Archive-name: watching_b-one1-2

From: alanmath@hotmail.com (Alan Mathews)

Subject: RETRY(2):NEW: Watching, Book One (mf/some ff/lateteen/youngteen/romance/love - wb1p1.txt (0/1) - wb1p1.txt (1/1)

Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories

This story may contain some or all of the following:
mf,some ff,teen/yngteen,cons,romance,love,some violence (non-sex related)

WARNING!
--------
Do not read this story if you are under the legal age in your country. If any story of this sort is illegal in your country, please do not read it. Hey, what can I say? Move. If you're one of those religious fanatics, or any other sort of person looking to force your opinion on other such as myself, or one of the media looking for more evidence of porn on the Internet, well, you found it. Now go away.
Constructive criticism, suggestions, etc. direct to alanmath@hotmail.com. Flames, Spam, religious spiels, offers to help me to be saved by Jesus or any other religious character, and people who want to whine about my or others "immorality", direct your to idont@givadamn.com. My response will come in the form of a full quote of your message, as well as an insightful message similar to "e-mail undeliverable".
I also read a.s.s.d, so DON'T post any comments to a.s.s.! If you do I'll get real pissed off and you'll never get a response. ;-) We have enough noise in a.s.s. already, don't contribute to it.

A word of thanks to the following authors, who showed me that there can actually be half decent stories posted to a.s.s.:

The author of Lauren Gisal (Sorry, but I've forgotten your name, and have since lost the story in a hard drive crash)

Hawk, the author of the Carlson series (even if he could use a little work on his word timing, and the use of to many exclamation points. Not to fond of the cannibalism either, but we all have our oddities)

Friar Dave (Probably the best writing I've seen in a.s.s.)

Randi Stephanson, Author of "Carrie", and a few others that I've read.

Jimbo (jimbo@oldfolks.hom?) The Cabin, Teen Sex in the 50's

Frank, author of the "An Erotic Story" series. (Even if he does get a little repetitive at times.)

Tom Bombadil, author of "Elizabeth and Anastasia", and others.

Marie, author of "Marie"

The author of "Ruthie"

Michael K. Smith, author of "Siblings" (even if I didn't get to read all the chapters. I hate that.)

The author of "Twice The Fun" (and especially to the person who turned it into a Mff story instead of a Mmm)



















This Page Left Blank To "Protect" The People Who Don't Want

To Read The Following Story.



























Authors Note:

This is the first story that I've posted to a.s.s. This work has taken over a year to write. This story was written for myself, and no one else.

You see, I write because I get a story line in my head and I can't get it out until it's on paper, or in this case, on a computer screen. If I don't get it out, it haunts me, floating around in the back of my head until I'm trying to fall asleep, or just waking up. Damn annoying sometimes, having a story line pop into your head at 1am and not being able to fall asleep until you've let it run it's course, either by writing the idea down on paper to be worked on at some later date, or, in the case of this story, compelling enough to drive you out of bed and in front of the computer at 3am.

As I said, I write for myself. I write the way I like to read. And it's long. Just like my favorite books and stories are. If you like short, to the point, fuck-screaming-orasmic-mind-boggleing-never-stopping-sex type stories, you've picked the wrong story. Sure it has sex, but (gasp!) it also has a plot. (At least I like to think it does.)

This is book one of what most likely will become a trilogy. Book two is well underway, the first draft a little over half finished. Book three is purely idea at this point. Book two, I suspect, will not be out until mid-February. Book three is anyone's guess. I haven't managed to come up with an ending to it yet. Book two's ending is planned, but I'm trying to add a little more depth to a few of the characters before moving into book three.

Why has it taken over a year for me to get even book one out? Well, editing for one. I hate it, but know it's necessary. But the story is better for it. Two, I wrote it when I wasn't busy, or had an idea for the plot line that just couldn't wait. Sometimes it came in 50 line bursts every other night, sometimes a chapter a night. One memorable time was when I wrote five chapters in one night. Some chapters I agonized over. Others seemed to flow from my fingertips. Some chapters are full of pain, some full of joy. Just like life.

The first words of this story were written late at night, in late September of 1995. My Grandfather had just had his first heart attack. The kids were barely settling into the new school year, and I was dead tired, laying in bed, alone, when the old memories of one of my few schoolboy crushes came to the surface. I do remember the name of the girl, which, of course, has been changed. I was eighteen, she was fourteen. We, of course, rode the same bus. I was very shy (I didn't go out on my first date until I was almost 23), and a self admitted nerd.

She, on the other hand, was what I would call 'normal'. She was pretty, and mostly matched the physical attributes of the girl named Jenny in this story. She caught my eye literally, and the memory stays with me even after the years that have passed.

She was sitting in the seat in front of me, and dropped a piece of paper on the floor. It drifted until it lay at my feet. I picked it up and handed it to her. Our eyes locked for a second, and I froze. She had the kind of brown eyes that were so dark that you had to look closely to find where the iris and pupil met. She smiled and said thanks, and I nodded politely, pulling my eyes away from hers. I sat back and thought, only being pulled out of my reverie by the bus pulling up in front of the junior high. (I was a Junior in High School, she an eighth grader) I watched her leave the bus, but before she turned to climb the path to the school entrance, she turned and our eyes met again, just for a few seconds. Then she turned and walked up the path. I watched as she entered the building, then the bus pulled away. That was the beginning.

For the next two years - until I graduated, that is - I would live for the moments I had to sneak glances at her, when she wasn't looking. She caught me looking once or twice, much to my embarrassment. I never did anything about it. (Now you know why I call this story "Watching".)

High School ended, I went to college, and I never saw her again. That was what I was thinking about that night in late September, wondering about how my life may have turned out if I had actually spoken to her. I was at a low point in my life, and I wrote to try to help myself feel like there was hope somewhere, even if it was in a fantasy world. Before I knew it, this story was in the preliminary stages of forming. It soon departed from that initial fantasy and grew into something much more important to me. I have no one to share this with; it deals with issues that I would most likely be condemned for, especially with my highly religious family. (A religion that I don't share) The few friends I have simply wouldn't understand. So I post this for you, in hopes that someone will read it, enjoy it, and maybe even learn something from it. Enjoy.

Alan (alanmath@hotmail.com)





Watching
By Alan Mathews



Book One The Meeting



Chapter One -----------



I heard someone was crying quietly toward the back of the bus as the cold January wind seeped in through the loose panes of the school bus windows.

The trip home from school had taken a turn for the worse when the engine of the old bus had finally ground to a halt. We were stuck on a dark back road as night fell.

The bus driver had left thirty minutes before to see if he could find a phone to call for help. Our small, poor school district wasn't even able to afford proper maintenance of their busses, much less pay to put CB radios in them. No help had come, and I was beginning to fear that he may have gotten lost in the swirling snow and encroaching darkness.

The temperature had dropped rapidly after the sun had disappeared behind the dense foliage of the surrounding forest. Now even the children in jackets were beginning to shiver. I had a heavy winter coat and was quite comfortable thanks to the foresight of my grandmother, who had given it to me as a Christmas present. (One of the few presents from her that I had ever found a use for) I heard teeth chattering from the seat in front of me. Leaning forward, I peered over the back of the seat. One of the younger girls was shivering in front of me in a light jacket that wouldn't keep out spring weather, much less the deep freeze of January.

I had noticed her before. Hell, I had been watching her on the bus for well over a year, sneaking glances at her when I could get away with it, appreciating her long dark brown hair and slim form.

There are a lot of pretty girls wandering around, but something about her was special, unique. I seemed to be drawn to her. Something about her made me want to hold her close, to be near to her. I had never felt that way about anyone before.

I had never spoken to her before, although I'm certain she had caught me looking at her once or twice. I'm not all that talkative to anyone, much less girls. I suffer from the classic problem of stuttering, cold sweats, and blushing most "shy" people face when around the opposite sex.

Besides that, I'm a computer nerd. I admit it. I like computers better than I like most people. I'd rather sit in front of a computer screen than "hang out" with friends. It's easier to talk to someone if you're doing it via e-mail.

Mustering up my courage, I spoke.

"Are you cold?" I asked.

"Just a little." she replied, looking up at me. She was huddled in a ball with her legs curled up beneath her, body shaking visibly from the cold. I caught her eyes for a moment and made up my mind.

"Just a second." I said. I unzipped my coat and pulled it off my shoulders. "Put this on." I said, holding it out to her.

"I...I can't." she said. "Then you'll be cold, and it's your coat."

"Well, I can handle the cold better than you can. If you don't get warm soon you'll start getting hypothermic. Then we'd need an ambulance to get you out of here, and I'd end up giving the coat to you anyway once you slipped into delirium."

She grinned, and reached for the coat.

"Ok, I'll take it," she said while slipping the coat on. "But won't you get hypothermic too, whatever that means?"

"Not for a while. After all, I'm male. Males are stronger than females." I joked.

"Oooooh! Sexist pig!" She flashed me a smile and huddled up under my coat, her teeth no longer chattering and her shivering fading slowly.

I slouched back in my seat, enjoying the afterglow of that smile. But after a few minutes I started to feel the cold, my body beginning to shiver as the temperature continued to drop. I managed to keep my teeth from chattering for a few minutes, but soon I could no longer contain it, no matter how hard I gritted my teeth.

Her head popped over the top of the seat back. She looked at me.

"Are you Ok?" she asked, a concerned look on her face.

"Fine, fine." I said, making a superhuman effort to stop my shivering. I failed.

She looked unconvinced. "Well...maybe we can share it, that way we'd both be warm. It's big enough I think." she said, looking shyly at me.

"Are you sure?" I asked, uncertain. It certainly was big enough. It was slightly to big for me, even on my 6'2", 210 pound body. While it reached slightly above my knees, it looked like a long dress on her, as she was barely over five feet in height.

"Yes." she said and got up, moving to my seat. She took off the coat, and all business, told me to get up.

"Now, if you put it on and leave the zipper open..." I followed her instructions and we ended up comfortably situated, me with my arms in the sleeves of the coat, her huddled up against my side with the excess material wrapped around her. She moved a little closer to me, sharing body heat.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Jenny. What's yours?"

"Alex." I replied.

"Hmmm, Alex. You're a comfortable pillow." she said, resting her head against my shoulder.

I laughed, and the conversation continued from there. We talked about school, and people we knew. Well, actually, she talked, I listened. I didn't know anyone at our school, despite my going to the same school district from kindergarten up to my current grade.

"What are you going to do after you graduate?" she asked.

"I was thinking about going to college...there's a pretty good tech school down in New Mexico I was planning on going to. After that, hopefully a good job. I really just want to get out of this town. What are you thinking about doing after high school?"

"I have no idea what I'm going to do tomorrow, much less three or four years from now." she sighed.

"You have plenty of time. Don't worry about it. Don't push yourself into anything. Pick something you like." I suggested.

"Maybe."

The conversation continued, until it finally died out into a comfortable silence.

"Boy, I'm tired." she yawned.

"Go ahead and sleep." I said.

"Thanks, but then I couldn't keep the coat closed." She paused and considered. "Hold still." she said, moving herself until she was sitting on my lap leaning against my chest. She grabbed my arms and wrapped them around her again. I was suprised at her forwardness, but it felt suprisingly good, feeling her warm body pressed against mine. She managed to zip the coat up somewhat, keeping us pressed closely together weather we wanted to or not.

"There. Now it'll stay closed." She rested her head on my shoulder again, her soft hair brushing my cheek. She sighed, and a few minutes later her breathing evened out to the whisper of her even breathing.

I watched her sleep, the ghostly light from the bus window illuminating her face. I knew that I had a crush on this girl whom I barely knew. And here I was, holding her as if I had known her for years. I decided not to overanalyze the situation, and to just enjoy it, while it lasted. I hugged her tighter against me, relishing the heat of her body in contrast to the freezing air of the bus.

Then I drifted off into sleep as well.

End Chapter One



Chapter Two -----------



I awoke to the glare of headlights shining through the grime covered windows and the creak of tires rolling through fresh snow. The driver had managed to get through, evidently. I found myself almost wishing that he hadn't.

I gently shook Jenny, and she slowly came awake and looked up at me.

"Good morning." she said with a lazy smile, and stretched as much as she could in the confines of the coat.

"Hardly morning. The new bus just pulled up, finally."

"To bad, I was just getting comfortable."

I chuckled, and she slowly got up. I thought I had never seen anything so beautiful as her standing in the dim light of the bus shivering in the cold, hair slightly out of place from her hour or so of sleep in my arms.

"We'd better go." I said, noticing that the bus was now nearly empty, everyone else having boarded the other bus. She nodded, and we walked over to the new bus together.

We boarded the bus, the powdery snow already having left a thin coat of snow on our heads. We took separate seats again, her in front of me, as always. We rode until her stop in silence.

When she got up to leave, she paused for a moment and leaned toward me.

"Thanks for letting me share your jacket." she whispered.

"You're welcome. You kept it at just the right temperature." I grinned. She grinned back, and suddenly leaned forward and kissed me lightly on the cheek.

"Bye." she whispered again, and climbed off the bus.



****



I spent the next week thinking about what had happened, trying to figure out how I had fallen in love with a fourteen year old girl. That's what I thought it was then; now I realize that it was no more than a crush. You can't love someone you don't know. Love came later.

She was four years younger than I was, for god sake! Four years might not make much difference to someone in their twenties, but a junior dating an eighth grader was considered criminal by many, dubious at best. My father was among the first category, despite the six year age difference between my mother and father when they were married. I was sure that Jenny's were as well. Morals seem to run in the same directions in a small town, and the one we lived in (or rather, near) was no exception.

I still saw her every day on the bus, but now when she saw me she would smile at me and say hello. I began to watch her more, and she caught me more often, each time greeted with a smile. I started to recognize her moods, when she was happy, when she had had a bad day...it was driving me nuts thinking about her all the time. I couldn't go on the way I was going. I knew I had to do something about it, but was stopped by the fears of her or my parents, the public reaction. Hell, I was just scared that she didn't feel the same way I did, and only saw me as a friend, or possibly just the nice guy who shared a coat with her once.

I was buried in a book one day when Jenny boarded the bus. I didn't notice her until I happened to glance in her direction.

The look on her face tugged at me. She was curled up in one of the seats across from me, looking alone and forlorn. She had her knees pulled up to her chest, head resting on her arms, face hidden from view. I could tell she was very close to crying just by looking at her.

Knowing what it would look like but not giving a damn one way or another, I stepped through the aisle and slid into the seat beside her. I gently placed a hand on her shoulder and asked, "Jenny? Are you all right?" I could feel her body shaking under my hand. The shaking grew worse as my words registered and she fell apart completely, loud sobs wracking her body. I slid closer with concern. She wrapped her arms around my neck and buried her face in my chest, her tears soaking through my thin cotton shirt. I was suprised, but I picked her up and wrapped my arms around her, trying to comfort her.

"What am I going to do?" she sobbed. "I can't go home, not now...not now that she knows."

"Don't worry, it'll be fine. We'll work something out." I said, not knowing what she was talking about, but being more concerned about getting her calmed down than dealing with what her problem was at the moment.

"But how? What will I do?"

"What will _we_ do." I said firmly. "I'm not leaving you like this." I definitely wasn't. I wouldn't leave anyone in the state she was in, much less someone that I felt as strongly for as I did her.

"Why? You don't even know me...if you knew, you wouldn't even want to be near me, much less help."

"I've helped you before, haven't I? Trust me. We'll deal with whatever is wrong."(Taking on a lot for someone I barely knew? Sure, but I've always been a soft one for someone in tears. It's gotten me in a lot of trouble over the years. But usually it ends up being worth it. In this case, it certainly was.)

She didn't reply, but her sobs began to slow some, and soon faded to an occasional gasping shudder. She stayed huddled in my arms as if trying to avoid the world.



We rode the rest of the way to my house like that. When we approached her stop I waved the bus driver on, thankful that Jenny's younger sister wasn't on.

Within a few minutes the bus slowed to a stop in front of the driveway to my house, and I helped Jenny up. She got shakily to her feet, gripping my arm for both physical and mental support.

Ignoring the odd looks from the driver and other passengers, we climbed down the steps of the bus, and walked slowly to the front door. I unlocked it and stepped into the warm living room from the cold January air.

I led her to one of the overstuffed couches that sat near the large fireplace, and she slumped into is, staring blankly out of the bay window and into the woods beyond. I quickly piled a few logs onto the few embers left of the morning fire, and soon the room was filled with warm flickering light. Night was beginning to fall in the early January fashion, making the shadows of the furniture grow slowly longer.

"Just a second, I'm going to make us a little hot chocolate." I said. She didn't respond and just kept looking out the window. I looked at her worriedly, and hurried to the nearby kitchen. I quickly microwaved some water and added the instant cocoa mix. Not as good as homemade, but I was in a hurry.

When I walked back into the living room I saw that her gaze had shifted from the window to the fire. I sunk slowly into the couch beside her, balancing the nearly full mugs in my hands. I offered one to her, but she didn't seem to notice, so I took her hands and wrapped them around the mug. Her fingers were cold. She made no move to drink.

"Just drink a little, please? You might feel better." she turned towards me, and I felt a tearing in my chest as I saw the look in her eyes, wondering what could make someone feel so alone.

"Look, I meant it when I said 'we', Jenny. Whatever's wrong, I'll help you through it."

"Help me? If you knew what this was about, you'd hate me...everyone else who knows does. My Mom won't let me come back because of it..." 'Ahh,' I thought. 'No wonder she can't go home.'

"I doubt that. I've heard and read a lot of weird things in my time, and I've never hated anyone for it. Just tell me and see."

"NO!" she almost yelled. "You're the only person who...has been nice to me. No one at school...especially not her..." she trailed off. I was wondering who "she" was, but I obviously couldn't ask her now, not while she was in this state of panic.

"Ok, ok," I said soothingly. "You don't have to tell me anything." She relaxed somewhat.

"Well, since you say you can't go home, you'll just have to stay here for a while." I said matter of factly.

"You'd let me stay?" she said hopefully, a glimmer of hope shining in her eyes. "What about your parents?"

"Well, Mom left years ago, and my Dad's out of town for a few weeks. Even if you need to stay longer than that, I can arrange it. My Dad pretty much leaves me alone, and since he's only here about a month total a year..."

Her immediate problem solved, Jenny seemed to liven up a little.

"Thanks you so much, Alex." she said and hugged me. I basked in the glow of her hug. "Ok, now that that's taken care of!" I said cheerfully. "Let's get something to eat and turn in early. I think we both need it." I stated as she yawned widely.

"Yeah, sure." she said sleepily, the warm cocoa having it's effect.

"I'll go dig out some leftovers or something, then."

"Let me help, I'm okay at using a microwave." she smiled, and I was glad to see she was cheering up.

"I'm not sure about this microwave. My Dad bought a new one after he blew up the old one, and it's pretty complicated."

"Blew up the old one?" she said, wide eyed.

"Yeah, he wanted hot apple pie, and forgot that the tin was made of aluminum. Walked away to watch TV, and left it until he was reminded when the smoke alarm went off." I was trying to keep a straight face, but her expression was to much. I burst out laughing.

"You're joking!" she yelled, and punched me in the shoulder. I continued to laugh as I held my shoulder, and she started laughing as well. She jumped on me and it turned into a free-for-all, my six foot two frame easily holding her off. We ended up a giggling, laughing tangle on the couch, her on top of me, my hands gripping her wrists. We locked eyes, and froze. We were stuck like that for a few seconds, and then I cleared my throat and sat up.

"Yes, well, let's get dinner. I'm sure you can operate the microwave without blowing anything up." I grinned.

"We'll see." she said, giving me another playful punch in the arm.

I tried to help her, but she insisted on figuring out the microwave herself. My Dad had destroyed the old one, but not by blowing it up. He managed to somehow spill a milkshake into the innards of the microwave. It was an old one, and rather than have it repaired, we replaced it. The new one, as I said, was complex. When she figured it out within ten minutes, I was impressed. I had played with it for half an hour, and still had to look in the manual in the end. She quickly heated up some leftover spaghetti while I hunted around for the silverware. With one in the house the dishes tend to go unwashed, and silverware disappears over time. I managed to hunt down two chipped plates and a couple of forks by the time she had finished, and we sat down to eat.

"How can you handle living way out here, alone so often?" she asked between bites.

"You get used to it. Been doing it since I was ten. It's nice, you don't have any parents telling you what to do, when to clean up your room, or what to wear."

"Don't you get lonely? I mean, it can't be easy to be away from your friends, and have no one to talk to."

"I don't have many friends." (Friends? Me? Ha. But I wasn't going to tell her that.) "If you haven't noticed, I don't talk much." I took another bite of spaghetti and smiled.

"Yeah, I noticed, but I figured that you just didn't want to talk to a bunch of kids years younger than you. Besides, you're talking now, aren't you?"

"Yes, well I know you better now. It's easier to talk to someone you know. Otherwise, I just don't say anything. It's easier that way."

"Easier, yes, but it sure makes it hard to get friends, especially girlfriends." She said, spearing a meatball.

"Well, that would probably explain why I've never had a girlfriend, wouldn't it?" I forced myself to say lightly as I looked down at my plate, swirling the strands of spaghetti around my fork.

"You've never had a girlfriend?" she said, incredulously. "How old are you anyway?"

"Eighteen."

"You need to get out more."

I shrugged. "I'm happy the way I am."

"Every lonely minute of it?"

"I'm not lonely...just alone." I said defensively.

She sighed, and continued to eat.

I finished quickly, and sat watching her eat. She would wind the spaghetti around the fork like a little kid, and then scoop it into her mouth. After each bite she would wipe her mouth daintily on a paper towel. She looked up at me.

"What's wrong?" she asked innocently, giving me a questioning look.

"Nothing." I said quickly. "I was just thinking about how long it's been since anyone besides myself or my father had been in this house."

"How long has it been?"

"Oh, I'd say seven, eight years." I leaned back in my chair.

"That long?"

I nodded, and noticed that her plate was empty.

"Want a refill?" I asked.

"No thanks, I'm full." she said, patting her stomach. I got up and grabbed the plates.

"Wait a sec, and I'll grab you some towels so you can take a shower before you go to bed." I said.

"That'd be great." she smiled, looking as haggard, at least as haggard as a thirteen year old can look.



I quickly tossed the dishes in the sink and walked back to the dining room where she was sitting with her head on her arms resting on the table. I paused for a moment, enjoying the scene and the contrast of the scarred surface of the light pine table against her dark hair and fair, pale skin. I moved over to her and touched her on the shoulder. She gasped in suprise and almost jumped out of the chair.

"Easy! It's just me." She relaxed. "Come on, I'll show you where everything is."

She nodded and followed me.

I climbed the stairs with her close behind me. I stopped at the cupboards where I kept the clean towels and pulled out a couple for her. Then I headed for my Dad's room.

"You can sleep here. It's my Dads room, but he won't be around for a while. We have a guest room too, but it hasn't been used in a long time. What I don't use, I don't clean." I grinned. "Besides, this bed is a lot more comfortable."

"It'll be fine." she said, looking around the room. I walked over to the chest of drawers and pulled out one of my Dad's T-shirts.

"This should work for something to sleep in. I handed it to her, and she held it up against her chest.

"I see your Dad is as big as you are." she said, as it drooped to well below her knees.

"Actually, he's a couple inches taller." I said as I led her across the room to the master bath and opened the door.

"Take a shower, bath, whatever you like. My Dad always hated running out of hot water, so we have five times as much as we've ever needed. Don't worry about running out. Oh, and toss your clothes out, I'll put them in the washer so you have something clean to wear tomorrow. We'll worry about getting you more clothes later."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome." I smiled. "I'll be in my room if you need anything. It's just down the hall, first door on the left." She nodded and walked in, shutting the door.

I was tempted to wait around for her to toss out her clothes so I could maybe sneak a peak, but decided that that wouldn't be "gentlemanly" and went to my room to read instead.

Five minutes later I walked back into the room and grabbed her clothes that were lying on the floor just outside the bathroom door. As I tossed them in the washer, I couldn't help but notice the pair of high cut pink panties. I resisted the urge to pick them up, and quickly slammed the lid and started the machine, returning to my book.

I lost track of time, and it was nearly eight thirty when I heard Jenny walk in. I looked up and immediately my mind went numb.

Jenny was, in a word, beautiful. Her long, freshly brushed dark hair was glistening from the shower, and I caught a whiff of the soft lavender soap that my mother used to use. The long white T-shirt billowed around her, her small, early teen signifying breasts held the shirt out an inch or so from her slim torso and tiny waist, her small nipples erect, poking through the fabric in the cold draft. It fell from there to a few inches above her knees where it revealed the rest of her long, lovely legs. I felt a stirring in my pants, and I blushed while trying to keep it down.

"Something wrong?" she asked.

"Oh, nothing, nothing." I stammered. "What can I do for you?"

"How do you work the heater?" she said. "It's a little cold in there, and I wanted to turn up the heat a little."

"Oh, it's on full. My Dad might have planned ahead for hot water, but he underestimated how cold it could get around here. I'll get you an electric blanket."

"Ok, that'll work."

I walked past her to the hall closet, trying to shake the image of her from my mind. I grabbed the blanket, and she followed me back to her room. It was amazing how quickly I had come to think of it as "her" room.

"I can put it on, no problem."

"Yeah, but you'd never find the outlet. It's a little tricky."

She shrugged an motioned me towards the bed. I pulled back the comforter and spread the blanket out on top of the top sheet, and then pulled the comforter back. I grabbed the control box and the plug and got down on my hands and knees, fishing under the bed for the outlet that was built into the wall behind the headboard. As I found it, my eyes looked up to where Jenny was standing. My eyes followed her legs, and stopped at the hem line of the T-shirt. Then I remembered. Her panties were in the washer, meaning she had nothing but skin beneath that shirt! My cock shot up, and I turned quickly so that I was resting on my side to keep her from sighting it. I managed to plug it in, but pretended to keep fishing for it, waiting for my erection to go down to the point where I could stand up without having to run from the room in embarrassment.

"See, I told you it was hard to find." I smiled weakly, and slowly I shrank to a manageable size.

I got up slowly, making sure it wasn't going to spring back up. I turned on the blanket and pulled back the covers.

"Climb in, and I'll tuck you in." I said. She smiled at me and climbed into bed slowly, giving me a flash of leg that dazzled my eyes and almost made me loose what little composure I had left. I pulled the blankets up over her and tucked her in. "Comfortable?" I asked.

"Very." she said sleepily, and yawned.

"OK, I'll see you in the morning then." I walked to the door and turned out the lights, drawing the door closed until it was open just enough to let a little light from the hall in.

I walked slowly back to my room, and decided to skip the shower. I was drained from the day's events, and I nearly fell asleep while stepping out of my clothes. I opted to wear the bottoms of an old pair of pajamas, considering the company in the house. I turned out the light, climbed into bed, and fell asleep almost immediately.



*****



"Alex, can I sleep in here?"

"Huh?" I sat up, blinded by the bedroom light. "What did you say?" I could see her blush even through the blinding light.

"Well, I was wondering if, well...I don't really want to be alone..." her voice seemed to choke off. She seemed near tears.

"Bad dream huh?" She nodded. "Sure, sure." I said. "Climb on in."

"You...don't mind?" she said nervously, taking a step towards the bed.

"No, I don't mind. It's cold, come on. Turn out the light first, though." I added, still squinting against the light. She turned off the light, and I was blinded again as my semi-adjusted eyes had to adjust to full darkness again. I heard her padding towards me, and then a squeak of bedsprings as she sat down. She leaned back to lie down, and discovered a quirk of my bed.

"Woah!" she squealed as she rolled toward me, then bumped against me, the front of her body pressed against my side. "Interesting bed." she said, breathing hard.

"Yeah, fascinating what happens to a mattress when you sleep in the same spot every night for fifteen years." I chuckled.

"I like the result, though." she said, laying her head on my chest and draping her arm across my stomach. "I don't know how I'm going to sleep with that heart of your beating all night long, though." she giggled.

"I sure hope so."

"Don't bet on it." I could almost see her grin even in the dark.

"Maybe I made a mistake here!" I said in mock terror.

"Don't worry, I won't kill you in your sleep...but I might do something else."

"Like what?" I asked, interested.

"Like THIS!" she cried, and tickled me in the stomach. I rolled over in uncontrolled laughter, and she followed. I grabbed her arm, and quickly but gently pulled her hand away, quickly twisting myself to face her, counterattacking with a tickle to her side. She rolled away laughing, then fought back. We wrestled for a while as I enjoyed brief touches of more interesting parts of her anatomy. She ended up on top again, both of us breathing heavily.

"We seem to end up in this position a lot." I said.

"Probably because I always win." she said triumphantly.

"Ok, so what did you win?"



She kissed me.



I was caught by suprise, but quickly responded with equal intensity. A few seconds later she broke the kiss, both of us breathing hard, but this time not just from physical activity.

"What was that?" I gasped.

"My prize."

"Really?" I said, considering. "I think you're forgetting something."

"What?"

"I came in second place." I kissed her. Her tongue came into play, pushing between my lips and dancing across the roof of my mouth, then entwined with my mine. She started to subtly grind her body against mine. My hands slid down to her waist, feeling the developing curves beneath my fingertips. Her T-shirt had ridden up during our struggle, and I pushed it higher, letting my hands play over the soft skin of her bare ass, and then between her legs, feeling her wetness on my fingers. She moved faster, moaning, her breath surging through her nostrils. I felt her erect little nipples gouging into my chest through the fabric of her shirt. Experimentally, I brushed a fingertip across the tip of her clit. She broke our kiss and yelped, then kissed me again more ferociously than before, telling me in no uncertain terms that she liked what I was doing.

I stroked the length of my middle finger slowly across her clit, causing her to emit a long, high pitched whine of delight into my mouth as we kissed. Leaving my thumb at her clit, I sent my middle finger in search of her opening. Finding it, I pushed it gently inside of her tight entrance, eliciting a groan from Jenny. She broke the kiss again, this time due to lack of air. She began to grunt in time to my finger slipping in and out of her, pushing back to meet the instroke. Her eyes were tightly closed, mouth slightly open, reaching for orgasm. Suddenly she let out a long wail, bucking against my fingers. Her body went rigid as I felt her muscles tense, her body arching against me. Then she went limp and collapsed on my chest, breathing hard in the cool air of the room. I hugged her against me, feeling the rapid in-out of her breath slow as she recovered. We lay there for a few minutes, resting, while I slowly ran my hands up and down her back.

"How are you feeling?" I asked gently, pulling damp strands of her hair from her forehead.

"Sleepy, limp, exhausted, sticky and happy." she murmured.

"Quite a list. I don't know what I can do about the other four, but I can definitely fix one of them." I slowly rolled over, gently depositing her limp form on the bed. She moaned in protest as I moved away, but I quieted her by telling her I would be back soon.

I walked quickly down the hall to the bathroom, and started the water into the big cast iron tub. I tested the water and satisfied that it was the correct temperature went to get Jenny ready.

She was in the same position as before, exhausted from the stress (and the pleasures) of the day that had brought her to my bed. I gently shook her and she woke up, at least enough to help some as I slipped the T-shirt smelling of sweat and sex over her head. This was my first chance to see her nude. She looked tiny compared to the king sized bed, her arms and legs splayed at her sides, eyes closed. Her small breasts topped by pink nipples were held flat against her chest by gravity. Her flat stomach and tiny waist drew your eyes lower. The only hair on her body besides that on her head was a slight tuft of dark hair above her vaginal lips. Her slim legs fell slightly open.

When she was nude I slipped my hands under her and gently lifted her, marveling at how light she was.

"Where are you taking me?" she said sleepily.

"You'll see." I said. Cradling her in my arms I walked to the bathroom.

The tub was half full by that time, so I lowered her gently into the hot water. She relaxed and sighed as the warmth of the water surrounded her body.

I slipped out of the few clothes that I had on and stepped into the water. Jenny looked up in suprise, her eyes tracing down my front to my still semi-erect cock. A look of curiosity crossed her face, and she reached up and ran a finger over the crown. My cock lurched and I gasped. She giggled.

"Sensitive, isn't it?" she grinned at me.

"Yes." I said, lowering myself into the tub. "Is this sensitive?" I slid my finger over her pink slit, and she squealed and jerked upward. "I guess so." I chuckled. She elbowed me in the ribs as she turned and lay back against my chest. I wrapped my arms around her, enjoying her water slick skin against mine.

"Do it again." she purred as she nuzzled my neck.

"Later." I whispered into her ear as I nipped it. She groaned in frustration, wriggling sensuously against me. "Just relax." I whispered again, gently massaging her shoulders. She obeyed, and I reached for the sponge, wetting it.

I ran the sponge slowly over her collarbone and shoulders, then let it trail down her side and over her breast, paying special attention to the pink nipple. She sighed, and I felt her muscles relax as her body molded itself to mine. Her eyes drooped and fell closed.

I let the sponge trail slowly down her chest and across the pale white expanse of her stomach and carefully cleaned her navel, making her giggle. I let the sponge slip lower, and veered right at the last second, missing her lower lips completely. She moaned in frustration as I gently cleaned the skin of her inner thigh, inches away from where she really wanted to be "cleaned".

I pushed down slowly on her shoulders, indicating that I wanted her to move down slightly. She complied, and I had to suppress a moan as the slick skin of her back slipped across the underside of my erection.

I stopped her when only her head was above water, and tilted her head back, letting her long chestnut hair trail in the water.

Leaving only her nose, eyes and mouth above the surface. I kissed her lightly on the lips as I ran my fingers through her hair. I reached for a soft washcloth and dipped it in the water, using it to wipe the dried sweat from her brow and the fine details of her face. I gently pulled her up until just her had and neck were above the water line. I spent the next few minutes carefully running the washcloth all over her until her skin fairly glowed under the water. Her breath slowed, and then fell into the steady rhythm of sleep. I stopped my caresses and hugged her against me, listening to the lapping of the water against the porcelain of the tub.

I reflected on all that had happened that day, and the weeks before. Then I started to worry. What would happen if her parents came looking for her, or called the police when she didn't show up at home? I was significantly older than she was...could what we had just done...what we were DOING, be illegal? After all, I was almost eighteen. My heartbeat quickened in panic. What if she woke up in the morning and regretted what had happened? I was actually considering getting up and calling her parents and having her come pick her up. And then she wriggled in my arms, awakening.

"Alex, is there something wrong?" she asked, concerned, feeling how tense my muscles were beneath her.

"Nothing." I responded. "Just thinking."

"About what?"

"What's going to happen when your parents call the police and have me arrested for statutory rape."

"What!" she pulled out of my arms and turned to face me, eyes wide. "What do you mean, 'statutory rape'?"

"It's just that I think that it's slightly illegal for someone my age to well, do...this with someone your age."

"I don't _care_ what the idiots who made up that law think. I know I like what happened, and I intend to do it again..." her eyes flashed angrily, and then faded. "If you want to." she added softly, looking into my eyes.

"Want to? Of course I want to...I'm just worried."

"How can they arrest you if they don't know what happened? I'm not going to tell them."

"Okay, I trust you. But can you do one thing for me? Call your parents and tell them that you're ok and staying with a friend?"

A look of fear washed over her face, her eyes brimming with tears. "I can't do that! They'd...they'd..."

"Easy." I said, not wanting to get her any more upset. "Can you just call an aunt, or something? Then they can pass on the word."

"But what if they trace the call?" she said. I thought that was a little paranoid, but hey, you can never be to careful.

"Don't worry. I know a few tricks from some...earlier activities I was involved in a few years ago. They won't be able to trace it."

"Okay. I'll do it, if you want me too." she hugged me. I lurched involuntarily as the skin of her belly slid across the head of my by now very erect cock. "Ooops." she giggled, and wriggled against me. I gasped.

"You sure know how to change the subject, don't you?"

"Do I?" she asked innocently and sliding up to give me a quick peck on the chin, rubbing herself against me again in the process.

I sighed.

"We'd better get out of the tub. You're getting even more wrinkly than usual." I teased, holding up one of her water wrinkled hands as proof.

"More wrinkly?" she screamed in mock rage, then grabbed me around the neck pulling me under water. I came up sputtering and laughing.

"Truce!" I yelled when I saw her heading for me again. "You win. Again."

"Good." she pouted. "Now we can get out." She hopped out, giving me a view that left my mouth watering. I don't know where she got the energy. I had to haul my 'old bones' out of the tub.

I grabbed an oversized towel and wrapped it around Jenny. It fell almost to her ankles, like a long robe. I started to dry her off, paying special attention to the more interesting areas. Her hair was a little more difficult. Long hair may be pretty, but it certainly does take some effort to take care of.

By the time we were finished her energy had worn down again and she was leaning against me for support as her eyes drooped. I picked her up again for the trek back to my room. The air outside the bathroom was ice cold against our still slightly damp bodies. I moved quickly, but we were both shivering by the time we made it back to the bed. I deposited her softly onto the bed, and she almost jumped off again when the cold sheets hit her back. I turned off the light and climbed in next to her. She snuggled up against my chest as I pulled the covers over us and sighed. I wrapped my arms around her waist pulling her tighter against me. She tilted her head up towards me and I kissed her slowly, passionately. She let her head drop when the kiss ended, resting it against my arm. I felt her breath disturbing the hairs on my chest. She fell asleep quickly, her exhaustion catching up to her. I raised myself up on one arm and looked down at her, lying peacefully in my arms.

You don't know loneliness until you've been close to someone after all you've ever known is being alone. Jenny and I were closer than I had ever been to anyone, and now I could see how lonely a life I had led before she had stumbled into it. I didn't know how I would deal with it after she left.

I loved her. I came to that conclusion and accepted it. She was part of my life, the only person that had been in it for a long time. I sighed and brushed her hair back from her forehead and ran my hand across skin of her cheek, tracing the graceful arc of her jaw. I lay my head next to hers and fell asleep.

End Chapter Two





Chapter Three -------------



I awoke the next morning to the sun shining though the blinds on the window beside my bed. It was one of those crystal clear but freezing cold days, the type only the northwestern states can provide. It was cold enough in the room for me to see my breath, but I was lucky enough to have a delightfully soft bed warmer cuddled up next to me. Definitely one of my top ten ways to wake up.

I lay there, appreciating her warmth. I ran my hand over her shoulder and down her torso until my hand rested on her chest. I felt her breath move in and out, the subtle thumping of her heart against her rib cage. She fascinated me like no one I had ever known.

Her lips were slightly parted; I kissed her lightly. She kissed me back, slowly coming out of sleep. By the time we separated she was blinking sleepily, smiling up at me. I smiled back.

"Good morning." she said and stretched, breathing deeply in the cold air.

"Definitely good, I think."

"I think so, too." she agreed, moving closer to me and rested her head on my chest. She started to play with my sparse chest hair, roughing it up and then smoothing it out again. "Let's just stay here all day."

"I like that idea." I smiled. "But we'll have to get up sometime."

"As long as it's not right now." she sighed, closing her eyes. We lay there for a few minutes, enjoying one another's company. My mind wandered to the question that had been constantly bothering me me since she kissed me the night before.

"Jenny, you don't have to answer this, but I need to ask you." "What?" she asked. I felt her muscles tense.

"Why are you here? I mean, why did you stay? You could have left..." I sighed. "What it boils down to is this; why did you kiss me last night?"

She was silent for a moment, staring at the half closed blinds on the window. "I kissed you because you're the only one who has ever seemed to care about me, or what happened to me. You gave me your coat, you comforted me; if that wasn't enough, you gave me a place to stay...You're just so kind and I just felt I had to repay you for all you had done." Them I realized the meaning of her words.

"You mean last night...all of it, was just payment?" I said slowly, anger rising in my chest. "Here I was, thinking you actually felt something for me, and all it was..." I couldn't think about it anymore. I jumped out of bed, only pausing long enough to grab my robe. I walked swiftly out of the room and down the stairs. I sat on the couch in front of the fireplace and stared at the cold ashes of the fire, shivering in the freezing air.

All I could think about was her, my mind buzzing with thoughts of last night, not being able to believe that all of what had happened had no feeling in it. Something I had cherished, even for just that short time. Now it was gone, taking her with it.

I heard the bed squeak upstairs, and a few seconds later, the pad of her feet on the hardwood of the stairs. I closed my eyes and put my head on my hands as she approached the couch. She stopped a few feet behind me and stood there silently hunting for the right words to say. I didn't let her.

"Why?" I asked her. "Why must everyone who ever gets close to me have some other reason for being there?" I raised my head to stare at the wall as tears blurred my eyes. "No one really cares. My Dad doesn't, we barely speak to each other even when he is here. My Mom didn't. My relatives? They don't even like having me around. You don't care either. I let someone in and they leave, or hurt me in one way or another. People wonder why I don't have friends. This is why. It's just not worth the pain."

I heard a sniff behind me. I turned to see her standing behind me in my father's old robe, tears running down her face.

"I didn't mean it the way it came out!" she sobbed. "I do like you...a lot. I've had a, I guess you could call it a crush on you for a long time, and then all this happened..and it just seemed so right. I didn't mean to hurt you. I'll get my things and leave." she turned and ran back up the stairs.

I was numb for a few moments as her words sank in. I considered what she had said. If she really meant what she said...I had been a total ass. I got up and climbed the stairs. I could hear her crying and followed the sound to my room. I couldn't see her when I walked in the door and looked around. I found her huddled in a corner, the robe pulled tightly around her. I walked over to her.

"Jenny?" I said gently. She didn't respond. "I'm sorry for what I said, and did. I misunderstood. Please don't leave."

She looked up at me in suprise, her eyes red from crying.

"You want me to stay?"

"Yes. You are...very special to me." I said with difficulty. "You are the only one who's ever actually wanted to touch me, or be near to me for as long as I can remember. I hadn't even had so much as a pat on the shoulder in over a year before you shared my coat. When you've been alone as long as I have, you become afraid of letting anyone near you. I let you in against my better judgment. I've been attracted to you since the first day you climbed aboard that bus two years ago, but was afraid of what would happen if anything happened, what others would think. What I'm trying to say Jenny is that I think I love you."

"You what?" she said in shock, looking up at me with her face streaked with tears. I collapsed against the wall and slid down until I was sitting beside her.

"I...love you." I said, afraid to look at her. Afraid of rejection.

"Really?" she got up and sat down next to me. "You love me?"

"Yes." I sighed, finally looking at her. She started to cry again, but wrapped her arms around me. "Thank you." she sobbed. I hugged her to me. I stroked her back, tears dripping out of my eyes and soaking into her hair.

"So you'll stay?" I asked.

"Stay? I couldn't have left if I wanted to. I don't know where you put my clothes." she said through the tears. I tried to keep my face straight, but I couldn't help myself and burst out laughing. She joined me and soon we were a laughing, crying heap in the corner of the room. I never wanted it to end.



*****



She ended up cuddled in my arms, still sitting in that same corner. It was cold and uncomfortable, but neither of us wanted to move and break the warmth flowing through our embrace. When we both began to shiver despite our shared body warmth, I decided it was time to move.

"What do you say we get up and catch a quick shower, and then eat breakfast?" I asked her.

"Sounds good to me." She hopped up. I followed.

"You get the shower water hot. I need to toss your clothes into the dryer so you have something more to wear than just that ratty old robe."

"What, don't you think I look beautiful?" she said, posing provocatively.

"Well, when you wear it that way..."

"If I wore it like this in public I'd be arrested for indecent exposure." she cut me off and grinned.

"I'd visit you in prison." I said, hugging her against me. We kissed. I held the embrace for a few seconds.

"I love you too." she whispered into my ear, then ran off in the direction of the master bathroom, her hair flying out behind her.

I stood there, stunned. I knew she meant it. I could sense that she did. I almost danced my the way to the basement. I tossed her clothes into the dryer and ran back upstairs. I could hear the water running as I approached the bathroom, steam billowing out the partially open door. I pushed it open, and was surrounded by clouds of steam. I walked in. Jenny walked out of the shadows, goddess like in her appearance. She was nude, having shed the robe. She had taken the time to straighten out her hair, and her eyes seemed to glimmer in the diffused light. She was breathtaking.

"Your shower awaits." she said seductively. I took her in my arms and kissed her deeply.

"You're beautiful." I said, running my hands down the soft skin of her back. She shivered.

"Brrr, your hands are cold! Let's get in the shower and I'll see if I can warm them up a little." She grinned with a glimmer in her eye that I was going to come to recognize as arousal.

"I can't wait." I said, returning the grin. She pulled the robe off my shoulders, and we stepped into the shower together. The temperature was perfect.

Jenny stepped under the shower nozzle, the water slicking back her hair and cascading over her body. She motioned for me to join her. I slid under the shower nozzle and pulled her tightly against me. The water filled the few gaps between our skins, making each of us feel immersed in each other. We ran our hands over each other, wanting to know every detail of the person we loved. My cock pressed into the soft skin of her belly. She moved back slightly and grasped it.

"You've done so much for me, but I've done nothing for you." she said, running the palm of her hand over the head.

"You've done a lot more than you think."

"Maybe. But show me, I want to make you feel as good as you made me feel."

I nodded. "You're doing pretty well as it is. Just move your hand up and down slowly. The tip is the most sensitive." I moaned as she followed my instructions.

"That's great." I groaned. I could feel the previous night's activities catching up with me, it felt better than I had imagined. My breathing speed up. I grunted as I climaxed. The first jet hit her in the stomach. She gasped and stopped pumping as the second stream covered her hand. The next weaker streams dripped onto the floor of the shower and ran down the drain. I leaned against the wall in exhaustion.

"Wow. I didn't know that much would come out." Jenny said in amazement.

"There usually isn't." I said, still panting. "It's just been building up for a while." She moved closer to me, and I hugged her. "Let me soap you up." I said, grabbing a bar of soap.

"I think I can do that myself." she giggled.

"Not the way I'm going to do it." I grinned at her.

"If it's the same way I'm thinking about I could manage it. But I think I'll enjoy the result more if you do it." She stood on her tiptoes and kissed me on the chin, moving toward the center of the shower.

"One of these days you're going to have to show me how you would manage it." I said with a glint in my eye as I pointed the shower head away from us.

"Maybe next time." she said seductively.

"I'll look forward to it." I ran the soap between my hands, spreading the lather over her shoulders and back. I massaged her shoulders, rubbing out the tension of the last few days. My hands slid lower as I traced the gentle curves of her waist until they blossomed out slightly at her hips. Her small firm ass cheeks neatly filled the palms of my hands. She ground her hips back against me, coaxing me onward. I soaped my hands again. I started again at her shoulders but let my hands move over her front, cupping her small, half-apple sized breasts. I rolled the erect pink nipple between thumb and forefinger. She moaned, pushing against my hands.

She twisted her head back and kissed me, our tongues sliding deeply into each others mouths. I released her breasts and glided down over her stomach until I reached the thin patch up pubic hair.

"Do you want me to go lower?" I teased.

"Pleeeese." she moaned. I cooperated and delved between her thighs, slipping gently between the swollen lips of her labia. She grunted as I ran a finger over her erect clit, her body arching out to meet my hand. She squealed in pleasure as I pushed first one then two fingers into the tight pink confines of her vaginal walls, stopping only at her virginity. Her hips moved with my hands as I started to pump my fingers in and out of her, her grunts becoming louder as she moved towards orgasm. The wet sounds of my fingers in the pussy and her grunts of pleasure filled the shower stall.

She cried out as she reached her plateau, her body straining rigidly outwards. Her pussy contracted rhythmically around my fingers. A few seconds later she collapsed in my arms, gasping for air.

"That was incredible." she gasped.

"Must have been from what I saw. In fact I'm going to have to catch it on film one of these days." I said innocently.

"Pervert." she laughed.

"Yes, but I'm your pervert." I said, reaching for the shower head and turning back on us. I rinsed both of out bodies while she leaned limply against me. She sighed resignedly and let me rinse the sweat and soap off of her. A few minutes later we stepped out of the shower. We dried each other off, and I tossed the towels in the customary corner of the bathroom to be picked up whenever I got around to doing a load of laundry.

"I see I'm going to have to house train you." she said, eyeing the sizable stack of mildew covered towels. I shrugged and walked out the door and turning into my room. I began to get dressed while she stood watching me.

"Where are my clothes? I can't just walk around nude all day." she said impatiently.

"Why not? I prefer my women to be nude and barefoot. Makes them easier to manage." I said, stepping into a pair of jeans. I could almost hear her teeth grinding from across the room.

I guffawed as I turned and saw the expression on her face.

"That's twice I got you." I laughed. I stumbled as I tried to pull up my pants and fell backwards onto the bed, still laughing.

Up until then she had just stood there glowering at me, but when I fell over her face melted into a grin. She walked over and lay down beside me.

"You may be a clumsy sexist pig, but I still love you." She laughed and kissed my cheek. She rested her head on her arm and looked at me. I gazed back, memorizing every detail of her face.

My eyes drifted into hers and stopped. We stared at each other, enjoying the closeness and the quiet of the moment. Then my stomach rumbled, breaking the silence.

"I guess we'd better go get something to eat." she said.

"And get your clothes." I reminded her.

"Yes. I have to admit that this is pretty comfortable, but damn cold." She rolled onto her back and stretched. Her back arched, forcing her hips off of the mattress. She relaxed with her hands resting above her head.

"How do I look?" she asked and gave me a sexy look.

"Just wait a second while I roll my tongue back in."

She laughed and rolled off the bed, standing above me.

"Just let me get my pants up." I stood up and almost fell over again. Jenny giggled. I managed to get my pants on but had some trouble with the zipper.

"Now look at what you did." I complained, pointing to the large bulge in the front of my jeans.

"Poor Alex." she walked over and hugged me, rubbing her body against me.

"You aren't helping any." I said weakly. She giggled again and backed away.

"You're no fun."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Come on." I headed for the basement and Jenny followed.

End Chapter Three





Chapter Four ------------



A few minutes later I was thumbing through a cookbook looking for the pancakes recipe. Jenny was fishing through the fridge looking for eggs.

"You know that the expiration date on your milk was two months ago?"

"Really?" I said. "I don't drink much milk. Does it smell sour?" She grimaced at me. I grinned. "Don't worry, I don't get much of a chance to shop around here, so I buy in bulk. There's a freezer out in the garage that I keep it in until I need it. I took that gallon out a few days ago." I dumped the needed ingredients into a bowl and turned on the mixer. I leaned against the counter.

"Ahh. So when do you go shopping?" She grabbed a carton of eggs from where it had been hiding behind an empty jar of pickles.

"Every couple of months. I eat a lot of canned stuff. Meat and other stuff that goes bad goes in the freezer."

"So how old are these eggs?" she asked as she opened the carton.

"Not to old. A farmer down the road a ways drops off a dozen or so every couple of weeks."

"Nice setup you got here. No wonder you don't see many people. You never get out."

"Just the way I like it. The wonders of mail order. Toss me a couple of those eggs." She did and I cracked them into the mixing bowl. She broke a couple into a frying pan and turned on the burner.

"So, you've been pretty much alone out here for almost ten years. You have no friends. You don't have any family you care for. How can you love me? I'm suprised you know what love is."

"A person knows. At least I know. I've been loved before, just not for a long time." I turned off the mixer and plugged in the waffle iron.

"Your father doesn't love you?" she asked.

"How can he love someone he hasn't seen for more than two days at a time in over eighteen years? Besides, I don't love him."

"What about your mother?" she asked gently. My hands gripped the counter edge tightly and it became hard to talk.

"My mother left when I was ten. She couldn't take having him around so rarely. She left one night when my father was away. I woke up the next morning and she was gone."

"She just left you there, when you were ten?" she said, horrified.

"It didn't matter much to me. I had been taking care of myself since I was eight, anyway. All she was interested in was her soap operas and talk shows. My Dad found me a couple weeks later, sitting in the living room reading a book." I stopped and sighed, releasing the counter. "It doesn't matter. It's all in the past now."

She turned off the burner and hugged me. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It's pain so old it's little more than an ache now."

"It's still there, though."

"Pain like that never goes away entirely. You just learn to live with it." I let her go and turned to the waffle iron. "Let's get this finished, I'm starving."



We sat down to breakfast a half hour later. It was more of a brunch than anything else, since it was well after 11am. The sun was shining through open curtains on the window beside the table. The sun reflected off Jenny's hair, making it shine as her head moved in rhythm to her bites.

"You know a lot about me Jenny, and I know next to nothing about you." I said in between bites.

"There's nothing much to say. I have a younger sister. My parents are pretty religious, but I never cared much for it. I guess I saw my parents blindly following an old book and a myth and decided it wasn't for me. They're pretty strict. I'm kinda the black sheep of the family, to tell you the truth. I'm always off in a corner doing my own thing, with friends my parents don't approve of because they aren't religious."

"I'm sure they'd be thrilled with me." I said wryly. "My grandparents tried to get me to go to church with a them a few years back. Let's just say that the other church members and I didn't get along to well. I ended up taking a swing at one of them, and that was that."

"If I did something like that, my parents would disown me. With what happened, I wish I had slugged a few." she grinned at me.

"So what did happen?" I asked casually. Her face fell immediately and she set down her fork as if she was no longer hungry.

"I'm sorry. You don't have to answer that, I shouldn't have asked."

"No, no. I think you have a right to know, with all that has happened. I just hope you understand. No one else has. But if anyone can understand, it will have to be you." She leaned back in her chair and looked at the ceiling as if avoiding my eyes.

"I was staying the night over at a friends house last weekend. We were ready for bed, and we were both wearing long T-shirts and panties to sleep in. We were laying in bed talking and watching the TV she has in her room. Well, we started talking about some boys at school, and we got a little...turned on. She started touching herself, and pretty soon I was too. We ended up taking off our clothes and watching each other. She put a hand on my stomach, and when I didn't stop her, she let it slide down between my legs. It felt really good, and I started touching her too. We were really getting into it when one of her little brothers walked in without knocking. He stared at us for a second, and then turned around and walked out without a word. We panicked for a few minutes, but when her parents didn't come barging in yelling and screaming, we figured it was ok. Then a few days later rumors about me and her being lesbians started floating around school. We of course denied it, but rumors get around. Then yesterday morning at school my Mom called the school and demanded to talk to me. So they called me up. When I got on the phone she started screaming at me..." She choked up and couldn't go on, tears were dripping down her face. I got up and hugged her.

"There was nothing wrong with what you did Jenny, no matter what your parents may think. I don't think what you did was wrong. It was perfectly natural. If anyone needs to be yelled at, it should be your parents and the others for making you feel this way."

"You don't think I'm sick, or need help, or anything like that?" she gasped through her tears.

"Just because a lot of people think something is wrong doesn't mean that it is." I told her. "Besides, if you're looking for proof that you aren't a lesbian, remember last night, or this morning."

"Tell that to my parents." she sniffed.

"I doubt it would help much. Your parents don't seem to trust you very much, considering they took a rumor like that at face value."

"You wouldn't believe the names she called me. I didn't even think she knew those words." she shivered.

"Hate or fear of someone or something different is a failing of our species, especially in the religious and the uneducated. It brings out the worst in people."

"So what am I going to do?"

"Stay here, I'm not going to throw you out. Wait for your parents to cool down, if they do. I doubt there is a way to get through to them, though. If they care more about you than their religion or moral beliefs, they will accept you as you are. Or at least what they think you are. If not you're better off without them, at least if they continue to be as abusive as your mother has."

"But I can't stay here forever. Your Dad will come back eventually."

"Don't worry about my father. I can deal with him, I have before. We'll work something out. I'm not turning you over to child protective services, especially not in this town. You'd be tossed in a foster home until you're eighteen, and I couldn't bear that." She wrapped her arms around me.

"One more thing I want to know." she looked up at me.

"What's that?"

"How did I get lucky enough to end up with you?"

"I don't know. Not many guys are as intelligent, witty, or as handsome as I am." I joked.

"Oh, and you're not self-absorbed in the least." she giggled, laying her head against my chest. I slowly started to stoke her hair.

"I see you're feeling better." I said.

"A little. Just hold me a while longer."



It was the least I could do.

End Chapter Four



Chapter Five ------------



By the time we separated the food was long cold. Neither of us were hungry anymore, so we cleaned up. When I started to dump the dishes into the sink, she stopped me.

"There's a dishwasher there, why don't you use it?" she asked.

"Out of soap. Besides, if we need dishes we can just wash some of the ones over there." I said, waving my hand in the direction of the molding stack of dishes on the counter.

"You are a true bachelor." she said, wrinkling her nose at the smell of rotting food emanating from the dishes.

"You look cute when you wrinkle your nose like that." I said, taking her up in my arms and kissing her.

"No way, you're not getting out of it that easy." she smiled up at me. "But I enjoyed your attempt." I let her go in defeat and began loading the dish washer.

"From freedom to marriage in less than 24 hours." I groaned dramatically.

"I wish I'd brought my whip." she said thoughtfully. "I guess I can make do with a belt." she grinned at me.

"No thanks, I'm not into bondage. I don't mind water sports though." I grinned back at her.

"Water sports? What are... Oh!" realization dawned on her. "Don't even think about it." she warned. I just snickered.

"Don't worry Jenny. Your naivet, is one of your best features."

"Oh, and you aren't naive? You probably read all you know about sex in your Dad's old Penthouse magazines or something."

"No fair peeking under my mattress." I said, scraping what looked like semi-alive fried chicken off of a plate.

"You do have some?" she said in suprise.

"Here and there." In a flash she was headed for the stairs. "Hey, what's under a man's mattress is private!" I yelled and took off after her. Her light frame easily outran mine, despite my leg length advantage. I took the stairs two at a time and arrived just in time to see her pull a magazine out from between the box spring and mattress on my bed. "Little girls shouldn't be looking at that kind of stuff." I said, grabbing for the magazine. She dodged me and jumped onto the bed.

"Just let me see, I haven't seen one before." she said trying to hold it out of my reach. "And I'm not a little girl." she added. I gave up.

"Fine, if you want to rot your mind and end up just like me, go ahead." I plopped down on the bed beside her, the dishes forgotten (thankfully) for the time being.

She flipped through the pages slowly, exclaiming over the size of the women's breasts and the amount of hair between their legs.

"Why do guys like women with huge breasts?" she asked.

"I don't know. I personally like them small and pert. But most guys don't care what they look like, as long as they're as big as possible."

"That's dumb."

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know many of them, but that's how it seems to be." She continued to flip through the pages until she came across one of the lesbian pictorials.

"Why is her head between the other woman's legs?" she asked curiously. I scooted up the bed and sat down beside her.

"Err...well, it's known by several names. The technical term is 'cunnilingus' I think."

"That doesn't tell me what she's doing." she said pointedly.

"Well, I think it should be obvious what she's doing. She's probably not getting a closer look at it. What does that leave?" I teased. "I'll give you a hint. Slang terms include 'going down on her', 'eating her out' or most common, 'licking her pussy'.

"She's *licking* her?" She continued to stare at the page. I could tell her imagination was kicking in, her nipples erect beneath her light T-shirt. Her breath deepened somewhat, and she leaned against me. I put my arm around her slim waist. I let my hand trail down her flat stomach and rest just above her pussy mound.

"Guys can do it to girls too, you know. I've been thinking about it, but didn't know what your reaction would be."

"You wouldn't mind?" she asked timidly. I tipped her chin up and kissed her. I slid my hand down further and pressed my fingers against her pussy through her jeans. She moaned and pushed her hips up against my hand. I unbuttoned her jeans and pulled the zipper down, slipping a hand inside. Her panties were soaked, and she was definitely excited. She kissed me harder as I slipped a finger inside her panties and felt her erect clit. Wasting no time I tugged her jeans and panties down. She raised her hips off the bed to help me. My hands traced the soft skin of her ass. She broke the kiss to pull the T-shirt over her head, leaving her naked beside me.

"I feel a little under dressed." she said sexily.

"Then why don't you help me remedy that problem?" I replied.

She smiled and ran her hand over the bulge in my pants. "I'd be glad to." She got onto her knees, grabbed the hem of my shirt and pulled it up. I raised my arms and let her pull it over my head. Her warm hand caressed my chest. She kissed me, pressing her nude body against mine. She reached down and undid the button on my pants. The zipper followed. I hunched up and skimmed my pants and boxers off and tossed them into a corner. Fully skin to skin, we lay back on my bed. We ran out hands over each other's bodies for a few minutes, enjoying the warmth and smoothness of each others bodies.

I pushed her gently back until she was lying flat on her back. I moved until I was between her slightly spread legs.

"Spread your legs a little." I instructed. "Wider." She complied. I looked at her and she nodded.

She watched closely as I lowered my head to her pussy. Her smell was intoxicating, causing me to become more aroused, if possible. She was tense, waiting for my first move.

I ran my tongue over the skin of her inner thigh, her musky scent growing stronger as my nose came closer to her slightly spread pussy lips. The salty taste of her sweat filled my mouth, with a slight tinge of something I had never tasted before. I licked slowly upwards. She tensed as I moved closer to her outer lips. I paused briefly at the soft band of skin where her leg met the rest of her body. I used my right hand to spread the glistening lips of her pussy, and slowly licked up the middle of her slit, lingering for a second at her clit.

"Oooohhhhhh!" she moaned, bucking upwards against my tongue. Taking that for a sign that she liked it I did it again, running my tongue around her clit. She sighed in pleasure, her hips beginning to move in slight circles, grinding her pussy into my face. I continued to lick around her clit, dipping into the entrance to her vagina occasionally. I pushed a finger into her, causing her to grunt and push her hips into the air. She approached orgasm quickly, her clit standing prominently from its hood. Then with a wail she came. Her back arched off the bed and her thighs slammed shut trapping my head. I continued to lick, driving her higher. Finally she collapsed onto the bed. Her body glistened in the afternoon sun streaming through the window. I climbed up the bed and lay next to her heaving body. She had her eyes closed, and seemed to still be out of it. I wiped the sweat off her brow, and her eyes slowly opened.

"I reeeaally liked that." she purred.

"So did I." I said. I could still smell her juices clinging to my chin. "You have a nice taste. I've always wanted to try that."

"You'll have plenty of chance to try it again, I promise." she smiled sleepily. She moved closer to me and hugged me. I held her close and ran my hands up and down her back, enjoying the feel of her against me. She nestled her head under my chin and closed her eyes. I breathed in deeply, the clean smell of her hair filling my nose.

"We sure seem to end up in this bed a lot, don't we?" she said.

"The lack of morality on our part is stunning." I chuckled.

"Especially on this part." she giggled, running a finger along the length my cock.

"And this part has nothing to do with it?" I asked, stroking her pussy. "Or how about these two?" My other hand ran over a pink nipple.

"Ok, so we're both guilty. What do we do about it?"

"Try to do it in other parts of the house?" I suggested.

"You're hopeless." she laughed.

"Or horny."

"I think it's both."

I pretended to think for a moment. "You're probably right."

"Who cares? We both enjoy it, no one is getting hurt, so who's to say it's wrong?"

"The Pope, my Dad, your parents, my grandparents, most of the community of this state, as well as the most vocal lobbyists in Washington D.C.?"

"I think we're out numbered."

"Very. Sad, isn't it?"

"Yes. But it's not going to stop me."

"Or me." I said and hugged her.



*****



"We should get up again." Jenny said a few minutes later.

"Why?" I asked.

"Well, for one thing we need to finish those dishes."

"Why?" I groaned.

"Because if we don't that pile of dishes is going to spawn a new strain of bacteria that will wipe out half the people in Oregon."

"Sounds good to me." I yawned.

"Oh, come on." she said, sitting up. "I'll help you. Then I want to get all the dirty clothes and things and put them in the washer."

"Why?"

"Because I grew up in a clean house and this one is driving me nuts!" she growled in frustration.

"Why didn't you just say so?" I said, climbing out of bed and reaching for my pants.

"Men!" she sighed, sitting down on the edge of the bed and putting her face in her hands. I sat down beside her.

"Listen Jenny, this is different for me. I've never had to worry about anyone else. Be patient and put up with my quirks. I'll try to adjust, but I won't put up with someone controlling my life."

"I'm not! I'm just trying to...straighten you out a little."

"Ok, ok. I admit that I'm not the cleanest person in the world. I'll try to change that. Besides, I can't have you go nuts on me. If you did, I'd have a lot more leftovers of my cooking again. I don't think I'd be able to stand it."

She snickered. "I don't want to put you through that torture again."

"Neither do I. Let's get the dishes, and I'll see if I can figure out a way to get some soap for the damn dishwasher."



We headed downstairs. It took only a few minutes to load the dishwasher. I figured I was low on more than just dishwasher detergent. I had two people to feed now, and my supplies were already somewhat low since my last shopping trip had been a month and a half before.

"How about a shopping trip?" I asked as we loaded the last of the dishes into the washer.

"Great. But how do we get there? Do you have a car? Never mind that, do you even have a license?"

"Who needs a license? I just borrow the neighbor's car every few months to pick some things up. I think I can handle a twenty mile round trip on back roads."

"This car has seat belts, right?" she asked nervously.

"Your confidence in me is reasurring."

"My confidence in you as a person is strong. My confidence in you as a driver is a little limited."

"Don't worry, I rarely top a speed of 120." I grinned.

"I think I'll stay here." she said.

"Aw, come on. You can't wear those clothes forever, as much as I like to take them off."

She rolled her eyes at me. I went to call Mr. Walker, the farmer a half mile down the road. We weren't the best of friends, but we got along. His wife felt sorry for me and was always dropping off things, a casserole, a pie, things like that. The eggs were partly because of this, although I always repaid her. They were willing to loan me the car as long as I didn't wreck it and filled up the tank before returning it.

He said it was fine for me to borrow the car, he and his wife weren't planning to use it until that Sunday for church. I thanked him and told Jenny I'd be back in fifteen minutes with the car. I don't know what they would have thought if I had shown up with her, but I didn't want to find out.



When I arrived at the Walker's house, I was greeted warmly as ussual by the elderly couple. I turned down a piece of pie, saying I had to get into town and get everything I needed before sundown, as I didn't want to have to drive in the dark. I hopped in the clunky old 1970's era Ford sedan and drove back to pick up Jenny. She walked out after I honked, looking unsure in her jeans and jacket. She had pulled her hair back in a ponytail, making her look even younger than she was. She opened the door and climbed in, moving an old candy wrapper from the passenger seat.

"Are you sure this thing will make it there and back?" she said, eyeing the cracked windshield and 8-track stereo.

"Made it before. Of course, we can't go into town. If we're seen together your parents will hear about it within hours, and I think it's a little too soon to let them know where you are."

"So where are we going?"

"It's not much further to Sandfield. I go there when I don't feel like being eyeballed by half the people in town." Jenny nodded and fastened her seat belt, pulling it tight around her waist.

"I'm guessing this car doesn't have airbags?" she asked.

"Only when Mr. Walker gives Mayor Jackson a ride to church." I said, pulling out of the driveway onto the main road. She laughed.

"If you think he's bad, you should see Judge Williams."

"I've never seen him. I only saw the Mayor last 4th of July during one of his speeches. My Dad dragged me out for one of his 'I'm guilty for being away so much' father and son outings."

We spent the rest of the thirty minute drive swapping family stories. I had relatively few to tell, but she easily filled in the gap. I was almost in tears by the time we crossed the Sandfield city limits after she told one particular story about how her Grandmother had chewed out the Mayor in the middle of a speech for using the word 'hell' in front of 'the impressionable children'. We slipped into a comfortable silence as we drove down the streets of downtown Sandfield. With over 100,000 people, Sandfield was the largest city or town within a two hundred mile radius. This also meant it was the only place within two hundred miles that you could see one of the big chain retail stores. I pulled into the parking lot of one of the larger shopping centers and quickly found a space to park.

"First up, getting you some new clothes." I said, opening the door.

"Are you sure? What about the money?" she asked worriedly.

"Don't worry. Joint bank account. I balance the checkbook as well. My Dad keeps his credit cards and check book, I take care of the bills when his paycheck arrives. Besides, I haven't used any of my allowance in the last two months. I think I can afford it."

She looked uncertain.

"Come on, I don't know of any better way to spend it. If you don't, you'll end up naked, and I'll end up with a stuffed mattress. Not that I don't mind you naked, but it'd be a little embarrassing for you to go out in public." I grinned.

"Ok." she sighed resignedly, climbing out of the car. I walked over and wrapped my arm around her shoulder.

"Come on, it'll be fun." I said, walking toward one of the clothing stores. "Besides, I need new clothes too. We'll both suffer."



We spent the next few hours wandering the stores. Jenny picked out a few pairs of jeans, blouses, and skirts. She's the only female I've ever heard of that doesn't like looking through clothes. Of course, it might be one of my misconceptions of the female side of our race. But I doubt it.

I went to look for some slacks for myself. (I hate jeans) She was leaning against one of the displays with her eyes closed, waiting for me outside one of the dressing rooms.

"How are you doing?" I asked, concerned.

"I'm fine." she said, opening her eyes. "I was just thinking about things. People. The future. The past."

"Few people seem to these days. I'm glad you're not one of them. Most people seem content to watch the world pass by and never think about anything."

"I've noticed. People just don't care anymore."

"I don't know if it's so much people not caring anymore. It's more about people not seeing things for what they are. People see a sitcom on television and think that's how life is, or should be. They forget that life is more than some zany plot some writer thought up at two in the morning. Simpler things like 'will I have my job tomorrow' or 'how am I going to pay the next rent check' are foremost on most people's minds."

She sighed.

"We're not like everyone else, are we?" she asked quietly, staring blankly ahead at the lime green wall.

"No, we're not."

"It's lonely."

"It is. Alone in a crowd. Watching people walk past, all with their own friends and family."

"This is depressing."

"Yeah, it is. I've got what I need. Let's go get something to eat."



Twenty minutes later we were sitting at a small diner in downtown Sandfield. After ordering we relaxed for a moment, the smell of French fries and car exhaust filling our noses.

"Boy am I tired." she said, stretching against the cracked vinyl seat of the booth.

"Well, we've just been running around for the last three hours looking for clothes. We still need to stop for the food supplies. Oh, and your dishwasher soap." I smiled lazily, ignoring her playful kick to my shin.

Our food arrived and we dug hungrily into the greasy fries and greasier hamburgers.

"What's your idea of a perfect woman?" she asked, biting into her burger. I almost choked on a gulp of my soda.

"Where'd that come from?" I started, my eyes watering from carbonation going up my nose.

"I was just curious, that's all."

"Well..." I said, thinking. "She would be around five feet tall, a slim athletic build, with long dark hair and soft white skin. She would have deep brown eyes that I would loose myself in whenever I looked at her. She'd be intelligent, and think about things few people think about. She wouldn't be afraid to say what she thought about me or anyone else. And when she would smile, there would no one else in the room but her."

I was treated to one of those smiles as she reached out across the table and grabbed my hand. Her small fingers blended with mine.

"How can you bee so sweet?" she asked. I was about to reply when the waitress coughed.

"Are you ready for your bill?" she asked gruffly, glaring at us. Our hands quickly drew back to their proper sides of the table.

"Sure. I'm almost done. How about you?" I asked Jenny.

"I'm full." she said, looking nervously up at the waitress.

The waitress slapped down the check and walked away.

"We need to be more careful." I said, pulling out my checkbook.

"I wish we didn't have to be." she said.

"So do I. Come on, let's go. I want to get back before it gets too dark."



We drove home in silence, each lost in our own thoughts. We unloaded our purchases and I went to drop off the car. I jogged back to the house. I had never enjoyed being in the woods after dark, even on the road. To many horror novels I suppose.

I was greeted with a blast of warm air as I walked in. Jenny had already built up the fire. From sounds coming from the kitchen, was now putting away the groceries we had picked up on our way out of Sandfield.

"How's it going?" I asked as I walked into the kitchen.

"About as well as it can be, especially since I don't know where anything goes."

"Nothing goes in any particular place. Shove the non-perishables into the cupboards. I'll work on putting the meat into the freezer." I pulled out one of the ten pound shrink wrapped slabs of hamburger and went to work spitting it into meal sized chunks. A few minutes later I washed my hands and turned to watch Jenny as she stacked cans of tuna into one of the cupboards. I watched her stretch to reach the top shelf, her T-shirt riding up just enough for me to see an inch or so of her midriff, her jeans pulling tighter against her firm little behind. I crept up behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist. She lowered the can onto the counter and turned to face me.

"What do you think you're doing?" she asked, putting a hand on my chest.

"Kissing you." I said, and pressed my lips against hers. We kissed hotly for a few seconds then broke for air.

"You've been in the candy bars we bought." she said, eyes twinkling.

"Uh oh, she's caught me with my hand in the cookie jar again."

"I'm not complaining, I just want another taste."

"Oh certainly, madam. Only the finest for you." I kissed her again.

"We'd better stop before we end up rolling around on the floor of the kitchen. I don't recommend it, I haven't swept in several years. Let's get this done. Then we can sit in front of the fire and...enjoy ourselves."

"Just make sure you eat more candy before then." she smiled impishly at me.



*****



The fire licked at the logs as Jenny and I cuddled on the couch, enjoying the warmth. She relaxed against me while I traced the length of her arm idly, feeling the fine hairs brush against my fingertips.

"I don't think I've ever felt this relaxed around someone." Jenny said, bringing her arms up and wrapping them around mine.

"I've never been around anyone long enough to find out what it's like to be comfortable around someone." I chuckled. We slipped into a comfortable silence for a few moments.

"I feel like some hot chocolate, how about you?" I asked.

"Sounds good to me."



I walked from the kitchen a few minutes later to find her standing in front of the big bay window. The snow covered the trees in a coat of snow, causing their branches to droop towards the ground. It was a cold night, no clouds in sight with a partial moon shining brightly.

"Beautiful how the moonlight reflects off the snow like that, isn't it?" Jenny said absently as I walked up behind her. I wrapped my arms around her waist and handed her a mug. She wrapped her fingers around the warm ceramic. I sat mine on the sill and hugged her against me. I kissed her on the top her head, breathing deep the musky scent of her hair. I watched her in the reflection of the firelight off the plate glass window. She had a look in her eyes, far off and haunted.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked her softly.

"Us. How long this will last. I know I'll have to talk to them eventually. I just don't want this to end, and it scares me."

"Everyone has something to fear. Yours is just a little more real than most."

"Why is mine more real than someone else's? Do I deserve this? Not being able to go home, having to be afraid of my parents for what they might do or say." A spark of anger and defiance flared into her eyes, then was dampened again by fear.

"I don't know. Sometimes I wish I believed in god, so that I could deal off things that happen as "gods will". But I don't. So I don't have the answers, as much as I wish I did."

She sighed heavily and turned away from the window. I turned her towards me. I knelt so I could look into her eyes without her looking up at me.

"Jenny, I have come to know you as well as a person can know another in two short days. You are more than just a pretty face, as pretty as your face may be." I took a deep breath and went on. "I've come to appreciate you for your intelligence and insight into things I never knew anyone besides myself ever thought about. I've never met anyone like you, and I love you very, very much." I kissed her gently on the lips, and she hugged me.

"Thank you." she whispered. I felt a tear jump from her face to my neck, running down and soaking into the cotton of my shirt.

I held her until she drooped limply in my arms. I picked her up and lay her on the couch. She whimpered as I lay down next to her, then rolled over and snuggled herself up against me. Reaching down, I grabbed the worn quilt draped over the couch arm. Her hair fluttered in the gust of air, the ends flipping up to tickle me on the nose as I drew it over us. Her warmth soaked through my clothing, washing over me. As I slipped slowly into sleep, I wondered how I was ever going to handle sleeping alone again.

End Chapter Five





Chapter Six -----------



The next morning I woke up to the sound of a door slamming. I figured Jenny had gotten up early, and groggily sank back into the couch, figuring on getting a few more minutes sleep. Then a few things registered in my mind. One, the fire was out. Two, there was a warm and very cuddly something laying next to me, and I didn't have a dog.

"What the hell is going on here!" a voice screamed.



I recognized that voice.



"Dad!" I said in shock and fairly leapt from the couch, turning to where he stood in the doorway of the kitchen. His face was glowing bright red, and I swore that I could see wisps of smoke coming out his ears.

"I leave for a few days, and I come home to find you, on the couch, with a girl! Is this what you do every time I'm gone? Answer me!"

"Dad, I..."

"Shut up! I want this whore out of this house RIGHT NOW!" He roared.

A cool wash of rage filled me. My hands trembled with the intensity, balling into tight fists. Years of anger and frustration flooded me, building up behind that wall of rage. Jenny was still laying on the couch, looking to afraid to move, much less speak.

My father waited for me to make a move. When I didn't, he took a step toward Jenny as if to throw her out himself. I stepped in front of him.

"Don't you dare touch her." I said icily.

"If you're not going to throw this bitch out, I will!" He pushed me out of the way and went for Jenny again.

The wall snapped. The anger and frustration vented through my fists, as I launched a punch into my father's face. He stumbled backwards and took a feeble swing at me. I ducked it, and his fist skimmed the side of my face. I landed a punch in his stomach, causing him to double up and fall against the wall. He slid into a sitting position, a dazed look in his eyes and blood trickling from his nose. I stood over him panting, fists still clenched at my sides. Jenny stood behind us, looking from my Father to me, eyes wide, wondering what would happen next.

"Jenny, go grab a washcloth from the kitchen, and soak it in cold water." I panted, trying to keep my voice from wavering. She nodded ran for the kitchen. I knelt in front of where my Dad lay, dripping blood on the floor.

"Are you ok?" I asked, regaining my composure. He nodded, looking at me warily.

"Good, because if I ever hear you so much as say a bad word about her, I will do it again, only next time you won't be conscious. If you ever hurt her in any way, I will kill you in the most painful way I know how." I said emotionlessly, by eyes rock hard. Jenny walked back in. I took the washcloth from her and tossed it to him.

"Clean yourself up. Jenny and I are going upstairs. I'll come back down in a few hours, when we've both had time to cool off." He didn't respond. "Let's go." I told Jenny, and wrapped an arm around her.



Once we were in my room with the door securely locked, I slumped against a wall and closed my eyes. My fists ached as if I had just punched them through a plate glass window.

"Are you ok?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I said, shaking all over as the adrenaline wore off.

"You don't look like it." She stepped toward me and ran her hands over my face, stopping at my left cheek. "I don't think you felt it, but he managed to hit you once before he fell." She stood on her toes and kissed the developing bruise lightly. "All better?" she asked lightly. I chuckled and hugged her against me. I couldn't tell who was shaking more, me or her.

"I'm sorry that that happened. I didn't expect him home so soon. He didn't catch us in the best position, either."

"No, he didn't." she paused. "I should thank you, really. He might have hurt me, even if only by accident."

"Blind rage can come in handy sometimes."

"Hmmm. Why am I so tired? I just barely got up."

I glanced at the clock on the dresser. "Well, it is only six thirty in the morning."

"That could be it. We seem to have gotten into the habit of sleeping in until ten or eleven."

"Well, let's get a few more hours sleep. He's probably down there in his den getting drunk as we speak. He'll be passed out within an hour. He'll sleep longer than we will."

She agreed, and we quickly stripped off our clothes and tumbled into bed.

End Chapter Five



Chapter Six -----------



I opened my eyes slowly, feeling warm breath blowing over my face, rustling my hair. Jenny was lying a few inches away, smiling as I opened my eyes. She didn't say anything, but smiled as my eyes focused on hers.

She lifted a hand and stroked my cheek. It drifted slowly down to my neck, across my shoulder and down my side, her gentle touch sending sparks across my skin. Stopping at my thigh she reversed direction and traced the lines of my back. She continued to stare into my eyes, her slight smile staying on her lips. She stopped.

Taking her cue, I touched her cheek and traced along her lithe body. From there on, it was a free for all. We each caressed other, our breathing becoming deeper, the flush of arousal rising on our cheeks. Neither of us had made a move for the more erotic zones, building the sexual tension growing slowly, agonizingly. Her lips parted, small pants of pleasure whispering through them, her eyes wide and dusky with lust and pleasure. We could take it no more, our will broke and we grabbed each other desperately, locking our arms around the other person and searching out each others lips, tongues entwining as we each hunted our pleasure. I dared the first intimate touch. Her body tensed as I stroked a breast, arcing against me, pressing the soft flesh harder into my palm. She moaned loudly into my mouth.

She reciprocated, reaching for me, grasping me, rubbing it against her soft belly. She rolled on top of me, her slight weight pushing me deeper into the soft confines of the mattress. We both gasped as I felt my cock slide against her wet pussy lips. She adjusted herself so the thickness of my erection fit neatly between her pussy lips, then began to rub against me, her clit rubbing the length of my cock as she moved her hips rapidly against mine. Her juices were coating my stomach and hips as well as my cock. She was more aroused than I had ever seen her.

She look down at me, lust filled eyes communicating what she wanted to do. I nodded. She slid once more over my cock, bringing it to her entrance. She continued to look into my eyes as her pressed back with her hips. She strained against me, her pussy lips straining to allow me entrance. A warm ring snapped around my cock, and I felt the head of my cock push into her channel. A look of discomfort crossed her eyes, soon to be overwhelmed by one of pleasure and suprise. We rested as well as we could for a moment, her body suspended over mine, her hands pressing my shoulders into the pillow. After a moment she let herself sink slightly, the look of discomfort and slight pain crossing her face. I reached up and stroked her face, eyes questioning if she was sure she wanted to go further, to risk the certain pain of further entry. Her face became determined. She was going to go through with it, no matter how much it hurt. My heart ached, knowing what pain I was going to cause her. The pain I was causing her now, even if she did want it.

She pushed me deeper inside her, a fine sheen of sweat covering her body and wetting her brow. Finally we came against the thin wall of her hymen. Taking a deep breath, she pushed back hard with her hips. A cry of pain escaped her lips as the thin membrane parted with a tearing sensation. A look of intense pain flashed across her face, and then of relief as I slowly sank all the way into her.

Jenny collapsed on top of me, arms laying limp at her side. I hugged her against me and gently stroked her back and buttocks as her body slowly accepted part of me being inside of it. I could feel her heart beating hard against my chest.

"How do you feel?" I asked, the first words spoken since I had awoken nearly forty five minutes earlier.

"Very...strange." she said breathlessly. "It's starting to feel better, though." As if to illustrate, she moved her hips in a slow circle, a low moan escaping her lips.

Curiously, I had not felt the urge to come during my first penetration. Now the nerves in my cock seemed to come alive with the intense feeling of being inside this girl that I loved so dearly. The feeling only increased as she raised her hips a fraction of an inch and then settled down. I resisted the urge to grab her hips and jackhammer her up and down on my cock.

She slowly built momentum, and five minutes later she was sliding a full three inches up and down my cock, groaning in pleasure as every deep penetration caused the tip of my cock to brush her cervix. I looked down to where my body intersected hers, watching in fascination as I disappeared and reappeared from her depths with a slight squelching sound. Jenny's breathing was becoming ragged; I could tell she was close. I was still a ways off, but her tightness was quickly bringing me closer. Her moans increased in volume and pitch. I shifted slightly so that the entry angle caused me to rub harder against the roof of her canal, hitting her g-spot. Her moans turned to loud gasps as she reached the mountain top, then crashed down the other side. Her pussy contracted in spasms around me, she cried out, pushing her hips hard against mine, grinding her clit between our pubic bones. She staged that way for a good twenty seconds, and then to my amazement, continued to thrust wildly against me, reaching for another orgasm.

I was getting close. I increased the pace, thrusting up to meet her down strokes, each of us grunting as our bodies slapped loudly together. Climax approached quickly for both of us, our moans becoming loud animalistic grunts, then cries. I felt the come rising from my balls. I looked up at her face, scrunched up in pleasure and concentration as the brink washed over us.

With a cry I spurted deep inside her, my come spraying on the walls of her vagina. Jenny felt it as the first wave hit her, driving her second orgasm higher. She shrieked and went rigid, muscles straining on her thighs and stomach, the intense pleasure rocking her mind and mine. She slowly relaxed as the waves slowly faded in intensity, finally laying limply on top of my equally limp form. I hugged her against me, feeling the squeezing aftershocks of her orgasm around my cock as it slowly softened inside her, held in place by the tightness of her walls. I felt a tear drip onto my chest, then a muffled sniffle.

"How are you doing?" I asked, stroking her sweat dampened hair.

"So...intense." she whispered.

"You liked it?" I grinned.

"What do you think?" she said, amused. Shifting upward, she kissed me and settled back, nestling her head under my chin.

"You tired me out." I said.

"How? I did most of the work!"

"Well, not toward the end."

She giggled. "Well, it was...an effort by both of us. I just happened to do a little more than you did."

"Either way, I'm exhausted." I conceded and glanced at the clock. "By now my Dad will be nursing a hangover and wondering where we are."

"Then we'd better get up."

"You first. You're the one on top."

She groaned and separated from me, tumbling limply onto the bed.

"I think I'm still a little trembly." she giggled.

"Better than me. I can hardly move." I glanced at her, then looked down at myself. "One thing is for sure, we both need a shower. We reek of sex, and I think you'd ruin anything you wear, at least on your lower half."

She glanced down at herself, and the milky liquid of our lovemaking oozing from her pussy lips. "That's mostly your fault, not mine." she pointed out.

"Guilty." I confessed. I groaned as I got up and stumbled heavily across the room to where my robe hung on the wall. I pulled it on as Jenny stretched and climbed slowly out of bed, walking slightly bowlegged.

"Sore?" I observed.

"A little." she admitted. I grabbed my father's borrowed robe and wrapped it around her. She squealed as I picked her up. "What are you doing?" she demanded.

"Taking you to the shower."

"That's sweet, but I can walk."

"Ahh, but it's so much more fun to carry you." I answered as I managed to open the door, despite having to fumble with the lock. The tub in the bathroom thankfully doubled as a shower. I didn't really want to risk running into my Dad if he had decided to use his room to pass out in.

Jenny took off the robe and waited patiently as I got the hot water running, then climbed in with me. We playfully cleaned each other, washing the grime from the morning's activities.

By the time we left the bathroom Jenny could walk somewhat normally. We dressed when we got back to my room, her putting on a light cotton blouse and a knee length skirt that she had bought the day before.

"No panties?" I commented.

"You try wearing them when you're sore down there."

"Thanks, but cross dressing ranks up there with bondage in the list of things I don't want to try."

"You know what I meant!" she laughed.

"I did?" I said innocently.

"Yes, I you did." she walked over and hugged me tightly.

"Ready to go and see if my Dad is any more cooperative?"

She nodded, giving me one last squeeze before letting go. "Let's go." she said quietly.



We didn't say anything as we walked out of my room and down the stairs. The smell of coffee reached my nose. My father was sitting at the kitchen table, a newspaper spread out in front of him. He looked up as we walked in eyes flicking from me to Jenny, and back again. His eyes were slightly bloodshot. He was definitely nursing a hangover.

"Morning." he said, wincing at the volume of his own voice.

"Morning." I answered, not sure what to say. Jenny stood slightly behind me and didn't say anything.

"There's coffee in the pot if you like." he said uneasily. I nodded, and walked toward the counter. I pulled a mug from the cupboard and poured a cup for myself. I didn't usually drink coffee, but I did so in the interests of diplomacy. Jenny took a mug and went about making herself a mug of hot chocolate. A few minutes later we were all sitting uncomfortably at the table. Unable to keep up the tense silence, my Dad spoke first.

"I'm not sure what's going on here, but I do know I over reacted this morning. I said some things I shouldn't have. Especially to you." he said, looking at Jenny. She continued to stare down at her mug uncomfortably.

"I shouldn't have hit you like I did. You made a move towards her that I could have dealt with a bit better." I admitted. "I care a lot for Jenny. You weren't the only one who over reacted this morning." I looked up at him. "But I meant every word I said."

He nodded thoughtfully. "I can tell you care for her. I have the bruises to prove it." He grinned wryly. "You're not the little kid I left here all those years ago, are you?"

"No, I'm not."

"Fine. I'll abide by what you said. And you, Jenny; you're welcome to stay as long as you need to."

"Thank you." she replied softly. My Father smiled briefly at her and stood up, the chair legs scraping against the linoleum floor.

"I need to get some work done, so if you'll excuse me." He walked to the kitchen door and paused. "Alex, can I see you for a minute in the den?"

I nodded and got up. Jenny looked at me questioningly. I gave her a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder, and followed my Dad into the den. A half empty bottle of scotch sat on the heavy oak desk. He sat down in his chair and poured himself a glass, and leaning back in the chair, looked at me.

"Her first name is Jenny, I've figured that out. What's her last name? How do you know her? Why is she here?" He shot off the questions in rapid succession. I took a moment to think my answers through. He waited patiently, nursing the glass of scotch. He was always patient -- when it suited his needs.

"Her last name isn't important. I met her on the bus to school, and she's here because she has no place else to go."

"What about her parents?"

"Her parents...aren't to fond of her at the moment."

"Why?"

"Why doesn't matter. She's here."

"It matters to me. A runaway? She steal something from her parents?" He paused then said, almost fearfully, "Or is she pregnant?"

I stared at him in shock. My teeth grated. I was having a hard time trying to keep from hitting him again. "Pregnant? Dad, what do you think..."

"I don't think, I know." he broke in. "It was a little hard not to know, considering the sounds that were coming from your bedroom just an hour or so ago."

"What, were you spying on us?" I said angerly.

"Spying? Only if you consider not having earplugs in spying. I could hear you all the way down here, with the door closed!"

I glowered at the floor, my toe digging at a knot in the rough wood of the floorboards. "It's none of your business what goes on between us." I said stubbornly.

"Alex, do you know you could go to jail for what you two are doing? Just looking at her I can tell she's no where near the legal age of consent!"

"Yes, I know. I think it's idiotic that two people that care for each other can't be together, whatever their age. But she's not going to tell anyone." I looked up sharply at him. "Are you?"

"You haven't answered my question yet. Is she pregnant?"

"No." I sighed. "This morning was the first..." I trailed off. "Well, that's none of your business either."

"Then why is she here?"

"I still say that's no concern of yours. I'd be betraying her trust if I told you. And frankly, I don't think you'd understand. But she didn't steal anything, and she isn't a runaway, she was pretty much kicked out. For the time being at least. I couldn't just leave her to live on the streets. We've only really gotten to know each other in the last couple of days." I took a deep breath. "I love her, Dad. She feels the same way. Otherwise, what happened this morning never would have happened."

"How do you know you love her? As far as I know, you've never even gone out on a date with another girl. You sure don't have the base of experience you need to be able to know."

'I would have had some part of that base if you had actually been home more than you were. Or at least showed that you gave a damn every once in a while.' I thought bitterly to myself, but didn't voice my thoughts. I turned toward the wall, staring, thinking. Thoughts blurred in my head. My eyes focused on a picture hanging on the wall. It was an old picture of my family, before it fell apart so many years before. It had been taken during one of the few times when my father was home and my mother was in a good enough mood to move from the couch. We had gone fishing on one of the local lakes. A blurry memory came into focus. Memories of happiness rolled across the surface of my mind, then faded as it quivered and sank below the surface again. 'So brief a moment.' I thought.

I turned toward him again, where he had again been patiently waiting.

"There have been few times in my life where I have been truly happy. One or two of them even involved you, or Mother. I loved you once, and I loved Mom. Despite the fact that you were home no more then three or four weeks a year, despite Mom seeing me as no more than a person to change the channel on the TV for her when the batteries in the remote went dead. I've found over the last few years that I don't love either of you anymore.

"I can't remember a time in my life when I was more happy than I've been these last few days with Jenny. When I look into her eyes, I see someone who loves me, for who I am. Not for what I look like, or who I seem to be. For who I am.

"When I look at you, when I look into your eyes, I see nothing more than a flicker, a flicker of what once was. Something that can never be again." I turned and walked toward the door. He didn't stop me.

As I slid the door closed, I felt the emotional chasm between us widen. The door thumped against the doorjamb, the signaling of a final parting between two people. A parting long overdue.

End Chapter Six



Chapter Seven -------------



I walked slowly back to the kitchen, where Jenny was still sitting, staring out the small window above the kitchen sink. It was lightly snowing, the flakes falling from gray overcast skies.

'Peaceful outside, tormented within.' I thought to myself.

Jenny looked at me as I plopped tiredly into the chair next to her. "What did you talk about?" she asked.

"Me. You. He asked why you couldn't go home." I took a deep breath. "He asked me if you were pregnant. He knows about us, Jenny. Seems we were louder than we had thought this morning." She looked panicked. "Don't worry. I don't think he's going to tell anyone." I reassured her. "At least I hope not. It depends on how he deals with the last few words I said."

"You told him how you felt about him? What happened after that?"

"He didn't say anything. He just sat there, looking stunned."

"I'm sorry I caused all these problems for you." she said sadly, swirling the lukewarm hot chocolate around the mug, watching the milky froth swirl around the rim.

"It wasn't you. All this has been a long time building up. I'm a little relieved that it's over."

"What's this 'pregnant' business?" she asked.

I snorted. "It was the only way he could figure out why I would let you stay here. I told you he doesn't know me very well."

"Obviously not. He doesn't know how sweet you are."

"Yeah, well I don't let it get out much. Might ruin my reputation." I grinned weakly.

Jenny got up and slid onto my lap, wrapping her arms around my neck. She kissed me softly on the lips. "Wouldn't want that to happen. Some other pretty girl might come along and steal you from me."

I hugged her and kissed her back. "To late for anyone else, my heart is already snagged by a dark haired girl who's just a little too smart for her own good."

She smiled and lay her head on my shoulder, her warm breath tickling the fine hairs on my neck. I heard the door to the den slide open. Jenny looked up at me with a questioning look. I held finger to my lips. She relaxed, eyes falling to half mast, then closed. Footsteps paused outside the door. I felt my father's gaze roll over us. I thought I heard a faint sigh, and then the sound of heavy feet on the creaky stairs. A few seconds later I heard the door to his bedroom close.

"I think that's a good sign." I said. Jenny didn't answer, but tightened her grip to me. I felt as if I was a balloon, held by a thin string tied around a little girl's wrist. The wind was rising, and god help me if that string broke, or worse, if she let go. The last thread to my family had been broken. No matter how much she needed me, I needed her more; if anything, just to keep my sanity.



*****



The next few days were awkward between Jenny, my Father, and myself. He said little to either of us, but was always very polite, especially to Jenny. He left two days after the initial confrontation, off on another business trip. Or so he said. I thought it was more likely that he couldn't take the tension anymore, and decided to move on to greener pastures. I figured it was just as well.



We returned to school the next day. We were afraid that if we stayed out any longer that the principal would start asking uncomfortable questions. I wrote Jenny a note excusing her absences, forging her father's signature. I didn't have to worry about myself. Because most of the staff knew about my living arrangements and partly because I was considered rather strange, I was left alone on the few occasions I was absent. I nurtured this freedom and tried to avoid being absent, just in case I someday had a reason to stay home without being sick. I was sure I wouldn't be questioned.

Jenny and I boarded the bus together, much to the amazement of Jenny's little sister. Her eyes went wide as saucers as she saw me climb the steps into the school bus, followed closely by Jenny.

Jenny sat down beside her sister Amanda, who immediately began talking a mile a minute. I took my usual spot and stared out the window, trying to ignore the few whispers spreading through the moist, overheated interior of the bus. A few minutes later Jenny left her sister's seat and moved over to mine, bringing a fresh round of whispers.

She had a blank look on her face, obviously trying to keep her emotions in check. She turned and whispered in my ear.

"She said that my parents didn't seem to care that I was gone. When she asked them where I was, they ignored her. She said they act as if I never even existed."

I glanced up at her little sister, who was staring at me, eyes still wide. I smiled and winked at her. I got the expected reaction as she blushed and turned away from me.

"Well, at least they didn't call the police and report you missing. If they had, it wouldn't be long before they got around to picking you and most likely me up after the word gets around that we're back in school. How much did you tell her?"

"Just that I was staying with a friend."

"Do you think she's guessed who that 'friend' is yet?"

"She's not dumb, of course she's guessed. She won't tell my parents though, even if they would listen. I have a little dirt on her. She'd rather keep quiet and let me be the only one in trouble."

I chuckled. "Then everything is fine for right now?"

"I guess so." She grimaced. "But I'm not sure about the future."

"We'll worry about the future when it gets closer."

She agreed, and we sat back for the rest of the bus ride.



Our school was a combination of the seventh through twelfth grades, the population of our small town not warranting a junior high. The school was named after the town founder, Jesse P. Clark. No one ever called it that, though. Most just referred to it simply as 'the high school'. It housed no more than five hundred or so students. Having been built back in the 1930's it was, although clean, seemed to be perpetually too hot or too cold, depending of course on the weather at the time. There was no air conditioning and in the spring and summer months was stifling. In the winter it occasionally got cold enough to see your breath. Sports were nearly nonexistent. Academics were almost as bad as the sports. Most of the children were of the offspring of fifth generation loggers and would most likely follow in the footsteps of their mothers and fathers, marrying out of high school and having the children that would make up the seventh generation of loggers and their wives.



We walked into the old building together, drawing a few curious looks. 'More fodder for the school rumors.' I thought to myself. Jenny followed me to my locker, then I followed her to hers.

Before we parted to go to our different homerooms, I glanced around quickly to make sure the coast was clear, and gave her a quick peck on the lips. We smiled at each other, communicating our desire for more than just a quick kiss, but we both knew that under the circumstances it was impossible.

"See you at lunch?" I asked.

"Of course." she said cheerily. It seemed forced. I gave her one final hug and we jogged off for homeroom, both of us looking wistfully over our shoulders until the other could no longer be seen.



That day of school was hell for both of us. The first hour was the longest amount of time we had been apart since Thursday of the previous week. My mind wandered constantly to her and how she was handling the rumors. I was in all the 'gifted' classes, but gifted in this school just meant you could read better than average, and the average was pretty low from what I had seen over the years.

The teachers didn't seem to notice how distracted I was. I usually just stared out the window, so that wasn't to suprising. They pretty much left me alone, as they had learned was prudent over time. I was famous among the teachers; I was adept at making them look stupid. As if it was that difficult to do. The most recent science books in the building were from 1976. The history books were even worse; they had been published five years before the Vietnam war. Most of the teachers hadn't bothered to keep up on current events, either. Faces tended to turn red when I started discussing the climate of Venus, or the composition of a neutron star. Forget Darwin and the theory of evolution. Creationism ruled supreme. 'If you believe that anyone but god almighty created this universe, you may as well get outta my classroom right now, boy.' as one "science teacher" (I use the term loosely) told me once. Genetics was referred to as "Those ungodly experiments" and Sex Ed was blasphemy reserved for the big city schools. Consequently, I found that it was easier to stare out the window and do nothing. That suited the teachers just fine. We had an unwritten understanding. I gave them no trouble and they gave me an A, whether or not I turned in any work or not.(Years later I would list myself as "home schooled". In effect I was, despite spending six hours a day in classrooms for most of my childhood.)



When lunch period finally rolled around I grabbed my sack lunch from my locker and headed for the cafeteria. I found Jenny sitting at a table near the rear of the room, some distance from the main mass of kids. Sitting beside her was another eighth grade girl. They were talking quietly between themselves but stopped as I pulled out a chair next to Jenny and sat down, resisting the urge to kiss her. I could tell that she was resisting the same urge. That would have caused quite a stir among the student population and even more of a stir with the teachers in charge of supervising lunch that day. I said hello to Jenny, and she introduced me to the other girl, Kallie.

Kallie was of medium build, with white-blonde hair cut to shoulder length. She was pretty, and would have been beautiful if it wasn't for her sharp, slightly oversized nose and the cool, calculating look in her green eyes. She was a sharp contrast to Jenny, with her dark walnut colored, nearly waist length hair and eyes of equal color. Where Jenny was somewhat short, slim and athletic, best described as petite. Kallie was tall, almost six foot, with slightly overdeveloped breasts and wide hips. Jenny was dressed in a pleated navy blue skirt that fell just short of her knees and a forest green blouse. Kallie was dressed in worn jeans and a flannel shirt, giving her a tomboyish look. "Nice to meet you, Kallie." I said politely.

"So you're the guy Jenny's been sleeping with the last few days, eh?" she said bluntly. Jenny and I both blushed in embarasment.

"I'm guessing you told her most, if not all about us?" I stammered to Jenny.

She nodded. "I trust her. She was the other person involved in the...incident that brought up the rumors that started all of this."

I nodded. "If you can trust her, I can trust her." I turned to Kallie. "So how did your parents deal with the rumor?"

"They haven't heard it yet. They're to busy with keeping my four younger brothers in line."

I whistled. "No wonder you two got walked in on." Now it was her turn to blush.

"It's hard to have any privacy when you're the oldest of five kids."

"I've never had a problem with privacy."

"I'll bet. That house all to yourself. You don't know how lucky you are."Kallie said, glaring at me jealously.

"I see Jenny has told you quite a bit about me. Nothing to embarrassing I hope."

"Yup. I haven't been able to get a description of what you look like naked, but now that I've seen you I can make a pretty good guess." she said, looking me up and down appraisingly.

"You're very straight forward, aren't you?" I said, face flaming red again.

"You have to be to live in a three bedroom house with six other people." she retorted. "Otherwise you'd never get anything done."

"Ahh." I nodded understandingly and turned to Jenny. "So how's the day been so far?"

"I missed you." she said, smiling longingly at me.

"I missed you too." I reached out and held her hand, running my thumb over the skin on the back of her hand.

"Sheesh, cool off you two before I hafta go get a bucket of ice water." Kallie grinned. We just looked defiantly at her, and continued to hold hands under the table.

"So when you going to go home?" Kallie asked Jenny curiously.

"I don't know. Alex says I can stay as long as I need too, and his Dad agrees." She grimaced. "My parent's aren't exactly thrilled with me, and once the word gets around that I've been staying with a guy who's five years older than I am, it won't get any better."

Kallie turned to look at me speculatively. "You're *five years* older than she is? That would make you eighteen! You don't look a day over sixteen to me."

"Want to see my ID?" I challenged.

"Maybe later. I love the deer in the headlights look people get when they have their pictures taken for that kinda thing. Speaking of deer, what're you going to do when her Dad finds out and starts after you with a shotgun?"

"I can handle myself." I said defensively. "If I were you, I'd worry more about your parents finding out your part in these lesbian rumors."

"It wouldn't matter to my parents one way or another. I would be more worried if I were you. If anyone in this town found out an eighteen year old guy was screwing a thirteen year old girl, you'd be lucky to make it to the county limits without having a few shotgun pellets stinging your hide."

"Can you say it any louder? I don't think cooks in the kitchen heard you." I said sarcastically. I knew I should have been controlling myself better. After all, she was only afraid of loosing what was most likely her best and possibly only friend to me. No wonder she was a little hostile. 'Any more hostile and she'd be pulling a gun on me.' I grumbled to myself.

"Just settle down you two." Jenny cut in, glaring at both of us. "Now both of you are important to me. I'd rather have you two friends than enemies."

Kallie and I looked guiltily at each other. "Truce?" Kallie asked.

"Truce. Now we'd better eat before lunch period runs out. I'm starving."

"Doesn't look like it to..." Kallie's voice died off as she was nailed by a glare from Jenny. She dropped her eyes to her sandwich. We ate the rest of the meal in silence. When the bell rang, Kallie ran off for fourth period. Jenny and I lagged behind, waiting for the cafeteria to clear out enough for us to be alone.

"Sorry about Kallie. She's pretty...standoffish to other people."

"I can understand that. But she sure knows how to get under your skin, doesn't she?"

"You should see her when she's at home."

"I don't think I want to." I grinned, slipping an arm around her as the last of the students hurried out of the room. The cooks had already slid down the stainless steel doors that separated the kitchen from the cafeteria. "We'd better get going. A kiss before we go?"

"Always." She kissed me gently on the lips. We parted slowly. I waved to her as she jogged off. I went in the opposite direction to suffer through history.



*****



I met Jenny out in front of the building when school let out. Kallie had already boarded her bus. As usual, our bus was five minutes late.

"How was your day?" I asked.

"Boring, as usual. One of these days Mr. Greene is going to figure out that the demonstration of what happens when you mix vinegar and baking soda gets a little old after you've seen it twenty or thirty times."

I groaned in sympathy in remembrance of eight grade chemistry as our bus finally pulled up. The semi-frozen children slowly climbed aboard the rickety bus. The heater seemed to be on the fritz again, so Jenny cuddled up against me for warmth. I didn't dare put my arm around her. We were drawing enough stares as it was.



It was nearly dark when we arrived home. I started the customary fire, and went into the kitchen. Jenny took off her jacket and stood in front of the fire for a moment, thawing out.

"Sit down for a while, do whatever homework you need too, or just relax. I'm fixing dinner tonight." I called.

"Let me help. I'll just feel useless out here if I don't."

I heard her walking towards the kitchen. I quickly dropped what I was doing and blocked her entry into the kitchen. "It's a suprise." I told her. "Don't ruin it. Let me do this, eh?"

"Okay." she said suspiciously. "But I'm going to find out in a little while, right?"

"Of course. It wouldn't be any fun to prepare a suprise and then never suprise you, now would it?" I raised an eyebrow in my semi-famous 'Spock' impression.

She laughed. "All right, I'll wait. It better be good, though."

"It will be." I kissed her on the forehead and pushed her back toward the living room. I heard the springs on the couch squeak as she sat down, and I returned to preparing my suprise.

End Chapter Seven





Chapter Eight -------------





Jenny was staring at the fire when I walked in an hour later.

"You're ready?" she asked.

"Yes. Just put this on." I gave her a towel I had folded to make a blindfold.

"Why?" she asked curiously.

"Because if you didn't, it wouldn't be as much of a suprise. Come on, humor me." I pleaded.

"Oh, fine." she sighed. I helped her put the blindfold on, tying it tightly enough so that she couldn't see anything. I turned off all the lights, and led her into the dining room. I took off the blindfold, and she gasped.

"This is wonderful!" she exclaimed. I had laid out a dinner for two, complete with candles and champagne glasses. "What's it all for?" she asked, looking over the food spread across the table.

"Don't you remember our one week anniversary?"

"Oh, you're so sweet, I'd forgotten!"

"No, the desert is sweet." I joked. "I'm just a guy that has a little less on my mind than you do."

"Still, thank you."

I kissed her and sat down across from her. "Now, for the main dish." I lifted the lid of a large bowl in the center of the table.

"Spaghetti! You even remembered that!" she cried.

"It's my cooking, but it should be edible. I talked Mrs.. Walker into making the French bread, though. That's edible for sure. The woman nearly broke into tears when she pressured me into telling her I wanted it for a special dinner with a girl. She wanted to come over and help, but I told her I wanted to do it myself, but didn't think I could manage the bread."

"It's wonderful. I can't believe you did all this!"

I just smiled across the table at her. "It was worth it." I lifted my champagne glass. "To us, and another week." We clinked glasses, and took a sip. "Be careful with that, it's real champagne. I could drink a few glasses before I got drunk, but for you it'll be quite a bit less, considering your age and weight."



We ate dinner, idle chatter about the day passing between us. Before long, the champagne started to get to both of us, and the glimmer of her eyes in the flickering candlelight began to draw more and more of my attention. Suddenly I stood up and walked over to her. "Now for the second part of the evening." I announced.

"There's more?" she asked, suprised.

"Of course!" I took her hand and led her into the living room. "What romantic evening would be complete without dancing?" I walked to the old stereo system in the corner and put on some soft music. I took her into my arms, holding her gently against me.

"Now, I don't know how to dance, so I apologize if I step on your toes once in a while."

Jenny laughed softly, and we began to sway gently to the music. She moved closer to me, and rested her head on my chest. We said nothing for a few minutes, enjoying the feeling of being close to one another, the music weaving on slowly in the background.

"Jenny, I have something for you."

"Really?" she raised her head off my chest and looked up at me. I fumbled in my pocket, and finally found it, drawing the small gold locket and chain from my pocket. It glimmered in the dim firelight. Jenny gasped. "For me? But where did you get it?"

"It was my mother's." I fastened it around her neck for her as she pulled her long hair out of the way. She fingered it, clicking it open to reveal two empty picture sockets. "It was the only thing she left behind. I found it on the kitchen table the morning after she left. She had taken the picture of my father out of it. Her way of telling my father that it was over, I suppose. I gave it to him when he came back. He told me to keep it, as a memory of my mother. I did. Now I want to give it to you, and maybe put a little happiness into it. When we next go to Sandville I'll have our pictures put into it."

"Thank you." she said tearfully, embracing me tightly. I hugged her back.

"Hey, I didn't mean to make you cry." I said, pushing back her hair a wiping a tear off her cheek.

"No, I'm sorry. It's just the nicest, more beautiful thing anyone's even given me."

"I love you, Jenny." I said seriously.

"I love you too. Always. I'll keep it forever. I'm just sorry that I don't have anything to give you."

"You've given me more than you know. Someone to talk to, someone to love. Someone I can depend on, and be depended on by. That's much more valuable than any little trinket that I could ever give you." I kissed her. Her body molded itself to mine, in that perfect embrace that all lovers seem to share. The seconds stretched on, and we fell onto the couch, our hands running over each other, causing pleasing sensations to flood over us.

Breathing hard, I slid a hand up to caress her soft, firm breasts, teasing the nipple between thumb and forefinger. She gasped into my mouth as pleasure surged through her. Our shirts quickly disappeared, the skin of our chests rubbing together.

She unzipped my pants, finding me already hard. To my suprise, she pulled my cock through the fly and took it into her mouth. I moaned in pleasure. She had never done anything like that before.

'Must have been looking through my magazines again.' I chuckled to myself. At first she just sucked on the head, and then began to move it slowly in and out, running her tongue along the bottom. I let her continue for a few minutes, until I felt myself getting close. I put my hand on her shoulder, and she stopped, looking up at me.

I stood up, pulling her with me. I kissed her again briefly, and pulled her skirt off her hips, leaving her in her thin nylon panties. I noticed a wet spot in the crotch, and smiled as I pushed my pants and underwear off in one smooth stroke, then knelt in front of her. I ran my tongue over the soft material of the crotch of her panties, tasting the fabric and her sweet pussy juices. She gasped as I ran my tongue over the small bump of her clit, grabbing my head and tensing, stroking my hair.

Wanting better access to her pussy, I pulled her panties down and off, and attacked her again with my tongue. She moaned loudly as I tried to force my tongue into her tight hole. She grabbed my head, pressing me harder into her crotch. Then I had an idea. I pulled away from her, smiling as she looked at me questioningly. I stood up and pulled the quilt from the couch, spreading it out on the rug in front of the fire. I paused for a moment, enjoying how the silhouette of her body looked in the flickering orange and yellow light of the fireplace. I put my hands on her slim waist, and guided her to the quilt. I lay down on my back.

"Straddle my face, facing my feet." I told her. She looked puzzled, but did as I said. When she was in position over my mouth I had her lay down on top of me, she quickly got the idea.

She began to suck me in earnest as I began to flick her clit with my tongue, enjoying the taste of her now wide spread cunt above me.

She had some difficulty with keeping her action going on my cock, stopping to moan every few seconds as I hit a particularly sensitive spot. Soon she gave up entirely and lay limply on top of me, letting my tongue do it's magic on her swollen clit and pussy lips as she worked toward orgasm. A high keening rose from her throat as the tension built, becoming a high pitched wail as she came. I felt as if I was drowning as she stiffened like a board on top of me as her orgasm roared through her mind and body, flooding my mouth with her pussy juices.

When she had finished, she lay limply on top of me, my cock still at full length, bobbing with my heartbeat. I rolled her off of me, and turned until we were face to face. Her eyes were open, a dreamy look filling them as she enjoyed the afterglow. I kissed her, letting her taste her musky pussy on my lips. I caressed her sweaty body while I kissed her. She quickly recovered under my caring touch, and was soon as hot if not hotter than she had been before. Jenny pressed her body against mine. We slid sensuously against each other in a mix of sweat and her pussy nectar. Pushing me onto my back, she straddled my hips and looking straight into my eyes, slowly lowered herself onto my cock, a look of abandon crossing her face as it suck inch by inch into her tightness.

We had made love too many times to count over the last few days, and this had quickly become her favorite position since she had the most control over the depth and speed of penetration. I liked it simply because I could easily see my cock sliding in and out of her, covered with glistening pussy juice.

She moaned as I hit bottom, grinding her clit between our intimately connected bodies. She began to ride me slowly, trying to make me last as long as possible to enjoy the sensations of our coupling. She would shift the angle of penetration slightly on each thrust, making each stroke slightly different.

Seeking to increase the sensation, she leaned forward, placing the palms of her hands on my chest. This caused the upper surface of my cock to rub lightly against her clit. She moaned on each down stroke sent a needle of pleasure through her.

I decided to spice things up a bit. Putting my hands on her hips so she wouldn't fall over, I sat up. She looked suprised for a moment, wrapping her arms and legs around my torso for support. I pushed her hips back slightly and drew her back again, moving an inch or so in and out of her. She caught on, and began rolling her hips in a thrusting motion. She looked up, and I caught her eyes.

We stared at each other, each looking into the fire of lust and pleasure in the other's eyes. The feeling of being wrapped up in each other was worth the sacrifice in freedom of movement, our intimate position driving us higher into pleasure. The rolling of her hips and thrusting sped up as we came closer to the pinnacle of our lovemaking.

I rolled us forward, putting myself on top of her. Our eyes locked again as I began thrusting into her quickly, the pleasurable feeling in my groin spreading slowly up my body. She began to gasp as each deep stoke bumped softly against her cervix. Her eyes betrayed that she was on the edge, I knew my eyes betrayed that I was equally close as she.

"Don't come yet." I whispered to her.

"What?" she gasped as I thrust into her again.

"Don't come yet. Trust me. Hold back." Her eyes were on fire now, her face contorted in the effort of holding back her orgasm, a cross between intense pleasure and pain. I struggled to contain my own. Jenny bucked against me, her eyes begging me to let her come.

I held my resolve, the torture blending with the pleasure, driving us to a point higher than we had ever been before. The pressure in my balls built until they felt like cherry bombs, the fuse burning the last millimeter before the explosion.

"Now!" I whispered in her ear, thrusting one final time before I could contain myself no longer. I heard her cry out my name in the distance as I fell into the pit of orgasm, only to be shot out again by a fiery white flash of pleasure.

I slowly came down from my orgasm. She was still shaking on top of me limply in a mixture of pleasure and exhaustion, sweat and our sexual secretions running in rivulets between us. I rolled onto my side, taking her with me. She liked to keep me inside her as long as possible, and I loved to be inside her. We exchanged gentle caresses in the aftermath, kissing each other softly, sharing our love in the most intimate way possible. We both drifted off to sleep a few minutes later, the fire dying slowly in the hearth.



I woke up a few hours later, my back freezing. The fire had died to dull coals, letting the cold air encroach on where we lay.

Jenny was cuddled up against me, shivering violently. I untangled myself from her and lifted her into my arms. She barely stirred as I cradled her small body against mine, her long hair tumbling over my arm, swishing back and forth across my stomach as I stumbled my way up to our room.

'Funny.' I thought. 'I wonder when it became "our" room?' I figured that it had become our room that first night, when I held her in my arms as she fell asleep.

I lay her down gently on the bed. She lay there, like an oversized doll, arms and legs limp. I knelt on the bed, and kissed her softly on the cheek. Pulling the blankets over us, I pulled her against me, rubbing her skin where it had been exposed to the cold air of the living room.

I reminisced about what had happened seven days ago; what seemed like a lifetime to me. It seemed like I had never lived before I met Jenny. Life before her seemed infinitely distant in the past, and I found myself wanting to forget those days of isolation and distrust.

'The here and now is all that matters.' I thought as Jenny squirmed against me, unconsciously pressing her body tighter against my warmth in her sleep. Still as I fell asleep, I worried about what tomorrow and the next day might bring.



I dreamt of the ghost of people I had known in the past chasing me. My mother, my father, my grandparents, and every bully, teacher, or adult that had ever threatened or hurt me. Off in the distance I could hear Jenny screaming, crying out my name. As I ran in slow motion from my pursuers the screams grew louder, until I could see Jenny off in the distance, two figures standing over her. They laughed horribly, and awful screeching, grating laugh, like wrenching metal or fingernails being drawn across a blackboard. They pulled on her arms, legs, hair, anything they could get their hands to grip, pulling her away from me. I tried to scream for them to stop, to let her go, but no words escaped my mouth.

I looked around quickly for a weapon, anything to beat their thin, stick like arms and claw like hands from Jenny. I found nothing. As I watched, they started to move away, dragging her with them. She kicked, ripped, tore at the grip of her captors, screaming my name, begging me to help her. I ran harder, my heart pounding in my throat. I came within an arms distance to them and leapt, grasping at anything that would hold her to me, save her from the ghouls that were taking her from me. I felt cool metal touch my palm. I grabbed it and pulled. For a moment it strained against my hand, then with a jerk fell loosely into my palm.

As suddenly as they had appeared, they vanished, taking Jenny with them, her screams fading into the distance as if she had fallen into a deep well. I stopped, falling to my knees, the sharp rocks that covered the dust-shrewn ground digging painfully into my knees.

Her final cry echoed in my mind, the desperate plea falling onto my helpless ears. I opened my hand. Gold glittered in the dim light. A sob escaped my throat as I realized it was her locket, the thin chain broken, the final link between us broken with it.

End Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine ------------



A hand shook me violently. The dreamscape faded to darkness. I opened my eyes, the light of early morning spilling in the bedroom window.

"Wake up, Alex, wake up!"

"Wha...?" The nightmare fading, but the image of the dream still violently fresh in my mind. "Jenny!" I cried, sitting up and hugging her tightly. "Oh god, I'd thought I'd lost you!" I sobbed, holding her in a death grip, never wanting to let go. Her arms wriggled free of my grasp. She hugged me back, reaching up to stroke my neck.

"Alex, it was just a nightmare, a bad dream. I'm not going anywhere." she soothed.

I slowly relaxed under her soft words and touch, enough to finally lie down again. I didn't let go, but she lay down with me. As my breathing returned to normal she pulled herself up until she was looking directly down at my face. She brushed my hair off my forehead, then let her small hands cradle my chin, her slim fingers massaging my temples. I closed my eyes again as the clenched muscles of my arms relaxed around her. The small gold locket dangled from her neck, it's small weight pressing into my breastbone, the chain intact. I let out a deep shuddering sigh as I told myself that it was all just a dream, a random firing of synapses during REM sleep. The logical side of me believed it. The emotional side didn't.

I opened my eyes and looked into her concern filled eyes.

"Sorry." I mumbled.

"For what?"

"For waking you up."

She smiled, and leaned down and kissed me lightly. "Let's go back to sleep. We don't have to get up for another two hours."

"All right." I said as she relaxed, laying her head on my chest and stroking my stomach, a now familiar position for us. She closed her eyes and her hand slowed then stopped. Soon her breathing evened out, but I still couldn't fall asleep. The image of the shadowed figures still hovered on the edge of my mind. Soon the relaxing feeling of her soft body pressing warmly against mine took it's toll, and I fell into a fitful sleep.



*****



I groaned when the alarm went off two hours later. I felt like I'd hardly slept. I kissed Jenny good morning, and we climbed slowly out of bed. My back popped as I stood upright. We stumbled toward the shower, rubbing the sleep out of out eyes. I grumbled about having to get up so early. Jenny just smiled brightly and forced me to eat another piece of toast. I harumphed in response, mumbling about how annoying morning people are to the people who aren't.

The school day went by slowly, as it seemed to every day. I slept, read, or stared out the window during classes. I lived for the evenings and weekends, when I was able to get to know Jenny better.

I introduced her to classical music, and she introduced me to the pleasures of conversation with another intelligent person. We would spend many an evening sitting at our favorite spot in front of the fire, talking. I think I said more words to her in the weeks we were together than I had in my entire life up to that point.

Things that I had previously believed only I thought about popped up frequently in our discussions of anything and everything. We found out more about each others pasts, and what we wanted in the future.

We also discovered something that I've never seen anyone duplicate, even in the closest of couples. We had virtually the same reading speeds. Sometimes we'd just sit down, pop a Bach of Handel CD into the stereo, and read a good book together. It was a little eerie finishing a page in a book, only to have someone else turn the page at just the right moment. Jenny would usually lay back against my chest, with either her or I holding the book. The only time we would loose synch would be when one or the other fell asleep, which seemed very easy to do with some of the books we read.

The nights in bed were never boring, either. Jenny would wear me out, which suprised me. I've been known to get myself off three or four times a day. She could keep going and going. I loved to lick and suck her to orgasm after orgasm. There's nothing quite like feeling a girl's legs clamp around your head as you push her over the edge into orgasm, or hearing the lusty cries spring from her throat, or smelling the intoxicating musky scent of her pussy.

We made love in most every room of the house. I had to throw away the blotter on my Father's desk, and the quilt on the couch began to look like it needed a good washing, too. It wasn't definitely wasn't dull.

New positions seemed to come out of the blue, usually in the heat of the moment. I'll never forget the time we were going at it in the basement. I had her perched on the edge of the washer when it kicked into the spin cycle. Quite a bumpy but very pleasurable ride.

Kallie and I developed a tenuous friendship over time. we would most certainly have never of been friends if it hadn't been for Jenny. We were just to different. She was loud, brash, and would say anything at any time. I was quiet, reserved, and would only say something with careful consideration. Jenny was middle of the road, quiet but straight forward, outgoing when in the mood.

In other words, we both clicked with her, but clashed with each other.

Jenny's parents didn't seem to be loosening up much, if at all. According to Jenny's sister they still said nothing about her. I didn't really want them to. We were both happy the way it was, despite the constant hovering of our problems outside the protective wall of our relationship.

Rumors started getting around about Jenny and I, though. I began getting dirty looks from teachers and other students at school. I pointedly ignored them, as did Jenny. Someone had apparently seen Jenny and I kissing in the hallway, and spread it around school. Considering how much attention we paid to our surroundings when we kissed, it wasn't really suprising. At least the rumor that had started the whole affair had been forgotten, except by Jenny's parents.

The house was looking better than it had in years, thanks to Jenny's insistence that I no longer leave dirty dishes to rot, or soiled clothing to lay around on the floor until I felt like doing a load of laundry. We shared the housework, each of us participating in making the meals, and cleaning up afterward. Having another person there that cared about you to help made it almost enjoyable. Almost.

Then, when all was quiet, we'd cuddle up together under the blankets and fall asleep in each other's arms. I had never been so utterly satisfied with the way my life was going. I had someone outlet my thoughts to, someone to share my interests, and most importantly, someone to love more than anything for the first time in my life.

Then life changed on both of us, and our time together at that point in out lives came to an end.





*****





One Saturday morning I awoke to someone rapping on the door. I stumbled out of bed. Jenny and I had been up late the night before. We never got up much before noon on weekends.

Pulling on my robe, I stumbled down the stairs, wondering blearily who it was. Jenny never stirred as I got out of bed. She could sleep through almost anything, and I didn't have the heart to wake her.

I pulled open the door, shivering as the February wind cut through the thin material. Standing at the door was a man and a woman. The man was slightly shorter than myself, somewhat of a fine build. The woman was a little over 5'4", her head even with the man's shoulders. Both wore heavy winter coats and jeans. Both also looked a little uncertain.

"Can I help you?" I asked, holding the robe closed with one hand, holding the door with the other. The man spoke first.

"Sorry to both you, but we were told that our daughter, Jenny, might be staying here. Is she?"

I paused, shocked for a moment. I had thought that we would have to go to them, yet here they were, looking for her. I figured that if they were willing to come out here to a stranger's house to find her, they would most likely be willing to talk reasonably to Jenny and I.

"Yes, she is."

"Could we...speak to her?" the woman asked in a whisper-soft voice. I made a decision.

"I don't know. That's up to her. Come in, and I'll go see if I can wake her up." I held the door open for them to open. I motioned them toward the couch and ran up the stairs.



Jenny was still sleeping, her back to me. The thought that this might be the last time I'd see her sleeping like this. I looked at her for a moment, memorizing the way she looked, her long hair spread over the pillow, her face relaxed, eyes closed. The covers had slipped down when I had climbed out of bed revealing one pale shoulder, her slim arm reaching under the quilt, the contour of her body showing through the heavy comforter. For a moment I considered turning around and telling her parents that she didn't want to talk to them. But I told myself that it was selfish to think that way, and resigning myself, I walked over and sat on the bed. I gently shook her bare shoulder, memorizing the feel of her skin as my fingers trailed over the smooth surface.

Jenny turned over and smiled at me sleepily.

"Good morning." she said. The smile faded as she saw the look on my face. "What's wrong?" She sat up on one elbow, causing the comforter to slide down to her hip. I looked at her longingly, wishing for more time together.

"Your parents are downstairs in the living room. They want to talk to you. It's up to you, if you want to talk to them, do. If not, I'll show them to door."

Shock registered on her face. "They came here?" She fell limply back on the bed. Thinking quickly, she made her decision.

"No, I'll talk to them. We always knew that I would have to face them eventually. I guess now's the time." She slowly got out of bed. "I'd better get dressed."

"Me too." I said.

"You don't have to go down there. It's between me and my parents. You don't have to get involved."

"I already am. I told you in the beginning that I'd be there for you, and that includes now." I said firmly.

She nodded and smiled at me gratefully. "I hoped you would say that."



We dressed quickly and walked into the living room a few minutes later. Jenny's parents were sitting patiently on the couch. When they heard us come down the stairs they stood up and turned toward us.

"Hello Jenny." her mother said.

"Hello, Mom, Dad. What are you doing here?"

Jenny's mother spoke us. "We heard that you were staying here, and were wondering when you were going to come home."

"Come home? You made it pretty clear that I wasn't wanted when she called me at school a month ago."

"Your mother heard some rumors that we should have known better than to believe." Jenny father said. "Then we heard that you were staying here, and that you were...close to this young man over here." He nodded in my direction. "We finally figured out that the rumors were just rumors. We want you to come home, and your mother is sorry for what she said over the phone." Jenny's mother bowed her head guiltily.

"So will you come home?" her mother said.

Jenny looked uncertain. "Let me talk to Alex in private for a minute." Her parents nodded, and Jenny took my hand, leading me into the kitchen. "What do you think?" Jenny asked anxiously.

"I don't trust them. But the main question is, do you want to go with them? Do you trust them? You would be the one living there, not me. But don't go because you think you're a burden on me. You aren't, and I meant it when you could stay as long as you liked."

"But what about when you go to college? What then? You'll be struggling for money, even without an extra mouth to feed."

"We'll work something out." I said stubbornly.

"Alex, I'd love to stay, but I can't. I've over stayed my welcome as it is. Your Dad still isn't thrilled with me."

I sighed. "But I'm afraid that they're going to not let me see you, or even hurt you."

"They won't hurt me. And I'll see you no matter what, they can't keep us separated all the time."

"Are you sure?" I said, unconvinced.

"Yes, I'm sure."

"I guess I'm just afraid that I'm going to loose you." I sighed.

"You aren't going to loose me. I love you Alex, and nothing is going to change that."

I hugged her tight against me. "God, I love you too. I wish you weren't going, but I know you think you have to." I took her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. "I want you to come to me if anything happens. You mean more to me than anything else in the world. I want you to remember that. You'll always be welcome with me. I'd rather you stayed here, but it's your life, and your decision. I've never told you what you should do, and I'm not going to start now."

"I know, and I will." she said, eyes bright with tears. I knew mine were the same way. Holding hands, we walked back into the living room.

"I'll come home with you." Jenny told them. They smiled.

"Do you have anything you need to take with you?" her mother asked.

Jenny reached up and felt the gold chain that held the locket I had given her around her neck. "No. I have everything I need. At least the ones I can take with me." she said, looking at me.

Jenny's father nodded. "Then you're ready to go?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

I didn't say anything, but led them to the door.

"Thank you for letting Jenny stay." Jenny's mother said as I opened the door to let them leave.

"It was my pleasure." I smiled, and they walked out the door. Jenny paused and turned to me. She stood on her toes and kissed me on my cheek. "Now don't let this place go down the tubes without me here." she joked.

"I won't." I said, my throat constricting. She smiled and walked to where her parents were waiting beside a beat up sedan. I watched as they got in and drove away, Jenny waving at me from the back seat. When they disappeared from view, I turned to go back to the house. It seemed empty, silent now that she was gone. Usually there was some sound of her activity in the house, whether it was the sound of her breathing as I held her, or her happy humming emanating from where ever she was. Now all I could hear was the sound of the wind beating at the house, and the sound of my heartbeat. I felt hollow and numb as the person who had become part of me, and myself part of her, drove away from me. My eyes stung with tears as I sat and stared at the cold fireplace for a long time.

End Chapter Nine



Chapter Ten -----------



I didn't sleep well that night, my thoughts constantly turning to Jenny, wondering how she was, if she was getting along with her parents. I missed her warmth pressing against my side, and the comfort and relaxation of holding her in my arms, hearing her even breathing as she slept, her sweet scent teasing my nose. It took three hours for me to fall asleep, and only then because I took a pillow and hugged it against me, trying to pretend that it was Jenny. It let me sleep, but it was no substitute for her.

I woke up the next morning dead tired. The only reason I even bothered to get up was so I would be able to see her on the bus and at school.

The morning seemed drearier than usual, but then everything had seemed dreary to me since Jenny had left. Then the bus pulled up and I climbed aboard. I spotted Jenny sitting alone three seats back, and the day seemed to brighten as I saw her smiling face looking at me, those dark eyes connecting with mine. I almost ran down the isle and took her into my arms, not caring what anyone thought, just wanting to feel her against me again, to feel loved.

"I missed you too." Jenny laughed, and hugged me back. I held her at arms length and looked her over, running my hands over her as if looking for broken bones.

"You're ok? They didn't do anything to you?" I said worriedly, then hugged her against me again.

"I'm fine, Alex. I told you I would be."

"Nothing happened?"

"Nothing much. I'll tell you when we can talk in private." She motioned toward the other people looking on. I relaxed against the seat. Jenny repositioned herself so she was leaning against me, my back to the wall of the bus. The bus driver kept looking up at us in his mirror, most of the other kids watching us as well. We rode the rest of the way to school, oblivious to the people around us, locked in our own ball of warmth. We skipped first period and headed for one of the store rooms I knew of. You learn the hiding places when you're bullied as a kid. I hadn't been bullied in years, ever since I had suffered through my growth spurt. Bullies don't bug you much when they know you can hit harder than they can.

Once we were safely locked in the storage room, we cuddled up on a pile of old gym mats stacked in the corner, one dim forty watt

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