It hadn't been a very good day at work. Every client that came into the store either had an unanswerable question or a bad attitude. Nothing I did seemed to be right.
Part of the problem could certainly be traced to the fact that the summer was drawing to a close -- and Kathryn and I both knew (and dreaded) what that meant.
Lately, we'd been spending more time talking about the coming year than having fun with each others' bodies. A couple of times I nearly chucked the whole Princeton thing to go to California with her. Screw school. I could always start next year.
That evening, I was waiting at home for Kathryn to get finished at the library. At quarter to 9, I was going to walk over to meet her and we'd go to the park for a bit of fun. At least something on this rotten day would turn out right. She'd promised we could use condoms between now and when we had to part since it was the wrong time of the month for us to have sex without protection.
About 8:30, though, the doorbell rang, waking me from a light doze. My mom and dad had taken my brothers to the movies, so I had to pry myself off the sofa and answer the door.
It was Kathryn. Her face was red, sweaty and she was crying. She'd obviously run all the way from the library which was a good mile distant.
"What is it? What's wrong?"
At first she couldn't speak. Her mouth opened but the words just wouldn't come out. I reached out to take her in my arms, but she reared back and slapped my face as hard as she could. That loosened her tongue.
"You bastard! How could you do it? Now everybody in town knows everything we've been doing! They all think I'm cheap and a slut and...and... She swallowed hard. "I hope that you're proud of yourself! I thought what we had was special and private, and now I find out you've been blabbing it all over town."
"What are you talking about? I haven't said anything to anyone."
She screamed, "Then how come everyone knows every detail of what we do?" With that, she slapped me again. "I hate you!"
Before I could say anything, Kathryn turned and ran down my front steps, leaving me standing there wondering what the hell had just happened.
Going back into the house, I sat on the sofa to gather my wits.
Kathryn had caught me completely by surprise and I'd been too groggy from sleep to respond until it was too late. What the hell had happened? I had to find out.
I went out the back of the house and crossed the yard, squeezing through the hedge as I had so many times before. Knocking on the wooden screen door of Kathryn's house, her mother, who was in the kitchen washing dishes, wiped off her hands and came over.
"Is Kathryn home?" I asked.
"Why, no. I thought she'd be with you." Then she looked over her shoulder. "It's not even 9:00 yet. She'll still be at the library working."
"No. She was just over at my place. She's very angry about something and I need to speak with her. Could you ask her to please call me when she gets home?"
"Certainly, Robert. I'm very confused by all this."
"So am I, Mrs. Miller. Please ask her to phone."
I waited until 10:00 and then tried calling her. Kathryn's dad answered the phone. He was always pretty gruff with me and this had only intensified when it became obvious we were "going together".
"Kathryn came home about 15 minutes ago and went right up to her room."
"Could you please ask if she'd speak to me?"
"She said she was going to bed. I'm not going to disturb her."
That was that. I went out to the back porch and could see that the light was out in her room, so she probably had gone to bed.
Next morning, before leaving for work, I went back over to her house.
"Kathryn's still in bed," her mom said.
"Could you check to see if she's awake? I'd really like to speak to her."
"I suppose I could. She has to be off to the library soon, anyway. Come in and sit down."
I sat at the kitchen table for a good five minutes before Mrs. Miller came back down.
"She says she doesn't want to speak to you."
"Did she say why?"
Kathryn's mom smiled, but it looked strained. "She said you'd ask me that, and told me to say that you'd know." She joined me at the small table. "Now what's happened between you two?"
I couldn't come out and actually say what it was, but I had to tell her something. "She and I, ah, had a bit of a fight. I've come over to apologize. Please tell her that."
She patted my hand. "Both my daughters can have very stiff necks. I'll tell her what you said."
"Thank you."
Kathryn's shift that day coincided with mine, so when I got my lunch break I trotted over from the hardware store to the library to see if I could speak to her there. She'd find it much harder to avoid me.
But I was stymied in my attempt.
"Kathryn called in sick today," the head librarian told me, obviously peeved. "Honestly, she shows no consideration. We're shorthanded already with vacations and such."
The rest of the afternoon dragged by. When Mr. McGruder, the owner of the store, went out for a few minutes, I tried calling Kathryn, something that was strictly forbidden, but I didn't care if he caught me. My misery was too deep. The phone rang fifteen times before I gave up.
Part of me was starting to get angry. She hadn't given me any chance to explain that I had no idea what she was talking about -- and she certainly owed me that. If she didn't like me, well, love me anymore, then fine, come out and say it. This all sounded like some ridiculous misunderstanding.
I had to talk to her.
Six o'clock rolled around and I tore out of the store not 5 seconds later.
Kathryn's parents always went square dancing on Thursday evenings directly from work, and as it was two towns over, they'd be gone until well after eleven. Kathryn and I had been planning on trying out some of the condoms I'd worked up the nerve to buy. Who knew what was going to happen now.
I got home, jumped in the shower for a quick hose down of the day's dirt and threw on some clean clothes.
Kathryn's house was dark, but this wasn't unusual since the summer evenings were long. The back door was open and I entered, figuring it was probably best to just walk in on her, not give her a chance to run away again.
Downstairs was quiet, but the living room looked as if people had been partying there. Beer cans, glasses and an empty vodka bottle littered the tables. Melanie must have had some of her college-age friends over. If her parents found out about this, they'd really be steamed.
There were odd noises coming from upstairs, so I went up quietly. After only a few steps, I could hear squeaks like someone was moving on a bed and the short, sharp groans of a female being ridden hard. Then a male voice groaned. No lights were on, so in the twilight gloom, I couldn't see much and the origin of the sounds was not clear.
Could Melanie be making it with a guy in her room? And where was Kathryn? Probably gone with her parents so she could avoid me.
At the top of the stairs it was obvious that the sounds were not coming from Melanie's room, which was on the right. She couldn't be doing it in her parent's room. That was nuts.
Now anybody reading this is going to wonder just how slow I could be, but I was just completely trusting in those days. It never dawned on me that the sound could be coming from Kathryn's room.
Within three steps, though, I knew.
A male voice I sort of recognized said, "C'mon, hurry up! it's my turn again."
"Why don't you just go around to the front end and stick it in her mouth. She seems to like that."
A half dozen more steps and I was standing at the partially closed door to her room.
They never saw me, or were too busy to notice. Clement Rice and Joe Houghton were in there. I detested both. They were the loud-mouthed, narrow-minded bigots that represented everything I, and up until this point, Kathryn detested about the town where we grew up.
Both boys were naked, as was Kathryn. They had her kneeling across her bed. Joe was behind her, standing on the floor, jabbing his cock into her for all he was worth. Clem had climbed up on the bed and stuck his dick in Kathryn's mouth. The two of them were moving her between them, Clem with his hands on the sides of her head, Joe with his hands on her hips.
My heart was pounding and I felt as if I'd explode. I was consumed by rage at what I was seeing. But at the same time incredible sadness washed over me. Why was Kathryn doing this? She'd been so upset the night before that someone thought she might be a slut. Here she was BEING a slut!
The action in the room froze as I flung open the door. Kathryn turned to goggle at me wide-eyed with Clem's cock still in her mouth.
"What are you doing here?" Clem sneered.
"Get away from my girl!" I screamed.
Joe looked at me with disgust, as if I was a bug he'd like to step on. His hands remained possessively on Kathryn's hips, keeping the length of his cock firmly planted inside of her. "Your girl? I don't think so."
Kathryn was beginning to struggle now, but both boys kept her firmly between them.
"How long has this been going on?" I asked.
