Too Young for True Love

From Jim's perspective the assessment was certainly less clinical. Wow. Oh my God, she's fucking drop dead gorgeous. Yea, she had breasts, he knew that was important, not an ounce of padding but still curves in all of the right places. Shiny hair, great features...oh my God, those eyes, so blue, so amazing. And then the smile hit him like a ton of bricks and he lost all sense of the here and now. As he was prepared to shake her hand, they were hugging and it was the most natural thing he had ever done in his life.

"So how scary is it to meet a blind date who you're stuck with for an entire weekend?" MJ said, playfully.

"Well, I must admit I had some concerns but I thought we clicked pretty well over the phone---and I loved your letter---so I had every expectation that we would have fun together. And as I'm standing he like an idiot trying to be diplomatic, I admit that I had no idea or expectation that you'd, well, ah...Oh, I'm certainly not the first guy you've had this effect on. MJ, you are a stunning attractive, make that gorgeous, young lady. I'm breathless."

"You don't look so bad yourself, Jimbo. I had every expectation that you'd be nice and we'd have fun but you're a really cute guy and I am very partial to blonds. And, I don't have to worry about wearing my very high heels, do I? Give yourself some credit. I'm sure you've made more than one little girl swoon in your lifetime."

"Well, now that we've both decided that we're both cute enough to be seen in public together, have you eaten lunch?"

They both laughed; MJ probably harder than Jim. She had found his comment wonderfully endearing. There was no stress, just an uncanny level of relaxed comfort between them.

"No, and I'm starving. I feel good about the way this is beginning, so why don't you help me get set up in your spare bedroom. I brought entirely too many clothes. I've never been to one of these gala weekends so I wasn't sure what I would need."

"There's a large empty closet so feel free to spread out. I had no idea what you liked to eat so..."

"Other than Brussels sprouts and liver, I'm game for anything."

"I've got some fresh fish, trout, that I was thinking of pan searing and salad."

"I love fresh fish. Wow, cute and domesticated. How lucky can a girl get?"

"I'll leave you to get settled in and don my apron."

A few minutes later MJ came out of the bedroom wearing a cotton tee and shorts...very short shorts. Jim was again taken aback. MJ didn't miss a thing.

"Hey, I'm just trying to make a good impression, and I always figured, if you've got it, flaunt it. How am I doing?"

"I need to work on expanding my vocabulary, but another 'wow' is about all I can think of."

"What a girl got to do to get a drink around here?"

"What's your pleasure?"

"Beer would be great. Please don't offer me a light beer and spoil the entire weekend. Let's see what you've got in the fridge...outstanding! The man has Guinness! Okay, I'm staying forever."

At that moment, even though he knew she was kidding, he would have let her stay forever.

The two were soon seated at the small table on the deck to enjoy the unusually warm spring weather. MJ didn't pick at her food, she ate it with gusto, commenting often on the excellent lunch Jim had prepared. To Jim, watching MJ eat the food he had so carefully prepared was an almost erotic experience. He couldn't keep his eyes off of her.

"Alright, that's it! I'm hauling your cute little ass down to the courthouse and marrying you today before some other far less deserving girl gets her claws into you. You're cute, you're obviously a good housekeeper who remembers to leave the toilet seat down, you've got good beer and you know how to cook. What else is there?" She said, with that delightfully playful twinkle in her eyes.

Had she not obviously been joking, he would still have said, "I do", without hesitation.

They cleared the lunch plates together, working amazingly seamlessly in the small kitchen for two people who had just met. To his surprise, just as they were finishing up and drying their hands, she kissed him. It was like no kiss he had ever experienced, soft, warm,wet, friendly and more.

"Oh, and he knows how to kiss a girl. You're a keeper for sure."

They moved to the couch; MJ checked out his music collection, again expressing her approval. They talked for well over an hour, about each other, about nothing...about everything and it was if they had always known each other. And then, somehow, as naturally as it could be, they were in each others arms. They kissed, probed and explored for another hour and at that point where both knew that if they continued they would soon go farther than either were yet ready to go, they stopped. Both wanted each other desperately; neither wanted to push it. For Jim the make out session had been beyond anything he could have imagined. For MJ, she knew she wanted to give up her wet little pussy but was pleased that he too wanted to take things one step at a time.

"So, boss man, what's on the agenda for the evening?"

"Well, at 8:00 PM there's a concert." He named the nationally respected group who would be performing. "There will be parties at most of the fraternities, most are open and while I'm no longer in a fraternity, I have friends at several that are private---and hence better. They'll have live bands for dancing. It always coat and tie and many decide to go relatively formal and wear dinner jackets and nice dresses, not prom stuff, just what you'd wear to go to a nice supper club somewhere."

"I love that group and I love to dance. Let's talk about dinner. If we're going out, I insist on buying, although I'd be happy to stay here and cook something...I'm a pretty fair cook myself."

"Well, we do have reservations at what is, in my opinion the best, albeit a very small, restaurant in town. Early dinner, at six, concert at eight, parties from ten to whenever."

"And then what?" MJ asked, almost coyly.

"We'll just have to figure out when we get to that point."

"We'll think of something." MJ replied with her best come hither look. "Are you going formal?"

"I can, my tux is clean."

"Let's do it. I've got a pink number, I call it my, 'go-go' dress because it's sinfully short but terribly elegant. When do we need to leave?"

"A little less than an hour?" Jim replied.

"That'll work. Fortunately I'm pretty low maintenance and I washed my hair this morning. Let's get cracking. I'll meet you back here in, ah, forty-five minutes."

"Wow" was about all MJ could muster when she saw Jim decked out in evening wear. The boy was born to wear a tux; it was a really nice one, not one of those high school prom rentals. It had a long shawl collar with a vest instead of a cummerbund.

MJ for her part was stunning in the pink silk evening dress cut several inches above the knees. She had applied lipstick, a hint of blush and little else. She'd put her hair up and selected dangerously high heels that only further accentuated her amazing legs. A diamond pendant with earrings and a small bracelet to match completed the effect. She was royalty, she was a princess and for tonight, she was his princess.

Both laughed as the climbed into his VW for the short drive to the restaurant. The elegant attire was such an interesting and humorous contrast to their chariot of choice.

"So tell me the truth. Have you ever modeled?" Jim asked as they drove to their dinner.

"As a matter of fact, yes. I have no interest in doing it as a career, but most of the nice clothes I have came as a result of modeling. My folks aren't destitute; dad retired from the government and has an appliance business. Mom still teaches school. They're decidedly middle class. I got a scholarship---it's why I'm going to school where I am. I do modeling for a big department store in Philly during the summer. I'm a good student and plan to go on for a Masters, psychology or an MSW, work for a few years and then do what every woman in her right mind wants to do, find that perfect man, settle down and have babies with him."

MJ paused, and then continued, more thoughtfully. "Jim, I never want to be one of those women that has to have a man to take care of her; I need to prove to myself that I can make a living and be a success in a career. In that sense, I'm very liberated. But when that day comes, I don't know, probably sometime after my twenty-sixth birthday, I want to have a disgustingly big wedding with all the trimmings, get pregnant, retire and raise my---our---children. Am I scaring you yet?"

"You could never scare me. It sounds like a good plan. I want to have children and I sure as hell don't want to have them raised by a nanny."

"Jim, I do scare a lot of guys. I'm a little too sure of and full of myself. I make no bones about wanting to be married---but God knows, not now, hell I'm nineteen! I don't go for all this southern belle stuff in these parts. I'm smart, I'm ambitious and I know what I want out of life. My looks scare the hell out of most guys, it's as if they're intimidated, or worse they want to treat me like some sort of trophy. When the time comes, I want a man who will love me like no one else in the world, respect me for my brains and be my equal partner in life, till death do us part. I don't have some ideal in my head, I don't know what he'll look like nor do I care what he does for a living. I'm just sure I'll know it's right when it happens."

"I guess I'm pretty much in the same boat. I want to do something with my life, at least be on the road to success, whatever the hell success is, before I settle down. I'm a true romantic at heart, like the song, 'one girl, one special girl'. I'll know when I meet her."

"And what happens if you meet her too soon, before you're ready?"

"Hope that she'll wait, I guess. I have to believe that if she's the one, she'll feel the same way about me and waiting will make sense."

This was pretty serious stuff for a young man and woman of twenty and nineteen, respectively. Neither could deny in their hearts that the person sitting next to them might indeed be the one but neither wanted to dwell on it. Soon, they were engaged again in the delightfully irreverent banter that so endeared them to each other.

Dinner was fabulous, the concert was amazing and Jim and MJ were the center of attention as they danced together later in the night. He had hated those damned dancing lesson his mother had made him take but they were finally paying off. Never doubt your mother's wisdom, he thought to himself. They were to all who saw them a story book couple.

And guess who they ran into at one of the parties? Mary had evidently finished her studies sooner than anticipated; she was there with some guy that Jim didn't know who was a bit taller than Jim was and was also well on the way to a drunken stupor.

"Don't look now, MJ, but that's the girl who cancelled on me because she had to study."

"Well, she certainly didn't do as well as I did in the date department; let's go over and say hi!"

Jim was not one to create confrontation but as he looked at Mary and looked at MJ, he was very glad that his original date had stiffed him. MJ was charming but also deliciously catty as she was introduced to Mary and thanked her for cancelling with Jim. Mary was not very comfortable at being caught in her lie. Mary checked out Jim in his tux, checked out MJ as women do, then turned toward her drunken date and realized that she might not have played things very well. A few days later Mary would call Jim to apologize for being a lying jerk but the damage was done and he never saw or talked to Mary again.

As they returned to Jim's cottage, neither could keep their hands of the other. Somehow, as might be expected, they ended up in bed together, partially clothed and, as luck would have it, fell asleep in each others arms...but never had sex. MJ wanted him desperately and certainly would have allowed him inside her body. Jim had never wanted a girl the way he wanted MJ but in his own romantic consciousness sensed that fucking this young woman who he was falling hopelessly in love with would spoil things. For the younger readers, recognize that it was a different time. Nice girls didn't, at least on the first date. And nice guys who were in love with a girl just didn't push the issue.

The rest of the weekend was fabulous for both of them. Late Sunday afternoon as they listened over and over again to a favorite song about a depressing Monday following a glorious weekend, there were tears in their eyes.

Over the ensuing weeks they talked on the phone and exchanged letters numerous times. They spent a second and then a third weekend together just before the end of the school year. While their carnal activities became decidedly more adventurous---they did end up naked together in bed---they didn't actually, "do it", although they both found ways to please each other short of actual intercourse.

And then the summer came and MJ moved back home and took her summer job. Jim's work schedule did not even allow for a weekend away. Flying was just too expensive, it was a ten hour drive, and he was working a lot of double overtime on the weekends as the paper began to publish a Saturday edition. They began to drift apart, physically, but their hearts were still inexorably tied.

MJ started dating. Jim met a girl a several years his senior who was attending grad school, which was not quite as all male as the undergrad college was. Charlene, shortened to Charley, and she loved to fuck and Jim was nailing the little blond damned near every night. Then there was Susan, a young 'townie'. She was another tall leggy brunette with a sweet, wholesome face and a deviant mind. She was a consummate cock sucker who refused to take birth control pills for fear of gaining weight. She willing gave up her tighter hole almost nightly, introducing Jim to the pleasures of the backdoor. Her best friend, Linda seduced Jim one night while her boy friend was out of town. Susan got pissed and broke it off and Jim went back to Charlene until the end of the summer when she moved away.

When school started again, Jim and MJ had one more weekend date together; it was a disaster. Both drank too much and got pissy with each other. MJ had planned to fuck Jim, but got throw up sick from drinking too much and Jim was too drunk to get it up anyway. As Sunday came around, they talked. MJ was transferring to a university closer to home; she really hated her current school. They both ended up confessing that they had dated others and admitted to more than just dating. Just before MJ got in her car to leave, she dragged Jim into the guest room bathroom and wrote a note on the mirror in lipstick.

"We'll both be out of school by then and doing something for a living. It's six years away, six years and seven days after your birthday, six years and six days after mine. We had something Jim, you know we did! But we got scared; we knew we were too damned young to get serious and we were well on the road to very serious. We'll exchange birthday cards and Christmas cards each year and maybe one of us will call the other each year on that anniversary, but other than that, we just get on with our respective lives. On August 22, 19__, we meet again. If this really was something more than passion, or the foibles of youth, we'll damned well know. If you can't wait for me, I need to know and I'll do the same."

They sealed their pact with a final loving embrace and tender kiss and parted.

MJ graduated early, got her Masters in record time and started working as a counselor in a youth prison. Jim finished his bachelors early, started his masters and did a stretch in the military which included a combat tour. Thanks to the combat tour and the draw down in the war, he got an early out eighteen months earlier than expected. He finished his masters in night school while waiting stateside for his military obligation to end. He dated and fucked. He almost ended up getting engaged to a woman who reminded him, physically, at least, of MJ, but who could not hold a candle to her. Not a day went by when he didn't think about her, yearn for her and wonder if there ever would be a future with her.

MJ had a long running affair with a man who traveled a great deal, breaking it off only after she discovered that he had gotten married to someone else while he was still sleeping with her. MJ and Jim exchanged Christmas and birthday cards, but only spoke twice by phone during that six years. Both conversations were short, even strained. Neither, however, could ever get the other out of their mind. Everyone they dated always suffered from the inevitable comparison.

MJ actually accepted a proposal from a good man whom she respected and hoped she would grow to love. But he wasn't Jim and the fateful date was only a few months away. She so desperately wanted to call Jim; if the meeting was going to occur, they had to make plans, didn't they? She returned the ring and told the sweet man who had asked her to marry him exactly why. He took it better than he should have. Would Jim call her? They'd left things pretty shaky six years earlier. He was always honest, unlike some of the scumbags she had dated. He would have told her if he had really found someone else...wouldn't he?

Jim took a job with a corporation and quickly received a couple of nice promotions. He wasn't sure this was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life but he had a good job with a healthy paycheck and a future if he wanted it. He had published a couple of books of his essays and photos and they had been well received. His most recent promotion involved a move; he'd been offered some choice in the matter. He chose Philadelphia.

So it was, almost on a lark, or in desperation, that Jim strolled into that appliance store and asked to see the owner late one Friday afternoon. He was an old friend of the owner's daughter, he said. The two men had never met before. The receptionist went to the back of the store.

"Jim, I don't remember you, but, any friend of MJs..."

"We never met sir; I think we might have talked briefly once or twice on the phone. I know I'm probably imposing, but I'd really appreciate a little of your time..."

"You're that Jim...of course! I wasn't thinking. You're mother changed her name after she remarried so I, we, knew her by her maiden name and her remarried name. You look a lot like your mom. I'm sorry, I never knew your real father. I always thought things were pretty tight between you and my daughter back when you were both in college, and then, poof, it was over."

"There's a story that goes with that sir, a saga, really, and if you'd give this love sick puppy a few minutes of your time, I'd like...I need to share that story."

"Come on back, son."

And Jim proceeded to tell him the whole story with every nuance. MJ's dad brought Jim up to date on her life; Jim did the same on his own. Finally, it got down to the end or the new beginning that would occur in seven days. The old man was misty eyed by that time.

"How can I help you son?"

"Sir, I still love her; I miss her so much some days it just hurts. She was right. We were moving way to fast and were too damned young. Life got in the way of love. I don't want to complicate her life; we haven't even talked on the phone in years....but..."

"Oh, hell, Jim, she still loves you, if I have any sense. A pretty nice guy put a ring on her finger a few months ago; twenty-four hours later she gave it back to him. My daughter and I are pretty close. I see the look in her eyes every time she inadvertently talks about something that happened when she was in school down there or remembers something she said to you or vice versa. So what exactly is the plan you two had when the magic date finally arrived?"