"No, she didn't tell me, but I knew somehow. Anyway you said that she seemed to enjoy sex."
"Oh, yeah. That's right."
"Come on. Tell me why Joani's angry with you. Is it all over between the two of you?"
"I might as well tell you."
Todd had described what had taken place on Friday night, Cari could see why Joani wouldn't talk to Todd. She was certain that Joani wouldn't even see him again if she could help it.
"You're not angry with me, too, are you? It wasn't a very nice thing to do, but I just thought that she would enjoy it after it got started."
"You don't know Joani very well. She likes to be in control of herself. Also, she's a very private person except to Marti, her best friend. But I doubt if she would even tell Marti about that. I'd say that you'd better just leave her alone."
Cari was very gad about all of this. She hoped that it meant that she would get to see more of Todd. She wondered if she should tell him that she had watched them in action.
"I don't know whether I should tell you this or not, but I guess it won't hurt. Several times I watched you fucking Joani from her closet. It was great. That was when I first decided that I wanted you to be the first one to fuck me."
"You what! You watched us from the closet! Damn! Shit! Cari you're really something."
Todd burst out laughing. He could hardly control himself.
"Well, I'm glad to see that you're not angry. It's not that funny."
"Don't you see? Joani was so damned worried about someone watching us fuck and here all of the time you had been watching from her own closet."
"I guess it is kind of funny. Once I even took Ellen with me."
"What was this, a sideshow? Did you charge money for it? Are there any more surprises you have for me?"
She shook her head, not quite knowing if he were angry or not.
Todd pulled her close to him and kissed her.
"I love ya, Cari I really do. You're the wildest creature I've ever known. Damn, you're really something. Did you plan on anything else for me? If so, just tell me and I'll do them gladly."
"I just want you to keep on fucking me. Could you do that from time to time?"
"Gladly. But I had better get you home now before your parents put an end to your plans."
Todd helped her dress and kissed her tenderly as he helped her into the car. They decided that he should stop the car a few blocks away from her house so that Joani wouldn't see the car. He told her that he had practice after school the next day and a game the next. She said that she would come and watch both.
"Here we are. Listen, I promised Jim that I would come back for a party at his house this weekend. Do you think that you could get away somehow? You know what kind of party it would be, don't you?"
"Yeah, a pot-smoking, wine-drinking orgy. A house filled with lust and sex. With my kind of people. Is that a good description? Oh, one more thing. If I play my cards right, I could get raped or gang-banged."
Todd just shook his head and opened the car door. He helped her out, still shaking his head.
"I'll see you at practice tomorrow."
Cari whistled happily as she walked away. She walked up the block past Ellen's house.
She remembered that she was supposed to talk to Todd about someone fucking Ellen. She hoped tat Ellen wasn't looking out the window. She promised to talk to him about Ellen tomorrow.
CHAPTER TEN
Cari took a special interest in Joani that night at dinner. She wanted to see if Joani was really through with Todd.
"Where was Todd over the weekend? Is he gone or something?"
"I don't know where he is, and I don't care where he is."
"What's this? A lovers' guarrel?" Cari's father asked teasingly.
"Now, honey, don't tease the girl. I think that she's had a change of heart. It's not good for a girl her age to see just one boy anyway." Cari's mother had strong views about a varied experience before a girl settled on one man.
"Come on, Joani. You'll get over it," Cari sympathized.
"No, I know that I won't. Some people are not what you think they are. You should just remember that when you start going with boys."
Cari got up from the table. "Thanks for the advice. I'll try to remember it. Any other advice, lonely-heart sister?"
"Cari, go do your homework and leave Joani alone. Besides, it wouldn't hurt you to listen to your older sister once in a while instead of always mouthing off." Her mother gave her a look of 'you're not too big to spank even now'. She was still her mother's baby.
Cari dialed Ellen's number from the phone in her room.
"Hello, Ellen. Listen, I saw Todd today, but he was busy with some girl. But wait until I tell you this. Joani and Todd have split up. I'm going to practice tomorrow after school and I'll pretend that I want to talk to him about Joani and then maybe I can talk to him about you. All right?"
"Have they really broken up? What happened? Do you know?"
"You don't think that Joani would tell me, do you?"
"Oh, I suppose not but do you think that it's for good?"
"Oh, yes, I know that it's for good. Joani didn't even go to school today."
"I wish that I didn't have to go to my dumb Catholic school, then I could go to practice with you tomorrow."
"You wouldn't want to do that. I couldn't talk to Todd about you if you were there, now could I?"
"No I guess not I'm not very good at being patient. Listen, do you remember Jerry Monroe who was at the party at Susan Appleby's last Christmas. He's been arrested for smoking pot. Can you imagine that?"
"No, I never thought that he had it in him with that short hair and all."
After Cari had hung up, she thought about the pot smoking at Jim's parties. She hadn't thought about anyone getting arrested. She knew a lot of kids her age smoked pot and, even took pills. She had never done either.
Her parents had told her if she were going to any of that to come to them first. They had said that pot was the least harmful and that alcohol and pills were the worst. To Cari this seemed to mean that they wouldn't mind if she tried pat.
Cari was a little disappointed after school the next day. Todd could only wave at her from the field as she sat watching the practice. One of the girls sitting beside her said that after the practice the team was going into the locker room to look at films of their last game. That meant that Todd would be busy for quiet a while.
Cari watched a while and then walked home.
As Cari was passing Ellen's house, Ellen ran out to ask if she had walked to Todd.
"I didn't get a chance to talk to him. He had to stay for some films in the locker room. But I'm going to the game tomorrow."
"How's Joani? Was she at school today?"
"No, Mother said that she could stay home one more day. I don't think that she'll go to the game though. She seems really angry. I wonder what Todd could have done that was so terrible."
"Well, we know that she couldn't be mad because he attacked her. I mean they already make love. Maybe Todd broke off with her for another girl."
"It could be. I don't really know. I just hope that it isn't another girl so that we have a chance with him."
"Come on in. Mother just baked some peanut-butter cookies. We can listen to Dad's dirty records in my room."
Cari followed Ellen into her house. There were pictures of the Virgin Mary here and there and statues of saints. Cari wondered what the priest would think of Ellen's father's dirty records and books. At least her dad didn't pretend that he didn't have such things.
That night Cari lay awake thinking of the weekend. She didn't want to disappoint Todd. She wondered if Jim would want to fuck her too.
What would she tell her mother about spending the night away from home? And worse still, what would she tell Ellen about being gone the whole night. If she told Ellen the truth, she would want to go along too. Cari was pretty certain that everyone would think that Ellen was a baby. She still looked like a little girl and she was still a virgin. Does one take a virgin to an orgy? She fell sleep laughing at that.