A Stitch in Time Pt. 07

"Look, uh, Trick," he finally said.

"Rabbit, it's fine. If I'd known you were Jewish, I'd have told you about her much earlier."

He gave me a curious look, one that I was beginning to recognize by now.

"I didn't come to your bar mitzvah, did I?" I asked.

"My brother's," he told me. "Mine was the year we were away."

"Sorry," I said. "Forgot. Tanya will explain. Anyway, I think it's great. The two of you have my complete blessing."

Father Sterling was back in town.

"Actually, what I wanted was your key," Rabbit said.

"My key?" I asked.

"To get Tanya's stuff out of your room, and Cammie's out of mine," he said. "So Tanya and I can have some, er, —"

"Privacy?" I asked.

He nodded eagerly. I pulled out one of the two card keys from my jacket pocket and gave it to him.

"I've got another, so just slide it under the door. Have you told Cammie?"

"No," he looked around to try to find her. Then he looked over at the door, where Tanya was eagerly smiling at him. "Could you?"

"Could I tell Cammie Rowe that she has to change her clothes in my room? Are you serious?"

"Please? And make sure she gets home?"

"Just go," I pushed him out of the chair and waved goodbye to Tanya. See ya, Tanya Szerchenko. It was a bittersweet thought.

Telling Cammie was a little more on the bitter side. She was as happy for the new couple as I was, but she had already told her parents that she wasn't going to be home until morning, and she had no intention of disturbing them now. On the other hand, the thought of spending the night in a hotel room with me also held very little attraction. But after a check with the front desk, and with Jeanne completely unwilling to trade Sammy for Cammie, that was the only choice that we had.

Fortunately, the room had the two queen-sized beds. So, in strict accordance with instructions from Cammie Rowe, I entered the bathroom, changed back into my jeans, and got into the bed nearest the door. She entered the bathroom, and five minutes later knocked on the bathroom door. I turned out the lights, and covered my face with a pillow lest I inadvertently catch a glimpse of Cammie Rowe, in her pajamas, getting into bed. When she finally told me it was alright, I was allowed to sleep.

For a little while, anyway. Until we heard our next-door neighbors start up.

"Ooh, Joel," we heard Tanya say. God, what were these walls made out of, tissue?

I started laughing.

"Shut up," Cammie hissed. "What so funny?"

"Well, for one thing, who's Joel?" I tried to reduce my laugh to a whisper. "They already have a threesome?"

"Joel is Rabbit, you ass. I thought he was your friend."

"He is my friend."

"But you don't know his name. You don't know his religion."

"Oh, Joel, you're so big," Tanya's squeal came through the walls.

"Well, that's more than I needed to know," I grumped.

Now it was Cammie's turn to laugh. Softly, of course. God forbid that Tanya and Joel knew we were here.

"He was too big for me," Cammie said quietly. "We only really did it a couple of times."

"Thanks," I whispered. "That's a big help."

We finally managed to get to sleep, once they stopped vocalizing their feelings and turned to gasping and moaning. Then around two o'clock it started up again.

I couldn't help myself. I just started laughing again.

"Shut up," Cammie hissed.

"They're making me laugh," I gasped.

"They're making me horny," Cammie retorted, which put a quick end to my laughter.

We listened a little longer, and then I heard the rustle of Cammie's sheets. And then I froze, when I became aware of a presence beside the bed, and a hand snaking under the covers.

"Cammie? What are you doing?"

"What I'm good at, Trick Sterling," she gave a nervous chuckle. "Digging out balls."

She was good at it. Her hand was in my unzipped, unbuttoned pants in seconds, gently caressing me inside my shorts and working its way inside.

"Cammie," I warned her.

"I know," she said. "It'll just be once."

I pushed my pants off and she climbed on top of me. She was already naked, and she reached down to put me inside of her.

"Oh God, Cammie," I moaned, "that feels so —"

"Shut up," she hissed, a command that wasn't really necessary since she had put her hand over my mouth. "If you ever tell anyone about this, I'll cut it off myself."

I couldn't help myself this time either, so I was ready when she took her hand away from my lips.

"I thought you weren't that good at spikes."

She started to laugh, which felt incredible when it was transmitted through her body. I reached out and put my hands on her thighs, fully intending to continue the journey upward to caress her small but very lovely breasts. At least I assume they were lovely. I'd only ever seen her clothed before, and it was too dark to see her now.

She grabbed my wrists and slammed them down against the mattress.

"No," she said.

She began to ride me, up and down, milking me with her strong thighs. She began to whimper, incredibly weakly at first, so that I could barely hear her. And then finally I could hear a soft little "oh" with each exhalation of breath. Finally I couldn't take it any more. I brought my arms up, easily pushing past the half-hearted resistance of her own arms. I took her waist in my hands, a waist that seemed much thinner than it ever had in any of the clothing I had ever seen her wear.

And then I pulled her over underneath me. Other than a whispered, "Trick, oh God," she offered no objection. So when I centered myself over her, I began to control the rhythm of our coupling. She was amazingly tight, and I probably only lasted another five minutes. But it was enough, I think, to give her a climax. It was certainly enough to give me a climax, which we both knew because I pulled out and spurted it all over her stomach.

"You could have cum inside of me," she said softly when I finally started to push myself off of her. "I am on the pill."

"No, I actually couldn't."

I don't know why. It just would have been wrong. If I had done that, we would have been making love. As it was, we were just two horny kids helping each other to get off. That was the way that Cammie appeared to want it, and that was fine with me.

She got up and went into the bathroom to clean herself off. And then she got into bed and fell asleep. The other bed.

Cammie insisted on leaving the hotel at seven o'clock in the morning so that I could drop her off at home before her father got up. I simply shrugged and toted our stuff — my tux, her dress, and her giant makeup bag — down to the Szerchenkos' car for the trip home.

It wasn't until we neared her house that I finally decided I had to say something about what had happened.

"So you want to, um —"

"No," she cut me off.

"No what?

"No, I don't want to do anything with you."

"But Cammie," I said. "Last night was... It was incredible."

She turned to me with a tear-stained face.

"I know it was incredible," she spat. "I've known it would be fucking incredible since the fucking eighth grade, asshole."

"But —"

"Shut up, Patrick Sterling. Just shut up. Do you know how much it hurt me when we broke up? Do you know how many days I cried? Do you know how long it took me to even make friends with Jeanne again? And then my mother was all, like, 'I'm sure it'll work out, honey.' Yeah, right. Like I'd ever put myself through that again."

I opened my mouth to answer, but Cammie was on a roll.

"And then yesterday, you were just like the boy that I fucking fell in love with. The Trick Sterling that I broke up with would have cut Rabbit off at the knees. But you just gave him your best friend because you knew that they'd be happier together."

"Well, so did you," I protested.

"Shut up," she hissed again. "Pull over here."

"But your house is just down the street."

"I know where my house is, you ass. I'm not taking any chances on my dad being up. Thanks for the ride."

She got out, took her stuff from the back seat, and slammed the door shut. I watched her walk down to her house, and then went back to mine.

I was a little surprised to see Tommy's car outside the house. Okay, I was shocked. Not so much at Jill, of course. She had been active for a while. But Tommy?

I opened the door to find him standing at the door to the basement, looking down the stairs toward Dave's room. He was still wearing his rented pants and shirt, carrying the tuxedo jacket. He turned toward me with a dazed expression.

"That's where it is," he said, looking behind me toward the blue sky of the morning. I could hear giggling coming from the upstairs hallway.

"Where what is?" I asked him.

"The front door." He stepped around me and barely made it down the front steps.

"Are you okay to drive?" I shouted after him.

He waved his hand in the air. Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I'll just fly home.

I sighed and went back in the house.

"I can't believe that you're letting him leave in that condition," I directed my shout upstairs.

"He didn't drink a thing," Jill said defensively.

"He's drunk on you. Tommy's a new man today."

"We borrowed some of your condoms. Three, I think."

"Thanks for sharing. Keep 'em."

"Thank you for sharing," she giggled. "I was afraid they weren't going to be big enough, but they stretched okay."

"Thanks for sharing that, too."

What was I, the locker room shrimp? True, nobody showered with an erection, but I didn't think I was that small.

Jill giggled again, and in a few minutes I heard the sounds of the shower. I made us both breakfast, and we sat and talked about how much fun the Formal had been. Jeanne breezed in just after ten, and she and Jill started talking as if I weren't even there. After about fifteen minutes, though, there was a lull in the conversation and Jeanne turned to me.

"So, um, I'm sorry about last night," she said.

"Sorry about what?" Jill asked.

"About Tanya and, um, Rabbit," Jeanne said.

"What about them?" Jill still looked confused.

Jeanne looked at me.

"It's not like it's a secret," I laughed. "Tanya and Rabbit spent the night together."

"You're kidding!" Jill was floored.

"Yeah," Jeanne said. "I saw 'em at breakfast."

"I think they'll be really nice together," I smiled.

"And you don't care?"

"It's not like she was my girlfriend. I'm sure we'll still be friends."

"So you were alone last night?" Jill asked.

Jeanne had a very small smile on her face.

"No," I said. "Cammie had to have somewhere to sleep, so she was in the other bed."

"You and Cammie?" Jill's face lit up.

"No," I said. "She just slept there. She made me sleep with my clothes on."

"Bummer," Jill laughed. After that, she and Jeanne returned to discussing their evenings.

I waited until just after noon to drive the Szerchenkos' car back to their house. Dad had called just before I left and asked us if we could come to the hospital around two. His voice was almost trembling, but he assured me that both mother and baby were fine. He just wanted us all to come in at two to meet our new half-sister.

Mrs. Szerchenko emerged even before I brought the car to a stop.

"Didn't you forget someone?" she asked as I walked up to give her the keys.

"She's not here?"

"Why would she be here if she's not with you?"

"Um," I desperately tried to think of a good reason, without any success at all. It was time to bite the bullet.

"She found someone else."

"You broke up?"

"Well, there really wasn't anything to break," I pointed out.

"She just left you there and went off with some other boy?"

"Yeah, pretty much," I nodded.

"I can't believe this," she clutched at her heart. "You bring her to the dance, and she meets another boy —"

"Actually, no, she'd met him before," I interrupted her. "He was here for her birthday."

"He's a friend of yours?" she was shocked.

"Yeah, he's the shortstop on my team. Rabbit? Tall kid, skinny?"

"The boy with the nice curly dark hair?"

"That's him."

"I need to sit down."

"Me, too."

We both took seats on the porch swing.

"You seem remarkably composed about this," she said suspiciously.

"Well, we were just friends."

"With benefits," she added.

"With benefits," I agreed. "No more benefits for me."

"So what does she see in this — Rabbit? — that that she doesn't see in you?"

"Oh, come on, Mrs. S," I laughed. "I think we both know the answer to that one."

I did. She still didn't.

"Is he smart?"

"Are you saying I'm not?" I did my best to look shocked. "I think I'm hurt, Mrs. S."

"No, no, no," she started to get flustered.

"Come on, Mrs. S," I let her off the hook. "What's the only reason Tanya isn't dating me?"

Her eyes widened.

"He's a... he's a -?"

"Jew," I nodded. "A member of the tribe."

"Oh my," she started to fan herself with her hand. "Why didn't he ask her out before?"

"I don't think he knew you were Jewish. You should advertise more. You know, a little sampler for the wall that says 'Next year in Jerusalem.' Something like that."

She whacked me on the arm.

"Excuse me, I have to tell Sol," she said, hurrying into the house.

The Parkermobile pulled in as soon as she left.

"Sorry," I shrugged as they exited the car. "I thought you'd be here before now. Jeanne said she saw you at breakfast."

I looked back to make sure Mrs. Szerchenko hadn't come back.

"What did you do, go back to the room after? Use the extended checkout option?"

It was very gratifying to see Tanya blushing that deeply. Mrs. Szerchenko popped out onto the porch just then. Without waiting to be introduced, she grabbed Rabbit by the ears and pulled him down for a kiss. Then she brought him into the house to meet Sol.

"Have fun, Joel." I shouted after them, drawing out the name Joel.

"You heard, didn't you?"

"Ooh, Joel, you're so big," I mimicked her voice.

"Patrick, I —"

"Tanya, I think it's really great. You'll still always be my friend. Right now, though, I need a ride home. I have a new baby sister to meet."

"So how was Cammie?"

"Cammie?"

You and Cammie did spend the night together, didn't you?"

"In separate beds," I agreed.

"Patrick," she looked exasperated. "That was the whole point of giving you to her."

"Giving me to her?" I asked. "I gave you to Rabbit."

"Only after I'd made you dance with Cammie," she laughed, "and you realized that Rabbit and I were both Jewish. For which I'm very grateful, by the way."

She stood on tiptoes to give me a kiss on the cheek.

"But why would you give me to Cammie?" I was feeling a little dazed.

"Because you love her," Tanya said.

"How do —" I started. "Why do you say that?"

She just laughed. Tanya could read me like a book.

"You needed Cammie's help to pick out my necklace, and picked out hers on your own? When I thought that it was a terrible present?"

"So?"

"So you still have feelings for her," Tanya insisted.

"Yeah, she has feelings for me, too," I said sarcastically.

"She was wearing the necklace, wasn't she? Honey, you and I are just friends. She's your girlfriend."

Tanya left me standing there while she went in to get Rabbit. She was able to drag him away, but only with the promise that he would return as soon as I was jettisoned at the closest bus stop along the way. Rabbit and I both assumed they were joking, and he drove me all the way home. We spent the whole time talking baseball, right up until he pulled into my driveway and stopped.

"You treat her well," I smiled at him.

"I love her," he said simply.

That was good enough. I got out of the car and sent him back toward his future.

We arrived at the hospital just after two, and Dad was waiting for us in the waiting room at the maternity ward. He looked even more nervous in person than he had sounded on the phone.

"You sure she's okay, Dad?" I asked. "Is there something you're not telling us?"

"She's fine," he assured us. "I thought you could go in first, Trick, and then Jeanne and then Jill."

"Okay," I said. Whatever.

I knocked on her door and Tiffany told me to come in. She looked very beautiful there in her bed, her little girl asleep on her chest.

"Hey," I said quietly.

"Hi."

"So this is little Brittany?"

"We haven't actually named her yet," she said slowly. "That's why I wanted to talk to you."

I sat down in the chair beside her bed. This was much more serious than what I had been expecting.

"First of all, I want to apologize, Trick. When I married your dad, I think I admired him more than I loved him. And I had a bit of a crush on you. You kind of reminded me of this guy I dated in high school. I'm really glad now that I didn't do anything about it. But I hope that I didn't creep you out too much."

"No, no," I assured her. Except maybe for that bit on Christmas where she had told me she wished it was my child she was carrying. But we didn't have to mention that again.

"Good," she smiled. "Anyway, I really do love your dad now. I love being in your family, too. At first, I was like really jealous of your mom, because it was clear to me how much your dad loved her."

I smiled.

"But you know, the two best times in our house this year have been when your mother was there."

"She was there?"

"I don't know. Her spirit was there. Do you remember that snowstorm when we came home and found you and Jeanne and Jill all laughing together?"

"Uh-huh."

"I found that Jill had cleaned up her room, and she said that you had reminded her about her mother, and how neat the house always was."

"Yeah," I smiled. "That's true."

"And then this last week, when you and Jeanne and Jill were all friends again and driving to school together and going to the dance together."

"'Cause of what I said to Jill about Mom."

"Yeah," she said. "And I realized that your mom must have been a pretty special person to be able to keep that much love in this house after she was gone."

"She was," I said.

"So I was thinking of how much I'd like to try to do that, too, now that I'm a mom."

I smiled again.

"So first of all, I'm taking your father's name. Your family's name. I kind of really didn't want to do that before, to be Mrs. Sterling."

"No kidding. Tiffany Sterling? You sound like a —"

"Gold digger," she finished the sentence. "I don't care. I want to be a Sterling."

"Welcome to the family."

"Thank you," she said sincerely. "And I told your dad that I wanted to name the baby something other than what we had planned, and he said I had to ask you guys."

"Tiffany," I said, "you guys can name the baby whatever you want."

"Even Sarah?" she asked, a tear forming in her eye.

"Sarah Sterling?" I asked, my voice dropping to a whisper.

She just nodded. The baby, meanwhile, had woken up.

"Do you want to hold your half-sister?" she asked.

"Yes," I said. "Call the waiting room. Ask them all to come up."

I walked around the room with the baby in my arms until Jeanne, Jill, and Dad pushed through the door.

"Girls," I said. "I want you to meet your new sister, Sarah."

They cooed in unison as they stepped toward me. That was the last time I got to hold the baby that afternoon. As we were leaving, Tiffany called to me just as we reached the door.

"Trick, will you do something else for me?"

"Sure, Tiff."

"That picture of your church that was hanging on the wall?"

"Yeah?"

"That meant a lot to your mom, didn't it?"

"It was her favorite place," I smiled. "Other than home."

"It's in the hall closet," Tiffany said. "Will you put it back where it was?"

I was honestly speechless.

"Trick?" she asked again.

"Patrick," I said haltingly.

"I'm sorry?"

"Mom never liked the nickname 'Trick,'" Jeanne told Tiffany, wiping a tear off her own cheek. "I'll make sure he does it."

What an amazing day. God had taken something away but He had given me something new. Mrs. Jenkins always used to say in Sunday school that He worked in mysterious ways. Damned if she wasn't right.