Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2003 22:18:05 -0700 From: RC in Sacramento Subject: Becka the Beast, Chapter 20 Chapter 20*** On Saturday Becka insisted on being put on the same chore schedule as the rest of the family, and took her first turn at mowing the lawn. It was Becka's turn to clean the pool, and as she did so she kept a protective eye on the older girl, as she pushed the heavy mower around the backyard. With a little help from their father to show her how it was done, Becka had already finished the front lawn, and was beginning to show the strain. Gia had worried that her headstrong lover would push herself too far too soon, and judging by the stiff way she was moving she had been right. Gia put the pool sweeper aside and called out to the older girl. "Hey, Becka! Time to take a break," but her only answer was a shake of the sweaty blond head. The jutting jaw and stubborn look told Gia more than words that Becka wouldn't listen to reason. A scowl briefly marred her pretty face, but it broke into a grin when inspiration suddenly struck. Without another word Gia turned around and sprinted for the patio door. Once inside Gia raced upstairs into her and Becka's room, where she quickly shed her clothes and threw them untidily on one of the beds. By the time she came back down again she was wearing her tiniest bikini, a white colored number that stood out against her brown skin like cream on chocolate. She also had a beach towel over one shoulder, and a pair of mirrored Ray Bans covered her eyes. She looked damned good, and she knew it. Becka stopped the lawnmower when the bag needed changing, and stood up to stretch. She winced at the ache of sore muscles, and heard the pop of tendons. She used the back of her hand to wipe the sweat from her eyes, and tried not to let her rubbery legs shake so much that Gia would notice. Becka was hurting, but she never once thought about quitting. She didn't know if she had been born stubborn, or if it was a survival trait she had developed over her years with Ralph. But wherever she had gotten it, it was now as much a part of her as the color of her eyes. She saw this as a test, as a proof that she could pull her own weight in this family, and wasn't a charity case. Of course she never thought of it that way, but inside she couldn't help feeling that she always had to prove herself. As she stood there trying to catch her breath, she was puzzled when she looked over to the pool and couldn't at first see Gia working there. But then her gaze narrowed and a grin started to tug at the corners of her mouth, as she saw the near naked figure lying on the chaise lounge. Gia was drinking from a tall glass of iced tea, her eyes hidden behind mirrored lenses, and appeared totally unaware of her audience. Yeah, right. With that strange insight the two young lovers had developed, Becka knew instinctively what Gia was planning, and couldn't wait for the coming show. As she bent down to detach the catcher full of grass clippings from the mower, Becka kept an attentive watch on the other girl out of the corner of her eye. She had a perfect front row view when Gia set her glass down and rose languorously from the chaise, stretching her lithe young body in an apparently unconscious display that managed to showcase every delicious curve to her delighted audience. Becka felt her mouth go dry, as she fought the sudden urge to moan out loud. She tried to concentrate on the job as she attempted to empty the grass clippings into a plastic garbage bag, but gave it up as hopeless when Gia produced a bottle of tanning oil. No longer even pretending, she stood there and watched openly as her tiny lover rubbed the gleaming lotion slowly over her skin, the reflected sun now highlighting every soft inch of it. She felt one case of tension slowly replaced by another, as a hunger Gia always inspired began to rise inside of her. Without even thinking about it, she found herself being pulled towards the patio and the little bronzed woman who waited there for her. Gia finally looked up as Becka approached, pretending to see her for the first time. In fact though she had been watching her all along with the aid of the sunglasses. When Becka stood in front of her with her arms crossed and giving her that wry look that Gia loved so well, she knew that the other girl was on to her. Which didn't mean that she wouldn't play along, of course. "Oh, Becka, I'm so glad you decided to take a break. I need someone to rub lotion on my back. And parts of my front, too. Do you want some tea, first?" Becka looked down, and saw that there was a pitcher of tea and another tall glass full of ice on the ground next to the chaise. Gia must have been pretty sure of herself, she thought. She knew she'd have to take her down a notch, and the sight of the ice filled glass was giving her an idea how. As Gia lay face down on the lounge and undid the ties of her bikini top, Becka filled the glass of ice with tea and held it in both of her hands, letting it drain all of the heat from her palms. When she felt that her hands were sufficiently cold enough, she raised the glass to her lips and started drinking. One swallow of the sweet liquid was all it took to make her realize just how thirsty she was, and before she knew it she had drained almost half of the glass in one drought. The sudden cold rush struck her dizzy for a minute, and she had to stop to catch her breath. Okay, so maybe Gia had been right, maybe she had been pushing herself too hard and needed a break. And maybe she should let her icy hands warm up before she started spreading lotion all over Gia's back. "Hey, little girl, hurry it up! Momma's skin is beginning to burn. Get your big butt over here and oil me up." Then again... Half an hour later, Becka returned to her chore to finish mowing the backyard. She was well rested, and had a grin on her face. * * * Later that afternoon Sammie came over and the three girls hung out at the pool, where they swam and sunned themselves and gossiped for a couple of hours. Most of the rest of the family had drifted away on their usual Saturday business, except for Phil who was spending the afternoon doing paperwork in his office. The trio eventually ended up in the girls' room, where Gia announced that she had to clean out her closet to make more room for Becka's things. When Becka pointed out that all of her 'things' were already in the closet with room to spare, Gia waved off the comment saying that she would soon need more. Pretty soon all three girls were pawing through years worth of girl clothes, most of which hadn't been worn in ages. After a while all of Gia's clothing lay scattered about the room, as if a closet bomb had exploded when someone opened the door. There appeared to be no order or pattern to the way they had been spread out, but looks were deceiving. There were actually three distinct piles; Keep, Good Will, and Never Let Anybody See. The last category contained out of style fashion disasters and children's clothes that Gia hadn't worn since she was little. It seemed she had never gotten into the habit of throwing things out. "God, I can't believe you actually wore culottes! And hey, is this a Catholic school uniform?" Sammie came out of the now almost empty closet, holding the offending garments and waving them around like trophies. Becka looked up and saw Gia scowling. "Third pile, Sammie. Definitely third pile!" "Hey, Gia, you never told me you were in Catholic school," Becka said, trying to picture her lover in one of the demure uniforms. She grinned, and realized for the first time why guys found the getups so sexy. "Well, it was a long time ago, and I only went one year." "Wow, that's so weird. You in a school run by a bunch of nuns. I mean, I just can't picture you letting someone rap you over the knuckles with a ruler." "Actually, I didn't. That's why I only went for one year. Then Mom and Dad decided that I should try public school." She said this nonchalantly, appearing totally absorbed in her task of folding clothes and putting them into paper bags for storage. But Becka knew her way too well for that to work. She knew that inside Gia was getting all squirmy about the subject, and wanted to know why. "What do you mean, you didn't put up with it?" Sammie said, as she sat on the bed and started taking the three uniforms off their hangers and folding them, carefully setting them aside. She had a little sister who would probably fit these, and Georgie would look so cute in them, too. "What did you do?" "Yeah, Gia, tell us. Did you get in a fight with a nun, or something?" Becka had asked the question facetiously, but her eyes went wide when she saw how it made the other girl blush. "Oh my God, you did! Gia, you punched a nun!" "No! I didn't punch anybody, I just...kinda tripped one." Sammie was staring at Gia in utter shock, her eyes wide and her hand clapped over her mouth. But Becka had sat down on the floor and was holding her sides, laughing out loud in delight. Gia crossed her arms and looked irritated. "So do you want to hear this story or not?" she demanded. And in seconds she had an enrapt audience. * * * Okay, when I started fourth grade, Mom and Dad decided that I needed more discipline in my life, so they enrolled me in this school run by this denomination of really strict nuns. They all wore those old fashioned kind of habits, you know, the type are so heavy they look like they were made out of blankets. Anyway, there was this one nun named sister Mary Alice, who picked on me constantly. I don't know, maybe I started it, maybe I was disrespectful or talked too much in class. It's been too many years now to be sure. All I really remember is that she and I did not like each other at all. She had this habit of walking up and down the aisles with a rolled up bunch of papers, and if she thought you weren't studying hard enough she would slap you on the back of the head with it. She used to do that with me a lot, even when I had my mouth shut and actually was studying. I'm telling you it's true, that woman really had it in for me! Anyway one day I'd just had enough. So when she tried to hit me again, I spun around and grabbed those papers out of her hand and then I threw them back in her face. She was so startled she backed up down the aisle, and everybody started to laugh at her. But then she got mad and grabbed me by the ear, and dragged me out of class to the Reverend Mother's office. I swear, she was pulling on my ear so hard I thought it would come off! We were out in the hallway about halfway there when I just got sick and tired of being dragged around like that. At that time Dad and the boys had already been teaching me about karate for a whole year, so I knew a few tricks that Sister Mary Alice didn't. So I reached up and grabbed her wrist to get some leverage, and then I stuck out my foot and kind of threw her over it. You know the move, Becka, I taught it to you already. I remember Sister Mary Alice made this squeaking sound just before she hit, and then this whoomping noise that people make when all the air is forced out of their lungs. I probably shouldn't have stepped on her when I ran, but she was between me and the door, so that part was her fault. They found me an hour later hiding in the gym, and they took me to the Reverend Mother's office. She and Sister Mary Alice tried to scare me to death, telling me that I had committed all sorts of sins and that I deserved to go to hell, and on and on for about a half an hour. I was scared, but I was also just too mad to back down. So when Reverend Mother finally stopped long enough to ask me what I had to say for myself, I told her. And I guess she didn't like it very much. So while Sister Mary Alice and another nun held me down, Reverend Mother hiked up my skirt, pulled down my panties, and whipped my butt with this hickory rod she kept behind the desk. I screamed so loud my throat was raw. What, don't look at me like that! I know that corporal punishment in schools is illegal, it was illegal then, too. But a lot of the religious schools still kept doing it for a long time. I guess everybody was too afraid to report it. She hit me so hard that she cut me with that thing. Close your mouth, Sammie, you look like somebody stepped on your tail. And Becka, stop scowling, this was a long time ago. Anyway she called Mom and Dad and while she was talking to them she locked me in her office. So I trashed the place. I tipped over her chairs, and emptied her trash can, and threw every book and piece of paper I could find all over the floor. And when Reverend Mother finally unlocked the door and led Mom and Dad in, I was standing there in all of that mess with this stubborn glare on my face, which was kind of spoiled because my butt still hurt and I had tears running down my cheeks. Well Reverend Mother took one look at that office and started screaming at me again and calling me an evil child and stuff, but I guess my Mom knew me better that that. She got down on one knee and looked me in the eye, and in this soft voice that wasn't mad at all, she just asked me why I had made all of this mess. I couldn't say anything, I guess my throat was just too choked up to talk, so I turned around and hiked up my skirt and showed them all the red marks on my bare ass. I had already taken my underwear off because I didn't want to get blood all over them, so Mom and Daddy got a real clear look at what Reverend Mother had done to me. And that's when the shit really hit the fan. Becka, you know how protective of us Oso is? Well, I was only eight years old back then, so multiply that by about ten. It looked like he was about to start breaking things, but Mom beat him to it. You know, that was the first time I'd ever seen my Mom really mad, but I'd seen the same look on Bobby's face a couple of times. Dad, George and Johnny, when they get mad they shout and storm about and break things. But Mom and Bobby, they just got this hard, cold, scary look in their face. Mom was trying not to scare me, though, and so she helped me put my panties back on and then had me wait in the other room with Dad. I guess Oso had finally figured out he couldn't hit a nun, 'cause he left without arguing. He sat on a couch and held me in his lap the whole time, not saying a word, just rocking me like he used to do when I was a little baby. To this day I don't know what Mom said to the Reverend Mother while Dad and I waited, but when they finally came out the old biddy was as white as a sheet. Nobody said anything, but Mom and Dad each took one of my hands and led me out of there, and I never went back. A couple of days later I was back in public school, and those uniforms have been in the back of my closet ever since. * * * Gia ended her story and looked at her audience, waiting for their response. Sammie could only stare at her, wide eyed, as if she was having trouble believing that so much controversy could possibly come from such a tiny package. But Becka was looking at her with a slow grin spreading on her lips, and a shine in her eyes that made Gia feel like the center of the universe. She had seen that same look on her lover's face often, and the raw adoration always left her feeling both shy and excited. Gia squirmed on the bed, a familiar warmth suddenly blossoming between her thighs. She was beginning to wish that Sammie would go home, and leave her alone with her beautiful blonde 'sister'. "Wow, that is such a cool story! So were you and your family, like, excommunicated or something? Did they ever let you go back to church?" Gia laughed at Sammie's question. "No, silly, it doesn't work like that! Only the Pope can excommunicate you. But we did stop going to church regularly. Oh, we still go to mass on Christmas and Easter, and last year we celebrated my Quinceanera, but that's just about it." Becka frowned, a furrow forming between her beautiful blue eyes. "What's a quin...quincy...what you said." "'Quinceanera'. What, don't you guys know what that is?" Becka looked at Sammie, who looked back and gave her a shrug. Becka turned to Gia and said, "Nope." Gia snorted. "Anglo girls. You don't know anything. Okay, a Quinceanera is a right of passage thing, when a Hispanic girl is supposed to officially come of age. It's like a sweet sixteen party, only it happens on our fifteenth birthday, and we take it much more seriously. At my Quinceanera, I officially stopped being a child and became a woman." Becka grinned mischievously. "Hey, I thought I was the one who did that!" Gia threw a rolled up sock at her. "Don't talk vulgar, you're embarrassing Sammie. Look, until her Quinceanera, a Spanish girl isn't allowed to date, or wear makeup or even wear high heels. She's considered a child. But that all changes on the day she turns fifteen, and to us it's one of the most important days of our lives, second only to our wedding day. Here, let me show you something." Gia got up and moved over to her closet, where she pulled out the last item still hanging there. It was an opaque dress bag, and when Gia laid it on the bed and opened it up, the other two girls clustered around to see what it contained. Inside was a dress of pure and delicate pink, a gown made of silk and chiffon, with a delicate pattern of flowers in gold thread embroidered on. It was so beautiful that the other two girls made sounds of awe, as Gia reverently took it from the bag. "Quinceanera dresses are like wedding dresses, you only get to wear it once. But they're so expensive that they're usually passed down from generation to generation. This one was worn by my grandma, and then my Mom, and my aunt Jesseniah and my cousin Alvia. And then me. And someday, it'll be worn by my daughter at her Quinceanera." Sammie was obviously impressed by the whole coming of age custom, and more than a little envious. She chattered on a mile a minute, and said the word 'cool' a lot. But Becka just sat on the bed, looking wistfully at Gia's beautiful dress, her fingertips gently stroking the incredibly fine fabric. After a while, when there was a break in Sammie's questions, Becka looked at her lover and asked a question of her own. "Gia, will you wear it for me?" Sammie thought that it was a strange way to put the request. Not 'will you wear it', but 'will you wear it for me'. But Gia obviously didn't think it was strange. She had looked at the other girl, sharing that same freaky silent talk that Sammie had been noticing, and then nodded. She stood up and started to undress. And as she changed into the beautiful piece of Cameron family history, she continued to talk about the ceremony as it happened almost a year ago. "My aunt Jessie and her daughter Alvia started coming over a week before the ceremony. At first they were just fitting the dress for me, but after the second day they took me shopping and got me my first pair of heels. They made me practice walking and dancing in them every day, and they showed me how to wear makeup, and Aunt Jessie cut and styled my hair the day before my birthday so that I would look more mature. "On the morning of my birthday I wore the gown to mass, and all of my family attended, but only family. The guests for the ceremony met us at a the banquet hall Dad had rented. As the Quince Anos, I was allowed a 'court' of seven boys and seven girls, my Chambelanes and my Damas, and they escorted me into the hall. My Aunt Jessie then led me up to my Dad, and held my hand when he knelt down and removed my shoes. And then he replaced them with my first set of heels, and while Johnny played his guitar, I danced the first dance with Oso. It was also the first time I had ever danced with a man, and by custom that was also the moment I became an adult. "I danced all night, with my brothers and my cousins, and then with all of the boys who had been my Chambelanes. And out in the parking lot I got my first kiss from Tino Sanchez. It was the most important night of my life. And yeah, it was everything I had ever dreamed it would be." Sammie looked in awe at the smaller girl, who now wore the pink ball gown, and looked somehow larger that life in it. The oversized romantic streak in her was completely caught up in Gia's story, and the beauty of the coming of age ceremony. The dress still fit the young girl perfectly, and if she had grown it was hidden by the fact that she was now barefoot instead of wearing the high heels she had worn before. For the first time Sammie noticed that there was music in the air, the soft sounds of a guitar coming through the open window. Sammie didn't know it, but it was Johnny Cameron's nightly practice session in the backyard. All she knew was that it seemed an almost magical touch for what was going on. Becka had risen to her feet, and was staring across the room at the girl before her, their eyes locked once more in silent communication. With a start Sammie suddenly felt self conscious, as if she had been spying on something incredibly private. With a murmured excuse about having to get home, she gathered up the bag of clothing for her sister and quickly exited the room, leaving the two lovers alone in their own little world. By the time she got out to her car, Sammie was smiling wistfully, totally envious of her two friends and what they had found together. Back in their room, Becka had taken Gia into her arms and was slowly dancing with her, the soft notes of Johnny's guitar the perfect vehicle to bring them back to that long ago coming of age. Becka wished that she had known Gia back then, and had been able to see her at her Quinceanera. But she knew her now, and loved her now, and there was a whole future ahead for them to experience together.