Chapter 35
Seeing to Bianca's Welfare and Louise's Makeover

"What are y'all doin' tonight?" Draper asked Nate.

"I'm gonna go see Mama after school, but no big plans after that. Probably be a good idea to take Nora somewhere," Nate muttered.

"Probly, bein' it's Friday night. Wanna double? Last weekend was a kick..."

"Sounds good. I'll talk to Nora," Nate agreed.

"Cool. If 'Nisha gets grabby an' goes diggin' in my fly, won't be no uproar if we're with y'all," Draper chuckled.

"You make it sound like you're sufferin'..." Nate laughed.

"Yeh." Draper grinned. "What 'bout Stick?"

"Him an' Mary an' Teddy are goin' to some club meeting of Teddy's buds." Nate rolled his eyes.

"Well, shit happens. If Nora wanted to go, you'd be doin' what?"

"Yeah, yeah. Call ya 'bout six?"

"Cool." The pair parted company.

"Uh, Bianca?" Pete was standing in the door of Bianca's rooms.

"Yes, Pete?" What was HE doing here?

Pete exuded unease. "Uh, some of your Papa's stuff came back today by UPS. I thought you might want to look through it..."

"Oh! Okay."

"Where do you want it?"

"Ummm, here, I guess. Do you need help?"

"I thought to bring a hand truck this time," Pete grinned. "It'll only take a couple of trips."

"I'll go with you." As the pair started down the hall to the delivery area, Bianca added, "Thanks! I'm sure most of it is going to be trash, but I'll probably want a couple of things..."

"That's what I figured."

"Mama might too..." But Bianca wondered about that as soon as she said it. Jason had been very clear that he expected her mother to treat her relationship with Raoul as a closed period in her life, and Mama wasn't showing any reluctance to do so -- relations with Papa had been poor before the breakup, and Jason was both giving and demanding more of Mama's attention that Papa ever did. Pete, obviously thinking the same thing, held his peace.

The hand truck could handle six boxes. Pete took a load, dropped it, and went back, with Bianca trailing him the whole time; it turned out that her presence was only necessary when there turned out to be one box too many in the second load. When they were done, there were three stacks of boxes in the sitting room. Pete caught Bianca's hesitation, "Do you know how you're gonna do this?"

"Well, I guess I'm going to just dig around. Most of the clothing and stuff isn't going to do anyone any good -- it'll be trash. Mama should be here, I think..."

"Good idea. I don't think you should do this alone..." Pete suggested gently.

"I'll go get Mama..."

"Do you want me to wait?" Pete wasn't offering to guard the boxes, and they both knew it.

"If you... don't have anything else to do..." Bianca replied carefully. It was a tacit admission that she wanted to spend time with him, too.

"Okay. I'll probably need to help you get rid... uh, take the excess to the trash," Pete stammered. Bianca nodded, mute, and departed. 'I have to be nuts!' he worried, as she disappeared through the door. 'What kind of idiot hunts a fourteen year old?' But the fact was that he was drawn to her, not only physically, but by her emotional vulnerability. Taking advantage of her sexually didn't enter into his current motives; instead, he was more concerned about providing emotional support, warmth and comfort. Where was she going to get that? Jason? It wasn't exactly in his skill set, and her Mama was thoroughly distracted by her new role. The Wench was Bianca's new female confidante -- and if she needed a father figure, well, Pete could keep his dick in his pants...

Mama wasn't in Jason's rooms; Bianca found her in the kitchen, working with Velma. "Mama, a bunch of Papa's stuff came back from Kansas City. I have it in my rooms..."

Inez stopped what she was doing, considered, and said, "I... really don't want to deal with that. If you find papers and things, you should set them aside for me to look at, but..."

"Do you want to keep anything?" Bianca just missed pleading.

"If something looks valuable, my flower, you may want to set it aside. We should probably send some things home to the family -- but you get first pick." Inez smiled and pushed Bianca's hair back off her forehead, "The only reminder of our marriage I REALLY want stands here before me -- I need no other keepsakes..."

"Okay." Bianca smiled sadly, leaning into her mother's caress, and turned away to handle the task.

When she was gone, Velma looked up. "She was lookin' fo' some support; dat goin' through shit gonna be hard on her..."

"Oh," Inez grunted. "Selfish of me... When this is ready, I'll go look in on her."

It took ten minutes, but Inez found herself standing in the door of her old rooms. What she saw when she got there gave her pause; Pete was there, holding open a box while Bianca methodically emptied it, placing things in two or three separate piles. Neither of the pair was positioned to see her, so Inez merely waited, silently observing. Bianca would extract something from the box, and either place it on the trash pile without comment, or place it on the 'to keep' pile, sometimes murmuring a comment regarding its significance to Pete. Inez watched the pair do an entire box before she realized that she was waiting for something...

It happened. The box containing Raoul's knife set surfaced; Bianca opened it, and remarked, "There's one missing..." There was a pregnant pause while she absorbed the significance, then Bianca burst into tears -- Inez realized in that moment that the missing knife was probably the one used in the ill-considered attempt to take out the security guard that ended her husband's life. Pete stood there a second, flustered, then turned to take Bianca into his arms, where she collapsed, crying loudly, clearly deep into the release of her grief.

The motion brought Pete around to the point that Inez was visible to him, and he detected her there, lingering in the doorway -- but there was no flinch, no guilt, no surprise in his expression. Instead, there was an accusatory glare, and a flicker of a glance that said, 'You can take over here...'

Inez shook her head. She had gotten the answer to the question that held her rooted in the door; Pete's motives were pure. She backed away and returned to the kitchen, uninterested in entering the emotional maelstrom of her daughter's grief.

"Yo' back a'ready?" Velma murmured, mildly surprised.

"Pete's with her," Inez, replied, sighing. "He is doing a better job with her than I could..."

"Ah. Dat pair gotta thing goin' -- dey ain't done nuthin', but dey both wanna..."

"Oh?"

"Yeh." Velma cast an amused glance at Inez -- it was amazing how blind she was... "We done talked 'bout it, Bianca an' me. She's gotta crush. Cain't blame her; Pete's downright purty. Da guys tease Pete alla time, 'cause he got the hots fo' her, too, but he won't do nuthin' 'cause she's so much younger..."

Inez nodded. "He was being protective, not looking for anything he shouldn't have -- that's why I left them..."

"Still, might happen, now. Dis might spark things. Not today, but da door be open. Y'all need ta know 'bout it; Bianca, she'll give herself ta him if'n she gets a chance."

"Maybe I should stop them..."

"Mebbe it's too late," Velma eyed the Mexican woman. "Y'all kin keep Pete from doin' anythin', 'cause he be a good boy. But if'n Bianca wants him ta get it bad enough, he'll wake up wit' her climbin' in his bed." She mused a moment. "Me, I don' think it's any too bad -- Pete will treat her right, an' she knows it won't last 'cause o' their ages..."

"You'd have her sleep with a man who is not her husband?" Inez demanded.

Velma didn't say anything; the look she gave Inez said it for her. Inez had no reason to talk...

Inez cringed. "I'm an awful parent. I set this terrible example, and now she will follow me to Hell..."

"No, Honey, yo' got it wrong!" Velma consoled. "Way Ah see it, yo' did it da way yo' church says to, an' yo' jus' proved that it don't work! Bianca, she be hot-blooded, like her Mama; bettah she find out how it feels when it's done right, 'stead of mixin' up love an' sex an' settlin' fo' sumpthin' dat won't last..."

"What if she decides that she loves Pete?"

Velma shrugged. "Right now, she knows bettah. Ya CAN do it -- ya CAN be wit' an older guy, if it works right. But love sometimes ain't a fo'evah thing, 'specially when yo' young. She might fall head ovah heels -- but grow outta it, no harm done. You loved dat bastid Raoul, din't ya?"

"Yes, when we got married," Inez agreed, "Even for a long time after."

"Ya love him at da end?"

"Maybe. More than anything else, we were just used to each other."

"Yo' was stuck wit' one another. DAT's how yo' folk handle marriage. An' DAT's what's wrong wit' it! Dem rules dat got made for marriage was for folk dat didn't live dat long -- folk dat had roles set up for 'em, an' probly wouldn't live ta see their grandkids! Nowadays, folks live three times as long, an' shit's all mixed up 'bout who does what; fo'evah don' enter inta it. Lookah here! You think Mistah Jason gonna marry you? Why SHOULD he? What's he get he ain't already got?"

"Uuuuuhhhh..." Inez thought hard, and her shoulders slumped. "Nothing."

" 'Zactly. Dey fill yo' head wit' bullshit 'bout how marriage is 'bout love, but it ain't. Bottom line, marriage be a business partnership; if'n ya don' believe me, take a look at divorce -- dat 'bout money fo' sho'! Mistah Jason OWNS yo' ass -- why would he wanna make yo' a partner?"

"Okay, but..."

"Ah'm gettin' dere. How mucha yo' sex life las' coupla years been 'bout marriage?"

"Uh, none..." Inez blushed. Raoul hadn't gotten anything for at least a year -- and she'd liked it that way.

"Den why tie li'l Bianca up by tellin' her she's gotta marry somebody jus' ta git her cooze scratched. Dat be damnall stupid..."

"It's the right way..." Inez started to get up a head of steam.

"Nah. You KNOW bettah! It's da PERFECT way -- da 'happily evah aftah' way -- an' nowadays, mebbe one person in ten kin make dat work! But yo' church don' settle fo' nuthin' less! What 'bout da rest o' us po' bastids?" Velma challenged Inez, hands on hips. "What 'bout ME? Yo' think Ah'm EVAH goin' ta git MARRIED? Ah'm goin be lucky ta git mah cooze dipped t'ree-fo' mo' times afore Ah'm eighty! Dat be wit'out even sayin' da 'M' word..."

"But Bianca..."

"Yo' think she stands a chance? She be young, and beautiful -- an' hot. We done talked; girl wants dipped, NOW." Velma eyed Inez. "When was YOU dipped da firs' time? Don' girls in Mexico git married real young? Howcum you figger dat livin' here da rules didn't change but biology has?"

"I was pure on my wedding night!" Inez huffed.

"An' lookit what DAT got ya! Yo' don' think dat you'da been happier if Mistah Jason popped yo' cherry?"

"He wouldn't have," Inez sighed.

"Nope. Even if'n he was dere, he wouldn'ta done it. You know why? 'Cause he don' believe in dat 'pig in a poke' shit dat yo' church puts out!" Velma shook her head in disgust. "Yo' know it don' work, firsthand. Why you wann off dat bullshit on Bianca?"

"She shouldn't be a slut..."

Velma looked carnivorous. "Sluts don' pick an' choose. Bianca ain't a slut -- probly nevah WILL be. But YO' is -- an' YO' got NO DAMN CHOICE, do ya?"

Inez blushed almost purple; Wednesday night's activities had proven the truth of THAT accusation.

Velma nodded at the confirmation. "See? Mistah Jason tells you ta suck a dick, yo' goin' do it -- period. An' I bet da Boss been in yo' cooze lately, too! DAT's a slut! If'n Bianca picks an' chooses her boyfriends, an' she shows any sense 'bout it, she ain't a slut."

"I'm going to go to Hell!" Inez wailed.

"Nah. Even YO' church forgives folk. You'll be fine." She stepped forward and took Inez in, thinking to herself that it was amazing that Bianca did so well -- both of her parents were so self-absorbed...

Inez shook and sniffled. "It's horrible! I'M horrible!"

"It is not!" Velma remonstrated. "Yo' like it an' yo' knows it! Don'tcha?"

"Yes," Inez admitted. "I SAID I was horrible!"

"Why cain't yo' jus' be happy? If'n Ah was gettin' mah cooze punched as much as yo' do yours, Ah'd be a whistlin' and doin' little dances all over da kitchen!"

"And being beaten? Degraded?" Inez argued.

"Honey, yo' already decided dat yo' can handle DAT! If'n yo' couldn't, you'da been gone a'ready! Beatin' yo'self up ovah admittin' yo' lahk it be a waste o' time an' energy -- suck it up an' don' worry 'bout it."

Inez stepped back. "I'm still concerned. Pete is so much older..."

"An' he know what he's doin'. Yo' want her ta lose her cherry ta some fumblin' boy in da back seat of a Volkswagen? Some kid don' know what he's doin' an' fooks it up? Pete's got sense, an' he knows da rules. Looka here -- you'd be doin' her a favor ta get HER ta Doc Beckman fo' some pills, not worryin' when she shows good sense 'bout gettin' her cherry popped by an expert!"

"I-I must think on these things," Inez murmured, rubbing her forehead.

"Ya got a little while," Velma sighed. "But not long. You oughta talk ta the Wench -- she be educated. Ah DO know DIS, though: Da Catholics been organized a LOOOONG time. An' dey run things ovahseas for centuries. An a bunch o' da shit in dey teachin's don' have nuthin' ta do wit' da original shit Jesus said, and ever'thin' ta do wit' runnin' things. Da rules is strict ta keep ya feelin' guilty -- it keeps ya in line. Den ya tell 'em all yer secrets in dem little booths -- an' dey's got stuff on yo', whether yo' really think 'bout it or not! An' da rules don' apply to dem dat's runnin' things -- take a look at what dey been doin' to altar boys!" Velma scoffed. "You need ta dump dat shit yo' was raised on, 'cause it don' match yo' life, nowheres."

"Maybe you're right. But it's a little late..."

"Well, don' let it kick yo' in da ass."

"Okay." Anything to shut the fat woman up... "Thank you, Velma, for your counsel."

"Sho'," Velma wasn't fooled. Inez wasn't going to break her chains based on THIS conversation. But maybe she'd think twice about interfering in Bianca's affairs. 'Affairs...' Velma liked that term. Was what Ed and she had done an 'affair'? Would it continue to BE one? Good thing peeling potatoes went on automatic; she'd never get it done, otherwise...

Meanwhile, Pete was dealing with both sides of the issue of comforting a beautiful woman. Bianca was crying bitterly, venting her grief in loud sobs, soaking the front of Pete's golf shirt with her tears. Pete had no problem with this -- it brought out the protector in him. He cuddled her and rocked her, holding her close in order to provide her comfort. The flip side, though, was that he was holding a double-armload of softly pliant woman. Bianca might only be fourteen, but she was fully developed in a way that Pete's twenty-three year old 'fuck buddy' Amy had never approached. Amy was taller, but somewhat thin and rawboned, with small but pointed breasts that were starting to slide down her chest. Bianca, on the other hand, was a bit shorter, but softly rounded everywhere, her body a collection of sweet, sweeping curves that, while not fat by any means, were womanly in ways that made Amy look -- and feel -- like a stick figure. And right now, a set of grapefruit-sized breasts were pressed to his lower ribcage, and he was rubbing a youthfully muscled back that WASN'T revealing a washboard ribcage to his fingers while a pair of well-fleshed but powerful thighs pulled a puffy prominence against his upper thigh... There were things to be said for thin girls -- Amy was certainly athletic, for instance -- but this... For the umpteenth time in ten minutes, Pete reminded himself that he was providing comfort here, and a boner was out of character -- but his cock wasn't really listening, leaving Pete thankful that Bianca was hugging him a bit off-side... He patted and ran his fingers through Bianca's luxuriously thick, black hair, reflecting that it was just another luxurious difference between Bianca and Amy, whose hair was a good deal thinner and more lank, even though the colors weren't that far off. Pete had discovered that the blonde mystique was utter bullshit early and deliberately avoided them, concentrating on brunettes and redheads -- which led to another contrast. Amy was pale, lightly complected, while Bianca had this golden glow that didn't even rely on the sun... Add the fact that Pete KNEW from the porch incident that Bianca could cum like a freight train and you got a fine case of agony and ecstasy...

Bianca gathered herself and stepped back, but Pete didn't react quickly and she ended up shifting and taking a rather solid lump on her left hip before she got clear. Pete managed not to SAY 'Oh, shit!' but the thought reverberated in his brain as he turned away. Bianca's head was still down, so the move profiled him rather than fig leafing him; no, a bulge like that, aligned with his zipper, wasn't a pocketknife or a screwdriver. Well, it MIGHT be a screwdriver, sort of... Bianca's lips managed to quirk a bit as she caught his sidelong glance. "Are you okay now?" he asked.

"Much better," she replied. "I hadn't really let that out."

Pete nodded, pushing hard to get into the proper innocently supportive frame of mind. "Should I stay?"

"Please?" Bianca replied. "You've been... very supportive..."

'Yeah, that's me. Pete Logan, Eagle Scout' "Sure."

Bianca went back to digging in the boxes as if the emotional interlude just passed hadn't happened -- except they both knew better.

The weekly basketball game kicked off at 4:00 p.m., right on schedule. The home team wasn't any league powerhouse, but Winton High sucked, so the home team was up by twenty at the half, and just held it there, letting the little kids play until Winton closed within ten, then upping the power and pushing them back off. The crowd wasn't huge, and with the end nowhere near being in doubt, it began to thin already during the second period. Rob glanced up to check on Mary and noticed another figure seated next to her. "Hey, who's that? With Mary?"

"Dunno. Where?" Ted asked.

"Up top. Usual place."

Ted looked, grinned. "Ain't Darla Jean..."

"Big surprise." Rob had gotten the other side of the story from Mary, and was thoroughly disgusted with Ted. Ted, being Ted, hadn't noticed.

Dwayne took a look. It took a second or two, but then the droopy dress triggered him. "Louise Bryant?"

"Huh!" Rob grunted. "And she's with Mary, because?"

Ted grinned. "Mary's the new lightning rod for Bang Nation, I guess. Wonder who she's here for?" He preened a bit.

"I guess it all depends on whether she's into rape or not," Rob replied sourly. Several others on the bench laughed. Dwayne wasn't among them.

"Hey, she was hot! She put the rubber on with her own two hands!" Ted protested.

"Who'd want to have YOUR bastards?" Rob shot back, pretending good humor. If he needed any confirmation of the truth of Mary's tale, it was there in Dwayne's face.

Meanwhile Ted pretended to have been comically stabbed between the shoulder blades. "I'm cut to the quick!"

"You will be, if you ever pull THAT stunt again," Dwayne mumbled under his breath. Ted was out posturing and didn't hear, but Rob did, and so did at least two others. Ted had lost a friend and supporter over the incident with Darla Jean, and he didn't have any to spare.

Things had changed by the second half; Louise had been replaced by some other chick in sweats. Rob wondered vaguely what was going on; nobody seemed to know who Louise's replacement was.

The game ended and the boys hit the showers. Billy Baldwin, who had hit the showers early, stuck his head back in the door and yelled, "There's a few still out there -- including one sitting with Rob's girl." Ted started talking trash immediately, acting as if the mystery girl's target was a foregone conclusion; Dwayne kept his mouth shut.

Louise had surprised Mary Eikenberry no end when she settled next to her. "Uh, hi, Louise. Anything I can do for you?"

"You're waiting for Rob, right?" Louise returned.

"Uh huh." Mary waited. And waited. And waited.

Finally, Louise husked, "I heard that Dwayne might be..."

'What?' "Looking?"

"Uh, yeah." Louise colored.

"Last girl that went looking for Dwayne didn't fare so well..." Mary observed.

Louise swallowed. "I heard it wasn't his fault."

Mary smiled. "Your source and mine say the same thing. I, uh, didn't picture you putting yourself out on a limb..."

"I'm, uh, little shaky, but I have to do SOMETHING." Louise husked. "I... just don't get seen..."

Mary eyed her closely. "Well, that's pretty poor packaging." Louise's dress hung like a sack from its tight round neck and cap sleeves past its ungathered waist all the way to her ankles. "You look like Ma Kettle."

"Yeah," Louise replied tonelessly. "My mama dresses me funny."

Mary sighed. "She sure does! You look better in gym clothes!"

"I do?" Louise blinked.

"Well, yeah..." Mary shrugged. Louise had a baby pink sweatsuit with purple stripes on the legs that she wore to gym that was probably her closest approach to fashion.

"So I should put on sweats?" Louise looked around doubtfully. Actually, there were a bunch of girls in that kind of outfit in the bleachers for the game...

"You need to advertise," Mary advised. "What you're wearing says bad things about you. Well, maybe it says you're a good girl, but the implication to a boy is that you're a lost cause." She eyed Louise askance, "ARE you a lost cause?"

"I don't think I understand," Louise said carefully.

"I think you do," Mary replied. "If you don't, you need to. The fact that you've apparently settled on Dwayne tells me that you probably do."

"Ummm, maybe..." Louise hedged.

"C'mon, Louise -- it's just us girls here. I'm talking about sex. If it isn't important to you, why are you chasing boys whose reputations say they're good at it?"

"Okay, okay!" Louise whined. "I... think it might be important. I don't KNOW, but I think it is."

"Well, you dress about as sexy as that basketball goal over there," Mary pointed out. "There are a lot of girls in this school that dress like an ad for Victoria's Secret, but it's all appearance. You're not even in the competition; how do expect boys to notice you?"

"I dunno."

"Well, that thing you were doing to Randall is a start, I guess, but you need to make it worth their while, or else it's like being chased by a bratty little sister. You need to put some merchandise out on the shelf to be looked at..."

"And sweats do that?" Louise asked, confused.

Mary pointed out a girl in sweats, headed for the lobby. "What do you see?"

"Uh, a girl in sweats?"

Mary rolled her eyes. "See the walk? Sweatpants are thin, clingy fabric. They mold themselves to your ass when you walk. If you're walking right -- and I don't know if you know how -- a boy's eyes will get all twisted up watching your ass bounce and wiggle. Sweats are also easy to get into and out of, and they show it if you're not wearing underwear beneath..."

"Oh," Louise murmured, watching the departing girl. "OH!"

Mary nodded. "In some ways, your butt might as well be naked. And the fact that all they would have to do would be to slide their hand past that loose elastic waistband works on their heads, too. Or the fact that a good tug would snatch them down..."

Louise suddenly uncrossed and re-crossed her legs. Eyeing her, Mary asked, "Why did you do that?"

"I... got a little wet." Louise's face shaded toward pink. "Uh, my sweats -- well, I wear them to gym. They smell."

"Sometimes a boy wants a girl to smell like a girl. You can always put on a little perfume." The look on Louise's face gave her away. "You don't have any?" Mary asked, incredulous.

"Well, not here, anyway," Louise admitted.

"Where ELSE would you use it?"

"Nowhere." Louise rubbed her face.

Mary shook her head. "You're a basket case. Let's go down to the girl's lockers during halftime and change your clothes. Maybe I've got something in my locker that will help..."

"Really?"

"You need help. I can either talk about you, like Claudette, or I can help you. Helping you should be more fun." Mary's eyes drifted back to the game.

"Claudette says..."

"Claudette says anything that will make her look better than you," Mary replied bitterly, not looking at Louise. "Claudette says I'm a slut. Claudette says that because she couldn't hang onto Rob while giving him the cold shoulder. If sleeping with your boyfriend makes you a slut, then maybe I am -- but it's love, or something close enough that I can't tell the difference -- I didn't just fall into bed with Rob, but we got there, and the benefits are..." Mary paused, staring off into space, "... well worth it." She whirled on Louise, "Look, I don't recommend that you fall into bed with Dwayne on the first date; Darla Jean did, but that was because she just wanted the experience, not Dwayne himself. But you HAVE to give a boy a reason to come back, because there are a lot of distractions out there! A kiss and a cuddle won't hurt you, and you'll whet his appetite if you don't cut his hand off the first time it drifts somewhere it shouldn't. Besides, there are benefits to you..." She settled back. "Dwayne isn't really any too brave, or he'd be doing better -- but he DOES have a reputation, now, and you WILL have competition. You need to decide what you want, and what you're willing to do to get -- and keep -- it."

Louise gathered herself. "If he's nice, I want to go..."

"...All the way?" Mary supplied, when Louise's voice petered out.

"Yeah."

"We need to find a way to let him know there IS an 'all the way'," Mary replied. The buzzer sounded, signaling the end of the second period, and Mary paused to ensure that her attention was in the right place when Rob looked up to find her -- boys' egos were SUCH tender things! -- then she turned to Louise and said, "Okay, let's shoot down to the locker room."

"You're not kidding?"

"Uh uh. Look, you're ahead of the power curve, here -- but if you want Dwayne, you'd better lock him down now, before some other girl trips him and lays down under him! You've heard of Bang Nation?"

"Um, yeah," Louise admitted. "The jocks' pool of..."

"Sluts?" Mary replied, watching her step as she danced down the bleachers. "I'd be careful how I characterized them, if I were you -- in the main, they're just desperate, like you, and willing to lay it all out to come home with something decent. Point is, you've confirmed my suspicions -- Rob is out of circulation, and Bang Nation is hunting for a new target. Ted THINKS he accomplished something during his little escapade with Darla Jean, and he might collect a couple of really bad girls -- but Dwayne was the big winner, there, and he stands to inherit Bang Nation -- IF you can't pin him to the mat first!"

"Okay..." Louise followed Mary as she threaded through the rush headed for the bathrooms, candy and drink machines, or outside for a smoke, bypassing the bathrooms and heading for the locker rooms around the corner. "Do you think I have a shot?"

"I don't know. It'd help if you could talk to him." They passed through the restroom portion of the locker room and entered the dressing room area. Louise waved toward the area where her locker was, and Mary continued, "Dwayne isn't that brave; Darla Jean practically had to stick his hands in her panties, I think. She was in a hurry -- but, frankly, you may need to be, too."

"That'll be tough," Louise mumbled as she worked at her locker combination.

"It'll be even tougher if we can't find a way to advertise you," Mary replied. She waved her hand to get Louise going, getting out of her dress, then stuck her head in the locker. Fishing out the track suit, she grunted, "Is this dirty?"

"I wore it today. And Tuesday." Louise was digging for her zipper, her arms behind her head.

Mary held the jacket up, checked it for obvious dirt and stains, and smelled the armpits. "Not too bad. We won't have to totally douse you in perfume." She held up the pants; the knees were a little scuffed, but they weren't bad. "Where's the top?"

"That white thing." Louise pointed with her nose, still fighting the dress zipper through the middle of her back.

Mary fished it out. It was round-necked, cap-sleeved -- basically, a T-shirt, made of a bit more robust fabric. It WAS whiff, though -- and smudged, too. "Hmmmm." Mary turned to the other girl and stopped dead. "Jeez, Louise, what size is that truss you're wearing?"

"Ummm, 34A/B..." Louise's heavy white bra was positively crushing her chest, and looked like it was under tremendous tension.

"Doesn't that hurt?"

"Well, yeah, some," Louise admitted. "You get used to it..."

"Why on Earth would you want to?" Mary asked, circling around behind Louise to fight the clasps.

"Uuh," Louise grunted relief, but added, "What did you do THAT for? Now I'll have to fight it back on!"

"Get out of it," Mary directed.

Louise shrugged, using the move to lean forward and peel the cups off her breasts, which seemed to swell and rise before Mary's astonished eyes. Mary shook her head. "You're a 36C -- maybe a D. Why are you crushing the poor things like that?"

"Mama says I shouldn't parade around..." Louise began.

"Mama's a fool -- and you're an idiot!" Mary interrupted. "In the war of the sexes, those things are assault guns! We uncover those and you won't HAVE to talk to Dwayne -- all you'll have to do is shake your shoulders a little!" She tapped her nose, thinking. "Shit, this changes things -- do you have the shorts that go with these?" She held up the sweats.

"In the locker." Louise was trying to figure out whether she was mad or not.

"Gym shoes?" Mary pressed.

"Yeah, but..."

"What?"

"Am I gonna change back here? If I have to lug 'em around..." Louise complained. "I have a whole bag full of books to drag."

Mary thought about it. She stood back, gazing at Louise's legs. "You do track?"

"Field hockey, until last year," Louise replied, looking down. "Why?"

"Your legs are kind of defined, muscular."

"Is that bad?" Louise turned around and cocked one leg, causing her thigh muscle to flex, along with her calf.

"Well, it's a matter of taste, but I'd say no," Mary replied. "I think maybe it's a drawing card. Get the shorts out; I'll be right back." She turned and ran for her locker, leaving Louise, clad only in a pair of no-nonsense cotton panties, digging in her locker.

Moments later, she was back, carrying a bundle. Louise picked the shorts up from the bench, having just finished folding that godawful dress. "They're kinda short, and they're loose in the legs..."

"They're supposed to be," Mary replied. "Off with the granny panties."

"Huh?"

"Do you trust me? Just do it." Mary ordered. Louise stepped out of the panties, revealing a thick, furry bush the same exact color as her hair. "Oh, my!" Mary giggled, "Not much effort at control there. What do you wear for a swimsuit?"

Louise rolled her eyes, "I'd hate to tell you."

"Well, put on the shorts." Louise did as she was told. The shorts were fine while Louise stood up, but Mary suspected that that would change when she sat. "Okay, sit." Louise did so, knees together. "Open 'em up a bit."

"Mary!" Louise hissed, embarrassed. Despite -- or maybe because of -- Louise's muscular thighs, when exposed, the crotch of the loose shorts revealed a few wisps of Louise's thick bush -- especially the thin edges the extended into the hollows of her thighs. "It shows!"

Mary grinned. "Uh huh. Look, Louise, some guys like their women shaved bare, and some don't. I kind of operate in the middle..." She snatched open the waistband of her shorts, revealing a narrow, neatly trimmed vertical strip of red hair. "And while the gals are just as likely as not to tease you about that jungle, for a guy who is checking you out, a few wispies are an incitement to riot! Trust me!" She tossed a bright yellow blouse at the embarrassed Louise, "Here, put this on."

"No bra?"

"Nope."

Louise reluctantly did as she was told. The top was sleeveless, tight and short and featured a low scoop neck -- and gave Louise yards of cleavage and a couple of inches of dark brown skin between it and her shorts. "It's too small."

"Uh uh," Mary disagreed, "Not for our purposes. Not really, at all -- and it looks incredible! Here, put these on..." She handed Louise a pair of pink flip-flops, which the other girl toed into, then said, "Let's go hit the mirror."

"Omigod!" Louise was shocked! The yellow top picked up her dark coloration, creating a rich contrast that was admittedly eye-catching. "This is..."

"It's a sex bomb, is what it is," Mary chuckled. "We'll hide it some in the stands -- you can wear the sweat jacket and carry the pants for outdoors, later. Okay?"

"Oh, Mary, this is GREAT!" Louise enthused, sliding into the jacket.

"Just a touch of perfume..." Mary pumped a small sprayer at Louise's neck and cleavage.

"Not much! Mama will freak!" Louise screeched.

"What's up with your mother?" Mary wondered irritably.

"Well, she was kind of a flower child until she got saved..." Louise muttered lamely.

"Uh... huh..." Mary replied. "Well, SHE may be saved, but she's KILLING you!" Capping the bottle, she said, "Ready?"

"I'm going out in public like this?" Louise asked incredulously.

"Oh, yeah," Mary nodded. "If you want that run at Dwayne..." She started to sway out, but stopped to let Louise pass her, lugging her backpack. "Move the ass, Louise!"

"You're kidding, right?" But Louise started swaying, anyway.

Rob had just stuck his head back out of the locker room when his cell phone rang. "Rob?"

"Sweetheart?"

"Could you ask Dwayne to stop by? Somebody wants to have a word with him..."

"Okay. Who IS that, anyway?"

Mary giggled. "It's a surprise!"

Ted stuck his head out the door and glanced up. "So who is the mystery chick?"

"Dunno." Rob pretended he hadn't asked. Ducking back inside, he strode over and collared Dwayne, "Hey, Man, got your car?"

"Yeah." Dwayne looked up, suspicious.

"I think maybe Mary's girlfriend might need a ride."

"Louise, or the other chick?"

"Haven't seen Louise since half-time."

"Well," Dwayne grumbled, "I'll think about it. She better not be some skank." He tied his shoe and stood up, slamming his locker door.

In the meantime, Ted had started climbing the bleachers. Louise took one look and her face closed down. She zipped the sweatsuit jacket to her neck and draped the pants over her knees, then picked up her backpack and settled it on her lap. By the time Ted got there, she was basically hiding behind it. "Hey, Mary -- Rob's on his way," Ted announced himself.

He might as well have opened the door to a deep freeze. "Thank you," Mary said icily. Whoever the other girl was, she wouldn't even look at him.

"How about introducing me to your friend?" Ted asked, trying to push through the ice pack.

"I might show her your face on a wanted poster, Ted, but you don't introduce friends to perverted rapists."

"Whew! THAT'S pretty harsh! What kind of snow job did Darla Jean sell you?" Ted replied.

"The truth, I imagine," Mary retorted. "That you invited yourself to an encounter between her and Dwayne, used her and took advantage of her, and generally treated both her and Dwayne like shit!"

Ted rolled his eyes. "Nothing could be..."

"... More accurate!" Dwayne finished from behind him in a tight voice.

"I didn't think you were gonna be a baby about it, Man," Ted complained.

"You don't have any friends here, Ted. Please leave," Mary directed.

Ted ignored her, giving Dwayne the eye, but moved off. Dwayne turned to maintain eye contact. Mary took the opportunity to prompt Louise to readjust her wardrobe.

Rob unwittingly extended things by saying, "I asked Dwayne if he'd be available to give someone a ride." Then his eyes lit on Louise, and surprise transformed his features.

Dwayne turned back around, his position on a lower row of seats bringing him eyeball-to-cleavage with Louise. The eyeballs bulged slightly. Wow! What a set! His eyes drifted lower, taking in the brown stripe of Louise's midriff, then her legs. Louise, watching him, let her knees drift apart slightly. The shorts gaped and Dwayne drew in a hissing gasp -- was that fur? Whoever this babe was, she certainly wasn't -- "Louise?" Dwayne finally let his eyeballs drift above her neck, and got the shock of his life!

"Hi, Dwayne," Louise managed to get out.

"Uh, hi..." Dwayne was re-inventorying. This was Louise? Ho lee shit! Where did those... "I, uh, don't think I ever..." Them things can NOT be real... "... noticed..."

"What, Dwayne?" Mary interjected. "I'm sure I don't know what you're babbling about -- do you, Louise?"

Louise contrived to shake her shoulders with her head, and Dwayne's eyes tried to track those grapefruit on her chest individually. Thank God there was a nose there in the middle, or his optic nerves would have become entangled. Jeezus! "Uh, this outfit! Yeah!"

Louise shrugged. "It's just gym clothes." Poor Dwayne was gonna hurt himself! Louise started grinning from ear to ear.

Dwayne settled onto the seat below her. "Well, I'd never seen it, and it looks REAL nice..." 'God, what am I saying?' He started to sweat.

Louise leaned forward, putting her elbows on her knees. The position gave Dwayne a drop shot for his eyeballs, straight past her breastbone and on to the inner dark... It also provided her with a fine excuse to maintain a separation between her knees, exposing the crotch of her loose shorts and the wispy indicators that coverage was neither good nor complete. Dwayne wrenched his eyes from Louise's cleavage and dropped them directly into the briar patch. Louise's bright "Why, thank you!" found him thinking 'Jeez, those shorts are loose! I don't think she's wearing any panties! Ooh, Man!' "Uuh, yeah. Nice colors! I never realized you were so..." He looked up to engage her eyes. She sat there, smiling, a bit quizzical, waiting for him to finish. What WAS he going to say? Thirteen things came to mind -- tanned? Furry? Busty? Hot? "Uhh, curvy!" Louise smiled, and Dwayne thanked God that something G-rated had finally surfaced. "So, do you want that ride?"

"Uh huh." Louise reached out her hand and Dwayne pulled her to her feet. 'Nice legs,' he mused. She seemed disinclined to release Dwayne's hand, so he turned to lead her down the bleachers.

"Bring me that stuff on Monday!" Mary yelled. Louise shrugged her backpack onto a stable position on her shoulder, smiled, and waved.

Rod watched the pair go, bemused. "What happened to her?"

"Nothing, really," Mary replied. "She's always been a knockout, I guess. But her mama dresses her in gunnysacks, so boys don't notice. Heck, I didn't. Of course, I'm a girl..."

Dwayne's pickup had a bench seat, which surprised Louise -- but it offered an opportunity, so she slid in to the center of the seat and put the backpack against the passenger door. Dwayne got in and mused, 'Huh! Instant girlfriend! Not bad, though, when she's a babe...' Louise started digging for the seldom-used center seat belt, giving Dwayne an excuse to lean over and 'help', feeling around behind her ass for the buckle end while scoping the valley between her tits over her shoulder as she searched for the tab end to her right. "Here it is..." Dwayne surfaced the buckle, but Louise was still digging, so Dwayne leaned over to help, causing a collision when she backed off after having found it. "Oops!" Reluctantly turning his attention to driving, he pulled up at the parking lot exit. "Which way?"

"Left," Louise supplied. "It's really not very far..."

"Is there a scenic route?" Dwayne had no urge to whip a couple of blocks down the street and push Louise out for at LEAST three reasons he could think of...

"I don't know. We could look..." Louise served up a hesitant smile.

'Oookay!' "Where would we be going, if we were in a hurry?"

"Two blocks down and one block over."

Dwayne deliberately rolled past the turn. "Right or left?"

"Right."

Dwayne turned right -- a block late -- but was in no hurry to backtrack. There was a small park three blocks down... "Howcum I never..."

"I've been hiding."

"Shit, I guess!" Louise giggled and Dwayne realized that he'd said it aloud. "Oops!" He pulled into a parking space, then shifted around to face her more directly. "Is anything... new?"

"Huh?"

"You know," Dwayne realized that he was in deep. "Plastic surgery, or something?"

"Oh! No, I've just been hiding it."

Dwayne had allowed his eyes to drift back to her cleavage and was virtually drooling, "That's a shame..."

"I guess so." Thirty minutes in a decent blouse had netted her a year's worth of male attention...

"I'm gonna get slapped, but... well, they're bigger. I'd have noticed them, and I'm not the only one!"

"I've been mashing them down. And I don't wear blouses that open up like this."

Louise seemed to be responsive, so... "Why?"

"Mama's born again, and pretty strict. She keeps me locked down pretty tight..."

"Why me?" Dwayne was thrilled to death to be the first to see the grand unveiling, but...

"I hear good things..." Louise looked away, blushing.

"I'm sure whatever's going around can't be that good," Dwayne replied. "Ted..."

"No girl with any sense listens to Ted!" Louise scoffed.

"Well, if you're looking for some guy with lots of polished moves..." Dwayne shrugged and shook his head.

"I..." Louise gathered herself. "I heard that you and Ted were night and day when it comes to how you treat a girl."

"Well, THAT'S true, at least," Dwayne allowed.

"Ummm, despite all this..." Louise took in her appearance with a wave, "I'm not looking for what Darla Jean was."

"Okay..." What did THAT mean?

The question was clear on his face, and it was up to Louise to answer it. "Ummm, not... Bang Nation... More like Mary and Rob."

"Oh." Dwayne sat a moment. "Cool. Darla Jean... rushed me, kinda." He mulled things over a bit. "So you wanna go out on a date, then?"

"Uh huh." Louise was beyond her limit for bravery.

"Anything in particular?"

"Whatever you want to do."

"Burger and a movie?"

"Okay."

"Tomorrow night?"

"Okay."

Dwayne eyed Louise. Suddenly, she was just... limp. Now that he thought about it, that had always been the vibe he got from his limited exposure to her -- very... submissive. Testing the water, he switched up, "Maybe the afternoon matinee is better..."

"Okay."

"Look, what's up? Is this a joke? Am I being set up somehow? Is somebody making you do this?" Dwayne demanded.

"Oh no! No!" Louise eyed him in shock, began to shake, and then dropped her eyes and sobbed. "Maybe you s-should take me home..."

"Not until I get answers!" Dwayne insisted. "Tell me what's going on!"

"Okay..." Louise couldn't seem to raise her head. "I'm... not too brave. But I've been pushing things for a couple of days, trying to get myself out there... Mary chipped in, or God knows when you'd have noticed me, but I'm just..." She waved shaking hands in frustration. "The clothes, the teasing... I'm a wreck!"

"Clothes?" A sweatsuit? Dwayne scratched his head.

"Well, the sweats are mine, but I'd have never thought to wear them outside gym... This top -- I don't own anything like this -- Mary lent it to me, along with the flip-flops... She said I wasn't advertising, and wouldn't get noticed..." Louise sniffled and wiped her nose. "My stuff is... awful. Mama doesn't want me acting like a shameless whore..."

"Oh," Dwayne mumbled. He again took in Louise's display. "You jumped right out there, didn't you?"

"Uh huh."

"For me?"

"Uh huh."

"Are you wearing a bra?"

"No." Louise went digging in the backpack, and surfaced her bra. "This thing wouldn't have gone well under the top..."

"Huh. Guess not. Is it bulletproof?" Dwayne found himself grateful he didn't have tits.

"It might as well be." Louise was eyeing him sidelong, assessing his mood. "Look, just tell me what you want. I'll go away, or whatever..."

Dwayne was silent. One thing was certain; sending her away was a stupid fucking idea! If she wanted to be here, he wanted her. Even if she tucked herself back in those hag rags, Dwayne now knew that there was a babe under there. Besides, it appeared that he had control of things, such as they were...

Louise found herself suddenly tight against Dwayne's side, pulled in by a long arm. There was a momentary struggle, brought on by instinctive fear, but Dwayne didn't press and in moments she turned and burrowed into the offered protection. "You went to a lot of work to get here, and I sure don't see any pressing reason to send you away..." Louise couldn't talk -- her throat closed. But she could edge closer...

Dwayne collected the forgotten brassiere from her slack hands and eyed it, murmuring, "Given a choice, I'd rather not have to deal with THIS!" He tossed it back atop Louise's backpack.

"Okay."

Dwayne blinked. "Your mama won't like that."

"I'll... think of something."

Dwayne was somewhat surprised, but Louise at this point was again wallowing in the pleasure of success; if pleasing Dwayne was all it took to keep him as a boyfriend and keep this kind of contact coming, she would find a way. Mama wasn't going to run her life forever, after all -- who was going to be more important in the future?

It was against the background of this thought process that Louise reacted to Dwayne's next request...

A thought occurred to Dwayne. "Are you wearing panties?" Those wisps...

"No." Louise blushed. "Mary suggested that it might be better if I didn't..." She leaned up and reached for the backpack.

"No." Dwayne put a hand to her chest, just below her breasts, and gently pushed her back into the seat. "I don't want to see the panties, I want to SEE!" He dropped his hand onto her left leg and coaxed it open, gesturing with his chin for Louise to mirror the action with her right leg. Louise said nothing; she eyed him in open-mouthed trepidation, but she obeyed, silently praying that he didn't consider her to be just another easy lay after all...

Dwayne, mesmerized, slid his right forefinger through the crotch of Louise's loose shorts until the tip stuck out of the left leg, then slowly ran it up and down, savoring the feel of Louise's damp fur on the back of his finger as he slid it up and down along her labia. "This... This, I don't know about. It's a terrible temptation. I don't know how long I could stay out of here, knowing you weren't wearing panties. We'll have to talk about it..." He gathered himself and removed the finger, sniffing it while he met Louise's wild eyes. "Oh, Lordy, that's wonderful..."

Louise had gone from transfixed by fear to transfixed by desire! Dwayne's action had been the single most erotic thing ever to happen to her! She somehow got control of her mouth, "Yes, Dwayne. Umm, wonderful?"

"Mmmm?" Dwayne had been drowning in her quizzical doe-soft eyes and the flood of her pheromones. "Yes, the smell. It's enough to drive me wild..." He lowered his lips to her neck.

"Oooohh, GOD!" Louise was instantly covered in goose-bumps. "Yes!" The next fifteen minutes was torrid, despite the fact that they didn't get beyond second base (okay, Dwayne had already stolen third with his finger, but he backed off and did not return). Louise surrendered her breasts to Dwayne -- through the shirt -- without even so much as token resistance, and considered the benefits to be well worth it, given the sensations Dwayne's fingers provoked in her stiffened nipples. If Dwayne had pressed for bare skin, she'd have done that, too, but he forbore. In fact, Dwayne sensed that if pressed, Louise would have sex with him in the cab of the pickup -- and she'd have come back, after, but she wouldn't have felt good about it. The knowledge that the conquest was possible made it less urgent, though, so Dwayne controlled himself, limiting the encounter to a level somewhat consistent with Louise's goal of acquiring a boyfriend without totally prostituting herself on the first date. After all, he wasn't in a mad rush, either; if he just took her, it would cheapen her, and, frankly, Dwayne just wasn't ready to rush that far again.

Louise called an end to the session with, "Dwayne, I-I'm late! The basketball game wasn't planned, and Mama..."

"Mama is going to be a problem, isn't she?" Dwayne guessed, withdrawing slowly.

"Yes."

"How bad?"

"I... don't know. Bad, probably."

Dwayne started the truck. "Let me guess: She's got this vague vision of you being married and happy, but she's going to get in the way of you dating..."

"Uh huh."

Glancing up from dead-reckoning his way back toward Louise's house, Dwayne observed, "Well, seeing your bra won't help. Better pack it away."

"Yes, Dwayne." Louise started tucking the lingerie back in her backpack.

"Louise, I'm not, like, trying to tell you what to do..."

"I don't mind."

Dwayne glanced over at her. Louise's eyes didn't say, 'I don't mind' -- they said 'Please.' "Oh." How far did this behavior go with her? Ideas for tests of her commitment flickered in the back of his mind -- a very new phenomenon. Did he like this? It was too early to tell. "Are we close?"

"The next block. On the right. 4215," Louise directed.

Dwayne pulled up out front of a modest ranch. "Okay. Put on your sweatpants, and zip up the jacket."

"Yes, Dwayne." Louise got started.

"We'll be going to the evening movie tomorrow. Look 'em over and tell me what you think you'd like to see."

"Yes, Dwayne." Louise continued kicking her way into her sweatpants.

"Try to find something that will look nice -- or that you can make adjustments to that will make it look nice. If you don't have any ideas, ask Mary or somebody." Dwayne thought a moment. "And DON'T wear that truss! If you need a bra, we can at least go out and find something that fits and looks decent!"

"Yes, Dwayne."

"Gimme a kiss." He took her chin in his hand and drew her to him. She didn't offer a peck, and seemed perfectly happy to follow along any time he raised the ante. Was she really gonna be like this? Long term? It seemed like Heaven, but Dwayne was sure there was a downside. "Okay, I'll call you tomorrow." Louise reached across and opened the door, pushing her backpack before her. "Shit! your phone number!" he exclaimed.

Louise finished backing out of the truck, then propped her backpack on the seat while she fished out paper and a pen. Scribbling quickly, she handed it to him, "Here! I'd better get inside..." As it was, if Mama was watching, she was in BIG trouble! Why hadn't she thought of that before?

"Awright. Bye, Louise!" Dwayne put the pickup in gear.

"Bye!"

The pickup pulled away, and Louise turned up the walk, jubilant. That had been... stupendous! Incredible! Now if it would only last...

Dwayne pulled away from the curb, his mind heavily occupied with the events of the last couple of hours. Louise Bryant wanted to be his girlfriend, and she was a babe under those awful clothes! Frankly ONE of those pieces of information would have surprised him quite a bit -- BOTH, in combination, were... unbelievable! Then there was this strange deal with her just giving him whatever he wanted... A shark like Ted would eat a girl like Louise alive! Better make sure Ted didn't catch on... In the meantime, just how far would she go? WAS this Bang Nation-type activity? Or something else? Dwayne's understanding of Bang Nation was that the girl approached you to be your girlfriend -- and offered to drop her panties pretty early in the negotiation. Dwayne was virtually certain that he COULD have gotten into Louise's -- but that hadn't been offered, directly, and Louise had insisted that offering sex for the cachet of being 'Dwayne Hansen's Girlfriend' wasn't her intent. There SEEMED to be a subtle difference...

Nothing like asking the expert... Dwayne pulled into his own driveway, then took advantage of the privacy offered by the pickup's cab for a phone call.

Rob Graham's delighted fondling of Mary Eikenberry's red curls was interrupted by the tinkling of his cell phone. What the fuck? "Shhh!" he admonished Mary, and picked up. Mary merely grinned around his swollen erection. Giving head wasn't something she'd done a lot of, but this had seemed like a good time... "Hello?" Rob grunted.

"Hey, Rob, you busy? I've got a question or two..." Rob recognized the voice as Dwayne's.

"I'm kinda tied up right now," Rob replied, his voice strained.

"Okay, look, if Mary's there, I might need to hear her opinion, too. Can you guys, like, call me back?" Dwayne asked.

"Ummm, is this about Louise?" Mary looked up and locked eyes with Rob at this question.

"Yeah."

"Hang on..."

"Lemme start with you," Dwayne forstalled him. "The first question or two, Mary might not like..."

Rob had already waved Mary up, sighing. "Well, go ahead, then." He made no move to disinvolve her, holding the phone so that she could hear.

"How do girls from Bang Nation approach you? I mean, how clear about it are they?" Dwayne asked.

"Well, usually there is kind of a clear offer, if you know what I mean," Rob replied. "Kind of a 'Gee, it'd sure be neat being your girlfriend!' while making some overt move, like showing me a tit. Not always, though. Sometimes they can't get it out and they can't really just push something in my face; sometimes, they have to go for subtlety. Why?"

"I'm kinda confused over Louise," Dwayne replied. "We talked, and she said she wasn't trying to do the Bang Nation thing, but then we started making out and she wasn't really guarding shit, if you know what I mean..."

Mary held a finger up. Rob nodded and said, "I think Mary has some questions."

"Okay." Dwayne found himself wondering if Rob covered his ass or not...

"Dwayne, did you guys go all the way?" Mary asked.

"No -- but she left me feeling like if I pushed things, I could."

Mary bit her lip. "How far did you get?"

"We kissed a lot, and I felt her up a little bit through her blouse."

"MY blouse," Mary murmured. "Look, Dwayne, I think Louise is on the up and up. But she's shy -- actually, she's meek! This thing she did today to get your attention is probably one of the bravest things she's ever done!"

"She said something like that," Dwayne admitted.

"Okay, well, if you push her -- especially if you confront her directly -- she'll probably let you do just about anything, because it's the path of least resistance. It's not a case of her deliberately opening doors to get something, though -- it's a case of her fulfilling requests to keep something! She'll do as you ask, justifying it because she believes that if she doesn't, you'll drop her like a hot rock! Do you understand?"

"Well, sort of," Dwayne mumbled.

"Dwayne, this is different than Bang Nation. Louise would give you what you want because she's not strong enough to say no, not because she thinks she's going to get anything out of it. But if you push her too hard, someday it'll backfire. You'll get what you want today, but one day she'll realize you used her and it'll ruin what you have." Mary paused a moment. "You haven't already screwed things up, have you?"

"I... don't think so. I rattled her cage a bit, when she started just agreeing to anything I said. And I pushed things once, over whether she was wearing panties or not."

"How did she take it?"

"Okay, I think. I didn't press that particular thing afterward, and we made out for a while."

"And you felt her up." Mary's voice accused.

"Through her blouse!" Dwayne howled defensively.

"Who pushed that?"

"It... just happened. She seemed fine with it, and I didn't go nuts or anything."

"Dwayne," Rob interjected, "There's kind of a thing that marks all of the girls in Bang Nation. They talk about how great it would be to be my girlfriend -- and usually it's sort of loaded toward how popular I am and especially how popular it will make them. It's not about who I am, it's about what I am, you know? Did you get those kind of vibes from Louise?"

"No." Dwayne was absolutely positive. "Okay, I got my answer. But, Mary, Louise LIKES to be told what to do! It shows! She WANTS me to run things! What am I supposed to do? Ignore it?"

"Well, no," Mary sighed. "Look, all I'm telling you is that you should go slow and not take serious advantage of her right away. Later on, who knows? But you don't want to have a girlfriend who is there but doesn't want to be, do you? I'm just advising you not to make her feel cheap."

"Hey, no problem. I'm not in a major rush, anyway. Louise is... nice. But I'm wondering about this meek thing..." Dwayne mused.

"She's going to want you to run things, Dwayne. It seems like that's just how she is. Some girls don't want to be the super-independent career woman. The flip side is that you'll have to take a lot less crap from her about her rights as a woman..." Mary chuckled.

Dwayne chuckled. "Thanks, guys. I hope I didn't mess you up too much..."

"We'll be okay. Later, Man." Rob hung up. Mary grabbed a handful of her hair to control it and bent over, intent on recapturing Rob's cock, but he stopped her. "This is stupid, hanging out in cars. We're going to my place."

"Well, okay," Mary replied dubiously, gently jacking him.

"It'll be okay." Rob fired up the Jeep, and pointed its nose toward home.