“Tracy, get your head out of the sand, David adores you. He already knows more than you give him credit for. He knows you’re not perfect and that you have stuff you need to work through. Don’t you realize his demons are just as big, if not bigger, than yours are? If you’d trust him, he could help you more than you know, and in turn, you can help him.”
Tami had gotten herself worked up.
“It makes me sick when I see you pushing him away. Don’t you know he’s the greatest guy you’ll ever meet? You two together could seriously have something. You’re the perfect couple. But you’re acting like a spoiled bitch, and you’re going to mess this thing up.”
Wow, I hadn’t heard Tami this pissed since seventh grade when Jimmy Ellison tried to bean her in Little League. I had to pull her off him when she charged the mound. She was mad for weeks that I stopped her from kicking his butt. I still smiled when I thought about this little girl as she beat the heck out of the big stud athlete. I made a point not to mess with her after that.
“Look, Tracy, he and I need to talk when he gets here. I’ll talk him into giving you another chance. If I know him, he’ll bring us ice cream. When we’re done I need you to leave.”
“Okay. I know you need to say goodbye. My mom keeps telling me I’m getting in the way of our relationship. I think my mom and dad would like to date him. I’m just feeling a lot of pressure. Is it okay if I call you about David? I know he’s your friend first and foremost, but I need advice,” Tracy said.
“Call me anytime. If I feel uncomfortable I’ll tell you, and we can figure it out from there,” Tami said, then paused. “David’s a smart boy. Don’t tell him I said that.” They both laughed. “He knows I talk to you. He also knows I only want what’s best for him. He trusts me. I take that trust very seriously because he gives it to me unconditionally; so you’re right, I will probably always side with him, and I think you know that. But that doesn’t mean I can’t be your friend as well.”
I went back down the hall and made some noise. Tami opened the door and let me in. She looked at the ice cream and realized it was a little melted. She smirked at me because she knew I’d eavesdropped. I made a point to go up to Tracy and give her a hug and a kiss.
We settled in and ate our ice cream. It was a little quiet, so I figured I needed to get the conversation started.
“I met Lori Winnick last night.”
Both of them looked at me to see if I was lying. Tracy looked at Tami.
“I call bullshit,” Tracy said.
Tami looked at me and nodded.
“Nope, he’s telling the truth. I think we want a little more detail than that.”
“She was at the University of Kentucky’s President’s home for an alumni fundraiser. I talked to Teddy Wesleyan about you getting a scholarship to his school.”
Tracy was about to call bullshit on that one. Tami stopped her.
“Nope, he’s still telling the truth.”
Tracy shook her head.
“How do you know that? Next he’ll tell us that he found a couple of chicks and had a hot threesome.”
Tami looked at me and snorted. She’d better not confirm that one. Tami was my human lie detector. She’d been able to look at me and tell if I told her the truth since I was eleven. I’d had to stop playing cards with her because she could read me so well. Thank God, she covered for me about the threesome.
“I’m not sure about that one, but he has even bigger news, don’t you, David.”
It wasn’t a question, but a statement.
“I had a tryout with both Kentucky and Florida for football. Florida has agreed to start recruiting me.”
Tracy screamed, jumped into my lap and gave me one of her mind-erasing kisses. I smiled at Tracy when her kiss finally stopped. We looked into each other’s eyes with our foreheads touching.
“Come on, David. Give her the really big news,” Tami said.
“The University of Kentucky offered me a football scholarship to play quarterback.”
“There it is.”
“How did you know there was more?” Tracy asked as she turned to Tami.
“Simple: up to the Kentucky offer, David meeting Lori Winnick didn’t tie the story together.”
We finished our ice cream, and I promised Tracy I’d call her when I left Tami’s house. I could tell Tracy didn’t want to leave, but she knew she couldn’t get between us saying our last goodbye. We walked her to her car, and I again promised to call her. I guess we’re having our talk tonight.
WHEN WE CAME BACK TO Tami’s room, she pulled me into her arms and just held me. I picked her up, lay her on her bed, kicked my shoes off and got in bed with her. As soon as I was on my back, she crawled on top of me and wrapped me in a bear hug. Her head came to rest on my chest. I heard her chuckle.
“I thought you were going to crap when she guessed about the girls. Do you have pictures?”
“You’re awful. You know me too well.”
I handed her my phone. She could get to the pictures faster than I could.
“How many girls were chasing you? Are those twins?”
I told her about our run. Then she found a picture of John Phillips.
“Who’s the hunk?”
“That’s John Phillips, All State quarterback and all-around nice guy. You’ll like him. I think he and I are going to be good friends.”
“I’ll say I like him, he’s really cute. Good lord, you did his sister, didn’t you? Don’t even answer that.”
How she figures things out was a mystery to me. She flipped through and found one of Marcy in a ball.
“What the heck did you do to this one?”
“I pleasured her until she begged me to stop.”
Then her eyes got big.
“What’s John’s sister’s name?”
“Alice.”
“You’re screwed. That girl loves you. What’re you going to do about it?”
“Same thing I’m going to do with you?”
“What, sleep with me and then leave me?” Tami asked.
“If that’s what you want.”
She got very quiet. This had been building for the past week. Tami had gotten bolder and bolder with her sexual advances. I knew she would do the right thing for both of us, so I hadn’t worried about it, but I knew that she was working herself up to something. We had never crossed a certain line because of our friendship.
Tami wasn’t afraid to experience anything. I loved her adventurous side. I’d have missed out on so much if she hadn’t dragged me along. Sex was the first thing that I had done first. I regretted not being here this summer, because I was sure she would have taken my cherry if I had been.
I know when we did make love it would mean the world to both of us. There’d never been any doubt in either of our minds that someday it would happen. Tami told me once we would someday not just be together, but she would marry me and we would have three kids. I was sure she knew if they were boys or girls and the names of our future children. She thought I was too much of a ‘stupid boy’ for us to be together now. She was in this for the long haul and planned to be the last girl I was ever with.
Our feelings for each other went far beyond just friends. They had grown since we declared our love for each other at Beth’s. If I thought that for a moment we could have our relationship now, I’d drop all other girls in a heartbeat. My attraction to her was beyond the normal boyfriend-girlfriend thing. This was born from an almost lifelong conversation. Being this close and knowing what might happen had caused my chest to tighten. I could feel the raw emotions just below the surface.
I think this last week had been about Tami exploring her sexual side. She was about to leave and wanted me to be her first. She knew I would treat her right. My own sexual awakening had been the catalyst. She’d made a point to talk to every one of my partners. Anyone else doing that would have pissed me off. If I knew her, she’d talked to them in great detail.