Author's note and acknowledgements
This story has sat on my hard drive for four years now.
I wrote it, all twenty chapters and 95,000 words of it in eight days of a frenzied, near trance-like state, sitting on my couch with my wife's laptop. She would occasionally have to remind me to eat.
When the dust settled, and I looked up, I realized a couple of things: one, I had just written a fucking novel in a week, whoa. Two, it seemed to be pretty damn good, double whoa. And three, what the hell was I going to do with it?
I tried editing it, I even enlisted the help of a Lit-Editor, who was invaluable for early editing, and confirming it was in fact, pretty good, or readable at least. I spent several months then, editing, unashamedly forcing it on writer friends to read, regular friends to read, and total strangers on writer boards. Everyone had different opinions of course, as people do, but all of them seemed to think it was pretty good, and I should probably try to do something with it.
So I spent another year trying to sell it.
Well nothing happened.
And I can't blame them, agents and publishers. It's kind of a niche story, hard to market. It's got too much sex for a coming age story, too much teenage drama for adult fiction, and not a single word about vampires or bondage to make it work as erotic fiction.
So it's sat on my hard drive for four years. I'll occasionally open it up, tinker with a line, or try to figure out how to re-work it into something more marketable. I always end up wasting a weekend trying to figure out how to change it, without losing the essence of the thing which I, and several others, feel is, "pretty good."
So fuck it. Here you go Literotica. I just want people to read it. I want people to get to know Jack the way I did. Writing his life made me feel like I was a part of it. He's a pretty good guy, I wish I knew him in real life.
So NEXT, some disclaimers.
This is a coming of age story. Which means first it starts out when the characters are too young to have sex (on literotica.) So there's no sex for a couple chapters. I hope that's okay. Second, this is a novel length story, including the prologue and epilogue, there are twenty-one chapters in all. Some are longer than others, and there is not a sex scene in every one. (Though some have more than one.) More importantly, sex is a thing that happens, it's not written to be titillating, but rather just as events in Jack's life.
So there you go. It's a story with sex in it, not a story about sex. I think it's pretty good anyway.
If you have not read the first chapter, please click on my profile and pick the story up at the beginning, its better that way, trust me.
*****
Abby and I were married on my birthday. At the beach house of course, there was no place else to have it, it was our favorite place in the world. Except maybe that tiny little hostel room in Germany. Abby had not smiled when I suggested that.
Neither Beth, nor Anna, had showed up for the wedding. In fact, Beth had taken off from Kimmy and Todd's within a week of arriving; about the time Abby and I had announced our engagement. It was better that way I think, but it hurt to think I might have lost two of my friends forever. I worried especially about Beth. Not that I told Abby that. But I think she was worried too, once she settled into the idea I wasn't going anywhere. That took a while.
The wedding was small actually, and fairly informal. Neither of us had wanted a big production. Friends and family, though there was hardly a difference at this point. Todd and Kimmy were the best man and groom. My mom held Little Todd during the ceremony. She flashed me quite a few grandmother comments during the reception. I think letting her hold the baby had been a bad idea.
Our honeymoon was short. I was starting my first teaching position in less than a week after the ceremony. We spent the four days alone at the beach house and pretended we were in Croatia again. In an overwhelming display of generosity, Abby's parents gave her - us, the beach house as a wedding gift. I didn't want to take it, but I was overruled. Abby was raised by lawyers after all. I've gotten used to the idea. It's a beautiful house. Also of being overruled a lot. That's my wife.
Life was good. And as life does when it's good; it suddenly got complicated.
Beth called.
#
Abby answered the phone this time.
"Hello?" she answered cheerfully from her position on my lap. We were watching the Green Hornet. The old black and white one obviously.
There was a female voice, I figured it was wither Kimmy or one of her other girlfriends.
"Beth?" she said after a second. I looked down.
"Beth calm down, I can't understand you..." Abby said again. Now that I was listening I could hear sobbing girl voice.
Abby sat all the way up. I paused the movie and watched expectantly.
Abby and I had been married less than a month. We were still getting used to the idea of the title changes; 'husband', 'wife', though to be honest it hadn't changed much about our behavior toward one another.
She listened for a second, "No Beth, we'll be right there. Hold on."
It must be life or death if Abby was willing to drop everything and rush to Beth's side. She hadn't exactly been Beth's biggest fan since, well. Yeah.
"Got it," she wrote down something in a piece of paper. I only recognized one word from the scrawling.
"Hospital"
I got up and grabbed my keys.
I made the forty minute drive in about twenty minutes.
I rushed into the front desk, Abby just steps behind me.
"Elizabeth Jenkins," I blurted to the nurse. She typed it into her computer and then pointed to the elevator, "Third floor, maternity" she said.
Wait.
I stopped, I'd already taken two steps toward the ER.
Maternity?
"There's no rush, sir, she's not due for a couple of hours yet according to her file."
Wait.
Huh?
Abby took my hand and we walked to the elevator.
In the elevator, Abby whispered, "Oh god Jack..."
I didn't say anything.
"It's been eight months... Almost exactly eight and a half months."
I didn't say anything.
She squeezed my hand.
We were directed to a room near the back of the maternity ward.
As I entered the room the first person I saw - was Anna.
She looked terrible.
Her hair was cut very short, punkish. It was died white with blue and pink tips, which didn't look half bad. But she looked like she'd lost twenty pounds. Her figure was almost gone. She looked strung out. Her eyes were red and bloodshot, but not from crying. She got up out of the chair as I walked in.
Beth was on the bed. She had an IV in, and was sitting upright and awake, but she looked like she'd been crying a lot recently. Her face was pale and pallid.
Abby walked in behind me and froze.
"Hey guys," Anna said after a couple of seconds of terrible tension.
I swallowed with great difficulty.
"Hello Jack," Beth said with a tiny voice, "I thought you should be here to sign the birth certificate."
It had been life or death.
Life, as it turned out.
#
About twenty minutes later, Abby and I were downstairs in the lobby, getting some terrible coffee from a vending machine. Anna was standing with us. She acted awkward and out of place. She was.
"I kept telling her to call you," Anna said. She sounded stoned. Not a lot, but a little. She smelled like marijuana.
Abby wasn't looking at her. She was looking everywhere but her. Though, she wasn't looking at me either.
"She's been staying with you then?" I asked. My voice was cold. I was in shock still.
Anna nodded and stuck her hands in her back pockets. "Kurt didn't know me, and then she got a job working at the record store I do, so it was convenient for both of us. Then we, well she, figure out, well, you know..." she nodded up the maternity ward.
I sighed.
