Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 CHRISTMAS MELODY

   By E.  Z.  Riter

   Every year, my family spends Christmas week in a ski resort.  One year
it's Aspen, the next Vail, and so on.  My junior year in college it was
Steamboat Springs.  The fates intervened.  The week before Christmas, I
broke my leg in a pedestrian way - falling on a slick sidewalk.  I was
going to be a limping lad for three weeks, at least.

   To top it off, I'd fallen leaving my girlfriend's apartment after
breaking up with her.  Ironic, isn't it?  An emotional break and a physical
one.

   Mom wanted to call off the ski trip, but Dad said if I was alive, I was
all right, and if I was all right, he was going skiing.  They offered to
take me with them, but being there and not participating in the fun didn't
appeal to me.  They went and took my siblings with them.  My Aunt Sue and
Uncle Jed promised to look after me.  I had a lovely Christmas Eve at their
home, but I went home to my own empty house.

   Christmas morning was a bummer.  I awakened late, ate a bowl of cold
cereal, and plopped down on the couch to watch TV.  I was even too
depressed to beat off, that's how bad it was.

   About noon, the door bell rang.  I grabbed my crutches and hobbled to
the door.  A girl wearing a ski parka, jeans, walking boots, and a wool cap
stood on my stoop.  The hat was red with white trim.  The coat was navy
blue with gray patches and red piping.  Her hair was long, blonde, and
billowing in the breeze.  She was carrying two large shopping bags and
looking down at them.

   When I opened the door, she looked up.  I was staring into big brown
eyes and a warm, wide, white-toothed smile.

   "Melody?"

   "Merry Christmas, Tommy," she said.

   "Come in."

   She stepped across the threshold directly into me, raised her head, and
gently kissed me on the lips, which blew my socks off.  She set one of the
packages down by the Christmas tree and carried the other into the kitchen.
I hobbled after her.

   "Have a seat.  Christmas dinner will be ready shortly," she said.  She
stuffed the cap into a parka pocket, unzipped the parka, and tossed it on a
chair.

   I tried not to stare.

   The Pattersons lived two doors down from us.  Mr.  and Mrs.  Patterson
were two of my parents' closest friends.  Matt, the eldest child, was a
year ahead of me in school.  We played football and hung around together.
Emily, my sister, and Melody were two years behind me.  They were best
friends and roomed together at college.  And Mark, Melody's little brother,
was best buddy to my little brother, Jason.  Mark had gone skiing with my
family.

   I'd known Melody forever, but I'd never known her like this.  Melody
Patterson was smart.  No doubt about that.  And she was sweet.  And pretty.
But she was shy.  Horribly shy.

   The last time I saw Melody was May of that year.  I was home a week
before leaving for a summer at Yellowstone Park where I worked as a
glorified janitor.  She was Melody then.  The one I knew.  With brown hair,
enough metal in her mouth to build a car, and flat-chested.  The Melody who
always wore, loose, baggy clothes so no one could see her body.  The one
who was too shy to date.  I was dating Claire, and I had been for some
time, but I asked Melody out thinking it would break her fear of dating. 
She wouldn't even go to a movie with me.

   This was a different Melody.  She wore a form-fitting, long-sleeved red
sweater.  And the form it fit.  Wow!  She was stacked.  The jeans were
tight, too, letting me see Melody had a nice, tight ass and narrow waist.
And with that blonde hair hanging down her back?  I was having impure
thoughts.  I bunched the robe in front of me.  I only wore a tee shirt and
boxers under my robe and I didn't want her to see me.

   But the biggest change was her attitude.  She was vivacious and
flirtatious.  Openly flirting.  And instead of always keeping her mouth
closed because of her braces, I was bombarded by big, beautiful, radiant
smiles under sexy, twinkling eyes.  And talk?  I'd never seen her like
this.

   She served us turkey, dressing, potatoes, salad, rolls, and gravy.  She
poured the wine she brought.  We sat and talked.  In a few minutes, I saw
the best part of the old Melody.  The sweetness.  The burst of conversation
settled down to a genuine exchange.  We talked about everything except
boy-girl stuff like who we were dating.  After dinner, I hobbled into the
den and plopped down on the couch with my bum leg and attendant cast
extended.  She sat next to me.

   "So?  How do you like the new Melody?" she asked.

   "She's fabulous, but I liked the old Melody, too."

   "I know you did, and I did, too, but I like this one more.  The braces
came off right before graduation last May.  The day after graduation, I
dyed my hair.  Clairol calls it ash blonde."

   "I like it," I said.

   "Why?"

   "It sets off your eyes."

   "I'm surprised you knew I had eyes," she said with that wide, happy
grin. "I'd never look at you.  I was too shy."

   "Yes, you would look, not when we were alone, but in a group or when you
were with Emily." She looked away shyly, but her eyes flicked back up to me
in an instant.  "Remember when I was helping you with Algebra?  You looked
at me then."

   "Yes.  You were sweet and patient with me." She giggled and covered her
mouth with her hands.  "But I didn't want to learn too quickly because I
was enjoying the lessons."

   "Ha!  I knew it.  I knew it."

   "What can a girl say?" She shrugged with faux innocence.  "Do you want
more wine?"

   "No, thanks, but I'd love a Coke."

   "I'll be right back," she said.  I watched her ass as she went into the
kitchen.  Melody did have a nice ass.  She quickly returned, handed me the
glass, and sat down again.  This time, her knee touched my thigh.  I liked
it there.

   "Have you noticed any other physical changes in me?" she teased.  I
blushed and my eyes dropped to her sweater.  I tried not to look, but it
was reflex.  She grinned.  "Well?" she asked.  She arched her back just a
fraction.

   "I'm not blind.  I've noticed a change, or should I say two."

   "I'll tell you something a lot of people guessed, but only my parents
and Emily know for sure.  I had implants.  Do you like them?"

   "You know I do."

   "Do you mind that I had them?"

   "No.  Why would I mind?"

   "I just wondered." She learned toward me and gently put her hand on my
leg.  "The physical changes have changed my world, Tommy.  I spent the
summer in shorts and halter, or in a bikini by the pool.  All of a sudden,
boys were all over me like bees on honey.  What are you feeling?" Her hand
tightened.

   "What do you mean?"

   "Just then.  What was going on in your head?"

   "I don't want to tell you."

   "I'll accept that.  For now," she said.

   "I'm surprised Emily didn't tell me about the way you'd changed."

   "I made her promise not to tell you.  I wanted to see your face when you
saw the new me." She looked at me with a penetrating intensity.  "What do
you feel when you kiss a girl?"

   "What?"

   "You heard me," she said.

   "It depends on the girl."

   "I'd never kissed a boy before this summer.  My girlfriends told me what
it was like, and the women's magazines raved of fireworks.  Most of the
time it was yucky, but I wanted to experience it for myself.  If a boy took
my fancy, and most of them definitely did not, I let him kiss me.  All but
a few got only one kiss.  Was Claire a good kisser?"

   "You ask a lot of questions?"

   "You told me one time I could ask you anything and you'd be honest with
me.  Was that just B.S.  or did you mean it?"

   "I meant it."

   "So, answer my question."

   "She was damn good."

   "Do you want another Coke?"

   "Please."

   I watched her walk away again.  I stumbled to my feet and went into the
bathroom to pee.  When I returned, Melody was sitting on the couch lost in
her own thoughts.  I waited until she looked up before entering the room,
sat down beside her, and thanked her when she handed me my drink.

   "I was telling you about me.  When I started SMU, I had a date every
night.  I was having fun being a popular girl for a change.  Then a guy
gave me the date rape drug."

   "Shit!"

   "It's all right.  Nothing happened.  Emily's date saw it and they got me
to a hospital.  I had my stomach pumped, spent the night, and went home
none the worse for wear."

   "I hope you prosecuted the son-of-a-bitch!"

   "I did, but that wasn't what was important.  I thought about the
important things.  About me.  About guys.  About what I wanted, not just
now, but for my entire life." Her eyes were soft and loving.  "All of those
boys were insignificant because one man was always in my thoughts."

   She leaned toward me.  "Kiss me, Tommy." Her lips parted.  Her eyes
fluttered.  Her kiss was hot and sweet and made me explode inside.  Slowly,
her arms slipped around my neck as our kiss intensified.  "They were right.
Kissing the right man does make you feel fireworks." She pushed me back on
the couch and kissed me like a volcano.  My arms were around her, my hands
active on her body.

   "Something's poking me," she teased.  She giggled.  "Don't be
embarrassed.  Don't you know how much I've wanted you to get hard from me?"


   She stood, walked to the sack she'd deposited under the tree, and bent
over with her back to me and her knees straight.  Her long blonde hair
cascaded around her.  She stuck her head between her legs to leer at me. 
"Like the view?"

   "You know I do."

   "I brought you a Christmas present.  I want to give it to you now." She
retrieved a green ribbon with a big, green bow from the sack, fastened the
ribbon around her neck with the bow under her chin, and walked back to me.

   She sat on the couch by me and took my hands in hers.  "Merry Christmas,
Tommy," she said.  We kissed again.  She waited with an impish look as
brain whirred and my heart throbbed.  Then her expression changed as the
light in her eyes dimmed.  "I thought boys were anxious to unwrap their
presents and play with their new toys?" she asked apprehensively.

   "You could never be just a toy to me," I said.

   Her eyes filled with tears and a single one ran down her cheek.  "Oh,
Tommy."

   "Let's do this the old fashioned way."

   "How's that?" she asked.

   "Let's date and fall in love."

   "I'm already in love," she said in a way that left no doubt.  "Let me
answer some questions.  Yes, I love you.  I love you with all my heart. 
Yes, I'll marry you.  Yes, I'll go to bed with you, or suck your cock, or
whatever you want.  I only ask one favor."

   "What's that?"

   "Don't make me wait too long before you ask."

   I popped the question in May, we agreed on an August wedding, and on a
hot day in July, she pranced into my bedroom wearing a thong bikini and
that same green ribbon around her neck.

   "I've used less wrapping to make it easier on you," she said.  "Now be a
good little boy.  Unwrap your present and play with it."

   The End