I'd promised my Mother that I wouldn't sleep with any boys until after I got married. The unspoken assumption was that after I got married I still wouldn't sleep with any boys, part from my husband. We'd see how that worked out after I was married.
Promises given when you're young shouldn't be held against you when you're older, but how do you drop a promise like that? Front up and tell your mother that the promise is now obsolete? I can see her smiling and reaching for a chastity belt. So there I was, nearly nineteen, virginal and innocent. More innocent than most as I did have a sense of fair play. If I wasn't going to play the game it wouldn't be fair to the boys to lead them too far down the garden path.
Still, you know that old song, 'All my friends are getting married'? Change it to 'All my friends are getting laid' and you'll have an idea of how I felt. Discussions between my friends seemed to switch all too often from fashion to boys and their attributes.
Mind you, to listen to some of my friends talk half the boys in the town were walking around with permanent erections (which I could easily believe) and dongs that would put a horse to shame (which I found a little harder to believe).
I also learned which boys would try it on (all of them), which of them would accept no for an answer (none of them), how to enforce that no without violence, and which ones to steer clear of because you would need violence to repel them.
The odd thing about the ones to steer clear of was that one of them was Will. The girls all seemed very definite that Will would, ah, insist on having his way. This didn't seem to decrease his popularity in the slightest. I knew damn well that all my friends had dated Will a time or two and would apparently date him again, even knowing his inability to understand the word no.
There was a reason that Will had suddenly popped into my mind. I'd had an early shift at the café I was currently working at and after returning home I'd been restless. With most of my friends at work I'd decided to go for a hike down by the lake. I was just strolling along the path next to the lake when I heard someone call my name. I'd stopped and turned and there was Will, heading in my direction.
"Will," I said politely, acknowledging that he was there.
"Erica," he said, speaking just as politely, but with a grin on his face.
"I saw you walking ahead of me and thought I'd take the chance to get to know you a bit better."
"Oh," I said, not sure what else to say, and feeling a little suspicious.
"Come along. Let's walk," he said, taking my hand and tucking it under his arm.
"Is there anything in particular you wanted," I asked as we continued on our way.
"Not really. Just to walk with you for a while. Maybe kiss you a little. That's all."
"You don't limit yourself to kissing, or so I've been told," I said cautiously.
"A base calumny heaped on my good name by a young lady who failed to seduce me," he assured me. "I won't mention her name as you'd be shocked to know the sort of behaviour she gets up to."
I didn't believe a word of it but relaxed a little anyway. It was the middle of the afternoon and we were in a public park. Not much he could do to me in this setting.
We strolled along, just chatting generally, although I have to admit that he was doing most of the talking. He had an amusing wit, keeping me entertained, a most charming companion. I was quite startled when he suddenly stopped walking, turned me to face him, and kissed me. I just naturally kissed him back for a moment or so before pushing him away.
"Stop that," I said firmly. "People will be watching."
"What people?" he asked, and I looked around, a little startled. What people was right. There was no-one around. We seemed to have drifted of the main paths a bit and I wasn't sure where we were, although the immediate surroundings were quite nice, some newly mowed lawn and a lot of shrubbery.
He pulled me against him and started kissing me again and I responded once more, letting it go on for a bit longer. I would have let it go on a bit longer but I felt my t-shirt coming separate from my shorts, with a little bit of help from Will. I called another halt, pushing against him, breathing a little heavily and feeling a little excited.
"None of that," I told him.
"None of what?" he asked, sounding as innocent as a babe and I gave him a repressive look. He laughed.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to take your clothes off," he said, which both reassured me and irritated me.
"I won't have to, because you're going to do it for me."
Talk about drop a bombshell on me. A shock ran right through me and I was awfully aware that the shock seemed to centre itself in the area of my groin.
"Not going to happen," I stated indignantly. "What on Earth gives you the idea that I'd do such a thing?"
"Well, I'm going to make love to you and it helps if you're naked when I do so. That means that one of us has to undress you and I want to watch you do it. I get a kick out of watching a girl strip, both of us knowing what is going to happen. Of course, in your case you can only take a guess, but you'll find the reality won't disappoint you."
"Not going to happen," I said primly. "I made a promise to my Mother and I'm not going to break it." Even if I did want to. I suspected that Will would make a fine start to my sexual life but a promise is a promise, darn it.
"Erica," came the gentle comment, "I didn't make your Mother any promises. But you needn't worry. You've said no and that means that you intend to keep your word. The fact that I will make love to you anyway is irrelevant."
"The hell it's irrelevant and the hell you are. I'm out of here."
