Well, the shower in a baseball locker room after a victory is always a happy place. When you beat a team you haven’t beaten in six years, it’s a particularly happy place. What I found out that day was, when your girlfriend is there and asks you to help wash up—it’s a very happy place.

Of course, it would’ve been happier if said girlfriend was asking me to help wash something other than some pretty nasty cuts. But, hey, you can’t always get what you want, right?

What was a bit strange was being in a shower with my girlfriend with twenty other naked guys. But, you know what? It was fine.

Frankie asked Lily about it. "I was curious, Lil. You’re naked in a shower with twenty equally naked guys. Forget, for a minute, that your boyfriend’s one of the naked guys. Do you get turned on?"

"Sure," Lily admitted. "Now Mikey turns me on anyway, but I’ve been in gym showers all week, with naked guys and him not there, and, sure, I get turned on."

"How do you stand it?" he asked. "Look, Lily, don’t take this the wrong way—but if Mike weren’t one of my best friends, I’d be trying to get you into the corner." She laughed. "Hell, and you’re just one naked girl in the shower."

"How do I stand it? I don’t, frankly," she admitted. "If I weren’t in pain, I’d probably be pulling Mikey in the corner myself for a knee-trembler."

"Those are fun," Ed piped up.

"And you would know, you pussyhound," Lily retorted with a laugh. "Anyhow, no, I don’t stand it. Look, you guys know how The Program works. I reserve actual sex for Mike, since Wednesday, but I’ve had other hands on my pussy this week. He’s had other hands on his dick. That’s fine. This week makes you horny, that’s a fact, and we have no classes together. If he wasn’t here, Frankie, you could talk me into a double hand-job without much of a problem. And, I’ll tell you, if I were on this team in this shower and didn’t have a boyfriend, I’d probably become your community-property chick with very little convincing." Everyone cracked up at that. "But sex is sex. Sex with love involved is better, and more important. However, you made me think. I don’t mind coming in here and getting all worked up, because I know I have an outlet. I hadn’t thought how it might affect the rest of you guys. If the rest of you would prefer I take my showers elsewhere, tell me. I won’t be offended a bit."

"Ah, naw, Lily, you’re a teammate," Frankie said. "You take your showers right here with us." Everybody else voiced their assent. "Though I’m thinking about bumping Mikey off," he laughed.

"Oh, yeah, Gutierrez, sure you are," I told him. "Who else would catch your dying quails?"

"Baseball is baseball. Sex is sex," Frankie said. "Ah, no, you know I’m just kidding. And, no, Lily, this is your shower too. It’s not your fault I don’t have an outlet."

"Sure you do," Ed butt in. "It’s called your right hand."

"Notice, if you will," Frankie answered, "how scrawny my right arm is. And how bulked up Ed’s is. And you answer for yourself who’s been giving that arm a workout. Hint: it ain’t the pitcher in this scenario."

"Maybe if you worked your arm out better, you’d be able to throw harder," Ed retorted.

"I do just fine with what I’ve got," Frankie maintained. "Well, on the baseball field, anyway."

"I think I just got a new life’s mission," Lily told him. "Find Frankie a girlfriend."

"Oh, that will be fun to watch," Ed said. "And you thought pitching the ninth inning against a great team with your side all ripped to shreds was tough. You don’t know what kind of trouble you just bought."

"Well, maybe I should go for the two-fer, and find you a girlfriend, too, Ed," Lily laughed.

"Ed does not do girlfriends," said Ed. "Ed prefers to play the field. Ed has enough trouble in his life without a girlfriend." He grinned, but I knew what was behind it. "Ed, as you said earlier, is a pussyhound."

Knowing what Lily was like, and knowing what Ed was like, I whispered in Lily’s ear, "Drop that one. I’ll explain later." She gave me a quizzical look, but didn’t bring up Ed and a girlfriend again.

We finally finished the shower, and went to the locker room to get dressed. Lily and I didn’t bother, actually—Lily really didn’t want to put clothes on over that injury, so I decided to stay nude, too. Heck, it was becoming second nature by now. Though, when we went to leave, she did proudly don her new letterman’s jacket.

"You guys hitting The Mariner?" Ed asked.

"I don’t think so," I said. "Sure," Lily said at the same time.

"Are you up to it?" I asked.

"Yeah. I’ll have to grab a seat cushion or something, but I’m up for it. We have to go to my house, first. The problem is, I don’t think I’m up to driving."

"I’ll drive your car."

"How will you get home?" she asked.

"We’ll think of something." We walked out to her car. She flipped me the keys, I helped her in, and then got in the driver’s side.

"Hey, did it bother you what I said in there?" Lily asked.

"No, not at all. Hey, I can see what you mean. We’ve decided to be true to one another—that doesn’t mean your hormones are shut off. That doesn’t mean you won’t find other people attractive. You were surrounded by 20 naked guys in a shower—if you weren’t getting turned on, then I’d worry. And I don’t blame Frankie, either." I sighed. "Frankie Gutierrez has horrible luck with girls. I don’t necessarily understand it—he’s a good guy. I have no capacity to judge a guy’s looks—"

"He’s a decent-looking guy," she interrupted. "He’s particularly decent looking with no clothes on. His arms aren’t scrawny, no matter what he says; his chest and legs are nice; and no girl would have a complaint with what’s between his legs. I say that in the most clinically detached way, of course," she deadpanned.

"Surrrrre you do."

"You doubt me?" she grinned. "Anyway, if he’s not getting girls, it’s not because of his looks. And I like him, so I don’t see that part of it, either."

"Well, I dunno," I told her. "Actually, I do know, but I don’t know how to solve it for him. You’re just another in a long line, actually. You made quick friends with Frankie, yes?"

"Yeah. I like him."

"And that’s all you’ll ever be, friends," I said. "Now, you have a good reason—namely, me." She giggled at that. "But other girls don’t. Frankie Gutierrez is more surrounded by girls half the time than I am, which is saying something considering what my home life is like. But they’re all ‘just friends’. If Frankie had a mile an hour on his fastball for every time he heard that ‘just friends’ line, he’d throw a hundred."

"Ah. Been there, done that, you know that."

"Yeah, that’s right, you have," I realized. "So you understand Frankie’s problem."

"Yeah, but I don’t know if I have a solution for him. He just has to wait for the right girl, that’s all. All I could do was wait for the right guy." She smiled at me. I smiled back. "Now, about the other one. Ed. You were going to explain this to me."

I sighed. "I’m only going to give you the bare bones of this one. Any further details will have to come from Ed. Well, you know about the first blow he got—Marcia, the one that was dating both of us at the same time."

"Yeah," she said.

"The second one was worse. Right after Marcia, he hooked up with Annie Zipelski. We had all known Annie since sixth grade. This happened about this time freshman year. I think they had been growing attracted to each other for some time before they hooked up. So, they finally hooked up, and were going together for a few months."

"Anyhow, suffice it to say that Annie had a horrific situation in her home life. Ed found out about it after those first couple months. He moved heaven and earth to get her out of it—and get her out of it he did. He managed to pretty much save her life." I sighed. "I can’t get into more detail than that—as I said, you’ll have to ask Ed. That’s private. But what I do know is, after he put himself on the line for her, she dumped him, a month later."

"Oh, shit," Lily said.

"Yeah. Now, it was a lot more complicated than that, I know it. I don’t know everything—I do know that Ed doesn’t completely blame her, that it was a lot more complicated than just a ‘Thanks for everything, now get lost’ situation. But it devastated him. For a long time. And, since then, just the mention of the words ‘girlfriend’ or ‘love’ make him break out in hives. So he hides behind his jokes, and being, as you called it, a pussyhound. Very few people know what makes him that way. Me and Amanda, that’s about it."

"Damn, though, he’s sixteen years old!" Lily said.

"I know. Hopefully, some day, he’ll get over it. The think is, Ed’s a healer, a protector. Ed wants to save the world. I know you don’t get that from his personality at first glance, but he is. He’s the first guy to grab a wounded bird and nurse it back to health. The problem is, when they get back healthy, they fly away. And, with Annie, he realized that people sometimes do the same damn thing. So he closes himself off to all but a very few people—because he can’t stand to watch anyone else fly away. "

"Damn," Lily said. "Does Annie still live here?"

"No, she moved to Newburgh about a month after her and Ed ended."

"Damn. I like Ed. He deserves better."

I smiled at her. "In some ways, you’re like him, I’m finding out. Find a girlfriend for Frankie, worry about Ed. Save the world."

"Yeah," she smiled back. "The difference between us is that I prefer to be that way for friends. I like my men all healed up by the time they get to me."

"They’d have to be," I grinned. "Anyone lacking intestinal fortitude would wither under you. I was thinking about this—I’m very glad we met now, and not, say, two years ago. I’ve got a good strong self-image. I know what I want. I can’t say I would’ve been like that two years ago."

"Two years ago I don’t know if you would’ve recognized me," she sighed. "I wasn’t all that healthy myself. It took a long time to come to terms with who I am. Sometimes I feel I’m still working on it." Then she smiled at me. "And you help, you know. It really does help that you love me in all my guises."

"I really do," I told her. "Look, growing up the way I did—I’ve seen all different types of attraction. It’s made me come to terms with what I like. I understand that attraction is a weird and not always easily explainable thing. In my case, I know I’m attracted to girls, first and foremost. But, you know what that means to me? I like the female body. I’m sexually attracted to people who have all the requisite female parts. And that’s pretty much it. I like the basics of the female form, and don’t get turned on by a naked man at all. Where attraction goes from there has nothing to do with ‘liking girls’. It has to do with liking people. It has to do with personality traits. To me, you’re the perfect mixture. I don’t get into ‘feminine’ and ‘masculine’ and all that crap for personality traits. You’re you—a sexy, sweet, smart, funny girl who also has a will of iron and doesn’t mind getting dirty and mucking it up. I love all of it."

"Do you know how long I’ve waited for you to come into my life?" she sighed happily. " Look, I’ve been struggling for some time with the less-than-feminine side of my personality. I’m still struggling. Knowing you accept all of me is such a relief, you have no idea."

"You know what? I was going to ask you this anyway. My Mom is having a cookout tomorrow. She has this every spring, right around Opening Day. All her friends are there—and she also invites the kids from the GLBT Teen Crisis Hotline that she runs. I think there will be some people there that I’d like you to meet."

"OK, sounds interesting," she said.

"And Jared and Amanda will be there, you know them. They work on the hotline."

"They do?"

"Amanda is sort-of kind-of bi," I laughed. "Not really, but she’s had a few experiences. And the girl she’s had those experiences with, Allie Fitzpatrick, is completely bi. They’re all friends, so they volunteer together. Ed’ll be there, too, but only because he always comes to our parties."

"I’ll be there," she said. "Oh, wait a minute, the school carnival is tomorrow!"

"Yeah, we can go to both," I told her. "Mom has her cookouts early. The carnival doesn’t start until four, plenty of time. And you can wear clothes to Mom’s," I joked.

"Oh, yeah, we’ll have to go to the carnival nude, won’t we?" she laughed. "Ah well. Ought to be fun."

After that interesting series of conversations, we were at my house. Mikey helped me get out of my car, and helped me to the door. We walked in, and the whole family was there.

"Oh, my God, Lily!" Mom said after taking one look at me. "What happened to you?"

"An ill-advised slide into home," I admitted ruefully.

"With the winning run," Mike added proudly. "She pitched a two-hit shutout, and scored the winning run in the bottom of the 8^th. And pitched the top of the 9^th like that."

"Wow, that’s so awesome!" Amber, my little sister, said.

"Yeah, awesome," I said ruefully. "Awesomely painful."

"But you gutted it out, like you always do," Dad said. "I’m proud of you."

"It really was something," Mike said.

"Well, who drove in the winning run?" I grinned at him.

Mike and I took turns, telling them all about the game, almost a pitch-by-pitch blow. Including the part where I had to clean myself, which made Mom howl. Halfway through, though, Mike leaned into me and whispered. "I’m going out to the car. Be right back." Then he got up.

"Wait a minute!" I said, and followed him into the foyer. "What’s up?"

"I’m going to go get my clothes," he said.

"Why?"

"Because I feel uncomfortable being naked around an eleven-year-old. Especially one that keeps staring at me."

"Oh, is she?" I giggled. "I guess I didn’t notice."

"What’s up?" Lily’s mom said, coming into the foyer.

"He’s worried about Amber," I told her.

"I’m sorry, Mrs. Woodard, I didn’t realize Amber would be here, or I would’ve put some clothes on in the first place."

"Oh, nonsense," Mom said. "She’s eleven. She’s started puberty already. She’s curious. There’s no harm in it. That’s what The Program is for, isn’t it? It’s outreach, think of it that way," she continued. "Lily’s been around here naked all week. And Amber doesn’t have a brother, so you’re the next best thing."

"He says she’s staring," I told Mom with a giggle.

"Of course she is," Mom said. "Now, you two march back in there and continue this story!"

I grinned at Mike, who just shrugged. We went back in the living room. We finished the story, and my parents were delighted at how the game went. Meanwhile, I took a glance at Amber. She was staring.

After the story was done, I figured it was time. "Amber," I said, "have you ever seen a naked boy before?"

"Uh, no," she admitted.

I looked at Mike, and smiled and nodded. "Do you have any questions?" Mike asked. I knew I could count on him, once he realized nobody else was uncomfortable.

"Well, uh," Amber started hesitantly, "does it hurt when it...you know….gets…uh…" She was blushing furiously.

Mike helped her out. "You mean when it gets hard?" Amber nodded, still blushing. "No, it doesn’t hurt. It’s a bit, I don’t know, I guess ‘stretchy’ is the best word. But it doesn’t hurt. If I stay hard for a very long time, that can hurt a bit."

"How do you get….you know….hard," Amber asked.

"Well, I’m a seventeen-year-old boy. At my age, it’s very unpredictable. Someone like your Dad can control it better. I sometimes get hard when the wind blows." We all chuckled at that, except for Amber, who was looking very confused.

"I guess I thought that boys got—that way—around naked girls," she said. "But Lily’s naked! And she’s your girlfriend! And you’re not!"

"Oh, that’s just because of The Program. We’ve spent a lot of time naked around one another this week. We’ve kind of gotten used to it. If I got hard every time I’ve seen Lily naked this week, it would hurt."

"It would especially hurt if he got hard when we’re out on the baseball field," I said. Amber looked confused. "Do you know what a cup is?"

"No," she said.

"Do you know what a jockstrap is?" Mike asked.

"Oh, yeah, one of the guys at school showed me. Guys wear it when they’re playing sports, so stuff doesn’t jiggle," she giggled.

"Exactly right," Mike told her. "Well, a cup is a piece of hard plastic that fits into a jockstrap. It protects the ‘stuff’" Amber giggled. "Football players wear them. And baseball catchers do, too. If I wasn’t wearing one, and I took a foul tip down there, that would be very painful."

"Ah," Amber said.

"And a cup fits tight. When a guy gets an erection, it gets bigger. There’s no room inside a cup for that. Plus, it’s easier to not get an erection if you’re mind is on other things. Your sister is beautiful, and I love her, and when she was standing on the mound naked I might have gotten excited—but I was too busy thinking about what pitch to call next."

"OK, I see," she said. "But if you don’t get hard around Lily, then how do you….you know…do it?"

I stifled a giggle—and I saw my parents do the same thing—but Mike really was being a trooper. "I didn’t say I didn’t get an erection around Lily—I said I didn’t get one all the time. There’s a difference."

"Amber, if I wanted him to get an erection, he’d have one. There’s ways to do that," I told her.

I probably shouldn’t have said that, knowing my sister. Because the next statement was predictable. "I wanna see," she said shyly.

"You will, eventually," I said, trying to get out of this.

"Lily, if she wants to see, show her," Mom said. Poor Mikey almost died at that one! "Look, this is educational for her."

"It’s not something a girl can ask her father," Dad said. "Her older sister’s boyfriend is perfect. In the world we’re living in, the more she knows, the better off she is."

"Look, I know how old you were your first time," Mom told me. I nodded—I knew she knew that. "Had you ever seen one before, close up?"

"No," I admitted.

"And weren’t you completely flummoxed?"

"Yeah, I was," I laughed.

"Right. So you’re giving her a leg up. It’ll be helpful. Show her."

I looked at Mikey, who was blushing up a storm—but he grinned and nodded. I reached down with my hand and started rubbing him. It took a bit longer than expected—he really was embarrassed—but it was working.

"You owe me for this," he whispered in my ear.

"Maybe she’ll ask to see it ‘squirt’," I whispered back with a giggle. That almost made him wilt! But he rallied. In a matter of mere moments, he was sporting an impressive erection.

"Wow. It’s so big!" Amber gasped.

"God love eleven-year-olds," Mike laughed. "Only a girl your age would think I’m all that big," he said to Amber.

"Why? It’s more than respectable," I giggled.

"That’s because you’ve never seen Jared Wicklow naked," he laughed. "Now that the weather’s better, I’m sure he and Amanda will spontaneously declare another ‘let’s go naked to school for the hell of it’ day, like they did all last fall. One look at Jared, and you may never look at me the same way again," he laughed.

"I don’t know, it looks big to me," Amber asked. "How does it—you know—fit?"

Mike chuckled, and said, "It wouldn’t. Not in someone your age. It would hurt terribly. But as you get older, you’ll get bigger down there. And a girl does stretch. Though the first time for a girl usually does hurt."

"It does?" she asked.

"Sometimes," I said. "My first time only hurt a little, and I was only thirteen."

"My first time," Mike said, "was also the girl’s first time. We were both fourteen. It hurt a lot. Though, the fact that I had no idea what I was doing didn’t help any." We all laughed at that, even Amber. "Our second time—which was the day after our first time—didn’t hurt at all."

"Oh," Amber thought about that one for a minute. "Does it stay hard until you have…you know…" she blushed furiously.

"An orgasm?" Mike asked. She nodded. "Not necessarily. That’s the easiest way to make it go down, but there are others. I can think about something else. Sometimes it just goes down by itself. Of course, your sister’s hand on my thigh isn’t helping."

"Oops," I blushed, and withdrew my hand. "Later for that," I whispered at him.

"What does it feel like, when a guy, you know….I know what a girl feels like, but not a guy."

"You mean, when a guy has an orgasm?" Mike asked. She nodded. "Well, from what I understand, the difference is mostly where you feel it. Guys tend to feel it mostly—not completely, but mostly—down here." He pointed to his crotch. "From what I’ve been told, girls feel it more places. It’s more of an all-over thing."

"Yeah," Amber agreed.

"Have you had an orgasm?" Mom asked her. She nodded yes, but suddenly looked miserable. "Do you play with yourself?" Mom continued. "It’s perfectly fine, Amber, I’m just curious."

"Yeah," Amber admitted, "but I’ve never been able to—you know—do myself."

"Oh," I asked. "So has a boy given you an orgasm?"

Oh, man, she looked horrible all of a sudden. She clenched her eyes shut, and nodded ‘no’.

"Who gave you an orgasm?" I asked.

The tears started right then. "T-Tiffany," she managed to blurt out, and then started crying.

"Tiffany’s been her best friend since we moved here," I told Mike.

"Why are you crying, Amber?" Mom asked her.

"Because…Tiffany and I…we…play with…each other…and it’s wrong!" she wailed.

"Who told you that?" I asked indignantly.

"Kids at school," she sniffled.

"I thought we were past all that in this day and age," Mom said with dismay.

"Not hardly," Mike told her, "and believe me, I would know." Amber was still sobbing. Mom and dad were at a loss, but Mike got up from the couch where we were sitting, and went and crouched down next to Amber’s chair. Mom and Dad looked at him, but I shot them an "it’s all right" look.

"Amber," Mike said gently, touching her shoulder. She looked up at him, tear-stained. "I have someone I’d like you to meet. Someday, I’d like to take you over to my house and meet my Mom. You’d like her, she’s really cool. I love her, she’s the best Mom a guy could hope to have. And, while you’re at my house, you can also meet Marina. You know who Marina is? My Mom’s girlfriend."

"Girlfriend?" Amber was incredulous. "Your mom likes girls?"

"My Mom likes girls," Mike confirmed. "Technically, she likes guys, too—that’s called bisexual, when you like both—but she likes girls better. Marina’s been her girlfriend for six years. Marina just likes girls. That’s called lesbian, when a girl only likes girls. They live together, they sleep in the same bed. They’re together. And there’s nothing, absolutely nothing wrong with that. They make each other happy, that’s all that counts. And anyone who ever tells you anything different is a damn fool."

"But what if I’m a…les…lesb…."

"Lesbian. What if you are?" Mike said. "You’re too young to decide that now, but let me ask you a question. When Tiffany is playing with you, and you’re having an orgasm, do you ever close your eyes and pretend it’s a cute boy in school that’s playing with you?"

"Yeah," she admitted. "Jerry Stevens. He’s really cute."

"Well, Amber, if you’re dreaming of boys when you’re having an orgasm—even if it’s a girl playing with you—you’re probably not a lesbian. You might be bisexual—that’s the one that likes both—but you really don’t have to figure that one out now. Most girls have at least some sexual experiences with other girls when they’re your age. It’s not wrong, and it’s nothing to worry about. Trust me. Even if you are bisexual, if you grow up to be half the woman my Mother is, you’ll be doing all right for yourself."

"I’d like to meet your Mom," she told him.

"I can arrange that," he smiled.

"Good." Amber smiled at him shyly, and whispered, "Thanks." Then she blushed, and then leaned over and kissed him on the cheek—and blushed harder. Then she abruptly jumped out of her chair. "I’m gonna go call Tiffany." And then she was gone.

He got up from his crouch, bemused, and walked back over to the couch where I was sitting. "You do realize, don’t you," I said, "that the next time her and Tiffany are playing with one another, that she’s going to be fantasizing about you, right?"

"Oh, jeez," he said, grinning and blushing.

"Mike, you handled that masterfully," Mom said with admiration. Dad nodded agreement. "Absolutely masterfully. You have a lot of insight."

"Well, Mom’s a child psychologist, and talks about work around the kitchen table. I’ve picked up a few things over the years." He got visibly upset. "Of course, a few things I picked up from Mom have nothing to do with her profession. I’d like to find the kids that are telling Amber that experimenting with another girl is ‘wrong’ and rip their throats out."

"I understand you completely," Mom told him. "I think you helped her, a lot. And you even handled the rest of it masterfully. I know you were embarrassed."

"Oh, I was just waiting for the moment when she asked to see what a male orgasm looked like. Jeez." Mom and Dad cracked up at that one. "And your daughter would’ve done it, I know her too well."

"Oh, I was all ready," I laughed.

"Well, I think Amber got enough education for one day. You can show her that part later," Mom said.

"Oh boy," Mike moaned. We all laughed, and then Mike asked where the bathroom was. I told him, and he headed there.

When he left, Mom looked at me and said, "Lily? If you ever let that boy go, you’re crazy. You picked yourself a real winner there."

"I know, didn’t I?" I agreed. "He’s just fantastic. Every new thing I learn about him is great."

"You were right, though," Mom continued. "I hope you’re prepared for your little sister having a full-blown crush on your boyfriend, because I saw it in her eyes."

"I think I can handle it," I laughed.

Lily and I got in the car to go to The Mariner, still naked except for our shoes—and Lily’s letterman’s jacket. My head was still spinning from the little show-and-tell for Amber.

"I heard her on the phone when I was in the bathroom," I told Lily.

"Yeah?"

"She was telling her friend ‘I wanted to ask if I could touch it!’" Lily giggled at me. "What have you gotten me into?" I demanded.

"Hey, I thought you were pretty open," she said.

"I am. But she’s eleven. Yeah, I know—girls mature faster and all that."

"Yes, they do," Lily agreed. "Look, if she’s anything like her big sister, she’s going to have one of those big boys in her in less than two years. She’s almost twelve—her birthday’s in August—which means she’s in sixth grade, which is where a lot of this stuff starts. And she’s already thinking about it. She started puberty at ten, just as I did—and the hormones are dancing. In the world we live in, where kids go naked to school and sex is all over the place—it can get confusing. I think it might’ve been better for you, because of how you grew up. And Mom and Dad are open as all get-out—but, as Dad said, a girl can’t ask her father to see what it looks like. Do you know what I would’ve given to have a little show-and-tell like that when I was her age?"

"I never thought of it that way," I admitted. "Today wasn’t bad, but I guess I wonder what’s going to happen next."

"She may ask to see you cum. She may ask to touch it. Those things are up to you, but I don’t see anything wrong with it," Lily told me. "Though something like that might be easier if it’s just the three of us in the room, without my folks."

"No doubt," I giggled.

"She may also ask to watch."

"Watch what?" I asked.

"Watch us."

"Oh my head," I moaned.

"Didn’t you ever sneak in on your Mom at that age? I snuck in on my parents—though, because I was sneaking, it was very shadowy and probably more scary than it would’ve been if I had been openly watching," she told me.

"I never snuck in on Mom because, when I was that age, she was already with Marina. And I was still working that out in my mind," I told her. "I accepted her sexuality intellectually, right from the start, but, at that age, it wasn’t something I would’ve wanted to see."

"I can see that," she told me. "You said you were clueless the first time. Wouldn’t that have been better if you had more knowledge?"

"Yeah," I admitted, "I suppose you’re right. I guess I’m just worried about how far she’s going to want to take this."

"She’s not going to ask you to fuck her, if that’s what you’re worried about. She’s curious and fantasizing, but, right now, that’s too scary, believe me. What I said is as far as I think she’d ever take it. She might ask to touch, and she might ask to watch." She grinned at me. "And she’s about to do some major league hero-worshipping, so be prepared."

"That I figured out all by myself," I grinned back. "That’s fine, I don’t mind that at all. A girl her age getting a crush on her big sister’s boyfriend is very common and perfectly normal—even Mom’d say that."

"Your Mom’d probably say the rest of it was perfectly normal, too."

"Hmm," was all I said—because she was probably right!

"And she would be very proud of you with how you handled the rest of it."

"Yeah, I know," I blushed. "She taught me well."

We pulled up to The Mariner and went in and placed our order. We quickly found a table with the usual suspects—Ed, Frankie, and Ty.

"Well, if it ain’t the star pitcher!" Frankie said.

"And the guy who drove in the winning run, don’t forget that," Lily giggled.

"A lucky shot," Ty maintained.

"That was not," I said, indignantly. "That was good wood, plain and simple. I am an MTO, after all." Lily giggled—the rest of the guys looked confused, so Lily explained it.

They called our number and we got our food, and then went back to the table. We were just chatting. Lily teased me mercilessly about what had happened at her house—the guys loved that. At one point, the talk turned to baseball, and Ty launched into a dissertation about hitting the curveball. When he was done, Lily was grinning at him.

"Ty, I have to ask you this," she said. "Look, you know I love Mike and you’re my teammate and my friend so I’m not flirting, but I have to ask—do you have to beat the girls off with a stick, or what?"

Ty chuckled and said, "Do you know Emma Lashko?"

"Yeah, she’s in a couple of my classes." Lily said.

"Well, we’ve been going out for over a year, so that’s not an issue. She’d be here, but she had a family obligation. Anyhow, what made you say that?"

"Your voice!" Lilly enthused to laughter. "Oh my God!"

"He gets that all the time," Frankie laughed. Frankie was right. Ty was a huge guy—6’4" and built—he was black, and his voice suited him. It was a low rumbling rich baritone with a hint of an accent.

"I can imagine," Lily said. "Where are you from?" she asked Ty.

"Jamaica. We lived there until I was eight."

Lily looked at him and said, "Do you sing?"

"Does he ever," I told her before he could say anything.

"Oh, man," Lily said, and turned to me. "The next time you and I are in your room doing the nasty, we’re bringing him, and he’s going to stand in the corner and sing Barry White songs while you ravage me!"

Everyone broke up at that, Ty most of all, and then Ty favored us with a chorus of "Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love." Lily grabbed my arm, shivered and went "ooooOOOOooo!" And half the restaurant applauded when he was done! Ty can really sing—he went on for an hour, entertaining us all, at last year’s end-of-season banquet.

When all this merriment and singing was over, I noticed Ed looking at us curiously. "It’s kind of stunning, you know," he finally said.

"What?" I asked him.

"You two." He looked at us. "You’ve been going out three days, and I can’t believe how comfortable you are with each other. Even Jared and Amanda didn’t get there this quickly, and those two are straight out of a romance novel." He gulped. "I mean, Lily’s practically drooling over Ty, and you don’t mind. You give her sister a show-and-tell, and she doesn’t mind. She’s in a shower with 20 naked ballplayers, and nobody minds. It really is stunning."

"I don’t know what to tell you, Ed," Lily said gently. "When it clicks, it clicks."

"Yeah," Ed said a little sadly. Then visibly made an effort to lighten the mood. "According to your boyfriend, I’m going to have to go to Latvia for it to click."

"Brush up on that goat-milking," I told him.

After that, we drove back to Lily’s house. It was already pretty late. Lily’s Mom was up waiting for her.

"Mike, how are you going to get home?" she asked.

"Walk," I told her. "Mom and Marina are in for the night, I’m not going to have one of them come pick me up."

"Mike, you live over two miles away, and it’s almost eleven o’clock!" Lily said.

"Ah, that’s OK. I’ll be fine."

"Look, I’ll drive you. My leg’s better," Lily said.

"I can drive him, Lil," her mom said.

"You’re already in your pajamas, Mom, that’s not fair," Lily said.

"I really can walk," I said. This was getting us nowhere.

"What are we thinking?" Her mom laughed, finally. "Mike? Stay the night. Lily has a double bed. Go sleep with her." Lily looked at her mother incredulously. "What?" she asked.

"You’re telling me to have my boyfriend sleep over," Lily said, stunned.

"Why not? It’s not like I don’t know what you’re doing. And her bed’s more comfortable than right field," she giggled.

Lily let out a snort of surprised laughter. "I’d never thought of bringing a boyfriend back here because of Amber."

"Amber’s getting older," her Mom said. "After today, I don’t think we have to worry about Amber. She asked good questions. She’s curious. She has a good idea what happens between you and your boyfriends now, Lily, I don’t think Mike sleeping over is going to scar her. Now go!"

We went, giggling.

She showed me her room. It was what you would have expected. Yeah, it was girly—pink walls, lots of makeup strewn all over her dresser, you know. But then there were the baseball equipment, and trophies, and posters. Even a replica Pedro Martinez jersey hanging on her wall.

"That stays up there unless it’s being worn or washed," she laughed.

"Very cool thing to have on your wall. Not quite as cool as your girlfriend’s wet panties, but very cool nonetheless," I laughed. She hit me.

I asked to use her phone, and left a message for Mom, so they wouldn’t worry. Then we climbed into bed, naked.

"So, I’ve got you in my bed," she laughed. "What can I do with you?"

"Not much." She gave me a look. "There is no way I’m making love to you in that condition. I’d be too afraid to hurt you worse."

"How would you hurt me? I’ll just be lying down."

"How would I hurt you? By slamming into your bruised hip and thigh on every downstroke?"

"Oh, yeah, you’re right." She looked really disappointed. "Damn."

"Oh, OK, fine," I said in mock-exasperation. "We can’t do that, but I don’t suppose I can let my sweetie go to bed all horny and weepy, can I? Lie down." She did, and I crawled down between her legs.

"Oh, Mikey, I like the way you think!" She hummed and moaned—not too loudly, considering where we were—as I licked her to three orgasms.

Then she kept the promise she had made last night. She returned the favor.

We fell asleep curled up with each other—a perfect end to a great day.

--End of part six—