Tender Years

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A young man loses his innocence to an older married woman.
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The fast-moving truck flew into the intersection beating the red light by just a split second while I clung to my seat belt with one hand, and kept my other on the dashboard.

"You know, Wade, if we die trying to get to the party it is going to be a heck of a lot less fun for both of us," I shouted.

"I got this under control, Alex. I took defensive driving don't ya know!" said Wade.

Wade Miller had come into my life fairly recently, but it had been one of those connections where you feel like you have known each other forever. My parents had relocated to Hampton's Landing six-months ago forcing me to transfer to a college nearby because they couldn't afford to pay the expenses of me living on campus at my old school. Things had been lonely for me at the beginning since I had to start over at a new school not knowing anyone. I had always been shy, and meeting new people wasn't easy for me. Wade was in my Algebra 102 class, and he seemed to sense that I needed a friend. We hit it right off and quickly became inseparable. He was everything I wasn't, charming, outgoing, and he seemed to know everyone on campus, or at least they knew him. He took me under his wing deciding that I was going to be his project, and he was going to teach me how to meet girls, and have a good time.

Meeting women, and winning them over seemed to be second nature for Wade. His looks certainly didn't hurt his cause since he was a muscular six-foot tall guy with flowing blond locks that made him look like a Norse God. He carried himself with a natural confidence, flashing a winning smile that drew even more attention to his sun-tanned good looks, and steely blue eyes. I, on the other hand, was a much less striking individual. I mean I wasn't ugly, but standing next to Wade I suffered by comparison. We were the same height, but that was about all we had in common. My dark brown hair was cut far shorter than Wade's, which suited me since I didn't like hair tickling my neck or covering my ears. I took after my Mom with brown eyes that sat under some very dark, thick eyebrows, and mouth that seemed slightly too small for my face. My work out routine did keep me reasonably fit, and trim, but I lacked Wade's bulky muscles.

We were on our way to a party off campus. I wasn't exactly sure where, but Wade had a sixth sense for these things like he could smell single girls from dozens of miles away. He was in a hurry because he wanted to stop by his brothers first, and see if he could get him to buy us some beer for the festivities.

Wade's brother Brad was his senior by eight years and married. He lived with his wife, and kids in a townhouse not far from the edge of campus. I had met Brad a few times since he worked on the maintenance staff for the college. He was a lot like Wade only shorter, and with a worse temper. This was the first time I had ever been headed for his house.

The road we were on curved around and dead-ended at a driveway that led into the backside of an apartment complex. One side was traditional apartments stacked three stories high while on the other sat a long row of identical looking townhomes. Wade pulled into a parking spot behind one of those next to a giant red truck.

"Good, Brad's home," he said shutting off the engine.

Brad Miller answered the door on the second knock scowling at the two of us.

"What the fuck you do you two idiots want?"

"Hey, Brad! Is that any way to talk to your favorite brother?"

"You're my only brother, and you only suck up like this when you want something. Hell, come on in since you're here."

He stepped back from the door admitting us to the interior. I have to say, knowing Brad I had expected the place to be a dump, but it was actually kind of nice inside. The furniture was new, and the home was well decorated with pictures of his kids on the walls and a painting of an ocean scene above the couch.

"Alex, I don't think you've met my wife."

I turned from studying the ocean painting and reached out my hand toward the petite woman who stood in front of me.

"Valerie Miller. It's nice to meet you."

"Alex...uh...Alex Collins," I barely managed to get out.

I guess every guy has a type. That one woman who makes your blood boil when they pass by, and you can't take your eyes off them. My dream girl was a combination of Jamie Gertz, and Catherine Mary Stewart, the chick who had been in one of my guilty pleasure movies, The Last Star Fighter. Valerie Miller was the perfect mix of those two, and it made my heart leap into my throat. She was about five-foot-four with platinum blond hair that fell in waves and ringlets around her long gorgeous face. Her full lips pulled back into a radiant smile, and her blue eyes seemed to twinkle with amusement at my inability to articulate my name. Her skin was bronzed from time spent in the sun, and she smelled like wildflowers.

"You...Um...Have a very nice home," I finally said.

"Thank you, Alex. Can I get you anything? Some tea, maybe?"

"Don't worry about catering to these guys they won't be staying long," said Brad.

Valerie frowned at him, but excused herself, and went through a doorway into what turned out to be the kitchen.

"So what is it you guy's want?"

Wade quickly outlined our need for party supplies so that we could ingratiate ourselves to the young ladies at the off-campus get-together. At the mention of a party, Brad's eyes lit up like we had told him he had won the lottery.

"Party, huh? I think I could help you guys out. Come on we will take my truck."

He vanished down the hallway whistling to himself while I turned to Wade in confusion, "Is he coming with us?"

"Don't worry about it. Brad is attracted to parties like a moth to a flame," replied Wade with a shrug.

It turned out Valerie was less than thrilled that her husband was taking off in the middle of the evening to go hang out with a bunch of college kids. I could hear them arguing in the kitchen, but eventually, Brad emerged twirling his keys around one finger.

"Women! I tell you guys wives are just there to bust your fucking balls every time you want to have a bit of fun. Let's go!"

We piled into Brad's large pickup, and I took the window seat. He drove us to a convenience store where he bought a couple of cases of beer on our behalf. Wade navigated while Brad drove, and we arrived at the party in a big two story house. The place looked like a scene from every National Lampoon's movie I had ever watched. There was sin, and debauchery aplenty going on inside, and our arrival with a load of beer won us instant approval from the crowd. Wade was in his element pressing flesh like a politician on the campaign trail, and Brad seemed to transform from the grumpy man I had met an hour ago to a much more personable fellow. By the end of the night, he had his arm around me giving me advice as if he was a long lost and very drunk Uncle.

"Alex, buddy, you got to show some balls man. A woman wants a guy with...ya know..."

"Balls?" I supplied helpfully.

"YEAH! FUCKING BALLS!"

He sloshed his beer all over the floor gesturing with it.

"Hey, Brad! Take it easy, bro!"

Wade materialized from the crowd with two young ladies in tow. The first was a short, stocky little blond with breasts big enough for three girls, and the other a tall brunette with a massive head of curly hair. He put an arm around his brother to steady him while introducing the girls at the same time.

"Alex, this is Cindy, and...Um..."

"Cathy," supplied the tall brunette. They were both almost as wasted as Brad. Cathy especially seemed to be swaying precariously while she sidled up next to me looking me intently up, and down.

"Wade said he had a cute friend. Are you cute?"

I had no idea how to answer that question.

"Um...I don't know I've never rated myself. What do you think?"

"Hmm...You look pretty good, but how do you fuck?"

My face turned red. I wasn't used to girls being so straightforward, and to be honest, I was a virgin which still bothered me sometimes when it seemed like everyone I knew wasn't. Cathy laughed at my obvious discomfort.

"What's a matter you a virgin or something?"

I froze for a second not able to reply since she had hit the nail so firmly on the head. The delay in my response must have affirmed her suspicion.

"OH! MY GOD, YOU ARE AREN'T YOU! Imagine that a little virgin boy. How old are you anyway?"

"Nineteen," I blurted without thinking.

"Nineteen, and a virgin? That's kind of pathetic don't you think."

"Why don't you two hit the road, huh?" snapped Wade suddenly.

Cathy shot Wade a look of pure venom before pulling her friend with her and moving off into the crowd.

"I'm sorry about that, Alex. They seemed nice we I met them by the keg," apologized Wade.

"Don't worry about it."

"Yeah, fuck those bitches. Let's go find some real woman!" slurred Brad.

My luck with the ladies didn't improve the rest of the night. Wade, and I eventually had to pour his extremely hammered brother into the bed of the truck, and drive him home. It took both of us to get Brad up the walkway to his townhouse. Valerie was unhappy to see the state we had returned her husband in though she blamed him more than us. She was still haranguing him when Wade, and I made a hasty exit.

"This has been an interesting night," I said on our way back to my house.

"Yeah, the party was o.k. But I've seen better ones. I'm sorry again about that girl, Cathy. You can do way better anyway don't let it get you down."

"It's no big deal."

He dropped me off on my front lawn and left promising our next adventure would be better. I got myself to bed right as the sun was coming up thanking God that I didn't have class until late that afternoon.

The next couple of months were something of a blur of college classes followed by endless attempts by Wade to find me a girl of substance with the right moral compass as he put it.

"You mean a girl that will jump my bones on the first date," I said.

"The third date at the very least," replied Wade.

I think Wade had kind of a one-track mind in that regard, but it was nice that he cared. During this time I noticed that Brad seemed always to be hanging around the periphery of whatever Wade, and I were doing. It was cool in a way because we could still get him to buy us alcohol, but it got me to wondering what kind of twenty-seven-year-old married guy wants to spend all his time hitting parties with his teenage brother? It also became apparent that Valerie was not happy with his immature behavior or the fact that he left her with their two young kids all the time to hang out with us.

One rainy Saturday my parents ask me to do the grocery shopping while they were cleaning out the garage. The nearest market to our house was a big chain store called Heilmanns. I hadn't spent much time there previously since my Mom usually took care of food procurement at home. The aisles were jam-packed with family's shopping for their future meals, and I felt overwhelmed trying to navigate the store. The list I had been given was pretty long, and by the time I had tracked down the last item, my cart was bulging. I pushed my burden into the shortest line at the checkout. The woman ringing up the groceries had her back to me when I started to unload my cart onto the conveyor, so I got a pleasant surprise when she turned around, and I saw that it was Valerie Miller.

"Hi Alex. Doing some light shopping? You must have a big appetite."

"Ha! This isn't just for me I live with my parents."

For some reason, I felt embarrassed for having to admit that like it made me less grown up or something. Valerie didn't comment on it though she just kept ringing things up.

"I didn't know you worked here?"

"I've been here for several years now. I was checker of the month last June!" she said laughing. I loved to hear her laugh.

I started counting out bills from my wallet while Valerie and a young Hispanic kid bagged my groceries.

"You and Wade should come by for dinner sometime. You guys always drop in, grab my husband, and leave."

"Oh...Well, Sure I...I mean Wade, and I would love to stay, and eat sometime."

"How about Friday night? I'll make fried chicken. Tell Wade he can go one night without chasing tail."

I smiled and took my change from her briefly feeling the softness of her fingers against mine. She smiled that radiant smile at me as I walked away, and it made me feel light headed all the way to the car.

Convincing Wade not to go out drinking on a Friday night turned out to be more of a chore than I imagined. He considered it to be a complete waste of good party time, but eventually, I brought him around to the idea that staying on Valerie's good side was in our best interest in the long run. We arrived for dinner, and Brad let us in scowling as usual. That man always seemed to be grumpy if he wasn't getting drunk. Valerie had prepared quite a spread for us with not only fried chicken, but all the sides you could want, and pie for dessert.

"This is all so good, Thanks, Valerie."

"You are more than welcome, Alex. So tell me. What are you studying in school?"

"Right now I'm just trying to get my basic classes out of the way. I'm not sure what my major is going to be long term. I have an interest in science, but I don't know what I would do with that. I guess I could teach or something."

"Education is essential," said Valerie while lifting a spoonful of mash potatoes to her lips.

"Yeah, without it you could end up digging ditches, or planting trees for a bunch of ungrateful college brats," mumbled Brad.

"I wasn't implying anything, Brad," said Valerie.

"Whatever, I don't have anything to be ashamed of I make a good living."

"No one was saying you had anything to feel bad about."

"Yeah..right," said Brad under his breath while he picked at a chicken breast on his plate.

Brad's young son who I guessed to be about two or three years old picked that moment to knock his plate off the table, and onto the floor. Valerie was up like a sprinter out of the blocks and had it cleaned up in record time.

"You need to pay attention when you eat! That was a waste of good food!" snapped Brad. His kid looked down at the floor and started to cry.

"Take it easy, Brad. He's still learning."

"You coddle that kid too much. He is going to grow up soft."

It looked like an argument was going to break out, but Brad suddenly pushed back from the table and grabbing a pack of cigarettes off the counter stormed out the back sliding glass door. I could see him sitting out there smoking and staring off into space. The rest of us finished eating in silence, and Valerie was bringing out the pie when Brad stuck his head back inside.

"Hey, boys! We should go get some beer, and find us a party!"

"Brad! I think you could go one night without slipping out of here, and staying out till dawn," said Valerie.

Brad's face clouded over, but before he could retort Wade was up from the table, and steering him back outside.

"Hey bro! Did I show you the new sound system I had installed in my car? Man! I can make the windows rattle with that thing come check it out."

After they left Valerie sat back down at the table eating pie with one hand while she fed her daughter from a divided plate of baby food.

"Sorry about that, Brad can be a bit stubborn sometimes.

"Brad can be a bit of an asshole sometimes," I blurted out without thinking.

Valerie just smiled, "That too."

I helped Valerie clean up afterward. While I was washing dishes, she came up behind me and fished out a paperback book I had stuck in my back pocket.

"What's this? The Grave Digger by Simon Crown. Sounds...Um...Creepy."

"I'm kind of into horror novels. Simon Crown is one of the best writers when it comes to scaring your socks off. You've never read any of his stuff?"

"I don't read much. I don't know why I guess I could do it given all the free time alone I have around here."

"Why don't you keep that one. I was re-reading it anyway. You can tell me what you think of it."

Valerie flipped the book to the back cover reading over the text.

"I guess I could do that it might be nice to have a hobby."

I was amazed when Valerie shot through the book I gave her in just a few days. She was instantly hooked, and I started to bring her over other copies of Simon Crown's work. We would sit, and talk about each one discussing the parts we liked, and especially the ones that gave us a good scare. It became a regular thing between her, and I these little visits, and she seemed to look forward to them. I just enjoyed any excuse to spend time around her though Wade thought it was silly that I was wasting time with his sister-in-law when I could be chasing real women. Brad was surprisingly cool with it. I guess he figured I was no threat, or at the very least he didn't want to alienate Wade who might be less inclined to let him hang out with us if he was mean to me. He did give me a glimpse into just how dark his psyche could be one evening when Wade, and I sat having a few beers out of Brad's fridge, and Valerie was off bathing the kids.

We were talking at the time about a friend of Wade's who came back to his dorm room and found his girlfriend in bed with his roommate. Wade was telling us about how this guy had chased his naked room mate right out of the dorm, and into the street. It was supposed to be a funny story, but Brad's face got darker as Wade went on. He stood up and started pacing the room. There was a tall china cabinet on one wall, and Brad reached up on top of it suddenly and pulled down the biggest handgun I had ever seen.

"I keep this up here for home protection," he explained fingering the weapon. He took it in one hand and sighted down the barrel.

"I tell you something though. If I ever caught another man in bed with my wife, I would put this in his belly, and blow his fucking guts all over the wall."

He sounded dead serious when he said it, and Wade, and I both looked at each other nervously.

"Maybe we should put the pea-shooter away, Brad. Why don't we head over the bowling alley, and knock out a few games?"

Brad grinned at us his attitude changing on a dime, "Sure! I can show you two fools how to play the game!"

We left without even telling Valerie we were going. I guess she must have been used to that by then.

The following week was mid-terms at the school, and both Wade and I wore ourselves out studying. We both felt like we did alright and we decided to celebrate by really hitting the town hard. As was the usual arrangement we stopped by Brad's to get him to buy us the alcohol we would need for later in the evening, but to our surprise, he wasn't home.

"Some old high school buddy of his showed up here hours ago, and they took off," said Valerie in disgust.

Wade tried to reach him on his cell, but he didn't answer.

"I guess we could go hit the town, and just see where things go," suggested Wade finally.

"I have a better idea!" offered Valerie, "You guys are always going off with Brad. Why not stay here, and keep me company tonight? We could rent movies or something?"

"I don't know, Valerie," said Wade doubtfully.

"If you guys watch the kids for a minute I will run to Heilmanns and get us some mixes to make drinks."

"Well, now you're talking!"

I think Wade felt a little guilty about leaving Valerie alone after all the times we had taken Brad with us in the past, so we gave in, and stayed. She was true to her word, and she returned from the store with all kinds of mixes to make Daiquiris. The three of us ended up on the floor drinking and watching a couple of horror flicks that Valerie had rented on her way back. It was a surprisingly good time, and even Wade was laughing, and enjoying himself. The night wore on, and at some point, Wade got up on the long couch, and then promptly passed out. The kids were long since asleep, and that left just Valerie, and I on the floor. I guess the alcohol had me in an introspective mood, and I found myself relating the story about Cathy, and that first party Wade had taken me to.