Chapter 52

Friday-Saturday, June 15-16

Morgan was dressed and outside, already huddled with the other girls, when I stepped out of the cabana. I gave her a kiss and told her I’d see her at 7, then headed home to get ready.

I could feel the eyes of the other girls boring into my back as I walked away. Miss Wilkes caught up to me just as I got to the gate.

“I hope you don’t think you can just treat women like that and get away with it,” she said. Great, I thought, here comes the feminist lecture.

“I don’t,” I said. “This is a special case. My girlfriend keeps pushing and I have to push back to keep from being overwhelmed. She was about to put a leash on me to keep me away from your cheerleaders. I’ve been the butt of too many pranks from her and my sister. Go ask Mrs. Jenson about the day the pool opened.

“I just want to have a nice, normal relationship with a nice, normal girl. Instead, I have Morgan trying to goad me into stuff like that. If I don’t dominate her, she’ll dominate me.”

Miss Wilkes just blinked.

“Your girlfriend needs therapy,” the cheer coach said.

“You’re probably right,” I said.

“Well, don’t try that with any of my girls,” she said.

“Your girls wouldn’t try to put a leash on me,” I said. “I’ve never had reason to interact with any of them until two weeks ago. Before yesterday, I didn’t even know any of their names except Staci Patterson’s, and I didn’t know hers until Sunday. And the only reason I learned hers was because some jerk stole her bikini top and sucker punched me.”

“Wait, you’re the boy who stood up for her?” Miss Wilkes asked.

“Not that I was standing for very long, but yes,” I said. “You didn’t know that?”

“Staci said it was one of the football players,” she said “All we heard about the whole week at camp was her knight in shining armor. No wonder those girls are so enamored of you.”

“I’m not sure if I’m a football player or not,” I said. “You’ll have to ask Coach Tucker. And it wasn’t like I knew what I was doing. I heard a scream, asked what was going on, got punched. It was the football players who took care of things after that. About all I did was take a punch that could have been meant for one of them. Had that happened, things would have really gotten ugly.

“Look, I don’t even know how much longer I’m going to even be able to keep working here. There are some projects in the works that will likely keep me busy until school starts. I may not even be around your girls after this weekend. They’ll be plenty safe from me. Now if you’ll excuse, I have to get ready for a date. Morgan will kill me if I’m late. If you have any more questions, ask Mrs. Jenson.”

I made it home and rushed to get ready, but made it over to the Ensberry house on time. Then sat in the living room for 15 minutes waiting for Morgan to appear, chatting with Dr. Ensberry about the Open. Brooks Koepka had recovered from his opening 75 with a 66 to get to 1-over, four strokes behind Dustin Johnson.

Morgan came down the stairs in the green floral-print sundress and sandals she wore two weeks ago. I resisted the urge to ask if she was wearing the same undergarments in front of her father.

She grabbed my hand and pulled me out the door with a quick “Bye, Daddy,” flung over her shoulder. She explained the delay once she was seated in the car.

“Debbie Wilkes isn’t sure she likes you,” Morgan said as I pulled away from the curb. “We spent half an hour trying to convince her that you’re not an abusive boyfriend. Arlene was still talking to her in the cabana when Kacie and I left. I didn’t get home until 6:30.”

“Yeah, she’s having a hard time reconciling the stories she’s heard with seeing me carry you off on my shoulder,” I said. “She’s convinced I’m about to start ravishing cheerleaders left and right. I told her that’s not likely to happen.

“She won’t be the first female teacher who’s had it in for me. I thought Mrs. Gentry was going to flunk me in sophomore geometry just because. I barely pulled a C in that class. Mom still holds it against me. Fortunately, Miss Wilkes doesn’t teach anything I’m taking this fall.”

Morgan told me she wanted to eat at Rosa’s, which meant the Fajita Friday special. We got the fajitas for two knowing I could finish off whatever she didn’t.

As we ate, Morgan restated her movie preference. After sopapillas, we headed for the nearest cineplex, got our tickets, drinks and popcorn and went in search of the correct screening room. I was right, it was a pretty talky movie, but it was also pretty good. I didn’t feel like I’d wasted two hours of my life.

Upon exiting the theater, Morgan insisted on going to the apartment. She didn’t have any trouble convincing me. We reached Arlene’s to find a fairly new VW Beetle convertible parked out front and pulled on back to my little parking space.

“We’d better keep it down,” I said before I got out of the car. “It looks like Arlene’s entertaining. They may be out on the patio.”

I made sure not to slam any doors and shut the apartment door as soon as we were inside. Morgan cranked the AC and went to get a couple of drinks out of the kitchen.

I sat in the easy chair to wait until my girlfriend returned. She adjusted the lighting to her liking, turning off the overhead, and plopped herself down in my lap. She handed me a soda, rested her head on my chest and pulled my arm over her shoulder.

“I just want to cuddle,” she said. “We don’t get to do that enough.”

“OK,” I said, setting my drink down and wrapping my other arm around her waist.

I placed a kiss on top of her head and just enjoyed the closeness as she snuggled in tighter.

I don’t know how long we sat there before Morgan pulled my head down for a kiss. It was nothing earth-shattering, but it slowly picked up steam as my girlfriend shifted position to where she was sitting astride my lap. The intensity continued to increase as she ran her tongue deeper into my mouth.

She finally broke the kiss and took a deep breath.

“Go get some towels and take me to bed,” she whispered.

I was somehow able to get myself out of the chair as Morgan continued to cling to me and set her on the bed without dropping her. She eventually let me go to retrieve some towels. I noticed there was now a box of tissues on the bedside stand.

She had taken off her sandals and tuned the radio to a station playing a lot of Barry White, Al Jarreau and Lou Rawls when I returned. She stood up as I placed the towels in position, then told me to help her with her dress. She was indeed again without undergarments.

I hung her dress on the clothes bar, then scooped her up and placed her on the towels, staying bent over as she had another kiss. She finally let me loose and I wasted no time getting out of my clothes, leaving them in a pile on the floor.

I joined Morgan on the bed, pulling her in for another kiss. I started working my way down her neck to her collarbones and chest. She whimpered and grabbed my head as I paid attention to her nipples, feeling them expand and harden almost immediately. When I tried to move lower, she stopped me and pulled me back up.