(Author's note: I'm back, after a lengthy absence. This was originally intended to be a one-shot, but the story grew significantly as I was writing, and I ultimately decided to break it up into chapters. The rest will hopefully be forthcoming shortly. This story is a companion piece to my series Amy's Birthday Week, taking place concurrently with chapter five. You don't need to have read Amy's Birthday Week to read this story, but there is more of this world out there if you are interested. All you really need to know going into this is that this is a chronicle of the misadventures of some recent high school graduates in small-town Manitoba in the summer of 1993. Enjoy!)
***
The music was loud, the beer was flowing, and the house was full. Everything was in place for a night to remember.
It was Friday, July 2, 1993, one week after the end of school, and that year's graduating class was saying farewell to childhood with a bang. Almost all of them were gathered there, at the parentless-for-the-night home of Luke Nixon, ready for a good time. No one younger was to be admitted, if Luke could help it; this was for newly-minted grads only. Of course, a few tried to sneak in, but the invitees formed a surprisingly united front: this was
their
night, and several times a group would come together to eject a grade eleven who had somehow gotten past the front door.
The house was a nice one, though not overly large: two storeys plus a finished basement, three bedrooms upstairs, a garage, and a sizeable backyard. The best feature (apart from the lack of supervision) was its location on the edge of town, with few neighbours close by to complain about the noise.
Dozens of eighteen-year-old bodies filled the house and the property, talking, laughing, drinking, dancing, and generally having a good time. And tucked away in one corner of the living room, conversing among themselves, stood Daisy Choi and Mary Gilder.
Ordinarily, the two of them could be counted on to be part of a trio, along with their friend Amy Lefebvre; however, Amy had mysteriously chosen not to attend tonight's party. Indeed, she had been unavailable every night for the past week, and had been oddly evasive as to why. And so Daisy and Mary were here as a twosome, subtly throwing off the already-tenuous groove they had at these sorts of gatherings.
Truth be told, they were never among the most popular kids in school, even with Amy. They weren't disliked, per se, but their little trio tended to keep to themselves for the most part. But big-hearted Luke had been insistent that
everyone
in their graduating class was welcome tonight, and so there they were, people-watching from their corner vantage point and soaking in the vibe of the party.
"Damn, I don't think I've ever seen a house so full," said Mary, sipping a rum and coke.
"I know, right?" said Daisy with a laugh. "Once everyone really starts moving, we'll be blind. Our glasses will be fogging up all night!"
Both girls wore large glasses, but this was the only physical trait they shared. Daisy was short, curvy, and Asian, with long dark hair that almost reached her butt; she wore a floral dress, and she smiled constantly and laughed easily. Mary, on the other hand, was tall, lanky, and blonde, usually carried a serious look on her face, her hair cropped at the shoulders, and was tonight dressed in a t-shirt and jean shorts.
"Crazy to think we might never see some of these people again," said Daisy, sweeping her eyes across the room.
"Come on, Daisy, it's much too early in the evening to be getting maudlin on me," said Mary.
"Who's maudlin? I'm just being... I don't know, reflective. Totally different." Then she giggled. "That's what I love about you, Mary. How many other people in this house have even heard the word 'maudlin' before?"
"A broad vocabulary is nothing to be ashamed of."
"I just said I liked it, didn't I?" said Daisy. "What's got you so touchy tonight?"
"Oh, I'm sorry," said Mary, "I guess I'm just still a bit disappointed about Amy not coming tonight. You and Amy have such an easier time with people than I do, I always rely on you guys to help get me through nights like this. With only one of you here, I'm twice as on edge."
"Then I'll just have to work twice as hard to make sure we have a good time!" sad Daisy with a laugh. "Just think of me as your guardian angel for tonight."
"Oh, I shouldn't be acting like I need a babysitter," Mary fretted. "I'm a grown woman now, I can survive a party. Besides, I'll need to make it on my own when you inevitably disappear for twenty minutes or so later on."
"Why, whatever do you mean?" said Amy, faking innocence.
"Just that you and I both know that in a few hours you'll be kneeling in some dark cranny of this house, trying to fit one of these guys' dicks down your throat," said Mary.
"Please," she said, "like any of these guys could reach my throat." She spoke from experience. Daisy was well known throughout the girls' peer group for her blowjobs, and she genuinely had serviced a not-insignificant number of the boys present at the party at one time or another.
Mary, on the other hand, had never so much as kissed a boy. She was comfortable in that, confident that one day she would feel ready for intimacy. She knew that her two closest friends (and, indeed, most other people their age) were, as the teachers called it, "sexually active", but apart from occasional off-colour jokes, they had never discussed their sex lives in much detail. But Daisy's comment suddenly made her curious.
"You ever had a
real
big one?" she asked. "Are any of the boys here present secretly sporting a monster I should know about?"
Daisy, predictably, laughed aloud at this. "Oho, what's this? The Virgin Mary coming to me for dick advice? What, you looking to finally lose it tonight?"
"WHAT'S THIS I HEAR?!" boomed a familiar voice, and suddenly both girls found themselves enveloped in the crushing grip of Eleanor "Rigby" Ferguson as she pounced on them from behind, wedging herself in between them and throwing her arms around their shoulders. A tall, broad, and always exuberant black girl, Rigby wasn't a member of their inner circle the way Amy was, but the girls still counted her a close friend.
And she had clearly already had several drinks tonight. "Mary, Mary, Mary," he said, "don't tell me you're finally ready to join us in throwing our souls away to premarital sex!"
"Not at all, Rigby," said Mary, lifting the larger girl's arm off of her shoulders. "But when that day
does
finally come, I hope to be able to profit from Daisy's prodigious experience."
"I think that's the smartest way I've ever heard someone get called a slut," said Rigby collapsing in a fit of giggles. Shen then straightened and turned to Daisy, planting a wet kiss on the shorter girl's head. "How
are
you, baby? You guys are looking so good tonight! Where's Amy at?"
"She actually didn't come tonight, believe it or not," said Daisy, also extricating herself from Rigby's grasp.
"
What?!