The Lake House Lessons 09

She said, "One other thing that Ariel told me about you is that you make great eggs. I'm starving."

So we went to the kitchen and I made coffee, eggs and bacon. Dana and I ate at the table and I told her some ideas I had for my graduation speech. She had a few suggestions, which were pretty good.

Sarah came down the stairs and said, "Good morning, Dana, I thought that was your car," Sarah looked at me quizzically and I shook my head.

Dana responded, "Yeah, I came by late last night and Jack invited me to stay over.

I decided to change the subject and asked Sarah if she wanted some eggs, which she did, so I began to prepare them.

Dana and Sarah chatted away, and I wondered if Sarah had been anything like Dana when she was in high school. All I remembered was that she was pretty and popular. But was she the "queen bitch," as Dana put it? We finished breakfast and cleaned up.

Sarah said to Dana—"did Jack tell you that I am having a small pool party and barbecue here tonight—your sister will be here—do you want to come, too? I assume Jack won't mind."

I actually wasn't sure about that, because I had thought about inviting Natalie, but what was done was done.

"Sure," Dana said, and Sarah gave her the details.

"Can I ask Fred, and Emily and Gina, too?" I asked.

"Why not, the more's the merrier. And you are going to be doing most of the barbecuing, anyway."

"Oh really?" I asked with mock anger.

"Really," Sarah said.

"For you, anything, my dear sister" I responded with sham obsequiousness.

Dana decided it was time to go home, so she went upstairs to gather her things, and I went with her. After she got all of her stuff together, I pulled her close to me and gave her a big hug. I loved the way her body felt against mine. I kissed her and said, "Thanks for coming by. I'm glad you did."

"Me too," she said, rubbing her crotch against mine. "You are really a great guy."

"Thanks," I said, "you're not half bad yourself."

She lightly punched me in the arm and turned to leave. As always, I enjoyed watching her ass as it swayed out the door and down the steps. She said goodbye to Sarah, pecked me on the cheek and left.

"O.K.," Sarah said, "details. How did you go out with Natalie, and end up having a sleepover with Dana?"

I told her everything about my date with Natalie, and how it seemed to be going great, and then what happened. I told her Natalie's story, and where we left it.

"That's awful," she said. "If someone did that to me, I wouldn't have moved, except to jail for killing the asshole that did that to me." And I thought she meant it. "Do you like Natalie?" Sarah asked.

"I think so," I said. "And are you still going to want to see her, even if it means you might not get laid right away?"

"I think so," I responded.

"If you stop calling her, she will think that you were only interested in her for sex, you know."

"You're right," I said. "I'll ask her out again."

"Do you want to invite her to the party tonight?"

"No," I said. "Not with Dana here. There is some sort of competitiveness between them, and I am willing to admit that if I am forced to choose between them, and trust me, Dana will make me choose, it will be hard not to go with Dana."

"Careful," Sarah warned me, "you can't let Dana use sex, even if it is great sex, to control you."

"I know," I responded, "but maybe just for a little while longer?" I laughed and Sarah grimaced and walked away.

I emailed Dana and thanked her for coming over, then texted Fred and invited him and Emily to the party. A little while later, he texted back that they would be there. I texted Gina, and she asked who else would be there. When I told her that Dana was coming, she told me that she was busy. She didn't return my next text. Sarah told me she was going out to buy supplies for the party. We discussed what to buy and she drove off.

I went upstairs and read the current draft of my speech. It was an angry attack on my classmates and the social structure of the school. I had forgotten that I even made an attack on Dana, although not by name. I needed to change that for obvious reasons. I realized that although I still believed a lot of what I wrote, it was too harsh and one sided. I saved the old draft, for laughs later, and began to edit it into something a little more positive and uplifting, without being sappy.

I began to really get into it, and was only interrupted by when Sarah texted me to help her unload the car. She had bought chicken and burgers and hot dogs, buns, salads, chips, pretzels and salsa. She also had soda, a keg of beer, red plastic cups, a few bottles of tequila and a bag of limes. And a few bags of ice. We got a big bucket and iced the keg by the pool. I started marinating the chicken and then we set up the rest of the stuff.

We had a few hours to kill before we needed to get serious, so I went upstairs and took a nap. My bed smelled of Dana, and sex, and I realized I needed to wash my sheets, but I wanted to fall asleep to that smell, so I decided to wait before stripping the bed and dropped off to sleep.

This time, my dream of getting a blow job was just a dream, and I woke up fully aroused, but was disappointed to see that I was alone. I looked at the clock and realized I needed to get up. I took a quick shower and put on a baggy swimsuit, a t-shirt and flip flops.

When I got downstairs, Sarah was moving things around, getting ready. She was wearing a long t-shirt, and presumably a swimsuit underneath. Beth and Cara were also there, helping to set up, and were similarly dressed, each with a drink in her hand. I said hi to both of them, and kissed them each on the cheek. I busied myself with the meat, making sure that the grilling would go smoothly. I brought the condiments and buns outside, but figured I'd leave the meat in the cooler kitchen. I poured myself a beer from the keg and took a sip. Cold enough, I thought to myself.

A few minutes later, Ariel and Dana showed up, and Dana had brought her overnight bag, which made me smile. They poured themselves beers and sat outside near the pool, with their towels. Ariel introduced me to Nigel, an English guy who seemed to be her date. I kissed Ariel on the cheek and Dana on the lips, telling Dana how great she looked, and went back to deal with the food.

Sarah turned on the crappy music she liked and the party was underway. Sarah's friends started to show up, including some other people I recognized from high school, a few college friends who lived nearby, and a bunch of people that I didn't know, including a tall, handsome, blonde guy who seemed to be paying a great deal of attention to Sarah, who was flirting wildly with him. I would have bet a big number that he would be having breakfast with us in the morning.

After a while, Fred and Emily came in, holding hands. I got them drinks, and they went out to the pool to talk to Dana, who had taken off her coverup and was displaying herself in a very hot, very small, striped bikini. I noticed a couple of Sarah's male friends hovering around Dana and talking. I reminded myself that I could not be jealous, and that she could do whatever she wanted. She owed me nothing. I had more confidence with girls than I had two weeks before, but I didn't have enough confidence to demand that Dana choose me. Although I reminded myself that she had brought an overnight bag.

Sarah came over to me and suggested that I start the food, and introduced me to Steve, the blond guy who was after her. She told me that she had met him at a bar, and that he was going to be a senior at one of my future college's rivals. I was impressed by that, and was even more impressed when he told me he was on the hoops team. We chatted about basketball, and college. He seemed like a nice, smart guy, and for Sarah's sake, I hoped he was.

I fired up the grill and brought out the food and some platters. I started cooking some chicken and burgers, and a few hot dogs. Food started to come off the grill, and it was taken as soon as I took it off. I made small talk with some of Sarah's friends as I cooked, including Steve, who was subtly pumping me for information about Sarah. It was fun. I loved to cook, there was no pressure, as long as I didn't burn anything, and Sarah's friends appreciated it. But it was hot in front of the grill.

I was about to go get a drink, when I felt a cold cup being pressed against the back of my neck, cooling me. I turned around to see Dana standing there, scorchingly hot in her bikini, which was apparently designed to allow her breasts to sway alluringly, and to show off her beautiful, curvy hips and butt. She handed me the beer, and I drank about half of it right away.

"I don't see Gina anywhere," she noted. "I think I know a guy who would be good for her. He graduated from South last year, and goes to Dartmouth. Nice looking and a nice guy, but a little edgy. I was hoping to talk to her about him."

"She really hates you," I replied. "When I told her you were coming, she told me she was busy."

"That's too bad," she said.

I needed to ask, "So, who were those guys you were talking to?"

"Jealous?" she asked.

"No," I lied unconvincingly.

"Friends of friends of your sister. Why do I always attract assholes?" she asked, "present company excepted, of course." She laughed. "One guy, Jimmy, introduced himself and immediately asked me to go upstairs with him, figuring that I'd be dazzled by the fact that he was a college hockey player. The other guy, Nate, spent the whole time telling me how great he was in bed. Seriously, dude, show some discretion. I got up and came over here to see you."

She took a hot dog, and began to eat it very slowly, which was remarkably sexy. After she finished, she asked, "How are you doing?"

"Great," I said, sincerely. "This is nice and laid back. And I like helping out Sarah."

"Cool," Dana responded. "See you later?" she asked.

"Sure," I said, "I'm not going anywhere."

She gave me her patented look, which I felt in my groin as she walked away, and I can guarantee I was not the only guy watching her ass.

I finished cooking, and decided to jump in the pool to cool off. The pool was filled with Sarah's friends, male and female, swimming, splashing around, making out and generally having fun. I said hi to Beth, who was surrounded by guys, in part, I assumed, because she was a little drunk and her huge tits were literally falling out of her top, and otherwise just chilled, alone in the deep end.

But I was still nagged by Gina's pissy attitude, and I was annoyed that she blew the party off. When I cooled off, I left the pool, toweled off, got a beer and sat in a lounge chair to dry off. After a while, I felt dry enough to go inside. I started to watch TV as Sarah's friends drank, ate, talked, danced and generally enjoyed themselves. I didn't mind sitting alone.

Fred and Emily came into the living room and sat down with me.

"Having fun?" I asked.

"Yeah," they responded.

"Where's Dana? Emily asked.

"I'm not sure. I saw her when I was cooking, but not since."

We sat there for a while, until I said, "Fred, can I talk to you privately?"

"Sure," he said.

We went up to my room, like we had hundreds of times over the past few years. I saw Dana sitting on the stairs, talking to Ariel and Nigel, as we passed. She acknowledged me with a smile and touched my calf lightly as I walked past her.

When we got into my room, I asked him, "What's the deal with Gina?"

"You really don't know?" Fred responded.

"All I know is that she seems pissed off at me all the time these days, and she seems to hate Dana, who I am really enjoying hanging out with."

"You really don't get it, do you?"

"Sarah said she thinks that Gina is jealous, and even Dana seems to think so, but I don't understand."

"For a smart guy, you can be pretty dumb when it comes to women, despite your recent conquests," he shot back.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"God, Jack, Gina is in love with you and has been since like forever," he said, exasperated.

"No fucking way," I protested.

"Really," he said. "She always wanted to be with you—you guys were really best friends, you hung out together, talked about everything—I always felt like a third wheel."

"Seriously?" I said.

"Yeah. She always hoped that you would get together and be each other's' first."

"Why didn't she say anything?"

"Really, remember, you are talking about a socially awkward girl, and you."

"I never noticed."

"Of course you didn't," he said.

"She told me that she had gotten her courage up and was going to tell you how she felt over Memorial Day weekend. She had even planned to get you alone and do it. Then you go off, have the big lake house weekend. She told me she felt betrayed, which she knew logically wasn't fair, but she couldn't help herself."

"Great," I said.

"Then, you rubbed her nose in it by becoming close with, and sleeping with, Dana—who she saw as the leader of the mean girls."

"That makes sense, now," I admitted.

"And then, you asked Natalie out, choosing a different smart girl over her."

I was dumbfounded. I had totally missed the signs that were right in front of me and apparently had been for years. I sat down on the bed and tried to process this, hampered by the beer I had been drinking.

It hit me like a slap in the face. I really wanted to be with Gina. Even more than Dana.

"Call her for me," I demanded of Fred, "she won't pick up if I call."

Fred dialed his phone. I heard it ring a couple of times, and then she answered.

"Don't hang up," he said. "Jack wants to talk to you." "Yes." "Yes, I told him." "Because he needed to know." "Yes." "O.K." He handed me the phone.

"Gina," I said, "I'm sorry and I'm an idiot. I need to see you right now. Please meet me at the playground. We need to talk. Please?"

"O.K.," she said. "See you there."

I tossed Fred his phone and ran out the door, down the stairs past Ariel and Dana, out of the house to my car. I drove to the playground. Gina and I used to come here all the time to sit on the swings and talk. We sometimes stayed for hours. We would walk from our houses, or ride our bicycles, and then our cars, until recently, when we somehow got out of the habit.

It was pitch black, so I used my phone as a light to lead me to the swing. I sat down in the swing for the first time in a while, and began to swing back and forth, higher and higher, as I waited for Gina to arrive. I felt free, knowing that Gina liked me, and realizing that I felt the same way.

A few minutes later, I heard Gina's car arrive and saw her phone light lead her to the swings. I stopped swinging and sat on the swing. Gina walked over and stood in front of me. She was wearing an old t-shirt and shorts. She looked great to me.

Before she could say anything, I said, "I am so sorry. I had no idea. I'm an idiot."

She glared at me. "You are an idiot. I gave you every sign I could think of," she spat out.

I responded, softly, "You should have known me better. Since when was I good at picking up signs from girls?"

"True," she said.

"I don't want to fight with you," I said, "I want to kiss you."

I swung forward and opened my legs, and wrapped them around her waist. Surprised, she stumbled forward, and I gathered her with my legs, grabbed her head and pulled her in for a kiss. Her lips were soft, and I felt a charge that I hadn't felt before, even with Dana. We kissed softly in the dark, then more passionately. I began to run my hands up and down her back as she held onto my neck.

Somehow, she was able to swing her legs up, so that she was straddling me on the swing, my hardening cock pressing against my shorts and her crotch. It was tight, and felt good. I reached under her shirt, rubbing her back and kissed her neck. Gina began to move her hips, grinding herself against me as I unhooked her bra, then reached to her front and lifted it over her tits, still under her shirt. Her tits weren't huge, but they were a good size, and I rubbed them until I felt her small nipples harden.

At this point, Gina was leaning away from me, allowing me access to her chest, holding on to the chains suspending the swing, grinding against me, and moaning with pleasure. I started to make the swing sway, and we rocked back and forth, hanging on the swing, my hands rubbing her tits.

I said, "Gina, this is amazing. We could do it right here."

She pulled herself up and looked me right in the eyes. "Do you really think that I want to have sex for the first time on a swing in the fucking playground? That may be something you would do with one of your fuck bunnies, but not me. O.K.?"

As usual, I appreciated Gina's directness and lack of bullshit, although it was a bit harsh under the circumstances.

"Then let's go back to my house—my dad's not going to be home."

She asked, "Will Dana still be there?"

"Maybe," I admitted.

She smiled. "Good. I want her to see us together."

I didn't realize that Gina was competitive in that way. I chose not to tell her that she was reminding me of Dana. We disengaged; Gina fixed her bra, and we walked toward the parking lot, my arm around her shoulders, her arm around my waist, holding our phones for light. We got to our cars and kissed. Gina told me that she needed to stop at her house and would meet me at mine. We kissed again, got in our cars and went our separate ways.

When I got home, the party was winding down. The music was off. A few people were in the pool, a few were sitting by the pool, a few were still making out. Sarah and Steve were beginning some cleaning up and finding excuses to touch each other. I didn't see Fred or Emily, or Dana, for that matter. Sarah saw me looking around.

"Welcome back," she said, a little tipsy, her hair disheveled. "They are all gone. Fred told me why you went running out of here like a maniac. All good?"

"All good," I said, smiling. "Gina will be here soon."

"I always assumed you and she would figure it out," she said.

"Then why didn't you say anything?"

"I did, sort of, but clearly you weren't ready."

"As usual, you were right, but I'm ready now."

"Good," she said.

"Did Dana say anything?" I asked.

"No. She knew what was happening,"

Sarah started, but I interrupted—"She always does,"

"I know," Sarah said appreciatively. "Anyway, she was sad, but you don't have to worry about that one. She is tough, and will take care of herself."

"I know," I said, but I have to ask—did she leave alone?"

"You shouldn't care," she responded, "but yes, she and Ariel went home a while ago."

I shrugged.

"I'd be careful about talking about Dana around Gina," Sarah remarked.

"It's funny," I said, "Gina said she wanted Dana to see us together."

Sarah smiled and said, "I didn't realize she had that in her. Good for her."

I started to help clean up, when Gina came through the door.

She had brushed out her hair and changed into a tight low cut shirt that showed off her cleavage, and yoga pants that hugged her ass. I wondered if Sarah had been involved in consulting again. Gina was smiling, and frankly looked incredible. I walked over and kissed her.

Sarah said "hi, you look amazing."

I asked her if she wanted a beer or anything, and she declined. I could see her scanning the few remaining guests.

Sarah saw that too, and said, displaying remarkable tact—"Emily and Fred left a while ago, and so did Dana. It's all my friends now."

I saw a flicker of disappointment cross Gina's face. She looked at me and said, "Um, Jack, wasn't there something you wanted to show me in your room?"

I could see Sarah crack a small smile as I responded, "Yeah, right. I need to show you that thing...." I took her hand and led her upstairs as I heard Sarah whispering animatedly to Steve.