© 2020 by author
This story encompasses 3700 words and 7 book pages
All Characters are age 18 or older at time of the story.
Few of my fellow classmates at Sunny Slope High paid much attention to Janice Worthy. Not that she was unattractive, she wasn't. Slim, five-seven maybe, medium high cheek bones, medium brown hair, skin and complexion that seemed to always have a slight tan, and poised, too. She never flirted, even the slightest, but the other girls did, so they got the boys' attention. Janice wasn't a loner, although she never really seemed to be with anyone, either.
Stuck up? Well, at first glance you might think so, although if spoken to, she always replied, but with a smile easily mistaken for
that's nice, but no thanks
.
Her parents owned and operated a small manufacturing business in our little burg that made a line of nick-knacks for car interiors. You know? Insignificant and un-noticed, like those little smelly things people hang from their car's mirrors to combat diesel and cannabis smoke? A dozen or so local wives and their daughters worked at the business, but none became very close to Mr. or Mrs. Worthy, except to understand the business paid its owners very well, better than most small businesses in our locale. Much of this overage the Worthys passed on to their employees at Christmas time.
No one I heard of ever got a hint as to where Mr. and Mrs. Worthy socialized, but other than the local Chamber of Commerce, J-C's, and other business-related obligations, it wasn't in Sunny Slope.
Janice chummed around with my sister some. Well, a little more than she chummed around with anybody. A few fellows asked her out, but she only accepted if it was for one of our school's major dances. No ball games, no Saturday evening social dances at the Green Meadows Grange Hall, no informal community events, no movies—No stay-at-home-DVD, theater, or drive in movies—Yes, we still had a drive-in. And certainly, since I wasn't the most actively sought male date in my class, I figured my chances with her weren't worth what effort it might take.
So, you can understand my surprise when, with no major dance looming soon the fall I turned eighteen, my sister out of the blue, said,"Janice likes you. You should ask her to the Snow-Ball dance this year."
Janice who? Had our school gotten another Janice? I guess surprise covered my face.
"Well, she's good looking, needs to get out, and you got no girlfriend since that Martha Whoever from over in Brayton dumped you. So ask Janice out, okay?"
One thing about Sis: Damned little finesse! But what can you expect from your twin sister?
So I did, after enduring Sis's nagging during the month-plus it took our school's Winter Snow Ball to roll around.
What a strain that double-date was! Sis set it up so I took Janice, and Sis went with a guy new to our town. Yeah, try that combination sometime.
Best I can say about it was I had almost the entire evening to myself. Janice seemed to pretty well ignore me except those few times we danced, talking what little she did the rest of the time with Sis. The new guy? He and I didn't hit it off, so we didn't talk much, either.
When I delivered Janice to her door, I was polite (I always try), but ready to write off the evening, Miss Worthy with it, and endure whatever Sis had in store for me. So, as Janice and I said our goodbyes at her door, imagine my surprise when she looked up and said, "Terry, please call me. I like you."
On her front porch with her parents just inside in the livingroom, what could I reply beyond, "Thanks, I like you, too," smile, and close the evening out while I thought about the whole situation?
Like most of us in those days, my car's doors didn't lock, so when I came out from my last class the following Monday, although curious about it, I wasn't surprised to find a small slip of paper on my driver's seat. Lots of times us guys left notes for each other this way so we didn't have to track each other down (This was the days before everyone got text and cell phones, right?). But when I unfolded it, it only said
Remember!
in big, underlined, hand letters, followed by a phone number. Had Sis done this? Put Janice up to it? Was this Janice's doing? Or Janice at all?
From home I called that number, and felt lucky to have her answer instead of one of her parents. I'd only barely met them—when I picked Janice up the previous Saturday for the dance—so my confidence didn't exactly bubble over at the thought of talking to one of them first.
"That you, Terry?"
"Yeah?"
"Can you come over?"
"I guess. What ...."
"Right now?"
"Yeah?"
"Good. Park in the driveway, okay?"
"Sure." Why? She didn't want neighbors to see my car? I mean, it wasn't much, but I wasn't ashamed of it.
"And come to the back door?"
"Yes?" Same question ... almost.
"Come right on in, okay?"
"Yes?" More of the same question.
"Good."
"Oh, yeah?" What did that mean?
"Yes. How long?"
"Half hour, maybe forty-five minutes."
"Fine. I'll be ready/"
Ready for what?
I did as she said when I got there, calling her name softly as I wandered first through their kitchen, then the dining room and living room looking for her.
"Back here, Terry. End of the hall, door on your right," a soft voice said. When I got there, the door was closed, so I knocked.
"Come in?"
So I cranked the knob, pushed the door open, and saw her standing there all but naked.
"Close the door? Please?"
I started to step back into the hall.
"No, come in, Terry. Then close the door. I promise I won't bite."
Like a dumbie I stood there, waiting for inspiration different from what stood before me.
"Janice?"
"Yes, Terry. This is me."
"But ....?" A sleeping puppy's breath could have knocked me over.
"Don't you like me? I thought you did at the dance, but I was too shy to let you know."
Too shy? My god, she sure didn't look shy now!
"See? Nudists are always shy with their clothes on. I wish you had yours off, too. Then we could relax and talk."
Oooh! "Janice, I ...."
"Of course, Terry. I know. I was shy at first, too, so shy I thought I'd never get over it. But a nice boy at the camp put a smile on my face so I wasn't shy any more, at least around him."
So she wasn't a virgin, contrary to what most of my schoolmates had speculated. But what was she getting at?
"You want to get over being shy with me?" she said, now looking directly into my eyes.
I guess I nodded, but I'm certain my jaw hung open.
"Momma and Daddy went to their meeting over in Waynesburg, so don't worry. Besides, they said you were real polite and nice when you came to pick me up for the dance Saturday.
Yeah, sure! I couldn't imagine them thinking me nice—or polite—if they came home and found me with their daughter, both of us naked and both of us barely eighteen—no matter what they found us doing!
***
Like most young guys, I'd heard about nudists, and likewise speculated lots about what nudism might involve. So, the following Friday, when I found another of Janice's notes on my car seat after school. I called her right up.
"Hi, Janice. Found another note in my car."