I saw her when she walked in from the parking lot and nothing had changed.  My heart still did flip flops and my blood started racing.  I was surprised to see her alone and then I thought he had probably dropped her off close to the group and then went to park the car.  I knew she would be there and I knew how I would react to seeing her and that is the main reason that it took my twin brother Rich so long to talk me into coming.  For some reason that I didn’t understand he attached great importance to me being in attendance.

I watched as she walked over and joined us at our table.  She looked at me and gave me a 1000 watt smile and I just nodded to acknowledge her.  She immediately started talking with Bev and Nancy.  Beverly Abbeg, now Rich’s wife, Nancy Wilde and Michelle had been thick as thieves all the way from the third grade through high school graduation.  College split them apart because Bev was going to attend the local community college and Nancy had a scholarship to EU.   Michelle had opted to attend State and I found out later that she chose State because that is where Stan North was going.  Stan North!  A bigger asshole never lived and I spent years killing him in my imagination.  I honestly believe that I would have done it in real life if I could have been sure of getting away with it.  Stan had been the quarterback on our team and was going to State on an athletic scholarship and every one expected that he would end up in the pros.  He was that good.

As I watched Mickey exchange cheek kisses and hugs with Bev and Nancy my thoughts wandered back to a much happier time.  It was in the ninth grade that it started.  I had been classmates with Mickey, Bev and Nancy since the sixth grade and I guess you could say that we were friends.  We didn’t hang together or anything like that, but we saw each other every school day and we got along.

I was your typical kid.  Played vacant lot baseball and football with my friends, rode our bikes all over town and got in trouble doing stupid shit on Halloween and did just about everything that you did as a kid.  It was gradual – it didn’t happen over night – but I became aware of girls.  You know what I mean.  I stopped seeing them as classmates and began to get interested in them.  The one I got the most interested in was Michelle Coachman.  I don’t even know why.  Does anyone really know why you fall for a certain girl at that age?  All I know is that Mickey was the first one I looked for when I got to school in the morning.  I found reasons to be around her.

I finally got brave and asked her if she would like to go to the movies with me on Saturday and I was surprised when she said yes.  It was a double feature and I can’t even remember the two films that were playing.  The entire time I kept glancing over at Mickey.  I do remember that around the middle of the second film I discovered that we were holding hands and I don’t even know how that happened.  It just did.

After the movie we stopped at The Soda Shoppe for cherry Cokes and we held hands as I walked her home.  Unfortunately I didn’t get brave until the last day of school and when I got her home and asked her to go out with me again the following Saturday she said that she wished that she could, but she was leaving the next day to spend the summer at her grandparent’s farm.  She promised me that she would call me as soon as she got back and then we could have that movie date.  I didn’t realize at the time that a teenaged girls promises were about as valid as a TV weatherman’s five day forecast.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I stayed busy that summer playing pick up baseball with my buddies, going camping and mowing lawns for spending money.  Two weeks before school was supposed to start me, Richard and a couple of my friends went to the Rialto to catch the afternoon double feature and when we got in line to buy our tickets I saw Mickey, Bev and Nancy at the head of the line.  When we got inside and were waiting in line at the refreshment stand for popcorn I asked Mickey when she had gotten back and she told me that she had been home for almost a month.  She’d forgotten all about her promise to call.  It upset me a little because I had walked away from that first date thinking that we had something going, but I wasn’t going to say anything in front of Rich, Sam, Dave, Bev and Nancy.

The seven of us sat together and after the movie we all walked over the Soda Shoppe for cherry Cokes.  We talked about what we had done over the summer and then we split up and went home.  The next day I called Mickey and reminded her that she said she would go out with me again when she came back to town.  I did not mention her promise.  I asked her to the movies the next Saturday and she said yes.

Saturday I walked over to her house to get her and as we walked toward downtown her hand took hold of mine and we held hands all through the double feature.  We held hands as I walked her home and then she surprised me and kissed me on the cheek when I got her to her door.  I asked her if she would like to go roller skating with me at Skate City the next day and she said that she would love to.

By the time school started we had dated five times and I was starting to consider Mickey ‘my girl.’  A week after school started I found out that even though I was thinking of Mickey as ‘my girl’ she was a long way from thinking of me as ‘her guy.’  I asked her what she would like to do on Saturday and she told me that she thought Tommy was taking her to the amusement park.

“Tommy?”

“Yes.  Tommy Reed asked me to go out with him on Saturday.”

“Oh.  Have fun” I said as I turned and walked away from her.

  Walking home from school Rich asked me why I was so quiet and I told him why.

“You didn’t know that she’s been dating other guys?”

“No.  I thought that I was the only one.”

“Maybe on the weekends, but she’s gone out during the week with a half a dozen different guys.  Last night when Mark and I were at the arcade she was there with Phil Ackers.”

“I didn’t know.  I guess I’m just dumb.”

“No Rob; just blind.  There are other girls you can date.  You don’t have to stick with her.”

I thought about it and I realized that Rich was right.  The next day at school I asked Carol Wright if she would like to go skating with me on Friday night and she said yes.  We had a good time and I asked her if she would go to the movies with me on Saturday and she said yes.

We were standing in line for popcorn when Mickey came in with Norm Snyder.  She saw me standing there with Carol and I saw a strange look come over her face.  I ignored her and when we had our popcorn and sodas Carol and I went in and sat down in the middle of the theatre.  I got up to use the bathroom about halfway through the second feature and I saw that Mickey was sitting two rows directly behind us and I saw her eyes follow me as I walked up the aisle.  “Weird” I thought.  Why would she watch me?

I walked Carol home and she told me that she’d had a good time and when I asked her if she would like to go to the arcade with me after school on Tuesday she said that she would love to.

++++++++++++++++++++

Monday at school third period was gym and the way it worked was that boys and girls alternated weeks.  One week the boys had the gym and the girls had the swimming pool and then the next week it reversed.  Monday it was the boy’s week for the gym, but when we got there the girls were there too.  Mr. Hoffman, our gym teacher, announced that the school was sponsoring a dance in two weeks and the boys and girls were going to spend the week together learning to dance.  He told us to choose a partner for the week and I looked for Carol and when I saw her I started heading her way, but before I got there Mickey stepped in front of me and took my arm.

“This is just going to be so much fun Rob.  I just know that we will be good together.”

It caught me by surprise and I stopped and was just about to tell her that I wanted Carol to be my partner and when I looked toward Carol she gave me a nasty look and turned away and I saw Jerry Dobbs walk up and take her arm.  Mickey said:

“What’s the matter Rob?  You don’t seem pleased.”

I wasn’t all that experienced with girls, but even I knew that the look I’d gotten from Carol probably meant that we were toast and since I had always been hung up on Mickey I said:

“Of course I’m pleased.  I’m just a bit surprised is all.”

“Why would you be surprised?”

“The last two times I asked you out you weren’t interested so I thought…”

“Just you hush Rob Dalton; it doesn’t matter what you thought.  Come on now, let’s get in line.”

She was right and we were good together and I think that is the first gym class that I ever enjoyed even though I did get several not so nice looks from Carol.

I caught up with Carol at the end of sixth period so I could confirm our date the next night and she said:

“Just go away and leave me alone.”

“Why?  What did I do?”

“You know what you did.”

“No I don’t.”

“You chose that bitch Michelle to be your dance partner instead of me.  How could you do something like that if you wanted to go out with me?”

I usually thought of myself as a straight up kind of guy, truthful and like that, but even I knew that there were times you had to fudge a little so I said:

“I was on my way to ask you to be my partner when Mickey stepped in front of me and asked me to be her partner.  I started to tell her no when I saw you go off with Jerry.  I suppose I could have come after you and told Jerry to get lost, but it probably would have created a scene and then you would have been pissed at me.”

“That’s what you say now, but I saw the way the two of you were when you were dancing.  As far as you were concerned there wasn’t anyone else in the room but the two of you.  Just go away Rob” and she turned and walked off.

I was standing there watching her walk down the hall away from me when a voice from behind me said:

“My goodness Rob; what did you say to her.  She looks pissed.”

I turned and saw Mickey standing there.  Without thinking I said, “She broke a date with me because I danced with you instead of her.”

“Oh?  Is that all?  Well you don’t need her anyway sweetie because you have me.”

“I have you?”

“Of course you do silly.  You’ve always known that.”

“I have?  Then why have you been going out with all those other guys instead of me?”

“Because they asked me and you didn’t.”

“You aren’t making sense Mickey.  I don’t “have you” as you put it if you go out with other guys.  If I “had you” I wouldn’t even have to ask you for a date; all I would have to do is ask you what you wanted to do or where you wanted to go.”

“True, but that’s your fault not mine.”

“What is my fault?”

“That you have to ask me for a date instead of just asking what I want to do.”

“I don’t get it.  How is it my fault?”

“Just because I’ve always considered myself yours it doesn’t mean anything.  You have never asked me to be yours and until you do I’m not going to sit at home and stare at the walls if some guy wants me to go out with him.  In fact I was hurt when you didn’t make a big fuss over my going out with Tommy.  All you did was tell me to have fun and then walk away.”

“What about all the guys you dated during the week?”

“They asked me, you didn’t.”

I was having trouble buying what she was saying because to me it didn’t make any sense.  If she was mine – if I’d always had her – wouldn’t she have said:

“Tommy asked me to go out Saturday” and given me the chance to say “I’d rather you didn’t and would go out with me instead.”

I was still struggling with the concept in my head when Mickey asked, “When was your date with Carol and what were you going to do?”

“We were supposed to go to the arcade tomorrow.”

“Okay.  What time are we going?”

It took me a second to realize that she had just told me we were going out the next day and then I said:

“Five o’clock.”

“Okay, I’ll see you at five.  You might spend some time between now and then thinking on what you need to do if you don’t like me dating other guys” and then she walked away.

Walking home with my brother Rich after school I told him about the thing with Carol and Michelle and told him that I just didn’t understand girls.  He laughed and said:

“Who does?  I’ve tried to get Beverly Abbeg to go out with me a half a dozen times and she always says no, but every time she sees me and I’m with another girl she gives me dirty looks.  Chicks are weird man, but I’ll tell you this.  It sounds like Mickey is telling you that you need to ask her to go steady.”

“You think?”

“I’d bet on it.”

Mickey and I had a great time at the arcade and when I walked her to her door after stopping for milkshakes at The Soda Shoppe I asked her if she would be my steady girlfriend she said:

“It’s about time you got around to it.  Of course I will” and then she took my head in her hands and kissed me.  I put my arms around her and kissed her back.  I don’t know how long we might have stood there kissing if the porch light hadn’t come on and made us pull apart.  That was the start of Mickey and me keeping steady company.  Rich finally got Bev to say yes and Mickey and I double dated with Bev and Rich a half a dozen times.  One of those times is when I lost my virginity.

We had gone on a double date with Rich and Bev and after the movies we had gone over to Bev’s house.  Her parents were gone for the weekend and so the four of us were alone.  We started making out on the couch and after a while I broke my kiss with Mickey and looked over and saw Bev with her head in Rich’s lap giving him a blow job.  Mickey saw where I was looking and she looked over and then said:

“That looks like fun.  Get yours out Rob.”

I pulled my stiff cock out of my pants and Mickey took hold of it, stroked it a couple of times and then bent her head and took me into her mouth.  I came after thirty seconds or so and Mickey swallowed it.  I was so into what was happening I didn’t even think about how easy it was for her to do that.  Almost like she had done it before.  She kept sucking on me until I was hard again and by then Rich had Bev on the floor and was fucking her.  Again Mickey said:

“That looks like fun.  Get your pants off Rob.  I want to do that too.”

I did what she asked and then she told me to lie down on the floor because she wanted to be on top.  Again it went right over my head that Mickey seemed so knowledgeable about what we were doing.  By then Rich had gotten off and Bev was hard at work trying to get him up again.  Because I came so quick when Mickey sucked me I was able to go longer before I came again.  As soon as I spurted Mickey had my cock back in her mouth and was working to get me up again.  When she had me hard she pulled me on top of her and moaned:

“Fuck me Rob; fuck me hard.”

I did as she asked and I guess I made her cum before I came again.  Then it was, “My God; look at the time.  You have to get me home Rob before I get grounded.”

As I left Bev’s place to rush Mickey home I saw Rich fucking Bev dog style and to me it looked like he was in her ass and not her pussy.

I got Mickey home two minutes before her curfew.  She gave me a passionate kiss and said, “Now aren’t you glad you asked me to be your steady?”

+++++++++++++++++++++++

I went out for football and turned out to be a pretty good tight end.  Practice and games cut into my dating time with Mickey, but she didn’t seem to mind.  I made junior varsity and Mickey and I started hanging out with my team mates and their girlfriends.

  Everything ran smooth until the Christmas break.  Mickey and her parents went back to the grand parent’s farm for Christmas.  Before she left Mickey said:

“Now you be sure to stay away from other girls while I’m gone.  Don’t let me be hearing that you took some dolly to a Christmas party.  You’re mine and I’m not sharing.”

It was a two week visit and during the second week she called Bev and it just happened that Rich was with her.  Bev was on top of him and riding his cock and due to a freak of atmospherics or something Rich was able to hear part of Mickey’s side of the conversation.  He didn’t let on to Bev that he could hear so she didn’t hold the phone closer to her ear or even tell Mickey that Rich was in the room.

“How’s it going?” Bev asked.

“Great!  I’ve met the cutest boy and I’ve seen him almost every night since I’ve been here.  He’s a great kisser and he has a gorgeous cock.  He could give Rob lessons.”

“Sounds like you might not want to come back home.”

“Never fear girlfriend; I’m coming back.  This place is Dullsville.  There isn’t anything to do here except ice skate, go on sleigh rides and fuck.  How are things back there?  You keeping an eye on Rob for me?”

“I am, but why do you care?  Sounds like you have found a replacement.”

“I have to admit he is yummy, but he isn’t a keeper.  All he wants to do when he gets out of high school is help run the family farm.  Can you see me getting up to milk the cows at five in the morning?”

“Now that’s something that I’d like to see.”

“Oh no, not this girl.”

“Not much new here.  Nancy is seriously thinking of going steady with Billy Holbrook.  They have been going to parties together.”

There was more, but nothing that concerned me.  When Bev hung up Rich didn’t let on that he’d heard anything and that night he told me about the call.

“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know.  I’m pissed, but it is more because she made me promise to stay away from other girls than because she is seeing some guy.”

In the end I did nothing other than remember that Mickey couldn’t really be trusted.

Mickey came back the day after Christmas and she called me.  We went to the movies that night and had a steamy make out session during which she kept telling me how much she missed me.  I had a blanket and we walked down to the park and went behind some bushes for privacy and then she showed me how much she had missed me.

  We still had a week before school started up again and we were able to attend a couple of holiday parties together.  They all ended with heavy make out sessions that led to sex.  We doubled with Bev and Rich to go to a New Year’s Eve party and a couple of times I saw Bev looking at me with a look that I read as “You poor boob.”

++++++++++++++++++++++

The next five and a half months flew by with Mickey and I making love about twice a week and then it was summer vacation and Mickey was off to spend part of it at her grand parent’s and, I suspected, with her cute boy who was such a great kisser.  Again she told me to behave while she was gone, but this time I knew the game plan.

Mickey had been gone two days when I ran across Bev at the mall.  We went to the food court and I bought us Cokes and we sat down.  She and Rich had broken up a month early because she wanted to date other guys besides Rich.  She said he would be her main squeeze, but Rich wasn’t interested in that kind of a relationship. Bev asked me about Rich and I told her that he was dating Shelly Spears and that seemed to upset her a little.  Then I flat out asked her:

“Are you keeping an eye on me again for Mickey?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“Sure you do Bev.  I know all about the guy she was seeing over Christmas and that she had you keeping an eye on me to see if I did the same thing.  All I’m asking is has she got you doing it again?”

Bev looked away from me and said, “Yes.”

“You have any idea of what she is going to do if I do date other girls while she’s gone?”

“She said she would drop you in a heartbeat if you cheated on her.”

“Let me see if I’ve got this straight.  She is cheating on me, but she will kick me to the curb if I do the same?”

Bev looked at me and shrugged.

“How would you like to play a trick on her?”

“What do you mean?”

“How about you go out with me and don’t tell her?”

“I couldn’t do that.  Mick is my friend.”

“Okay; I just thought it would be fun.  Take care Bev.  See you around.”

I got up and went to J.C. Penny’s for the tennis shoes I’d come to the mall to buy.

When I got home I sat down and made a list of girls that I knew who were not in relationships and I planned on calling them.  The next day I called the first three on the list and was politely turned down by all three.  That afternoon my mom sent me down to Rexall Drugs to pick up a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and Bev was there.

“Can we talk?” she asked me.

“Sure.”

“Meet me at The Soda Shoppe when you leave here, okay?”

“I’ll be there.”

Over cherry Cokes Bev said, “Were you serious about what you said the other day?

“Of course I was.”

“You wouldn’t tell Mickey?”

“Why would I do that?  I’m just trying to stay even with her.  I don’t have a doubt in the world that she isn’t seeing that guy she met up with the last time she went to Cartersville or maybe some other guy.  You are my watcher.  Would you tell?”

“Of course not.”

“Okay.  How about the movies tonight?”

“Okay.”

“I’ll pick you up at six.”

When I got home I told Rich what I was doing and asked him if he had a problem with it.

“This way I can stick it to Mickey and if I’m lucky I can get Bev to keep me up to date on what Mickey tells her.”

“I don’t mind.  It won’t bother me at all, but have you given any thought to what will happen if Mickey finds out?”

“Frankly I don’t much care.  If she finds out what’s she going to do?  Accuse me of being a cheat?  I’ll laugh and throw it right back at her and if she doesn’t find out I’ll have a steady date while she’s gone.”

“Good luck.”

Bev and I had fun on our first date and she kissed me on our second.  On the third we had a hot steamy make out session and when I put my hand on her tit she reached for my zipper.  Five minutes later we were fucking.  I found out that Bev loved being fucked in her ass and I was happy to oblige her. After our seventh or eighth date I asked Bev why she changed her mind and started to date me.  She hesitated for a couple of seconds and then she said:

“You promise that you won’t tell anyone?  Cross your heart?”

Who would I tell?”

“I don’t want you telling Richard.”

“What does Rich have to do with it?”

“Just promise me.”

“I promise.”

“I got curious.”

“About what?”

“You and Rich are twins and you look and act alike and I wondered if you guys were the same in everything.”

“The same in everything?”

“Yeah, you know; do you kiss the same and make out the same way and were your cocks the same.”

“And are we pretty much the same?”

“No.”

“Which one of us is better.”

Bev giggled and said, “I’ll never tell.”

I didn’t press it because for one thing I really didn’t care and for another I wanted to stay on her good side.  She was keeping me up to date on what Mickey was doing which was pretty much what I was doing.  Every time Mickey called Bev she asked if I was staying true and every time Bev gleefully lied and said that I was.  Twice she called while I was fucking Bev and I got one hell out of a kick out of fucking her while she was telling Mick that I was being true.  She got me the guys name and told me that it was the same guy that Mickey had gone with on her last trip to Cartersville.

Two days before Mickey was due to come home Bev and I had our last date and she told me that she was sorry that it had to stop.

“I’ve kind of gotten used to you.”

“I can always break up with Mickey.”

“Yes, but then I couldn’t date you without hurting my friendship with Mick.”

“Well there is always Christmas break if she goes back to visit.”

“I don’t think so.  We have been lucky so far in keeping what we are doing from every one else.  I don’t think I want to chance it again.”

“Well it was fun while it lasted and I’m not sorry one little bit that we did it.”

“I’m not either.”

Mickey called me the day she got back and I went over to see her.  The first thing she asked me was did I miss her and I assured her that I did and then I asked her the same question and then listened as she lied to me and told me that she had missed me terribly.  She told me that it had been pure hell being stuck at her grandparent’s with nothing to do.  I don’t know why I didn’t laugh at her, tell her that I knew she was lying and go on home.

No, that’s not true.  I do know why I didn’t.  She was still the best looking girl around and the best piece of ass I’d had up to that point in my life and I was hung up on her.  I guess I couldn’t blame her for finding something to do when she visited her grandparents, but why was she so insistent that I do nothing when she was gone.  I doubted that I would ever know the answer to that question.

++++++++++++++

When school started and football got going I made varsity and Mickey promptly claimed my letter sweater.  It was around that time that I decided that I wasn’t going to go to college.  It may seem like the eleventh grade is a little early to be thinking like that, but I didn’t like school and I didn’t see the relevance of half of what I was being made to learn when you applied it to the real world.  I didn’t think college would be any different.  Even though I’d made the decision I kept it to myself.

When Christmas break came Mickey told me that she was again going to her grandparent’s for a week and she asked me if I was going to behave while she was gone.  I thought for a moment and then said:

“Probably not.”

She got a shocked look on her face and she said, “You would go out on me?”

“I’m thinking on it.”

She looked like she was going to cry and I said, “We are almost to graduation and some of our classmates are already planning for married life after graduation.  You haven’t indicated that you are interested in anything other than a high school romance so I’m thinking that maybe it’s time for me to start looking for someone for the long haul.”

There were actually tears running down her face when she said, “I thought you knew I was yours and always intended to be yours.”

I almost laughed and said, “Except when you are out of town” but I didn’t.  Her tears and her statement actually got to me and I said:

“I didn’t realize that you felt that strongly about it.  Given that I of course will behave myself while you are gone.”

She threw her arms around me and said, “I love you Rob.”

That was the first time that she had ever said that to me and I hugged her and told her that I loved her too.  And it was true.  I did and I always had, but I never realized that it was returned.

If it really was.

There was a question mark in my mind.  If it was really true what was with the out of town boyfriend?

++++++++++++++++++++

Mickey left and I gave Bev a call.  “Are we still buds?”

“Of course.”

“Can you do me a huge favor?”

“If I can.”

“Mickey is off to Cartersville again and I’m guessing that she asked you to keep an eye on me again.  Can I ask you to keep me up to date on what she tells you?”

“She’s my friend Rob and I love her to death, but even so I have to ask you why you don’t dump her.  I know things always seem fine when she’s here, but if she really cared for you she wouldn’t do what she does when she goes out to the farm.”

“I know and I’m thinking about it.  Back to the question I asked.  Are you my watcher again?”

“Yes Rob; I’ve got the duty again.”

“You know that the best way to keep an eye on me is to spend time with me.  That way you will know everything that I’m doing.”

“I don’t think so Rob.  We got away with it last time and I don’t think I want to tempt fate.”

“Why don’t I come over and we can talk about it?”

“I can’t tonight.  How about tomorrow night?”

“I’ll be there.  Six good for you?”

“That will work.”

I got there at six and after she let me in she told me that her parents had gone away for the weekend so we could talk freely.

“I don’t really want to talk” I said.  She looked me in the eye and said, “Neither do I” and she stepped forward and I took her in my arms.  We were on the couch and my cock was buried in her ass when the phone rang.  It was Mickey.  Bev held the phone so I could hear and after exchanging greetings Bev asked:

“How are things going?  Have you hooked up with Ryan yet?”

“No and I’m not going to.” 

“He do something to upset you?”

“No.  I’m going to behave this trip.  At least I’m going to try to.”

“Why?  What’s different this time?”

“I had a talk with Rob before I left.  From what he said I think he wants to take things from going steady to engaged.  I think I want that too so I’m going to try and be a one man woman.  I still want you to keep an eye on him for me.”

“No problem.”

There was some girl talk after that about nothing that interested me.  When Bev hung up she asked:

“Was she right?  Are you seriously considering getting engaged?”

“I honestly don’t know.”  I told her about my telling Mickey that I probably would date when she was gone and then I told Bev what had happened after I had made that statement.  “But I have my doubts about her.  That’s why I want to know what she does on this trip.  If she goes out with this Ryan guy after telling me what she told me I’ll know that I’ll never be able to trust her.”

Bev shrugged and we went back to fucking.  When it was time for me to leave Bev told me that her parents wouldn’t be home until late Sunday night.

“If you come over there won’t be any chance of someone seeing us together since we won’t be going out where anyone could see us.  What do you think?”

“Like I said; the best way to keep an eye on me is to keep me close.”

I was in Bev’s ass again on Sunday when Mickey called again and again Bev held the phone so I could hear Mickey’s side of the conversation.  After Bev told Mickey I was behaving she asked:

“How are you and Ryan getting along?”

“We aren’t.  He has called me a couple of times, but I told him that I can’t see him any more.  He’s a nice guy and dating him was okay until I found out how serious Rob was about us.  I think Rob is going places so I’m going to stick with him.”

“Going places?”

“Oh yeah.  My dad is friends with Coach Robinson and the coach told my dad that there are a couple of colleges really interested in Rob and he thinks Rob has a really good shot at being recruited and then drafted into the pros.  Pro football players make big money.”

“That’s it?  You are sticking with Rob because he is going to make big money?”

“No silly; I really do love the guy, but it is nice to be in love with someone who is going places.  How about you?  Your love life getting any better?”

“I’m dating some, but I don’t have anything going with anyone particular.”  She smiled at me as she said that and then went on, “Nothing has changed since you’ve been gone.”

“Well hang in there girlfriend.  Your guy will turn up one of these days.”

“I hope so.”

There was more but none of it concerned me.  When the call was over Bev said:

“I guess she’s yours Rob.  Now that you know maybe you should leave.”

“Oh no.  I’m here and I’m not forgetting that she is one up on me.”

“One up on you?”

“The last time she was doing it with that Ryan guy I was here with you, but the first time, the summer she met him, I stayed true to her so she’s one up on me.”

“Well okay, but this is our last time.  Now that I know how she feels about you we have to end it.”

I had plenty to think about as I headed home.  It was news to me that my playing had gotten the interest of college coaches and that they were interested in recruiting me, but I had already decided that college wasn’t in my future and not because my parents couldn’t afford to send me because they could.  I just didn’t like school enough to want to go.  There was also the fact that I liked playing football, but it was only a game to me and not a job.  I wasn’t the least bit interested in playing football for a living.  Besides, I’d seen and read about too many pro football players who ended up with career ending injuries and a lot of that happened in their first year before they even got going good.  No thank you!

That thought prompted another thought.  Would Mickey still be interested in me when she found out that high school was going to be the end of my educational phase?  No matter.  I’d find out sooner or later.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

Mickey came back the day after Christmas and gave me a call.  We got together that night and made out and then fucked as she kept telling me how much she missed me.  The big surprise for me was when we went to a New Year’s Eve party.  Ten minutes after Mickey and I got there Rich showed up with his date.  It was Bev.  About an hour into the party I asked her to dance and when she was in my arms I said:

“I guess I got the answer to my question.”

“What question was that?”

“Back when we first dated I asked you why you changed your mind after saying no.  You told me that it was because you were curious about what might be the differences between me and Rick.  When I asked which one of us was better you laughed and said that you would never tell.”

“And I never will.”

“You just did.  You are here with Rich.”

“Don’t read anything into that baby.  I didn’t have a date for tonight and he asked.”

There were some changes after we started back to school.  I got a part time job as an apprentice mechanic at the local Ford dealership and it cut into my dating time.  Mickey wasn’t too happy about it, but on the plus side she did seem to enjoy the things we did now that I had a steady supply of spending money.

Bev and Rich did become a couple again and they double dated with us a time or two and it seemed like every time we got together we ended up some place where Rich fucked Bev in the same room where I was fucking Mickey.  Once I looked over and saw Bev watching me bone Mickey and she winked at me and I winked back.  Looking back on it now I wonder why no one ever suggested we swap partners.

  Maybe six weeks before summer vacation started Mick started asking me what I was going to do after college and asked:

“Are we going to get married after graduation or wait until after college?”

“I’m not sure that I’m going to college.  When I finish the apprentice program I might just stay there.  Mechanics make real good money.  As far as getting married is concerned I’m fine with getting married right after graduation.  Mickey’s facial expression changed, but I couldn’t read it.

The rest of the school year was going to school, work and spend every free minute with Mickey.  When summer vacation came and Mickey went on her annual trip to Cartersville I was secure enough in my relationship with Mickey that I didn’t bother to ask Bev to keep me up to date.

During the summer I worked full time at the dealership and banked my money to buy a car.  The week Mick was due home she called me and told me that her visit was going to run a little longer.  Her grandmother had fallen and broken her hip and she was going to stay and help out.  She might not be back until time for school to start.  I told her that I missed her and that I was behaving myself and she laughed and said:

“You had better be.  You’re mine baby and I don’t believe in sharing.”

The week before school started the general manager of the dealership took me aside and offered me one hell of a deal on a pretty clean 1984 Mustang.  I had just enough in savings to swing the deal and pay for plates and insurance.  All of a sudden girls who had never paid any attention to me were saying:

“Hi Rob.  When do I get a ride in your car?”

I was under no illusions that I was suddenly a great catch.  It was that I was one of a few guys my age that had a car.  If I wasn’t behaving myself and keeping myself for Mickey I would have been in hog heaven.  One of those girls was the third member of the triumvirate; the ‘tri’ being Mickey, Bev and Nancy Wilde.  Knowing how tight Mick, Bev and Nancy were I guessed that she was just being friendly, but also I had the thought that she might be my ‘watcher’ this year and she was under orders to test me.  Whatever the reason it didn’t matter because I was being good.  I did take Nancy on a couple of rides and on one of them I saw her watching me with a pensive look on her face and I wondered what was up with that.

Mick came home three days before school began and called me.

  “Are we going to celebrate?”

I knew just what she was asking.  She wanted to fuck.  I asked her what time I should pick her up and we agreed on six.  I rang her doorbell right at six.  She opened the door, embraced me and gave me a monster of a kiss.

“God baby; I missed you so much” she said after she broke the kiss.

“Not as much as I missed you.”

“I hope you mean that.  Where are we going?”

“Anywhere you want.”

“I want to drive out to Steven’s Point and start making up for not seeing you all summer.”

As I drove toward the point Mickey said, “A little birdie told me that I’m not the first girl to ride in this car.”

  Bev or Nancy?  I’d probably never know.

“You weren’t, but the little birdie should have also told you that the only thing that those other girls got was a ride.”

“Yeah.  She told me that too, but I’m still just a tad pissed I wasn’t the first.”

“You’ll never know how close I came to making the six hour drive to Cartersville just so you could be the first.”

When I said that I thought I saw something come over her face.  It looked something like fear or maybe relief and I wondered about that.  Once at the Point the hot, steamy make out session and what followed drove all other thoughts out of my mind.

I’d never fucked Mickey up the ass and I decided that I was going to try and see how she responded.  If she didn’t scream and holler at me to get away it would tell me that the Ryan guy had probably beat me to it.  Probably not on her latest trip, but maybe on one of the ones before.  There was a short make out session and while we were necking I was trying to figure out how to start things when Mickey reached over and rubbed my cock.

“Get it out baby; I want to see it.”

I unzipped and fished out my hard cock and she reached for it and started stroking it.  Once she took me in hand I reached under her sweater and unfastened her bra.  I lifted her sweater and bent my head and took her left breast in my mouth.  She let go of my cock and took her sweater off and then said:

“There is more room in the back” so we got out of the car and moved to the back seat.  There wasn’t much more room on the back seat of the Mustang, but I did have a blanket so we got out and moved to a spot under the trees.  I took a condom out of my pocket and when Mickey saw it she said:

“You won’t need that; I’m on the pill.”

“Better safe than sorry” I said as I rolled it on.

“I want to try something different.  I want to do you anally.”

“I don’t know baby; it sounds kind of nasty to me.”

“Rich tells me that Bev loves it.  I just want to try it once to see what it is like.”

“Okay, but go easy and don’t hurt me.”

That as good as told me that I wasn’t going to be the first.  I worked on her butt hole with my thumb and fingers until I thought she was loose enough and then I slowly fed her butt my cock.  She moaned, but she also pushed back at me.  Once I was in I fucked her as hard as I was able while she screamed at me to make her cum.  When it was over Mickey said:

“Again?  Please baby?  Can we go again?”

“I’d love to, but I don’t know how long before I can do it again.”

  “The girls at school told me how to solve that problem.”

She moved down, used her panties to wipe off my cock and took my cock in her mouth and started sucking on me and she did get me back up in a hurry.  The second time lasted a bit longer and still Mickey wanted to go again so again she took me in her mouth.  We went a third time and then Mickey said we needed to get going.

As we were putting ourselves back together I said, “I’ve been thinking.  I’d like to get married right after graduation.  What do you think?”

“You mean it?  You really mean it?”

“You bet I do.”

“I’ll have to talk to my parents to see if they will want to do a big wedding.  Oh God, this is great” and we ended up undressing and going at it again.

++++++++++++++++++++++++

School started, football season opened and I did get scouted.  I had a great year catching sixty-seven passes and turning twenty-one of them into touchdowns.  When it came time to sign the letter of intent Mickey asked me where I was going.

“I’m going to State and it will be so cool to have you there with me.”

State was one of the schools interested in me, but I had already made up my mind that I wasn’t going to go to college and I guessed it was time to let Mickey know.

“I’m not going to go to college Mickey.  I’m going full time at the dealership when I graduate.  It’s a very good job, pays well and it has the benefit of security.  No matter how things go with the economy there will always be the need for someone to work on vehicles.  Cars are always going to be around and even in bad times people will need their cars running so they can get to work or look for work.”

She was not happy to hear that, but she didn’t make a big issue out of it.

The first weekend in December Mickey called me and cancelled our date for the next night.

“My grandmother is in bad shape and I need to go to the farm and take care of her while grandpa is away on business.  I should only be gone a week or so.”

She was gone a month.  She called me the day she got back and that night and I picked her up and we went out for dinner.  She waited until we were seated in the restaurant before saying:

“I have bad news.  We can’t get married right after graduation.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m not going to graduate with you.  I missed too much school while I was at the farm.  I’m going to have to go to summer school to make up the time I missed.  I don’t want to be a married woman going to high school.”

“So we will just have to wait until after summer school.  A few more months won’t kill us.”

“We going to the point after dinner?”

“No.”

She gave me a hurt look and asked, “Why not?”

“I can afford a motel room now.”

She broke out in a thousand watt smile that lit up the room.  We went three times with her sucking me hard after each time.  After the third time I laid there trying to catch my breath and she said, “We have to make up for a whole month.”

“At one time?” I wheezed.

“You saying that you want to quit” she asked as she took my limp cock in her hand.  It twitched and I pulled her down on me.

++++++++++++++++++++++

The rest of the school year went on.  I could only afford a motel room maybe once every two weeks, but we managed to find places to play.  We doubled with Rich and Bev and one night as I was dancing with Bev she asked me how I was going to like her as a sister in law.

“Rich has asked me to marry him.”

“You going to?”

“Yeah, I am.”

“I’m happy for you.”

“We going to be all right?  Considering our past and all?”

“It might be difficult for me at times when I look at you and remember that past.  I do have fond memories of it you know.”

“I would hope so.”

“When?”

“When what?”

“When are you getting hitched?”

“Sometime after graduation.”

“May be you and Rich can hold off until after summer school is over.  Maybe we can make it a double wedding.”

A strange look came over her face and then she said, “That would be nice.”

The rest of the school year flew by.  There was prom and parties and then I graduated and started full time at the dealership.  The last day of summer school I asked Mickey if she was ready to set a date for the wedding and she looked away from me for a moment and then she said:

“I’ve been dreading this, but I guess it is time to get it out.  My parents have talked me into not getting married until I finish college.  They say that if I get married I’ll end up not finishing.”

“I don’t see how that makes sense.  We get up in the morning and I go off to work and you go off to school.  End of the day we both come home.”

“I’m going to State Rob.  That’s three hours away.  A six hour commute every day?  I don’t think so.”

“So don’t go to State.  EU is right here in town.”

“EU doesn’t have the program I want.  Besides, all my scholarships are to State and my parents can’t afford to send me to college without the scholarships to help.  We will just have to wait.  It won’t be so bad.  I’ll be home most weekends.”

“So we will get married and you will come home on weekends.”

“No Rob; it won’t work.  I said most weekends, maybe three out of every five or maybe six.  I’ll have to stay at school to have access to the library and the labs on weekends to work on assignments and projects.  Even when I’m home on weekends I’ll have to spend time studying.  We will get married, but I won’t be until I graduate and have my degree.”

I had a bad feeling about it, but I could see that I wasn’t going to change her mind so I dropped it.  The third week in August Mickey was Bev’s Maid of Honor when Bev and Rich were married.  As they left for their honeymoon I watched the limo disappear down the road and felt sorry for myself because it wasn’t Mickey and me.

 A week later she was off to State.

+++++++++++++++++++

The week she left I checked my bank balance and saw that I finally had enough for the first and last months rent and security deposit for an apartment and I found one close to work.

The first weekend Mickey was gone she didn’t come home, but then I hadn’t expected her to.  I knew she would be busy settling in and getting acclimated to the place.  I was a little pissed when she didn’t come home the second weekend and didn’t call to let me know that she wouldn’t be there.  She called me the Thursday of the third week and told me that she would be home around six on Friday.  We made arrangements for me to pick her up at seven.

When she got in the car she asked me where we were going and I told her I was taking her to dinner.  When I pulled into the apartment complex parking lot she looked at me confused and said:

“What are we doing here?”

“I said I was taking you to dinner.  Come on” I said and got out of the car.  She followed me and I led her to my apartment and ushered her in.  She looked around and said:

“What is this?”

“This is where I live now.”

“I thought you were taking me out to dinner?”

“I said I was taking you to dinner, not ‘out’ to dinner.”

I walked to the oven and took out the meatloaf I’d made and the baked potatoes.  I set them on the table that was already set with plates and silverware and then I got the salad out of the fridge and set it on the table.  Then I said:

“Of course if you would rather go to the bedroom and have desert first I guess I could accommodate you.”

She chose desert.

From then until her holiday break she came home on the average of three out of every five weekends.  When her parents went to Cartersville for a week over the holidays she didn’t go with them and for the entire week she stayed with me at my apartment.  It was a taste of what married life would be like with Mickey and I liked it.  Mick went back to school in January and then it was back to her coming home two or three weeks out of every four.  Then it was summer and she was home.

Mickey’s dad had thirty years with his company and was entitled to six weeks vacation every year.  He and Mickey’s mom were always traveling and when they were gone Mickey lived with me and then in September it was back to school for her.  She came home three out of four in September and October, but in November it dropped to two or three out of every five or six.  She told me that it was because the class work was getting harder and her professors were into assigning more projects than her freshman professors did.

Holiday break did get me a week of living with her when her parents went to the farm.  In January she didn’t come home for any of the weekends and in February I only saw her on two of them.  In March she casually told me that she was going to Panama City with some girlfriends over spring break.  I wasn’t happy about it, but what could I do?

When spring break was over she went back to school and it was another three weeks before I saw her again.  The weekend following spring break since Mick didn’t come home I went out with some friends and we ended up at a party.  There were a couple of guys I went to school with and one of them, Wendell Haight, came up to me and asked me how I was.  We talked for a while and then Wendell asked:

“Any girls in your life now that Mick is gone?”

From the look on my face Wendell figured that he’d just said something that I didn’t understand and he said:

“Oops.  I’m guessing you don’t know.”

“Don’t know what?”

“You and Mickey are still together?”

“We were until thirty seconds ago.  Come on Wendell – give.  Why did you think Mick was gone?”

“Don’t shoot the messenger Rob, but she has been going hot and heavy with Stan North for the last six months.  She even went on spring break with him.”

“On spring break with him or as part of a group that he was one of?”

“There were a bunch of kids there, but she and Stan were a couple.”

“A couple?  How?  Sharing a room or something like that?”

“I don’t know what went on behind closed doors, but they didn’t room together.”

“What about the ‘hot and heavy’ before spring break?”

“They were dating and keeping steady company.  Again, I have no idea what went on behind closed doors, but they did an awful lot of hand holding and hugging and kissing and a couple of time I saw them at dances and his hands were all over her body and she didn’t fight him off.”

I rolled that over in my mind for a bit and then said, “Thanks Wendell.  I didn’t know.  I thought Mick and I were strong, but it seems that I’m wrong.  Do me a favor please?  We never had this conversation.  I don’t want Mick to know that I know.”

“You got it.”

My party mood was shot and so I headed home.  The next morning I called Rich.

“Bev and Mickey still on the phone all the time to each other?”

“Almost every day.  Thank God I’ve got unlimited long distance.”

“Can you do me a big favor?”

“Sure.  What do you need?”

“Without sounding like you are digging for me try and find out what Bev knows about what Mick is up to at State.”

“What’s up?”

“I’m hearing some things that are not making me a happy camper.”

“I’ll do what I can.”

“Thanks bro.”

I started thinking how I would handle what I knew when Mickey came home for the week end, but she didn’t come home that weekend.  Wednesday of the following week Rich called me.

“I couldn’t get anything out of Bev so I got sneaky.  When she was talking with Mickey I listened in on the basement extension.  I don’t want to talk on the phone.  You going to be home for a while?”

“I don’t have any plans on going anywhere.”

“I’ll be right over.”

Twenty minutes later we were sitting at the kitchen table.  “Nothing but bad news Rob.  Apparently Mickey has a steady boyfriend up at State.  You remember Stan North don’t you?”

“He was our quarterback in high school and I hear he is going to be State’s starting quarterback this year.”

“Well he is also Mickey’s boyfriend.  The good news is that she isn’t putting out for him.  According to what she told Bev she has Stan convinced that she is still a virgin and won’t give it up until they get married.”

“She is talking marriage with Stan?”

“Her exact words to Bev were, “I think I have him about ready to propose.”  What have you been hearing that made you want to check things out?”

I told him what I had gotten out of Wendell.  “What I don’t understand is why she comes home, acts like we are forever, fucks my brains out and then goes back to school and her new boyfriend.”

“She’s a female Rob and us mere men are never going to understand them.”

“Well I understand one thing.  Mickey and I are going to have an interesting conversation when she comes home.”

“I’ll keep listening in and if I hear anything that concerns you I’ll be on the phone ASAP.”

“Thanks Rich.  I appreciate it.”

That weekend Mickey came home on Friday and called me.  I picked her up and asked her where she wanted to go and what would she like to do.

“How about we go to your place and do whatever occurs to us.”

I fully intended to confront Mickey but I wasn’t dumb.  I’d do it after our last love making session before she left for school on Sunday afternoon.  Hey – I hadn’t been laid in over a month and after the confrontation I probably wouldn’t be getting any until I hooked up with another girl.  We got to my place and Mick left no doubt about what she wanted to do.  She started undressing as soon as she was in the front door.

We went sixty-nine for the first time and then we screwed three times with a blow job between each before falling asleep.

Mickey woke me with a blow job and then I had to return the favor which ended up with us making the beast with two backs after which we showered and I fixed us some breakfast.  I was going to miss weekends like that.

That night we attended a party and we had a good time.  Wendell was there and when he saw us together he gave me a raised eyebrow and I gave him a small smile and a small shrug.  When we got back to my place it was a repeat of the previous night and Sunday morning was a repeat of Saturday morning except that it continued off and on until two when she started dressing to leave for school.

I wondered about Mick’s sexual appetite when she came to me on the weekends and I decided that it had to be because everything she did with North during the week got her all hot and bothered and since she wouldn’t go all the way with him she was horny as hell when she got to me.  Another thing I decided was that I wasn’t ready to confront Mickey about what she was doing with North.  I figured that since she had been playing me I would play her.  I’d take all the weekends I could get until I could find a replacement for Mick and then I would break it off with her before she could dump me.  At four Michelle gave me a passionate kiss, told me that it was so I wouldn’t forget her until she came back and she headed off for school.

+++++++++++++++++++++

It didn’t take me as long to find a replacement as I thought.  Tuesday Bill Marks, the dealerships general manager asked me if I would like to make a few extra bucks and I said sure.  His sister was moving and she needed some help.  After work we drove over to her place and he introduced us.  Her name was Alicia and she was a stone fox!!!  Not that I ever expected to have anything to do with her.

 The story I got from Bill was that Alicia had gone through a divorce and had gotten the house until her two kids turned eighteen and then the house had to be sold and the proceeds shared with her ex.  The son had turned eighteen two years before and had joined the Navy.  The daughter had turned eighteen three months ago and had left for college.  The house had been put up for sale and had sold so Alicia was moving to a condo.

I spent two evenings helping Alicia move.  The last night, after we had moved the last of her things she told me to have a seat while she made us dinner.

“This will be my first meal in this place and I don’t want to eat it alone.”

We made conversation as we ate and when she asked me if I had a girlfriend I said:

“Sort of.”

“What does sort of mean?”

I explained to her the situation and she asked me what I was going to do.

“Find a girl to date and then break it off with her before she can dump me.  Knowing her like I do I know that it will severely torque her off to be the one dumped.”

“Have you started looking yet?”

“Not yet.  I’ll probably hit some parties this weekend and see who is unattached.”

“Does it have to be a girl?”

“Oh yeah!  I’m not into guys.”

“That’s not what I meant.  What I meant was does it have to be a girl or would a woman do?”

I just sat there and stared at her.  Was she…?  Nah!  No way.  And then she surprised the hell out of me and said:

“I know what you are thinking and the answer is yes that is exactly what I’m doing.  If I understand what you just told me is that you are going looking for a bed buddy to give you what you were getting from your girlfriend.  Something to hold you over until you find someone who might be marriage material.  Am I right?”

She was right of course and I shook my head “Yes.”

“I’m looking for the same thing.  I’m not a bad looking broad and I could have gone out and found a bed buddy to give me what I used to get from my ex, but I didn’t.  My kids adored their father and the one time I dated after he was gone neither one of them would speak to me for over a month.  I put men out of my life for the three years it took for the two of them to leave home.

“Jessica left for school three months ago and my plan was to find a bed buddy as soon as I was moved into this condo.  I am as horny as a billygoat and I’m more than ready.  What I need now is a partner for sex, not for life.  Maybe down the road I’ll go looking for a new hubby, but right now all I want is someone who can help me play catch up and here you are.  Plus you have the added benefit of being young and able to recover quickly.  How about it Rob.  Want to play around with an older woman?’

Talk about stupid questions!

She led me into her bedroom and then we did what comes naturally.  After the first time she wanted to go sixty-nine and when I hesitated she asked me why.

“I’ve never done it.”

“You have never eaten pussy?  No wonder your girl friend looked for another guy.”

“No, I mean that I’ve never done it on a pussy full of goo.”

She laughed and said, “It’s your goo and it won’t hurt you a bit.  We’ll go sixty-nine and that way I’ll be sucking some of me off of you while you are sucking some of you out of me.”

I did it and it didn’t kill me, but good God did it ever turn Alicia on.  We made love three times and went sixty-nine between each time.  After the third time I got up to get dressed and Alicia asked me where I was going.

“I need to get home and get some sleep before going to work in the morning.”

“Nonsense.  You can go to work from here.  You might have banked my fire for the night, but I also need a warm body to snuggle with so get those pants off and get back here in bed.”

I stopped by Alicia’s place every night for the nest two weeks and also the two weekends since Mickey didn’t come home on them.  Three times we went out to dinner and once we went to a movie.  We were friends with benefits and nothing more and we knew it.  The big thing is that we were both getting what we needed out of the relationship.

The third weekend Mickey came home.  She called me Thursday and told me that she would be home Friday and said:

“We need to talk Rob.”

“Sure Mick.  What time you want me to pick you up?

We agreed on six and I got there to pick her up at ten after six.  My being late would piss her off and that was my intent.  As soon as Mickey was in the car she said:

“What’s this I’ve been hearing about you being seen with a woman?  I thought I could trust you to behave when I was gone.  I guess I was wrong.”

“Once I found out about you and North I figured if you could have a guy while you were away I could have a girl while you were gone.  Actually she isn’t a girl she’s a woman and one hell of a woman at that.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“Get off it Mick.  There are over twenty of our high school classmates who are also going to State.  Didn’t you ever stop to think that a couple of them might clue me in?  I know all about you and North and that includes your trip to Panama City and what you and North did while you were there.  Face it Mick; you have been busted.”

She gave me a long look and then said, “I’m sorry Rob, but you just don’t have the get up and go that I need in the man that I marry.  I want more out of life than you can give me as a mechanic.  If you had gone to college and kept up your level of play you could have made it to the pros, made big money and we could have been very happy together.”

“So you never saw me as anything more than a ticket to big money?”

“Don’t be stupid Rob.  I love you and I always have, but love isn’t always enough.  My family is what you might call comfortable.  We don’t lack for much, but we have to budget like hell.  I don’t want to have to budget for everything that I want to do.  I want to go places and do things and I don’t want to have to pinch pennies to do it.  Stan is going to go to the pros and I’m betting that he will be a first round draft pick.  I don’t love him like I love you, but I do like him a lot.  Like I said; sometimes love just isn’t enough.  Stan can give me the life I want.  I’m sorry Rob, but that’s the way it is.”

“If that’s the way it is why have you been keeping company with me?”

“I just told you that.  I love you Rob and I wanted as much time with you as I could get.  Can we go to your place now so I can show you just how much I love you?”

“Get serious Mick.  After what you’ve just told me?  I’m supposed to say “Oh goodie; she loves me” and overlook the fact that you are going to kick me to the curb as soon as North marries you?  Just get out of the car Michelle.

“Please Rob; let’s go to your place.”

“Michelle I have loved you since forever and I probably always will love you, but if you don’t get out of the car right now I’ll get out, come around to your side and drag you out.  You just killed me and I need to get away from you.  Get out!!!”

She looked at me for several seconds and then she got out.  As I pulled away leaving her standing there it was all I could do to keep from crying.  I had loved her; I still loved her and I probably always would love her, but to hear her tell me that she loved me but that I was too poor to suit her ….shit!!!  Life sucked!

But I did know what would help me get by Mickey’s statements. Alicia told me to call her if my weekend with Mickey didn’t go well and call her I did and that night we only left the bedroom to eat and rest up for the next time.

As I dressed on Saturday Alicia asked me if I was going to be all right.

“I’ll get over it especially if I have you to help me.”

“I’ll help you during the coming week, but you are on your own for next weekend.  Jessica will be coming home so I’ll have to cool it.  It might do you some good to go out and see if you can’t find someone your own age.  You are going to have to start sometime.”

“I don’t know about that.  A certain older woman has kind of spoiled me.  I don’t know that a girl my own age can offer me much.”

“Don’t go getting all that serious on me lover.  You know that all we are and that all we are ever going to be is friends with benefits.”

“I know that, but I don’t mind telling you that I’m hoping that the arrangement will last another thirty years or so.”

“You say the sweetest things.  I think I’ll have to reward you when you stop by tomorrow night.”

“You could reward me tonight after I take you to dinner.”

“You haven’t had enough of me yet?”

“I doubt that I’ll ever have enough.”

“There you go saying sweet things again.  What time?”

“Say six?”

“I’ll be ready.”

It was pure assed luck and it made my day.  We entered Duke’s Steak House and we were ushered to a table.  As we sat down I saw Rich, Bev, Nancy Wilde and Mickey sitting on the other side of the room.  I saw the look on Mickey’s face when she saw me with Alicia and the expression on her face was priceless.  I gave a little chuckle as we sat down and Alicia asked:

“What’s that all about?”

“Don’t look right this moment, but my ex-girlfriend is sitting on the other side of the room and if looks could kill the one she just gave us would have both of us stone cold dead.”

“Which table?”

“Directly across from us against the wall on the other side of the room.”

Alicia waited a minute and then she casually checked out the room.  Her gaze swept by the table in mention without slowing down or stopping and then she asked:

“Which one?"  All three are beautiful.”

Mickey is the one in the blue sweater.  The guy is my brother Rich, the girl in the white blouse is his wife Bev and the other girl is Nancy.”

“Your brother?  Shouldn’t we go over and say hi?  Wouldn’t that tweak her nose a bit?”

“I never knew that you had an evil streak in you.”

“It is called ‘being catty’ dear.”

As she said it I saw Rich get up and head our way.  He walked up to the table and said:

“I didn’t know that you were going to be here tonight.  Would you and your lovely lady like to join us?”

Before I could say “No thanks” Alicia said, “We would love to wouldn’t we Robbie.”  There wasn’t anything I could do except say yes and introduce her to Rich.  The four of them were sitting at a table for six so there was room for us.  I seated Alicia and then made the introductions.  I could see from Michelle’ face that she hadn’t been in favor of Rich extending us the invitation and I knew that Alicia could read Mickey’s expression as well as I did and I also knew that she was loving the situation.

Bev got the ball rolling with, “How did you two become a couple?”

“Oh my goodness” Alicia said, “We aren’t a couple, just good friends right Robbie?  Very good friends.  My brother got Robbie to help me move from my old place to my new one.  Since then he has helped me with several things.  I do have to say that if I was a bit younger I’d give that couple thing some serious thought.”

From the way she was putting emphasis on what she was saying there wasn’t anyone at that table that didn’t know we were bed buddies.  It was written all over us.  I saw Bev give a knowing smile as she said:

“Well Rob would be a good catch for someone.”

Mickey’s facial expression when she heard that almost caused me to laugh.  During the conversation it came out that Nancy knew Alicia’s daughter Jessica and she asked how Jessica was liking the school she was going to.  While Nancy and Alicia were talking Rich and Bev were inviting me to a barbecue at their place the next day.  Bev gave me an evil grin and said:

“Make sure that you bring your very good friend.”

“Are you trying to cause a war woman?  You know Mickey will be there.”

“I know.  Believe me I know.”

“I don’t know if Alicia can make it.”

“Of course I can silly.”

She had finished her conversation with Nancy and had turned to me and heard the invitation.  To be honest about it, knowing that Mickey would be there I wouldn’t have gone by myself, but with Alicia at my side I wouldn’t miss it.  I acted reluctant and got an “Oh come on Rob” from Bev and an “It will be so much fun” from Alicia so I said that we would be there.  Of course Mickey heard the entire conversation and I could tell that she was pissed and that fact alone warmed the cockles of my heart.

Our food came and as we ate the conversation was general.  Occasionally Alicia would touch me in a way that left no doubt in anyone’s mind as to the true nature of our relationship and I knew that she was doing it to tweak Michelle.  When dinner was over Alicia and I said our goodbyes and left.  In the car Alicia said: 

“Your ex is not very happy to see you with another woman.”

“I don’t know why she would care.  She didn’t want me.”

“Yes she does lover.  Believe me; a woman knows about these things.”

“She left no doubt in my mind that she was dumping me for Stan North.”

“I don’t think she intended to dump you.  I think you forced her hand when you confronted her about the football player.  I think she wanted her cake and to eat it too.”

“Wouldn’t have worked.  Eventually she would have married the engineer of her gravy train and I’m not the kind of guy who would hang around as a lover on the side.”

“All I’m saying is that she is not happy that she lost you.”

“She didn’t lose me; she threw me away.”

“I’ll tell you something else that you probably don’t know.  There was another young lady at that table with a strong interest in you.”

“No way!  Those three girls have been the tightest of friends since the first grade and Bev is married to my brother and that leaves Nancy and she would cut off her right hand before she would do anything to upset Mickey and if what you are saying about how Mickey feels is so there is no way that Nancy would have anything to do with me.  Besides, I’m not interested in her.”

“Why not?  She is every bit as good looking as the other two.”

“What can I say?  I’ve gotten accustomed to steak so I’m not interested in hamburgers and hotdogs.” 

“You say the sweetest things.  I guess I’m going to have to reward you.”

And she did.  I was barely able to walk the next morning.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

Over breakfast the next morning Alicia asked what time we needed to be at Rich and Bev’s and I said that we should get there about two.

“Do we need to bring anything?”

“They have a pool so a bathing suit would be good and a case of Pabst Blue Ribbon would probably be well received.”

She looked at the digital clock on the microwave and said, “We have six hours before we need to be there.  Any ideas on how we can fill in the time?”

I did.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

We arrived at two and found that we weren’t the first.  There were already ten or twelve people there.  I saw Mickey talking to Bev and Rich and I carried the case of beer over and gave it to Rich.  Mickey gave me a nasty look and stomped off.

“She’s not happy with you Rob.”

“Why?  She dumped me for another guy so why should she be unhappy with me?”

“I don’t think she is too happy with how quick you replaced her.”

“Tough doo doo.  As far as I’m concerned she was history long before she dumped me in person.  I was looking for her replacement as soon as I heard about her Panama City jaunt with the guy she is replacing me with.”

“I think she feels that you should have tried a little harder to keep her.”

“Bull hockey Bev!  She was blunt and to the point.  I was a loser who couldn’t give her all the material things she wanted so she was going to upgrade.  Enough of this.  I need to get back to Alicia before someone else grabs her.  Bev laughed and said:

“I thought you weren’t a couple?”

“I’m working on it.”

“Isn’t she a little old for you?”

“We are not forever Bev; just helping each other over a rough spot in our lives.  I don’t see it lasting too long.”

“However in the world did the two of you get together?”

“Told you last night.  Her brother, my boss, was looking for someone to help her move.  It just went from there.”

“You do know that there are plenty of girls your own age who would love to pick up where Mickey left off.”

“Yeah, but the only one of them I would want up and married my brother.”

He laughed, punched me on the shoulder and said, “Flattery won’t get you a damned thing, but seriously honey there are girls who are interested.”

“Name one.”

“Nancy.”

“You can’t be serious.  As tight as she is with Mickey?  She knows that Mickey would never speak to her again if se took up with me.”

“You might be surprised Rob; you might just be surprised.”

I headed for the pool and more nasty looks from Mickey.  Why?  Because Alicia was there in a bikini and lordy did she look fantastic.  There were a lot of people there that I had gone to school with so I spent some time catching up on what had gone on with them since graduation.  A lot of them were dying to ask me about Alicia, but managed to hold it in.  I did notice that when I wasn’t with her Alicia spent a lot of time talking to Bev and Rich.

It was a fun afternoon and after we left and were driving to Alicia’s place she said:

“There were two or three girls there who were very much interested in you.”

“And you are telling me this why?”

“You know we aren’t going to last lover.  Sooner or later I’m going to look for a man to settle down with and it wouldn’t hurt for you to have a pool of replacements to choose from.”

“Why are you going to look for a man when I’m perfectly willing to be your guy?”

“Because other than a crying need for sexual satisfaction we have nothing in common.  I told you up front that I wanted your youthful recovery powers to help me get over several years of going without.  I like you a lot Rob, but I don’t love you.  You are a great guy and I’m sorry that I took up with you.”

“Why would you say something like that?”

“Because you are just the kind of guy I’d like to see my Jessica end up with, but now that we have become involved I can’t introduce you to her.  It would be just too awkward to have a son in law that I’d had so much sexual fun with.”

I was silent for a bit and then I asked, “Just how much time do I have before you ease me out the door?”

“Not too much longer I think.  There is a man in my office showing some interest in me and I think I’d like to explore the possibilities.”

I was silent for the rest of the ride and as we pulled into the parking space in front of her condo she said:

“Don’t go getting all pouty on me now lover.  You knew we weren’t going to have a long term relationship.  Come on baby; lets go inside and I’ll do my best to cheer you up.”

She did and I wasn’t pouting when I left, but I was a little on the down side knowing that I was a short-timer where Alicia was concerned.  I had known that it wasn’t long term when we started, but another year or two would have been nice.

+++++++++++++++++

I didn’t get another year or two, but I did get another three weeks before she told me that we were over and even then I think that it was probably my fault.  It was a Friday and I had just gotten off work and I decided to swing by Alicia’s and see if she wanted to have dinner with me.

I rang the doorbell and it was opened by a girl my age.  I had totally forgotten that Alicia had told me that her daughter Jessica would be home that weekend.  She was beautiful.  A younger version of her mother and she looked at me and said:

“Yes?  What can I do for you?”

Before I could answer Alicia called out, “Who is it Jess?” and then she came around the corner of the living room wall, saw me and said:

“Rob?  What are you doing here?”

Thinking fast I said, “Hi Mrs. Roberts.  I couldn’t find my checkbook and I was wondering if it might have dropped out of my pocket when I was here helping you move stuff.”

“I’m sorry Rob, but I haven’t seen it.”

“Okay.  I’ll go check with Bill.  I might have lost it in his car when he drove me over here.  Sorry for the interruption” and I turned and beat feet.

I spent the weekend doing laundry, cleaning my apartment, working on my car and watching TV.  Monday at work Alicia called me.

“Are you coming over tonight?”

“I would very much like to.”

“See you at seven for dinner okay?”

“I’ll be there.”

I got there right at seven and saw that she had the table set for a romantic dinner.  There were candles and wine glasses and as she led me to the table she said:

“I wanted tonight to be special.”

As we ate she talked about her job and a promotion that she had gotten.  I found out that her son had been selected for officer’s candidate school and that Jessica had made the dean’s list.  After eating she poured me a Bailey’s Irish Cream and then she hit me with it.

“One of the men at work has asked me out to dinner and after thinking it over I’ve decided to accept his invitation.  I’m not the kind of girl who can keep a string of guys at the same time so what it comes down to is that if I start to see Phil I have to stop seeing you.  Also there is the fact that Jess is going to be coming home more often and if I kept on seeing you she would inevitably see us together.  I can already tell you that your checkbook ploy for stopping by didn’t fool her a bit.  She doesn’t know for sure, but I can tell what she is thinking and the family dynamics are such that I can’t have her finding out that I’m seeing a guy her own age.  Given the way she feels about her father I may even have trouble selling her on a man my own age, but a younger man?  Never!

“We have had a lot of fun together lover, but we both knew it had to end sometimes  I hope I helped you get over what Michelle did to you and I know that you did me a world of good.  I hope we can stay friends.  Okay?”

What could I say?  She was right.  I picked up my glass of Bailey’s and gave a toast.

“Here is to what we had and our continuing friendship.”

She raised her glass and said, “And here’s to a damned good goodbye sex session.”

She put down her glass, stood and offered me her hand and said, “Dessert will be served in the bedroom.”

As I was dressing to leave Alicia said, “You are going to be all right lover.  I had a long talk with your sister in law and according to her the girls are lining up to see who can get you now that the old broad is out of the picture.”

“Maybe, but how can you expect me to walk out of here and take up with one of them.  It would be like giving up a Cadillac to start driving a Geo.”

She laughed and said, “Get out of here before I drag you back to bed.”

“I guess I’d better stall then.”

She pointed at the bedroom door and said, “Go young man; get out of here now.”

I went over, took her in my arms and kissed her.  “I’ll never forget you” I said as I let her go and turned to head for the door.  “I know” I heard her softly say as I left the room.

As I drove home I wondered what was wrong with me.  That was two women who had kicked me to the curb.  It wasn’t rational for me to think that way and deep down inside I knew it.  Mick dumped me so she could go after some one with a ton of money and Alicia dropped me because of the age difference, but I still felt like a reject.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

The week flew by with me doing nothing but going to work and then going home to watch TV or read a book.  I didn’t even go out Friday or Saturday night.  Sunday morning I got a call from Bev asking me over for dinner.  I was tired of my own cooking so I said yes.  When I got to Bev and Rich’s place I found that they had also invited Nancy.  If there had been other people there I wouldn’t have thought a thing about Nancy being there, but with her and me being the only ones invited I was pretty sure that Bev was trying to play matchmaker. 

I guess Bev didn’t realize that Nancy was too close to Mickey for me to be interested in her.  I was trying to forget Mickey – to put her behind me – and being with Nancy would be a constant reminder of Mickey.  I didn’t think that way about Bev because of the relationship we had way back before she married Rich. 

Not a reasonable thought when you think about it.  If Bev didn’t remind me of Mickey because I’d screwed Bev wouldn’t it follow that the same thing would happen if I bedded Nancy?  I did have the thought that I should bed Nancy just to torque Mickey, but I wasn’t asshole enough to do that to Nancy.  Also there was the fact that Nancy just didn’t appeal to me.  She was a nice enough girl and a damned fine looking one, but there was no attraction there.

If there was any doubt about Nancy and I just being simply dinner guests it was dispelled  at the end of the meal when Bev told Rich to help her with the dishes and the two of them left me and Nancy sitting alone at the table.  I tried to make conversation by asking her what she was doing and then listening intently as she told me all about her job.  I asked her what she did for relaxation and I heard about the book club she belonged to and that met every Wednesday night at the library.  Then she told me about the women’s league that she bowled in on Thursdays.

  In return I told her about my job and that I mostly stayed home and watched TV.  Then she said that I needed to get out and about and that I might enjoy bowling and there was a mixed league forming and that maybe we could join it.  I caught the “we” but let it pass without comment.  Finally Bev and Rich came back into the room and Bev suggested we play some cards.  I looked at my watch and said that I had an early day the next day and that I had to be going.  I thanked Bev for the dinner and then I got the hell out of there.

+++++++++++++++++++++

The next week was nothing but work and go home to read or watch TV.  Thursday Bev called and said they would be barbecuing on Sunday and would I like to come.  Remembering her attempt at matchmaking I asked who all would be there and she named off half a dozen people that I knew so I said I’d be glad to come.

I wasn’t there five minutes when Nancy appeared by my side and attached herself to me for the rest of the day.  I was friendly and cordial, but I didn’t offer her any encouragement.  On the other hand I wasn’t discouraging either which was probably a mistake on my part.  At one point – and I have no idea how it happened – I found that we were holding hands and I happened to look over at Bev and she was smiling.  I let go of Nancy’s hand and told her that I needed to go to the bathroom.

I found Rich and told him that I needed to leave.  “And Rich?  Tell Bev to stop with the matchmaking.  Nancy’s a nice girl, but I’m just not interested.”

“She isn’t going to stop bro.  She is too tight with Nancy and Nancy keeps telling her how much she likes you.  You aren’t going to shut down Bev so what you are going to have to do is shut down Nancy.”

Yeah, sure and how was I going to do that without looking like a prime asshole.  I was heading for the front door when Bev caught me.

“Where are you going?”

“I need to get out of here before things get bad.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that I have to get out of here before I hurt Nancy’s feelings.”

“I don’t understand.  It looked like you guys were getting along fine.”

“Look Bev; she’s a nice girl and I like her, but not in the way she wants.  I’m not attracted to her in that way.  I’ve got to go” and I left.

Tuesday after work I decided I didn’t want to cook for myself so I hit the Denny’s on Fairfax.  I was sitting there reading the menu when someone sat down in the booth across from me.  I looked up and saw that Nancy had joined me.

“Why did you leave the party without saying goodbye to me?”

I sat there trying to think of something to say when she said, “Look Rob, I know that you are hurting from what Michelle did to you, but you shouldn’t.  She’s my friend and I’d die for her if I had to, but even though she is my friend I’m not blind to her faults.  She is very materialistic and she is always looking for the guy who can give her what she wants.  She loved you and I know that she did, but she was never going to marry you because you would never be able to give her what she wants.

“Every time she went to Cartersville she dated a guy whose father owned several farms, a feed store, grain elevators and a whole bunch of other stuff.  She was trying to hook him the entire time she was dating you.  He even went so far as to get herself pregnant so he would have to marry her.  When she told him he laughed at her and told her he would never marry a slut like her.  He told her that if she would cheat on you with him she would cheat on him sooner or later.  When she went back to Cartersville to help take care of her grandmother?  It wasn’t to help out poor old granny.  She was having an abortion.  You need to get over her Rob.  You need to find someone else.  Some one who will treat you the way you deserve to be treated.” 

I knew that she was offering herself to be that some one and I sat there trying to figure out how to get myself out of the situation.  I decided to do some play acting.

“Abortion?  She had an abortion?  Oh my God!  What if it wasn’t his?  What if it was mine?  Oh my God.  I’m sorry Nancy.  I don’t feel well.  I think I need to be alone.”

“You don’t have to go through this alone Rob.  Call me; I’ll be glad to help.”

“Thanks Nancy, I appreciate your offer, but not now.  I need to be alone.”

He stood up, bent over, kissed me on the cheek and then left the restaurant.  So Mickey had had an abortion?  Well it wasn’t mine.  I always used a condom and none of them ever broke on me.  Nancy had totally misread me.  I wasn’t down in the dumps over Mickey; I just didn’t want Nancy, but I couldn’t tell her that.  It was true that I wasn’t over Mick and probably would never be, but I was far from being crushed and devastated because we weren’t together.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

Another couple of days went by and I was again sitting in a booth at Denny’s when someone sat down across from me.  It wasn’t Nancy.  It was Alicia’s daughter Jessica.  She smiled at me and said:

“Hi.  Did you ever find your checkbook?”

It took me a second to remember that I’d used the lost checkbook as an excuse when I’d stopped by Alicia’s.  I shook my head no and said:

“No, I never did find it.  I thought for sure that I’d lost it helping your mother move or in your Uncle Bill’s car, but I never did find it.”

She laughed and said, “You’re cute, but you can’t lie for beans.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that you are busted dude.  The girl I ride to school with had a family emergency a while back and had to leave school a day early.  I had a choice.  Come home with her a day early or end up stuck at school for the weekend.  I opted to skip a day of school and ride home with her.  I must have been really quiet when I came in the house because you and mom didn’t hear me.  You really should close bedroom doors when you are being naughty.  Anyway, once I saw what was going on I quietly left, spent the night with a girlfriend and then showed up at the house at my regular time.  What happened to you two?  You don’t come around any more and she isn’t near as happy with the dweeb she is seeing now as she was with you.”

“A short sad story.”

“I’ve got time to listen.”

“I don’t think I can tell you.”

“Sooner or later you will.  Now that I know where to find you I’ll dog you until you tell.”

“You know where to find me?”

“Well duh!  You are wearing a uniform shirt with “Rob” over one pocket and a Ford logo over the other and there is only one Ford dealer in town.”

“It is personal between your mother and me.”

“Balder-hockey!  I’ve already told you that I’m going to haunt you until I find out and I am one very persistent female.”

“Why is it important for you to know?”

“Oh come on Rob.  It is Rob, right?  You aren’t wearing some other guys shirt?”

I nodded a yes and she went on.

“I find my mother making passionate love with a guy my age and I’m not going to be curious?  Besides, I don’t want there to be any secrets between us when we start dating.”

“When we start dating?”

“Oh yeah.  A guy my age so hot my mother snaps him up?  I just have to find out the attraction.”

“No missy; I don’t think so.  Your mother would come after me with a sharp knife and do some serious cutting on a certain portion of my anatomy.”

“I seriously doubt that.  Look; two things here are certain.  I’m going to dog you until I know why you and mom gave it up and I’m going to be in your face until you break down and date me. So what say we just get it over with now?”

I looked at her and decided that it wouldn’t be worth the aggravation so I told her the story of how I’d gotten together with her mother and why it had ended.

“So now you know that it was your fault that your mom and I no longer see each other.”

“That is just so much bull.  That was years and years ago and Brian and I were too young to know what was going on.  Besides, at the time we didn’t know that dad was the one who caused the divorce because he got caught cheating.  All we knew at the time was that mom kicked him out and we were pissed at her because of it.  But we got over it.  I wondered why she stopped dating. I didn’t know it was because of me and my brother.”

“I don’t know anything about all that.  All I know is that your mother was dead set against you finding out about us.”

“Okay then, that’s out of the way so now all we have to do is work on the dating part.”

“Not going to happen.  It would be just too damned awkward dating my ex-lover’s daughter.  I parted friends with your mother and I want to keep it that way.”

“She doesn’t have to know.”

“She would eventually find out.”

“Why?  She has never met or even seen half the guys I’ve dated.”

“That’s because you are in school away from here.  Here she would eventually see us somewhere.  I’ve run across her a dozen times since we ended things.  Restaurants, the movies, twice in a gas station and a couple of times at Safeway.  No, dating would not be a good idea.”

“We can get around that.  On nights we dated I can always ask her what her plans for the evening are and then we just don’t go near any place she is going to be.”

“Hasn’t it entered your mind that I don’t want to date you because I have a girlfriend?”

“No and it doesn’t matter and that’s the long and short of it.  Might as well get used to the idea because I’m going to dog you until it happens.”

“All I can say is dog away girl, but it isn’t going to happen.”

I picked up my check from where the waitress had placed it, stood up and headed for the cash register.  I paid, got in my car and headed on home.  As I drove I hoped that Jessica wasn’t serious about haunting me.  She looked so much like her mother that it was damned hard to say no to her, but I was sure that Alicia would not be pleased in the least if I hooked up with her daughter.

When I pulled up and parked at the apartment I found out that Jessica had meant it when she said that she was going to dog me.  When I got out of the car a Honda Civic pulled up next to me.  I recognized the car.  It was Alicia’s.  The window rolled down and Jessica said:

“Now I not only know where you work I know where you live.  Ready to give up yet?”

“No, but I’ll tell you what you can do.  Tell your mom what you want to do and if she calls me and tells me that she has no objections I’ll take you out.  Have a good night” I said and then I went inside my apartment.

Jessica’s showing up at my apartment should have shown me that that she was serious, but for some reason I didn’t think that she would really follow through.  That notion took flight the next day when I got off work and found her sitting on the fender of my car.  As I walked up she said:

“Hi Rob.  Where are we going tonight?”

“We aren’t going anywhere.”

“Sure we are.  Even if it isn’t together in the same vehicle we will be together wherever you go because I’m going to follow along behind you.  Get used to it Rob.  I’m going to be your shadow until you give me what I want.”

“Why aren’t you in school?”

“End of term break.  I have two weeks off and I’m going to spend them following you until you date me.”

“I told you what you need to do to get me to date you and so far she hasn’t called me.”

I got in the car and headed off.  I decided on Bob’s Big Boy for dinner and I was no sooner seated than Jessica joined me.

“This is a waste of money Rob.  I’m a pretty good cook and we could be at your place and I could be fixing us a very good dinner.”

I was just ready to tell her to go away and leave me alone when I saw Bev, Nancy and Mickey sitting at a table on the other side of the room and all three were looking at me and Jessica.  Bev had an amused look, Nancy looked down cast, but the look on Mick’s face made me smile.  She was pissed at seeing me with another girl.  Whether she was upset because I could so easily replace her or because she still had feelings for me I didn’t know, but the look did make me smile.  Jessica saw the smile and said:

“The idea of me cooking for you appeals to you?”

When she said that it occurred to me that I could use her to help me accomplish a couple of things.  Being seen with her would put a stop to Nancy’s trying to make us a couple.  The other thing was that since she was on term break it stood to reason that Mickey was also on break and she would be around.  Being seen with Jessica would provoke more of those nasty looks and pissing off Mick was high on the list of things I liked doing.

The decision made I took one of Jessica’s hands in mine and said, “If you can promise me that your mother will never know I’ll consider it.”

“No problem.  Like I told you the other day I’ll find out what her plans are and we will just make sure that we go in the opposite direction.”

I didn’t want to appear to be in a hurry especially after emphatically saying no up to that point so I just said:

“I’ll think on it, but on it, but it won’t be tonight because I have all ready made other plans.”

“Tomorrow night then?”

I thought of the party that Earl was having the next night and I was pretty sure – or at least hoped – that Mickey and Nancy would both be there so I said:

“Okay, tomorrow it is.” 

We ordered and as we ate we went over the logistics.  I couldn’t pick her up at home for obvious reasons so we arranged for her to meet me in my apartment parking lot at six-thirty.

The entire time we sat there I kept glancing out of the corner of my eye at the table where Mickey was sitting and every time she was shooting daggers our way and it caused me to smile inside.

+++++++++++++++++

Earl’s party was a blast.  There were lots of kids from my class there, among them Rich, Bev, Nancy and Mickey.  Jessica and I danced and in an unplanned moment about two hours into the party I was in a slow dance with her and she kissed me and as I felt her tongue flick into my mouth I saw both Mickey and Nancy watching.  The look on Mick’s face made the night for me.

At one point while Jessica was using the bathroom Bev came up to me and asked:

“What happened to the older girlfriend?”

“I didn’t have an older girlfriend Bev.  She was just a woman that I helped and she bought me dinner a couple of times to thank me.”

“Bull crap buddy; I know you too well for you to be able to lie to me.  Besides, I had a long talk with her at our barbecue and while she never admitted it she didn’t deny it either when I asked her.  You do know that it destroyed Mickey to see the two of you together right?  And this one you are with tonight has her wound up also.  She looks familiar.  She from around here?”

“No and I don’t believe that garbage about what my being seen with other girls is doing to Michelle.  She didn’t have any trouble replacing me when she went to Cartersville or went away to school.  If I meant anything to her it wouldn’t have been that easy for her to replace me.”

“You are wrong on that Rob; she does love you and I know because I am her closest confidant.  I’m not saying that she isn’t a little mixed up where her priorities are concerned, but she does love you.  She honestly expected you to be there for her even after she got married to some other guy for financial reasons.”

“Tough shit Bev, but I’m not made that way.  I’m not the kind of guy who can be some woman’s sex toy behind her husband’s back.  She had a choice.  She could be an auto mechanic’s wife or the wife of some guy with money and she didn’t choose the auto mechanic.”

Jessica walked up and said, “Am I interrupting?”

“No sweetie, Bev just wanted to know where I found you.”

“And what kind of outrageous lie did you tell her?”

“Just that I turned around one evening and you were there and that I haven’t been able to get rid of you.”

“That’s pretty close to the truth at least the you can’t get rid of me part.”

“So is there some romantic story behind your meeting” Bev asked.

“Not really.  I met him when he helped my mother move from our old house to her new condo.”

I saw Bev’s face as she made the connection.

“You are Alicia’s daughter?”

“You know my mom?”

“She was at a barbecue at my place one Sunday.”

Bev gave me a look that said, plain as day, “Mother AND daughter?  You dog you.”

The evening’s entertainment, at least for me, wasn’t over yet.  I took a bathroom break and when I came out Michelle was standing in the hallway.  She put a hand in the middle of my chest and tried to push me back into the bedroom as she said:

“We need to talk Rob.”

I spun around and pushed her into the bathroom as I said, “No we don’t Michelle.  I’m just a lowly car mechanic who is never going to amount to anything and I have no business having anything to do with upwardly mobile people like you” and I headed back to the party.

I danced a few more dances with Jessica and then Bev grabbed me and said, “My turn.”  As we danced she asked:

“What did you do to Mickey?  She ran out of here crying.”

“And somehow it is my fault?”

“She was fine until you showed up here with your new girlfriend.”

I told her what happened at the bathroom and she said, “Why are you being so mean to her Rob?”

“Oh come on Bev; you more than anybody knows how she fucked over me.”

“Your skirts aren’t all that clean Rob.”

“True, but I didn’t start until I found out what she was doing when she went out of town and you know that.  I don’t owe her anything Bev.  She made her position clear to me and so I said “Fuck it” and I have moved on.”

“She loves you Rob and you could at least talk to her.”

“No way Bev.  I’ve heard all from her that I can stand.”

At that point Jessica came up and said, “May I cut in?  I’d like one more dance before we have to leave.”

Bev gave up her place in my arms and Jessica moved in. 

“On more dance before we leave?”

“I could tell from your facial expression that you were not liking whatever you were talking about so I thought I’d come to your rescue.  What was it anyway?”

I told her and she said, “You want me to tell her I’m not giving you up so she can stop wasting her time?”

“You aren’t giving me up?  Did I miss something somewhere along the way?  Maybe the part where I somehow became yours?”

“Just offering to help baby cakes; just trying to help.  She isn’t the only one here that wants you.  I was talking to Nancy.  I know her from church school and she was asking if we had anything going and when I told her I was working on it I swear the girl almost cried.  When did you first realize that you had this magical power over us girls?”

I just shrugged.  We finished the dance and then made our way around saying our goodbyes.  Rich told me to call him in the morning and I said I would.

When we got to my place I started to walk her to her car and she said:

“Aren’t you going to ask me in?”

I spent a quick two seconds thinking about it and decided that it would come to no good so I said:

“I don’t think so.”

“Why not?  Afraid for your virtue?”

“Look Jess; I had a great thing going with your mother and it would be too damned awkward.”

“You want me to stop dogging you?  Take me inside, give me a cup of coffee and listen to me.  After you hear what I have to say if you tell me to leave I’ll go away and leave you alone.”

When she put it that way I thought “Why not?  What do I have to lose?”

She took a seat on the couch while I fired up the coffee maker.  While waiting for it to start dripping I went and sat down with Jessica.  She looked at me and said:

“Truth time.  I’m not a virgin and I haven’t been for some time.  I’m not a slut, but I’ve been with maybe ten or so guys that I’ve made it with.  I like sex and I enjoyed it with all of the guys I’ve been with.  When I walked into the house the night I saw you guy’s mom was screaming and begging.  She had two orgasms in the time I watched and I could tell she was having the time of her life.  She was never that way with my dad. 

“The thing is that none of the guys I did it with ever made me act the way my mom acted with you.  Ever since I saw you and mom I’ve been asking myself why no guy I’ve been with has made me scream.  Was it because they didn’t know what they were doing or is it me?  Was I not capable of feeling what my mom felt?  Then you were gone and mom was dating some guy she works with.  When I saw you at Denny’s and knowing mom was seeing another guy I decided that I’d take a shot at you.  If I could get you to go out with me I could eventually get you into bed and see if maybe you could make me feel the way you made my mom feel.

“It could be that mom is super sensitive and easy to light up, but then again maybe it is you.  I want to find out.  How about it Rob?  One night and regardless of how it turns out I’m out of your life.”

I sat there looking at her and digesting her story.  I was under no illusion that I was a super stud.  The one thing I had going for me was that I believed in foreplay.  My partner and I were usually fired up and ready when we got down to it because of everything we did leading up to it.  I did of course wonder if I could give Jessica what she wanted, but I really didn’t think that it was me that got her mother going.  If anything it was because she was getting it after going so long without.  I did have to admit that I was curious enough to want to try.

“One night and that’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“Okay, but it won’t be tonight.”

I explained my theory of building up to it and said, “There is a party tomorrow at Sylvia Larson’s.  Meet me here at 6:30 and we will see what happens.

+++++++++++++++++++++

It was turning out to be the usual thing.  We got to the party and sure enough Mickey, Nancy, Bev and Rich were there.  At least this time both Mickey and Nancy had dates, but even so they spent a lot of time watching me and Jess.  There were a few other guys there that Jess knew and she asked me if I would mind if she danced with them and I said no.  Hey, maybe one of them would say or do something that would cause her to stop messing around with me.

While she was dancing with one of them and I was sipping a beer watching Mickey came up to me and asked:

“Are you ever going to talk to me again?”

“Why?  What’s to say?  You pretty much covered everything the last time we had a talk.  I didn’t like what I heard then so why would I like hearing it again?  No thanks Mick; talking to you leaves me feeling bad and I don’t need that.”

The music ended and Jess left her partner and headed my way.  “Here comes my date.  Got to go” and I walked away from Michelle. 

For the rest of the evening I said no whenever some guy wanted to dance with Jess.  She asked why the sudden change of heart.  “I told you my theory of foreplay right?  Well dancing is part of it so from this point on we will be working on building up heat.”

A bit of a change when only an hour ago I was thinking that maybe one of the guys she was dancing with might get something going with her, but Mickey was watching and I felt a crying need to wind her up.

My dances with Jess from then on were slow and sensual.  I molded myself to her and we rubbed.  My cock into her and her tits into me.  My hands stroked her body and she ran her hand over the bulge in my pants.  After a while she said:

“I see what you mean.  I’m ready to do you right here on the floor with everyone watching.”

A quick image of that with Mickey standing there watching shot through me and my cock twitched.  At the time it was pressed into Jess and she felt the twitch and giggled.

“Oh ho; the idea excites you.  Want to do it?  I will you know.”

“You are evil.”

“And you are going to love it.”

Bev and Rich walked up to us and Bev said, “You two need to get a room.”

Jess laughed and said, “I’m working on it.”

Rich just looked at me and gave me a bemused smile as Bev said, “Barbecue at our place Sunday?”

“I wouldn’t miss it” Jess said.

As Rich and Bev walked away I said, “I thought that tonight was the end.  You said no matter how it turned out you would be out of my life.  So why did you commit us to Sunday?”

“In the first place what I said was that IF you wanted me gone after tonight I would leave you alone.  I plan on making your night so good you won’t want me gone.  In the second place I didn’t commit us.  I said I wouldn’t miss it, but I’m betting that we end up going together.”

I just shook my head.

When we left the party she slid over next to me and her hand went to my zipper.  “We know what is going to happen when we get to your place so no reason that it can’t start now.”

By the time we reached my place Jess had her head in my lap and had me ready to shoot my first load of the night.  I decided to let it go and see if she would swallow.  She did and when she was finished she looked up at me and smiled as she licked her lips.

“Delicious baby, I could stand a gallon a day of your stuff.”

Once inside I ate her to repay the favor and then we made love.  She was just like her mother and wanted to go sixty-nine after our first bout.  I still didn’t think it was me, but she did scream and she did beg me to fuck her harder and faster.  The night was a milestone in that I was able to go four times, a personal best.  After the last time she snuggled into me and we fell asleep.

I woke to sounds from the kitchen.  I found Jess at the stove.

“You don’t have much here, but I did find some eggs and cheese so I’m making cheese omelets and you have bread for toast.  You should be hungry after last night”

I was and I wolfed down what she made as she ate and watched me.  When the food was gone she said:

“I need a shower.  You want to scrub my back?  And maybe my front?”

We showered together and the result was predictable.  I couldn’t believe that I was able to go twice after going four times the previous night, but I did manage it.  When we were done Jessica rolled up on an elbow and looked at me.

 “Okay lover; it is decision time.  Do I stay or do I go?”

“The truth of the matter is that from the standpoint of being nothing but bed buddies I would say stay, but other than that it would be a waste of both of our times.  I like you and can see being friends, but there is no spark there Jess.  Other than on a sexual plane there is nothing going for us.”

“Ouch!  That’s pretty cold.”

“Sorry Jess, but you deserve to know where you stand where I’m concerned.”

“Okay then, friends it is.  Friends with benefits right?  At least till I go back to school?”

What the hell I thought, why not.  If I stayed with Jess until she went back to school that would give Mickey more chances to see us together and since Bev told me that it pissed Mick off to see me with another girl I’d milk it for all it was worth.

“Okay.  Until you go back to school.”

“Goodie!  I guess we are going to Bev’s barbecue together after all.  Now, what are we going to do for the rest of the day?”

“Not what we did last night and this morning or you’ll have to take me to the hospital.”

“Phooey; you’re no fun.”

We took in a movie that afternoon and went roller skating that evening.  The night however was a repeat of the previous night and it was a very exhausted Rob who fell asleep around one in the morning.

+++++++++++++++++++++

Knowing Bev as well as I did I knew what I was going to find when Jess and I got to her place for the barbecue and sure enough Mickey was there with some guy and Nancy and her date showed up about ten minutes after Jess and I got there.

“Why do you do this to me” I asked Bev and Rich when I got them alone.  Rich just shrugged and pointed at Bev and she said, “Because I know, even if you don’t, that you and Mickey belong together.  And if I can’t make it happen the second best girl for you would be Nancy.”

“Give it up Bev.  I’ve told you several times that I want nothing to do with the money grubbing bitch that Mick has shown herself to be and I have no interest in Nancy.  She is a nice girl and I like her as a friend, but other than that there is nothing there.  No attraction at all.”

“That’s because you haven’t given her a decent chance.”

“I’m going to stop coming over here if you keep it up Bev.  I’ll handle my love life without your help.”

I walked away and went looking for Jess.  I found her talking with Nancy so I stayed clear of them.

Either Mickey had finally accepted that I wasn’t going to talk with her or she changed tactics and decided that trying to make me jealous was the way to go.  Every time I saw her she was in a clinch with her date and twice when she saw me looking her way she pulled the guy to her and kissed him.  Did it make me jealous?  Yes it did.  Denial was a river in Egypt and I couldn’t deny that I loved Mickey.  I had loved her since the day I heard the first words come out of her mouth.  I’m sure that anyone reading this realizes that I couldn’t spend so much time and thought thinking about ways to tweak her if I didn’t have strong feelings where she was concerned.  But that didn’t change the fact that she wanted a man with money instead of me so my still loving her didn’t mean jack shit!

If what she was doing was meant to torque me off it backfired on her because I decided to go tit for tat.  Every time I saw her looking my way if Jess was near I kissed her.  Take that Mick I thought to myself as I did it.

When Jess walked away from Nancy to use the bathroom I got us fresh drinks and was waiting for her when she got back.  I handed her a drink and asked:

“What were you and Nancy talking about?”

“You.”

“Me?”

“Yep.  You.  She wanted to know if we were going to become a steady couple and I told her the truth.  That I was working on it but that you were proving to be difficult.”

“Why did you tell her that?  You know when you go back to school we are over.”

“That remains to be seen.  I have almost a week and anything can happen.  You may decide that you can’t live without me, but as far as Nancy is concerned she wants you baby so I gave her some hope.  If you are resisting me you must have some other girl on your mind and since we all know how you feel about Michelle that leaves Nancy to think that maybe it is her that is on your mind.  From what I’ve found out God knows that Bev is putting the two of you together often enough.”

“Why do I have to keep telling every one that I have no interest in Nancy?”

“Maybe because everyone thinks you are perfect for each other.  Might not be so, but you can’t stop people from thinking it.”

“One way to stop it is to let them see that I already have a woman” and I took her in my arms and gave her a kiss that should have had steam coming out her ears.  Out of the corner of my eye I saw Bev, Nancy and Mickey watching.

“Now let’s get out of here and find something fun to do.”

“Oh goodie.”

“Oh goodie?”

“Something fun means going back to your place and getting naked right?”

“Is that all you ever think of?”

“I’ve only got a week lover and I need to make the most of it.”

“What are you telling your mother?”

“That I’m staying with a girlfriend so that mom can play with her boyfriend.”

“And she buys that?”

“Hook, line and sinker.”

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Except that she didn’t.

Four days later when I got home from work I found the familiar Honda Civic parked in the parking lot in front of my place.  I hadn’t been expecting Jess because she had told me that she needed to pack to be ready to leave for school the next day.  It wasn’t Jessica who got out of the Civic – it was her mother.  She was not smiling when she walked up to me and said:

“We need to talk Rob.”

“Here or would you like to come in?”

“Inside would be better.” 

We went inside and I asked her if she would like something to drink and she said no.  I motioned her to the couch and she said:

“I won’t be here that long.  You have been seeing my daughter Jessica.”

It was a statement and not a question and that meant she knew so there was no sense in trying to duck it or evade.

“I have.”

“How could you do that to me?”

No sense in hiding it so I told her how it came about and how it had progressed.  She looked at me with a shocked expression on her face and said:

“She saw us?  She saw us doing it?”

I nodded a yes and she muttered, “Oh my God” and she went over and sat down on the couch.

“Do you have anything stronger than beer?”

“Afraid not.  I’m not much of a drinker and beer is all I bother with.  Want one?”

“Yes, please.”

I got her a Bud and she took a long pull on it.  “She saw us.  She actually saw us and heard me?”  I nodded again.  “Oh my God” she said again.

“For what it is worth she knows that it is over when she leaves to go back to school.”

“Are you sure about that?  You just told me how persistent she was in getting you to go along with what she wanted.  You might say it is over, but what if she has other ideas?”

“Won’t matter.  I’ve already told her that other than as a friend I have no feelings toward her.”

“Why not?  What’s wrong with my baby?”

“Nothing.  There just isn’t any spark between us.  Besides, I was spoiled by her mother.  In fact, her mom pretty much spoiled it for other girls.  I’ve not been able to find any who could hold a candle to her mom.”

She looked at me and said, “Damned if I don’t believe that you really mean that.  But that is just so much bull.  You are young yet and there are tons of girls you haven’t even met yet that will make you forget this old broad.  But back to Jessica.  What are you going to do if she keeps chasing you?  The girl does have a stubborn streak and once she decides she wants something she goes all out.”

“I doubt that I’ll be her target.  Some guy at school will get lucky and she will teach him what to do.  If he does what she teaches him he will make her respond like I made her respond and once she realizes that other guys can make her feel that way she will forget all about me.”

“Don’t sell yourself short baby.  She won’t forget about you any more than I have.”

I raised an eyebrow at that and she said, “How about one for old time’s sake” as she stood up and started pulling her sweater off.

I don’t know what it was that the Roberts women shared, but mother and daughter alike were able to reduce me to a quivering wreck.  When Alicia left I seriously doubted I would have enough energy to get up and go to work in the morning.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

With Jessica and Mickey gone back to school things slowed down a little for me.  I dated some, scored a few times and probably could have scored more often if I would have really tried.  Bev kept trying to set me up with Nancy and I kept avoiding it.

Finally one evening Nancy cornered me while I was having my dinner at Denny’s.  She took the seat across from me in the booth and said:

“Hi Rob.  How have you been?”

“Fine.  How about you?”

“Not bad, but I could be a lot better if I could get you to pay some attention to me.  I know Bev has let you know that I’m interested you so why don’t you ever call and ask me for a date?”

It was the perfect opportunity to just tell her that I just wasn’t interested in her, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.  I just couldn’t be that cold so I lied.

“The reason Nance is that you are just too damned close to Mick and I’m trying to put as much distance between Michelle and myself as I can.  You would not only be a constant reminder, but whenever she comes home from school you hook up with her and the absolute last thing I want is to have her anywhere near me.”

“That’s nonsense Rob.  She’s just as close to Bev as she is to me, but you don’t have any trouble being around her.”

“That’s different Nance and you know it.  She’s married to my brother and short of cutting myself off from my family there is no way I can avoid her, but Bev is a case in point.  The last time Michelle was home from school Bev invited her to a couple of barbecues that I was also invited to.  It was like putting fire and gasoline together.  Both times did not work out well.  The first one Michelle got seriously pissed at me over something I said to her.  She was so pissed that it upset Bev.  The second time Michelle ran from the party crying.  No Nance, I just don’t need that crap going on in my life.  I’m sure that you would be a fun date and that we would get along fine, but the fact that you are one of Michelle’s best friends is always going to be in the way and I just will not put myself through that.”

“That’s not fair Rob.”

“Not to you Nance, but it is to me.”

The look on her face got to me and I sighed and said, “Tell you what.  You call Michelle and tell her that you are going to date me and that you just wanted to let her know so she would know why you were avoiding her when she got home from school.  If you two can stay apart I might be able to do it.”

I reached for my check and stood up to go.  “There are a lot of nice guys out there who would love to be with you Nance.  You need to find one that’s a keeper.  Goodnight.”

I walked to the register, paid my bill and then headed on home.  I was sure that I’d just put an end to my ‘Nancy’ problem because there was no way in hell that Nancy was going to make that call.  Then I suddenly remembered that I’d said basically the same thing to Jessica when I’d told her to call her mother and I remembered how well THAT had worked.

Three days later I was again having dinner at Denny’s when Nancy sat down across from me.

“I did it.”

“You did what?”

“I called Mickey and told her I was going to start dating you.”

“You didn’t!”

“Yes I did.  She was not happy to hear that and she told me that if I said so much as hello to you in passing she would never speak to me again.  So, when is our first date?”

“You are serious?  You would throw away a great fifteen year friendship with one of your best friends just to go out with me?”

“I’m not throwing it away, she is.  She is the one who dumped you so what gives her the right to decide who can date you once she walked away?  I think there could be something there for us Rob and all I’m asking for is a chance to find out.”

I was rapidly being pushed into a corner and to the point where I’d have to flat out tell Nancy I just did not have any interest in her.  Stalling for time I said:

“I’m in sort of a relationship with Jessica (which I wasn’t) and I’ll need to do something there before I can date someone else.”

“The last time I talked to her she said that she didn’t have anything serious going on with you.”

“Well I don’t know when that was, but the day she left to go back to school we more or less promised each other that we would be exclusive.  I did promise and so I have to keep my word unless she releases me from the promise or I find out that she didn’t honor hers.’

She gave me a long look and then said, “I know some kids where she is going to school and I’m going to ask them to check up on her.  I’m as serious as death about wanting us to get together Rob.  Don’t doubt it.  Don’t doubt it even for a second.”

When I got home the little red light on the telephone answering machine was blinking.  It was a message from Bev asking me to call her.  I did and as soon as she heard my voice she asked:

“What the hell have you done to Mickey now?”

“What do you mean?”

“She just called me and Jesus was she mad.  Ranting and raving about you and Nancy dating.”

“Nance and I are not dating, but what if we were?  Isn’t that what you were pushing for?  I can’t even count the times you have tried playing match-maker with Nancy and me.”

“I guess I didn’t think it through.  I never thought Mickey would take it like that.”

“Well Nancy and I are not dating.  What happened is that I told Nancy if she really wanted to date me she would have to call Michelle and let her know why she would be avoiding her when she came home from school.”

“Oh my God; you didn’t!!”

“I did and Nancy did it and that’s what wound up Michelle.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t have a clue.  I never expected Nancy to make the call.  I figured after I told her to do it she would stop and think about it and decide not to toss out her friendship with Michelle over a date with me.  Guess I was wrong.”

“Now what?”

“I’m using my relationship with Jessica to hold Nancy off.”

“You said you didn’t have a relationship with Jessica.”

“I don’t, but Nancy doesn’t know that.”

“Jesus Rob; what a mess.”

“Yes indeed Bev; a mess is just what we have.”

The next day as I was replacing the oxygen sensor on a Taurus it suddenly occurred to me that with the weekend coming up it was likely that Jessica would be coming home and I’d almost bet that Mickey would be coming home just to see what was going on with me and Nancy.  Of course they might not come home.  Neither of them had come home over the last two weeks, but that didn’t mean anything other than they were due to come home.

I didn’t care if Michelle came home or not, but if Jessica came home there was a chance she would run across Nancy and Nancy would wonder why I wasn’t with Jess and she might even ask her.  If that happened she would know that Jess and I were NOT in a relationship and that I had lied about it.  Shit!!!  It seemed like everything I did just made my hole deeper.

I worried about it until quitting time and as I was washing my hands before leaving work I finally said to myself “Fuck it!!!”  What happens happens and if it means that I ended up hurting Nancy’s feelings because I’m not interested in her so be it. 

That night was my parent’s anniversary and the family gathered for dinner and a party.  Bev came up to me and asked me if I had decided what I was going to do and I told her that I had decided to just let the chips fall where they may.

“Have you considered getting together with Mickey and talking it out?  Maybe that would make things easier for you and Nancy.”

“Don’t you ever listen to me Bev?  I don’t need to make things easier for me and Nancy.  I have no interest in Nancy.  I don’t want to date Nancy.  I don’t want anything to do with Nancy.”

“Okay, okay Rob; I get the message, but I still think you should sit down with Mickey and have a talk.  She must have something to say or she wouldn’t keep trying to get you to talk with her.”

“I’ve heard all I want to hear from her Bev.  What’s she going to say?  I’m sorry I hurt you Rob? Or maybe I was only kidding Rob. I really didn’t mean it.  It was just a joke that backfired on me?  No matter what she says Bev Mick and I are over with.  Whatever we had is dead and it ain’t going to come back to life.  No Bev, Mick has nothing to say that I want or need to hear.”

“Would you please do it for me then?  Mickey is still my best friend and I’ll have her over a lot and you are family so you will be over a lot also.  It will make it a whole lot easier on me if the two of you can be here at the same time with no problems.  Let Mickey have her say and get it out of the way.”

“I’ll think on it Bev.  No promises, but I will think on it.”

And think on it I did and my thinking didn’t run to me talking with Mickey, but instead I was thinking more along the lines of not going to events at Bev and Rich’s place unless they were family events.  That would not only let me avoid Mickey, but it would also let me avoid Nancy.

The weekend came and if Mickey and Jessica came home I didn’t see them.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

On Monday Bill called me into his office and asked, “Anything tying you down to this place Rob?”

“Other than I like my job?  No, not really.”

“I don’t mean here at work; I mean here in this city.”

“No.  All my family is here, but that’s all.  Why?”

“Mr. Blankenship is going to open another dealership in New Mexico and he wants a few people from here to help him get it up and running.  I thought that since you are single and don’t own a home that it would be easy for you to pick up and make the move.  We would pay for the cost of the move and pay the first three months rent on where you choose to live when you get there.”

I didn’t have to spend any time al all thinking on it.  It would take me away from Michelle, Nancy and any possible problems with Jessica and her mother.  It would make dating easier because the pool of prospective dates wouldn’t be tainted as was the pool here.  By ‘tainted’ I mean the attitudes of a lot of the girls I wanted to date.  There were a lot I asked out who turned me down because I was ‘Mickey’s guy” or because they knew that Nancy had set her sights on me.  Some of them even thought I was not ‘stable enough’ to be considered because of the way I had treated poor Michelle and taken up with that tramp Jessica.

A move would be a fresh start.  “When do I leave?”

“We need to work out the details, but I’d say next Monday.”

“I’ll start packing.”

I spent the rest of the week after work doing what needed to be done like telling the apartment manager that I was moving out, arranging to shut off the phone and electricity and putting a hold on my mail pending forwarding it to a new address.  I called Rich and asked him to meet me after work for a beer and when we met I made him promise not to tell Bev and then I told him what was going on.

“I don’t want Bev to know until Sunday because I don’t want to give her time to get with Mick or Nancy and let them know or give her time to set something up.  I’ll stop by your place Sunday afternoon and tell you both what’s happening.  I’ll tell mom and dad tonight and swear then to secrecy also.”

“Aren’t you being a little extreme?  Just talk to Mickey and Nancy.  No need to move.”

“I need a change Rich.  It won’t matter if I talk to Michelle and Nancy or not; they would still be around and I’d always be running into them.  And then there is Alicia and her daughter Jessica.  There could be a problem there that I can avoid by being gone.  Plus there are some other reasons.  One is the job itself.  They must think well of me to consider me for this and that might play into something.  I just think that it is the thing to do right now.  I can always move back if things don’t work out.”

Mom and dad weren’t all that happy, but they understood where I was coming from and why I felt I needed to make the move.

By Sunday noon I was all packed and ready to go.  I called Alicia and told her what was going on.

“So you don’t have to worry about anything happening between me and Jess.  You take care and remember me okay?”

“When do you leave?”

“First thing Monday morning.”

“Where are you going to spend tonight?”

“In a motel.”

“Oh no you won’t!  I’ll have dinner on the table at six.  Be here.”

I swung by Rich’s and pretended that I was telling Rich for the first time that I was moving.  Bev asked:

“How long have you known you were going to be leaving?”

“Since Friday afternoon.  They asked me last Monday, but it took me until Friday to make up my mind to do it.”

“Why didn’t you tell us Friday so we could have set up a going away party for you?”

“Didn’t think of it.  I had so much to do to get ready to go that time kind of got away from me.  As it is I didn’t get everything I needed to do done until around noon today.  I have to be there in the morning so I’ll need to leave in about an hour.  Wouldn’t have had time for a party any way.”

  Half an hour later I hugged them both and headed for Alicia’s.  As usual she did her absolute best to fuck me to death.  In the morning she gave me ‘one for the road’ and told me that she was going to miss me.  I kissed Alicia goodbye and an hour later I was in a U-Haul truck loaded with everything I had and pulling a trailer that had my Mustang on it.

++++++++++++++++++++

The next two years went by in a rush.  The first six months were taken up in setting up the dealership and getting the service department up and running smoothly.

I found an apartment fairly close to work and it had a pool and an exercise room so I was pretty much set.  There were several single girls who lived in the complex and I met quite a few of them in the exercise room and around the pool.  I dated a few of them, bedded a couple, but never found one that made me want to pursue her.  There were five women working at the dealership; three married and two single and I did date both of the single ones, but again, no spark that made me want to develop anything long term.

The closest I came to anything long term was a friends with benefits relationship with the barmaid at the Hitching Post which was a country/western bar a few blocks down the street from the dealership.  It started when I stopped in there one night for a beer before going home to watch Thursday night football on the TV.  I’d been in there a dozen or so times and Becky knew me and knew where I worked.

 On that particular night she asked me what I did at the dealership and I told her then she told me that her car made a terrible screeching sound when she hit her brakes.

“Any idea what it might be?”

“Most likely worn out brakes.  Sounds like they are so bad that they are making metal to metal contact.”

“Rats!  Just what I need; another damned problem that I can’t afford to fix.”

“Give me your keys and I’ll take a look at it.”

Her brake pads were so worn that the metal backing was eating into the rotor.  I don’t know why I did it other than I liked her, but I gave her the keys to my car and told her I’d fix her car on my lunch hour the next day.  I got the parts at cost and it only took me forty-five minutes to do the brake job and when I was done she had new pads and rotors.  That night when I gave her back her keys she asked:  “How much do I owe you?”

“Nothing.  Consider it a tip.”

She gave me a long look and asked, “How long has it been since you have had a home cooked meal?”

“Quite a while.”

“I’m off Monday and Tuesday so how about you planning on having dinner at my place and after dinner we can watch Monday Night Football.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Becky was a very good cook, but we never got to watch football.  After I’d finished eating she asked:

“Ready for dessert?”

“I patted my stomach and said, “I don’t believe I left enough room in there for dessert.”

“Oh I think you can handle this” she said as she walked over to the fridge and got out a can of Cool Whip.  She unbuttoned her blouse, unsnapped her bra and pull some Cool Whip on each nipple and then stood there looking at me with a “Come and get it “smile on her face.  It was a long night and we did it again in the morning.

Becky made it clear that she was not looking for a husband.

  “I’ve been married twice and it never worked out.  I guess I’m just not the marrying kind.  However I do like sex, but I’m not interested in a bunch of one night stands.  Could you stand having a bed buddy who is never going to be any more than a bed buddy?”

Indeed I could and from then on Becky and I got together two or three times a week.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

I called my folks once a week and maybe once every two weeks or so I called Rich and he brought me up to date with what was happening at home.  Nancy found a guy and got engaged.  They saw Jessica from time to time and never with the same guy twice.

 I got an invitation in the mail to attend Mickey’s graduation and I tossed it into the trash can.

I took a weeks vacation after my first year and went back to visit.  Rich and Bev had a barbecue for just family and I almost didn’t go until Rich assured me that it would be just family.  I went and it was.

I called Alicia while I was there just to say hi and she told me that she was engaged to be married to a pretty nice guy and I wished her well.

I’d been back to work three months when I got the word that made me smile.  I know that it isn’t nice to be happy over some one else’s misfortune, but I just couldn’t help it.  North had been drafted in the second round by the Arizona Cardinals and in his very first practice scrimmage he had blown out his knee.  I wasn’t so much glad that his pro career was over before it started or that he was hurt as I was happy to hear the Michelle’s gravy train had been derailed.

It was on the second anniversary of my move that Rich called me and told me that our graduating class was organizing a picnic as sort of an impromptu five year reunion and he wanted to know if I could make it.  I told him that I didn’t think so, but over the course of a week and two dozen phone calls from him and Bev I finally caved and said I would attend.  I knew that Mickey would be there, but it had been two years since I’d last seen her and I was pretty sure that she had moved on since then.  I doubted that I’d have to be ducking her to avoid talking.

Rich and Bev offered their spare bedroom, but even though I expected that Mickey had moved on I wouldn’t have put it past Bev to meddle and invite Mickey over while I was staying with them so I opted to stay with mom and dad.

When I arrived at the park there were all ready twenty or thirty from our graduating class there.  I helped Rich drag three picnic tables together and I was sitting there with Bev, Rich, Tom, Sally, Ralph and Wanda when Nancy showed up with a guy I’d never seen before.  Five minutes later Mickey arrived and joined the group.  I was at the east end of the table and she took a seat at the west end.  I was surprised when after about ten minutes no one had joined her.

About a half hour later I was in a friendly argument with Tom and Ralph over vehicles.  I was a Ford mechanic, Ralph worked for the local Chevy dealer and Tom was a dyed in the wool Dodge man.  I wasn’t paying any attention when someone sat down on my right.  Suddenly I felt something cold and metallic on my right wrist and heard a click.  I looked to my right and saw Mickey sitting there and then I looked at my right wrist and saw that she had handcuffed herself to me.

“You can’t run away from me now Rob.  You have to talk to me if you want the key.”

I looked around and saw Bev, Rich, Nancy and a couple of others smiling at me.  I had been set up.  I could have ranted and raved and created a scene that would have disrupted the affair, but I decided that it wouldn’t be worth it,

“So go ahead Michelle and talk.  I can’t get away, but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to listen.”

“I’ll take my chances.  It is kind of private so can we go sit in your car or mine?”

“I don’t think so.  I don’t want to go that far handcuffed to you.”

I looked around and spotted an empty picnic table about a hundred yards away with no one close to it and said:

“That will work for privacy.”

She shrugged and said, “Let’s go.”  We walked over to the table and sat down and I said:

“Okay Michelle, go.”

“The one thing I want you to keep in mind as you hear me out is that I love you and I always have.  Please Rob, don’t ever doubt that.  That said I have to say that I have not always been a very nice person.  I have always been selfish; always a ‘me first’ person.  A person who wanted her cake and to eat it too.  And I am kind of possessive.  I always considered that you were mine and I wasn’t ever going to share you with anyone, but at the same time I felt free to do what I pleased. 

“You didn’t know it, but every time I went to visit my grandparents I had some one watching you to make sure that you were true to me while at the same time I dated one of the local boys.  Don’t ask me why I thought it was all right for me but not you because I don’t honestly know.  It was just a case of your being mine so no one else could have you.

“Another bad thing about me is that I was very materialistic.  My dad worked his ass off to take care of us and while we never went without we never did have much extra.  We were always having to watch what we spent.  It was always having to scrimp for what we wanted.  Always pinching pennies, looking for sales so we could save a dime here and a quarter there.  I wanted more out of life than that.  I didn’t want to sweat and worry about watching every dime when I wanted something.

“I thought I had the best of both worlds with you.  A person I loved and who was going to make big money playing pro ball.  Then you dropped the bomb on me about not going to college and instead intended to be a mechanic.  All I could see in front of me was a life that was the same as I had been living and wanted to get away from.  I decided that I was going to have to look for someone who had more ambition and who was going to amount to something.  At the same time I wanted you because I loved you.  I knew that you loved me so I assumed that even though I was going to marry some one for money that you would still be there for me.  To repeat myself; I would have my cake and get to eat it too.

“There was a boy I dated when I went to Cartersville and he was from a very wealthy family so I set my sights on him.  We went at it hot and heavy and I thought for sure I had him when I got pregnant.  It wasn’t supposed to happen because I was on the pill and we always used condoms.  No matter, he got me pregnant so he had to marry me right?  Wrong!  He laughed at me and said it wasn’t his and that it must be the kid of one of my other lovers.  When I asked what other lovers he said he had no idea, but if I was cheating on you with him I was probably cheating on you with others also.  Anyway, I ended up having an abortion.

“When I went away to college Stan started trying to date me and when I saw that he had a damned good shot at making the pros I started dating him.  Again it was a case of me expecting to always have you regardless of me hooking up with someone else.  Unreasonable I know now, but back then I was full of myself and my attitude was that if I wanted it to happen then that is the way it was going to be. 

“Then you confronted me and I made my stupid speech about not wanting to tie myself down with someone who wasn’t going to be going anywhere.  You shocked me when you dumped me and started going out with other girls.  It wasn’t supposed to happen that way.  You loved me.  You were always going to be there for me.

“It took me a bit to realize that Stan was an asshole and losing you over him was just plain stupid and that I’d rather have you and live the life my parents lived than not have you.  I tried to get you to talk to me so I could tell you that, but you would never let me.  Bev tried to get us together but you always ran.  She was supposed to let me know when you were coming home, but you never told anyone ahead of time you were coming and by the time Bev got to me to let me know you were here you had already gone back.  I was getting desperate so Bev and I cooked up this five year reunion thing and prayed that you would come back for it.  The handcuffs to keep you from running was Rich’s idea.”

When she finished talking I said, “So just what are you expecting out of this?”

“I’m hoping that we can pick up where we left off.”

“I don’t see how Mick.  I live seven hundred miles away and I’m not going to be driving back two or three times a week to date and I just can’t see a relationship working if I only come back once a month or so.”

“You won’t have to Rob.  I’ll move to you.”

“You would leave your job, your friends and your family?”

“They are here Rob; you aren’t.  Yes, I would leave everything behind to be with you.”

I didn’t know what to say.  I had loved Mickey for what seemed like forever, but I had tried hard to put her behind me.  Now here she was offering herself to me on a platter.  If I took her up on her offer could we make a go of it or would all the bad thoughts I’d had about the things she’d done stay with me and get in the way.  I didn’t know what to do.  I just didn’t know.

“What are you thinking” she asked and I told her.

“What if you give up everything here, move and then things don’t work out what then?”

“It is a chance that I have to take Rob.”

I looked at her and then over at the table where the others were sitting watching us expectantly.  It would be a gamble, but then wasn’t all of life a gamble?

I looked at her and said, “How soon can you be packed?”