. And we
definitely scored some points tonight. As we transitioned from saying
goodbye to cleaning the place up, I thought with gratitude about my
deepening friendships with the older guys on the varsity team.
The parents who chaperoned
helped us clean up and they all commented on how well the party had
gone and how "well-behaved" the kids were. Yeah, I thought, we even
booze it up and fuck well-behaved. As we were cleaning up, I looked
around quickly to make sure there wasn't any evidence of unauthorized
substances, but I didn't need to worry; the Varsity boys had made sure
no stray bottles of Everclear stayed behind.
My parents showed up at the
end to help haul stuff home. Matt lugged his stereo to our van, and I
packed up my gifts in a box and put them in the back seat. I'd told
everybody they didn't have to bring gifts, but I got quite a few
anyway: some CDs, some gift cards, and a pretty respectable wad of
cash, about two hundred fifty dollars. That would help me pay for my
part of this party. I took one last look around and smiled to myself;
things had worked out even better than I'd hoped.
I'd invited Matt to crash at
my place that night. After we'd unloaded and said goodnight to my
parents, we headed up to my room. Matt stepped out for a few minutes,
then came back in with a big wrapped box. He gave it to me and I put it
on my bed and sat down with it. He smiled and leaned back against my
desk.
"What's this?" I asked.
"It's your birthday, moron,
what do you think it is?"
"You didn't have to get me a
gift, Matt."
"Yeah, I did," he grinned,
"because you damn well have to get me one. Just two weeks away,
remember, ADD-boy? I don't want no big-shit party, but you damn well
better get me something."
I laughed and started opening
the box.
Inside the box were two
smaller ones. The first box was clearly a shoebox. I opened it up and
found a new pair of my then-favorite soccer boots, Lotto Stadias. They
cost about $90 and during those years I regularly went through three
pairs in a year's time. The best soccer boots are made out of kangaroo
leather; they're soft and supple and have a great "touch," and I always
wore holes in them quickly.
"Damn, Matt, " I said,
admiring the boots. "That's too much money."
"It'll be worth it if I don't
have to hear you bitch about not having any decent soccer boots this
fall."
"Thanks, man," I said.
"Open the other one," he said.
The second one had the
dimensions of a framed picture, and for good reason: that's what it
was. I was unprepared, though, for what lay under the wrapping paper.
Matt had framed a couple of
photos of the two of us, taken by his mom. One was from when we were
nine, and the other one was from late
in the previous summer, when we were both fourteen. Amazingly, each
photo had us in identical poses: Matt on the left, Andy on the right,
both of us bare-chested and grinning, each with an arm draped over the
other's shoulder.
Underneath the photos, Matt
had placed an inscription: "I got your back. Always. Love, Matt."
I couldn't speak. My throat
seized up and my traitor eyes hazed over with moisture. I kept my
blurry
gaze fixed on the photos as I struggled hard for some composure. Then I
put the frame down walked toward Matt. I stood facing him, staring into
his
eyes, as he smiled and nodded his head up and down.
"This is going on my fuckin'
wall, Matt," I began. "It's...I..."
"Yeah, that's how it is, isn't
it?" he said, laughing a little. Then he reached toward me and pulled
me into a firm hug.
"You're the best, dude," I
said, as I felt his fierce, physical, muscular love hold me fast to
himself.
"Happy birthday, Andy," he
said in reply.
We stood silently embracing
for a couple of minutes, brothers-in-arms who'd stood down the monsters
from so many years ago and dared the world to bring more. Then,
slapping my right shoulder with his left hand, he laughed, shoved me
backward onto my bed, and, grabbing one of my videogame controllers,
sat down on the floor to play a couple of games before he crashed out
for the night.
I lay back on my bed, staring
at the ceiling, and thought about the many hours we'd spent like this
over the years. My mind took me back to that night when a couple of
nine-year-olds sat playing video games in this same room, a night when
tears fell and pain was faced and promises were made; a night when two
boys unknowingly became a part of each other.
I sat up and looked over at
Matt. Absorbed in his game, his face radiated concentration and effort.
I looked at my birthday
present.
The eyes of the two younger
boys, smiling but wary, were troubled.
I shifted my gaze and looked
at the eyes of the boys in the newer photo. Contrasted with the first,
it was a study in healing, and strength, and companionship, and peace.
Somewhere along the way,
pacing each other, we'd outpaced our demons, at least for the time
being.
I closed my eyes and for a
moment, breathing slowly and deeply, I let Matt's words wash over me,
sink in, and do their work: "I got your back. Always. Love, Matt."
Then I sat down next to him
and grabbed a controller. "Move over, dickhead, and let someone with
skills show you how."
--------------------------------
Copyright 2004 by Adam
Phillips. You can email me at aaptx28@yahoo.com and I'll
do my best to reply.