The Ugly Duckling

After the second slow dance, they sat down once again, and Alice and Catherine began to converse. But not for long, as several of the bolder boys who had come stag came up and asked the girls to dance. Catherine accepted graciously, and Alice, perhaps taking the cue, also agreed. Christopher watched with a twinge of jealousy, but also with some interest, as they went out onto the floor. Alice glanced his way more than a few times, and it occurred to Christopher that this was quite novel, and probably flattering for her; unlike Catherine, she wasn't used to being the centre of male attention.

As Christopher watched Alice from a distance, a torrent of thoughts about her raced through his mind. Prior to her transformation, he hadn't really considered her at all from a romantic or sexual standpoint. I mean he knew she was a girl ... even with the horrific battleship sized braces, ugly glasses and a face full of zits she still sent out signals that said "female" ... but that wasn't the point of their relationship ... she was just fun to talk to and be with. Now that she was so obviously and definitely an object of male desire, he had started to think about her differently. Was it just because she was so suddenly and surprisingly attractive that he now had feelings for her? Did that make him shallow or insincere? Was it just male ego ... sort of "I saw her first, tough luck for the rest of you guys!" ... or was it something much more?

And complicating matters was the realization that Alice had fallen for him well before he had realized that her interest in him wasn't purely intellectual. That look of adoration she had given him after they had first kissed wasn't something brand new, she obviously had developed romantic intentions earlier on, as his mother had suggested. He wanted to be certain that his own feelings were genuine, and that he hadn't asked her to be his girlfriend because he felt sorry for her ... after all, Alice wasn't some sort of a play toy!

The noise level at the dance just grew and grew as the night wore on. Even though the event was supposed to be alcohol free, many of the participants clearly had brought something along, and there were flushed faces everywhere. By midnight their group decided to call for their car and leave. As they were driven away, Alice, Catherine and the others conversed about all of the other girls at the prom, their dresses, and who was with whom? Christopher was very happy for Alice, after being on the "outside" for so long, she was finally able to have some normal adolescent fun; even though, the mature part of Christopher knew, most of the gossip and speculation was utter nonsense!

Back at Catherine's house, there were snacks and drinks in the downstairs recreation room. Before the party could get started they had to endure a short lecture on behavior from Catherine's father, who then retreated upstairs to go to bed. Peter put the stereo on; he was obviously familiar with the house, and the group just collapsed wherever they could, to eat and drink, with the girls all discarding their heels to be more comfortable. Pretty soon everyone, Christopher included, was a bit less than sober, and the conversation items were somehow much more hilarious.

"How about a game?" Catherine suggested after a raucous hour or so had gone by; she was clearly showing the effects of the alcohol.

"Like what?" Jennifer asked.

"I don't know ... Twister maybe?"

"In these clothes?"

"We could take our dresses off," Catherine said with a suggestive smirk.

"Are you kidding?" Jennifer asked.

"No!"

"But your parents could come downstairs," Christine said, "that would take some explaining."

"They're asleep for sure by now," Catherine said, "unless we make a huge amount of noise no one is going to bother us."

"I'd be too embarrassed, Catherine," Jennifer protested, "You can practically see right through my underwear."

"You are a total hypocrite," Catherine challenged, "you and I both know that Richard is going to get to see a lot more than your underwear tonight ... isn't he?"

That's none of your business ... and anyway, he's my boyfriend ... I can show him whatever I want too!"

"And I'm sure you do," Catherine said with a half-drunken giggle, while Jennifer turned red, thereby confirming to Christopher that she and Richard did more than just kissing!

"I think you're a little too drunk to start undressing, Catherine," Christine laughed, "you might not know where to stop ... not that these guys would mind that ... now would they?" she continued giving her date Arthur a nudge. Arthur responded with a huge grin.

"It's getting pretty late," Christine continued, "maybe we should get going."

"And besides," she added mischievously, giving Catherine a conspiratorial glance, "I think Jennifer has something she wants to show Richard ... it would be a shame to keep him waiting!"

"Christine ... stop it!" Jennifer said glaring at her, while turning a further shade of red.

"Go call us a cab," Christine said to Arthur, while giving him an inviting smile and a wink, "who knows, once we get home, you might get to see something interesting too."

"Promise?" Arthur grinned, making the rest of them laugh. But then he went over to his jacket, which he had hung over a chair, and pulled a cell phone out of a pocket.

"Go upstairs," Peter suggested, "I never get good reception down here."

Christopher asked Arthur to get two cabs, since the party was breaking up apparently. And afterwards there was a general amount of commotion, as they all helped with the clean-up. Then the girls started searching for their shoes, purses and wraps, while the guys retrieved their tuxedo jackets.

There was an episode of group hugging at the front door, as the cabs patiently waited, and then the three couples waved goodnight, with Christopher and Alice going off on their own.

"That's a beautiful prom dress," the cab driver said to Alice graciously, as she got into the back seat while Christopher held the door open for her, "and believe me, I've seen more than a few!"

"Thank you," Alice replied.

When they arrived at Alice's house, and after Christopher paid and tipped the cab driver, Alice unlocked the front door, indicating with a nod of her head that she wanted him to come inside.

She had barely closed it when they heard her mother's voice from the top of the stairs, "Is that you Alice?"

"Yes mom ... and Christopher is with me ... is that OK?"

"That's fine, just don't make any noise, Susan is asleep, and I have an early start tomorrow."

Christopher heard the sound of a door being closed coming from upstairs. He tried to take Alice in his arms so he could kiss her, but she nodded her head and whispered, "Not here."

"Let's take our shoes off," she continued quietly, "so we don't disturb them ... put your jacket on the couch ... I'm going to get us one more drink ... mom keeps some liquor in the house for guests ... she won't mind if we take some just this once."

Christopher took off his jacket, and his cummerbund, it had been slipping quite a bit, and laid them on the sofa, while Alice went into the dining room and retrieved some short glasses and a bottle of white rum from a hutch. After a quick trip into the kitchen, Alice returned with the two drinks, giving him one, and then leading him downstairs to the basement of the house. At the far end of it was a separate furnished room, one that was fairly dated, but comfortable looking. There was no television set in the room, just a stereo system that was decades out of date, along with rows and rows of records for it. Alice was obviously familiar with it, because she switched it on, and then extracted a record from its sleeve, and placed it on the turntable. Once she had the music playing softly, she beckoned him to sit beside her on the couch.

They sipped their drinks, and talked about the prom for a bit, but Christopher knew, and he knew that Alice knew, what they were there for ... and it wasn't just to talk!

Finally she whispered invitingly, her eyes sparkling: "Now you can kiss me."

Christopher put his glass down, and took Alice in his arms, and then they kissed, and kissed, and kissed ... at first the kisses were long and tender, but after a while they became more urgent ... and fiery. When they finally stopped, both of them breathing a little heavily, Alice kept her arms around his neck, and looked longingly into his eyes. That look of adoration he had seen before now included something else ... desire perhaps?

"Christopher?" Alice asked, after planting a further small kiss on his lips.

"Yes?"

"Do you know that my mother thinks I'm in love with you?" she shyly confessed.

"Is she right?"

"She could be ... I've never felt like this before ... if you are in love, how do you know?

"I'm not sure ... I wasn't in love with Carol ... even though she was my girlfriend for a while ... and for sure she wasn't in love with me."

"But she kissed you and everything?"

"I think she partly liked me because I was older; and I liked her because ... because ... well ... well you know, she was a girl and she let me kiss her ... maybe she liked kissing me too, I don't know?"

"I like kissing you; just in case you didn't notice," Alice said with a soft giggle, giving him another soft peck on the lips, "and dancing with you too ... you make me feel so special!"

"You are very special ... I wasn't very happy when you danced with those other guys."

"I was just being polite."

"I know ... but it made me jealous anyway!"

"Well," Alice said quietly, releasing him from her grasp, and smiling at him, "you can dance with me as much as you like now ... because there's nobody else to share me with ... let's."

"OK," Christopher said, standing up and offering his hand to her. They came close together, and Alice put her arms around him and then they started to dance to the sweet slow music ... but suddenly Alice stopped and released him.

"Just a sec," she said, looking somewhat uncertain about what to do ... she then gave him an odd look, and a shrug, and with that she boldly reached up under the material of her skirt, and then started to pull down her pantyhose, giving Christopher a fleeting glimpse of her underwear before the skirt material fell back as she moved her hands lower. She removed them, one leg at a time, while he watched, and then balled them up and threw them onto a chair.

"Don't want to put a hole in the feet, they were so, so, expensive" she explained in an embarrassed way.

Christopher noticed that she was blushing just a little."

"I'm sorry," Christopher said, meaning it, "I should have turned around for you; or at least looked away."

"What for?" Alice replied, with a grimace, "that would have been even worse ... showing you I'm so shy around boys that I can't take something off ... even when you can't even see anything ... without acting all stupid about it ... like I did."

"I didn't get my dance yet," Christopher said, trying to change the subject.

They began to dance again, but it seemed that Alice also wanted to talk.

"Christopher?"

"Yes."

"I don't think Catherine, Jennifer and Christine are virgins ... are they?" she said, more as a statement than a question.

"Catherine isn't," he replied, trying to be matter-of-fact, "I know that."

"Because Peter told you ... I've heard that most boys like to talk about how far they get with girls."

"No ... Catherine told me ... she's like that ... very honest. You don't know Peter, but he's not really a 'kiss and tell' kinda guy ... he would never discuss Catherine with anyone ... even me."

"That's good. I don't think you're a 'kiss and tell' kinda guy either, are you?" Alice said. Christopher noticed that there was a somewhat mysterious and thoughtful aspect to this question.

"No, of course not ... not that there is much worth telling anyway," he answered a little sheepishly.

"Maybe that's going to change," Alice said, with a serious look on her face.

Christopher wasn't quite sure how to respond to this statement. Was Alice thinking about having sex with him?

They danced some more, but Alice was persistent, as she began shyly asking questions again.

"If a girl is in love with a boy, should she just let him do things, like taking her clothes off ... even if he isn't in love with her?"

"I don't think it's supposed to work like that," Christopher replied, once again unsure as to what Alice really wanted to know ... or wanted to do? Maybe, he decided, it was partly the old uncertain Alice ... like when she was fearful of asking him to kiss her in case romance would tarnish their friendship?

Alice," he said, stopping their dance, and taking her firmly by the shoulders, and looking directly into her eyes, "Do you want to know if I'm in love with you?"

Alice nodded her head. "Yes," she whispered almost inaudibly.

"Truthfully," he said, "I'm just like you ... I don't know ... except I do know something ... to me, you just keep getting more and more special and wonderful ... and all I want to do is have you with me all the time ... and to talk to you, and to kiss you, and to hold you ... if that's what being in love is like, well maybe then I am ... I hope so."

Alice slowly nodded her head, and then gave him a long amorous kiss, when it was over, she just held him tightly, looking into his eyes, as if trying to decide on something ... but what?

"Christopher?" she whispered.

"Yes."

"Do you remember that time in the kitchen ... you know, about me feeling brave?"

"What was that?" he answered, completely puzzled.

"I told you that I would show you what I look like in my underwear." she said simply.

"Oh."

It was all he could find to say.

"Right now I'm feeling very brave ... and some other things ... so please unzip my dress," she asked, turning around.

With trembling fingers, almost hardly believing what was happening, he cautiously lowered the zipper.

Alice turned back around and stepped out of the dress, she was now clad only in a feminine looking lacy white strapless bra, and a pair of matching, and very miniscule, panties. Peter's pulse was racing as he looked at her ... it was the closest he had ever come to seeing a real live naked girl!

Alice put the dress carefully over the back of a chair, and then came back over to him. He noticed that she was blushing a little.

"What do you think?" she asked a bit timidly, as she stood before him.

"You are incredibly beautiful," he answered sincerely, meaning every word.

"Thank you," she said, sounding a little nervous ... she pointed at the couch to indicate that they should sit on it.

As soon as he sat down, Alice further surprised him by sitting in his lap, immediately smothering him in a fervent kiss, one that seemed full of desire as her tongue ravaged his. Now the urge to use his hands was overwhelming, the nipples of her breasts were so evident under the bra, he desperately wanted to take it off ... and to strip away the tiny panties so he could see and touch her pussy!

When the kiss ended, Alice once again looked into his eyes; she was breathing a little heavily, and had a look of invitation on her face.

"Will you promise me something?" she whispered.

He couldn't speak, so he just nodded.

"Promise that if I get scared and ask you to stop ... you'll stop," she said, suddenly serious.

"We'll have to stop," Christopher answered, feeling forlorn, "because I don't have anything for ... well ... you know."

"That doesn't matter ... I've been on the pill for a long time ... because my periods were so weird ... I won't get pregnant."

Christopher just nodded again. The power of speech seemed to have been stolen away by the realization that Alice was prepared to give herself to him. There was only one thing left to do, and he did it, initiating another kiss, this one full of urgency, as he tried to tell her through it how much he wanted to possess her. And now she responded just as urgently to this kiss, and then, even more amazingly, she used one hand to release her bra, and then guided his hand onto an exposed breast. He cupped it, amazed at the soft fullness of it, and how he could feel the little nipple stiffen as he gently touched it, while Alice made tiny noises of approval underneath their kiss.

Throwing any further caution to the winds, he let his hand steal down her body until he got to the edge of her panties, and getting no resistance, he slid his fingers underneath the silky material. When Alice allowed her legs to part, he had all the permission he needed, and he traversed lower until he discovered the soft folds of skin that guarded her intimate sexuality. Alice broke off their kiss and buried her head in his shoulder as he explored the warm wet regions between her inner labia, which were so surprisingly flaccid to his inexperienced touch, and penetrated her vagina with a probing finger. Alice was making small noises into his shoulder as her continued his exploration, and holding him tightly.

Before long he had her panties off, and his own shirt, slacks and underwear heaped with them on the floor, and then he was on top of her, and in her, even though in doing so he sensed that he had hurt her. But there was no stopping, only an intense biological urge that required fulfillment ... and he came in a rush, releasing his seed into the recesses of her womb with a series of powerful orgasmic spasms that defied anything that he had ever felt before!

* * *

Christopher was awake, and even though the clock in his room said it was nearly noon, he wasn't at all anxious to get up and face the day ... not after his behavior of the night before. He felt himself turning red and ashamed as he recalled how he had taken Alice, like some sort of cheap tramp, without even a shred of consideration for what her first sexual experience might have been like. He was, he decided to himself, brutal, selfish and totally inconsiderate ... well maybe "brutal" was a little strong, but nevertheless, when a wonderful girl like Alice decides to have sex with you, and you have feelings for her, and then you act like he did, maybe it doesn't miss the mark by all that much!

"If Alice takes sociology next year," he thought to himself grimly, "she'll have great material for a paper: 'Sexual Incompetence in the Late Adolescent Male – A Case Study ... a.k.a. The First Jerk I Slept With!'"

But there was no escaping a soon to be confrontation ... Alice, his mother had advised him about an hour ago through the closed bedroom door, was coming over to finish a bibliography.

Reluctantly, he got up and went into the washroom to shower and shave. He dawdled as he did so, not particularly wanting to go downstairs and be subjected to his mother's questions about the previous evening ... she was too damn smart by half! For sure she would suspect that something about the evening wasn't perfect, and that something probably had to do with sex!

He heard the doorbell ring, and then, after a brief pause, the voices of his mother and Alice talking in an animated fashion ... surprisingly, Alice's tone of voice didn't suggest anything out of the ordinary ... she might have a future as an actress, he decided ruefully.

Finally he heard the sound of footsteps coming upstairs ... Alice no doubt ... well there was nothing else for it but to face the music. Steeling himself, he opened the washroom door and headed towards his bedroom ... and as he entered it, observing that Alice was already seated at his desk.

"Hi," he ventured.

"Hi, Christopher," she replied in a very normal sounding tone of voice.

How was this possible?

"Alice, I need to talk to you."

"OK."

"Last night ... well ... I mean ... I ... I ... should probably apologize."

"What for?"

"For acting like a total moron ... that's what for!"