Steve's sexual initiation came during the summer of his 18th year.
Except for his youth, there wasn't anything terribly appealing about him; the girls in his town were unimpressed and made that plain anytime he'd try to talk to them. After a while Steve would get tired of ridicule and rejection and retreat back into his nice safe shell.
So there he was, a skinny, nerdy barely-eighteen year old with a normal sex drive and no one to take it out on except himself.
All that changed that night in late September 1997. Thinking back, he still remembered what a nice night it had been; summer weather just starting to shade into fall, a nice breeze rattling the leaves of the elm tree outside his window. He'd had his bare feet up on the desk and could feel the breeze tickling the hair on his shins.
It was Friday night, but as usual he had nowhere to go and no one to spend it with. His mom was off with her friends, celebrating their survival of another week at work.
He had his keyboard and mouse balanced on his lap, but no, he wasn't watching porn. He was trying valiantly to keep his squad of paratroopers alive through another German ambush. On the stereo speakers, The Rollins Band was drowning out his soldiers' calls for help, but he already knew just how much trouble they were in.
During a pause between screaming tracks of Henry, Steve heard a ringing other than the ringing in his ears and cursed loudly. Pushing buttons frantically he paused the music, paused the game and ran for the cordless phone. As usual it wasn't on its charging base and he tore off on a search mission, tracking in on the ringing.
The laundry room, of course. Where else would a mom leave a phone? "Hello? Hello?" he said, gasping for air.
A woman's voice laughed in the background, then said, "Steven honey, are you okay? You sound..."
"I'm fine, Mom. I was just racing for the phone. You having fun?"
She laughed again. "Oh honey, we are havin' great fun." She sounded a little drunk. "How about you, are you havin' fun?" Before he could answer, she went on. "Stevie honey, would you do me a little favor?"
"Uh, sure. What can I do for you?"
"Well, I'm afraid I went an' had a little more to drink than I was supposed to." Raucous laughter in the background greeted that statement and he guessed she'd had a lot more to drink.
"Ah'm still okay to drive, but maybe it's best not to have to explain that to our local police friends. Could you be a sweetie and give your mom a ride home?"
"Mom, all I've got here is the dirt bike. I don't think I can get you home on that."
She stifled a laugh. "Stevie, you don't have to get me home on that. All you have to do is get here an' drive me home in my own car. We can fetch your bike tomorrow after you sleep till noon."
"Oh, yeah."
"Maybe I should drive. Maybe ah am less drunk than you."
"No, no, I'll be there. You're over at your friend Louisa's, right?"
"Yep. I'll be waitin'. We'll all be...waitin'."
He rooted around for something halfway clean to wear in front of a houseful of motherly, critical women. His jeans were out; they were looking seriously trashed even by his slack standards. He decided a dark gray t-shirt would serve, over a pair of black gi pants from deep in his bottom drawer. Maybe they would all be too drunk to notice the wrinkles.
Fifteen minutes later, standing on the pegs, Steve balanced the Kaw up Louisa's annoying gravel driveway. He shut down and tucked the bike against the house where no drunken ladies could accidentally bump it. No doubting they were drunk; their laughing and hoots drifted over from the far side of the house. He tried to identify the woman on the stereo. The girl from Heart? No...Bonnie Raitt. He nodded approval and pushed open the door.
"Stevie!" yelled Louisa over the music, throwing up her arms in welcome.
"Hi Mrs. Webber. Where's Dan tonight?"
"Who knows? With his no-good daddy someplace for the weekend. Long as he's back in time for school Monday, I'm happy."
How could only four women make so much noise? By the door was his mother and her best friend Louisa. Behind the kitchen counter he recognized Bessie, a lively little fireplug of a woman, and their coworker Jenna.
Throwing her arms around his neck, Steve's mother hugged him from the side and gave him a warm kiss on his cheek. "Thank you for coming, Steve. You deserve a big hug for this."
"Uh..." His cheeks colored.
"Hell yes!" shouted Mrs. Webber. "I'll see that hug and raise you!" She also stood on tiptoe and hugged him, pressing her body full against his front and showering kisses on his face.
"Yeah, me too!" squealed Bessie, and the last woman came around to complete his embrace. He was surrounded on four sides by soft, fragrant, busty women and his body couldn't help but respond.
"Whoo!" hooted Louisa. "When I said I'd raise you, that ain't what I had in mind, but I'll take it!" And she pulled his hips even tighter before she released him.
"What's that?" asked Bessie and looked down at his tented pants. "Oh, a hard man is hard to find!"
"Sumpthin' like that," said Jenna. "But that one ain't hard to find. Uh huh!"
His face bright red, Steve turned to his mom. "Are you ready to go home, Mom?"
For some reason all the women seemed to find this hilarious. "Act'allly honey, I kinda misled you. It's not me who needs a ride home, it's Jenna. She says she's gotta be up awfully early in the morning..."
"I do!" she insisted. "You don't have a shift tomorrow. but I do!"
"...so could you give her a ride home an' then come back for me? I was supposed to be the designated driver, but..."
"But now she's the designated drinker!" crowed Bessie.
"Catch UP! Catch UP!" chanted the ladies, and Louisa handed her a shot glass of something clear.
"Oh lord..." groaned his mom and tossed off the shot.
"Where do you live at?" Steve asked Jenna, through the laughter.
"Over off Lester Highway. You know the big fish camp out that way? Right by there."
After another embarrassing round of hugs and kisses, he and Jenna were on their way in his mom's old pick-up. Funny, most other things left by his dad she had gotten rid of, but she couldn't bear to part with the Chevy.
It was perfect weather for the truck tonight. The wind through the open windows was just right to cool them off after the overheated party house. Jenna slouched back, gazing out the window and singing some country ballad in a low, soft voice.
"You sure do have a nice voice, Ms. Kenough."
She looked over at him, her long brown hair tossed by the breeze. "Why isn't that sweet of you? And real sweet of you to drive me home. But if you want me to respond to you at all, you better call me Jenna. At most you call me Jenna Kenna."
He glanced over at her. One leg was propped by the door, the other bobbing in time to the music in Jenna's head.
Steve thought about the last girl he'd driven in the truck, Rebecca Derew. Becca of the Three Dates; three dates and one dinner with her Baptist family before they'd let her go out with him. When she sat in the passenger seat it was with legs down and together, usually slanted away from him.
What was it with girls his age? Compared to Mom's friends, they seemed so distant, uninterested...cold. He knew enough to know that they were probably open to being hurt just like him, and their holding back gave them some protection and control. Helped them hide their soft spots.
But damnit! Their protecting themselves meant putting him through a whole lot of loneliness. He remembered his last date with Becca; she'd warmed up to where she was actually kissing him, though with her shoulder firmly pointed toward him. His hand on her side had risen, brushed the bottom of her breast. And her hand had gripped his strongly and forced it right back down onto the seat. And ended the date right there.
He glanced over at Jenna again. She and the rest of Mom's friends were warm, fun, full of laughter and even a little flirty. Why coudn't girls his age be like that?
They pulled up to Jenna's house, the small front porch lit by a flyspecked lamp and a security light high overhead. The Chevy's door handle on Jenna's side didn't work too well, so he came around to open the door for her and held her hand as she stepped down.
"Why thank you," she smiled. "Whooo...I'm a little unsteady. Help me inside, will you?" She wrapped her arm in his as they went up the stairs and she unlocked the door.
"Close the door, will'ya please, honey?" When he turned back Jenna was right by him and pushed him back against the door, pressing her body full against him. "Stevie darlin', I want to thank you soooo much for being so sweet," she breathed in his ear, just before her mouth found his. A second later her tongue was tickling his.
Without thinking, his hands rose up to her waist...to her sides...and past her ribs to the bottom of her breasts. Her hands shot up and he froze...until her hands grabbed his hands and placed them firmly on her breasts.
"Oh yeah..." she moaned as he felt her bosom. When he lifted the weight of her breasts in his hands and ran his thumbs over the front of her bra, she laughed shakily and pushed away, pulling him after her. "Let's go back here," she said. There was enough light from outside to light their way as she turned into the bedroom, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him again.
Steve's heart was beating so frantically that he thought she'd be able to feel it through his hands and right into her chest. Her own hands traveled teasingly down his stomach, then moved up...as she pulled the drawstring on his gi pants. "Oh yeah..." she said again, and then her hands were on him, squeezing his erection through his briefs.
Steve tried to find the hooks of her bra, but she dropped out of reach as she went to her knees in front of him, taking his underwear down with her.
He felt a momentary panic at being exposed in front of a woman for the first time. What did she think of him? Was he what she wanted? "Oh, I'm so inconsiderate..." she drawled, wrapping both hands around his erection. "Can I get you something to drink?" And she took the head of his dick between her lips.
"Or can I fix something for you to eat?" She pulled on his hips and he sank deep into her mouth.
"Oh god Jenna, that's..."
"Yes that is," she murmured, licking along the bottom of his penis. "That it certainly is." And she took half the length of him into her mouth.
"Jennnnaaa..."
She looked up at him and fluttered her eyes. "What can I do for you, Stevie?" She squeezed him tightly, just below the head. "What would you like?"
