A NEW YEAR 
 
Mark had not enjoyed New Year's Eve since the year in high school when he and 
Buddy waited outside the liquor store and scored a bottle of gin a college guy 
bought for them. Since then, he'd gone to polite parties, made uneasy 
chitchat, and left alone soon after midnight. 
 
Still, Mark had been glad when Buddy phoned him at the dorm. New Year's party 
at Greg's house. Sure, why not? Now, as he drove down the hill toward Greg's, 
Mark began his pre-party confidence rap: 
 
Weight: check. Actually I'm thin right now. Tall, dark and thin. Hair looks 
good. Sharp new sweater. Remember to drink the first beer fast. Be loose. 
Smile. Circulate. Meet all available women. Look into their eyes, deeply, 
deeply. You are irresistible, sensitve, patient--oh, so patient. Hell, I was 
patient with Dora. Left high school a virgin. Wish I'd stayed one after laying 
that nympho Margaret while Will watched. Okay, this party isn't a swap meet, 
just the old gang looking for a good time. And this year, I am going to have a 
good time!! 
 
And it wasn't a bad time at all. Ten guys, ten women, about half couples, half 
singles. Mark downed three beers trading notes with the guys, and then found 
himself warmly reminiscing with Sue, his first date ever in junior high. Sue 
was majoring in forestry at UC Davis and had been seeing a guy named Robert 
for more than a year. That revelation made Mark both time-conscious and guilty 
that he was losing interest in Sue's story. 
 
Mark politely disengaged, then wandered into a conversation with Buddy and 
Janet, seldom shall they part, Walter and Vivian, and Elaine. 
 
Elaine. A monument, Elaine. Nearly straight A's in high school, friendly but 
aloof. Promising curves. Dark, curly hair. A too-understanding look. Mark had 
not been ready for an Elaine, and now, as he glanced up at her, a sensation of 
chilling anxiety overwhelmed him. 
 
Elaine was not smiling at him the way people smile at parties. She was smiling 
as if he had returned from the seas, as if ... 
 
"I was hoping you'd be here, Mark." 
 
(Okay, get it together. Steady, steady. Smile. Good.) "It's great to see you 
Elaine. How's Berkeley?" 
 
Unbelievable. The others were wandering off. Elaine walked up to him, The 
Smile playing across her soft, wise face. "Berkeley has its moments, but I 
want to know about you. Let's sit down somewhere." 
 
Detour for beer. A couch. Elaine: "Mark, I don't want to make you uptight, but 
I promised myself this if you were at the party, so here it goes. In high 
school, I always hoped you'd take me out. I was too shy to do anything about 
it, or about dating at all. I know we're different now, but maybe we can leave 
early and find out about each other. 
 
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Twenty after midnight. Mark and Elaine at Howard Johnson's, ignoring burgers. 
Mark, wondering whether he's simply digging being wanted or whether the 
incredible pull he's feeling toward Elaine is real. She tells him about her 
two lovers, her two breakups, the pressure of her studies, the longing she 
feels for a relationship with all the trimmings--care, support, sharing. 
There's no question about the entree. 
 
Mark relates his non-history candidly. "Dora and I were shy, even after a 
year. I think our shyness about sex kept us from getting close in other ways. 
At UCLA it's been a lot of studying, a few dates and that magic encounter with 
Margaret. But this is going to be my year." 
 
"Do you know what you want, Mark? What's your image?" 
 
"Equal parts libido and friendship. She's a bit overwhelmed taking care of her 
Uncle Fred's summer home at Malibu. She spots me one day as I'm handily 
repairing the dorm bike rack. She asks me if I can lend her a hand at the 
beach. The beginning of an epoch." 
 
Elaine, smiling and shaking her head with delight: "My folks are in Hawaii and 
one of the kitchen cabinet doors is loose. Want to tempt fate?" 
 
In the front door two steps and locked in a clinch. Elaine's lips like melting 
butter, her tongue gently inquisitive. Mark's hands wildly stroking her back, 
her sides, her ass. Elaine, clutching at his shoulders, rubbing his hair. 
 
On the floor, frenching, tearing off each other's clothes. His tongue rolling 
through neck hollow and down, into the valley of her breasts, now up, reveling 
in the firmness of her left nipple. She moans as he sucks, hard, his right 
hand moving to her other breast, stroking, kneading, pressing and rolling the 
nipple. His left hand finds her hot and moist. His middle finger probes, 
joined by an index finger with radar for her clit. Her moans become higher, 
shorter bursts that spur him to stronger movements with his fingers, harder 
stroking with his tongue as he sucks. With a sustained scream Elaine arches 
and comes. 
 
Mark has never felt so virile, competent and hot. Resting on an elbow, waiting 
for Elaine's panting to subside, he focuses on his cock. (Fuck her, you're 
gonna fuck her hard, fuck her, fuck her.) It's turning him on too much. He 
shakes off the sensation and blurts: "Pill, you on the pill?" 
 
"Yes, and no diseases. If you have any problems, say so fast," and she slides 
around to his ramrod and takes the head in her mouth, rolling her tongue 
around it, sucking. Mark lets out a loud "aaaaaaaaah!!" and reaches for her 
ass. He pushes her to him and plunges his tongue into her. She is slowly 
moving her lips up and down on him, grabbing handfulls of his ass. Mark's 
going to pop soon, but he is light years beyond restraint. Unbelievably, she 
rolls under him, and says, "Go." Mark manages four strokes and explodes. 
 
In the shower together. Mark: "Why me, Elaine?" 
 
"I liked your mind, and I thought you were cute. I fantasized about you. I 
can't believe it's happening like this." 
 
"Shut your eyes, Elaine." Kneeling down to her, tongue on her, in her, the hot 
water playing on his back, her taste and silkiness and the return of her moans 
reawakening him. Thinking he could die this way. 
 
"Mark, it's so intense! Let's dry each other off." 
 
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% 
 
As he tamped at Elaine, Mark was struck by the whiteness of her skin and the 
beauty of her breasts, large, firm and crowned by delicate pink tits, hard 
nipples. Her hand reached for him, found him ready. "Perfect," she said. They 
both laughed as his cock bobbed. 
 
In bed. In Elaine. Enjoying self-control, and her moans, her soft walls, her 
breasts, her. Steady, serious strokes. Elaine's feet up and around him. "Give 
it to me Mark, do it." Mindsnap. Banging, pumping, fucking her, hard. More, 
more. Fucking, fucking, and that scream again, high and sustained. Mark felt 
the come rising. He slammed again, again,  as hard as he could, his mind 
flashing vivid emerald patterns as an incredible spurt surged through him and 
his screams joined Elaine's. Mark blasted and yelled, felt turned inside out, 
saw colors never seen, felt pleasure beyond imagination, and then, still 
pumping and never wanting to stop, he snapped clear. There lay Elaine, gasping 
and smiling, still moving with him. Their eyes gently engaged and they held 
each other tightly as the aftershocks subsided.