It was three days before Mel and I exchanged more than five consecutive words. Danny got the cold shoulder too. If I wanted to go for a swim, I went to my own private place. Mel wasn't allowed to go off on her own, so there was no swimming for her at all. Yeah, I was acting like a stupid jealous kid, but Mel had attained sex goddess status in my mind and I was pissed as hell that she was getting it on with my best friend.
Mom and Dad went to their usual governance committee meeting at the church after dinner, leaving Mel and I at home on our own. My sister and I still weren't speaking and I headed off to bed as soon as our parents were gone, to get out of her road. I had been sulking in bed in the dark for almost an hour when Mel came to my room. She was wearing her thick home-made cotton pyjamas and lit her way with her flashlight.
Yes folks, a flashlight! If we had to get up and go to the bathroom in the night, we had to light our way with a torch. We weren't allowed lights in our rooms as these were deemed to encourage sinful activities, like reading in bed. So, you undressed in the dark, or left your door slightly open so that the hallway light bled in, or undressed in the bathroom.
She made me shift and give her room on my narrow bed by sitting on the edge and banging my hip with her butt. I feigned indifference as I moved over, but her pervasive warmth and the pressure of her flank against mine as she lay down on top of the counterpane beside me set every nerve in my body on high alert. Especially the big fat nerve at the base of my belly!
Mel turned her light off and we lay silently in the warm darkness for what seemed like ages. I could hear her gentle breathing and smell the clean shampoo scent of her hair. Oh yes, I wanted to turn and put an arm around her, or something, but I was damned if I was going to make the first move.
Her voice made me jump. "You're angry because you saw Danny and me the other day, aren't you?"
I didn't answer.
"We waited for ages for you, you know. I was going to come home, but Danny persuaded me to stay. You know what he's like. And then one thing led to another…"
I blurted out, "But you didn't have to let him touch you 'down there'!"
"I couldn't help it. I wanted him to stop, but I get so 'on edge' after I finish."
"After you finish what?"
"After my period, silly! Why else do you think I didn't go swimming with you and Danny for over a week?"
All I knew about periods was that both Mom and Mel got quite bad tempered for a while every month and they bled and carried little packages off to a secret place for burial. Apparently, whatever these contained was not allowed to go into the septic tank.
"But you didn't have to do it to him afterwards!"
"I felt so warm and 'generous' after he made me cum; it seemed like the right thing to do. He wanted me to touch him properly, but I said no. "
"I saw that…why?"
"I was scared of what might happen if we got it out of his shorts."
"So you didn't…you know…after I left?"
"You thought we…?"
Mel whacked me hard in the stomach with the heel of her flashlight. I didn't see it coming in the darkness and it shocked and hurt me twice as much as it would have done normally. I suppose I deserved it for my evil thoughts.
"No Joel! We didn't 'do it'! In fact I left straight away and looked for you here. But Mom said that she thought I was swimming with you. She was a mad as anything that I had been by myself. She didn't know that I was alone with Danny, of course. That would have got me a strapping from Dad!"
We were silent for a while again while I digested this information and nursed my sore belly. Then Mel shifted on the bed beside me. I don't know why, but I got the impression that she had put her hand inside her pyjama bottoms and was touching herself.
"Joel…" she murmured softly.
"Yes?"
"Are you still there?"