Shannon's Summer of Firsts

Author's Note: This is the second story I have written involving these main characters. The first, "Caren With a C" is a prelude to this one written from Tommy's point of view, but you don't need to read it first. Be advised that this story is rather long. I tried to put enough action in along the way to hold the reader's attention but it takes a while to get going. I wrote the kind of story I like to read.

***

I was sitting outside the video store on a sunny Sunday morning in 1984 waiting for Caren, the manager, to come down from the upstairs apartment she lived in and open for the morning. I had a summer job there, but I wasn't working that Sunday. I was there to get my backpack, which I had accidently left in the small store office the Friday before.

The car I shared with my twin brother, Tommy, was in the parking lot. Which was strange. I had spent the previous night in Boston with my mother and we had arrived home early so she could get to her regular Sunday morning tennis game. When we got there my dad told us Tommy had slept over at Matt's. That made sense because I knew Tommy was going to a keg party, I had been invited too, but I couldn't figure out why he would have left his car in the video store parking lot.

I heard feet on the stairs at the side of the building that led up to two apartments. "Hi Caren." I said as she turned the corner and came around to the front of the building, where I was sitting. "I came by to pick up my backpack when you opened because..." trailing off as my twin brother Tommy followed Caren around the corner.

"Tommy, Dad said you were sleeping over at Matt's." I was confused. "I wondered why the car was here, but I thought maybe Matt picked you up?" I stopped talking as it registered that Tommy had come down the stairs with Caren which meant that he must have been up in her apartment with her. What was going on?

Caren handed Tommy her keys. "Open up the store Tom, your sister and I need to take a little walk. We have some things to talk about." Turning to me, "Let's go down the street to the convenience store and get a couple Diet Cokes."

We walked through the parking lot out to the main road through town and turned left. It was a beautiful summer morning, a little warm but not too hot. We walked side by side in silence for a couple minutes. Caren looked over at me. She was dressed in a pair of khaki shorts from which her tanned legs emerged, ending in a pair of the Adidas tennis sneakers which were popular at the time. She had on her Talking Heads concert tee shirt that I knew was one or her favorites, filled out by a good sized bust I occasionally envied. I wished my own boobs were a little bigger. I wouldn't have described her as thin, but she had a robust, athletic look with a nice curve to her hips. Her short, blonde hair framed an attractive, oval face that usually had a smile on it. It didn't then though and she seemed a little unsure of herself, which was unusual.

Caren was three years older than Tommy and me and at 21 and had recently graduated from college. She had been accepted to medical school but was taking a year off and was managing the video store, which her parents owned, as a favor to them for a couple months while they found a manager to replace the one who had recently quit. Her parents also owned the building the store was in, including the apartments above.

"Tommy and I are dating." She finally said. "I hope you are OK with that?"

"Why wouldn't I be? I like you a lot and Tommy has been crushing on you all summer. I'm happy for him. For both of you."

"I don't know. I wasn't positive how you would feel about this, but I'm glad you aren't upset."

"No, I'm not upset." I paused. "Did he spend the night in your apartment?"

"Yes, but that's all I'm going to say about it. Tom can tell you whatever he wants to, but I don't think it would be right for me to tell you anything else."

"OK. I understand."

"You know Shannon, if there is anything else you want to talk to me about I'm always willing to listen." She looked at me as we walked in the sunshine.

I sighed. "You mean like Drake?"

"Yeah, like Drake. It's obvious you two like each other but I can tell he doesn't want to make a move and creep you out if you're not interested in being anything more than friends. I've been waiting for you to ask me about him but I didn't want to be the one to bring it up."

Drake Landry was the same age as Caren and had been in her class in high school. He was about 6' 2" and solidly built, with black hair and a great smile. Drake dressed like a biker and a big, black Harley Davidson motorcycle was his primary mode of transportation. His right shoulder and upper arm were covered with a beautifully done tattoo of a seven-headed hydra. He had spent a year in college but was now back in town working as a mechanic in a local auto body shop. Lately Drake had been coming into the video store with increasing frequency and spent a lot of time talking with Caren, me and Tommy. Tommy had also been making a habit of coming into the store every night. Initially it was to pick me up for a ride home since we shared the car, but as the days progressed he arrived earlier and earlier to hang out and make puppy dog eyes at Caren. Apparently the strategy had worked.

"Well part of the reason is I thought you two were hooking up, and he was being friendly. It seemed weird to ask about it, like I was a little girl with a crush on your boyfriend or something."

Caren laughed. "God, everyone thinks Drake and I are a thing, or were a thing. Maybe I should go ahead and sleep with him already." Seeing the shocked look on my face she quickly added "I'm kidding. Drake and I are friends. That's it. He's also on the rebound from the only girlfriend he's ever had. They broke up about 6 months ago."

"Oh. How long had they been dating? Why'd they break up?" This subject had never come up with Drake, even though I had been dying to find out what his dating status was.

"A long time. Three years, maybe longer. She broke up with him for another guy."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Some guy at her church. Drake thinks maybe she was using him the whole time to freak out her parents. I don't know if I buy that, but either way he's better off without that crazy bitch. She did him a favor. She is hot though, I'll give her that."

We got to the convenience store, grabbed a couple sodas and headed back. We didn't open them. Neither of us was thirsty.

"Caren, what do you think I should do? About Drake I mean. I'm not sure I want to start something. I don't know." I finished lamely.

"Shannon, my advice to you is figure out what you want to do and act on it. If you want to stay friends with Drake fine, but find a way to tell him that. Or tell me to tell him that. If you want it to be more but only for the summer tell him. That's the arrangement I have with your brother. Whatever you decide. I've gotten to know you well over the time we have been working together. There is a stiff spine under the good girl exterior. Whatever you decide Drake will respect it. He looks like a bad boy but he is one of the most genuinely decent guys I know."

I let that sink in. "Wow Caren, so why don't you want to date him then?" I realized later that was probably a little insulting to my brother given the morning's revelations, but it popped out. I loved Tommy, but he didn't hold a candle to Drake in the looks department.

"I won't cheat on your brother while he and I are dating. But truthfully, if Drake had asked me to sleep with him to help him move on from his ex I probably would have. The fact he knows that and didn't ask makes my point about the kind of guy he is."

We got back to the video store to find Tommy had it open and was whistling as he sorted out the videos which had been stuffed in the return slot overnight. All four rewinders were going and the return cart had a good stack on it. "Hi." He said a little uncertainly when we walked in.

I decided to make it cool for everyone. "Caren told me you spent the night upstairs. I'm happy for the two of you. Don't worry about me."

Tommy let out an obvious sigh of relief. "Thanks for saying that Shannon. I was a little worried. We were going to tell you but not quite like this." Turing to Caren, "You mind if we head out?"

"No. Artie will be here any minute." A debatable point. Artie was aging hippie in his late thirties or early forties. He was a good guy, but not the most reliable man on the planet. The way Artie worked was if you told him it was critical he be at the store at a specific time he would make it happen, but if it was a regular day where he was supposed to appear at 10 there was about an hour window in which he would show up. When I first started I had asked Caren if her parents had considered making him the manager, which she thought was hilarious.

Tommy and I got into the beat-up VW our parents had given us to share. He started up the car and pulled out of the parking lot. We rode in silence for a minute. He had a smile on his face and looked as happy as I have ever seen him look. "Anything you want to tell me?" I finally asked, grinning at him.

"Shannon, she's incredible. Last night was unbelievable, the whole thing, start to finish."

"Tommy, did you guys do it last night?" I was curious after my conversation with Caren.

"Nope." Which was not the answer I was expecting. "We did it this morning, and it was amazing." His grin got bigger. He looked over at me and the smile faltered a bit. "Sorry Shannon, you maybe don't want to hear that. But I don't have anyone else to tell. I mean, I'm not going to go blabbing to everyone."

I understood what he meant. Tommy the kind of guy everyone liked, but he didn't have any close friends since Jed had gone off to school in California after graduating last year. He wasn't the sort to go around bragging. I had to admit what I felt was a little jealous.

"It's OK Tommy. I meant it when I said I was happy for you. I totally am."

"Thanks Shannon, that means a lot to me. I hope it's as special when it happens for you."

On that ride home I almost told Tommy my biggest secret at the time. I'm not sure why I didn't. I wasn't a virgin.

***

A few months before I had started thinking about what life would be like at college. I enjoyed my town and my friends, but I was looking forward to joining a bigger community and meeting new people. The girls I liked to hang out with weren't the type who were only focused on boys. They had a lot of other interests. So even though we chit chatted about who thought who was cute and stuff, we didn't obsess on the subject. I knew several of my girlfriends had lost their virginity, but we didn't talk about it much. Back then a lot of girls were worried about being labeled a 'slut' or 'easy' if they talked about sex.

My perspective on my virginity was I wanted my first time to be with someone I cared about. For the few years since I had hit puberty I had imagined it would be a long-term boyfriend but I had started rethinking that. I had dated a few guys during high school, none seriously, and nothing had progressed physically beyond second base. Maybe it would be better to get it out of the way before heading off to State.

Ray Pendleton was always in the computer room at school. He was tall and lanky and one of the nicest guys I knew. All the girls liked him, as a friend, because he would help anyone who asked on the computer stuff. He was ok looking, on the skinny side with a little acne and dirty blond hair he wore too long. Amazing blue eyes though. He reminded me a lot of my brother. Average looking guy. Intelligent. Nice. Friendly with everyone but not part of a clique.

We were in a lot of the same 'smart kid' classes so we saw each other a lot during school. This was back before most people had home computers so the school kept the computer room open until 8 most nights. I would go in there sometimes after soccer practice to study and Ray would always come over and say hi with that friendly, crooked smile of his. He was great if I was struggling with anything on my homework. The odd thing was he didn't get great grades because I never saw his name on the honor role. I got the sense he didn't care much about doing well on tests. If he knew the material that was good enough for him. He had gotten into Carnegie Mellon though, and someone told me he had received a perfect score on the math part of the SAT and the highest possible score on his AP physics exam.

One Friday evening about a week before the end of school I was in the computer room working on a final physics assignment that had a programming element. I waved Ray over to help. He walked up, pulled up a chair next to me and proceeded to patiently explain what I needed to do. It took longer than it needed to because Ray went off on tangents doing a very funny imitation of Mr. Preston, the physics teacher, trying to teach other subjects. He had me in stitches. By the time he got around to health class it was down to me and Ray in the computer room.

"And so people," Ray imitated Mr. Preston's somewhat high pitched and excited delivery "we have a penis and a vagina. Which would you say is exhibiting the greater gravitational pull on the other?" I cracked up. Ray blushed furiously, realizing the audience. I laughed even harder.

"Are you hungry? I asked suddenly, "I'm starving."

"Yeah, I've been here all evening."

"Let's go get something to eat."

"Great idea. I'll lock up. Do you have a car? I've only got my bike."

"Yup, let's go."

Ray went into the little room where the school kept the old mainframe and did a few things. I helped him straighten up and shut down any equipment people had left on. Ray turned out the lights and locked the door to the computer room. We got his ten speed, wedged it into the back of the VW and headed off to the local diner.

We each ordered a burger and fries. There were some other kids from school who came in and out and looked a little curiously our way. I could tell Ray was happy to be seen with me at the local hang out, though I doubt he would have admitted it.

After we ate, I dropped him off at his house. He pulled his bike out of the back "Thanks Shannon, I had a great time, see you around."

"Yeah Ray, that was fun."

He turned and walked his bike up the driveway to the garage of his house, but I saw him look back out of the corner of my eye as I got in the car and drove away.

I saw him a few more times over the next week, which was hectic with final exams, and I realized he was going the extra mile to make sure I knew that he knew we were just friends. But he always had a smile and a wisecrack. I signed his yearbook with 'Thanks for teaching me about gravity, Shannon' and put a heart next to it. A little girly but what the heck. I could tell he loved it.

Graduation, which was the same day as my 18th birthday, finally arrived. My brother graduated second in the class and had to give a speech. He was a nervous wreck for days leading up to it but he did great. It was a gorgeous early summer day and we all tossed our caps in the air.

As everyone was milling around afterwards I saw Ray standing with his parents. I went up and gave him a big hug. "We did it." I turned to his parents, "Hi Mr. Pendleton, Mrs. Pendleton. I'm Shannon. Your son got me through Physics."

Ray laughed, "No I didn't, but thanks for saying that."

I had a sudden thought, seeing him there with his parents. "Hey Ray, what are you doing tomorrow night?"

"Nothing much, why?" He sounded puzzled.

"Because I want to see Ghostbusters and Sandra bailed on me and Tommy already saw it. Want to go?"

"Sure." I could tell he was trying to be cool about it.

"Great, I'll call you later."

As I walked away I heard him say "No mom, we are friends." Loud enough that I think he meant for me to hear it.

The next night Ray picked me up in his parent's car. We went to the movie and had a great time. Once Ray discovered he could make me laugh by leaning over and whispering comments he kept it up the entire movie. We got shushed more than once. I wondered a couple of times if he was going to put his arm around me, but he never gave the slightest indication he thought this was anything more than two friends at the movies.

We went back to the diner afterwards and sat across from each other in a booth. Ray started a game where had to decide which of our teachers most resembled each major character in the movie. I was laughing more than I had in a long time. When the food came it suddenly dawned on me the guy sitting across from me fit all the criteria for I was looking for in a partner for my first time having sex.

We got in the car and Ray drove me home. We pulled up in front of my house and Ray turned to me "Thanks Shannon, that was fun."

I hesitated for a moment, and then went for it before I lost my nerve.

"Ray, are you a virgin? I am."

He looked at me with his mouth open, not sure what to say. He shrugged, looked away and mumbled "Yeah, is it so obvious?" I don't think he had picked up on the 'I am' part.

I waited for him to look back at me. "I've decided I don't want to be a virgin when I go to college, do you?"

"Of course not Shannon, but it sure looks like the direction I'm heading. Why are you asking me? This is pretty embarrassing."

"Should we lose our virginity together?"

There was a long pause. I broke the silence.

"Do you want to have sex? With me?"

Ray looked at me for what felt like forever. "Shannon, girls as pretty as you don't want to do that with guys like me. What's going on here? You could have almost any guy in the school if you wanted to."

"What's going on is I want to lose my virginity with a guy that is not going to blab about it all over town. And I want it to be with someone I like. You meet both those criteria. You are also a lot hotter than you give yourself credit for." I didn't think the last part, but I figured it would be good for his ego.

He looked at me again. "Yes, I want to have sex with you, if that's what you want. If this was anyone but you I would assume it was some sort of sick prank, but I trust you."

"OK, buy some condoms and be here at 2 tomorrow. Tommy has a summer league baseball game and my parents are going. We will have the house to ourselves." I leaned over and gave him a kiss on the lips, which he was too stunned to return, then got out of the car.

At 1:30 the next day I was looking at myself in the mirror, naked. I had a trim, athletic body, maybe a bit on the skinny side. I was a decent athlete and liked to jog to stay in shape if I wasn't playing soccer, which was my main sport. I put my hands on my breasts, which were on the smaller side of a B cup. They were proportionate on my slender 5' 4" frame, but like a lot of girls I did wish they were a little bigger. I didn't love my nipples either, I thought they stuck out too much and they were sensitive, which was uncomfortable sometimes when I was working out. I looked down, my legs slightly apart. I hadn't thought much about my pubic area before. I shaved it because I didn't like having hair on my body and it seemed like an extension of shaving my legs to me. Looking up, I saw a cute face with a small nose that supported a pair of thin-framed glasses and was framed by short brown hair. My brother thought if it was red I'd look like Molly Ringwald.

I pulled on a clean white pair of cotton panties and a matching bra. A skirt and cute tee shirt completed the outfit.

Ray pulled up promptly at 2. We didn't waste a lot of time. He asked me if I still wanted to do this and I said yes.

We went to my bedroom and kissed a little awkwardly. I got the sense he had never kissed a girl before me, but I didn't ask. We got undressed. He put the condom on. I laid on my back on the bed and spread my legs. We fumbled around some and got him inside. It hurt a little. He didn't last more than a minute. He rolled off me. "Sorry, I wish that was better for you."