Tennis Camp

(Note to readers:

I was content to end this series with Chapter 5 and Becky's "I love you" as the end of the tale. However, several of you commented that it left you with a need for closure. Luckily I can easily add a chapter, so here it is. I had to work a little harder on this one, but I enjoyed it.

By the way, next time I write something, I intend to give the main character a name. Maybe this guy's name should have been Lucky, as one reader suggested.

One of you commented that there was no time in our history when we had both Viagra and legal drinking for 18 year olds. Oops, I guess I got a little carried away. But it was entertaining to see that you were paying attention.

I hope you like it,

Strawberry)

Chapter 6: A Final Visit from Jeannie

As long as Becky and I stayed in that bedroom, we could love each other and not have to deal with the outside world's complications. That feeling lasted only a short time. We got dressed and as we stepped into the living room we mistakenly thought that we would be the only ones in the house. Sitting on the sofa were Jeannie and Tom, drinking beer and watching television.

"What in the hell are you doing here?" I blurted out.

As Jeannie and Tom stood up, Jeannie was quick to respond, "You left us stranded, asshole. I didn't drive here; the kids just dropped me off on the way to the movie. And Will hasn't made it back yet. So that leaves just your car."

Jeannie and Tom were standing opposite from Becky and me as I said, "Well, neither of you shits is setting foot in my car! You can walk!"

Tom spoke up, "Fuck you, asshole!" And he gave his statement some body language by grabbing his crotch and lifting up on it, while he looked me in the face.

Then Jeannie chimed in, "Yeah. Fuck you asshole!" But instead of grabbing herself, she reached over with both hands for Tom's crotch and lifted up, with that evil grin on her face.

She had a sense of humor, even when she was being a bitch.

Before anyone else could say anything, we heard movement from outside the kitchen, and then the banging open of the kitchen door. I figured it must be Will getting back, but then I heard the cat hissing, and a strange male voice grumbled, "Fucking cat!"

"YEEOOOOW!!!" and the cat flew through the kitchen doorway into the living room, where it hit the floor and disappeared into the back of the house. All of a sudden, a very large guy was literally filling in the door frame, and my intuition told me that he was very pissed.

Jeannie exclaimed, "Eric!!"

Becky turned to me, wide-eyed, saying, "Elle was thinking about calling Jeannie's boyfriend!"

Wow, I hope I never get Elle angry at me. That girl has a mean streak.

Eric the giant looked over the two couples in the room, then turned his attention to Tom, "Jeannie told me about you! You've been coming on to my girl all summer, even though you knew she had a boyfriend. I've just driven two hours to teach you a lesson!"

Tom really should have put more energy into protecting himself, rather than looking and pointing at me with panic on his face. Eric wasn't in much of a mood for explanations as he covered the distance between them in two large steps, and cuffed Tom backwards over the couch.

Jeannie started screaming at Eric immediately, "You idiot! He didn't deserve that. Stop and let me talk to you!" But Eric proceeded to step up on the couch in pursuit of Tom. Jeannie jerked on him, and Eric stumbled backward to the floor level, but as his feet touched he turned to slap Jeannie hard, and she went sprawling onto the rug.

I was already moving forward as the thought was first occurring to my brain that I had to do something. I attempted to tackle Eric the Giant, and he might have gone down except that the couch propped him up. I was hanging on to his mid-section for all I was worth. Tom started to stand up behind the couch just as Eric spun around, attempting to get rid of me. My whole body flew out parallel with the ground, and my legs hit Tom in the face, sending him down again.

I was still hanging on, with my shoulder in Eric's side and my face buried in his back. I considered biting him, but even in this excitement I knew that it might just piss him off even more. And no one would forgive me for such an unmanly act.

I could see Jeannie coming toward us, and I got a glimpse of Becky holding a skillet. Eric was pummeling me in the ribcage as I yelled out to the girls, "Ya'll stand back!" The next time I could see them, Tom was standing there with the girls just watching. "Not you Tom, I need some help here!"

Eric stopped pounding on me and went for Tom, with the weight of my body slowing him down. Tom had the skillet now, and this time he was ready to dodge the swinging fist. Eric managed to land a glancing blow off Tom's shoulder, which put Tom off balance. But even off his back foot, Tom could deliver a blistering forehand. He smacked Eric right on the hip, just below where I was gripping. It must have sent lightning bolts down Eric's leg, because he went down like an oak tree.

Now the fight was taking place the way of all real fights, wallowing around on the ground. Tom had Eric's attention, and Tom was dancing around us looking for another opening for the skillet. Eric kicked at Tom every now and then, but neither of them was connecting.

Meanwhile, I tried to wrestle myself into position to pin Eric. The one move I remembered from my white belt karate class as a 12 year old was how to pin a person. Eric was slinging me around like a rag doll, but eventually he was distracted with Tom enough that I was able to get in position. We were crossways to each other, with my chest on top of his and his near arm pressed between us. With my two hands I was able to hold down his other arm. And one of my elbows was positioned at his neck to hold his head still. He could not get enough bearing to throw me off, even though he probably outweighed me by almost 100 pounds.

From my vantage point I could see the expression on this giant's face. It went from blind rage, to a look of almost fear at the impossible prospect that this little guy had pinned him. Then for a fraction of a second, I saw the facial expression that would haunt me for life. The man was heartbroken!

Tom sensed an opportunity and was getting ready to deal a real blow when I yelled out to him, "NO! DON'T HURT HIM! He's the only one who hasn't really done anything wrong.....except for kicking the cat; that was wrong."

Eric made a couple of attempts to break loose, and then he just laid there breathing heavy with my tense frame crossways on top of him. My face was down on his chest and I spoke up to him, "Eric, we are really sorry that we hustled your girlfriend." After a pause, Tom spoke up, "Yeah."

We stayed in this frozen position for what seemed like a long time. It occurred to me that I had no idea what else to do except to stay just like this until we could agree to something. Eric's breathing eventually slowed, and no one in the room said a word. Finally Eric said in a calm but shaken voice, "Let me up. I won't hurt anyone."

Tom held the skillet in the ready position as Eric and I got up. We stood next to each other, and Eric looked down at me for a second. The look shot a rush of fear through me; he must have been a foot taller than I was. He turned to Jeannie and pointed at her, "Don't talk to me again. Stay out of my sight. If we are ever accidentally in the same room, leave the building."

Jeannie's face was red as she screamed, "BUT I HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING!"

Eric remained calm as he said, "You lying cunt! I was watching through the window when you grabbed that guy's dick. There is no excuse in the world that can explain that to me. I've been on pins and needles over what you might be doing over here, and you seemed to enjoy telling me just enough to torture me. I deserve a different girlfriend." He turned and as he was ducking through the kitchen doorway, Eric turned his head and said to me, "And I'm sorry about the cat."

The giant was gone. I was in good conditioning, but all this fucking and fighting was too much for me. I leaned my back against the nearest wall and slid down to sit on the floor, hanging my head. The image of Eric's broken-hearted expression was the first thing that came to my mind. And even though I had not thought it through, I knew I had contributed to his pain.

I could hear Jeannie begin to weep, but I didn't even lift my head to look at her. Becky knelt down beside me and asked if I was OK. "Yes, I'm tired, but mostly I just feel really guilty and I'm not even sure exactly why."

Becky was very sympathetic, "I'll stay the night with you and make sure you're OK."

"Oh thanks Becky. But if coach finds out about this night he has to fire me immediately, and I know he'll find out if all of you girls are not at your house tonight. Come to think of it, there are probably several people who would be glad to shoot me over tonight's activities."

Jeannie's crying went down to a snivel, but through it all she mentioned that she and Becky needed to get back to the girls' house. I looked up at her and asked if it was OK for them to just take my car, and return it to me in the morning. I felt too whipped and depressed to drive them. What I didn't say was that I especially didn't want Tom to drive my car. The girls seemed to understand and agreed, but probably neither of them wanted to be together even for that short ride.

As the girls prepared to leave, I noticed that Tom was still holding the skillet and pacing around the room with excess energy. He came over to me where I was still sitting on the floor, and wanted to talk about what a good team we made in the fight. I was listless as I almost whispered back to him that he had done a good job in the fight. But he had fucked up with Elle tonight and she was a classy girl. Tom did not respond and just looked at me, so I decided to end on a positive note, "But, that forehand of yours was finally good for something."

Tom laughed too much at that, and jumped up to try to get Becky or even Jeannie to talk with him about the big fight. It wasn't really his fault that he was almost happy over tonight's scuffle. He was still overloaded with adrenaline, and it would be a few years before he could get in touch with the negative side of events like this. Real people had been hurt for life, even if they weren't hurt physically.

Becky came by with her purse in hand, "Are you sure you're all right?" I told her I'd be fine, and I apologized again for not driving them back to the girls' house. She bent down to kiss my cheek and I patted her neck. I did not look up for Jeannie, but I could hear her sniffles as they passed through the kitchen.

Apparently they met Will at the door, and I could hear Jeannie tell him to ask Tom about what happened, since Tom would love to tell him. The girls must not have minded taking my car too much or they would have gotten Will to drive them. Tom heard Will's voice and rushed past me toward the kitchen, still holding that stupid skillet. I did not want to be around to hear a couple of 18 year old guys glorify a scuffle that just made me sad, so I went to my room, stripped, and nestled under the sheets. I could barely hear the guys talking fast and laughing as I drifted off. I slept like a rock.

"Wake up asshole and talk to me."

Was I dreaming that, or did someone say something? Fuck it, it's still dark.

"You heard me, wake up."

I rolled over toward the voice, and Jeannie was sitting on the edge of my bed. Apparently I had left the bathroom light on, so it was easy to see her in the semi-darkness. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm bringing your car back to you."

With a little fumbling around, I located a clock, "At 4:30 in the morning?"

"You said bring it back this morning; you didn't say what time. Besides, I've been up all night crying, and I need you to talk with me. By the way, after my behavior last night, I decided to drive home today; so I'm also saying goodbye."

I tried to straighten up in the bed a little bit. In the process I realized that I could feel Jeannie's hip against my thigh, and I could feel the warmth of her body through the thin sheet. In addition, she was backlit by the bathroom light, and I could easily see the detailed outline of her well shaped and braless breasts through her loose fitting T-shirt.

I tried not to look, and realized that this was not good for me. I said, "I need you to leave me alone. You've become the wicked witch of the west, and I'm afraid of you. You sure as hell didn't want to talk with me yesterday evening when I was crazy about you."

"That was before I lost the very thing I was trying to hold on to, piss ant."

"I don't remember your having much concern about me in your weird attempts to hold on to your boyfriend, bitch."

"That's because you're such a dumb-ass."

"Oh yeah? Well, you're fat!"

There was a long silence in the room before Jeannie asked, "Did you just call me fat?"

"Yeah, fatso!"

There was another silence, and then the bed began to shake lightly. Uh-oh, I must have gone too far: she's crying.

But instead, Jeannie was laughing at me, "You just helped me prove that you really are a dumb-ass. I know that I'm not fat, and there's no way that you think I'm fat. You'd better not get in any more name-calling contests." She extended her hand to me with a glass in it, "Here's a glass of water for you. I'm sure a dumb-ass like you has cotton mouth after last night."

I swallowed it down and then chuckled, but I had to get defensive, "That fat comment wasn't so stupid. 99% of the women in this country would be very insulted if I called them fatso. It was a good gamble that you would be sensitive about that, even if you are a confident competitive athlete in terrific shape."

As I spoke, I was aware that our slight movements just heightened my awareness of Jeannie's warm hip touching my thigh. I tried to move over on the bed so that our bodies would not touch at all. Jeannie did not let me get away with it. She immediately hooked her hand on my far hip and scooted up next to me again, "Don't you reject me. I behaved badly, but I'm paying the price and I need a friend."

I tried to ignore the feel of her hand on my hip, and the movement of her soft body along my thigh, "I'm sorry Jeannie, but I don't think you treated me like a friend yesterday, and I know you didn't treat Elle like a friend."

I wasn't prepared for what she did next. Jeannie burst into tears, "I know, I know. Even though Elle was not really my friend, she didn't deserve that. When I got back to the girls' house last night, I tried to explain that it was just my misguided attempt to break away from you. She did not accept that excuse and I don't blame her. I was being selfish."

I gave in to those tears, and I felt compassion for Jeannie. I may have been influenced by the feel of her warm shaking body next to me, the feel of her hand gently resting on my hip, and the sight of her bosom heaving slightly as she cried. I sat up a little and tried to comfort her with a light pat on the back. Jeannie leaned in and wrapped her arms around me, weeping into my shoulder, "Thanks, I really need you to help me with this. I'm too ashamed to tell my family, and you're the only one I can talk to who can possibly understand."

"OK, I'll try, even though I'm pretty pissed off at you." Those were brave words, considering I was keenly aware of her breasts gently bouncing against my bare chest as she leaned toward me and wept. I asked, "So is there no hope that you can get back with Eric?"

She sat up with a sniffle, and I immediately missed the feel of her next to me, "None. With Eric, there are no shades of grey. The real problem for me is that Eric was 100% correct. Sure, I didn't have sex with anyone, unless you count what you and I did yesterday. But Eric needs someone who is more loyal than that. I was walking a tightrope with you and even Tom just for the fun of it, and I knew Eric would drop me if he knew what I was doing."

"I guess it will take you a while to get over losing him," I said as I thought with some distraction that at least I could still feel her soft hip next to me.

"Yeah, but that isn't what has me the most upset. Eric doesn't say much, but he sure did a good job of communicating last night. Remember he mentioned that I seemed to enjoy torturing him with the possibility that I might not behave? I realized that he was right about that. What kind of person am I to get a kick out of doing that to the person I hoped to spend my life with? It's one thing to be aggressive, controlling, and competitive, and even mean with you and the girls, but I was supposed to be serious about Eric. Maybe the years of tennis competition has turned me hard."

I thought about that for a minute, and then replied, "Yeah. But maybe the fact that you see that in yourself means you're able to change it."

There was silence in the room as Jeannie considered this, "I like that. It gives me some hope for myself. Hey, I knew you'd be a good person to talk with about my problems."

"Well, I do pretty well unless I'm the one you have a problem with. Then I'm not worth a damn to talk to." She nodded a little too much at that statement, so I followed with, "I'll tell you the meanest thing you did to Tom and me; you never told us what a huge animal Eric was."

Jeannie let out a combination sob and laugh, then leaned toward me for a hug, and spoke into my ear, "That was so scary; at first I just knew he was going to kill both of you. And then it looked like ya'll might kill him. Poor Tom got the worst of it, but I think he actually enjoyed the excitement of it all, after it was over. Becky and I were a little worried about you though; she said that it depressed you."

Even though I was really enjoying the feeling of Jeannie's hug, specifically her bosom pressed against my chest and her breath on my cheek, this reply deserved my full attention, "Yeah, I was kind of overwhelmed with sadness."

"Why?"

"Well, first I know that if Coach finds out, he will not only fire me but he will be disappointed in me. And, this might sound a little crazy, but while Eric and I were plastered to the floor, I thought I could see a heartbroken expression on his face. Jeannie, I really felt for the big guy, and then after he left I had a flood of thoughts about my selfish part in the situation: my pursuing you even though you had a boyfriend, my pursuit of Becky and Elle, my part in pressuring you so that your best alternative was to hurt Elle and eventually Eric and even yourself."

Jeannie openly sobbed at that. She hugged me tight, hid her face in the crook of my neck, and her body racked with sobs while her tears streamed down my chest. My eyes teared up in response, but even in the middle of these intense emotions, I was getting an erotic thrill from my closeness to Jeannie. I felt a little guilty, but it was still happening. She was wearing a nylon T-shirt without a bra, so that I could feel her back as if it was bare, and her breasts felt so good as her body moved against my bare chest with the sobs.

As Jeannie's sobs diminished to sniffles, we continued to hold each other tightly without talking. But I could not stop myself from wondering what she was wearing in addition to her nylon T-shirt. I casually lowered one hand innocently to her bottom to find out. She was wearing light weight nylon jogging shorts, without panties. I figured this was probably her sleeping outfit, and she just got up out of bed and into the car to come here.

All of a sudden Jeannie stopped crying and stiffened up. She pulled back from me and said, "You sick twisted bastard! You just copped a cheap feel from a weeping distraught woman who is pouring her heart out to you as a friend!"