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 Love Is Blind

   A Story of Young Love by Gil Gamesh   Chapter Seven

   My plans for Saturday afternoon and evening with my family and Alex and
her family came together without a hitch.  I told Mom and Gianna what I
wanted to do and as usual they ran with the plans.  Mom talked to Margaret
and convinced her that I really wanted to cook for both families and all
she had to do was provide the dessert.  Gianna questioned me about what I
wanted to do and helped me run the grocery gauntlet.  Mom made the sangria
after I promised to give everybody just a little bit.  Dad supervised as
usual.

   Saturday morning I cooked baby-back ribs, slow cooked until they were
almost ready to fall off the bones.  Azee agreed to have a charcoal grill
ready for me to give the ribs the final fifteen minutes with barbeque
sauce. Gianna and I made ten bread baguettes and hoped that would be enough
for Azee and the rest of us.  I made Italian Potato Salad, with sweet
onions and olives and olive oil and red wine vinegar, and Gianna made a
huge platter of crudités.  I made the aioli.  Gianna always messes it up.

   Mom and Dad were reluctant to agree to swim like the rest of us, even
though we compromised and said we were all going to wear something over our
butts.  I'd seen Gianna's breasts since she got them and they were
beautiful but nothing new.  I'd seen Mom's breasts too on occasion and she
never minded.  Hers were damn good for a thirty-nine year old woman.  Dad
wanted to wear baggies, not a Speedo, and I knew it was because he was hung
about like I am.  He and I are about the same body size and both skinny so
I just put one of my new Speedos on their bed and left it up to him.

   Gianna and I cooked that morning wearing nothing but a Bikini bottom and
a Speedo.  Mom and Dad kept looking at us and grinning and shaking their
heads.  After lunch, when we left for the Andreas's house, I still didn't
know what they'd decided to wear.  Alex and Azee and Gianna and I had
plotted to get everybody in the pool with nothing but butts covered or
maybe uncovered even if we had to push them.

   When we arrived, Azee and Alex were already half naked, bare chested and
bare breasted up above and barely covered down below, and ready for the
pool.  Aiden and Margaret still had on casual clothes.  Then after we
unloaded dinner, I just took off my shorts and shirt and showed off my best
or worst Speedo.  Azee said it wasn't decent since it left some of my butt
crack showing but theirs was just as bad.  Mom and Dad went in the bathroom
and changed and came back out in a Bikini bottom and a Speedo.  I looked at
Dad and, yeah, his Speedo was showing a big bulge about like mine. 
Margaret and Aiden came out of their bedroom dressed or undressed the same
way and we all stood looking at each other and grinning.  Everybody had a
little butt crack showing.

   Azee and Gianna jumped in first and did three good cannon balls.  I
waited with Alex until they were out of the way and then we did a cannon
ball too.  I said here as soon as I came up so she could swim to me and
hang on.  The old folks thought they were going to sit on the steps at the
end of the pool and talk but the young folks plotted against them.  We
dragged them in the pool one at a time and ducked them.  They were laughing
and not fighting too hard so I suppose they didn't mind.  Then we played a
couple of games of Battle with girls on guy's shoulders, except for one
Azee, and there were no more old folks, just nine kids trying to splash the
pool empty and yelling and screaming and groping and grinning.

   Maybe that was enough to break down any barriers between families. 
After a while I whispered to Azee to go get towels and then Alex and I went
to the shallow end and climbed the steps.  We all toweled dry and then went
to the back porch and flopped.  After we recovered, Azee and Gianna served
the sangria I'd brought.  I knew Gianna was used to a little wine,
especially with meals, but I wasn't sure that Margaret and Aiden permitted
Azee to have it.  Margaret watched them carefully but didn't say anything
when Gianna poured them a glass like everybody else's.  I told her the
sangria was mainly fruit juice, with just one bottle of wine.  I'd just
brought enough for everybody to have one glass anyway.

   As soon as Alex put down her empty glass, I took her hand and we stood
up together.  We stood there, side by side, my arm around her shoulders,
hers around my waist, and we waited until everybody was looking at us.

   "I want you all to look at us.  This is the way I want to spend the rest
of my life, with Alex beside me," I began.

   I waited a few seconds.

   "Mom and Dad, Margaret and Aiden, we need your help.  I don't mean
financial help because we both get our tuition free at the university. 
Maybe I could provide everything else for us.  I'm a good cook and I could
probably get a job somewhere.  I already work as a cook whenever the
university has a black-tie dinner and then I change into my penguin suit
and work as a server.  That pays good money.  I've got good job prospects
some other places but Dad says I don't need to work.  I'm not going to quit
my cook and server jobs though.

   I paused a moment.

   "It's not so much money we need to worry about.  What we need is really
your love, your support, and your wisdom.  I want to tell you what Alex and
I want and then I want you to talk together and to decide what you can to
do to help us.  I love my family.  I've always thought I had the best
family in the world.  Now I've met Alex's family and I think her family is
just as great.  No matter what happens we both want to stay close to our
families."

   "Yours is better, Mikey," Alex said.  "You don't have an Azee."

   "Well, I'll swap Anthony for Gianna," Zorba said.

   "You're Anthony, dummy.  I'm Zorba," Anthony said.  "But I'll swap you
for Gianna any day."

   I ignored them.  Mom and Dad looked confused.

   "We're going to need support from both families when we start our lives
together.  I don't want answers from anybody this afternoon.  I want you,
Mom and Dad, to get together with Margaret and Aiden and talk so you can
help us decide how to accomplish what we want."

   "First of all, we both want to finish college.  I don't know how Alex
does it but she's a good student.  So am I.  Come hell or high water, I
want us both to graduate and we will one way or another.  Dad wants me to
go straight through and not have to work like he did but I'm not afraid of
work."

   "Second, I want to marry Alex.  Maybe you won't believe me since you all
know we're slept together but we're both still virgins.  Mom and Dad, you
know I won't do hookups.  Maybe I'm old fashioned but I guess I got that
from you.  I believe that love should come before sex.  Well, Alex and I
are learning to love each other."

   I shifted my gaze over to Alex's parents.

   "Margaret and Aiden, someday soon I'm going to say three little words to
Alex.  If she says them back, I'm going to ask her a four-word question. 
If she says yes, then we'll be committed to each other for the rest of our
lives and we'll probably rush to her bedroom, rip our clothes off, and do
it."

   "Just don't scream too loud, Alex," Zorba said.

   "Alex?  Huh, Mikey will be the one screaming.  Enough!  Ouch!  Enough!"
Anthony said.

   "Shut up, Azee," Margaret and Aiden said at the same time.

   "After we get married, I hope you'll let us keep living with one or both
of our families.  Maybe we could stay with my parents a week or two and
then stay with Alex's parents.  We don't want to be independent yet.  That
can come later.  If we're married, we'll be happier together and we'll be
better students."

   "Yeah, get us somebody to sleep with and we'll be better studs, I mean
students," Zorba said.'

   "Shut up, Anthony," Anthony said.  Mom and Dad looked more confused.

   "Aiden and Margaret, I'm a neat-freak and I don't leave a mess for
anybody else to clean up.  I don't drink much except a little wine and beer
and I've never been drunk.  I don't do drugs; that's stupid.  I suppose I'm
a nerd but I'm proud of it.  I'll do my share of household chores just like
I do at home and I'll even volunteer to cook sometimes.  I won't be any
trouble to you."

   "Mike, Alex is blind.  You haven't said one word about that," Aiden
said. "You'll be taking on a big responsibility if you marry her.  Are you
sure you know what you're doing?"

   I waited a moment before answering and then I turned and pulled Alex up
against me and held her close for a moment.  I was very conscious that her
breasts were pressed against my chest.

   "No, I'm not sure and I'll admit it," I said.  "I just know how I feel
when I'm with her and it's good and peaceful and it just feels right and
I'm content and happier with her than I've ever been.  Did you know what
you were doing when you and Margaret started out together?"

   He just smiled at me and shook his head.

   "Mikey, we could swap bedrooms and you and Alex could have my big
bedroom," Gianna said.

   "Yeah, we could even buy you and Alex a king-size bed so you'd have room
to wrestle," Dad said.  "I've been wanting to redo that upstairs bathroom
to update it and put in a big shower.  Maybe this is a good time to do
that."

   Mom looked at him and smiled.  I knew she'd been nagging him to update
the upstairs bathroom for years.

   "We could redo Mikey's computer setup so it does the same thing Alex's
does," Zorba said.  "Anthony and Gianna and I volunteer to do all that. 
We're good at it."

   Aiden looked at Margaret.  I saw that they were both smiling.  I didn't
know it was going to be so easy.

   "Thank you for listening to me," I said.  "I really don't want answers
this afternoon.  I just want all of you to think about what I've said and
decide how you can help us.  I thought it was going to take more convincing
than this."

   "May I say something," Alex said.

   "Of course," I said.

   "I've deliberately kept my mouth shut while Mikey was talking.  He's
better at talking than me.  I wanted to see how he expressed what we've
talked about.  There wasn't one word he said that wasn't exactly what I
wanted him to say.  I want to marry him.  I don't know if anybody has
noticed but I've been happier with him this summer than I've ever been in
my life.  I just want to ask my parents and his to please help us.  We'll
make you proud of us."

   "Well, it's my turn to say something," Aiden said, and stood up.  "I
wish you two kids could know how proud I already am of you.  I hear horror
stories every day about how bad kids are today and then I come home and
I've got the best kids any man could have.  I think Mike is going to be a
wonderful man for Alex and he's got me on his side."

   "Damn, Zorba, did you hear that?  We're the best kids any man could
have." Zorba said.

   "I'm not Zorba," Anthony said.  "You are." Mom and Dad must have
understood Azee's little game because they just smiled.

   For a while, everybody talked about what they could do to help.  I had
been worried about convincing both families but my worries seemed wasted.
Maybe both families had already made up their minds that Alex and I were
perfect for each other.

   Dinner was great and I'm not bragging about the cooking.  Everybody else
did that.  I'm talking about how good it was to sit around the folding
table on their back porch, everybody bare chested or bare breasted, and
nobody seemed ill at ease or self-conscious about it.  For the first time
my parents sat and relaxed and talked to Alex's parents and seemed to enjoy
getting to know them.  Alex's parents seemed to like my parents and our
moms were almost like old friends.

   I assumed the job of serving Alex's plate.  I found her some nice rib
pieces with the rib bone sticking out a little and put them on her plate
with the ends at three o'clock.  I piled up some potato salad at nine
o'clock and put a piece of a baguette at twelve.

   We all had salad plates so I did an assortment of crudités with a little
ramekin of aioli in the center of her salad plate and put the plate at nine
o'clock.  I whispered to Alex where everything was and she turned her face
up toward mine and puckered up.  I gave her a quick kiss.

   Azee carried the food around the table so everybody else could serve
their own plates.  Margaret served everybody sweet or unsweetened tea.  Mom
broke the baguette up into pieces so we would not have to break them with
barbeque sauce on our fingers.  Aiden and Dad just sat there smiling at
their families.  Alex and Gianna kept whispering about what we'd planned on
doing after dark.  I told them to shut up and not let our parents know.

   Azee disappeared for a moment and came back with wet washcloths and
paper towels for everyone.  Then everybody started eating and didn't have
much to say for the entire meal, just groans.  I wiped Alex's mouth with
the wet wash cloth once and then wiped my own.  A drop of sauce fell
between her breasts and I wiped that up too.  Nobody said anything about me
doing it.

   After dinner, we all sat and talked some more.  Mom and Dad sat at the
end of the table with Margaret and Aiden and they usually had their own
conversation going.  Their five kids sat at the other end and joked and cut
up and listened to what their parents were saying.  I really had been
unsure of our plans when I presented them to our parents and I was
surprised that they seemed so willing to help us.  It seemed like they'd
already made up their minds that Alex and I belonged together.  Maybe our
happiness all summer had convinced them.

   The two moms put away the left-over food and Azee and Gianna cleaned off
the table.  I heard Gianna yelp and I wondered who had done what to her. 
Then everybody settled down and we sat and talked for a while longer.

   When the last light faded, I whispered to Alex and asked if she was
ready.  She was so I looked at the other kids.  They were ready too, big
grins all over their faces.  I stood up and led the parade off the porch to
the pool.  We lined up: me, Alex, Azee, Gianna, and Azee and stood there on
the edge of the pool for a moment with our backsides toward the porch. 
There was still more than enough light from the back porch so I knew our
parents could see us.

   When I said strip, we all pushed our bottoms down and off our legs, and
bent over long enough to show our parents five moons.  Then we held hands
and jumped in the pool at the same time.  Bedlam!  Two naked girls and two
naked guys did their best to duck me.  After I yielded, I think two guys
named Azee were gang-groping Gianna but she wasn't complaining, just
squealing and giggling.  From the way they were yelling and laughing, I
think she was doing her share of groping.  Of course, Alex and I were doing
a little groping and giggling too.

   A few minutes later I looked up and saw both sets of parents standing at
pool side watching us, still wearing something on their butts.  I whispered
to Alex.  The other kids noticed them too.  The five of us stood there in a
row looking up at them and I suppose our faces were daring them.

   Then our parents got back at us.  They all turned around with their
backs to us, peeled their Speedos and Bikini bottoms down and off their
legs, stayed bent over long enough to moon us, and then turned around
again. I whispered to Alex what they were doing.  When I saw the four of
them holding hands, both moms in the middle, dads on the ends, I backed up
and the other kids followed.  Our parents took a few running steps and,
still holding hands, jumped in right in front of us.  After that, we had
nine kids acting wild and playing in the pool, stark-assed naked and loving
it.

   When we finally quit playing and settled down, we were all standing in a
circle, about waist deep in the water, prune-fingered, hair stringy and
wet, looking at each other in the almost dark, and talking.  I didn't want
the occasion to end but I knew it must.  The parents waded to the end with
the steps first and the kids followed.  We all helped to match our swim
wear to people and went to the back porch still naked with butt covers in
our hands.  Maybe darkness had kept us from getting a really good look at
our nakedness but I knew we were about to go in the house where the lights
were still on.  Margaret had anticipated what was going to happen.  She had
put a big stack of towels on the back porch table.

   I toweled Alex's hair dry and she returned the favor.  Then we stood
there grinning at each other and dried off the rest.  Everybody else was
doing about the same and nobody seemed too self-conscious about our
nakedness.  When everybody was through, I put my arm around Alex's
shoulders, she put her arm around my waist, and we stood there, naked to
our families and to the whole world.  I wanted everybody to see us, to see
us naked and open and honest as to what we were.  I felt that we had
reached a turning point in our lives and our families approved and I was
proud to be with Alex.

   "All of you know Alex and I have slept together," I said.  "Well, we
just played because I haven't yet said three little words to her.  What we
did was fun but that wasn't the best thing.  Sleeping spooned up to her all
night, seeing her smiling at me the next morning, showering with her, then
getting dressed and going in the kitchen and seeing her family smiling at
us, nobody teasing us: I don't think I've ever been happier in my life."

   "I was just as happy as he was," Alex said.  "I liked sleeping with
Mikey's arm over my chest and one of his legs over mine.  I want that
feeling to last the rest of my life.  I've got just one more thing to say."

   She paused and everybody waited.  "Shut up, Azee," she said and grinned.

   "I've got one more thing to bring up," I started, and Azee interrupted
me.  I knew they wouldn't let Alex get away with it.

   "Let Alex help," Anthony said.  "She can bring it up," Zorba said.  I
ignored both of them.

   "As I was saying, there's something else we haven't talked about.  My
face and Alex's blindness are not hereditary and can't be passed on to our
children.  We want to have children.  Are you ready to be uncles and aunts
and grandparents?  I think we can have beautiful children; don't you?"

   "Of course, we do," Mom said.  "But you two can wait a few years."

   I couldn't help it.  I grinned at her.  "Why?  You and Dad didn't. 
Anyway, we want to wait until we both finish college."

   I expected to go back home with my family but I was surprised.  Alex
told me that I couldn't leave and I was going to sleep with her again.  I
protested that I had not planned on staying and didn't have any clean
clothes and didn't have my razor and toothbrush.  Mom told me my clothes
and other stuff was in my overnight bag in Alex's room.  Everybody else
grinned at my stupidity and I felt a little foolish but I was so damned
happy, not because Alex and I were going to play at sex but because
everybody expected us to and wanted us to be together.

   Showering with Alex seemed to me like some sort of miracle.  I was tall
and she was a perfect tallness for me.  She turned her face upwards at me,
a slight smile on her red lips, while I shampooed her hair.  I looked down
at her closed eyes and wanted so much for her to be able to see the love in
my eyes.  Then when I rinsed her hair with the hose and used my hands to
press the water out of her hair, she opened her beautiful blue eyes and
looked up at me and I couldn't understand how she could unseeingly keep her
eyes locked on mine.  I whispered to her about what I felt for her, trying
to avoid saying the three little words I wanted to say to her but at the
same time fumbling for other words which said it.  Maybe she was just
following my voice and turning her head to keep me centered.

   Then I used a soft washcloth and bath gel to wash her body and felt I
was experiencing another miracle.  Her breasts were small but oh so
delectable and I wanted my mouth on them.  Instinct?  Why would I want to
suck on her nipples like a baby?  Her butt was another miracle of curves
and hidden places and I wanted to feel the head of my penis sliding in and
penetrating those hidden delights.  I shook my head to get rid of the idea
of doing it between her rounded cheeks.  I wanted it between her legs and
so deep in her that I could squirt out my life into her womb and make a
baby with her.  Maybe we could do it that way, from behind but with my dick
in her pussy.  I wanted to try.

   I squatted down when I washed her legs but my eyes were fixated on the
small tangle of hair and the little crease on her mound.  There's really
nothing there and it's all hidden and I wanted to spread her legs and get
my tongue in the little crevice and lick her until she was open and hungry
for my penis to penetrate her.

   Then I stood there while she washed me and I wondered what she was
feeling with her hands but feeling inside too.  I liked my body, hard and
slim and almost hairless, and I wondered if she did too.  Did feeling me
make her ache inside for something like I felt for her?  She left my penis
and testicles for last and then dropped the cloth and just used her soapy
hands.  I think the last drop of blood left my brain and went down to my
penis when she did that.

   We dried each other and then hand in hand tip-toed from the bathroom to
her bedroom again.  I didn't have a damp towel hanging on my dick this
time. I did have one and a couple of wet washcloths in my hand.  I intended
to make a mess somewhere and if I couldn't do it in her I wanted to be able
to wipe it up so we didn't have to sleep in a wet spot.

   We crawled in her bed and both turned on our sides and wrapped each
other up in arms and legs.  My penis was pressed against her belly but I
wanted it in her pussy.  I told myself not to try to do that yet, to wait
as I had planned until after the Fall Ball.  But it was hard and I mean
that in more than one way.

   We whispered to each other and ran our hands over the other's body and
squirmed to get closer together.  Finally I closed my eyes and took a
couple of deep breaths, put my hand on her back, pressed her against me,
and then relaxed.  It was so wonderful; I mean it, full of wonder, just to
hold her and to know that we were going to be together for the rest of our
lives.

   "Thank you, Mikey." She whispered.

   "For what?"

   "For doing such a delicious meal for us.  For serving my plate.  For
wiping up the barbeque sauce from between my breasts."

   "I wanted to lick it up but I though your parents might not approve."

   "Not at the dinner table."

   "Could I go get some more sauce and put it on your nipples and lick it
off?"

   "Yeah, that would be nice."

   "Maybe later.  Listen, do you know when it's going to be safe for us to
make love without a rubber?"

   "In about three weeks."

   "After the Fall Ball?  Are you still going with me?"

   "Yes.  Why?  Do you have something planned?"

   "Yeah.  Will your next period be over?  Will it be over before the
ball?"

   "Uh, huh, it's supposed to start in about ten days, sometime after next
weekend.  What have you got planned?  Tell me."

   "I'll never tell.  Maybe you'd better put clean sheets on your bed
before we go to the ball."

   "Why?  So you can mess them up?"

   "Yeah, with a little help from you."

   "I'm going to give you a lot of help."

   "Alex, I wish you could see.  I wish you could see my face, not my red
side, just my eyes.  Gianna says she can look in my eyes and see I love
her. I wish you could see how much I love you."

   "Mikey, you said three little words.  Do you want me to say them back? I
will."

   "No.  They weren't officially three little words by themselves.  When I
say your name and three little words that's when I want you to say them
back."

   "OK.  Do you mean you love me like a sister?"

   I knew she was teasing me.

   "No, dummy.  I love you like a wife and a lover and a mistress and,
after a while, a mother.  I don't love my sister like that."

   "Mikey, I know you love me.  Just wiping that barbeque sauce up told me
that.  The way you are with me and the way you look after me and touch me
and talk to me: they all show me you love me."

   "Are you going to let me show you a little love tonight?"

   "No, I'm going to help you."

   "I want to do you first," I said.  "I've thought of something new,
something we haven't done before."

   "You can do me any way you want but you can't object when I do you."

   "That's OK."

   I moved around and pushed her back so that I was behind her and we were
lying lengthwise on her bed with pillows under our heads.  She let me
adjust her legs so both our right legs were bent, mine on top of her left
leg.  Then I spooned up to her and pressed my hard-on against her pussy,
just the shaft rubbing against her soft mound, with the uncovered red head
sticking out in front.  She gasped a swift intake of breath.

   "Relax.  I'm not going to try to put it in you."

   "It's hard."

   "Yeah.  Now I'm going to position you the way I want you so I can do
something to you.  When I do, I want you to use your fingers to rub the
head of my dick.  OK?"

   "OK."

   I pulled her right arm back far enough so that her torso was twisted
toward me and put it around my neck.  Then I leaned over and kissed her ear
and she turned her head toward me and nuzzled around and found my mouth
with hers.  She gave me a little tongue and I tried to catch it.  Then I
gave her a touch and she tried.  I let her catch mine.

   My left arm and hand were out of play under her but my right one was
free.  I reached down to her breast, cupped my hand under it and rubbed
circles around on her nipple with my thumb.  She reached down, rubbed
circles on the head of my dick with her dry fingers, then stuck her fingers
in her mouth, and rubbed circles with wet fingers.

   That was all we did for a while.  We kissed with open mouths, I thumbed
the hard nipple of her little breast, and she rubbed the head of my dick
with her fingers.  I could tell immediately when my dick started drooling.
Her touch because slipperier.  We played like that for a while before I
moved on to what I hoped would give her an orgasm.

   I moved a little closer to her, bent my neck so I could reach her nipple
with my mouth and started sucking.  At the same time, I moved my hand down
between her legs and cupped it over her mound.  I let it rest for a moment
and then I gently used my index finger to push her little lips to each
side. When I felt the warmth and wetness of her pussy, I slid one finger
down into her vagina and let it rest there.  She groaned almost inaudibly.

   I just did what I'd already learned to do for her.  I used one finger
and then two and moved them from her vagina between her spread lips to her
clitoris and kept doing it.  When I pushed my fingers down into her vagina,
I pushed my dick out of the way and when I brought them back up to her
nubbin my dick sprang back against her pussy.  I wanted her to feel my
hardness pressing against her begging for entry into her while I teased her
with my fingertips.  It all worked again.

   First she went rigid as a poker, face squinted and eyes closed.  I
quickly slid two fingers down into her vagina and felt strong contractions
squeezing around my fingers.  She must have been holding her breath
because, as the contractions faded, she opened her mouth and began panting
a little.  I leaned over, gave her a little smack of a kiss, stuck my
tongue between her parted lips, and pulled my head back.  She looked up at
me from about six inches away, I know she did, she looked at me and smiled.
I took her hand in mine, brought it to my mouth, and traced my smile with
her fingers.

   I let her rest and waited for her breathing to slow.  For a while,
neither of us moved.  She had one hand between her legs holding my dick
pressed against her pussy.  I had one hand cupped under her soft breast. 
Somehow I knew to wait for her to come down from wherever we go when we
orgasm.

   "Alex, do you trust me?" I whispered after a little while.

   "Yes, Mikey, I trust you," she whispered back.  "Why do you ask?"

   "Gianna says girls are not as likely to have orgasms with guys they
don't trust.  Is it like that with you?"

   "I don't know, Mikey.  I've never been with another man.  I trust you. I
like for you to make me come.  I like to make you come too."

   "I know you've got to have a lot of trust in me to give yourself to me
for the rest of your life, Alex.  I'll be good to you.  I'll never hurt
you. Being with you makes me want to be the best I can be.  We're going to
be good together."

   We mumbled and talked and whispered to each other for a while and then
she turned over, moved down a little, licked up under the head of my dick,
and then licked up under her palm and fingers.

   "What are you doing?" I whispered.

   "Your dick's been drooling on my hand.  It tastes sweet."

   "I mean what are you going to do?"

   "I'm going to give you a blow-job and swallow your stuff."

   "Don't do that, Alex.  I don't know why a woman wants a man to come in
her mouth and then swallow it.  I jacked off in my mouth once when I was
about fourteen and I almost barfed."

   "Mikey, I thought you weren't going to tell me what to do.  We're going
to be partners; aren't we?"

   "Yeah, we are.  I just don't understand why you want my stuff in your
mouth."

   "Do you like to have your mouth on my pussy?  It gets all juicy and I
know you taste me and swallow my stuff, my juices."

   "Yeah, but when I come, there's lots more of it."

   "OK, maybe there is.  Let me learn.  Let me decide what I like to do. 
This time, after you come in my mouth, I'm going to kiss you and we can
share it."

   "That's gross."

   "No, it's not.  When we kiss, I mean really kiss, we swap saliva and we
don't care whose juice we're swallowing."

   "Well, do it if you really want to but don't do it just `cause some of
your friends say they do it with their boyfriends."

   "OK.  I want to do it."

   She started and the last drop of blood left my brain and went to my
dick. She used her hand sometimes and stroked my dick just the way I like
it.  She used her mouth sometimes and licked and sucked and sometimes
really sucked.  Sometimes she did both at the same time.  I had enough
brain left to warn her.

   "Alex, I'm about to come," I groaned.

   She didn't say anything, just kept sucking me.  I think my balls
exploded and the whole charge went out through my dick.  She held her mouth
motionless with her lips just behind the head until I finished.

   Then she crawled up so her face was directly above mine, nuzzled around
until she found my open mouth, and then opened her mouth to mine.  I think
she let my whole load drool down in my mouth.  I held it, rolled both of us
over so I was above her, and kissed her and spit it back in her mouth.  She
pushed me down on my back and gave it to me again.  We did it again and
again and finally there was so much saliva and semen all mixed together
that we both had to swallow.  That's when I gave up and just lay there flat
on my back, gasping for breath, my heart pounding.  I think she knew she
had won the battle.  I thought about what we had done.  Maybe it almost
made me throw up when I did it to myself but doing it with her wasn't bad;
it just made me hotter to do stuff with her.

   I might have lost the battle but I had not lost the war.  After a while
I coaxed her into straddling my head while I was flat on my back.  She held
on to the head of the bed and settled her pussy down almost on my face.  I
put my hands on her thighs, used my thumbs to pull her little lips apart,
and licked her to another whining orgasm.  I liked doing that to her.  I
wanted her to like having sex with me as much as I liked doing it with her.

   We rested again, just holding each other, so close that we were
breathing the same air.  She wasn't ready to yield.  After a while, she
felt for my dick, found it hard, and jacked me off.  This time she took the
head in her mouth just long enough to leave a lubricating coat of saliva
and then started stroking again.  I watched the white spurts come flying
toward my face and turned my head.  The first shot landed on my cheek on
the white side.

   I sat up on the side of the bed, found the washcloths and towels, gave
her one, spread my legs, and used a wet washcloth to wipe off from my face
down to my dick and balls.  I turned back to her and she was holding out a
cloth to me.  I put the cloths together and wondered where to put them so
they wouldn't stain the carpet.  Finally I stood up, put them on a corner
of her desk, and crawled back in behind her.  I spooned up to her naked
rear, put my right leg over her left, and reached around and cupped my hand
under her breast.  She put her hand on mine and held our two hands against
her heart.

   I lay there, content and sexually satisfied and I suppose she felt the
same way.  I knew this was the way it should be between a man and a woman,
both doing things to give pleasure to the other, not just doing stuff for
myself alone.  I also learned something else, that sex was great but
holding her and sleeping with her was just as satisfying in its own way.

   The next week, Alex and I found free hours on different days to go to
the dance classes which the university sponsored.  There wasn't much
instruction, just a brief demonstration, and then we all practiced for a
while.  The instructors simply walked around watching us and giving advice.
After the second slow dancing class, Alex and I decided that there was no
real need for us to attend.  She trusted me to lead her.  We even tried a
few fancy moves, such as a dip, and she had no trouble letting me do that
with her.  We quickly decided to move on to the waltz classes where we were
novices.

   Again, we had no problems in dancing with each other.  I suppose we were
both strong and thin and light on our feet and it was like magic to dance
with her.  After one class, I knew I'd found something I loved to do with
her.  She felt the same way.  Over the following days, we practiced three
more times and I knew that we were ready for the Fall Ball and that I had
found my dance partner for the rest of my life.  I asked her to go with me.

   I wanted to go to the Fall Ball with Alex because I'd decided that was
the perfect occasion to say three little words to her and, when she said
them back, I intended to ask her the four-word question.  I knew the rest
of our families were going to be in the audience and, after the ball, I
wanted to ask the question in front of them.  I had not, in my wildest
dreams, anticipated what a magical occasion it would be.

   I went to the After the Ball place, the sponsor of the Fall Ball.  It
was really two places, one part formal wear and one part a dance studio. 
Formal wear could be either rented or purchased.  I wanted to purchase a
tuxedo for me and a gown for Alex.

   I asked for one of the owners.  I knew they were an older couple, Mr. 
and Mrs.  Anderson, maybe fifty or sixty, and that they ran both businesses
in two sides of the same building.  A grandmotherly lady came out of the
back and smiled at me even though she saw my face.  I told her what I
wanted.

   I said I wanted to purchase a new tuxedo, not to rent, because I wore
one when I served at university black-tie events.  She had seen me serving
at one.  I said the tux had to be black and like something from one hundred
years ago.  I wanted a black cape with it, one light weight so that it
swirled around when I danced with Alex.  I also wanted a mask like the
Phantom of the Opera wore and she knew what I had planned.  She didn't
stock the mask but she promised she'd have one for me.

   I told her Alex would wear a gown, also like one from Paris a hundred
years ago.  It had to be the kind which was long and flowing and cinched in
just under her breasts, maybe ivory or white, and also have a cape, light
red.  She was to be masked too but somebody else would make her mask since
it was special.  She asked me why.  I told her that Alex was blind and I
wanted the mask to cover her eyes with no openings for sight.  I said the
mask couldn't be plain; it had to have red or gold-colored things around it
to make it fancy.  She said she'd take care of Alex's mask.

   Then I told her the best rest: that after the ball, with our families
watching, I intended to say "I love you" to Alex, that she was going to
say, "I love you" to me, and then I was going to ask her, "Will you marry
me?" and I expected her to say yes.

   Then I told her the worst rest.  I wanted to pay for everything, not my
parents, not Alex's parents, and I wasn't a rich kid.  I told her I had
some savings and that she had to keep cost in mind when she helped us.  I
asked for her help and she smiled.

   She stood, looked at me for a minute, and then took me next door to the
dance studio.  She did something to some equipment and I heard "After the
Ball," the theme music they always used in their TV ads.  When she came
back to me, she didn't say a word.  She lifted her hands like an invitation
to dance and I knew what she wanted.  I took her hands, led off, and we
went waltzing around and around the hall a couple of times.  When the song
was over, I couldn't help it, I leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.  I
was wondering what was going on.

   When we went back to the formal wear part, she told the clerk to get me
a soft drink and she went in the back somewhere.  I waited about fifteen
minutes and then she and her husband came out.  After she introduced him,
she had a business proposal for me.

   She said I could have everything I wanted for free and she would even
throw in a hair-dresser, her daughter, to arrange Alex's hair.  All she
wanted was exclusive rights to take pictures of us at the ball and to use
them however she wished.  I already knew that photographers would be taking
pictures of everybody.  I didn't see why they couldn't take pictures of us
after the ball when I proposed.  I asked if I could have a set of all the
pictures of us and she agreed.

   So I agreed, shook her hand and then his, and she said she'd have a
contract for us to sign and a release for the pictures and since Alex and I
were nineteen that our signatures were all she needed.  I left, feeling
like I was floating on air.  Everything was coming together just like I
wanted.

   Mom let me have her car the next day so I could take Alex to After The
Ball so we could sign the contracts.  Mr.  and Mrs.  Anderson were both
there and they were both as smitten by Alex's beauty as me.  As usual, Alex
and I had both worn knee-length shorts to school and, even casually
dressed, I thought she looked like a princess.  The Andersens asked us to
demonstrate our dancing skills and we did.  She played The Blue Danube and
Alex and I went around and around in the small auditorium, dancing
flawlessly with each other.

   Friday!  Summer school was over except for finals.  Some classes had
been a little rough and I was glad to have a couple of days off.  Most of
all, I was glad to be going home with Alex again.  We planned to study for
Advanced English Literature on Saturday morning and then spend the rest of
the weekend preparing for our other tests.  I looked forward to cuddling up
with her on her loveseat while I read stuff and she listened through her
headphones.  I also looked forward to a couple of nights sleeping with her.

   That's when Fate decided to slap us down again.  We were walking the
last block or so to their home after riding Ol' Stinky from the university
to her drop off point.  I had my overnight stuff in my backpack and Alex's
briefcase in my right hand.  Alex had her right hand on my left arm and her
cane in her left hand as usual.  I saw Margaret on the sidewalk coming
toward us.  I knew she often met Alex when she got off the jitney.  I told
Alex and she said her mother liked to meet her and walk home with her.  I
was so damned happy I wanted to sing or maybe yell to the world.  We were
almost to a side street when it happened.

   A kid on a bicycle came careening around the corner, being chased by a
large dog.  I saw the boy was looking back and trying to get away from the
dog and I knew he was panicked.  I was afraid that the boy was going to run
into us so I dropped Alex's briefcase, stepped around in front of her,
facing her, and put my arms around her.

   I was about to turn my head to look for the boy when he ran into me from
behind.  I fell forward with my arms still around Alex.  She fell backwards
and I heard her head hit the sidewalk.  I rolled off her, flat on my back,
and pain, really severe pain, unbearable pain, grabbed me in my back and in
my left hand.  I shut my eyes for a minute to try to gain control but the
pain was unrelenting, almost paralyzing.  I opened my eyes, looked to the
side, and saw Margaret kneeling over Alex.  She had her cell phone in her
hand and I knew she was calling 911.

   Why?  That was all I could think.  Why?  I had said I'd never hurt Alex.
Maybe Fate or God or something had thought I was arrogant and wanted to
teach me a lesson, to punish me for my hubris.  I had hurt her.  I tried to
fight the pain in my body but the pain in my heart and in my head was
worse. If somebody thought I needed a lesson for being arrogant, why punish
the innocent woman I loved.  I took a few more deep breaths, trying to get
control of everything.  I thought: Fuck you.  Fuck you, Fate or fuck you,
God.  It won't work.  I'm going to beat you at your little sadistic game.
I'm going to be OK and so is she and we're going to have a good life
together.

   TO BE CONTINUED:



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