One Summer Night

Summer, early summer. June to be precise. Liz had just graduated from High School and the summer stretched out before her.

Well, not really. Certainly not in a good way. At least, that's how it seemed on that sunny day in early June.

Her schedule was full, more than full. After working as a stringer for two local newspapers both junior and senior year, she'd been offered a full-time summer position with one, and the other still expected her to attend every local sports event over the summer and submit copy for that.

And then, there was her mother, who had decided the day after graduation was the perfect time to rope Liz into helping clean their entire 4,000 square foot Victorian house, top to bottom. Old toys, furniture, minutia, all needed to be sorted and gotten rid of before Liz left for Marquette in August.

"Shouldn't take more than a couple of weeks or so." Her mother had commented blithely, offhandedly, as Liz gazed around at the number of boxes and bins in the attic alone. Not to mention the other 3 floors of her mother's 'collectibles' and odds and ends. "I'll help, when I have time." Her mother continued and Liz wondered bitterly if her parents would still pay for college if she ran away from home.

It was Saturday morning, and Liz was glumly chewing on a granola bar for breakfast, contemplating which of the two pages of tasks would be easiest to tackle, when the phone rang. Her parents had packed and left for a weekend in the city the day before, but not before her mother had handed her that list of what she expected Liz to accomplish in the three days they would be gone. In addition, she had a baseball game in Crystal Lake to cover in the middle of the afternoon today, which left her with no ambition whatsoever to start cleaning now.

"Hello." She answered the phone, fully expecting it to be her mother with more directives.

"Hey, you doing anything tonight? Even if you are, you have to come out to the pit for a party." The perpetually excited voice of her friend Kelly blasted from the earpiece directly into Liz's brain. "It's Steve's birthday and they're having a kegger. You know how that goes, 10 guys for every girl so I said I'd round up every girl I knew and make them come over."

Liz sighed morosely and said, "I can't. I have to work this afternoon and you know my mom; she left a list of house cleaning stuff for me to do this weekend. I'll be, like, grounded for the whole summer if I don't do it all."

"You're 18, she can't ground you!" Kelly was outraged on her behalf. "C'mon, it will be fun. Lots of guys hitting on you, beer, what's better than that?"

Clearly, they had different ideas about what constituted a fun time as Kelly lived for the adoration and worship of as many members of the male population as existed. Of course, she was a heavy breasted, voluptuous, dark blonde with a body that made adult men as well as incoming freshman stop and stare wistfully as she strolled by. Her boyfriend Scott certainly had his hands full with Kelly, but apparently, according to Kelly anyway, they were getting married soon and traveling the entire 50 states before returning home to work at Scott's parent's farm. Liz had long given up trying to understand her friend's social life.

They'd become friends in the fifth grade when Liz's parents upended her world by moving from the big city to the absolute end of the earth because her father decided that he'd rather live in a town rife with fellow Pilots and commute back to the airport. Being an only child, Liz was shy around strangers and the move along with attending a new Catholic school left her eager to sit in the back of the classroom and melt into the scenery. Kelly had other ideas.

She immediately involved Liz in her group of vocal, social and theatrical friends. Liz still hung in the background, as she had no interest in any of those activities, but her parents bought her a horse as a consolation for the move, and Kelly also had horses, so they became obsessive riders and 4H members. Showing their horses together bonded them in a different way than Kelly's other friends, but the group continued to get along all the way through high school.

Liz's parents encouraged her athletic drive by insisting she join a softball league, then track in middle school. High School meant tennis, softball, track as well as ski club in the winter. Becoming editor of the school newspaper kept her after school and busy during the school day. This occupation led to the stringer position covering sports events in the entire county. Her days were full, as were her weekends, and along with Church activities, Liz had little time to develop natural high school female social skills.

Other than a kiss or two, Liz was happily stuck in the land of virgins. Sex frightened her and she figured that eventually she'd get married and resolve the mystery then. When she tried to explain that to Kelly, her friend rolled her eyes and said, "Girl, we will get you laid at some point, trust me. First, though, you have to acknowledge the male population."

What Liz had never mentioned to Kelly is the Senior who caught her eye back when they were freshman; a gorgeous tall, dark and lean basketball player, with the most amazing smile, but he had a girlfriend and never noticed her. Such was Liz's life, daydreaming from the sidelines.

At 18, she had a curvy, but muscular body, "Those thighs could crack a walnut" one of guys in their group had commented when they were at the beach and Liz's cheeks turned red with the sexual innuendo. Summer sun always made her natural white-blonde hair glow and the sprinkling of freckles across her cheeks went along with the emerald green of her eyes. She was an attractive girl, and Kelly was always trying to get her to dress in ways to enhance her innate beauty, but Liz was content with jeans and t-shirts, hair up in a ponytail.

Liz snapped out of reminiscing to hear Kelly ask, "You still there?"

"Yes, I am." Liz answered. "Seriously, I have so much to do."

"Please, please, please." Kelly begged, knowing that Liz would bend, she always did. "You know Scott will abandon me and I'll be left all alone, by myself."

Liz scoffed aloud. They both knew the minute Scott walked away from Kelly, she'd be surrounded by plenty of other guys, and she'd enjoy every minute of the attention.

"Fine, I'll see if I can get a ride with Ben, if he's going." She mentioned her next door neighbor, whom she figured would be going to the party as he hung out with that group of guys.

"Awesome, see you there". Kelly was rapturous with thanks and Liz hung up, a wry grin on her face. Kelly could always convince her to do the fun thing rather than the responsible thing.

For a moment Liz wondered why doing the fun thing automatically never occurred to her, then shook her head and started on her mother's list.

Later, after she returned home from the baseball game, she glanced next door to see if Ben was still home. He was, she could see his truck in the driveway. He was a couple of years older than she was and she knew he was friends with the guys putting on the party, so out the door she went, across the weedy yard (another task on her mother's list) and knocked on the back door of his house. When he answered, she asked, "Hey, are you going to the pit tonight for the party?"

He answered in the affirmative, so Liz asked for a ride. "I'll have Kelly take me home." She told him when he frowned at her request. "I know you wanna hook up, I won't go looking for you when I'm ready to go home." Her words reassured him, and he agreed to take her there around 8pm.

A few hours later, he was parking his beater truck in the pit, not far from the raging bonfire. The evening was cool, as it is in Northern Illinois in June and Liz was wearing jeans, a t-shirt and a partially zipped jacket. Unlike Ben, she was not in any way looking to hook up, so her attire was unexciting. As she walked, a number of girls she knew from school waved a hand in greeting, but Liz was searching the crowd for Kelly or Scott. Several times, she felt like someone was watching her, but the crowd was full of people she didn't know, so she shrugged off the feeling as nerves, being in a huge group of people, most of whom she didn't know. No one could possibly have any interest in her, it must just have been one of those random nerve reactions.

When she walked past a group of her friends, someone handed her a beer and Liz chugged it while continuing to scan the crowd that was growing by the minute. Beer was not one of her favorite beverages, so gulping it was the only way to get it down. During her search, she consumed at least two more, the alcohol going straight to her head.

After wandering almost the entire pit looking, she finally saw the back of Kelly's head near the bonfire, her caramel-colored hair backlite by the flames. As expected, she was flirting with several of their classmates, who were still hopeful she'd dump Scott and go out with them. Liz wandered up and touched Kelly's arm lightly. "Hey, can I ride home with you guys tonight? My ride's looking for a date."

"Sure." Kelly's eyes were glazed in the firelight and Liz knew the beer she held in her hand wasn't the first she'd consumed that night. That made two of them. "Scott's somewhere over there." She gestured across the bonfire to a group of people and Liz's eyes followed Kelly's swinging arm.

Her eyes skimmed the group, searching for Scott, when she noticed a familiar pair lock with hers. Her brain took a second to recognize the man they belonged to as she hadn't seen him in several years. A pair of eyes she'd ached to see meet hers, even once, over the year they shared in school. Liz regarded it as completely unfortunate that he'd never looked her way once her freshman year. Being a Senior, that was understandable, but occasionally, she remembered that sense of unfulfilled longing.

Now Mike was here and looking right at her. She forced herself to continue searching for Scott, eyes moving along the group util she located him. Then her eyes were drawn back to Mike, only to see him still watching her. When he realized that she had come back to him, he tipped his cup in her direction.

"What the fuck." She said out loud and Kelly glanced over at Liz, saw her gazing across the fire and looked over to see Mike watching the two of them.

"Oooooh, Mike, huh? I hear he's totally worth hooking up with! Apparently, he's got a dick like a boa constrictor." She was openly laughing at Liz, who had dropped her gaze and was studying the ground intently, wishing the earth would open up and swallow her, never to be heard from again. Kelly's drunken voice was loud, and Liz was quite sure everyone in the vicinity had heard her announcement. Also loudly, Kelly asked, "Didn't you have a crush on him freshman year too?"

Liz dared a glance across the divide at Mike, and saw that he was still staring at her, a huge grin across his face. Several of the guys around him were obviously teasing him about Kelly's words, hysterically making foot-long demonstrations to each other.

"Shut UP!" She told Kelly, punching her not very gently in the arm. "Knock it off, I have no idea what you're talking about."

Embarrassed, she stalked away, shaking her head at Kelly's antics. "We're not in kindergarten anymore you jerk. I need another drink." Kelly and her friends were laughing, the noise ringing in Liz's ears as she continued over to the keg. Never having worked one, especially drunk, she struggled with the hose and tap.

"Need a hand?" Even before she could look up, Liz knew exactly who was standing next to her.

"No." She muttered, head down, face flaming brighter than the bonfire.

"It's ok, I got it." His hand covered hers for a minute until she released the tap, stepping back, away from him as she did. "Do you have a cup, or here, use mine." He filled the plastic cup and handed it to her, Liz's eyes still on the ground.

Hands free now, he chucked her gently under her chin, then used his fingers to gently raise her head. Liz closed her eyes, not wanting to see the laughter in his, or even worse, the derision he must certainly be feeling.

"So, you had a crush on me?" He paused, mouth alight with teasing laughter. "If you were a frosh the same year as Kelly, that means I was a senior. Sorry to say I don't remember that, but I was pretty full of myself that year, so pretty much an asshole. And I was dating Kendra that year too, so not really looking for love at all." A hearty laugh followed this statement and Liz realized that he was having a good laugh at himself and not her. Kendra was a known drama queen, always causing fights in the hallways with other people and periodically breaking up with Mike and then very obviously making up with him days later, mauling him in full view of everyone passing their shared locker.

The unfamiliar buzzing in Liz's head confused her and she realized too late that she was actually staring at Mike. Abruptly, she said, "Thanks for the beer," and turned to walk away.

"Hey, stay and talk a bit." Mike touched the sleeve of her jacket, not holding, but stroking.

"I'm too drunk to talk." Alcohol had made Liz more frank than usual, and she knew 'talking' with her crush was not a good idea in the state her brain was in.

"Look, I'm totally harmless." Mike held his arms out, "I haven't even had too much to drink. One cup, I just got here." His eyes crinkled at the corners and his smile was wide and open.

"You look like a wolf to me." Liz confessed, confused by his attention. Plus, her brain reminded her at that moment; you masturbated plenty of times to fantasies involving this guy. "You totally look like the big bad wolf to me."

"Well, I could be if you wanted." His voice dropped and the husky tone sent shivers down Liz's spine. "I mean, I'm pretty versatile depending upon the situation. If you want to talk, we talk. If you want the big bad wolf, well, I am certainly capable of eating you." A wolfish grin lit his mouth and Liz's eyes fixed on the sight.

The sexual innuendo made Liz's eyes widen and her mouth open with shock. Her body reacted immediately, a flush of heat racing through from brain to cunt and down to her toes. She'd never been propositioned before, and her thoughts were reeling, bouncing around in her suddenly sober brain.

She took a step back and said stupidly, "I have to go find Kelly." She might as well have said, 'my mom' for the incredulous look he gave her.

Stepping towards her, he slipped a hand behind her head and gently pulled her closer to him. Liz shuffled the few steps uncertainly, unsure of his intentions. Watching his mouth inch closer to hers, she licked her lips nervously, and heard a soft moan come from him, or maybe it was her, she had no idea, eyes locked on his full lips.

He kissed her gently, soft mouth barely grazing hers. Teasing, as he did it again and again, making Liz decide for herself that it wasn't enough. And it wasn't. She wanted more, so much more than she had ever wanted before. Her body ached for more, ached for something she'd only read about but had no idea how to find.

And here it was; Mike was offering her everything. All she had to do was want it, take it, let him.

Giving in to the fire inside of her, she did. Moving closer, her own arms sliding around his neck, her hands in his curly dark hair, pulling his mouth into hers. Then his mouth was crushing hers, his tongue deep inside, sucking, licking, teasing, promising her. Letting her know that once she opened this Pandora's Box, there was no turning back, no running back to safety.

Liz no longer wanted safety; her entire body was humming with desire for more. If Mike hadn't chosen that moment to release her and step back, she would have given in to anything he wanted from her, right there in front of everyone.

Breathing as heavily as she was, Mike looked at her and said, "My bike is right over there. Home is three minutes away. Come with me, now."

Ignoring the catcalls and hoots from the crowd that had watched them make out, Liz nodded and said, "Yes. Please. Now is good."

Clasping her hand, they brushed past everyone, people knowing exactly where they were going, what they planned to do, making their way to his gleaming motorcycle. Mike swung his leg over the seat and helped Liz climb on behind him.

"Hold on to me." He took her hands in his, wrapping them around his waist, pressing them against his stomach. She flinched, shocked as she realized that her hands were touching his impressive erection, tight against the zipper of his jeans. He stroked her hands up and down, then up and down against the hardness and Liz was instantly aroused, soaking wet in anticipation of what he planned for her when they got to his house.

Leaving her hands where they were, he said, "Hang on tight," and fired the bike up, accelerating slowly until he was out of the gravel and onto the street. He was an accomplished cyclist and drove on through the silent, small-town streets away from her friends, her house and her sanity. The possibilities for the rest of her evening seemed frightening and yet somehow endlessly exciting.

All too soon they arrived in front of a small house, and Mike parked the bike in the back near the garage.

The door to Mike's house was locked and he motioned to a high window on the back porch. "That goes into the pantry, I'll boost you up there and you can unlock the door from inside."

For some unknown reason, this made Liz giggle madly. She felt drunk again, the alcohol raging through her veins. "Why don't you have a key?"

"I do, but I don't know what I did with it." He confessed sheepishly.

Mike's hands on her butt, lifting her up to the window, which was unlocked, felt pretty good too. She slid the glass up and hoisted herself though, turning and dropping to the floor. Making her way through the dark kitchen to the back door, she opened it for Mike and welcomed him in. He caught her hand as he closed the door, pulled her to him and then pressed her against the door, his mouth hot on hers. Holding her hands above her head, he ground his erection against her.

"I want you, I absolutely, fucking want to fuck you." His words were crude, intentionally playing against her upbringing and they served to ratchet her level of arousal up immeasurably. Feeling herself trembling in his grip.

"But first, another beer." He dropped her hands and walked away from her. Liz nearly melted onto the floor but gathered herself and followed him over to the fridge. "I've got little kid beer if you want," he pointed to the vodka flavored lemonade, "And real beer." That was the bottle he chose but Liz opted for lemonade. Beer was for getting drunk, lemonade could be sipped and maybe rationality would come back before she reached the point of no return tonight, all the while knowing that her choice was already made.

He led the way to the living room, not turning on any lights but allowing the filtered light from the moon and streetlights to light their way. Once they reached the couch, he dropped onto it, assuming the typical man position; legs spread, his body sprawled out, inviting, demanding.

Primly, Liz sat next to him, even while she knew he anticipated that she would climb onto his lap for more kissing. Resisting him, she knew, but she wasn't going to allow him ALL the power, she had to retain some semblance of control, at least of herself.

Which was instantly lost as he set his beer down on the floor and took hers to join it. Pushing her down on the couch, he once again put his mouth on hers, his hands holding hers by her side. "No games little girl. Either you're in or you're not." Recognizing that she was backing away from her former bravado, he challenged her verbally as well as physically.

Liz gulped audibly. This was suddenly all very real here in his house on his couch. His mouth, his hands, his erection, his desire. She was aroused, he certainly turned her on. Her own desire warred with every nerve that was screaming 'danger lurks here.'