August
1980
I hated job searching in the summer. Shoulda gotten this done last spring, I kept telling myself. Then I could have wrapped up my final credits in summer school and played in the sun until classes ended, and...
But I didn't. So no shit, there I was, missing class on a Friday to drive all the way across the state on sticky vinyl seats in a '74 Pinto to Ridgeland, guaranteed to be twenty degrees hotter than home. All on the off chance the sales manager would hire me if I could just maintain the right air of cocky confidence after sweating my ass, literally, on a five hour drive.
Thank God for Jillian and Benny. Our best friends all through college, they'd gotten married after Junior year just like Gret and I did. And they were both on the ball enough to get jobs in Ridgeland that June. Exactly where I was headed.
When I called and said I was coming over for an interview, Jillian squealed her excitement and said they'd love to see me. They'd both be working that day, but she said she'd leave the key under the mat so I should shower and change into my interview suit right there, then come over for a bite to eat with them after. Then I could change back into my driving clothes and go home at night when it was cooler.
The interview went OK but it took forever. I had to meet everyone. The manager was impressed that I'd be so put together after a long drive. I let him think I was James Fucking Bond or something. A little too taken with my six-and-a-half foot frame and thick pecs under the suit jacket, he offered me the job. It seemed too easy. I told him I'd think about it. He knew what I meant, that I had to talk to Gret about moving to his piece of shit town. But we played the game. He knew I knew, and vice versa. I knew I'd call Monday and turn him down. So did he, and he'd suddenly have another few thousand a year to offer. It was a dance I'd see a thousand times in the next thirty-five years, from both sides of the recruiting desk.
Right then all I wanted was to get the hell out of that choking stiff suit and tie. Chest out, I thanked the receptionist as I left. I kept on strutting right around the corner to the 7-11. I'd parked the Pinto there, out of sight. It would have ruined the whole Bond thing.
I rounded the last turn to Jillian and Benny's house and there she was. Barefoot in the garden, Jillian wore a loose black spaghetti-string top and a pair of silky green running shorts, her back to me as I cruised to a stop. A pink rose surrendered to her clippers, then a couple more. She had the stereo on indoors, windows thrown open to the breeze, and she swayed to Earth, Wind, and Fire.
I enjoyed the view for a minute, smirking. I never really liked those guys, but Jillian was a regular disco queen. I wondered how her new neighbors dug it.
She didn't notice me until I slammed the car door and stood there at the curb. She spun, dropping her roses and pruners.
"Scotty!"
She shrieked and was on me in three long strides across the lawn. The gymnast's speed was still there, just a few months since her final competition. I was ready for a hug. What I got was a lithe, delicious body full of flying Jillian, arms around my neck, legs around my waist, crotch grinding against mine like it happened every day right there in every neighborhood in Ridgeland whenever some random old friend showed up.
The girl always was a free spirit.
"Holy hell Scotty, you look hot in that suit!" She laughed in my ear, her dishwater Dorothy Hamill haircut pressed to my cheek.
"Yeah, it's like a hundred degrees and I've had it on for- "I put her down and wiped the sweat off my face - "five hours!"
"You sweet boy, that's not what I mean." She stood close, grabbed my shoulders and went back on tiptoes for a kiss. Right up there, full lips and the tip of her tongue.
We liplocked a couple seconds too long. All good friends do that, making out in the front yard, with the neighbors watching, right? Arms around her, I felt her braless steel nipples against me, even through my suit jacket. As she backed away again, she followed my eyes down.
"Oh my goodness!" She covered up with her hands, giggling. "Come on in, Scotty. I cut some roses for the dinner table." A quick pivot and a bend to retrieve the flowers and clippers, and she was at the door staring at me.
"Well come on, what are you waiting for?"
It was my turn to cover up, that's what I was waiting for. Ten hours of sterility and formality had broken into sixty seconds of relief, touching, hugging, kissing, and sweet desire. Totally fucking wrong desire and a growing hardon for my buddy's wife.
"I'll get my extra clothes and be right in."
Jillian and Gret were gym teammates for four years. They were best friends and polar opposites. Gret took everything way too serious, worked harder than anyone on the team, and boy oh boy she was all curves, lovely round boobs, six pack abs, strong wide hips and muscly legs. She was wired for intensity and built for the power events, exploding through her vaults and floor routines.
Jillian, four inches taller, got all the natural talent, all the fluid moves with so much less effort, partied way harder, and her teammates said she had the body of a teenage boy. But her long lines were natural on the beam and the bars. Jillian was hot. Nobody I'd ever met had eyes like hers, so dark and deep and open you could damn near read every joy and tragedy in her life. Yeah, she was pretty straight up and down, but no teenage boy ever stuck me in the chest with his nipples. And that insane, cute little round ass was all woman.
She laughed again and shook it at me as she disappeared into the house.
Bag in hand, I squeaked through the screen door and caught some lemony chicken scent coming from the kitchen. The place was big and bright inside, back door open to catch a whiff of wind from green lawn and woods. Little towns and low housing prices leave young DINKs with pretty good options. Not bad for two newlyweds just out of school.
"Where's Benny?" I dropped my bag and my suit hanger next to the couch. "Damn, I can't wait to get this thing off."
"Um, well, I know this sucks, Scotty, but Benny had to go to Denver. They've been doing this shit to him for a couple months, ever since he started this job. Some guy at the paper got sick, so they told him at 2pm today he had to pack his shit, get on a little piece of tin commuter plane and go cover the story. Reagan's coming. Think about that, he might even be interviewing our next president. But you'll miss him."
"Aw that's pretty cool! Sucks I won't see him, but cool for Benny. Well hell Jillian, then I should just change these clothes real quick and get outta your hair."
"Don't you dare. I've got dinner ready, roses on the table and a bottle of wine." Her fingers played with my lapel. "And leave this on. Makes a girl feel damn special, having dinner with a man all dressed up like this."
Go with the flow, Scotty. That must have been my cock talking to me.
My hand wrapped around hers, holding it over my heart. With the other, I reached to cup her cheek. The darkest brown eyes I'd ever seen were smoldering.
"Jillian, are you flirting with me?"
"Well ah do declare!" It was her best Scarlett O'Hara. "Just trying to be friendly, Sir."
"Well OK then. I like it."
"Now have a seat, I'll pour you a glass, and let's catch up."
It was mundane stuff as we polished off a few drumsticks and a salad. About who moved where to take what job. About a couple of Benny's football teammates, hanging on with a scout team somewhere. About my shot put training partner who was throwing at Worlds that very day.
"Another glass, Scotty?"
"I'd love to, but I gotta drive five hours. Thanks for dinner. After a long day it was just right."
I swear her eyes begged me. Don't miss out on something good.
"Wish you would. But even if you don't, I'm having another anyway. We can talk a little longer, then if you really have to leave..."
Jillian wouldn't let my eyes go as she poured, set the bottle down, wiped a drip from the bottle and touched her finger to her tongue.
"Sure you don't want just another... little... taste? Mmm?" The wet finger tilted my way, pausing at my lips.
"Well, you're the hostess."
"That's right."
"And if you insist."
"I do."
"And you're just being friendly."
"I am."
I took her palm in mine, parted my lips, and pulled her finger into my mouth with the curve of my tongue.
The crisp Pinot Gris was barely there. Jillian sighed, her face coloring pink.
When I'd licked the last of the wine away, I moved her hand back to the table and covered it with mine.
"So, Jillian, what are you doing to earn your keep with Benny getting these big writing gigs? You're running the show down at the oil company, right?"
"Sure, man. I'll be President in a year."
"They'll be stupid if they don't put you in charge. I mean look at you. Smart, honest, fucking drop dead gorgeous, and you take no shit from anybody. And if it comes down to it you can just kick some serious ass."
"Gorgeous? You think I'm pretty, Scotty?"
"Jesus, doesn't everyone?"
"They don't even pay attention to me at work. I'm still in pretty good shape, and I run most days when I come home, but I've got no curves, I mean look at me. And down at the office I just sit there. Reading reports, filing, copying, making sure all this shit's alphachrononumerical or what the fuck."
Jillian was gulping the wine now.
"So I just sit there, and I come home stiff and sore like I've spent eight hours on the balance beam but all I've done is sit there on my ass. And it hurts."
"Hurts like you're sad, Jill? I'm sorry."
"No, dummy, it hurts here. I'm so fucking tight."
She rubbed the back of her neck, down across her shoulders to the top of her chest.
I stood. "Maybe I can help."
"Lord, would you? I'd be mos' grateful, Sir." Scarlett was back. Scarlett was slightly tipsy.
I stepped behind Jillian's chair and caressed her hair out of the way. My thick shot putter fingertips kneaded her neck just where it met the base of her skull. That earned another sigh, and I could feel - and see - her whole body relax.
"Mmmmmmmmmm..."
Through muscle pulls, bruises, and rehab after one minor surgery, I'd spent ample time in the trainer's room to know enough about massage points. I was no pro, but it was working fine on Jillian.
"My god, Scotty, that's nice." I worked down the sides of her neck, taking my time. My thumbs found the base of her trapezius, so tight from days at a desk, and she groaned in mixed pain and pleasure.