By Cincinnatus (Leo_and_Beth@linuxmail.org)
Copyright © 2018
Story Codes (no sex)
After Venetia was dropped off at home, she had to rush to get changed, and grab her bag and lunch before heading to the middle school. It was summer break, but she was spending her weeks helping Miss Summers with teaching summer school. Joyce Summers taught math to 7th and 8th graders, and since Venetia has better than average at math, the two of them taught some 12 year olds over the summer who were struggling with it.
It was midday, and after a morning of helping kids understand scientific notation, Venetia was starving. Even though Venetia and Miss Summers were great friends outside of school -- Miss Summers was only 26, one of the youngest teachers in the area -- they still had to eat separately. Venetia in the student cafeteria and Miss Summers in faculty break room. So Venetia was eating lunch with one of her other friends, Laurel.
Laurel was another girl going into her senior year, like Venetia. She was working part time as a lifeguard at the pool; luckily two the girl's lunch times were the same. Normally they would sit and spend so much time talking about tv shows and music and fashion that they'd have to rush to wolf down their food. But today Laurel seemed preoccupied.
Venetia sat and watched as her friend nibbled at her tomato and cucumber sandwich. "What's up?" she asked her.
Laurel looked up, "you mean you haven't heard?" Her expression was sour.
"Heard what?" Venetia asked through a mouthful of potato salad.
Laurel sighed heavily, and glanced towards the other end of the cafeteria where the gaggle of middle schoolers sat. Of course none of the younger kids wanted anything to do with the older girls, and clustered away from them.
"It's about Jack."
Venetia cringed inwardly. Jack was Laurel's fiancee. Not that she had picked him; Both her and Jack's families where Davintian. Jack and Laurel had been told when they were 13 that they would marry each other, to help join their two families together.
"What did he do? Do I even want to know?" Venetia asked.
"You," Laurel said with a bit of emphasis, "probably won't think anything of it. But," Again, she looked down the room to the younger kids, before leaning in to say softly, "he got caught with Oceana."
"Who?"
"Oceana. One of my cousins from out of town. Third or Fourth, once removed, something like that. She and her parents were visiting over the weekend. They stayed at Jake's parent's place."
Venetia waited a moment for her friend to continue. When she didn't, she prompted: "He caught with her doing." She raised her eyebrow as she trailed off.
Laurel just sat for a moment, then said quietly, "having sex."
Venetia sat there. Laurel had been raised thinking that sex was only something that married people do. If you've been reading along, you know that is not how Venetia had been raised. Both girls knew about the other's attitude towards sex, and had left it as just one of things that was different between them. In fact, Venetia liked having friends were sex wasn't a thing. Still, Venetia didn't know what to say, and sat there with her mouth agape.
Laurel eventually filled the silence. "You probably think it's awesome. Woo Hoo, hooray for Jake, getting laid." She looked away sullenly.
"Hell no!" Venetia said, a little too loud. She hunched down and waited for Susie Dawson at the other table to go back to her PB&J. "Laurie, if the two of you were supposed to be waiting, and he didn't...that's not cool."
"I thought you're okay with people sleep with whoever they want."
"I am, but not like this. And anyways, it's not about me. It's about you and him, and what you agreed to."
"What our parents agreed to," Laurel corrected her.
"Yeah, right. So how much trouble did he get into?"
Laurel looked like something had bit her, then when she answered her voice shook. "Hardly any."
"Why?" was all Venetia could ask.
"'He was just releasing the tension of being a young man' is what they told me. Oceana got in a lot of trouble; didn't see her the all day Sunday. I'm pretty sure they blamed her for it."
"That's fucked up," Venetia said softly, so the middle schoolers couldn't hear.
"Venny!!" Laurel balked at the language, glancing at the younger kids.
"Well, it is. It takes two to tango, ya know."
"I know you know," Laurel interjected.
"Stop changing the subject. Yeah, I fuck a lot, but this is about fuckin' Jake. Anyways, can't you talk to the cleric, or your parents, or his, or fucking someone?" Venetia felt exasperated for her friend. Most of the people in the town around Baroness DeHaviland's estate shared the Lady's view on sex: that it was just something that people did, and that you were happier the more you did it. But there was a cluster of families that followed the Davintin clerics and their. different. views on sex.
"I asked brother Harold," Laurel said. Brother Harold was one of the younger clerics, from what Venetia had heard. "He said there's not really anything to punish him about. Our folks are pretty literal on the scriptures."
The two girls held each other gaze, until Laurel remember that Venetia probably didn't know the scripture in question.
"'No woman shall lay with a man outside of the marriage bed. A woman who lays with a man not her husband shall be guilty of the sin of adultery, and shall do penance' blah blah blah. So yeah, all Oceana's fault." Laurel jammed sandwich into her mouth.
Venetia leaned over and whispered "like I said, the whole thing is fucked up." Then she took a big bite of salad. Lunch was almost over, and the girls still had food to eat.
As they ate, Venetia blurted out, "so how'd they git caught?"
Laurel answered matter of factly between bites of sandwich. "Broke 'is bunk bed. Had to yell for help because the top landed on them and they couldn't move. So the whole household found them naked as babes, with his...dick...still in her."
"Wow!"
"I know...if it weren't for the fact that Oceana's disgraced her family, and all that...it'd probably be pretty funny."
Venetia said after a moment, as they were cleaning up, "You know, Laurie, you're one of my best friends; maybe my best friend. But I gotta say, your fiance is, well."
"He's a jerk. I know. If it weren't for the whole engagement thing I'd just as soon never talk to him."
Venetia smiled, and said "I was gonna say asshole, but okay."
As they were walking to their respective jobs, Laurel said, "Venny, hey, find me after we're done. I'd like to talk more."
"Sure thing, Laurie!"
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