I would like to apologize in advance to my readers. In the retelling of this story it sort of took on a life of its own. Normally my tales are fairly brief and concise, this one however seemed only to grow as I put pen to paper. (Figuratively speaking). Since it did turn out to be rather long I have decided to break it down into several smaller portions both for ease in posting and for reader consumption. That said… I hope you enjoy this long winded tale. It is a true story, all of this really did happen.
Life is a tapestry, a cloth woven of many different threads that create the whole. This story is a thread, one of many, contributing to the waft and weave that is the Whole cloth, being Jim.
Being Jim Ch.6 Lessons of Life
By Frodov
This story is based entirely on true experiences from my past. Names and a few details have been changed to provide anonymity for those involved. Discretion is a precious commodity and is becoming rarer and rarer every day.
Sometimes to better understand the “whole”, the big picture in its present state you must pick a thread and follow it back through the weave to earlier times or events, to see the interactions that colored that thread or created it. Often one thread is formed from multiple smaller connected threads, much like the cloth is woven from many threads. But isn’t that life? This story reaches back to my time in college. I was working full time mostly in a part time job delivering pizzas to pay for my gas and insurance to allow me to commute to and from school and home. Remember this all happened before cell phones and the internet, cable TV was still in its infancy. The 80’s big hair bands, big hair, a different time.
-Part Two-
Wednesday morning dawned calm and still on the farm. It would turn out to be only the calm before the storm however. Up early to tend out livestock only to find out that the storms that blew through yesterday had damaged some fencing so my younger brother and I had to make some repairs. It was nearly eleven o’clock that morning before we got back to the house and I could clean up before heading to town. I was actually not scheduled to work for Dom’s tonight but I would have normally called around to some of the other locations and see if they needed any help. Today however, I had planned on spending time with Maggie or Penny. I realized that I would have to begin classes in a couple of weeks and that would cut way down on any free time I would have. I also had begun to realize that with the changing of the seasons, I’d not be required to mow the teachers’ lawn for much longer. I wondered how I would be able to trade for my tutoring. Perhaps some other form of yard work, trimming hedges or pruning trees would be considered. I would have to bring it up with the ladies and ask if they had any other work that I could do in exchange for my… education. With my book bag with my Dom’s uniform and a couple of changes of clothes to swap out at the Teachers’ house, I passed through the kitchen to grab some toast and kiss my mom goodbye as I left. I thanked my brother for helping me with the fence and he looked at me as if I were a stranger as I waved and said “Later!”
The drive to town was not uneventful. Damn it! On the interstate, halfway between the farm and town I had a blowout on my front passenger side tire. Of all the luck! So I had to pull off to the shoulder of the highway and change my tire. After I got back on the road I pulled off the interstate to the nearest small town and went looking for a new tire to replace my spare. I knew better than to trust running around with no spare. At this point in my life I bought most of my parts for my truck from the numerous junk and scrap yards in the area. They were usually cheaper and hey, there’s nothing wrong with pulling a practically brand new tire off a wrecked vehicle and using it. Hell, it even comes with the wheel. Only thing is you often get pretty dirty rummaging around in a junk yard, even if you’re trying to be careful.
By the time I hit town I was looking at two in the afternoon, and I was starving. I stopped by Dom’s and ordered a small pizza and used the restroom in the back to clean up a bit. I also asked to use the phone and called the Teachers. Maggie picked up after the third ring.
“Hello?”
“Maggie? This is Jim. I’m sorry for calling so late but I had a little trouble this morning. I had told Penny that I would be available to come by this morning sometime. Obviously I failed to make it before noon however and I was wondering if perhaps I might stop by this late in the day.” I frowned to myself thinking that I sounded almost as if I were begging. But then I guess I kind of was begging, for forgiveness anyway. Those misgivings were put to rest however when Maggie told me that yes I was welcome to come right on over. I told her I would be there in a few minutes as I was at Dom’s and not far away.
A short time later I was standing on their front porch with my book bag and ringing their doorbell. Maggie opened the door with a smile and ushered me inside. Though she was smiling she seemed a bit flustered, her face was slightly flushed and her hair while turned up into a bun as usual had a few stray locks hanging down here and there. She was also holding her dark blue robe closed with one hand, the belt tie trailing loosely at her sides. Maggie took my left hand in her free right hand and led me up the stairs to the kitchen.
“Jim darling, fix yourself a glass of iced tea and have a seat, I’ll be back in a few minutes.” She said with a shy smile and left down the hallway towards her bedroom. Her stockinged feet whispering on the carpet with each foot fall. It wasn’t her room that she entered however, she entered Penny’s. What was that about I wondered? Shaking my head I put my bag down and collected a clean glass and some ice then poured a half a glass of tea then had a seat at the table. I had been sitting for about ten minutes when I heard the bedroom door open and close down the hall, then the bathroom door close a moment later. Predictably the water was turned on in the sink, then off. Once more the bathroom door opened and moments later a bedroom door opened and closed again. You could say that curiosity was beginning to get the best of me as my imagination was in overdrive wondering just what was going on. I knew that the ladies lived together and both had told me that they compared notes and shared with one another all things concerning their… students. But I wondered if perhaps they shared more than just notes. Not that it was any of my business, I mean to each his own… or her own I guess. It was about this time that I heard a bedroom door down the hall open again and hushed voices speaking. I couldn’t quite make out what was being said but I could identify Penny’s voice, and Maggie’s. I stood up as they stepped into the doorway into the kitchen, and was met by three smiling faces.
Maggie and Penny were standing there with a vision. At that instant time stopped, or rather slowed down to a near stop anyway. For a moment, a split second maybe, I thought it was Michelle. The girl looked so much like Michelle it was startling. She was the same height, she was dressed in the same school girl uniform that I had seen Michelle wearing on two occasions here at this very house, she had the same curly auburn hair… and she had the same blue green… turquoise really, eyes. No, not the same, Michelle’s eyes had flecks of gold but this girl’s eyes did not, and her eyebrows were perhaps a little heavier. That’s not to say she wasn’t a stunner, she was… well… beautiful in her own way. And she smiled. It was a familiar smile, or at least it felt like it to me at that moment, it was a little shy and uncertain, but not forced. Both the smile and the eyes screamed interest and perhaps curiosity. I didn’t miss that Penny was holding one of her hands and Maggie the other either. Out of the corner of my eye or rather my peripheral vision as I was taking all this in I saw that Maggie looked between Penny, this girl and myself as if weighing the situation. Whatever her conclusion, she broke my spell and time returned to normal speed as she reached out her empty hand for mine.
“Jim, darling, this is Terry. Terry, this is Jim, he like yourself is one of our students. I am so happy that you two have had this opportunity to meet. I know it’s a shame that it is so brief but perhaps sometime in the future you may run into one another again.” Maggie made the introduction and by doing so also informed both myself and Terry that each understood that the other could be trusted with our knowledge of the other’s… Studies. I remember smiling meekly at Terry and nodding my head in greeting and she in return blinking slowly and nodding briefly as well. Penny took over from that point and led Terry to the stairs and down to the door. Maggie on the other hand held onto my hand and pulled me to the doorway in sight of the two. I didn’t realize that she had actually wanted me to witness Penny and Terry kissing. Wow! I knew exactly the kind of kiss they were sharing as I myself had shared the same with Penny and Maggie on multiple occasions. What I did not understand was why I was meant to witness the kissing. I looked sidelong at Maggie and noted that she was studying me intently, and then I saw that Terry had opened her eyes and saw me. Her eyes went wide and took on a worried expression before Penny realized what was happening and leaned in and whispered something in her ear. Terry pulled back a bit looking into Penny’s eyes then back up at me, and then she nodded and smiled nervously before she stepped out through the door Penny had opened.
Maggie led me silently back into the kitchen and motioned for me to resume my seat at the table. She then went about putting a kettle on to boil and setting out three cups and saucers on the table. Penny came into the kitchen and motioned for me to remain sitting before I could stand up. She smiled and then walked over to the sink where Maggie was standing with her back to me. Penny wrapped an arm around Maggie’s waist and leaned her head on Maggie’s shoulder, Maggie in turn leaned her head against Penny’s and they stood like that for several long moments. Now I didn’t know the whole story but I sensed the emotions and the support that both gave to the other. I was witnessing a very private moment and I was touched. After a bit the kettle began to whistle and the spell was broken, the two parted and Maggie and Penny both wiped an eye. Penny came to the table, going around my chair, pausing to lay a hand on my shoulder for a moment then continuing on around to pull out her chair and sit. Maggie brought the kettle over to the table and poured water into the three cups then returned it to the stove top before seating herself to my right. Both ladies remained silent as they went about putting tea bags into the cups and spooning sugar as well, they both seemed lost in silent contemplation and I didn’t want to intrude despite my curiosity. Both, as I said were affected but I would have to say that Maggie seemed to be taking whatever had them so pensive much more to heart. I looked from one to the other waiting for one or the other to break the silence, eventually it was Miss Penny.
“Jim, darling, you must have questions I’m sure, thank you for being patient with us. I understand you had a bit of difficulty today.” She stirred her tea as she waited for me to speak.
“Just a lot of aggravation really, I had to attend to some damage to some fencing on the farm as a result of yesterday’s storms.” I saw Penny wince at this mention, then a slow half smile as she recalled the events of yesterday. “I also had a blow out of a tire on my pick up as I drove to town, that repair and then finding a replacement for my spare definitely side tracked me for a while.” I sighed. “Some days are challenging to say the least.” I lamented. Maggie looked up at this and smirked and nodded as if I had spoken a common wisdom.
“Forgive me Jim, I’m just a little emotional this afternoon. You see, the young lady you just met, Terry is…” Maggie paused taking a deep breath and swallowing before continuing. “…was another one of our students. She is very dear to both Penny and I, much in the same way has you have become to us.” She added with a smile, Penny reached over and patted the top of my hand and smiled as well. “Today was Terry’s last lesson with us. You might say that she has graduated. Penny and I have grown so fond of her and we are so proud of her growth and success, she will be missed.” Maggie’s hand shook ever so slightly as she picked up her cup and blew across the hot tea before taking a sip.
“Maggie, I can come back another time if you like, I don’t mean to intrude or anything…” I began, honestly ready to leave the two to their emotions if they would prefer.
“Oh nonsense! You don’t need to go anywhere darling.” Penny spoke up as she playfully swatted my hand in mock reprimand. “Just give us two old ladies a moment or two to collect ourselves.” She added watching Maggie intently. I had the impression that Penny was more than a little concerned with Maggie’s state of mind, and or emotions. I myself was picking up waves of tension radiating from her as if it were heat from a hot stove. I’m not sure what possessed me or came over me at that moment, maybe it was empathy or some basic instinct that I wasn’t even aware of before but I stood up and walked behind Maggie’s chair and laid both hands softly on her shoulders. Maggie tensed and froze for a moment or two but as I began to slowly but firmly knead her shoulders and neck she seemed to relax as she realized that I was only trying to comfort her. She actually leaned her head back into my chest briefly, her hands coming to rest in her lap as she submitted to my manipulations. I glanced over at Penny and she sat still in her chair, both hands still holding her tea cup, her jaw slightly agape with a look of wonder on her face that slowly morphed into a warm soft smile. I might have been imagining it but I could almost swear that her eyes watered up momentarily before she blinked several times and sipped her tea.
After a few minutes Maggie reached one hand up and patted one of mine and leaned her head over to rest on that hand momentarily before turning and kissing the back of my hand. I gave her shoulder one last squeeze before resuming my seat. Maggie looked at me with those warm amber eyes and smiled before saying.
“Thank you Jim, darling, that was kind of you. Tell me, what possessed you to do that?” She asked, her head tilting slightly to one side.
“Honestly Maggie, I’m not sure… I, well I felt, in my heart that you were in some sort of pain, you seemed so tense. I just thought that you should be hugged, or touched somehow to be reassured that everything was okay. I’m sorry if I was too forward.” I added softly, my head down a bit as if waiting to be reprimanded. Instead, Maggie just looked at me long and silently, studying me, finally simply smiled that warm soft smile again and nodded her head closing her eyes for a few moments. When she reopened her eyes they were clear and it seemed if Maggie was back to her usual self. She looked across the table at Penny who was studying Maggie as well, with one eye brow arched in silent question.
“Penny, could you work with this gentleman this afternoon? I think I will go lie down for a bit.” Maggie asked in a voice that was uncharacteristically meek, at least to my ears. Penny simply nodded with a sad understanding smile. Maggie rose from her chair but paused as she passed my own, she placed one hand on my shoulder before continuing on out of the kitchen and down the hall. I watched Penny closely as Maggie made her exit, she looked somewhat lost in thought as she idly stirred her half empty tea cup. Finally Penny looked up at me before she too stood up.
“She will be okay Jim, I’m afraid that both she and I do get somewhat attached to our students, some more than others. Maggie was very fond of Terry. Ordinarily once we’ve concluded our teaching we stay in contact with our graduates. We learned today however that young Miss Terry is moving far away, she was accepted at a University out of state. We are happy for her of course, but sad as well. I feel like you understand that somehow though. You do continue to amaze both Maggie and myself with your maturity and surprisingly your empathy. You are not only observant but you have a very big heart it seems.” Penny chatted away as she gathered up the tea cups and saucers along with the spoons to place them in the sink. Coming back over to stand behind my chair she put her hands on my shoulders and in a similar fashion as I had with Maggie she began massaging my shoulders. She leaned down and kissed the top of my head then whispered near my ear. “Thank you for reaching out to Maggie, it really meant a lot to her… and to me. Now, come with me.” She commanded, waiting for me to stand up and then taking my hand to lead me to the stairs. I followed her down the first flight to the landing then down the second flight to the beaded curtain and then beyond. Instead of turning left into the “classroom”, Penny led me to the right and to the only door on the right side of the short hall.
Opening the door and reaching in to turn on the light switch, Penny led me in and then turned to close the door. I took in the room, it was larger than either her own or Maggie’s bedrooms upstairs, it was more like a hotel suite than a bedroom. To the right of the doorway were three bookcases full of books and a few nick knacks. There was a console television sitting catty cornered in the corner, next to it a standing floor lamp with a small side table under it beside a comfortable looking wing backed easy chair with a matching ottoman. A couple of feet further along the wall to the right was an antique wet bar with glassed cased doors behind which stood a variety of spirits, along with glasses. There was another end table in the corner to the left of the wet bar, next to an older rumpled looking sofa along the next wall facing the door and the television. To the left of the doorway was an antique china cabinet with more books and some decorative plates and serving ware against the wall, a small dining table sat beneath a very plain hanging leaded glass shaded light fixture.
Beyond the table was an open doorway leading into a small galley kitchen with a small stove, a counter with a sink, and of course a refrigerator. Another open doorway exited the galley kitchen into the next room beyond the wall behind the sofa, it was a bedroom. A large closet took up most of the wall to the left of the doorway with multiple accordion style doors. Along the wall immediately to the right of the doorway was a long low dresser, scattered across the top were an antique radio, an old fishing tackle box, a large ornate amber glass ash tray with a pipe stand in the center complete with several pipes. There were several tins with different tobaccos I assumed behind the clean empty ashtray. There were also several framed pictures propped up. As I looked closer I saw the images of a smiling young couple holding hands in one picture, arm in arm in other pictures. They both seemed to be happy and obviously in love, the same two people at different ages. It dawned on me that the girl in these pictures was Maggie. WOW! I thought she was a very sensual and attractive woman as she was now, but it would appear that in her youth she was simply a knock out!
Penny still hadn’t said anything, she continued to let me simply take it all in, perhaps she was waiting on me to ask a question, or she was still lost in thought herself. To the left of the dresser in the corner was an old steamer trunk with a quilt folded up and resting atop of it. There was a queen sized bed with a bookcase headboard centered along the wall between matching low night stands on either side. Along the far wall was a tilted drafting table with the hooded work light centered over it, to the left a low table with more books and a reading lamp with a low soft easy chair.
“The man, in these photos with Maggie, was he her late husband?” I asked of Penny. She nodded solemnly.
“Yes he was, they were very much in love for many years, even after…” Penny abruptly censored herself before continuing too far. “I’m sorry Jim… Oh what the hell, Maggie would tell you herself if you asked… yes Maggie and John were very much in love. Over many years they were happy, but at some point John developed interests in another woman. He had an affair that lasted for several years before Maggie found out about it. She was devastated. She immediately separated from John and sent him packing. However, she learned from the other woman, John’s mistress, more than she learned from John. The woman was the widow of John’s lifelong friend, John was his best man at their wedding. He was beyond grief when his friend died in a tragic accident. They consoled each other as friends not lovers, at first. Neither had any designs for anything more, but over time it did develop and john struggled with feelings of guilt and remorse at having done so. The woman couldn’t bear to see him in such turmoil and sought out Maggie to try to explain and express her regret and sorrow for having come between them. Somehow she convinced Maggie that John had never stopped loving her but had only shared his love with her as an extension of their friendship. By then John and Maggie had already divorced and were living separately. Maggie still loved John but of course the trust was gone, but they remained friends, even if it was a strained version of such. A few years later Maggie had an aunt pass away and was left a small sum of money from her estate. Maggie bought this house. Later when she learned that John had fallen ill, he had been diagnosed with cancer, she arranged for this small apartment to be part of the house. She had him move in and he spent the last three years of his life here. He’s been gone for a few years now but Maggie just couldn’t bring herself to get rid of all his things. Still waters run deep, and she loves deeply when she lets someone into her heart. I think you already recognize that though don’t you?” Penny said more as a statement than a question, squeezing my hand. Turning to face Penny I asked.
“Penny, is she okay?”
“Yes, she’ll be fine, she’s a tough old bird you know.” Penny smiled “She just has a little emotional baggage. I’m afraid you will find as you go through the years young man that we all acquire more and more. Every relationship leaves a mark on us, good or bad or indifferent. We experience, we learn, we remember. It’s what makes us who we are. It would do you good to remember that every action, every word you share with another stays with them for the rest of their lives.” Looking at me fondly, Penny raised her free hand and stroked my cheek and added. “I don’t know why I have to tell you that, you seem to know that already. So much in one so young, you know you have made a mark on both Maggie and me alike. God bless Jules for having sent you our way…” Penny stopped suddenly and looked up at me sheepishly knowing she had let slip something that I was not supposed to have been told.
I smiled knowingly and bowed my head once. “Penny, I suspected that from early on but thank you for confirming it for me. Jules never told me that she had “recommended” me to you and Maggie. I guess she still takes discretion to heart, I would think that makes her a “good student” as well. Or should I say graduate?” I smiled and winked.
“You don’t miss much do you darling?” Penny smiled warmly and nodded her silent confirmation to my statement. Then her gaze drifted off to some distant unseen horizon as she looked into herself, her memories perhaps with a wistful smile playing on those soft lips.
“Penny?” I began softly, hesitantly perhaps. “I know you are an exciting and sensual woman, and have showed me… interest… on many occasions. But… Not that it is any of my business, but I get the impression that you are quite… fond… of the fairer sex. Do you… prefer the company of other women to that of men?” I stood stock still counting my heart beats, wondering if I had perhaps overstepped my friendship with Penny in asking such a personal question. Penny stepped back half a step and looked me in the eye for what seemed like long minutes even if it were only a few seconds at most.
“You know that that is a very personal question, and if I had been a stranger it could have been very hurtful if not extremely rude…” She stared at me with a neutral expression but with one eyebrow arching high on her forehead.
“I… I’m sorry Penny, I simply am just trying to learn as much as I can about you… about someone I find that I care deeply for.” I hung my head in apologetic shame. Knowing Penny’s somewhat volatile disposition at times I fully expected to be slapped at any instant. Instead I felt her hand brush softly along my cheek before she turned my chin up to look her in the eyes.
“You have nothing to be sorry for Jim, I’m actually flattered that you bothered to ask rather than just formed some uninformed opinion of me.” She smiled warmly, the warmth radiating from those soft blue eyes as well as her full sensual lips. “Yes darling, I do enjoy the company of other women, I guess I always have. That doesn’t however mean that I cannot or do not appreciate a handsome and caring man as well. Does that bother you?” She asked tilting her head a bit to one side awaiting my answer.
“No ma’…” I smiled mischievously. “No Penny, it doesn’t bother me at all. If truth be known it intrigues me, I mean we do have things in common do we not?” I asked with a wink.
Penny’s smile broadened and a twinkle came to her eyes as she once again squeezed my hand in hers and winked back at me. “Yes I suppose we do then.” Penny looked around the room and then pulled me over to the edge of the bed where she sat down and patted the bed beside her for me to do likewise. After I sat she turned about halfway bringing her right leg and foot up onto the bed, her left still dangling over the side. “Is there anything else you might like to know about me Jim?” Penny asked batting her lovely blue eyes in mock innocence, again tilting her head slightly to one side. My hand still in her hand, her robe coming slightly apart giving me a peek of that magnificent cleavage of hers. I studied Penny carefully as I thought for a moment or two considering several questions that had often played through my mind either in her presence or after having spent time with her. Looking down at the hand holding mine I decided on what I thought might be a relevant question.
“I know that Maggie was married, at one time, have you ever been married?” I continued looking at her hand, feeling a momentary flinch before she relaxed again and softly squeezed my hand once more.
“I have known and loved several men in the past, and yes I was engaged once, when I was in college. I was close to your age actually, when this happened. I was so in love, I thought the world revolved around my fiancé, he could do no wrong. He hung the moon for me, the stars all had my name on them, I was in heaven…” She drifted off for a moment with a faraway look in her eyes. Then her eyes refocused on mine and her smile took on a sad affectation. “I was very naïve back then, not long before our planned wedding I learned that my trust was sadly misplaced. My knight in shining armor was rather tarnished in reality. In fact, I caught him in the act with a friend of mine. I had come to her apartment unannounced to ask about some plans for the wedding and I walked in as they were in the middle of making love in her living room. Nothing was said, they both knew that I was hurt and there was no apology that would fix it. I fled in a rage… I shouldn’t have tried to drive when I did but…” Penny trailed off with a lump in her throat. I could feel her hand trembling in mine as she relived that event as she told of it. She looked up at me with wet somber eyes so sad almost made me gasp. “I had an accident as I sped away. It was a bad wreck. My legs were pinned under the dash of my car and it caught on fire…” Penny gasped and she swallowed, her hand shaking as if it were vibrating. “A policeman came upon the accident thankfully, moments after I had wrecked. He was able to put out the fire quickly but my feet were burned. The fire department cut me out of my car and I was taken to the hospital. I spent a couple of weeks there, the doctors did what they could but there was permanent damage.” Her expression was so sad it made my heart ache. I looked down at Penny’s foot on the bed, encased in her ever present silk slippers. With my free hand I gently touched it and she gave a start as if she had been jolted with a bolt of electricity. Looking into her eyes I could see the hesitancy and uncertainty. I realized that this was one of if not the biggest of Penny’s own insecurities. This was major, and personal.
Much like the intuitive impulse that made me stand up and give Maggie a shoulder massage earlier in the kitchen, I was again possessed to take Penny’s pain and insecurity and show her kindness, love and affection. I withdrew my hand from Penny’s and with both hands took her right foot softly and began to ease the silk slipper down off of her foot. Penny’s right hand immediately grabbed my hand as if to halt me, a wild frightened look in her eyes almost pleading me to stop. I smiled softly and blinked my eyes slowly once in acknowledgement but took my right hand and squeezed hers reassuringly then removed it from my left hand so that I could remove the slipper. As the slipper came free from her foot I heard her gasp then hold her breath. I stood and then turned and knelt beside the bed so that I could study Penny’s naked foot more closely. She had put both of her hands over the toes as if to cover them out of shame. I looked up at Penny seeing that hesitant pleading look still in her eyes. Gently I pried her hands away and softly held her foot in my hands and saw the scarred toes, the big toe and first toe of her right foot were fused together, the first toe had no nail, the next toe seemed normal but the next two toes were simply nubs with no nails. I gently stroked each toe as I examined them, then on impulse I lowered my head to her foot and softly kissed the top of her foot, then each toe in succession. Again I heard Penny gasp and I could feel her trembling through her foot. Setting that foot down I leaned back and looked down at her left foot still clad in its silk slipper. I looked up at Penny again this time seeing a puzzled almost bewildered look on her face. I reached down and gently lifted her left foot to my chest and eased off that slipper as well. The toes of this foot were all intact but they were covered in thick scar tissue that almost looked like molten flesh colored wax. Again, as with her right foot, I leaned in and kissed the top of her foot and then each toe in turn. When I had finished I replaced her silk slipper and set her foot back on the floor. I picked up the other slipper and replaced it on her right foot. By this point Penny was literally vibrating she was trembling and shaking so badly. Her normally vibrant generous lips were quivering as I stood back up beside the bed. She looked up with her beautiful blue eyes swimming in tears that threatened to spill over at any moment.
“Penny there is not a part of your body that you ever need to feel ashamed about, every inch of you is beautiful inside and out… Thank you for sharing with me. I will never forget it.” I said softly looking into those conflicted eyes as she tried to decide on being ashamed or elated or both at the same time. I guess she came to a decision as she lunged out at me and wrapped both arms around my waist and grappled me with one of the strongest tightest hugs my short life had ever experienced. I could hear muffled gasps and sobs as she pressed her weeping face tightly into my abdomen. Her upper body and arms wracked with the silent sobs for several minutes before she calmed down and collected herself. Breathing more or less regularly again Penny loosened her gorilla grip around my waist and leaned back to look up at me with tear reddened eyes and one of those sloppy post crying smiles. Suddenly she stood up beside the bed in front of me and lunged again, her arms going around my neck , her breast smashing into my chest her tear soaked cheeks and lips in my face as she locked lips with me and began furiously kissing me with abandon. This was not a slow sensual kiss or the more exciting tongue lashing passionate kissing I was familiar with at this point, but rather a very happy sloppy wet kissing that covered my entire face, my lips, my cheeks, my eyelids, my chin, my nose, and of course my lips again and again.
After a few moments of this face bathing Penny pulled back to look me in the eye. She was breathless and something else. The hesitancy, the uncertainty the fear and shame all gone… in their place was a visceral hunger, perhaps a bit of mischief as well. Penny’s eye brows danced as she turned me around so that the bed was behind me, her arms came away from the back of my shoulders. With her hands, palms flat against my chest, she shoved me backwards causing me to trip and fall backwards onto the bed. In an instant she leapt atop me straddling my body her knees and legs on either side of my waist, her hands by my sides just under my arms. Then her strawberry blond hair formed a cloud that framed her animated face as she leaned down pressing her breasts onto my chest, separated by only her silk robed and my thin tee shirt. Once more her lips locked upon my own, this time they were pressed gently to mine. It was a soft sensual familiar kiss that would warm the soul of any receiving it. Of course this was Penny and as enjoyable as that kind of kiss was it soon evolved into her more signature ravening passionate style of kissing. Her tongue seeking out and engaging my own in a dance of shared lust and desire. My hands had found themselves seemingly of their own accord sliding up Penny’s flanks, along her rib cage until my thumbs encountered her under arms. When I became aware of them I wrapped my right arm around her side with my hand in the middle of her shoulder blades pulling her even more tightly into my own body, my left hand slid back down her flanks and found itself grasping her right side of that that tantalizing pear shaped bottom. This groping and grasping elicited a long low moan from Penny’s lips as she pulled away to breathe momentarily.
I too was breathless and my heart was racing with excitement. With all her weight supported by her body pressing against my own, Penny raised her arms to bring her hands to my face. She stroked my cheeks with either hand then brushed the hair from my forehead as she studied my face and stared intently into my brown eyes with her soft blue red rimmed eyes.
“Darling, you are going to make some one very happy, no, not one, many women I should think. There is something about you that just begs to be… experienced. You have a way about you that I’m sure many will find as enticing and exciting as I do… Maggie too.” Penny spoke in a soft sultry voice. I must have had a questioning expression on my face at this mention as Penny smiled broadly and said. “Oh yes, Mags has spoken of you on more than one occasion. Like me…” Penny actually looked momentarily abashed. “Maggie has experienced a few men over the years but none have impressed her or I or certainly not intrigued either of us as much as you have. For one so young you seem to be mature far beyond your years. Where most men, your age seem to be in such a testosterone driven hurry, ruled by their own desires and lust rather than their emotions and their hearts. Even men far older than you tend to be this way as well. Some however, rare ones, like yourself seem to be more in touch with your feelings and the feelings of others. I hope you never grow out of that.” Penny smiled and pushed herself up so that she was sitting upright on my waist, her robe barely closed and hardly concealing her womanly charms as her marble sized nipples were nearly poking through the silky material of her robe. Her hands drawing slowly down the front of my tee shirt across my chest and to my abdomen. Penny tilted her head slightly to one side and said. “Was there another question you wished to ask of me… before I got carried away?” She smiled apologetically. I smiled up at her and tried to decide how to approach my next thought.
“Actually I was going to ask about your feet and why you always had them covered with slippers, but you shared all of that with me before I could ask. Thank you again. I smiled softly and squeezed her forearms as they were still resting with her hands on my abdomen. Again Penny swallowed but smiled sweetly in return. “You said you were engaged but obviously that marriage never happened. You didn’t say anything about any other… engagements… I get the impression that this betrayal scarred you… in more ways than one.” I smiled sadly and again squeezed her forearms reassuringly. “Was that a catalyst perhaps, for other interests?” I asked softly. Penny looked down at me and smiled warmly.
“There you go again… Most would have been rather blunt in their questioning about sexual preferences, condescending even. But not you, you have a way of asking but leaving room for dignity and… discretion. That’s a kindness in and of itself. To answer your so delicately framed question Jim, no and yes. Yes, that fiasco nearly averted did scar me, and not just because of the injuries from my car crash. But also No, as even before I fell in love and became engaged I knew that I had interests and feelings for others of my own gender. Well, a few particular girls over the years, even as a young girl growing up. Of course there was confusion and uncertainty but these things have a way of working themselves out. Like minds and hearts find each other in time. It’s no different than what is considered normal male female attraction. I know that many think that something traumatic has to happen to turn someone to one preference or another, and while that may be true in some cases it’s not all encompassing. Not everyone is changed or turned into what they are. More often than not, it’s natural, though I know for a fact that far too many will never accept that thinking. Often, very often in fact, many people simply acknowledge an innate attraction to another person and it doesn’t matter what gender they are. If you love someone, you love them, gender assignations simply don’t matter. It is possible to be attracted to and to even love the same gender as well as the opposite. But you will find that this is rare, if only because of social norms and acceptance. I know you are very aware of that or you would never have been introduced to Maggie and myself through Jules. Again, a testament to your open mind and gentle heart.”
“I have the feeling I already know the answer to this question, and to ask it may even be rude, but if you will indulge me…” I paused to let Penny know I was serious about not trying to be rude. “Are you and Maggie… lovers?” I mentally held my breath and caught myself counting my heartbeats as I waited on Penny to consider my question. I needn’t have worried however as she looked down at me and smiled warmly.
“Yes, you do already know the answer to that question but thank you, again, for asking so considerately. Many would simply assume and go from there whether that assumption is correct or not. To answer your question, yes. Maggie and I have shared many things over the years and that includes sex. I’ll go one step further though, you may not have asked because I am not she, but Maggie, like me does have an interest in men… well… a few men… now and then. Again, it’s not so much a gender thing as the person. I think you already know that Maggie is… shall we say… guarded with her affections. She doesn’t readily express herself as openly as say I do. However, that said, if someone makes an impression on her, really touches her heart, that well is deep my young sir. You will not find another as loyal and steadfast and caring as she.” Penny smiled almost dreamily as she looked off into the distance in her mind or heart then she came back to me and looked down into my eyes and added. “You, darling, have touched her deeply. You didn’t even know you had done it, and more than once. Know this, she will be your champion for life, you are golden. Show her the same love that is in your heart and it will be returned tenfold.” And Penny nodded knowingly before adding. “That goes for me too young man.” Penny lifted her hands from my abdomen and took my hands in hers.
I lay there on that bed, my world concentrated down to this small part of the universe, with this vivacious complicated woman sitting astride me expanding my mind. I had many more questions but some part of me understood that perhaps this was not the time to ask them. I guess my pensive disposition was misinterpreted by Penny as perhaps again shyness or apprehension. Her face looked down at me and I swear it morphed from open warm and caring to once more mischievous, wanton and hungry. Those big soft blue eyes hardened with an intensity, her eye brows knitting with concentration, her soft oh so desirable lips tightening into a feral grin as she leaned forward again placing her hands on my chest, palms down, finger nails raking like claws of a predator.
“Jim, darling…” She nearly growled. “Is there anything else you wish to know about me?” she asked in a low husky voice. That voice stirring something animalistic in myself, something that had nothing to do with emotions or intellectual thoughts… it was visceral. I felt my body stirring, or at least I suddenly became aware of it. I may have been physically reacting to Penny for some time but I had been distracted perhaps. Now, however, I was very aware of a growing… need… making an appearance. I have no doubt that Penny was feeling it too as she was sitting right on top of it, albeit separated by my shorts and jeans. Oh my god! Penny twitched her body, her sex grinding onto the growing bulge in my jeans. She knew full well what she was doing but I still had my doubts about just how far this would be allowed to progress. I certainly did not want to misstep by assuming or getting ahead of myself. I guess my own lack of confidence was working in unison with all the lessons about trust and… permission… were battling it out in my subconscious mind. My innate curiosity was in overdrive however and eventually won out over my shyness.
“Penny…” I breathed almost inaudibly
“Yes Jim?” Penny purred back with a husky voice of her own.
“Could I… see you… all of you?” I asked mentally crossing my fingers, my toes, my eyes even.
Smiling coyly Penny lifted her hands and grabbed my own and pulled them to her waist, drawing them to the tie that closed her robe. “Are you asking for permission Jim or are just expressing a desire?” She asked, those fierce blue eyes narrowing questioningly.
“Both… I would love to see all of you.” I gushed. Penny guided my hands in untying the belt of her robe allowing the robe to fall completely open. Those pendulous breasts finally freed from their silken bonds. So round, so perfect, the way they seemed to be pulled to one another by their own gravity creating a deep line of cleavage between them. The aureola the size of half dollar coins slightly darker than the surrounding breast, each sported a lightly pink marble sized nipple and at this time they were both as hard as marbles too. My hands were still being held by Penny and they willing followed her guidance as she brought them to her breasts. I had already held these fabulous creations of course, briefly in the shower some time back but as wonderful as that was it could not compare to this moment. This time there was absolutely no pretense of anything other than curiosity and tactile fulfillment of my desire. Placing my hands under them and lifting them slightly feeling their weight in my palms as I gently pressed them together. My thumbs and forefingers were drawn to those pink marbles as if by magnetic attraction. Though stiffened and firm they were still pliable and I lightly pinched and rolled them experimentally. Penny ‘s eyes closed and she let out a soft almost silent moan, her back arching as if to press her breast further into my touch. As fascinating as those wonderful globes were my curiosity was for Penny’s entire body and soon my hands were drifting further down. My hands palms flat to her skin, my fingers and thumbs pointing upwards and I slowly, lightly feathered them down her chest and abdomen.
Penny was not a thin woman by any means but neither was she fat. Instead, as she liked to refer to herself she was “plush”. The woman had curves, delicious intoxicating curves of the most feminine variety ever created. Her stomach was not a flat washboard but rather though it was smooth it had a slight paunch to it before transitioning smoothly towards her garden of Eden. As my hands slowly but surely closed the distance Penny raised up to stand on her knees astride me silently offering my wandering hands better access. After passing her naval I had rotated my hands so that my fingers were now leading the quest and exploration of Penny’s womanly treasures. As my fingertips ventured into the small tuft of downy hair just above her sex Penny leaned forward, her hands again supporting her upper body by resting on my shoulders as she leaned in to my face for another soft sensual series of kisses. Those kisses ended abruptly when my curious fingers reached that warm moist nest of feminine intrigue. The flesh felt as if it were covered in fine velvet, and… it was bulging. This was new to me, all the girls I had known up to this point were more of… ‘innies’, Penny was an ‘outtie’… and a BIG one to my limited experience. My entire hand, palm and fingers barely covered it. I squeezed it gently as a whole, I felt Penny’s juices wetting my hand and slipping between my fingers, and earned me a sudden gasp as she stopped kissing me. She pulled her face back and looked down at me with a look of surprise, her eyebrows both reaching for her hairline and those soft sexy lips curling up at the corners into a curious smile. I had to see what I was feeling, my imagination was running wild.
“Penny… You feel so… different… from anyone I’ve ever met… could I… look more closely?” I asked meekly but gave another gentle squeeze to emphasize my interest. Her eyebrows relaxed and those sparkling soft blue eyes took on that decidedly hungry look once again. Biting her lower lip and nodding she pushed off of me and rolled to my side. I propped myself up on my right elbow and leaned down to gently place a soft kiss on her lips. Penny’s right hand came up and held the side of my face then she ran her fingers back through my hair as my left hand now palmed over her sex as I had with my right hand moments before. I rubbed gently but with some force as if trying to push that soft velvety mound inside of her and at the same time squeezed it again. Penny’s hips rose slightly off the bed as she arched her back, her eyes closed and she inhaled in another sharp gasp before letting it out as a low moaning ‘oh’ sound. I kissed her once more on the lips then began a slow trail of kisses down her neck to her chest and perilously through the valley of her cleavage, those amazing breasts lying slightly to either side as gravity pulled them towards her under arms. My chest and tee shirt dragging slowly across the nipple of her left breast as my trail of kisses descended ever further down her torso. I had to pause briefly at her naval and circle her ‘innie’ with my tongue before kissing it softly and continuing my trek downward. On her back, Penny’s slight belly was of course as flat as any woman half her age, but with each kiss the muscles under it would tense and quiver causing small ripples to undulate with her growing excitement.
When my kisses finally reached that small tuft of silky soft hair above her mound I had to readjust my position. I sat up and ran my right hand lovingly along Penny’s left side and across her hip and abdomen. I took a small clutch of those hairs between my right thumb and forefinger and rolled them back and forth before gently tugging at them. Looking back towards Penny’s face I saw that her eyes were closed and her chest was rising and falling faster and faster.
“It’s beautiful Penny…” I spoke softly. “You… are beautiful.” I added as I ran my left hand again across her velvety soft fruit… That’s what it was… A soft ripe piece of fruit. I told Penny what I thought and she giggled breathlessly before she spoke.
“I’ve been told… that it looks… like a… peach.” She told me breathing hard. Of course! It really did look like a peach I thought. Even had a slight peach color about it with the strawberry blond hair, the velvety soft very small hairs were the fuzz on the skin of a peach. And like a ripe peach it was indeed juicy. Oh my was it juicy! Using only the tips of the fingers on my left hand I stroked and tickled those fuzzy fine hairs along the outer lips of Penny’s peach. Again Penny’s hips rose to press her peach into my touch, and I heard another sharp gasp. Looking back to Penny’s face I saw that she had both of her hands flat on her abdomen pushing down, her fingers extended as if she were reaching but holding herself back. I got the impression that she wanted so badly to touch herself but was allowing me to explore instead. I learned that this was a powerful tool for my growing bits of knowledge. Anticipation can be an amazing turn on.
Feeling Penny’s peach quiver beneath my light touch I turned back to examine it more closely. Her outer lips were pouting and parting the divide was wet with dewy drops of nectar I could smell a sweet musky scent getting stronger with every passing moment. I couldn’t resist the urge to delve in between those lips and explore, with the tip of my longer middle finger I gently pressed in between them at the bottom of that soft rise. Immediately I felt the heat of Penny’s excitement, the word hot doesn’t do her justice. I marveled at the slippery soft heat as I drew my finger upwards parting those lips further and further like opening an envelope. As my finger neared the top of that natural seam Penny’s legs tightened up as if she were straining, more anticipation I suspected. Finally my finger reached the apex of that velvety fruit and her stem was there and standing out pink and at full attention. I felt a jolt of electricity surge through Penny’s entire body as my finger bumped into it. I withdrew in haste momentarily understanding that this was Penny’s clit, her switch, the magic button. I knew enough from my limited experience that this was super sensitive and should be treated gently.
Penny’s breath was ragged now, coming in gulps and gasps causing her chest to rise and fall, her breasts almost seemed to be rolling with each rise and fall. Experimentally I reached out again this time with my left index finger and traced a circle around the stem of Penny’s peach knowing full well that I was teasing her now but not meaning to be cruel. I was testing the limits so to speak. Penny’s hands still pressed and clawed at her abdomen just out of reach of her want. My finger deviated and dove back down the length of the seam in her pouting lips until I bumped out at the lower end onto that extremely sensitive patch of skin between her sex and her anus. With this Penny literally growled in her growing frustration. I knew that this couldn’t go on like this, I slid my left hand over and laid it flat against the inner thigh of her left leg and squeezed gently before I spoke.
“Penny, I’m sorry, I don’t mean to tease you so. Thank you for allowing me to… see your peach. Could I ask one more thing of you though?” I asked softly wondering if she actually heard what I was saying at this point. Penny raised her head up and looked at me through knitted brows, her face a look of concentration.
“Jim… Wha… what now?” She panted out
“Could you show me… how you touch yourself… for pleasure?” I asked mentally holding my breath. It was a short breath however as Penny’s head dropped back to the bed and her hands both shot out and down to her crotch to her over heated peach. Her left hand grabbed my left hand by the wrist and her right hand covered her peach, her middle finger delving into her folds and drawing moisture back up with it which she transferred to her stem, lubricating it as she slowly rubbed her fingers along it up and down. I could feel her twitch and jump with each contact from her fingers, her fingers started rubbing in a circular motion as if going around and around her clit. At the same time she drew her left hand with my left hand to the bottom of the peach putting her fingers around mine she led me to push one then two fingers into those hot wet folds fanning out her lips, my fingers were soaked instantly. The circular motion was picking up speed as she began pumping my fingers in and out of that now gaping wet cleft faster and faster with a growing urgency. The finger of her right hand stopped circling and pushed down to straddle her engorged clit forcing it between her middle and index finger as she began fanning her hand back and forth from side to side faster and faster.
Penny’s hips rose steadily as her legs tensed to like two steel cables, her heels pressing into the mattress. Her hands a blur, my fingers plunging in and out in time with her motions then suddenly everything froze in place. One heartbeat, two heartbeats… three… Then Penny let out a sound somewhere between a shriek and a moan, it started out low and grew in intensity as her whole body began to shudder and vibrate. I felt her peach clamp down on my fingers just before they were nearly pushed out from the wash of hot fluid gushing outward from her core. Penny’s hand released mine and both of her hands pressed down and were dragged up her body across her sex, her abdomen, her chest and finally to her breasts that were clutched and squeezed ferociously. Penny’s legs began to flex and stretch in a very feline way. I sat there and marveled at the display. I remember thinking that this had to be the greatest thing on earth, both to witness and to be a small part of helping her to feel this way. It was about this time that I realized that my own excitement was as yet still unchecked and unanswered. But to be honest I was not even worried about it, it didn’t bother me at all.
Looking up to Penny’s face I found her laying there with a blissful smile on her lips and studying me intently again as if gauging my reaction to what just transpired. I looked at her and smiled, then crawled my way back up to her and lay down beside her as she wrapped her arms around me and threw one leg over mine as she snuggled her chin into my neck and shoulder as she continued to catch her breath. I stroked her hair with one hand and lightly ran the other down her flanks to rest softly on one of those marvelous cheeks. Penny continued to murmur and make soft appreciative noises into my neck as she squeezed me tightly. We lay there for I don’t know how long really but I really didn’t care about the time I was enjoying the closeness, the smell of Penny’s hair, the smell of her sex and excitement, the warmth radiating off of her nearly naked body as it pressed into mine. Unfortunately as with all things so wonderful this had to come to an end, once Penny’s breathing returned to normal and her heartbeat slowed back down she stirred in my arms. Pulling her head up she studied my face with a warm sleepy smile stroking my cheek with the back of one hand, those beautifully manicured fingers trailing affectionately across my skin so delicately.
“Yes indeed, you are going to make the women in your life very happy, very very happy. This was not intended to be your lesson for today young man, I think we’ve skipped ahead a few lessons indeed. You sir disarmed me.” Penny said in a mocking accusatory tone as she pinched my side just below my rib cage causing me to jump with a start. She then chuckled softly into my neck as she kissed me several more times. In a soft almost reverent voice she went on. “In all the years that I and Maggie have been… teaching… you are the first student to have ever asked about my feet. You are also the only man to have held them and kissed them and showed such love and acceptance of my greatest insecurity… Jim… thank you darling.” Penny choked on the last words and I felt a warm tear on my neck as she again wept silently but this time it was not out of sadness or shame. I didn’t trust myself to say anything at that moment as I had a lump in my throat that I couldn’t swallow so I simply held her close and continued to stroke her hair. I did give her a soft playful squeeze of her right butt cheek though, that earned me a soft chuckle.
In time Penny rose up to a sitting position on the bed and I rose on my right elbow on my side to watch her as she ran her hands through her hair fluffing it and trying to pull it somewhat back into some semblance of order. She pulled her robe back up and closed it retying her belt. She sat there for a moment or two looking at me with a mix of emotions animating her face. Fondness for sure, some sadness too for some reason, and perhaps a little resignation before she stood up and reached for my hand for me to join her. She pulled and tugged at the bedspread to straighten a few wrinkles out and dabbed her hand at a small wet spot making tisking sounds and saying she would have to change the linens tomorrow. Taking my hand again she led me back through the small apartment to the door. Back in the hallway she asked me to go have a seat in the reading area of the classroom while she freshened up a bit in the downstairs bathroom.
I took a seat in one of the soft reading chairs and picked up an anatomy text book that was on the side table. There were page markers where someone had been reading or studying with the book. I opened the book up to one of the bookmarks, there was a detailed pictorial diagram of the female genitalia with markers detailing the names of various parts. I remembered my one class of high school Latin and the names made sense to me but they sounded so… well… clinical… cold. Still, it was a roadmap of sorts so it was still fascinating in a way. I was so intrigued that I didn’t hear Penny walk up to me and was unaware until she laid a hand on my shoulder and looked over it to see what I was studying. She let out a soft chirping giggle and shook her head while smiling. I know I blushed, yet again, like a child with his hand in the cookie jar.
“Such a curiosity… What will we do with you?” Penny said as she took a seat in the other nearby chair facing me over the small table between them. “For one, I don’t think you need to study that diagram much as you seem to know your way around pretty well already. Oh don’t worry, there’s not a test on the names or anything.” She said with a smile. “You know that not everyone is the same, right? Every woman is different, unique. There are basic similarities so if you know the basics you will be able to manage the differences with no problem.” She spoke in that soft teacher voice I’ve come to associate with the passing of important knowledge. Sitting back in her chair for a moment she looked at me thoughtfully. Most young men are simply far too eager, they rush everything they do with a woman, it’s full throttle and no brakes even considered. You however have proven yet again that you are sensitive and patient, yes and still somewhat hesitant due to lack of experience and self confidence perhaps. But you will find that going slow and being in touch with a woman’s needs and desires is worth all the patience. When you asked me to show you how I would like to be touched earlier I thought I would scream I was so happy. You put my needs ahead of your desire, and in doing so you did learn something about me didn’t you?” Penny asked waiting for a response.
I sat there for a few moments replaying it all in my head again almost like watching a movie. I examined my thoughts and feelings as the images flashed through my mind. I was curious when it was happening, I wanted to know so much but at the same time I wanted to know how it felt for Penny and what made it special for her. I wanted to know how to touch and where to touch. I smiled a little sheepishly as I began. “Yes I think I did. I found that while you are extremely patient with someone like me who doesn’t know much about what I was doing, you do have your limits. I’m sorry if I went too far, I didn’t mean to tease you or be cruel…” I began to apologize only to be shut down by Penny.
“Oh nonsense, you were anything but cruel, and you DID mean to tease me… That’s a great deal of the fun when two people are intimate, testing the limits of how far one can tease the other before they concede and ravish you out of unchained desire. I loved it young man! As I said, you are a natural and will make many women happy in your life. That’s not to say that you can’t still learn a few things and should refine some of the things you already know.” Penny sat there smiling at me then after a moment her smile faltered and she frowned slightly and looked a little apologetic towards me and added. “There’s also the matter of your experience today being so terribly one sided in my favor. That was fairly thoughtless of me Jim, for that I am sorry. Had this been a planned exercise this would not have happened… leaving you in the lurch so to speak. Again you have proven yourself the epitome of a gentleman, mature beyond your years. Your kindness will not be forgotten however, of that you can be assured. I only hope you can forgive an old woman for her weakness in the heat of the moment.” She added and smiled a bit sheepishly herself. My brows knitted and I cocked my head to one side and looked at her in puzzlement.
“Who is this old woman you keep talking about anyway, I thought there were only you and I in that room earlier?” I stated the question as seriously as I possibly could. Oh My God! Penny’s jaw dropped and she actually blushed! I couldn’t help but to break into a smile as she slowly began shaking her head side to side as her jaw closed and those beautiful lips turned up into a dazzling smile. She stood then and reached out her hand to me and led me to the beaded curtain and up the stairs. I noticed as I looked through the window in the door that it was dark outside, just how long had I been here this afternoon anyway? Still holding my hand Penny turned me to face her, reaching up with her other hand she held my right cheek softly in her hand before brushing the hair on my forehead aside in a motherly fashion. Her smile was so soft and warm that I could have melted like warm butter under her touch. She wrapped that hand around the back of my head and pulled me down a bit as she stepped in close and kissed me gently on the lips. A soft warm sensual kiss full of a love and passion all its own by its simplicity. Pulling back after the kiss Penny again looked deeply into my eyes, hers softened by something I’d never quite seen there before. She smiled and asked if I might be available again this week before Saturday. I told her that today was my only full day off but I may be able to come by early Friday if I didn’t have anything come up on the farm like today’s fence repairs necessitated by yesterday’s storms. With the mention of the storm Penny involuntarily shuddered and rubbed her arms as if to ward off a chill. She nodded and told me that if it was possible she and Maggie would welcome me to stop by for a lesson of some kind that morning. I told her I would call first if I could make it and if not then I would certainly be here Saturday to mow the yard, and for a lesson. With that I went out the door and headed to my pick up and then on my way.
I stopped by Dom’s on my way home and ordered a small pizza and a drink. I sat in the back with the assistant manager and Jules while my order was cooking. It was a slow night and Jules was getting ready to do some pre cleaning prior to closing that night, but she was on break when I got there so we cut up and carried on a while. I had come in in the middle of a “girl talk” between Jules and the assistant manager. They had been discussing a new girl working at another Dom’s location. Ordinarily they would have clammed up but it was me so they just kept on. I think Jules might have been a little cruder in her observations though, just trying to get a rise out of me and of course, as usual, to make me blush. At some point she asked me what I was doing here on my night off. I told her about my day, fixing fences and then having a flat tire and having to find a replacement. I mentioned that I had stopped by to see the Teachers for a while but I didn’t go into any detail about that. And with a knowing smile, Jules refrained from asking for any details about what might that have entailed. But she did ask me if I was okay after a moment or two when I guess I looked a little somber or perhaps just too thoughtful. I of course told her I was fine, just had some things on my mind. Part of my mind was screaming at me wanting me to ask her if she had ever asked Penny about her feet or if she knew about it at all. Had she ever seen Penny cry? So many questions but I had promised to be discrete and this was a private matter. So in the end I simply shrugged and smiled as if everything was okay. When my pizza was ready I grabbed a cold bottle of Pepsi from the cooler and headed out to my truck. I ate a couple of slices before I fired up the engine and started my drive home. I was lost in thought, and I really don’t recall anything else about that night, the drive home, cleaning up, going to bed, nothing. But I dreamt about today as I slept. Oh boy did I dream!
It was Friday before I had any more free time for anything other than work, having been kept busy with responsibilities on the farm, and some other odd jobs I had committed to, as well as of course working at Dom’s. Summer was fast coming to an end and the new school semester at University would be beginning soon, I wondered how I was going to juggle everything else and still concentrate on my classes. Of course, with the changing of the seasons, things like mowing lawns and trimming hedges and the like would soon taper off and stop all together, that would free up some time. I mentioned some of these thoughts to Jules Thursday evening as we were again closing up the shop at Dom’s. I asked her what she did over the fall and winter months when the yard work was put on hold.
“First thing I do is take a vacation!” Jules said as she hefted another armload of make line bins into the sink for me to scrub clean. “Then I become a painter.” She added as she returned up front to continue cleaning the shop. ‘Painter’ I wondered?
“What kind of painting are you talking about?” I asked her on her next trip to the back where I was scrubbing away.
“Rooms… bedrooms, living rooms, bathrooms, kitchens, hallways… interior rooms of houses. You’d be surprised how many people want to do home decorating before the holidays.” She informed me as she ran a bucket full of hot water for the mopping.
“I hadn’t thought of that, do you keep pretty busy, painting?” I asked thinking that this might be something to look into myself.
“Not every year, but you never know until people start calling about it. I’ve already got three jobs lined up for September and one more maybe that’s still thinking about it.” Jules paused by the end of the washing station and looked at me pensively. I could almost see the gears turning in her mind. Her hands wrapped fist over fist around the handle of the mop that was standing in the wheeled mop bucket at about the height of her chin that was conveniently resting on one of her hands. She cocked her head to one side and gave me a sideways glance. “Have you ever done any interior house painting Jim?” She asked. I already knew that she was thinking about getting me to help her out if I was available, she’s one crafty opportunistic woman. That and she considered me a good source of reliable help I suppose.
“Well, not as a job, but my whole family helped with remodeling the old farm house that we live in now after we moved to the farm. We had to do a lot of renovations before we could move into it, everything from flooring, to drywall and of course painting.” I shrugged and continued washing pans as she worked it out in her head.
“So you have some experience then.” Jules said hanging the statement out like a flag to see which way the wind was blowing before finally coming out with the question. “Do you think that you might be able to help me out on a job now and then if I get more work than I can handle? I would pay you fairly…” She looked at me with that one eyebrow reaching for her scalp and a teasing grin on her face. She already knew I would say yes but she had to ask all the same.
“Sure…” I told her. “…As long as it doesn’t interfere with my classes or of course conflict with my schedule here at Dom’s.” I shrugged again and smiled. Jules straightened up and beamed at me before throwing me another teaser… and that’s what it was I’m sure of it because, well… she knew me too well.
“Oh… and by the way… Michelle has already told me she’d be happy to help out with painting jobs too this fall. So…” She turned her head away from me again looking at me sidelong and smiling that knowing smile as she pushed the mop bucket up front to mop the floor. I shook my head and smiled knowing that Jules was working angles and making plans… meddling in my personal life and having a blast doing it. Ugh!
Friday morning I got to have breakfast with the whole family for a change. I wasn’t scheduled to work at Dom’s until dinner rush and then close again, and I had no other odd jobs to tend to that day. Mom was happy that I and everyone else was actually at the table for a change rather than passing in small numbers on different schedules. Only one breakfast to cook this way. Over breakfast I told about my being asked to help out with some painting jobs this fall. Of course mom’s first question was whether or not that might be a problem with my classes. I reassured her that I had already made that point to Jules and we were going to work around it. That made my parents happy knowing that I put my schooling first. That also brought up the subject of my tutoring. Now that summer was coming to an end and mowing the lawn in exchange wouldn’t be possible, was I going to continue with them and if so how? How indeed? I had been thinking about that for over a week now and still hadn’t come up with any ideas. I told my parents that I was actually going to call my tutors that morning and see if I could get in for a lesson today before work at Dom’s and I would ask them about further payment or classes as well. That said, I made a call to their number.
“Jim darling, we were just talking about you.” Penny cheerfully commented.
“You were? Funny, I was just talking about you and Maggie with my parents as well.” I told her before getting to the point of the call. “I find that I am free of obligations until this evening when I work at Dom’s for the dinner rush and closing afterwards. I was calling to see if you or Maggie had any time for me today.”
“Of course darling, we’ll be expecting you, and thank you for calling Jim.” She effused all but blowing me a kiss before she broke the connection by hanging up. I told my parents that I was headed to town early to see my tutors and to ask about possibilities of continuing working with them this fall around my classes if we could work out some sort of payment plan. I grabbed my book bag and stuffed my Dom’s uniform in it along with some clean socks and a change of tee shirts and a pair of pants to replenish my spare clothing at Maggie and Penny’s house. I was out the door and on my way minutes later.
I was a bit surprised when I pulled up to the Teachers’ house and I noticed that Jules’ car was parked outside. Now I knew that she of course was responsible for their yard work, mowing the lawn and what not, even if she had other people to do the work. I also suspected for quite a while before I found out for certain that she was a former ‘student’ of the teachers’ as well. But I had not expected to run into Jules here all the same. Penny greeted me at the door when I rang the bell, as pleasantly as ever, a good sign perhaps. Once more, she was fully dressed in her ‘work clothes’ as she referred to them. Work clothes being business attire, in her case a modest skirt suit with jacket and sensible shoes. Today’s ensemble was a not so frumpy pencil skirt with a peach colored blouse with a ruffled button down front and a close collar. Over the blouse was a lightweight jacket that matched the skirt in color at least. Penny’s half frame glasses hung from her neck by that beaded necklace that I suspected was actually made of real pearls. Her nails of course, always impeccably manicured were painted today in the same peach color as her blouse. It still amazes me to this day how much effort some women put into their makeup and wardrobe. And yes, Penny actually had on makeup today, or at least noticeably more than she would normally wear on any given day.
“Jim, darling! Come in, come in.” she bubbled as she held the inner door open for me to enter. As I stepped inside, Maggie and Jules stepped halfway through the beaded curtain at the bottom of the stairs to the lower level.
“Well speak of the devil…” Jules said sarcastically and grinned up at me, Maggie too was smiling in a cryptic sort of way.
“Jim, could you join us downstairs, we need to ask you a few questions.” Maggie spoke before withdrawing along with Jules back behind the curtain. I looked at Penny and she simply smiled and motioned with her right hand to proceed. Shrugging, I nodded and headed down the stairs. Pushing through the beaded curtain, I saw Jules and Maggie standing by the table behind the student desks that had the projector on it. Jules was bent over a note pad scribbling something down. Maggie was bent over accordingly as they were discussing whatever Jules was writing down. What a site, Jules dressed… well… as Jules. Her go to outfit usually consisted of an old comfortable pair of jeans and some sort of tee shirt or sweatshirt as the temperatures outdoors cooled. When in uniform for work at Dom’s Jules had to wear at least a training bra over her board flat chest but only to conceal her nipples. A cruel joke by Mother Nature I suppose to compensate for her lack of breasts, Jules had inordinately large nipples, furthermore, they were pierced. Jules always had some sort of jewelry in them. Out of uniform of course she rarely wore a bra so those big nipples and her decorations often were clearly visible through any tee shirt, just as they were today. She had an old baseball cap on her head. From behind, unless you knew her, you would think you were looking at a guy. Standing next her was Maggie, she was dressed according to ‘house rules’, which today was a ruby red silk robe with black trim and a sash belt tie. Her legs, as usual were encased in a pair of stockings, black to match the trim on the robe I suspect. Where Penny was never without her silk footies, Maggie was rarely if ever without stockings, even if she were not wearing shoes like today. Maggie’s nails were in a shining blood red as well. Noticing me come through the curtain, Jules motioned me over with a toss of her head.
“Hey buddy…” Jules said in her familiar greeting. “Last night you told me you would maybe help me out with some painting jobs this fall, right?” She asked more like making a statement than a question.
“Yeah, sure, but I didn’t expect to start today. What’s up?” I asked hesitantly.
“Oh it’s not today, I’m just talking with Maggie here about a job she asked me to do in a couple of weeks. I thought that since you had helped me out by taking over the majority of the work mowing the lawn here, that you might consider a similar working trade by doing some cleaning and painting, here in the house.” Jules looked me dead in the eye, her lopsided grin highlighted with that quirky raised eyebrow and the knowing look in her eyes that told me that yes, girls do talk. And, it was obvious to me that Jules had colluded with the Teachers to make an arrangement to keep me ‘employed’ as it were, and thereby present and available to continue my ‘lessons’ for a while yet. I turned my head a bit looking jules in the eye with a bit of a sidelong glance and knitted brows as I thought about what she said as well as what I suspected the reasoning was behind the words. Jules must have thought I was having second thoughts about helping out so she glanced at Maggie before looking back at me and raising her other eyebrow and adding. “Michelle already said she’d help out here too, but we’re really going to need another set of hands if you could help out…” Oh that conniving, manipulative… wonderful bitch! She had to go there didn’t she? I heard Maggie stifle a snort of a chuckle before it got away from her, it sounded like a choked off sneeze.
“Well?” Jules prodded.
“Fine! I can help out… as long as there are no conflicts of course.” I had to add. Jules turned on her brightest smile and nodded as she looked at Maggie and winked thinking I didn’t see it. Maggie just smiled that subdued smile of hers trying to look serious but I knew she was pleased all the same.
“Oh wonderful!” I heard Penny say from behind me, apparently she had followed me downstairs as well and I hadn’t been aware of it until she had just spoken.
“What or where am I, or ‘we’ going to be painting?” I asked Jules, stepping closer to the table now that I was officially on the painting crew. She and Maggie went on to tell me about their plans to refinish the rooms here in the lower level beginning with the ‘apartment’, moving on to the downstairs bathroom and eventually some work here in the ‘classroom’. Penny said that it would be nice to finally brighten up these dark dingy walls and ceilings to make the rooms brighter and more inviting. She and Jules discussed the merits of different colors and shades before coming to a decision to go with a flat white for all the ceilings and the entire apartment. The bathroom was still undecided as Penny still preferred a shade of light blue, the classroom would be decided on after the first two jobs were nearer to completion. Maggie mentioned that she was considering having new carpet installed throughout the lower level as well, but that would also be done after the painting was finished. After about fifteen minutes of holding one end of a measuring tape for Jules as she measured the walls in the various rooms so that she could calculate the amount of paint that would be required she told the Teachers that she’d call them with some prices and work out a schedule in a day or two. As Jules made ready to depart, Maggie took her by the hand and thanked her. Penny on the other hand, being Penny, grabbed jules from behind wrapping her arms around her and hugging her tightly snuggling her chin into the nape of Jules’ neck softly saying.
“Thank you Jules… thank you, thank you, thank you darling.” Jules smiled but blushed as she patted Penny’s arms and tipped her head over to rest briefly against Penny’s. Penny then released her and Jules looked at me with a blank expression on her face, but there was a twinkle in her eye that she could not hide, at least not from me. I smiled and told her I’d see her at Dom’s later tonight. She then saw herself out leaving me standing in the classroom with Maggie and Penny who were exchanging looks and smiling. I could have sworn there was an entire unspoken conversation going on between those two, but not a word spoken.
“Okay ladies, I don’t suppose it matters really, who contacted who, but I find it quite the coincidence that I had intended this very day to ask you about making arrangements to continue my lessons by way of some sort of trade for labor. Like we have had with my mowing your lawn. Now, honestly I suspect that Jules may well be the instigator on my behalf, either way… Thank you.” I spoke with a humble voice and a genuine smile.
“Why Jim, darling, I don’t know what you’re talking about, Maggie and I have been planning this work all summer, Jules only today realized that she would need… some help… with being able to complete the work. Of course it’s fortuitous that you already work with her and we are all acquainted with one another. It also helps that we know you are hard working and are imminently reliable and… trustworthy.” Penny smiled coyly as she ambled closer to me and took me by the arm and leaned in to give me a peck on the cheek. Maggie just stood there with that enigmatic half smile, those coppery amber eyes shining brightly. Penny looked at her wrist watch and huffed with a slightly perturbed frown then glanced to Maggie before she said. “Darling, I have to leave for an appointment, I’m sorry. I will see you tomorrow morning though, yes?” She asked with a slight bob and tilt of her head. I nodded my assent and she smiled and continued. “Maggie will see to your lesson today. Until tomorrow then?” Penny patted my arm then turned and made her way upstairs.
I turned my full attention to Maggie who was still standing by the projector table, her arms crossed over her breasts and her head with a pensive tilt giving me a slightly side long glance. She bowed her head a fraction or so and took three steps slowly towards me to close the gap between us. I didn’t know what she had in mind but I could tell that she was working out what she was about to say to me. When she was mere inches from where I stood she raised her head up and tilted it back a bit as if she were almost looking down her nose at me but I did not get the sense that she was being condescending in anyway but rather she was about to say something of great importance. Those wide thin lips were pursed almost to the point of pouting, the bottom lip extended just a fraction. Her copper amber hued eyes were hooded, framed by her dark eyelashes, those raven eyebrows straight, immobile and very stern looking. I felt a bit of a chill run down my spine. This was all too similar to the look I used to get way back in high school in her typing class… at least early in the semester anyway. I stood my ground, waiting, curious if even a bit apprehensive. My eyes never wavered from Maggie’s. Finally after what seemed like several minutes, though it couldn’t have been more than a few moments, Maggie spoke.
“You understand that Penny shared with me what you did yesterday.” She stated in a firm but neutral voice and paused.
Somehow I didn’t think she was waiting for a comment, only informing me of her knowledge. Of course my mind instantly began a rapid mental recap of what happened yesterday with Penny. About the tour of the downstairs apartment, my questions about Maggie, and Penny, and about the two of them. I recalled my exploration of Penny’s body including her peach. I thought about Penny showing me how she liked to be touched, and about her using my hand as part of that act. I wondered if that was too forward of me and had I stepped out of bounds somehow. I swallowed and broke eye contact momentarily steeling myself to begin an apology but before I could utter a word Maggie continued.
“I thought I knew you better than I obviously do. I’ve always thought you to be a kind sensitive and thoughtful young man…” Again she trailed off, perhaps searching for words. I felt my ears burning with the beginning of a sense of shame.
“Maggie… I’m sorry if I pried into your private life, I didn’t mean to offend in any way…” I began only to be brought up short when Maggie spoke over me halting my words.
“You continue to push my perception of your true depths, and your warmth. I knew you were far too observant to have not questioned the relationship between Penny and I or that perhaps either of our orientation or preferences. That you asked does not bother me in the slightest, HOW you asked only reassures me of your maturity and sensitivity. No Jim, what I’m talking about what you did when you discovered one of Penny’s greatest personal secrets, perhaps her greatest insecurity. No one, not a single person male or female, other than myself has ever showed her such understanding and… Love. You touched her heart. And…” Maggie paused with a catch in her throat that she swallowed, her eyes went soft as the closed slowly for a moment, her eyebrows actually rose slightly and those wide thin lips turned up at the corners ever so slightly as she leaned in to me and kissed me so softly as to make me hold my breath in wonder. As she pulled back smiling she added. “…You touched my heart as well. To fill her heart with joy is a gift that will not be forgotten.”
It felt as if my heart had suddenly climbed out of my chest and was now in my throat. I knew beyond a doubt that Maggie’s words were heartfelt and sincere. I simply had not realized just how deeply Penny had felt about my simple show of acceptance and reassurance. To assuage her fear of being thought of as a freak or ugly was not something I had even thought about, it was impulsive or instinctive perhaps. Maggie was still looking into my eyes and seemed to realize my own thoughts even without my speaking them aloud. She nodded and smiled then reached out and took my left hand in her right.
“Come with me.” She said as she led me down the hall and to the door of the apartment letting me in after turning on the lights and closing the door behind us. Maggie stood and silently looked around the ‘den’ as she called the front room with the couch and television. She released my hand and walked over to the wet bar and removed a glass from the cabinet, turning to give me a look of askance. I shook my head no and she turned back to get a decanter of an amber liquid. Removing the glass stopper she poured a splash or two into the glass before replacing it and closing the cabinet. Picking up her glass she brought it to her face holding it in both hands and sniffed at the liquid that she swirled around in the glass. Her eyes closed and she bowed her head slightly as if in prayer before tilting the glass up to take a sip. With a momentary grimace as she swallowed the drink her eyes reopened and she settled her gaze once more upon me.
“You know of course that my late ex husband lived here. John had a taste for the finer things in life, spirits, food, tobacco… and… friendships. He was a generous man, to a fault.” She said softly perhaps to hear herself say it more than for my benefit. “Penny of course shared with me your curiosity and her having told you how John strayed from our marriage. I was hurt, I felt betrayed. Love is a funny thing Jim, it can twist your mind as well as your heart. It can stretch shape and distort your very soul. It clouds your mind. When trust is broken, your heart can be torn apart. I hope you never experience that, truly I do, but you must be prepared for it all the same. More importantly, you must strive to never bring that pain on someone that you love by your own actions. John understood that, but only far too late. He never stopped loving me, and I him. But the trust was broken and it takes far too long for that to be mended. John’s time ran out.” Maggie grimaced as she looked once more into the glass then brought it to her lips and drained the last of the amber liquid in one gulp. She set the glass on the top of the wet bar and ran a single finger around the rim, her blood red nail shining in the light of the lamp next to the bar. Gathering herself once more she again reached out to me and took my hand and led me further into the apartment, through the kitchen, walking at a slow pensive pace, and out the other side into the bedroom. Releasing my hand she walked slowly by the long low dresser, trailing her right hand along the surface, stopping a moment at the ornate ashtray with the pipes standing ready and waiting for someone to fill and use. She brought her arms together across her chest and her hands under her arms as she turned and looked around the room lost in memory perhaps.
“Penny told you how John’s lover, became his lover. How, the woman came to me to plead for my forgiveness of John. She told me that it was never meant to happen, there were never any designs, that it had only happened out of shared love and grief for her late husband. But the damage was done, and it took me years to bring myself to forgive him. And by then it was too late. You see Jim, despite the pain and anger and hurt from that betrayal I still loved John. When someone touches your heart, deeply and completely it changes you. Everything we say to another, everything we do for another or to another stays with them, it shapes them and becomes part of them. It’s experience, it’s life… it’s what makes us who we are.” Maggie settled her gaze upon me once more and smiled as if she realized that she was speaking as much to herself as she was to me. She turned to the bed and took a seat much like Penny had the day before. She patted the bed beside her beckoning me to have a seat with her. She clasped her hands together in her lap and composed her thoughts for a moment.
“Jim, you understand that sex is not love, don’t you?” Maggie asked, and this time she waited for an answer.
“I do. But it can be confusing sometimes.” I admitted.
“That it can be, certainly, because at the same time sex IS love.” She said as she tilted her head slightly to see what my reaction would be. When she noted my knitted brows she continued. “Sex is a wonderful thing. It’s an expression of affection. It can be an extension of strong physical attraction, it can be an expression of strong emotional attachment, including friendship. And it can be the physical expression of love itself. Any and all of those are of course built on our foundations we have with those other persons. Honesty, respect, and trust… They have to exist. I feel you have a strong understanding of this. I sincerely hope that you carry that in your mind and in your heart throughout your life. Sex, is a physical act, it serves a purpose truly it does, but it’s just exercise unless you include feelings. When you put your feelings and emotions into it, it becomes love. Making love is a beautiful thing, you touch far more than simply one another’s bodies. Darling, you will find that not everyone understands the differences. There will be those in your life that will use sex as a tool or as a weapon even to get what they want, as if it were currency in exchange for some reward. Be patient, be aware. Guard yourself. You will know in your heart if it’s right or if it’s wrong, you have shown both Penny and myself that you instinctively understand this, so I’m merely restating the obvious. We both have struggled over the years to instill this knowledge into so many young minds… with mixed success I’m afraid. Some just don’t seem to grasp the idea or at least take it to heart. Most do thankfully. Some, like yourself excel however and those have left their marks on us. We become quite attached to them and when they are ready to leave our instruction, it can be emotional as I know you witnessed with myself yesterday…” Maggie’s soft voice trailed off as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath as if to steel herself against the memory.
“So you were very fond of… Terry?” I asked knowing that I was risking another bit of pain for Maggie.
“Yes, it was rather obvious wasn’t it?” She returned the question with one of her own as she opened her eyes and smiled at me.
“I didn’t fully understand it but I felt there was a very strong connection between you, and even between her and Penny. When you brought me to witness Penny kissing Terry goodbye you squeezed my hand so tight it nearly hurt, but I realized that you were not even aware of that. I sensed the emotions even then but seeing the emotion on your face while sitting at the table hurt me worse than your hand squeezing mine. Are you okay now Maggie?” I asked softly, Maggie smiled again warmly and reached out and took my hand in hers and… squeezed it… gently.
“I’d be lying if I said I was over it, but yes, I’m okay. I will miss her terribly but I’m okay.” She took on a curious expression and tilted her head askingly before saying. “When we introduced you to Terry yesterday, you seemed startled at first as if you recognized her. Had you met before?” She asked.
“No, I don’t believe we have, but for a moment I thought Terry was Michelle. They both have about the same build, the same hair color and style really, and their eyes…” I trailed off. Maggie’s hand squeezed mine again in acknowledgement.
“Ah yes, those lovely, beautiful eyes. You’re quite right, Michelle’s eyes are just as lovely indeed. They are quite captivating aren’t they?” Maggie smiled wistfully sharing my appreciation, a small glimpse into her own mind and heart perhaps.
“They are different however.” I added. “Michelle’s eyes are very close to the same color but hers have those golden flecks in them that shine when she’s happy… or angry.” I spoke with a chuckle. “I find it amazing how a woman’s eyes can reflect their moods or their thoughts. Some are far more expressive and… alluring… than others… Like yours.” I amended before my mind could stop my mouth from uttering that personal observation. Maggie leaned back a fraction and tilted her head to the other shoulder and looked into my eyes before smiling almost shyly.
“Why Jim, you flatterer you… how nice a thing to say to your dear old teacher.” Maggie quipped playfully.
“What is it with you and Penny? Who are these “Old women” you two keep referring to? Are they hiding somewhere out of sight?” I asked with a smile, this time I squeezed Maggie’s hand.
“Penny is right, you are a charmer… and you are disarming indeed! I think we’ve created a monster. The women in your life will be in for an experience I’m sure.” Maggie said with a short laugh. “I do believe you’re beginning to come out of your shell. Penny and I will have to be on our guard and double our efforts to teach you properly.”
“I am at your service and wish nothing more than to learn what I can from ones so knowledgeable.” I bowed my head and smiled warmly. “I am yours to mold and shape as you will.”
“Be careful what you wish for young man, even two old teachers can be tempted to take advantage of a situation now and again.” Maggie teased, as she withdrew her hand from mine and stretched out on the bed lying on her side, propped up on her right arm, her head resting in the palm of her right hand. Those copper amber eyes studying me with that all too familiar gaze as her left arm draped across her hip, her hand toying with the tie of her robe. “Your curiosity is to be expected, and frankly both Penny and I find it refreshing. However, as Penny confided in me, your lack of experience along with that apprehensive nature of yours can be frustrating. It’s okay to be tender and considerate, but as Penny and I both have explained, once you’ve received permission from your partner you can relax and be a little bolder even forceful to whatever extent is acceptable to her. We all have our limits of course, but discovering those limits need not be something to be fearful of. You have to explore those limits, you have to discover the nuances that are most pleasurable to your partner. There are basic similarities but the differences can be many and vary from woman to woman. Finding out her unique preferences will be rewarding both to her and to yourself. What’s more, in the course of your exploration you may discover something pleasurable that is new to her.” This last bit was spoken in almost a purr as Maggie’s eyes nearly closed, but she never broke contact with my own eyes. Truly she was studying me intently, whether to determine if I understood all that she had spoke or perhaps some indication that I did not, I know not which. I cocked my head slightly to one side and offered.
“Life has a way of surprising us doesn’t it? Little unexpected happenings and revelations, it can be overwhelming at times.” I couldn’t help but to think of several instances that surprised me to the point of being somewhat gun shy when it came to exploration as Maggie called it. “Sometimes they can be downright frightening.” I added. Maggie smiled that understanding smile and patted the bed beside her beckoning me to stretch out beside her. After I lay myself down on my left side facing Maggie in a mirror image pose such that she was in, my head propped up on my left arm and hand, Maggie continued.
“I can’t possibly know exactly what you might be referring to as they are uniquely your own experiences, however you did share one of those with Penny and of course she related it to me. You might be referring to your… excitement… around the young lady who suffered an epileptic seizure while in delecto? Yes that could be rather disturbing indeed. However, according to what you told Penny you handled the situation quite admirably I understand.” Maggie fell silent for a moment or two as she formed whatever she was going to say further. Her left hand reached over and ran softly along my bare right arm lying on my side.
“You will find other surprises throughout your life Jim, you mustn’t be afraid to experience the joys of life simply because chance is a fickle temptress.”
“Chance?” I questioned.
“Chance, or often more commonly referred to as Lady Luck.” Maggie snorted softly at her own joke and smiled warmly. “She is called by many names, indeed, the Greeks called her Tyche, the daughter of Aphrodite the goddess of love, and Zeus, the king of the gods. The Romans called her Fortuna. No matter the name she is always a female and capricious in her nature both a temptress and a protector according to her whims.” Maggie smiled a little self consciously realizing she had drifted into academic mode describing chance to me.
“The saying, ‘Luck favors the bold.’ I’ve heard or read somewhere. Is that what you’re telling me?” I asked.
“Very astute of you Jim, yes I am but not as simply put as that. Luck, or Chance does favor the bold, but only the bold who are pure of heart. Those with ill intent often find that Luck can be quite the Bitch as it were.” Maggie smiled an almost feral grin and one eyebrow arched questioningly for a couple of heartbeats before she chuckled softly, her grin softening to a genuine smile. “Don’t look so serious darling, I wasn’t implying anything about your character or your intent. I don’t think that Chance would find you worthy of wrath whatsoever. Besides, it’s just folklore and superstition. Isn’t it?”
“I would hope so, still though it gives one pause to consider it doesn’t it?” I nodded as I asked the question not needing a reply.
“Well you certainly are considerate so that shouldn’t be a problem for you.” Maggie conceded.
“So if my intent is to give pleasure to the one whom I’m interested in, taking a chance will not likely be detrimental… within reason I should think.” I voiced aloud more for my own ears than for the conversation. “I need to learn more about the how to please then… at least sexually anyway.” I couldn’t help but blush again. Maggie stifled a chuckle as she reached up with her left hand and patted my cheek.
“Yes, in one way or another all your lessons have been building an understanding and comprehension of this. So few understand that sex is not simply a physical act, it is an extension of everything else combined. Honesty, Respect and Trust, the foundations, then refined with friendship, mutual attraction and like emotions. When it all comes together sex can be magical and very fulfilling.” Maggie’s voice tapered off to almost a whisper and I got the distinct impression that her mind was suddenly in another place or time as she remembered someone special or perhaps more than one someone. And then she came back to the here and now. “Darling, both Penny and I have concluded that you have a firm grasp on everything we’ve been trying to instill within you, and you have arrived at this point far more quickly than most of our previous students. It would seem that now you merely need to be taught some finer points of… application. You will continue to learn certain skills throughout your life, with experience so we will teach you some of the more basic techniques from which you can build upon.”
“Application? Techniques?” I parroted questioningly.
“Yes darling. Now that you know the importance of touch, and being touched, we will teach you how to touch and where to touch. According to Penny, even in this you are already quite astute. However, as you know from learning to type, some skills require practice.” As Maggie said this she reached out and took my right hand and brought it to the tie of her robe. I raised one eyebrow with a questioning look into those hooded coppery orbs as she studied my face.
“Would it be bold of me to consider this unspoken permission?” I asked hesitantly as I fingered the satin like material of the sash binding Maggie’s robe closed.
“Perhaps… I guess it would depend on how curious you might be…” Maggie spoke softly raising one eyebrow of her own to question my motivation perhaps, or my nerve. I smiled, probably appearing somewhat sheepish I’m sure but I smiled. I also pinched my fingers on the edge of that satiny black sash and slowly teased the tie loose and pulled it free.
I looked back up into Maggie’s face and was rewarded with a soft somewhat wry smile. She slowly blinked her eyes as if to say ‘proceed’. Instead of throwing the folds of her robe open I raised my hand to her face and gently stroked her left cheek with the backs of my right hand and fingers. I traced them along her cheek to her neck just beneath her left ear, my index finger bumping the single pearl in her earring. My hand continued down her graceful neck to her collar bone and the lapel of her robe. Slipping my fingers under the edges of the silky black material I followed to where the lapels overlapped. Stopping there dipped my fingers under the edge of the other lapel and gently pulled it away from Maggie’s warm soft skin revealing the alabaster white flesh of her breast cleavage. Maggie’s breasts are far smaller than Penny’s but they are perfectly proportioned to her frame and in a word, pert. Later in my life I would learn to distinguish with more accuracy the different cup sizes of Women’s breasts, I would have known Maggie’s were a modest B cup, possibly a C perhaps but not large at all. Perhaps it was the smaller size that allowed them to defy most of the effects of gravity that many women suffer with, but lying on her side Maggie’s smaller breasts still tended downwards towards the bed. The white skin contrasting with the darker aureola and at their centers the small pencil eraser sized nipples that I had not seen until this moment. I distinctly remember feeling them in the blindfolded exercise that Maggie conducted in a previous lesson. If anything, seeing what I was touching was a big improvement, it was scintillating. My fingers seemed to tingle as if charged with electricity. I kept glancing up at Maggie’s face every so often to confirm that I had not overstepped my “permission” as it were. Her enigmatic smile on her thin lips and those coppery irises seemed to glow in the low light of the bedside lamps.
I continued my exploration both with my eyes and my right hand. I pulled the right side of Maggie’s robe down to the bedspread where it lay like a silky red puddle on which her alabaster skin rested atop. Gingerly I grasped the edge of the left lapel along the black trim and lifted the robe up and over Maggie’s left hip. The satiny material slipped over her soft skin to fall and puddle along her back and hip. For a moment I rested my right hand lightly on Maggie’s left hip, absorbing the warmth radiating off of her pale skin. I marveled at the contrast between the alabaster complexion and the dark glossy raven black of her pubic hair. There was a wispy almost invisible thin line of hair that started a few inches below her naval and trailed down towards her pubic mound. I trailed my hand lightly along the surface of Maggie’s skin from her hip down across her abdomen, my fingers brushing through that thin line, causing muscles of Maggie’s abdomen to quiver and jump. Hearing a soft gasp followed by a gentle sigh I looked again into Maggie’s eyes, they were still hooded by her half closed eyelids but they were now smoldering like embers in a long burning fire. Her wide thin lips were set in a firm line save for part of her bottom lip that was clamped lightly in her teeth. In my mind I heard the words “Kiss me!” as if she had spoken the words aloud. Pausing my hand’s further exploration for the moment, I brought my right hand back up to Maggie’s head. Brushing a loose strand of hair that had fallen across her cheek back behind her ear, I grasped her gently by the back of the neck and pulled her into me to kiss her gently on the lips. I think the kiss was unexpected as when I pulled back her eyes were wide open and searching mine, but the glow was still there, if anything they were smoldering a bit hotter than before. A smile spread slowly on her lips.
“Maggie, I’m still the student here… do you… have any instructions for me to follow?” I asked. My eyes searching those smoldering copper irises inches from my face as I leaned in slowly to again make contact with my lips to hers. I felt her left hand wrapping around my right side and pulling me closer to her own body.
Parting again after a few moments of lips gently caressing, tasting and teasing wetting our appetites, Maggie took a short gasping breath and stated. “Jim darling, you are a student but you’re no ordinary student. You are more attentive and considerate than most anyone I’ve ever taught. I can see how Penny could forget that we are teaching you and not the other way around. You make the person you are with feel as if they are the center of your attention. I hope you never lose that.” The look in Maggie’s eyes was calculating, almost predatory. I could palpably feel hunger radiating off of her as much as her body heat. It was a hunger I felt the need to sate. I wanted to do whatever it took to make this woman happy.
“Maggie… you are the center of my attention. Help me learn how to please you. Teach me how you want to be touched, how you need to be touched.”
“I will guide you with some basics, but you will have to learn on your own about what makes me or any woman feel good. Everyone differs in what they prefer. What some women may adore, some may not. Some will tell you what they do not like but some may be too inhibited to say anything to you at all. But one thing that most all will agree on is that you should not be in a rush. Be patient, take your time. A gal will let you know when it’s time to pick up the pace.” Maggie narrowed her eyes and smiled as she tilted her head slightly leaning in for another sensual, seductive lingering kiss. This time I felt her tongue probe my lips tentatively as if asking for permission. My tongue answered the call and was caught up in a twisting dance. I could feel Maggie’s left hand flexing and her fingers stretching and grasping at the skin on my back. The cords of Maggie’s neck pulsed and flexed under my hand that still held her. I wanted to feel more. I wanted to feel other parts of Maggie’s body alive under my hand, the muscles and skin and hair, the softness and the heat… and the wetness.
I traded my right hand for my left at the back of Maggie’s neck for support, allowing my right hand to move elsewhere. First I reached down and found Maggie’s left arm at the elbow and followed it to her wrist to pull her hand away from my back. My fingers slipped into hers and squeezed gently as I pulled her hand and arm up between us, past her breast to beneath our chins. Breaking our kiss to breathe, both of us panting, I pulled her hand to my lips and kissed the back of her fingers before releasing her hand. Feeling a little bold I then reached up and gripped her left shoulder and pushed Maggie over to lie flat on the bed. Maggie’s right hand captured my wrist as I pulled my left hand out from under her neck, her left hand pressed flat against my shirt as she slowly ran her fingers across the contours of my chest. Releasing her shoulder, my right hand slid slowly down her arm and then onto her side above her hip. I paused to spread my hand flat, my fingers splayed to cover as much of her warm alabaster skin as I could reach. Then as my fingers curled slowly in towards my palm I gripped Maggie’s side firmly but gently squeezing a handful of her skin and the muscle beneath it. Maggie’s grip on my left wrist intensified and she arched her back slightly as she breathed in a sharp little gasp more from surprise than from pain. Those half closed eyelids over her smoldering amber eyes fluttered open a bit as her eyebrows arched.
“I was about to suggest that you vary your focus when exploring a woman’s body. Try not to concentrate on one spot overly long… You’d be surprised what parts of her body are erogenous when her senses are heightened. But again, you show me that you do this almost instinctively.” Maggie panted out her commentary. As I relaxed my right hand, Maggie released her hold on my left wrist allowing me sit up beside her. Reaching out with my left hand I caressed cheek and those delicious sexy thin lips as she smiled wantonly up at me. My right hand idly traced circles with my fingertips across Maggie’s abdomen.
“It may be simply my curiosity but as my hands explore your body, this time I long to see what I’m touching. It’s also nice to see your reaction to that touching… no blindfolds this time…” I confessed if somewhat sheepishly. Maggie simply smiled invitingly as her eyes flared with her inner fire. As I sat there beside her looking down at this captivating woman I marveled at the sight. Her raven hair spread haphazardly about her head on the bedspread beneath her. Her lithe arms still encased in the sleeves of her red robe that pooled beneath her like some spilled red paint. Her alabaster white skin seemed to glow in the warm light from the lamps on the bedside tables. Her breast partially flattened but resting high and proud on her chest with their small hardened nipples pointing to the heavens. Maggie’s right hand was absently resting on her chest just below her right breast, while her left hand slid along her left side following the path that my right hand had just traveled. I let my eyes follow my tracing fingers of my right hand across her abdomen and that fine line of hair that traveled from just below her naval down into the tuft of equally raven dark hair on her pubic mound. The dark hair contrasting so vividly against the pale whiteness of her skin until…
“Maggie…” I looked up questioningly into her half lidded eyes as she studied my face. “I haven’t seen many different… women… and their bodies, but I have to agree that each has been unique, even with some similarities.” I looked back to my right and at Maggie’s velvety soft nest of hair topping and surrounding her own… fruit. “Is it right to compare?”
“I’m not sure I understand your question Jim.” Maggie responded with one raised eyebrow.
“Well I don’t mean comparing my observations to the woman I happen to be with at the time of course, that would be… just wrong. No I meant is it right for me to compare one to another in my own mind. I guess in a way I would have to, right? To know what I’m doing and if what I’m doing is pleasing to the woman I’m with.” I spoke absently more working it out in my head that actually seeking direction.
“Jim darling, life is a comparison. Of course it’s correct of you to compare, it’s human nature for one thing. The fact that you already know that it would not be exactly helpful to make these comparisons part of your experience with a woman shows that you have the right ideas.” Maggie harrumphed softly, those thin lips turning up slightly at the corners of her mouth. Maggie’s left hand had come to rest on her left hip with all but her thumb and pinky slightly raised off her skin as if anticipating a new touch sensation.
“Yet… at the same time it’s okay to share ideas and thoughts with someone you are being… intimate with… Yes?” I asked, again with the suspicion that I already knew the answer to this question as well but was looking for confirmation. My left hand slowly tracing a line down Maggie’s neck across her throat and to her chest to follow that thin line between her breasts only to stop when my fingers brushed across those of her right hand still resting below her breast. Maggie took my left hand again in her right and squeezed gently.
“There are no hard and fast rules as to what if anything you can talk about with a lover while you are being intimate, of course. Again, it’s a question of learning the person. It would depend on what your thoughts and ideas were, and how that person might perceive them.”
“If you knew that the ‘person’ had certain knowledge of something, or someone else and wished to share an… appreciation, as well as perhaps an observation then it might not be perceived as rude. Maybe?” I stared into Maggie’s amber eyes searching for understanding.
“Trust your instincts Jim…” Maggie said softly but her eyebrows knitted and she turned her head ever so slightly to her left as she continued to give me a sidelong glance. I thought for a moment and then nodded almost imperceptibly before gently squeezing Maggie’s right hand with my left and then releasing it. I ran my left hand softly across the skin of her abdomen and to the top of her right leg inside her thigh, dangerously close to her crotch. At the same time I ran my right hand down to the inside of her left leg where I pushed gently on both legs as if to pry them apart, giving Maggie a tactile hint to open up to me a little more. Her sidelong glance became just a bit more pronounced as that wry smile slowly returned and her brow softened once more.
Opening her legs, sliding her right leg, closer to me, and the left bending at the knee and raising up to where her foot was flat on the bed. Those two slender legs covered with black nylons with the elastic bands at the top of her thighs. I couldn’t resist running my right hand up Maggie’s left thigh to her knee and then down her calf to her ankle. I wrapped my right hand around her ankle and squeezed gently. This triggered a small gasp from Maggie’s smiling slightly parted lips. Now that Maggie’s legs were spread open I could see her feminine treasure… her fruit.
“It is none of my business what Penny and you do in private Maggie, I do know that you are both intimate and care a great deal for one another. It was shared with me that I wasn’t the first to remark that her ‘privates’ resembled a peach. I can’t help but to make something of a comparison and an observation on your own ‘fruit’…” I stated matter-of-factly, glancing from her eyes to her own treasure nestled in that tight cloud of raven hair. Jet black hair, surrounded by the pale white skin of her thighs and abdomen but her vulva looked more like a ripe plum. The skin of her outer lips was almost purple, the parting of which I ran the index finger of my right hand from the bottom towards the point where they rejoined below that one pearl stud that pierced her clitoral hood. Just inside those darker skinned folds were the inner lips, her labia an almost angry red color, velvety soft and moist. Sliding my index finger back down between those inner lips they parted and revealed the bright pink of her inner fruit. Maggie’s nectar was all but dripping out of her as my lone finger explored so wantonly. Looking up again into Maggie’s face I noted that her eyes were all but closed, her mouth was slightly open and the nostrils of her nose were flaring each time she breathed in. The fingers of Maggie’s right hand were splayed and straining to extend further as her palm was pressed firmly to the skin of her abdomen, the fingers of her left hand were gripping her upper thigh just below her hip.
“Penny has a peach Maggie, and I would say you have a plum, a very ripe… juicy… plum.” I observed in a low throaty voice that I myself almost didn’t recognized. I noted that my own pulse was pounding with my excitement. I also noted that all too familiar confining tightness of my jeans as my body was taking cues from that excitement. I put that aside for the time being, I was more interested in what I was doing with and for Maggie.
“Maggie?”
“Yes darling?”
“When I discovered Penny’s Peach, I felt so… I don’t know… inadequate to take care of her obvious need at the time. I wanted to learn and I asked her to show me how she liked to be touched… to please her.” I bit my lip and turned my head slightly as if considering my next words carefully, which I was actually doing. “Maggie… I want to be able to do that for her, for you… for anyone I am with in my future. I want to learn how to do these things.” Looking again from her plum to her face I noted that her face was darkening as was her neck, her skin flushing with need.
“You… you’re doing fine Jim… trust your instincts…” Maggie softly sputtered as her breathing was quickening moment by moment.
My left hand squeezed the soft inner thigh of Maggie’s right leg, inches away from that damp heated smoldering fruit. My right hand still slowly stroked my index finger up and down that moist heated cleft of her inner lips bumping every few trips with that single pearl stud. The clitoral hood sliding back little by little as Maggie’s pink peg grew larger and more erect peeking out beneath that pierced hood. Withdrawing my single finger completely at the top of one stroke I used it to circle that pearl two or three times before tracing down along the outside of her plum trailing through that silky soft raven dark hair to once more find that pouting moist opening at the bottom. I used the tip of my finger to gather a little nectar and trail it down across that soft tender hairless patch of skin separating Maggie’s plum from the darker little rose bud of her anus. I felt Maggie tense beneath my touch as she gasped in surprise. I brushed the tip of my finger lightly over and back and around that rosebud before drawing it back up to her plum.
I noted that Maggie’s chest was heaving with her ragged breathing. Her eyes had been closed but they sprung open when I stopped moving, they flared and I could see the fire in her copper colored irises as she eyed me hungrily. Again I dipped the index finger of my right hand into that heated cleft, joined this time with another finger. My fingers curled into hooks and as I plunged them slowly further and further inside as if reaching for her rose bud from the inside. When I could go in no further I rotated my hand so that my palm was pointed up towards the ceiling and my fingers still curled into hooks were rubbing and scratching along the insides of Maggie’s inner walls. Near the top of her velvet sheath I found a slightly roughened patch of flesh. I began rubbing it with my finger tips, scratching at it, rubbing it, drawing my fingers from the patch to the opening and sliding back in to repeat. Maggie’s lower lip was sucked up into her teeth as she bit it and closed her eyes, her brows knitting in concentration.
“Jim… F… F… Faster…” Maggie gurgled between rasping breaths.
I sped up the motion of my right hand and fingers, adding a third to the two that were already plunging in and out of Maggie’s sopping wet folds. I could feel the muscles of Maggie’s right leg trembling under the touch of my left hand. Releasing my hold on her inner thigh I brought my left hand to the top of Maggie’s plum, my palm pressed flat on her pubic mound and that nest of dark silky hair. My left thumb reached down and flipped that lone pearl stud back and forth over Maggie’s clit that was also being twitched back and forth. Maggie’s hips began to rise from the surface of the bed, both of her hands now strained at pressing on her abdomen as her fingers splayed, stretched and clenched, their red glossy nails all but clawing at her own flesh. Looking up I saw that Maggie’s face was twisted in an expression that was torn somewhere between pain and surprise, her eyes were clamped shut, her brows knitted and her mouth was open in a silent scream as her head pivoted back on her neck. Suddenly Maggie’s hips lurched up off the bed, her body twisting away from her one raised leg and pressing into my into my side as if trying to make more contact with my frenetic hands. Then it was if she became a human bear trap, her legs slammed closed trapping my right hand between her thighs as my fingers were suddenly awash in hot liquid gushing from her spasming core.
Maggie’s left hand was planted beside her gripping the bedspread as if to keep her from falling, her right hand clamped down on my left wrist halting my thumbs’ toying with her clit. There were a series of heaving convulsions that passed through Maggie like waves from her head to her hips causing her breasts to jiggle and her stomach muscles to ripple. The waves settled and stilled after a few long moments, Maggie’s legs relaxed and she released both of my hands as she drew her own hands across her abdomen and up to and over her breasts to run along either side of her neck, through her hair and finally reach and stretch above her head. With her eyes still closed but now her face a picture of ease and relaxation, she smiled a beautiful soft smile as she took a long long breath in then let it out in an equally long sigh. While I watched Maggie’s recovery I ran my right hand absent mindedly down along the outside of her left thigh, feeling the silky nylons brushing under my fingertips.
“So… Um… Was that acceptable for my first attempt?” I asked hesitantly almost afraid to break the spell that Maggie seemed to be under.
“Wha…” Maggie started to speak as her eyes shot open and she locked those amber orbs on my face before beginning to chuckle softly. The chuckle causing her chest to rise and fall rhythmically as she closed her eyes again and twisted and stretched her arms again before drawing them back down to her chest then to her sides to find the loose folds of her robe to pull them closed once again hiding away her creamy smooth bare skin. Maggie opened her eyes once more and looked me square in the eye and said. “Darling, you may learning, but I think you could teach some people a thing or two already. That was wonderful Jim. Thank you. I was truly not expecting such a… pleasure.”
“I am here to learn and I take my studies seriously.” I spoke bashfully but still pleased by the praise Maggie just gave me. Then as I looked away blushing my eyes settled on my wrist watch and I noted the time. “Oh Crap!” I blurted out.
“What is it darling?” Maggie asked at my outburst.
“I just noticed the time.” I said with a defeated sigh. “I need to be heading to Dom’s for my dinner shift tonight. I guess further ‘study’ will have to wait till another time.” I said as I stood up from the bed and offered my hand to Maggie to help her rise as well. She took my offered hand and rose to first sit on the side of the bed and tie her sash about her robe, and then she stood up as well. Running her hands up along the outside of my arms to my elbows, Maggie leaned in and kissed me softly on the lips. She pulled back a bit and looked up into my eyes.
“I will look forward to further study…” She purred softly with that look of hunger still in her copper amber colored eyes. “Come, let me walk you to the door.” She said as she slipped her arm in mine and we began the walk back through the apartment to the entry door. Pausing before opening the door, she looked around at the front room but I had the distinct impression that she was seeing a different time if only for a few moments. Maggie bowed her head and closed her eyes taking a deep breath before returning her attention to me. She smiled without explanation and opened the door and ushered us both through before closing it again. We walked arm in arm through the beaded curtain and up the stairs to the landing. Once more Maggie turned to me and looked deeply into my eyes, slipping both of her hands into mine and squeezing softly. That soft smile on her lips as she leaned in again for another soft sensual kiss, tilting her head ever so slightly to one side and her eyes drifting closed just before our lips met. This was not a rushed kiss, but there was passion behind it all the same. No dueling tongues, no feverish hungry lip play, just soft sensual oh so gentle kissing.
“Have a good evening my young sir. I will see you in the morning of course.” Maggie purred dreamily as she parted from our kiss smiling warmly and opening the door for me.
It wasn’t until I opened the door of my truck and sat down behind the wheel that I took notice that my anatomy was making itself known and displaying my excitement. I sighed and tried to forget it as I drove to Dom’s to start my night hustling pizzas to hungry customers. I scratched at an itch on my nose and was surprised by how my hand smelled. I grinned thinking back that I had left the teachers’ house without washing my hands first. I could still smell Maggie’s nectar on the fingers of my right hand. I sniffed deeply and marveled at the musky slightly spicy scent. Questions flitted through my mind, a curiosity at just what she might taste like… or Penny… or Michelle?
The dinner rush was fairly slow for a Friday, and since I wasn’t scheduled to close I was one of the first drivers checked out and sent home. Jules was not closing either and so she checked out about the same time as I did. Being somewhat early for a Friday evening and a warm night, I grabbed a couple of bottles of Pepsi then dropped my tailgate on my pick up and sat down to do some reflecting and thinking. I was lost in my own mind when I felt my truck dip a bit as someone took a seat beside me on the tailgate. Coming back to the here and now I turned and saw that it was Jules. She was studying me as she took a long draw off a bottle of beer that she was holding. She raised a single eyebrow and lifted another bottle in her other hand in offering. I frowned and shook my head.
“Thanks, but I can’t drink that crap.” I said and stared off into space again.
“You don’t like the taste?” Jules asked with a shrug, setting the other bottle down beside her.
“Well, not really but that’s not why I can’t drink it, I’m allergic to something in beer… maybe the hops…” I shrugged. “I drink one beer and I get sick and puke for hours. I can drink other alcohol and not get sick though… just sleepy. I’ll never be much of a drinker.” I said offhandedly.
“Damn son! You don’t drink, you don’t smoke weed… what DO you do?” Jules chuckled taking another pull from her beer.
I just shrugged then leaned back against the side of the bed. My mind was still wandering through my day.
“I bet I know what you’d LIKE to be doing… and probably with WHOM as well!” Jules said by way of challenge. “So have you even asked Michelle for her phone number yet?” She asked.
“I haven’t even had a chance to talk to her for a while… I still wonder if she’s pissed at me or something.” I lamented.
“So it was her that put that hand print on your cheek a while back?” Jules asked tilting her head a bit to one side looking at me sideways.
“No Jules, it wasn’t Michelle. I told you I can’t or won’t talk about that.” I repeated tiredly
“I’m pulling your leg Jim.” Jules spoke softly in a serious voice that brought me out of my reverie and grabbed my attention. When Jules got all serious and stuff I had learned to pay attention. “Jim, you already know that I talk with Maggie and Penny. I think you have already figured out that I was also a student of theirs at one time. I know that you and Michelle both are students right now. I’m not asking for secrets so you’re not breaking your word, relax.” Jules was looking me in the eye, no smiles, no smirking, no winks, just a straight face. “You look like you’re lost in the woods or something there Jim, a lot on your mind? Anything you want to talk about? You know I’m here for you bud.” Jules added with a genuine smile before taking another pull from her beer and looking off into the distance herself.
“If I didn’t know better I’d think you liked me or something hard ass…” I grinned at her and took another drink of my Pepsi.
“Yeah… you’re okay for a farm boy… and a guy. But if you repeat that to anyone I’ll deny it!” She chuckled, and then drained the last of her bottle. Holding it out and tipping it over to watch the last couple of drops drip out of the neck. “That’s it for me, I’ve gotta drive.” Jules said as she grabbed her other bottle and slid off the end of the tailgate.
“I need to be heading out too, gotta get up with the sun to feed and tend to the animals before driving back to mow the Teachers’ yard… and have my next lesson.” I said as I slid off the end of the tailgate too. As I turned I found Jules squared off and standing right in front of me, that sober expression on her face again she looked me in the eye before saying.
“I was dead serious when I told you I’m here if you need to talk about anything Jim.” Then she lifted one eyebrow and tilted her head slightly to one side waiting for a reply.
“I know Jules, thank you. I’m okay, really. I’m just… learning a lot, and I’m processing it I guess. And I won’t let you down.” I added.
“Let me down?” Jules asked genuinely puzzled.
“Well, no one mentioned names, but I realized that I would not have been offered “lessons” without having been recommended by a former student. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that YOU sponsored, or recommended me.” I smiled knowingly. “It was a complete coincidence that I had actually been a student of Maggie’s back in high school… and that I knew Michelle from the very same class… Those two things are still blowing my mind. What are the odds?” I shook my head in amazement.
“Oh my god… what have I done? I’ve created a monster!” Jules giggled as she punched me in the arm and turned to leave.
“Thanks Jules…” I said again then turned and closed my tailgate before walking around to my door to get in.
I awoke Saturday morning with the sun, as usual, but I soon realized that the sunrise was about all the sun I was likely to see for the day. The skies were leaden with heavy clouds promising rain. I hurried to tend the animals before cleaning up and shaving. I grabbed some toast from the table as I headed out to drive to town. I was wondering if I would have time to get the yard mowed before it began raining but just as I drove up to the Teachers’ house the skies opened up and it began to rain. Sitting in my truck I could see Michelle pushing the dinosaur of a lawn mower that belonged to the Teachers up the drive way into the garage. I also noticed that the gas can was still sitting beside the sidewalk at the edge of the front yard. I hopped out of my truck and grabbed the can and ran to the garage. Michelle had just turned from parking the mower and saw me stepping into the garage with the can. Both of us were dripping wet from the rain.
“Thanks.” She said taking the can out of my hands and putting it with the mower.
“I don’t think we’re going to get the yard mowed today.” I said looking out at the rain falling steadily.
“No. It doesn’t look like it.” Michelle said as she joined me standing in the doorway.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Michelle shiver and realized that I had goose bumps on my own arms. Rubbing my arms to shake off the rain water I turned to Michelle.
“I suggest we both get dried off… might as well get cleaned up for our lessons.” I smiled and nodded towards the door to the kitchen. I walked over and knocked. Michelle stood next to me and cocked her head questioningly but didn’t say anything. Moments later the inner door opened and Penny took one look at us both standing there dripping water and ushered us inside. The cooler air conditioned air felt freezing to me and I suspected to Michelle as well as she was clenching her jaw to keep her teeth from chattering.
“Oh my! You both look like a couple of wet kittens! Go dry off and change into something dry before you catch a cold.” Penny gushed. “I’ll make us all some hot cocoa to take the chill off. Run along now.” She said shooing us along towards the doorway towards the living room and hallway. I paused at the doorway and looked at Michelle. She indicated that she was going downstairs so I turned towards the hallway to the upstairs bathroom. After shedding my wet clothes and drying off, I wrapped myself in a towel and made my way to the guestroom where my spare clothes were stored. Clean socks, a must, but then there was a dilemma… I had no other dry pants, only boxers and tee shirts. If it was just myself and Maggie or Penny in the house I would not have worried about it but Michelle was in the mix and I was not sure if that would be acceptable. I chose a rather long tee shirt and tried it on, it hung down covering about half of my boxers so I decided that it might be okay. Still though, I was hesitant to walk back to the kitchen dressed like this. Biting my lip I gathered my wet clothes into a bundle and headed down the hall.
Entering the kitchen I saw that Maggie had joined us and was sitting at the table stirring a mug of what I assumed was hot cocoa, she looked up and smiled warmly and winked at me. Wait… what? A wink? Okay… Penny was just inside the kitchen from the doorway into the laundry room standing with Michelle who was handing off her bundle of wet clothes. Michelle was dressed in a baggy gray sweatshirt and a knee length plaid skirt, with knee high white socks, no shoes. She looked towards me and blushed quite pink but avoided my eyes. I had to think it was due to my appearing wearing boxers.
Penny took my bundle and told us both to sit. I pulled out a chair at the end of the table to Maggie’s left for Michelle. She smiled bashfully and drew her skirt under her legs and sat daintily. I started to pull the next chair to the left for myself but Maggie asked me to sit to her right at the other end of the table. Not seeing that it made any difference other than being a bit further from Michelle I moved to that chair. Penny returned from the laundry room and went to the stove where she had three mugs waiting to be ladled full of hot cocoa. Filling the mugs she set them on the table before Michelle and I before taking a seat with her own mug. Still feeling a bit embarrassed being dressed in only boxers and a tee shirt I cleared my throat and spoke up.
“Ladies, I know it’s house rules but I feel like I must apologize at least to Michelle for being so… casually dressed. I’m afraid this is all I had dry to change into.” I looked sheepishly at Michelle at the other end of the table and blushed.
Michelle squirmed a bit in her chair and blushed as well before saying softly under her breath. “At least you HAD underwear to put on…” At that both Penny and Maggie giggled but didn’t say anything. I wondered what that was all about but didn’t say anything either. I stirred my cocoa and then blew on it before taking a hesitant sip. WOW! Still way too hot, so I just held the mug in my hands and let the heat warm them. The kitchen window brightened for a moment then a few moments later the distant rumble of thunder could be heard. I glanced to Penny and saw her shudder briefly and she looked to me and smiled a bit sheepishly. I also noticed that Maggie caught that silent exchange and she gave me a bare hint of a smile as well before turning to Michelle.
“Michelle darling, why don’t you bring your cocoa and come with me.” Maggie stood, placing one hand on my shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze. “Jim darling, please attend to Penny, she will be working with you today for your lesson.” Michelle followed Maggie out of the kitchen and I heard them taking the stairs down to the landing and presumably on down to the lower level, perhaps the classroom. Penny raised her mug to her lips, her hands still shook with a slight tremor as yet another low rumble of thunder shook the kitchen window.
“Penny? Are you okay?” I asked noticing that she was trying very hard to maintain her composure.
“I’m okay… I know it’s completely silly of me to be frightened of a little noise… but sometimes I just can’t help myself.” Penny said in an almost whispered voice.
“Well if it’s any solace, from the sound of the thunder the storm is moving away and it will be over with soon.” I told her just as yet another rumble sounded, but this one much softer. Penny looked at me and smiled shyly and nodded her head.
“Well now, just what are we going to do for today’s lesson?” Penny asked with a return of confidence and perhaps a bit of mischief in her voice and batted her big blue eyes innocently.
“I’m sure I have no idea as in all honestly I never have seen a syllabus for this course madam teacher.” I smiled and batted my eyes in return before finally taking another sip of my hot cocoa. “Mmmm this is really good!” I exclaimed and looked again at my mug. “It’s very… rich.” I added.
“It’s Maggie’s recipe, instead of simply milk, she adds fresh cream to the cocoa.” Penny offered as she sipped her own mug and closed her eyes and smiled. “She has good tastes.” She added as an afterthought.
“Yes she does…” I said softly watching Penny’s face as she relaxed, her eyes closed and obviously in thought. Then One eyebrow shot up and she cracked her eyes open halfway and gave me a sidelong glance as she processed what I had just said. She didn’t comment but she gave me a wary smile and a knowing wink before closing her eyes once more.
“Jim darling, you’re a flatterer…” Penny said and licked her lips.
“No, Penny, I’m honest, but sometimes I say things that I should keep to myself.” I said sheepishly.
“Well you’re still a flatterer even if you don’t mean to be.” Penny said sweetly. We sat in silence for a while after that as we finished our cocoa. With the final sip of her cup Penny cocked her head slightly to one side and a decidedly mischievous smile slowly spread across her angelic face. “Taste indeed.” She said with a purr. Standing up she gathered our mugs and spoons and set them in the sink. Turning back to me she took my hand and asked me to follow her.
I was led down the hallway to Penny’s bedroom. She closed the door behind me and led me to the side of her bed and turned to face me. She took my other hand in hers so she was holding both, standing toe to toe she had her head tilted down as if looking at my chest, but her eyes were somewhere distant, perhaps looking inward as she composed her next words carefully.
“Today we will begin a new chapter in your… education. Tell me Jim, honestly now, there is no wrong answer… When you kiss a girl, what do you feel?” Penny asked her head still bowed and looking up into my eyes through her eyelashes.
“Whew… that’s a pretty broad question…” I said not knowing where to begin exactly. “I feel so many things…”
“Do you? Just tell me a few of them, don’t think about it…” Penny pushed.
“I… I feel excitement. I feel… electrified… I feel… connected, connected to the woman that I’m kissing. I feel… Her.” I spoke still reaching for everything.
“Go on… what else?” Penny prompted me softly, raising my hands to her lips and turning my hands to kiss my palms softly.
“I feel… her excitement. I feel her… pleasure.” I added, marveling at the tingling sensation from the touch of Penny’s lips on just the palms of my hands.
“Jim, don’t you think that perhaps the girl you are kissing feels the same things?” Penny asked, pressing my palms to her cheeks.
“I… guess so, I’ve never really thought about it.” I admitted.
“Tell me darling, when we, Maggie and I both, did the touch exercises, did you learn that the person being touched feels as much as the person doing the touching?” The question was posed in such a soft voice that I almost didn’t hear it.
“Yes of course.” I said, beginning to see where she was leading me with these questions.
“So if you can feel a girl’s excitement in her kisses, a girl can feel yours as well… but don’t you think that kisses don’t have to be confined to just the lips for those sensations to be shared?” Penny tilted her head up and her mischievous smile spread into a warm almost pouting invitation for what else, but a kiss. With my hands already pressed to her cheeks, I drew her closer to me and did just that, I kissed Penny softly on those amazingly expressive lips, her eyes half closed as she sighed into our kiss. Pulling back she again looked deep into my eyes, those beautiful blue eyes boring into my very core. Jim, everywhere you touch those lips of yours to a girl she will feel your desire, your affection, your excitement. Your lips are indeed electrifying. Think back to the touch exercises… now touch me with your lips.” Penny said so seriously that I knew that this was something that was very important to her, and therefore for me to learn.
I pulled her face to me once more and we kissed softly, sensuously, our lips caressing one another and tongues brushing with the barest of effort tentatively, teasingly. Pulling back slightly I moved my lips to Penny’s left cheek, another soft sensuous kiss. I moved further along her jaw line to just below her left ear, and that soft spot on her neck for another soft kiss. I felt Penny’s arms go around my sides as she pressed herself into me as she pulled me into her, her breasts cushioning us even as her hardened nipples made themselves apparent. With a slight gasp Penny pulled back and placed her hands on my chest halting my kissing for a moment. Without a word and looking intently into my eyes she loosened the tie of her robe and opened it allowing it to fall to the floor behind her. My heart skipped a beat, and even though it was already racing, it sped up even more. Penny licked her lips slowly, and deliberately, then reached out and took my right hand and first brought it palm first to her left breast, the nipple tickling my skin. I resisted the urge to close my thumb and fingers over that fleshy point, just as well since Penny clearly had other things in mind. She drew my hand down over her abdomen, slowly, turning my hand so that my fingers were now pointed downward as she drew it palm first down through that little tuft of hair above her peach. My fingers drifted over and through that oh so downy soft crimson barrier before feeling the moist heated fuzzy flesh between her legs. Penny’s peach was damp with her own juices just beginning to seep out along the seam of her velvety lips. A small gasp from her let me know that her excitement was rising if not already as high as my own.
“Do you feel it Jim?” Penny purred, again licking her lips.
“Yes I do, it would be kind of hard to miss wouldn’t it?” I responded, still trying to fathom where she was going with this exercise.
“You’re touching me, and I feel you touching me…” She added softly in that restrained quiet teacher’s voice I’ve learned to associate with something important being conveyed. Penny then pressed my middle finger through her outer lips and into the well where her nectar was coming from. That velvety furnace disguised as a peach. Having done that she pulled my hand up to her face, she looked at it for a moment then turned my hand and pushed the whetted finger to my nose. “Smell me?” She asked, one eyebrow rising questioningly. I took a sniff, even though honestly I could have answered that I had smelled her since the moment we walked into her bedroom.
“I smell Peaches, and incense…” I breathed haltingly. Penny smirked but she wasn’t done yet I sensed.
“Now taste.” She said still holding my hand with the whetted finger nearly touching my lips. I opened my mouth and let my tongue slip out and lick my finger. I couldn’t help it but my eyes closed of their own accord as the explosion of sensations ran rampant along my taste buds and the information flashed to my brain. It couldn’t have been more than a heartbeat but it seemed like time took a minute or two to rest and simply stopped moving ahead while all this happened. I opened my eyes and could see a slight hint of concern in Penny’s eyes, her smile was still there but it seemed about to falter as she waited on my response.
I let a slow smile spread on my lips as I ran my tongue along them and then licked my finger again slowly while looking directly into Penny’s worried eyes. “That is a taste a guy could learn to love.” I finally intoned. And there it was… Penny’s eyes relaxed and her smile grew into a living thing that made her whole face glow for a moment. Then she was back, her eyes narrowed again and that smile morphed back into something befitting a cat who just ate a canary.
“Yes, many guys do, and so do… many girls. Sadly it’s not something everyone learns to like or enjoy but those that do find so much to enjoy and share. I must tell you though, not every girl tastes the same, we are all different in our own way even while being… similar.” Penny stated matter of factly as she drew my hand to her own mouth and licked my whetted finger slowly while staring me in the eye gauging my reaction. “You know that being kissed and kissing is a way to share pleasure and excitement between lovers… just as touching and being and being touched. When it comes right down to it, they are the same. But while the fingers and your skin and feel… your lips, and tongue can taste as well.” Penny spoke in her almost silent teaching voice as her fingers intertwined with min in both hands. She stepped backwards towards the side of the bed while pulling me with her. “I want you to think back to your touching exercises, remember what you have learned about both my body and Maggie’s. Think back to the girls that you have been intimate with before us, remember touching them. The places on our bodies that reacted to your touch… now imagine instead of your hands or fingers, if it were your lips and tongue making that touch. How would it feel to you, to be touched… kissed with soft lips, or stroked with a wet tongue?” Penny’s voice in shaky whisper at this point as she eased herself down to sit on the edge of the bed pulling me close before releasing my hands and pressing the side of her face into my chest and abdomen.
Standing at the side of the bed, I put my hands on Penny’s head. As my fingers were running through her soft strawberry blond curls I could feel her warm breath pushing through thin material of my tee-shirt, my mind was in overdrive. So many connections were being made, ideas clicking into place and making sense. And I realized that somehow I knew this to be true, but it was not something that I had thought of until this morning, right now. I realized too that my mouth was indeed watering just thinking about exploring Penny with my mouth, to kiss her in all the places that I’ve touched her. Most definitely, and especially her peach I thought as I swallowed. I must have trembled a bit because Penny pulled her head back and looked up at me askingly. Perhaps she thought it was some reluctance on my part.
“Jim darling…” She began in a curiously husky voice, almost uncertainly. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable or…” But she let whatever she was going to say die on her lips as I looked down at her and smiled. She must have seen the hunger in my eyes. I took one step back and kneeled at the side of the bed taking her head in both of my hands again and pulled her into a slow passionate kiss. Wetting our lips and loosening our tongues to play. When we both broke apart to catch our breath we both eyed one another silently. I made a point of licking my lips and spreading Penny’s legs apart so that I might edge a little closer to her. I reached around her with and placed both hands on her back just below her shoulder blades and pulled her into me again but this time my kisses were aimed at the side of her neck. Penny’s arms wrapped around my head as I kissed farther down to the hollow of her throat before moving on to her breasts. To do this however Penny had to relax a bit and lean back towards the top of the bed. Still supported by my own arms her reclining form made her ample breasts seem even more impressive especially as her breathing was becoming faster, they rose and fell hypnotically. It was hard for me to kiss her breasts and watch the look on her face now that her head was tilted back as it was. Penny released her hands from my neck and shoulders and moved to her own chest, just above her breasts so as not to interfere with my kissing I suspect.
I let my moist lips and tongue kiss and lick and taste in varying alterations from one breast through the valley of her cleavage to the other twin. I pecked at and licked at each nipple in turn, as well as trailed my lips teasingly along the sides and beneath each breast trying to reach all the tender spots I have encountered. I could feel the finest of the fine hairs on her skin standing up and goose bumps popping up when my own breath when exhaled warmly across her skin caused Penny to gasp. I continued on down across Penny’s abdomen but stopped briefly at her naval to kiss it gently and let my tongue delve into that tiny little crevasse. My chin now was brushing at that small tuft of downy fuzz atop Penny’s marvelous peach. I let my supporting hands slide out from under Penny’s back and drew them softly down her flanks and hips to rest atop her thighs.
Feeling Penny’s legs tremble from the touch of my warm hands I thought about the words Maggie had spoken the other day, about building anticipation… so I diverted my kissing lips and tongue away from its obvious destination of Penny’s sweet peach. Instead I kissed along that soft sensitive line between her peach and that inner thigh. My hunch must have proved the right thing to do as I heard a stifled moan rise from Penny’s throat as she arched her neck into the surface of the bed and grasped her breasts with both hands. Those glossy red painted nails looking like gems in their contrast to the milky white flesh of her breasts. Halfway to her knee, I pulled away from Penny’s right thigh and switched to her left and began slowly kissing and licking my way back up towards her peach. Again another stifled moan rose from Penny’s throat and her hips quivered as if nervous about my approaching lips and tongue. Nearing the top of that sensitive line my left cheek brushed the outer lips of that fuzzy ripe peach and Penny’s hips did rise up off the edge of the bed. Drawing back for a moment I took in the view from up close and personal of that magnificent sight. Dusty ginger tinted fuzz covered her outer lips and sides. The crinkly surface of the edges of those lips came together barely concealing the lighter pink delicate inner lips beginning to peek out as if they were shy. There was a glistening line of dewy beads along that seam, the sight of which and the tantalizing smell this close had my mouth watering.
It was a no-brainer to lean in and delicately run the tip of my tongue along that seam and collect all those glistening beads. Halfway up that honey trail Penny nearly exploded off the bed as her hips rose like a shot, her peach mashed into the parted lips and flattening my tongue and burying my nose in that little tuft of hair at the top. With my head pushed back Penny again settled on the edge of the bed. My heart was racing and there was no doubt in my mind that hers was too as her chest rose and fell as fast as my heart was beating.
“S… Sorry Jim…” Penny panted out before rising up on her elbows to look down at me through the valley of her cleavage. “Please… You’re doing so well… I just… didn’t expect it to affect me so much. I’ll try to… control myself… more. Oh god!” she panted out as she slumped back down again.
Smiling if only to myself I looked down again at Penny’s Peach and noticed that the pink inner lips were now sticking out further than they were a few moments ago, and now there was a thin line of clear juice running down from the bottom of the peach across that soft bare spot between it and Penny’s little pink rosebud. Looking too tempting to pass up I leaned forward and dabbed at that line with the tip of my tongue. I felt Penny jump slightly with the contact of my tongue to her flesh. I put my lips to the bottom of her peach and kissed softly, feeling the texture of her outer lips to my lips. Turning my head sideways as much as I could so that my lips lined up with hers more as two people might when kissing I sucked her lips into mine lightly. When did this however I was rewarded with a very wet surprise as that heated nectar whetted my lips and was drawn into my mouth. Oh my god it tasted so good, it was sweet and salty at the same time with a very light intriguing tang that I couldn’t really compare to anything I’ve ever tasted before. I could feel Penny’s hips trembling under my hands each time I moved my lips and placed another kiss on that ripe peach. The velvety soft fuzz like hairs tickled my nose both with their feel and the scent coming from the whole peach. As I neared the top of the peach, where the outer lips come together to form a hood I saw the little pink stem beginning to reach beyond its folded cover. I remembered that it was very sensitive and decided I would stay clear of that for the moment.
Pulling back again to both catch my breath a bit and to take in all of Penny, she quivered on the edge of the bed. Her hands were grasping at the bed covers and her legs were all but vibrating. I ran my hands down along the tops of her thighs on either side to her knees. Remembering Maggie with her leg drawn up as I touched her yesterday I wondered if Penny might be as flexible. I slipped my hands under her legs at the knees and lifted them off the floor. Penny gave a startled yelp at first but then realized my intentions I guess as her hands slipped over my own behind her knees and she drew her legs up towards her sides. And just like that I witnessed up close and personal the opening of Heaven’s Gate. Where Penny’s peach was nestled in its own little grotto at the top of her legs, now that her legs were drawn up out of the way it was like a beautiful fruit on a creamy white platter. Oh my god!
Sliding my hands down along the smooth backs of her thighs alongside that juicy fragrant piece of feminine fruit, my thumbs slid into the crevice between the cheeks of her backside. Again Penny’s legs trembled in anticipation. I leaned in and kissed her inner thighs and those delicious creamy mounds of her ass cheeks before returning to the center of the dish. I lapped at the juices leaking down from the opening towards her rosebud. I brought my tongue flat upwards till the tip parted those lips. Now that her legs were out of the way I could turn my head and press my lips fully to hers. When I drew suction this time her inner lips popped into my mouth much as Penny’s tongue would when we kissed. My tongue danced with both of its new partners lavishing them with affection, tasting them and their copious nectar. I parted those lips and whipped at them then explored the depths that I could reach by extending my tongue to its fullest into that heated opening. The deeper I went, the more juice came out, I could feel my face getting wet as I rubbed my chin and nose and lips against the opening and those velvety lips. Again I had to pull back a moment to catch my breath. I brought my right hand up and with my thumb on one side and my fingers on the other I spread those outer lips allowing the soft pink inner lips to spread as well. Pressing my lips to the now wide open entrance I speared my tongue as deep as I could go into that honey well and curled my tongue and closed my lips and sucked as much juice as I could. I swear I could feel Penny’s peach shuddering around my tongue. As I rose this time I let my tongue drag through the folds at the top of the opening and it brushed against that swollen pink stem of her clit. The result was electric, it was if Penny had been jolted or struck by the lightning that she was so afraid of.
I felt both of her hands suddenly pressed against the back of my head pulling me tighter against her sodden treasure. The groan I heard rumble from her chest was haunting and one that I would grow to think of as the sweetest of music. I knew that this little button was so very sensitive and it would appear that at this moment in time that was exactly what Penny wanted me to pay attention to. To kiss it and lick it so that’s what I did. I gently placed my lips around it as if it were a straw and I drew it into my mouth sucking on it while my tongue tapped at it and brushed it from side to side and up and down. I swirled around and around it. The fingers of my right hand had slipped into the honey pot further down and were curling about and scratching at those velvety wet walls inside. No longer supporting her legs with her own hands, I could feel Penny’s thighs sliding down the sides of my face as they came to rest atop my shoulders. Her hips began a rhythmic rise and fall with the heels of her silk booted feet pressing into my back. My jaw was getting tired by this point and I let my teeth close lightly around Penny’s hypersensitive clit, just brushing it really but you would have thought that she had been struck yet again by the lightning. Her body tensed from head to toe, I suppose because my senses were rather limited in the position I was in but all movement stopped for about two heart beats, her hips rising from the bed, her heels pressed into my back, her thighs clamped to either side of my head like a soft fleshy vise, her hands and fingers knotted in my hair… then she gave a massive jolt and collapsed just before starting to convulse with a series of jolts and seizure like bucks. Penny must have found her voice as once my ears were released by her thighs I heard the sounds she was making, noises really no intelligible words.
“Guhh… Guhh… Ohhhhh… Gahhhhh… AHHHHGGGHHH… Guhh…”
By now the frantic movements and convulsions had shaken me loose from my oral fixation of Penny’s clit, even my fingers had withdrawn completely. I had my hands gripping the tops of her thighs above the knees of her legs that while still on my back at the heels, were spread to either side of my shoulders. I remained kneeling beside the bed, my face inches from Penny’s treasure as she wound down from her climax. I marveled at the wonderful smell and the copious amounts of her juices that now spilled from her peach. As much as I wanted to dive back in and lap it all up I sensed that Penny needed a few moments first. Her chest was still heaving up and down, those magnificent breasts rising and falling with each breath. It was neat, I thought, how they rolled slightly together as she exhaled and then spread apart again towards her sides as she inhaled.
Penny released her hands from my head and drew them up her body, across her abdomen, her chest and those breasts, up her throat to her face and on into her hair eventually stretching her arms over her head as she arched her back. Taking a long deep breath then exhaling in a long long whoosh she finally relaxed. I felt her legs go slack so I set them back onto the floor or at least to hang from the side of the bed she was reclined on.
“Oh My… my my my my!” Penny muttered and then she giggled in a very girlish way. “Jim, my precious precocious young man… you darling are simply… a… a natural!” She purred.
That close to all that intoxicating wonderful womanhood I could not resist the temptation and I leaned back in and ran my tongue once more from the bottom of Penny’s oh so delicious peach all the way to the still swollen clit begging for more attention. The yelp I received was almost as exciting as the juice was delicious. Penny reached down with both hands in a flash and grabbed me by the hair and pulled me up.
“Oh god! Come here! Now!” She demanded as she pulled me up onto the bed beside her. I wasn’t sure if I’d gone too far or had done something wrong, I got to my feet and sat beside her on the bed only to be forcibly pulled down to lay beside her. My head in her hands once more she pulled my face to hers and locked lips with me in a hungry passionate kiss that literally took my breath away. When she pulled back we were both breathless. Penny was smiling and her eyes were half closed as she looked deep into my own.
“Darling for someone who’s never done that before you are simply amazing! I dare say that you could give lessons to others on how to do that.” She said still slightly out of breath. Then she seemed to notice that my face was still wet from her own juices and a wicked gleam came into her eyes as she took on a feral looking smile. Pulling me close again I expected another round of kisses but instead I was shocked when Penny took her tongue and licked my chin. Then she licked my jaw line before moving to each cheek and finally along my nose before licking her lips and returning to my own lips for a series of pecking little kisses. “Mmmmmm” she sounded. For some reason this really turned me on, not so much the tongue lashing I just received but the thought of her savoring her own juices as much as I did. I had to ask her.
“Penny, do all women like that? Their own taste I mean?” I asked propping my head up on my right hand with my elbow planted on the mattress top. Penny relaxed onto the bed looking up at me as she ran a finger of her right hand along my jaw and across my lips delicately.
“I can’t say for sure, but I suspect all girls do if only secretly. Not many will openly admit it, some though for whatever reasons do like it, some love it.” She said smiling and blushing.
“I think you may have created a monster today Penny.” I smiled a little bashfully before continuing. “I think you have opened my eyes to an entirely new obsession. Every time I kiss a girl from this day forward, there will be a part of my mind that is going to be wondering what she tastes like… further down.” Penny laughed out loud and pinched my nose before again touching my lips with her fingers and then moving them to my chin and drawing me down to her for more kissing. I found my left hand caressing her bare abdomen and chest just below her breasts. Penny’s right hand was sliding along my left forearm to the elbow.
“Jim, I feel so terribly naughty right now. Normally even with our exercises and lessons I can keep my personal interests separate from our… lessons. But darling, you have this… affect on us. Yes, both Maggie and me, we’ve discussed it at length.” Penny blushed almost pink as she batted her eyes and smiled sheepishly at the admission. “You are so kind and generous and… un-presuming. It’s quite disarming for us girls. I hope you remain this way throughout your life.” She whispered as she bit my bottom lip and pulled it out teasingly. Then her words struck me as somewhat odd, her first ones.
“Penny? What did you mean by feeling naughty?” I asked. The words barely out of my mouth when that hungry look deepened in Penny’s eyes and that feral grin returned.
“Jim darling, your attentions have lit a fire within me. My better judgment is telling me to behave myself… but I think you already know that I’m prone to letting myself get out of hand from time to time. I just can’t seem to help myself when it’s you that I’m around. I told you, you have an effect on me. As good as you have made me feel with your oh so sweet kissing… everywhere… I’m horny as a rabbit. It would be so easy for me to forget that I was teaching you and simply take advantage of your body. Except for that one time both I and Maggie have sadly let you go… un-attended to. We know you have desires and your body gets excited and needs release just as ours do. Until that moment I hadn’t even considered the fact that I indeed was sporting an erection under my boxer shorts. I looked down and I could see it was actually pushing against Penny’s left thigh even while constrained inside my shorts. Looking back up I saw that that feral grin had faded somewhat and that hungry look in Penny’s bright blue eyes had hardened into something more serious.
I felt Penny’s right hand slide up my arm to my shoulder and she pushed me over to lay flat on my back as she rolled to her side and then pressed up to a kneeling position on the bed beside me. Her left hand ran up her abdomen to her breasts and cradled them with her arm as she grasped her right breast at the nipple with her thumb and fingers. Her right hand traced from my left shoulder to my chest and then slowly down to my abdomen and finally at the waistband of my shorts. My thoroughly excited male anatomy was making a tent out of my boxers below the waistband. Penny’s right hand lightly brushed across the top of the contained head with her palm and her fingers danced along like feathers after it. Stepping back with her knees she set first her right foot then her left foot on the floor to stand beside the bed. Reaching down with both hands now she grasped my waistband and slid my shorts down my legs until they were free. Penny idly dropped them from her hands as she reached forward to my knees where my legs were bent and hanging over the edge of the bed. Pressing outward with each hand she spread my legs apart slightly causing my erection that was pointing at an angle at the ceiling somewhere over my shoulders to twitch. Even to me it seemed to be a living thing separate from the two of us. It pulsed with each pump of my heart.
Standing between my legs looking down at my throbbing excitement Penny smiled hungrily and licked her lips. “I’m going to catch hell from Maggie for this… I just know it… but Oh hell with it!” Maggie said as if in a trance. Her hands brushed lightly up the insides of my thighs to come together just under my ball sack. She lifted them in one hand as if to weigh them before gently squeezing them as her other hand wrapped the fingers around the base of my shaft and slid up to the flared head. Penny leaned down and her lips kissed the swollen head held in her hand. Her tongue slipped out and traced the crown all the way around before she kissed it again. Looking up to me she winked and then looked back at my member. Releasing my balls from her other hand both joined together in their grip around my shaft and they slowly rose up to just under the head again. Penny put her lips on the head and instead of kissing again she let her lips part and she drew the head into her mouth. Oh my god! The soft sensation of her lips was already making me lose my mind but then the heat and the wetness of her mouth just about made me pass out. My hands were now gripping the bedspread much the way Penny had been doing earlier. As Penny inched down my shaft taking more and more of me into her mouth her hands stroked downward along my shaft in a slow, achingly slow motion. I could feel Penny’s tongue swirling around and around my head and then the underside of my shaft.
My head was on fire, the head of my cock was in heaven, but Penny was not anywhere close to being through with me. I could feel her change direction and she slowly, oh so slowly pulled her mouth off of my manhood. Both hands were removed as she stood up straight, then Penny lifted her right leg off the floor to rest her foot on the edge of the bed. Still looking me in the eye with that wanton glazed expression she took both of her hands and reached down to her sopping wet peach. First one hand and then the other were dragged over and through her glistening folds gathering her juices in each hand. Bringing her hands up she again gripped my member with each, smearing her moisture all over me, rubbing it into the head and the shaft. With a grin that looked suspiciously like a snarl, Penny leaned down again and enveloped my head in her mouth but this time she didn’t ease down slowly but rather plunged downward engulfing my shaft more than half way down, at least four inches or more before once more pulling back off. Again she rubbed her hands all over my shaft and head before bringing her left hand to her face and licking her palm and fingers each one at a time.
“That’s better, now you’re ready.” Penny purred as she removed her right foot and replaced it with her knee. She climbed onto the bed with her knees on either side of my hips dragging her peach wetly along the bottom of my still throbbing but now thoroughly whetted shaft until it popped clear as her hips drew even with mine. With her left hand pressed flat to my chest she took her right hand and brought it to my lips, first to hold it under my nose for me to smell. When I realized that her hand was still wet from her juices I used my tongue to lick her palm and then fingers clean, sucking her fingers one at a time just as she had. My hands were now stroking her sides between her ribs and hips.
“Jim darling, this is me Penny, a woman not your teacher. This is not a lesson, this is personal, for me. Are you… okay with this?” Penny nearly whispered, her conscience trying desperately to reign in her body’s impulses and desires. I looked up and saw the storm playing out in her eyes, the wanton desire, the hungry need and the fear of my changing my mind perhaps. Of course at this point I was beyond words, I probably couldn’t have spoken if I even wanted to so I simply smiled and nodded my head in assent. I swear Penny growled like a big jungle cat. Gone was the uncertainty. Rising up on her knees, Penny took her right hand from my face and reached under her to grip my cock and guide it into the waiting wanton lips of her sopping ripe peach. The head pressed lightly at the entrance and was engulfed by both sets of her lips hungrily as she slid backwards impaling herself on me.
I had thought that Penny’s mouth was steaming hot, I had also thought that her peach was equally steaming hot when my tongue was teasing her entrance, but the heat I was feeling now as my cock plumbed deeper inside was that of a boiling cauldron. It was hot, it was wet… but surprisingly it was tight as well. I really didn’t know what to expect to be honest about it but I was still taken aback by the wet velvety grip her inner walls were putting around my eager phallus. Unrelenting, constant but alternating, almost undulating as I went deeper and deeper until Penny’s body and mine were pressed skin to skin at the joining of our sexes. Penny’s head was thrown back and her mouth open forming a surprised looking silent “Oh.” Both of her hands were now resting palms down on my tee shirt covered chest
For a long long moment Penny sat still astride my body, my cock buried deep within her. Her inner walls were grasping and stroking me even as she sat still. Slowly Penny lowered her head and opened her eyes again, or at least half opened them. Those beautiful soft blue eyes were misty with a fog of desire and smoky with pure lust. If I were completely honest I would tell you that they nearly glowed as if lit from within, maybe it was just my imagination but that’s the impression that still sticks in my mind to this very day. The silent “oh” was replaced by a very determined grimace of a smile, not a hateful or angry grimace by any means, but… well… “Determined.”
There was an alarm bell going off somewhere far back in my mind… very far back… so far back I nearly didn’t hear it at all and was oh so tempted to simply ignore it but try as I might I could not. Even enthralled as I was with the spectacle of this beautiful wanton creature sitting atop of me, her eyes on fire, her bare breasts swaying like a metronome with each breath she took, that alarm grew louder and louder. Suddenly it burst through my lust muddled fore brain and registered on my conscious thoughts. Protection!
“Penny!” I gasped, my eyes suddenly huge and alert. Penny tensed and looked down taking note of my panicked expression.
“Wh… what’s the matter Jim?” She stammered fearing that I had suddenly changed my mind after all.
“I’m not wearing any protection…” I began in a near panic thinking that I had really messed up by not considering it before this point. Penny looked at me blankly for a few moments. Her body was beginning to shake and I feared that she was about to start sobbing. Instead she tilted her head back and roared with laughter. Laughter that I felt all the way down her sides with my hands and right through her core with my cock, her inner walls gripping and releasing in time with her laughter. Penny raised both her hands up and slapped them both down onto my chest as if scolding me mockingly. Then she raised them to her face to wipe the tears away from her eyes.
“Oh Darling! You are so precious! Thank you for thinking, really. But this old girl is safe as far as getting pregnant goes anyway. Had you been anyone other than yourself I would have insisted on using protection myself. I know you are clean however so it didn’t cross my mind.” She looked down at me with a mixture of amusement and adoration. I felt relieved that I had panicked for no reason apparently but I still felt as if I had slipped badly for having thought about it rather late in the game as it were. My legs and buttocks clenched involuntarily causing me to twitch deep inside Penny’s core and that brought a new look across Penny’s face. Her head tilted down again as her eyes half closed again and she bit her bottom lip. Once more placing her hands palms down on my chest Penny began to twitch and grind. Slowly at first, barely moving, at least on the outside, inside she was in motion like no one else I had even known. Granted my limited experience was small indeed but still, this was unlike anything I had ever even imagined.
The feel of Penny’s swollen outer lips wrapping around the base of my cock almost reaching to my balls, the juices running out of her and along my shaft did reach my balls however. With slow shallow rocking motions Penny moved up and down my shaft almost imperceptibly at first. Gradually though she increased the motion and the distance a little at a time. Soon though she was sliding back and forth along my torso, my abdomen, stroking my cock with her peach. Those gripping inner walls tugging and pulling at my member in the opposite direction of her travel, unrelenting. My eyes constantly moving, mostly staying fixed to Penny’s face as she watched my own face, but with her swaying and bobbing breasts within arm’s reach above me I couldn’t help but to steal glances at them as well from time to time. My hands were now solidly gripping Penny’s hips, not quite digging into her flesh but firmly holding on all the same. Rocking and grinding, sliding forward and back in an ancient rhythm of lust and desire, our bodies edged closer and closer to our own summits.
My heart was racing, my breathing was coming in short quick gasps as my own hips began to buck and match Penny’s thrusts and grinds. I watched as her eyes slowly closed and her mouth began that silent scream as it made the “oh” again, her neck straining as she tilted her head back, those strawberry blond curls bouncing and whipping around her head. I could feel Penny’s fingers digging into the material of my shirt and even the flesh of my chest as her hands clenched just ahead of her building climax. It was then that I realized that my own face was contorted into a rictus closer to a snarl. Faster we moved, the urgency growing with each heart beat. I could feel the beginnings of my own climax starting in my toes, climbing my legs inching higher and higher. My stomach muscles clenching and tightening, my arms were suddenly rigid almost to the point of pain. But just as I was making note of this in my subconscious mind I became aware that Penny had abruptly stopped her movements completely. She too had gone still as a statue, her head motionless, her arms like mine were rigid and unmoving. Oh but her insides were practically vibrating, her legs were trembling as if about to explode… and they did.
With an almost terrifying scream of something bordering on agony and joy Penny erupted both vocally and internally.
“OhhhhhhhhGODDDDDDYESSSSSS! GAAAAAAH!”
Penny’s insides went into over drive as her walls spasmed and were awash in more juice than I thought would ever come from one woman. Some part of my brain thought that perhaps she had peed on me there was so much and it was so hot, I could feel it running out of her around my cock and down the crack of my ass to the bedspread soaking it. At the same time Penny’s feet were drumming the bedspread on either side of my body as her hands were drumming just out of sync with her feet onto my chest. Her head was twitching as if undecided to shake from side to side or nodded vigorously up and down while still attached to her straining rigid neck with veins and corded muscles popping out on either side. Penny’s eyes were clenched tightly closed but her mouth was still open once more with that silent scream. That was the last thing I saw before I was lost in the tunnel vision created by my own climax, my eyesight restricted down to one fading tight little dot of light before winking out as I felt my own body go into the paroxysms of climax. I could feel my spend pumping shot after shot up into that super heated feminine host that encapsulated me to my base.
I regained my senses some time later, I’m not really sure how long I was out but it must not have been very long as Penny was collapsed on top of me. She was cushioned by her breasts of course, pressed almost flat into my chest her head was resting on my collar bone, her face turned toward my own. Penny’s eyes were fluttering but still closed, her lips in a loose angelic smile of satisfaction but still slightly parted as her breathing was still coming in quickened pants and gasps. Amazingly though it was Penny’s peach that was still most notably active. Even as my erection was slowly flagging, and losing rigidity I could feel her inner walls still stroking and grasping me as if pumping still looking for more. It’s an oddly satisfying sensation to feel one’s cock shrink and slowly pull out of a well satisfied woman with a slippery little plop. Glancing at Penny I saw her smile turn into a small pout just before her eyes flickered open and she focused on my face. She then smiled again warmly and blinked her eyes slowly remaining silent for a moment longer basking in the afterglow. I smiled as well sharing the warmth and peace. That is until I felt that all too familiar tingle crawling up the backs of my legs.
“Penny, it’s coming… hang on.” I managed to say just before I got swept away in a powerful aftershock. My body seized up like a statue, every muscle rigid and fixed straining to the limit. My breathing stopped, my heart even skipped a few beats just before the damn broke and everything started spasming and twitching much like my climax minutes ago. Then it was past… and my breathing started to settle down, my heartbeat slowed. As I took stock of my surroundings again Penny was still there atop of me her head still resting on my chest at my collar bone. Her right hand was stroking my face gently.
“Are you sure that doesn’t hurt?” She asked when she realized I was studying her closely.
“I wouldn’t call it hurting, no, but it doesn’t bother me I guess.” I shrugged. “It’s happened as long as I can remember, well, since my first sexual encounter anyway.”
“I knew to expect it this time, but darling you really need to remember to warn any girl you are with in the future, it really is quite… a show.” Penny said smiling. As she turned my head back to face her and raised her head up to meet me in a kiss. It was a slow sensuous kiss, unhurried this time, lingering with memories of lust and passion. If you could say thank you in the form of a kiss this was the kiss to do it.
“I will try to remember to warn anyone I have the fortune to share such things with.” I vowed and then brought my hands up to hold Penny’s head gently between them. “Penny… Thank you… Ma’am.” I added with a sly grin. It took Penny a moment to register the “Ma’am” before her eyes flashed briefly and she snarled and began to say something but then realized I had been pulling her leg deliberately.
“I guess I had that coming, since I’ve been naughty and unprofessional.” She said trying to hide her growing grin. All the same she slapped at my chest in admonishment. “Darling this was wonderful, but you must realize that this was not part of your education as we normally teach it.” She went on in a very serious voice that was tinged with what I thought was either sadness or perhaps a bit of remorse.
“Penny, this was just between you and I. You made it clear before we committed to anything that it was personal, that makes it private. It’s no one’s business but our own. I would be the last to complain about anything that happened here this morning I assure you. As far as your suspected loss of my respect for you as my teacher you can rest assured that you are as respected now if not somehow more so. I am still and always will be your willing student for you to shape and mold and instruct me as you see fit.” I said in a steady honest voice looking directly into Penny’s eyes with a level gaze.
Penny simply stared at me as she digested what I had just spoken, her eyes searching mine. “If I live to be a hundred years old I don’t think I will ever meet another man or person like you sir.” That soft smile was back. Penny took in a long long breath and held it a heartbeat before releasing it in one long sigh. “Come on, get up and help me with the bed. I need to change the bedspread at least maybe the sheets underneath as well.”
The sheets under the bedspread were indeed wet and in need of changing. Together we stripped the bed of the linens and Penny pulled another set from her closet. We changed them, her still naked except of course for her silk booties covering her feet. Tucking in the last corner at the foot of the bed I wrapped my arms around her from behind and nuzzled her neck through her soft hair as she leaned back into me. We didn’t say anything more just enjoyed the closeness and intimacy of two people sharing with one another. Finally Penny giggled a bit girlishly and pulled away from me to turn and look up into my face. That mischievous smile was back.
“Jim darling, I’m leaking and in need of a shower. Now I know you should probably shower as well as even pleasant smells have a way of souring and becoming offensive. Grab your shorts and let’s go to the bathroom.” Penny winked and then bent to gather up the dirty linens. I smiled and picked up my boxer shorts and Penny’s silk robe as she didn’t seem to realize or at least care that she was completely naked still, save for her silk booties. I followed her down the hall to the bathroom where she paused outside the doorway and told me she was going to put the linens in the wash and check mine and Michelle’s clothes to see if they were dry yet. And just like that my bubble popped, I thought of the others still in this house somewhere Maggie and Michelle. I wondered if they had heard Penny’s passionate scream earlier… either of them. I’m not sure if my face went pale or not but Penny’s devilish leer and wink soon had me blushing bright red. “Start the water for us darling, I’ll be right back.” And she turned and sashayed down the hall towards the kitchen, her pear shaped bottom flouncing from side to side with each step.
I took off my tee shirt and stepped into the shower. Soon the water was coming out just a shade under steam in my opinion but I had learned that that was the temperature that most women seemed to prefer when bathing. Gritting my teeth I stepped under the shower head and got wet and was reaching for the soap when the shower door opened and Penny stepped in. Holding her hand out to check the temperature she gave me a curious look and smiled stepping closer to reach up and wrap her arms around my neck to pull me down into another round of kissing. Like earlier this kiss too was of the softer sensual variety, still though there was some tongue play and some nibbling of lips and one another’s tongues. And, even though we had just had sex just a short time ago my body was reacting to the kissing as I always did, my erection grew between us. Penny giggled and reached out and wrapped her right hand around it lovingly and stroked it gently up and down as she whispered how much she admired it and was happy that it was attached to someone she admired and was so fond of as well. She was not trying to get me off, just showing affection much like she wanted as she took her other hand and found one of mine to bring to her breasts in a silent hint. My left hand holding her by her right shoulder, and my right hand fondling and squeezing her breasts each in turn while we kissed and she idly stroked my cock as we both stood beneath the steaming hot water of the shower. Had it not been for a low rumble of distant thunder we may have been carried away again or been cavorting until the water ran cold.
Alas, the thunder served to stir Penny back into the present. After she jumped reflexively she smiled sheepishly and reached for the soap and began soaping up my skin then handed the soap to me but instead of soaping up her front like she did me, I pulled her into me and reached behind her to soap her back and bottom my soapy front effectively becoming a giant washcloth. Penny giggled and wrapped her arms around my sides and gripped my ass cheeks and told me how much she liked my thinking. I reached back and handed off the soap to one of her hands as she soaped up my back and bottom. Kissing again briefly we both turned and rinsed the soap off before turning off the water and stepping out of the shower to dry off. Well, to dry each other off actually, that was much more fun after all. Once done, I reached for Penny’s robe that I had hung from the hook on the back of the door. She smiled and stepped into it first one arm then the other. She pulled it to and tied the sash about her waist. I saw that she had brought my clothes from the dryer and they were folded and still warm sitting on the toilet seat cover. I slipped my tee shirt on and pulled on my briefs before pulling on my blue jean shorts. Stepping up to me after I was dressed Penny ran her right hand up the side of my left arm and idly picked at some lint or some imaginary speck with her left hand from my chest. Her head was down studiously studying that speck and the actions of her hand before turning slightly and looking up at me.
“Jim, I want to thank you for allowing me to… step away from being a teacher earlier. It really was personal. It had been such a long… long time since I have been with a man. You are a very special young man you know. You brought out a desire that I had nearly forgotten I even had. I look back now and I think it began the very first time I laid eyes on you. I just didn’t realize it, fully anyway until this morning. You will always have a place in my heart. You must also know this, if there is anything I can help you with, just ask. Even if I don’t have the answers I will help you find them if there is any way I can.” She said smiling with what I thought might have been an errant tear glistening at the corner of her eye.
“So long as I don’t call you ma’am, right?” I grinned earning myself a swat on the arm. “Thank you Penny, just remember that both you and Maggie are special to me as well. I will never forget either of you as long as I might live.”
“Come on, let’s have a cup of tea before you have to leave for work.” Penny said grabbing a handful of shirt and pulling me to the bathroom door before opening it. Down the hall we went to the kitchen. Upon entering it we found Maggie and Michelle seated where they had been earlier in the morning. Both had a cup of tea and were studiously avoiding looking at either Penny or myself but were doing a very bad job of hiding their smiles. “Yeah” I thought, “They heard Penny all the way downstairs.” I know I was blushing but I kept my mouth shut and likewise avoided looking either of them in the eye at first. Penny poured hot water into two cups set at our places at the table before returning the kettle to the stove. I pulled Penny’s chair out for her before seating myself. Penny smiled at me warmly and we both put our teabags into our cups and dipped them several times. Maggie finally looked up making furtive eye contact first with me then glancing knowingly at Penny. The two exchanged a wordless communication with smiles and knowing looks. Maggie picked up the sugar bowl and asked if we would like some for our tea. Penny thanked her and took it placing it between her cup and mine.
Michelle glanced up at me with her head still tilted down with an unreadable expression on her face. Looking at Penny she still had a deadpan look on her face but she thanked Penny for drying her clothes and folding them for her. I looked back up at this noticing that she was indeed again in her street clothes and not the short skirt from earlier. It was at that moment that it finally registered in my brain the comment she had made earlier about my having underwear to put on. I nearly spit my first sip of tea out as I stifled a snort. My eyes watered and I couldn’t hide the smile on my face if I had tried. Michelle’s eyebrows knitted and her look of confusion was almost as funny as her earlier comment now that I had understood it. I had to cover my mouth until I could finally swallow that first sip of tea. I don’t know how but I think Maggie must have understood what I found so humorous as she too chuckled and smiled like she was about to break out in laughter. Penny still didn’t know what to make of either of us and neither did Michelle which made it all the more poignant. Another low rumble of distant thunder shook the kitchen window causing Penny to jump a bit and I reached out and covered her right hand with my left and squeezed it lightly. Maggie saw this and smiled to herself and nod. Michelle noticed too but only cocked her head a bit not understanding then shrugged.
We all finished our tea and it was time for me to head off to Dom’s to begin my evening shift. Maggie and Penny both walked Michelle and I to the front door. There was no parting kisses this evening but Maggie took my hand in hers and squeezed it and gazed knowingly into my eyes and smiled and mouthed “Thank you” silently before wishing me a good night and reminding me to call her or Penny if I had any spare time to come open before next weekend. Penny pulled me into a fierce hug and with Michelle in front of me and not able to see, Penny grabbed both of my ass cheeks and gave them a mighty squeeze as a silent reminder. I walked with Michelle to her car after the ladies hugged her and repeated the same good nights to her as well.
“Okay… spill it. What was so damned funny at the table earlier?” Michelle demanded as we stopped at her car. I chuckled and decided I had to tell her.
“When you mentioned dry clothes it finally dawned on me what you had said earlier this morning about being lucky to have underwear to put on. I hadn’t realized until that moment what you had meant by that.” I chuckled. “I had a flash in my mind of you sitting at the table with a short skirt on and no underwear… feel a little breezy did it?” I asked. Michelle grinned and swatted my arm.
“Smart ass!” she growled. “And by the way, I don’t know what “lesson” you were being taught today but I think you passed judging by the sounds Maggie I and heard coming from upstairs.” She smiled knowingly waiting for me to say something or defend myself. But this time I kept my mouth shut and simply smiled and nodded in acceptance. I turned to walk to my truck but then thought of something.
“You know, the lessons we are receiving from our “teachers” are not finite. The things we are supposed to be learning are things to be honed and worked on all our lives. I don’t know if I “passed” today as you said, but I know I want to study more and as often as I can. And my teachers have been telling me that independent study is encouraged…” I smiled warmly and gave her a wink before turning to walk the rest of my way to my truck. As I opened the door and climbed in Michelle was still standing by her car with her hand on the door handle looking at me. I started my truck and waved as I drove off.
If Friday night, last night, had been an unusually slow night, tonight made up the difference, Dom’s Pizza business was booming, just like the skies. It rained like a monsoon that evening, lots of lightning and thunder too. I couldn’t help but wonder how Penny was handling it. I hoped that she was wrapped up and feeling safe in Maggie’s arms. I suspected that was more often the norm rather than the exception, but that really was their business and not mine. It was a reassuring thought that at least they had each other. I couldn’t help but to think that at least they were dry at the moment, unlike me. After running in and out of the rain delivering pizzas all night I was soaked to the bone, but then so were all the other drivers.
After dinner rush was over I was one of the first drivers to be checked out and sent home. I ordered myself a small pizza using my employee discount and then waited around for it to be made. Jules was getting checked out too as neither of us was scheduled to close that night. As I was walking out the door to go to my truck Jules asked me to wait up for her that she wanted to talk to me for a minute. I told her I’d wait for her in the parking lot. It was still sprinkling a rain so I sat in my truck and started eating my pizza. Jules came out and saw that I was in my truck so she hopped in on the passenger’s side. I offered her some pizza then put the box on the dash.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“Well you know that the rain today pretty much took the day, none of my yards got mowed… What are you doing Monday?” Jules questioned.
“I’ve got the dinner shift here Monday night but I’m not closing. I had kind of thought about mowing the teachers’ yard Monday since it’ll still be too wet tomorrow.” I told her and saw her smile
.
“Cool, that’s what I was going to ask you. I already talked to Michelle, she’s going to be there Monday too.” Jules told me. Somehow I got the feeling that mowing the yard was not the only thing that she wanted to talk to me about so I just waited. Chewing my pizza and taking a sip of Pepsi, watching her face as she searched mine, I knew she was waiting for me to say something so it was a bit of a game. Finally Jules broke.
“Okay, spill it! Michelle said that you and Penny were making all kinds of noise today… What happened?” Jules spat out. I just continued chewing and smiled at her raising one eyebrow. “Jim! Talk to me!” Jules growled in mock anger. I washed down my pizza with another pull from my Pepsi and shrugged my shoulders.
“Jules, you know I’m not at liberty to talk about my lessons, I made a promise, just like you did. Besides, a gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell.” I stated matter of factly and took another bite of pizza.
“Oh Ho Ho! From what I heard there was more than kissing going on today… a LOT more!” Jules decried. “And what was that about ‘independent study’?” She asked.
“Oh, so Michelle told you that too huh?” I chuckled. “Didn’t you get the same advice?” I asked with a straight face. Jules looked at me like I’d grown a second head or something, I could almost see the gears turning in her mind as she thought back
.
“Just who are you and what have you done with Jimbo?” Jules asked looking perplexed.
“Jules, I’m off tomorrow so I’m going to spend the day at home with my family and catch up a bit, I’ll be at the teachers’ house Monday morning. When do you want to start working on the painting job?” I asked.
“You’re changing the subject Jim…” Jules said then sighed. “Fine! Keep your secrets, asshole!” Jules snipped at me but grinned so that I knew that she was not serious. “It’ll be another couple of weeks on the painting job but I’ll let you know. I might see you Monday, I’ve got to stop by Maggie and Penny’s to make a couple more measurements. See ya then farm boy.” Jules said as she opened the door and got out of my truck. I saluted her with my slice of pizza and smiled as she walked around my truck to get into her car. I started my truck up and headed home for the night.
I spent all day Sunday on the farm with my folks and brother and sisters. It was good to catch up with everyone. Mom kept looking at me off and on all day and after dinner, as Dad and I were sitting on the back porch watching the sun go down She asked me if something was bothering me, that I seemed different. I told her I was fine. I don’t think she bought it but she didn’t ask anymore. After Mom went back in the house Dad asked me…
“So what’s her name?” He just looked at me and smiled knowingly. I knew that I had to throw him a bone, knowing full well that mom would hear every word from him later.
“Am I that obvious?” I asked grinning sheepishly.
“No, actually you kept it pretty well to yourself, but your mother knows her baby boy better than anyone, and I was a young man once too.” Dad commented sagely.
“I guess…” I sighed.
“So?” Dad prompted.
“Michelle…” I told him. Not offering any more information.
“A cutie I’d bet.” Dad said smiling as he took another drink of his iced tea.
“And how!” I admitted. “She has these little gold flecks in her blue green eyes” I added.
“Red hair?” Dad asked, one eyebrow raised.
“No… she’s not perfect.” I chuckled, then sighed and sat quietly watching the sun go down. I went on to tell my dad that because of the rain Saturday that I’ve still got a yard to get mowed and that I had planned on doing it Monday morning. I told him I was also supposed to meet with a friend at the same house to do some measuring for a painting job that I had been asked to help with in a couple of weeks.
-To be continued-