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Low Tuck -*- Copyright 2002 by Ellen Hayes.

Any resemblance between the writings in this work, and any actual
persons or places, living or dead, are purely coincidental, except when
used for satirical purposes.

This work contains adult situations, adult language, adult concepts, and
possibly sex.  If you are legally not allowed to read materials
containing such things, then you will be breaking the law by reading
this.  I am not responsible.
Continuing to read this document, or storing it or reproducing it
in any format means that you explicitly affirm that you are legally
allowed to possess and read such materials in your city, county/parish,
state, and country.

All rights reserved.  See the bottom for distribution rights.


Low Tuck


***
13:20 16 Aug

     "I am NOT!" I insisted, starting to wish that Debbie had simply
gotten beaten elsewhere today so I wouldn't have seen it.
     George yelled, "So that's why you jumped ten feet off a stairc-"
     "Eight feet MAYBE," I interrupted.
     "Shut UP!" George yelled.
     "No, ALL of you shut up," Mike commanded.  "I have to drive out of
here.  Be quiet!"
     George gave up yelling, but kept glaring at me.  As did Dan and
Book.  I just folded my arms over my pack, which was sitting on my lap,
and pretended to ignore them.

***
13:40 16 Aug

     "Oh, please, Tuck!" George complained.  I'd hoped that food would
shut him up, but we didn't have the food yet.
     "Look, at the very least," I argued, "she's friends with a bunch of
my friends, including Mike's girlfriend?  And if they'd found out that
we just stood there and let her get beaten up right in front of us-"
     "It could have waited until we got down the stairs!"
     "No it couldn't!  He was KICKING her," I explained.
     "He only kicked her once," Dan said.
     "Oooh, like that's an-"
     Mike hit the table, which shut us up momentarily.  "Guys," Mike
said, "it's done now.  What are the ramifications?"
     "Lenich is gonna kick your ass next time he sees you," Book
prophesied gloomily.
     "What about the rest of you?" I asked.
     There were sighs.
     "Besides, it's not like it's that safe for me to wander around
alone anyway," I mentioned.  "Look, I'm sorry about you getting
involved, but it needed to be done."
     "Did you have to do it," George asked, "so... extravagantly?"
     "I think you mean 'theatrically'," Dan corrected.
     "What?  It was quick, fast, efficient, and safe," I said.  "I mean,
it's not like he was expecting it, and he didn't have any warning.  And
isn't surprise the biggest force multiplier?"
     They were all glaring at me, and George was opening his mouth
again, when my pager went off.  I pulled my pack up and dug it out,
ignoring George for the moment, and looked at it.
     "Let me up, it's Kim," I announced, and pushed out of the booth and
went to the pay phone.

***
13:42 16 Aug

     "Hello?"
     "Hey," I said, "you pa-"
     "Val?  What the fuck just happened?" Kim asked.
     I sighed.

***
13:43 16 Aug

     "So she wasn't exaggerating when she said you just appeared," Kim
sighed.
     "Well, nobody was looking up," I mentioned.  "And, I mean, it's not
like I was following her around or anything, they were yelling at each
other and you could hear them on the second floor."
     "And, WHY did you do this?"
     "She was down on the ground and he was kicking her then, that's
when I decided to get involved.  Should I have just pretended I didn't
see anything?" I asked.
     Pause.
     "No, I guess not..."
     I was glad Kim was being more reasonable than the guys were.
     Mike elbowed me, so I said, "Hey, Mike wants to talk to you, okay?"
     "Okay, so, we'll pick you up at the usual time tomorrow, and we'll
talk more about this later.  Put Mike on," she sighed, so I handed Mike
the receiver and sort of perched on the wall and kept an eye out as he
talked to her.

***
13:47 16 Aug

     "Well, Deb's all freaked out over it," Mike announced to the table,
"but at least she's not blaming Tuck for it this time."
     I blew out a breath of relief.
     "You didn't think of that either," Dan mentioned.
     "Ooookay, next time I'll call everyone and ask their opinions
before I get involved, okay?" I bared my teeth at them.  "Maybe call a
lawyer too-"
     Mike boffed me in the head and said, "Tuck, you made your point,
'kay?  Shut up.  Food's here," he also announced, in a totally different
tone of voice.
     "What is with the salad?" George whined as I got mine.
     "What is your PROBLEM?" I asked him.  "We went camping for a week,
and there's nothing like this-"
     "HE's," George pointed at Mike, "eating meat, HE's" he pointed at
Dan, "eating meat, why-"
     "I'll have YOUR burger, then," I grinned.
     "No," George countered.
     "Then shut up and let me eat mine," I suggested.  "Look, it's got
meat in it," I pointed out, pulling out a bit of chicken and showing it
to him.  "It's just got a lot more green."
     "Can anyone think of any OTHER ramifications of Tucker's action?"
Mike asked the table before biting his own burger.
     We ate for a bit.
     After sampling a bit of my chicken stolen out of my salad, Book
said, "I don't think it's going to hurt your, or our, reputations any.
I think most people would clearly agree that kicking your girlfriend,"
which was a disgusting thought when applied to the combination of Debbie
and Tom Lenich, "is stepping over the line.  He stepped over the line,
and something bad happened to him, which was you."  He nodded at me.
     George repeated, "You jumped off a stairca-"
     "EXACT-ly," I interrupted him.  "He kicked her and seconds later
this psycho flies down out of nowhere and knocks him over.  No more, I
didn't stand there and beat him or something, we just got Debbie away
before something else developed.  But, it happened and nobody was even
thinking any of us were there until he paid for what he did wrong.  Sort
of like a speeding ticket trap, I don't think they'll be so willing to
do it any more, 'cause something might fall on them from nowhere."  That
was a stupid analogy, or metaphor or whatever, but I couldn't think of a
better one at the moment.
     "Lenich is going to have a hate going for you, though," Dan said.
     "Yeah..."  And that wasn't so good.  "But, I mean, the rest of 'em,
maybe they'll be a little more hesitant?"
     "Maybe," Dan admitted, "and maybe not," he countered.  "You might
have done something serious to him."
     "If I was trying to do that, I'd have jumped directly on him and
broken his shoulder bones and some other stuff for sure, maybe killed
him depending on how I hit him.  I was going for a relatively soft stop,
not a break or kill.  S'why I hit his plex and not his crotch; I might
have knocked his dick off if I hit his crotch that hard," I said, which
got some chuckles.  "So did I make it worse, with the rest of 'em?"
     They thought about that.
     "I think it's a needle-floater," Dan eventually said, meaning it
was in between and ill-definable.  "If any of 'em remember what you did
to Paskay," who had been the last guy to get me to jump on him, "then
they'll know that Lenich got off a lot easier than him, which means you
were being restrained, even though you were jumping both times.  If that
story spreads... it'll be positive, a little," he decided.
     "IF it spreads," George said.
     "Ooooh, it'll spread," Book grinned.
     We thought, and ate.
     "Debbie might believe she owes you a favor, though," Mike said
during a momentary lapse in his mouth-filling.
     "Oooh, great," I retorted, "a debt she's never gonna be able to
pay-"
     "Why not?"
     "I don't deal with her any more-"
     "You deal with all her friends, or most of 'em," George pointed
out.  "Maybe one of them can pay you back."  Mike nodded to that.
     "You think?" I asked.
     "I," Mike said, "would give a favor to someone who saved your
miserable wretched hide."  I so loved it when he told me he cared.
"They might do the same."  Heads nodded at that.  "Or not," Mike
allowed, "but it could happen."
     "So," I summarized, "Lenich hates me now, the other kids are at
least not feeling worse about me, and Debbie or one of her friends might
give me a favor and at least they won't think worse of me, right?
Anything else?"
     "Next time notes.  Jumping like that is bad, Tuck," Mike mentioned.
"You could fuck up the landing and break yourself, and it's a definite
escalation.  It's also very visible and attention getting.  Next time,
we go down the stairs, even if it takes longer and she takes more kicks,
because that way nobody's... it's not going to spread as fast and we
won't be so noticeable.  Don't do it for something as light as that next
time, okay?  Save it for the crash-emergencies, like if he had a knife
or he was looking like he was trying to kill her or something."
     "He could've b-"
     "No, Tuck, he wasn't, and you know that," Mike told me.
     "I did not-"  Mike sighed.  "-know that he wasn't-"  Mike kicked me
in lieu of boffing me in the head because he didn't want to let go of
his burger.  "Ow!"
     "Shut up Tuck," Dan supplied.
     "'N eat yer leaves," Mike added thickly after a few moments.
     I sighed, and ate my leaves.

***
14:02 16 Aug

     Book chuckled unexpectedly into some silence.  "What?" Mike asked.
     "The look on Lenich's face when he turned around," Book grinned.
     I thought about it, and couldn't remember it.  "What?"
     "He looked," Book related, "like he was... like the Uber Mother of
primal fear, like outta The Wall, had just screamed all three of his
names."  There were general dark chuckles.

***
14:50 16 Aug

     "Burp," I said as we left.
     "Yeaaaahhhh," Mike sighed happily.
     "Where to now?" Dan asked.
     "Bookstore," George suggested.  "It's been too long."

***
15:22 16 Aug

     I'd surreptitiously snuck out of the bookstore to find a pay phone.
I had to know...
     "Hello?" said an unfamiliar voice.
     "Can I speak to Kim please?"
     "Who's this?"
     "This is Tucker."
     "What do you want, you little dork?"
     "Hi Linda," I said, now knowing who it was.  "I actually wanted to
talk to Kim."
     "She's not here, bye," Linda said right before she hung up.
     "How rude," I said to the phone.  "Someone should teach her some
manners."

***
15:30 16 Aug

     As I should have guessed, we found several of the game books for a
lot cheaper used than we had found them new.  I sighed, and started
pawing through them to see if there were any I could use and didn't have
already, and started thinking about assembling another set for loaning
out to another player, like one of the girls.
     Mike gave bonus points for things like that.
     "Hey," Mike said as he came back.  "You know if the girls, the ones
gaming, are going to be free tomorrow afternoon?"
     "No, why?"
     "Thought we could jump things a little and do more character stuff
Sunday afternoon, maybe."
     "Dunno...  Oh, hell, I've probably got to cook too."
     "Wh-"
     "Laptop," we said at the same time.

***
15:44 16 Aug

     "Hey George," I said, finally finding him pouring over the
mysteries, "you wanna come to Sunday dinner, my house at six?"
     "Why, what'sup?"

***
15:58 16 Aug

     "Hmmm, cookbooks," I said to myself.  "That could come in handy."

***
16:22 16 Aug

     "That'll be one hundred and thirty three dollars and forty-eight
cents," the cashier told me.
     "Ooops," I remarked, grimacing.  Anything over a hundred was
excessive.  On the other hand, I might get reimbursed for some of the
cookbooks.  I dug out my wallet and started pulling bills.
     "Jesus," George remarked, pointing at me.
     "Babysitting," I grinned.  "Rather lucrative if you do it right."
     He looked plenty annoyed at that.
     "Don't you have some of those already?" Mike asked, pulling out a
couple of game books in the stack.
     "I owe Jill a day's pay or so, and she doesn't have these," I
answered.
     "For what?"
     "Uh... remember that day we were sequestered in the kitchen, when
you took first aid?  I made her miss a day of work, and she won't take
the money directly," I said, and eventually he nodded.

***
16:27 16 Aug

     "Tuck," Mike asked me softly as we staggered back to his car with
our collected booty.  "You gonna talk to them today about Travis?"
     I looked around reflexively, and the other guys were way ahead and
out of earshot.  "Uh, I think I have a date with him tonight," I said.
     "Now would be a good time.  In the car, rather."
     I sighed.  "You don't think they're already too pissed?"
     "I think it would be a good time today," he repeated.

***
16:34 16 Aug

     "And, Tuck has something to announce," Mike said pompously as we
got going into traffic and didn't die in the attempt.
     "Oh no," George said.
     "It's worse," I sighed.
     Lots of people complained.
     "Look, you guys wanna know or not?" I said, feeling irritated.
     "How'm I gonna feel when you tell me?" George asked.
     "Um... pretty upset, I guess," I guessed.
     "Then I don't wanna know," he said.
     Dan asked, "Do we NEED to know this?"
     This was a completely unexpected turn.  "Uh... Mike?"
     "Uh," Mike said.  *So he didn't think of this either,* I thought,
which made me feel better.  "Um, I think you, you SHOULD, but-"
     "Do you know?" George asked Mike.
     "Yeah."
     "Do I really, REALLY, NEED to know whatever it is?" George pressed.
     "I... guess not," Mike shrugged.  "Just remember, you didn't want
to know, so don't complain if you find out or something.  Or if there's
stuff you don't get explained later on.  Thanks anyway, Tuck."
     Pause.
     "Should I be annoyed?" I asked.
     "No," everyone else agreed.
     I was anyway.

***
17:13 16 Aug

     Having been dropped off at my house, I had already showered and
stuff before going over to Rachel's to change.  I figured her and her
roomies would probably appreciate me not using their bathroom,
especially on a Saturday night.  But now, while I was drip drying
myself, would be a good time to check on email and call Jill and Kim.

***
17:26 16 Aug

     Neither of the girls had been home, or where I could reach them
anyway, and I was getting tired of other people's siblings.  "These
people need more phone lines," I decided as I wrote out some
instructions to Amy in email.  "Or less siblings at home.  Or both."

***
17:30 16 Aug

     "Whoa," I said out loud as I imagined the possibilities.  "Oh, that
would be VERY nice indeed," I grinned, and then had to think about
something else for a while.

***
18:20 16 Aug

     "Hi!" I said when Travis opened his door.  He looked nice, which
was good because I'd dressed nice too.  Well, he'd dressed up a bit
tonight, and done it well; he always looked good to me.
     "Hey," he said as he opened up the door and backed off so I could
come in, which I did.  "You look nice," he said, which made me smile.

***
18:23 16 Aug

     "I was thinking someplace quiet, and maybe not as fancy as
Marciano's," I said, and he nodded agreement.  "Oh!  And Amy wrote me
email, she said she misses you already."
     "Oh, cool," he said, nodding.  "Can I get her address so I can
write her too?"
     "I don't remember it," I lied with a sorrowful expression.  "I'll
see if I can get it next time, though, okay?"  I'd have to ask if Amy
wanted him to have hers.

***
19:17 16 Aug

     I thought we might just be the best looking couple in the entire
restaurant, although we were apparently not the only ones going on a
date tonight, judging by the nice clothes.  And the food was good, too,
which was even better.
     "Are you going vegetarian or something?" he asked, pointing at my
plate.
     "Wh- No!  What is it with you guys?" I complained, less than half
serious.  "I had lunch today with some friends and had a salad and they
said the same thing, even though it had chicken in it.  I'm just not
starving since I already ate today, so I wanted to go light."
     "Okay okay," he said.
     "And besides, I could steal a bit of yours," I mentioned as I
lanced out with my chopsticks and did so.  "If I wanted some meat."
     "And I could have some of yours," he retorted, doing the same thing
to my plate with his fork.
     "Mmmm hmmm," I hummed in agreement, and we smiled at each other.

***
20:01 16 Aug

     "Well," I said, feeling flutters, "we could either go out dancing
for a long time, or go dancing for a short time then go back to your
place, or go directly to your place."  I also trailed a fingertip down
the front of his shirt, hoping to convince him that door #3 was the best
plan.
     "How about we dance for a little while?" he suggested.
     Well, #2 wasn't so bad either.
     "Where to?"
     "NOT that place we went Tuesday," he said sternly, which made me
laugh.
     "Okay okay," I giggled.  "How about Underground?"
     "Okay," he agreed.

***
22:42 16 Aug

     I pointed at my watch, then hit the light button so he could see
what time it was.
     He looked back up at me, confused.  He yelled something but I still
had to read his lips to figure out he was saying, "What time IS it?"
     *Duh, it's almost twenty-three,* I thought, but held up one finger
on each hand.
     "Eleven?" went his mouth, I thought, so I nodded.

***
22:50 16 Aug

     "I just wish I could spend a lot more time with you," he said into
my ear.
     I stopped nibbling counterpoint on his ear, and said, "I know, but
there's only so much time..."
     "What?" he asked after I stopped.
     "Um, I'll try something in a week or two, okay?" I grinned.  "And
maybe we can have more time then."
     "What?" he wanted to know.
     "No, I don't want to tell you in case it doesn't work," I said.
"I'll just try it, and if it works I'll tell you what it is.  C'mon,
let's go home?" I suggested.  Kissing in the parking lot was fun, but
there was a practical limit to what we could do out here, and I wanted
to do more.

***
23:09 16 Aug

     *Hmmm, do him first and then hope he comes back up, or just go for
it tonight?* I wondered as his tongue slipped between my lips.
     I felt around him, and decided that he would probably want to
'score twice' tonight, and that he'd be capable of it.  "Traaaavis," I
purred after I pulled back a bit.  "Go get a condom."
     We got up, me being careful not to fall as I got off his lap, and
then I followed him into his bedroom.  When he turned around, condom in
hand, I grabbed it and rubbed That Thing with my other hand.  "Drop your
pants," I smiled, and got down on my knees in front of him, and if he
hadn't been wearing a belt his pants would have beaten me to the floor.

***
23:13 16 Aug

     I was right; that hadn't taken long at all, and he didn't quite
look like he was done yet.  I cleared my throat and tried to flex all
the cramps out of my mouth, then announced, "Okay, I want to try
something else tonight," as I got up and stretched the rest of me a
little.  Then I decided it would wait a while, as he wordlessly pulled
me VERY tightly against him and just sort of stuck his face against my
neck.
     Eventually I managed to remember to put my arms around him.  And
then I had to stroke him, running my fingers through his hair and down
the back of his neck and around his shoulders...

***
23:19 16 Aug

     "I want you," I said, "to get on top of me."
     "Like that?" he asked.
     "Yep!"  That was why I had grabbed two towels and put one on top of
a pillow and under my butt, for us, and saved the other towel for later.
     He looked at me, spread out on the bed and laying on my back,
completely topless but still wearing the stockings and skirt I'd started
with, and he finally said, "But..."
     I chuckled.  "Trust me.  Come on, I want you on top of me, I want
to feel you..."  I rubbed one of my nipples, which was already standing
up, and then everything went dark as my eyelids fluttered shut.  That
felt obscenely good...  "Please?" I asked breathlessly.
     He did, finally, and as he 'climbed aboard', I rolled my hips under
him as he crawled up my body until my knees were almost in his armpits.
"Give it to me, put it in..."  I managed to roll slightly to one side
and get my hand almost under me, and then I could feel That Thing, which
left a bit of cold slime as it bounced off the wrong place.  "Put it
inside me, it'll work," I insisted as I deliberately relaxed.
     It took a very very long time, maybe ten or even fifteen seconds,
but then he actually was inside me, and I could see his face and he
could see mine.
     He looked a bit surprised and insanely attractive.
     We just stayed that way for several seconds.  I don't know what he
was thinking, but my heart was leaping around inside my chest like it
was dancing, and I was ecstatic.
     Then I rolled back, put my arms up and around his neck, wrapped my
legs around him, and pulled myself up or him down far enough that I
could kiss one of his nipples, and then nip it, and then lick it as I
started to rock back and forth as much as I could, which wasn't that
much.  It sure felt good, though, because my own erection was pointed
'up' inside my not quite pulled down underwear, and even through my
condom the friction against him was exactly what I'd hoped it would be,
which was maddening.
     Apparently, it was a good hint, though, because he started to move
himself, and of course he could move a lot more than me, and I was in a
rather an earthy sort of heaven.

***
23:24 16 Aug

     "Tra-  Tra-  Oh my GOD!" I got out, and then I pushed wildly
against him and pulled him tight with my arms as I came, the pain as my
stretched sphincter spasmed with my orgasm just adding some spice to it.

***
23:25 16 Aug

     It seemed like he was being a little rough, and I wanted him to
slow down and ease up a bit, because it was starting to hurt, but before
I could get enough breath and ask, he called, "Valerie!" and then pushed
frantically inside me and quivered against me for a long long while.
     *Nevvver mind,* I thought to myself, sounding like Gilda Radner,
and so I was smiling when he opened his eyes again and looked down at
me, shaking his head and knocking the sweat loose.
     "Like it?" I gasped, and he nodded wordlessly, still gasping for
air himself.  He slowly eased out of me, which felt almost as good as
the sex had though for entirely different reasons, and I forced myself
to sit up to clean us both off.

***
23:28 16 Aug

     "Where did you get the idea for THAT?" he asked.
     I giggled into his chest, then looked up at him and said, "Oh, it
just came to me this afternoon..."  The 'problem' with being bored on
the phone in my room, was that you could touch the Internet and all my
files too without even putting the phone on your shoulder; and I'd
gotten inspired enough to look at my 'data booty' for some ideas on what
to do with him tonight.
     But I wasn't going to tell him that, not quite yet.  There were
some other things in those files I wasn't quite ready to try yet, and I
didn't want to give him ideas like that.  Those.

***
00:06 17 Aug

     "Call me or page me, right?" I asked as I let go of him for what
would probably be the last time that night.  "Maybe we could do
something short during the week?"
     He nodded, then pulled me back for another last kiss.  I resisted
not at all, of course.

***
01:00 17 Aug

     "Suze?"
     She sat up and turned on MY light next to MY bed, that she was IN.
Well, she was in the bed, not the light.  "And where were YOU tonight?"
she asked me lazily.
     "On a date," I said.
     She made door closing motions, so I closed my door, and then she
waved me over to the bed.
     "Tuck, I oughta meet this guy some-"
     "Oh NO!"
     "You're not going to let Dad check him out anytime soon, are you?"
she argued.
     "Suze!"
     "Does it drive him wild when you blush like that?" she said in a
sultry voice as she grinned at me.
     "Susan BRIDGET!" I snapped as I felt myself flush harder.
     "Go shower, we'll talk about it when you get done," she said as she
flopped over a bit and lay back down.  I was tempted to go to sleep in
HER bed, but it was likely that I'd have nightmares, which is why she
was in MY bed.  I guessed.  So I just sighed and went to go shower.

***
01:18 17 Aug

     "They all already met him, and nobody said anything bad about him,"
I said.  "So you don't need-"
     "Oh, come on, Tuck!  What're you scared of?  You think I'll make
fun of you and stuff like you used to do to my dates?"
     That was a possibility I hadn't even considered.  "Yes!"
     "Well, I won't, not if you promise to leave my dates alone in the
future," she said with a lazy smile.
     "Suze?"
     "What?"
     "Did you get laid tonight?"
     She just giggled.
     "Oh my gawd," I moaned.
     "Don't give ME that, you're walking a little funny yourself."
     "I am NOT!"
     "You ARE," she said with amused certainty.  "So when do I meet
him?"
     "When do I meet yours?" I countered desperately, then wished I
could cut out my tongue.
     She sighed deeply.  "I leave Tuesday... and I think Monday's going
to be too busy.  I'm not even-  Hey, you already met him.  Remember the
guy that you slammed the door in his face?"
     "Oh no-"
     "Yep."  She giggled again.  "I told him it was Amy that did it,
too, so you OWE me, bud, you OWE me."  She thought about it a minute,
then announced, "Kyle's nice..."
     "How much did you have to drink tonight?"
     "Not that much... c'mon, Tuck!  It's not like I'm going to hurt-"
     "Wait, if you're going to be leaving Tuesday, then I can't," I
interrupted.  "Sunday dinner's here, I'm busy all tomorrow, and then
Monday I have to go to school," ugh retch barf, "and then you are
leaving Tuesday."
     She thought about it.
     "Well, SHIT," she decided, and I almost danced.  "You have any
pictures of him, at least?"
     "Um.  No, not directly," I decided.  Debbie had all the ones with
him in-
     Oh crap.
     Susan said, "Not dir-"
     "Debbie's got 'em," I sighed.  "I think she thought it was funny
that he liked me from the first-"
     "Debbie?  She was here tonight," Susan said.
     "What?" I gasped.
     "She said she wanted to talk with you, and when we said you wer-"
     "We?"
     "Me and Dad, shut up," she instructed.  "When we said you weren't
here, she said okay and left.  I told her she could leave a voicemail,
though, she might have left one."
     I thought about that, and finally decided that I didn't even want
to think about messing with it tonight.  "Great," I sighed.  "Did she
say what it was about?"
     "No, she wouldn't tell us."
     "You did make sure she left, right?"
     "Of course!" she said, like I was being stupid.  "Now, what are you
going to fix me for dinner tomorrow?"
     "Um.  Scoot over," I said as I got into bed.  "Did you have
something in mind?"
     "A biiig roast beef," she sighed dreamily.

***
09:18 17 Aug

     "So," Jill smiled, "ready for-"
     My bedroom door opened again and Susan came out, mumbled something,
pushed past all of us and stumbled towards the bathroom.
     And shut the door.
     There was a pause.  I wished I'd gone to the bathroom instead of
talking; now I'd have to wait to brush my teeth.
     "You're kidding," Kim sighed.
     "I think I need to get dressed first, and then she should be out of
the bathroom then and I can go," I said as I tapped in the old code that
I really needed to change.  "Wanna come in?"

***
09:24 17 Aug

     "You have the weirdest goddamned life, I swear," Jill said.
     "What?  Never mind," I sighed, and smoothed the blouse down so I
could put a shirt over it.  I was going to have to take a lot of laundry
to the Parkers', or something, because all I had left that was clean and
casual was two girly tops I didn't like very much, and a pair of khaki
shorts I think I'd gotten by mistake.  Though I had no idea from whom.
"You know, before I met you girls, I was just a normal guy, happily-"
     They were laughing too hard now to hear me, so I stopped talking.

***
09:40 17 Aug

     "That was quick," Kim mentioned.
     "I've been cutting it down," I explained as I put my makeup away
again, and slipped back into my flannel shirt because it was still a bit
cool.  "Doing the whole shebang takes too long."
     "Jeez," said Jill.
     "See?" Kim said to Jill.  "I told you you could do it quick once
you got good at it."
     "Shut up, Kim," Jill grinned.

***
09:42 17 Aug

     "Awwwww, come on, Jill!" I begged.
     She didn't say anything for a while, just wrapped her arms a little
tighter around herself and looked at me from under her bangs.  "What are
you going to do?" she asked finally.
     "Just a little," I promised.

***
09:48 17 Aug

     "There," I grinned as I handed Jill the compact so she could check
out the makeup I'd put on.  Which she did, hurriedly.
     "Does this remind anyone of Breakfast Club?" Kim asked idly.
     "Do what?" I asked, as Jill slapped at Kim and Kim dodged with a
squeal.

***
09:58 17 Aug

     "You have no sense of humor about this," Kim said to Jill as we sat
down in a booth.
     "Fuck you," Jill said calmly, "you bitch whore,"
     "Are we feeling a bit sensitive about this?" I asked rhetorically.
"Ow!  Jill, if you don't like it go and take it off!" I complained as I
rubbed my arm.
     "I don't KNOW!" she said, sounding exasperated.  "Would you two
stop making such a big deal out of it?"
     "Okay!" I agreed, and kicked Kim in the leg.
     "Ow!" Kim squealed, and kicked back.  "Bitch!" she added.
     "Now now," said Dan the waiter, who had materialized from out of
nowhere.  "Play nice, girls," he admonished.
     "Yeah!" Kim sneered, then stuck out her tongue at me.  "Ow!"
     I heard her try and kick back, but I was already pulling my legs up
as high as they could go.  "Ha ha," I sneered back.
     "You poor thing, are they embarrassing you," Dan asked, and when I
turned to ask him what the hell he was talking about, I noticed Jill had
her head on the table, buried under her arms.
     "Yes," Jill moaned faintly.
     "You're embarrassing her," he told me and Kim, "so just stop it!
Split a brownie, that'll knock out that PMS."
     "PM-"
     "Persistent Male Shithead syndrome," Kim answered me just as I
remembered what it was.  That wasn't what I remembered, though.
     Jill snorted from under her arms and Dan barked a laugh.  "I hadn't
heard THAT one before," he assured us.  "So BESIDES that lovely
chocolate-packed still warm mmm-mmm brownie, what ELSE would you like?"

***
10:04 17 Aug

     "So, tell JILL what you did yesterday, when you saw Debbie?" Kim
said slyly.
     I choked for a while, but managed not to volcano coke everywhere,
with the assistance of my napkin.  When I got an airway back, I had
completely forgotten what had started it.  "Uh, what?" I gasped, but Kim
had disappeared.
     I saw a bit of hair move up, and then Kim's eyes peering at me from
the edge of the table.  "Are you okay?" she asked cautiously.
     "Uhhuh," I lied, and coughed for a while longer, just to make sure.
"I think I need a new-"
     "Napkin?" Dan said as he deposited one in front of me.
     "Ah!" I remarked, startled.

***
10:06 17 Aug

     "Val?" Kim asked me cautiously.  "Um... finish your drink first."
     "What?"
     "Can you tell Jill what happened yesterday?"
     "Yester-  Oooh, hey, Jill, I got you something," I said, and pulled
my pack up and started digging through it, eventually finding the
section of books that was still bagged for her, and hauled it out and
handed it to her.
     "What?" Jill asked, looking at me.
     "You seemed," I said, "to like the idea of vampires and stuff?  So,
I got you a set- I mean, a very partial set of the gaming stuff we're
going to be using, so you could, you know, read through it on your own
and stuff like that."
     "You what?" she asked.

***
10:07 17 Aug

     "But, I mean, why?" Jill asked, looking VERY confused.
     "So you can read-"
     "No, I mean... you're just going to loan me these?  Don't you need
'em?"
     I corrected her, "No, Jill, they're yours, as long as you want
them.  If you decide you don't want them any more, then give 'em back to
us, but other than that, yeah they're yours.  Plus the set of dice."
     "But, why..."
     "I made you miss a day of work, remember, and you said you needed
the money to get a cycle, right?  So, since you wouldn't take cash for
payback, I thought maybe this would work, since it's my fault you lost
that day's income."
     She had a very weird look on her face.
     I shrugged, and said, "Enjoy!"
     "I can't-" Jill whined.
     "Jill," Kim interrupted sternly, causing both me and Jill to look
at her.  "It's Valerie's choice, and she got them for YOU."
     "If there's something you'd rather get, I mean-"
     "Shut up Val," Kim instructed.
     Jill still looked very very weird.
     "You," she almost whispered, "you didn't, I mean...  You didn't
have to..."
     "I know," I smiled cautiously, "but I thought you'd like 'em."  I
wasn't getting what was going on here, and it was making me very
nervous.
     "Jill?" Kim asked, in a very Sheila-like tone.  "Do you want to
read those books?"
     Eventually, Jill nodded mutely.
     "Then, thank Valerie for giving them to you," Kim instructed.
     Jill whispered, "Thank you," and looked like she was about to cry
or something.
     "What am I missing here?" I asked Kim, feeling a little upset
myself by now.  Well, more than a little.
     "Jill," Kim explained calmly, "has 'issues' with gifts and such.
They freak her out.  Remember how she got on her birthday?"
     "Yeah, but...  Jill," I apologized, "I didn't mean to upset you or
anything, I just thought..."
     "No, it's okay," Jill said, a little more normally.
     "And I'm SURE she'd let me borrow 'em," Kim grinned at Jill, who
just nodded without looking up.
     "WHAT," Dan started, which scared me into a yelp, "did you do to
her THIS time?"
     "Me?!" I protested instinctively as my heart turbo'd.  "It was
her!" I claimed as I pointed at Kim.
     "Was not!" Kim shot back.
     "Was TOO!  Ow!  StopKICKINGme!" I protested, kicking back or trying
to.
     "Girls!" Dan said sharply.  "Stop it this INSTANT or you don't get
your brownie a la mode!"
     I stopped, and smiled innocently at him.  I even managed to keep
smiling when Kim kicked me a last time, but I would remember that.

***
10:10 17 Aug

     "Jill?" I asked, because she still was looking weird.
     "Huh?" she said eventually, turning to look at me.
     I pointed at my fork, currently holding a massive load of dark and
delicious brownie, and offered, "I could rub this in your hair, if it'd
make you feel more normal?"
     Kim started kicking me again but I held on, hoping...
     And in a few more seconds, before Kim could kick me more than six
times, Jill snickered a couple of times and then started to really
laugh.

***
10:12 17 Aug

     "Your makeup's all smeared," I mentioned as Jill finished wiping
her eyes.
     "Fuck," she grinned in a watery way at me, "my makeup."
     "No!  I need it!" I complained, and then we both laughed.
     Kim waited until we ran down, then said, "Oh Val?" in this singsong
voice.  "Remember the other part of yesterday?  The one involving
Debbie?"
     "Oh my GOD!" Jill exclaimed at me, "did you really jump from all
the way off the second story?!"
     "What?  NO!" I insisted.
     Kim nodded, like she expected this.  "So, come on, tell us what
REALLY happened, Val."

***
10:15 17 Aug

     "And you just took off after that?" Jill confirmed.
     "Well, we wanted Debbie to get somewhere, somewhere OUTTA there
and safe, and Mike knew you were home," I said to Kim, "doing stuff
there, so we figured that would be a safe place with a friend, that she
could go to, right?  So she left, and then we decided to leave too
before a bunch of them found us."
     Pause.  I had some more brownie, hoping that the chocolate would
kick in soon.  I was REALLY starting to regret doing ANYthing yesterday.
*Except Travis,* I thought-
     "This," Jill reminded me, "is the same Debbie you've been avoiding
all summer long?"
     "The same one that Tucker was trying to stay away from Friday as we
got our Little Sisters," Kim confirmed with a smile.  "It was kind of
funny," Kim mentioned to me, "watching you try and dodge out of her line
of sight for almost two hours, but kind of sad at the same-"
     "Shut up, Kim," I whined, "it's not FUNNY!"
     "Was I laughing?" she asked, pointing at herself.
     "You're smiling like you just ate a canary!" I shot back.
     "That's not the same thing, am I laughing?" she asked again.
     "You," Jill asked me, "jumped off a staircase to attack him?"
     "It was to get him off Debbie!"
     "The same Deb-"
     Kicking Kim shut her up as well as it did me.  "Would you guys just
leave me alone about it?!  I mean, I'd do the same thing for you, and,
and, I didn't even think about it, he was, he hit her in the face and
she went down and then he kicked her and then I was dropping and took
him out.  I mean it wasn't like I planned this!"
     Pause.
     "You just 'took him out'," Jill repeated.
     Kim supplied, "Kicked the living shit-"
     "I hit him in his belly, you know where you get hit and you can't
breathe for a while?  Right there.  And then I kicked him enough to
knock him off balance so he couldn't get up quick, and then I grabbed
Debbie and her purse and we all got out of there before he got back up."
     "You jumped-"
     "WHY is everyone concentrating on the jump thing?!  It's not that
big a deal!"
     They both looked at me like I was the insane one.
     "You can ask Mike," I asserted, "I used to jump off the porch roof
of our house until my folks made me stop.  This was a lot lower than
that."  I was pretty sure, anyway.
     Jill sighed at me.  "Val," she said, "if you're jumping off
something like that to interrupt an argument-"
     I interrupted, "That was not an argument, not when he started
kicking her when she was already down.  That was beyond argument.  If it
was still in the 'argument' stage he wouldn't have kicked her, he'd have
kept yelling at her or something like that."
     "Val?" Kim asked.
     Pause.  Jill opened her mouth to say something, and got one of
Kim's feet, judging by the way she rocked in her seat and glared at Kim.
     "What?" I replied eventually, not really wanting to.
     "If," Kim said slowly, "you're so over Debbie that you don't care
what happens to her, why-"
     "I'm not just going to let someone I knew get beat up like that,
especially not when they didn't deserve it!"
     "How do you know she didn't-"
     "All she did was yell at him a little and then slap him, okay?  She
did that to me plenty of times, you've SEEN her do it, and it was never
bad enough that I had to whale on her like that!  If she was, I dunno,
if they were mad enough at each other for that sort of thing to start
happening to her, I mean him-  Her LIP was bleeding!" I remembered.  "He
hit her THAT hard!"
     "So," Jill said, "if they were mad at each other enough..."
     "Then Debbie wouldn't have just slapped him, okay?  I mean, I knew
her long enough to know that," I said, feeling pretty sure of it.  "She
would have either walked away, or REALLY started screaming stuff at him
first.  She did that with me..."
     Pause, while I stood in the doorway of a hotel room in Los Angeles
again, and Debbie screaming at ME, the same way she hadn't at Tom, and
then her hitting me...
     "Did Debbie talk to you last night?" Kim asked.
     "What?  Oh God," I moaned.  "Susan said she came by last night and
wanted to talk, but I wasn't home.  What was that about?" I asked,
hoping Kim had a clue.
     Kim shook her head slowly as she closed her eyes.  "I think," she
said eventually, "that she wanted to thank you?"
     Pause.
     "No, come on, what was it?" I asked.
     "That's my guess," Kim said, and Jill nodded hesitantly.  "She said
she was about ready to dump him right there, when he hit her and then it
was for sure but he was kicking her and she was trying to get up and
kick his ass except, POOF there you were and you pulled her out of there
before she knew what was going on, like you'd been watching her-"
     "I was NOT-"
     "I KNOW!" Kim snapped back at me.  "You said that already."
     Jill said again, "You jumped-
     "Jill if you don't shut up about that," I hissed, "I'm gonna paint
you up to look like her sister!" as I pointed at Kim.
     Kim snorted.  "You'd never look that ugly, Jill."
     That made us all chuckle a little.
     Pause.
     "Anyway, she was sort of grateful," Kim said, "and really horribly
embarrassed, and now she really hates Tom, so-"
     "Good!" Jill affirmed.
     "Why was she dating him anyway?" I asked.
     They both shrugged.
     "And now she's broken up with him?" I confirmed, and Kim nodded.
"Good!"
     Speaking of strange pairings," Jill said, glancing at Kim first,
"how's Travis doing?"
     "Uh, um, what?"  I shook my head a little.  "How did we get from
Debbie to Travis?"
     "Both of them dated you," Kim dismissed.  "So what's up with him?"
     "Uh."  I imagined I could hear a deraillieur in my head clattering
around as I tried to shift mental gears.  "Well, we went out last
night..."

***
10:21 17 Aug

     "What are you trying to insinuate?" I asked.
     Kim giggled.
     "Oh nothing!" Jill lied.  "Just the two of you..."
     "Alone," Kim added with a smirk, "smiling at each-"
     "We had sex," I told them.  "Twice."
     Which shut them up like I'd shot them.
     "And," I smiled evilly, "it was GOOOOOOOD."
     Their mouths were still hanging open in shock, so I had several
seconds to eat my french toast in peace, before both of them started
squalling at me.

***
10:34 17 Aug

     "Don't you think," Jill asked, "it's kind of, kind of gross?"
     I shrugged.  "It's not that big a deal, I mean, we always use a
condom, so it's not like-"
     "Hey," Mike said as he came into sight.  "'Sup?"
     "We were just changing the topic," I said with relief, "off my date
last night."
     "Good!" Mike nodded.  "You-"
     "Aw come on!" Jill complained.  "She was just getting to the good
parts!"
     "I don't think we'd agree on the value of 'good' in this instance,"
Mike said mildly, and I snorted and nodded.  "Look," he said as he sat
down, "I don't mind Tuck's aberrant sexuality, but-"
     "Aberrant?" I questioned.
     "Means 'strange, unusual, deviated from the norm-'"
     "I know what it means, Mike!" I complained.
     "You weren't like that six months ago," he mentioned, pointing a
finger at me.  "Were you?  That you knew of," he added hastily.
     "I-  Well, no," I admitted.  "But-"
     "In any case, I don't want to hear the gory details.  Did you have
a nice date last night?" he asked me.
     "Well, yeah," I admitted.  "We went out to dinner, then to
Underground to dance for a while, then we went back to his place-"
     He interrupted me before I could stop there.  "Okay, that's all I
need to know.  You can finish up the story after dinner tonight-"
     "Aw MAN!" Jill complained.
     "Or over the phone, or something," Mike continued.  "Come on," he
said pleadingly to the girls, "I'm trying to be cool with this, but it's
still kind of hard, and I'm not saying don't talk about it at all, just
not right now around me.  Please?"
     "Yeah, come on," I added.  He was being extraordinarily polite
about this, so I thought it only fair to support him.  Usually he'd have
been banging on me by now.
     Jill and Kim sighed and looked at each other.  "Okay," Kim allowed.
     "So," Mike said, "any more thoughts on what you want to play?  Did
you get the books?" he asked Jill, who nodded.  "Pull 'em out."

***
10:47 17 Aug

     "Ooh, hey, I like this one," Kim mentioned, pointing to one of the
sample characters in Sorcerer.  "Listen to this," she said to the table,
and started reading the character description out loud, which I ignored
in favor of working more on my own.  Maybe some people could write this
sort of thing off the top of their head, but I needed to take notes,
like I'd told Jill to do.
     I was merrily scribbling away when Mike caught my attention with a
low and urgent, "Tuck flash Tuck dive dive."
     I kicked my pack out of the way and slid under the table, wondering
what the hell was going on and how being under a table would help longer
than a few-
     "It's your little brother Kelly!" Jill hissed at me.  "Mike says
take your boobs out and wipe your lips," and handed me a napkin.

***
10:48 17 Aug

     I couldn't hear what was going on topside too well, even after I
finished hiding the breast forms in another pocket of my pack, but I
caught Mike stomping his foot twice, which meant it was a good time for
me to surface, so I did.
     Kelly was just walking away.
     "He's gonna get a chair," Mike said urgently, "you and Jill trade
places now!"  I pushed Jill out, grabbed my pack, and slid out myself,
then let Jill get in first and slid in next to her.
     "Are you wearing any other makeup?" Mike asked quietly as Jill and
I frantically switched plates.
     "Yeah!  Oh sh-"
     "Don't worry about it, I can't even tell," Mike told me.  "Chill
out and look natural."

***
10:52 17 Aug

     We were all doing a really piss-poor job of looking natural when
Kelly came back with some guy bearing a chair, who slid it in front of
the table.
     "Oh, hey," I tried to say calmly.
     "Hey," Kelly said and nodded.  "What are you doing?"
     "Ah," Mike said, and smiled.  "We're having a pre-game meeting to
build characters for a role-playing game.  Have a seat," Mike said, then
kicked me back.
     "What game is it?" Kelly asked as he did indeed sit down.
     I looked at the girls, and they didn't look too pleased either.
     *Act natural,* I thought as I breathed as slow and deep as I could.

***
11:02 17 Aug

     I was starting to think I'd gotten away with it again, because
Kelly seemed a lot more interested in a character and so on than in me,
which was not my expectation if he'd caught on.  Jill and Kim had also
perked up some, once they caught the same thing, and Jill even whispered
in my ear, "I think he missed it."
     In fact, I had calmed down enough to complain mildly about Kelly's
food getting in the way of my character generation, when Kelly saw
something behind Mike that almost popped his eyeballs out.
     I looked over Mike, and Kelly was probably seeing two women in a
booth a couple down, that were kissing like they meant it.
     "Don't stare," I said to Kelly, and kicked him in the leg.
     He broke lock and looked at me instead, with a very confused
expression.
     "It's rude," I said.  "Would you want someone staring like that at
you and your girlfriend?"  Mike and Kim were both looking puzzled, as
Jill chuckled into her hands, so I signed at Mike, <Two girls K-I-S-S-
I-N-G>.  As he leaned over to explain into Kim's ear, Kelly asked me,
sounding upset, "Girlfriend?"
     "Well, sure, why not?" Kim asked.  "You like girls, right?"
     Pause, during which I think everyone else was fighting a grin or a
laugh.
     "Uhhhh, yeah I guess," he said, turning a very deep pink.
     Mike and I exchanged identical looks - 'Oh brother, what a repress
case'.
     "You don't think that's bad?" Kelly asked desperately.
     Now, I think, all four of us were wearing the same look.  "No," I
said first.  "Just be polite about it, and take no for an answer if
that's the answer you get."
     "And," Kim added, "DO NOT, chase anyone, or stalk them, or do that
whacked-out crush thing, like leaving flowers and anonymous notes in her
locker or something.  Or phone calls at four in the morning where you
just hang up when she answers."
     "Or mail LINGERIE to the girl's HOUSE," Jill said in disgust.  "GOD
that was creepy."
     I kept my mouth shut for this part, since I wasn't going to do
anything even resembling this any more.  And I was very glad I hadn't
actually tried that last one, though it was so weird I don't think even
George would have done it.
     Kim told Kelly, "Just be bold enough to ask, if you want a date
with some girl."
     "Really?" Kelly gasped.
     Mike patted Kelly gently on the shoulder a few times, and pretended
to ignore the violent flinch.  "S'okay, man," Mike said calmly.  "Just
be chill.  So, you were thinking about playing a vampire?"
     "I," I said to get Kelly's attention, "was going to be playing a
werewolf."  It seemed to work, but he still looked pretty pink.

***
11:33 17 Aug

     "There is something wrong with that kid," Jill mentioned to me as
said kid left with Mike to go home.  "And I don't know what it is."
     "He's been living in Alaska for years," I said, "he probably hasn't
ever seen a woman wearing less than a fur parka."  We laughed for a bit.
     "'How can you tell it's a girl?'  'Duh, her coat's pink, ya
dunderhead!'" Jill mimicked, which made us laugh more.
     Somehow, though, we ended up in the girl's bathroom instead of the
parking lot, which I wasn't expecting, and Jill looked in the mirror at
herself and asked, "Do vampires wear makeup?"

***


To do is to be. --Kant
To be is to do. --Rousseau
Do be do be do. --Sinatra


Distribution:
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Permission is given to redistribute this by electronic means, as long as
the entirety of the work (from the BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE header to
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+ ==[--------   Ellen Hayes   @>--,--'---      ellen@barkingduck.net +
PGP DH/DSS keyfing: 33D4 156A AE39 53E2 0313  6714 2878 56A8 61B0 9CDC
+ http://www.barkingduck.net/ehayes -=[1990]=- vicki .sig virus 11.4 +


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