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Tucked Silly -*- Copyright 2002 by Ellen Hayes.

Any resemblance between the writings in this work, and any actual
persons or places, living or dead, are purely coincidental, except when
used for satirical purposes.

This work contains adult situations, adult language, adult concepts, and
possibly sex.  If you are legally not allowed to read materials
containing such things, then you will be breaking the law by reading
this.  I am not responsible.
Continuing to read this document, or storing it or reproducing it
in any format means that you explicitly affirm that you are legally
allowed to possess and read such materials in your city, county/parish,
state, and country.

All rights reserved.  See the bottom for distribution rights.


Tucked Silly


***
09:22 31 Aug

     "Are you going to sleep all day?" Jill said into my ear.
     "Mmmmm," I sighed, and smiled at the thought of sleeping all day.
     Then my bladder woke up.

***
09:29 31 Aug

     The toaster chunked out another pair of Pop-Tarts, and I sighed and
wondered why I had to be up for this.
     "Aw, come on, Val, smile," Kathy coaxed, and I smiled dimly.  I had
not, however, noticed the camera in her hand.  Mistake.

***
09:47 31 Aug

     "Val?" Kathy asked as we traded occupancy of the bathroom.
     "Huh?"
     "I didn't, I mean, I didn't mean to upset you, last night," she
said softly.
     "Huh?  Oh, no, it's okay, I guess," I sighed, thinking of
everything that had gone on last night.  "I guess it is happening, and I
guess I need to look at myself and see it once in a while.  I just don't
want to."
     "That's what I was afraid of," she said, looking pained.  "I mean,
I don't want to rub it in your face or anything, but, Val, you GOTTA pay
attention to this kind of stuff."
     "I know, I have been a little," I said.
     "Like the shirts you've been wearing over the T shirts, at school?"
     "Yeah."
     "Yeah, that's okay, but you need to get some bigger pants," she
said.  "And...  Val, it is really time to at least START thinking about
something like a bra or strapping those things down at school, or
something.  It's really not bad now, but it's not going to get better
unless the doctors stop it."
     "Which they probably can't," I sighed.
     "Well, you don't know that yet either, do you?" she confirmed, and
I had to agree.
     Getting a comforting hug from Kathy was a lot like getting one from
Mom had been, back when I was a lot shorter.

***
10:11 31 Aug

     "Anyone want to go shopping today?" I asked as I had a Pop-tart.
     "What for?" Amanda asked.
     "Clothes?" I said back.
     "School clothes or other clothes?" Kathy asked me.
     I looked at her, and sighed.
     "'Cause you can't go shopping for school clothes like that," Kathy
said what was now on my mind.
     "I know, I know," I grumbled.
     "Hey, speaking of clothes," Sabrina said.

***
10:33 31 Aug

     "But this stuff isn't even worn," I said as I examined the sweater
Sabrina had thrown at me.
     "Yes, it is," Sabrina assured me from the back of the closet.  "But
not that much, 'cause I don't like it that much.  Val, if you want it,
take it; if you don't, don't, 'kay?"
     "Okay!"  Jeez.
     "Can I see that one?" Amanda asked, so I tossed her the sweater.

***
11:19 31 Aug

     "Tuesday," Sabrina assured me, then frowned.  "Wait..."
     I suggested, "Get there a little early, we'll put stuff from your
car into mine.  Or I can give you a spare key or something, and you can
put it in the trunk about seven-thirty, if you can get there that
early."  We had collectively realized that we might not want to cart
away what seemed like half of Sabrina's closet, in front of her parents.
They might get suspicious or something.
     Sabrina countered, "How about I just take it by the Parkers' place
Tuesday night?"
     "That'd work too," I shrugged.

***
12:06 31 Aug

     "If we go way out here, we're less likely to run into people I
know, and who don't like me," I reminded the girls who had decided that
Sabrina's gift(s) had to be a sin against the Gods of Shopping, and were
now determined to make a sacrifice thereunto.
     "Don't you have to cook today or something?" Jill mentioned.
     "Yeah, but it's Chinese today, so that goes pretty fast."
     Jill sighed, and I chuckled and 'punched' her affectionately on the
shoulder.  "Chin up, stiff upper lip and awl thot," I said in my English
accent.

***
14:03 31 Aug

     Four dresses, a pair of shoes, two tops, two skirts, two pairs of
shorts, something very nice for Travis, and a withdrawal from my savings
account plus all of my weekly babysitting pay later, I realized that I
had to go home about now, if I wanted to avoid the horrible penalties
for not having dinner ready around six.  Like, paying to take everyone
out to eat.
     Luckily, we'd managed to luck into - though with Sabrina acting as
native guide and tracker, maybe it wasn't luck - four pairs of nice
anonymous big-assed, or big-hipped, pants that were not however
identifiable even by this crew as being 'girl stuff'.  That and a triad
of even bigger overshirts for me and I thought I was decently set for
school for at least a month or two.
     I would've worn those home, but I was getting strange looks in the
women's dressing room from other people already, so I decided it was a
bad idea, and made a mental note not to wear my 'butch stuff' with
makeup.

***
14:19 31 Aug

     "Aw, darn!" Jill said, sounding halfway sincere.  She'd been forced
to get another dress and some shoes to go with it, which didn't please
her at all.  "And now I suppose I'll have to help you do the food too!"
     'Please say yes!' her eyes begged.
     "Yeah, sorry," I said to the other girls with a smile.  "If we want
to get done on time," I said.  "It's not the cooking that takes so long,
it's all the chopping and stuff."
     "O-KAY, Jill, you just take your sorry lame ass outta here, and
we'll see you about six?" Kathy said.  I guess we hadn't fooled her.
     "Right!" I said.  "Uh, wait, how many of you are coming?"
     That was an expensive looking set of grins...

***
14:22 31 Aug

     "I gotta call Mike, make sure that everything's coordinated.  He's
covering for me this weekend," I explained as I dug in my pack for
change.
     "Ahhhh so," Jill nodded.
     "And remember, we were gaming and stuff, right?"
     "Oh, right," she nodded.

***
14:25 31 Aug

     "Okay," Mike said, and then there was a burst of laughter in the
background that didn't sound like a television.  Mike's, "SHUT UP!" kind
of confirmed that, though a little more deafeningly than I needed.
     "Whatsup?" I asked.
     "We are actually gaming today, and we brought some of the fish over
to have a classic one-shot," Mike explained.  "Remember 'Night of the
Living Dead Pet Store'?"
     "Oh, NO!" I laughed, which got Jill's attention.

***
15:18 31 Aug

     Jill's howls, as we ran through the grocery store and Jill tried to
keep moving, attracted a lot of attention.  *Maybe,* I reflected, *this
wasn't the best place to explain the adventure.*  Though there was so
much to explain...

***
15:40 31 Aug

     "I have assistant!" I said, and pointed at Jill, who beamed at Mom.
     Mom looked at us suspiciously, then looked at the clock.
     "Bow at lady of house," I instructed, and we both bowed at Mom.
Then I took off into the kitchen with the groceries I was still holding.

***
16:06 31 Aug

     "Chop things," I instructed Mike and Kim, and handed them knives.
"And I owe you guys one, this is gonna make the food five times better."
     "I'll chop to that," Mike agreed.

***
17:48 31 Aug

     The kitchen air conditioner was going full blast, I had changed -
very quickly - into a set of scrubs because a T shirt and jeans was
still too hot (and anything less might just lead to questions I didn't
want to answer, like "Why do you have all those bruises?" or "Where did
all of your leg hair go?"), all my friends had fled the steaming
conflagration, and I'd tied a dograg around my head to keep the sweat
out of the food, but it looked like I'd be done in another twenty
minutes or so.
     I just had to douse the entire kitchen in oil and set it on fire.

***
18:09 31 Aug

     "Egg drop and wonton soup and a European-Asian salad to start
with," I panted to the gathered crowd, "and four kinds of stir fry;
beef, chicken, shrimp, and vegan.  With rice and pasta, either, for
bases.  And I have to go shower."  And I ran off to do so immediately.

***
18:19 31 Aug

     "I didn't honestly think you were going to make it," Mom said in
between munchings.  "You've been watching me, haven't you?"
     "Alla time, Mom," I lied.  Well, I had, just not recently.  "How is
it?"
     The praise was lovely.

***
19:37 31 Aug

     "Oh my GOD, Tuck!" came Brian's despairing scream from the kitchen.
"What did you do, try to use every pot and thing in the house?!"
     "Did you eat any of it?" I yelled back.  I'd only used three pots.
And both crock pots.  And all three woks.  And both rice steamers.  And
some of the microwave bowls.  And the pressure cooker.  And the food
processor and several blades.  And the deep-fryer.  And about six
knives, and all the cutting boards, and-
     *Hmm, that is kind of a lot...*

***
19:41 31 Aug

     "Tuck?" Kathy said slowly as we lay on the porch and digested.
Except me; I rested and digested.  My arms hurt.  "Marry us?"
     "What?"
     "All of us," Pam giggled.  I'd been happy to note that while she
did go for the vegan stuff, she'd eaten a fair amount, and it was
balanced too.
     "Can he marry me too?" Rachel asked, giggling as well.
     "Sure," Kathy allowed.
     "Oh, no," Mike moaned.  "When I form my ninja clan, he's coming
with us.  He's our secret weapon."
     "Fight ya for 'im?" Kathy offered.
     "Not now, we'd both explode," Mike declined, and Kathy nodded.

***
20:09 31 Aug

     "We were thinking about going camping in a couple of weekends," Mom
said.  Then she added, "And Dana said she'd babysit-"
     "Aw, MOM!" Brian and I both protested.
     "Come on!" I continued.  "I'm sixteen, Brian's thirteen, and we
have phone numbers and everything else...  We can take care of ourselves
for one weekend!"
     "It's not you taking care of yourselves I'm worried about," Mom
shot back.  "It's what would happen to the house while we were gone."
     "I won't let him sell it," Brian said, not helping at all.

***
20:11 31 Aug

     "And of course you two were planning on having a party," Dad
mentioned, having been drawn into it as a more neutral arbitrator.
     "No, of course not!" "No way!" we both said earnestly.
     "Then that's only because you didn't know about it in time to plan
it," Dad said smugly.
     Well, that was true enough.  And it wasn't like I needed to plan
much any more; a couple of emails and phone calls and the house would be
full.  Of MY friends, anyway.
     Someone else on the porch, having decided not to watch our pathetic
begging, said loudly, "Bond, JAMES Bond."
     Brian's solution light came on.
     "Dad," he said in such a reasonable voice that _I_ wanted to ground
him immediately.  "Are you worried so much about a party, or about the
damage to the house?"
     "Why?" Dad asked suspiciously.
     "Bill, this is a bad idea-"
     "Calm down, Sarah, we haven't even heard it yet," Dad said.  His
curiosity was going to get him in deep trouble one of these days.
Hopefully this would be one of the days.
     "How about," Brian propsed, "we post a, uh, money bond against
damage to the house...  And," he added with a finger in the air, "we
invite Dana over to the parties to make sure nobody does anything really
stupid."
     "How much of a bond?"
     "Bill!" Mom complained.
     "Would you rather have them out in a parking lot somewhere?" Dad
asked Mom.  "Besides, they live here too; they don't want anything to
happen to the house."
     "Because it'll happen to you too," Dad, Brian, and I all said at
the same time.  Mom just percolated.

***
20:21 31 Aug

     "No illegal or recreational drugs," I told my friends, "alcohol is
your own problem but Dana's confiscating keys from everyone who drives
here and she's not letting go unless you're sober, and any damage to the
house or anything inside of it is coming out of MY money, which means it
is coming out of YOUR ass.  And it packs up at midnight."
     "DUDE!" Mike yelled in triumph; most of the girls just stared at me
in disbelief.
     "Your parents," Kathy said first, being the fastest to recover her
wits, "are letting you have a party at their house while they are out of
town?"
     "Well, first off," I explained, "it's MY house too.  Second, I have
to post a two hundred dollar bond to cover damages, up front, so if
anything breaks I'm going to beat it out of you.  And third, while all
of you are on the invite list, anyone who shows up to crash it is going
to be removed.  By the cops if necessary."  I had no wish to support a
floating party for drunkards who would just as soon kill me as throw up
in my hallway.
     "'Tresspassers will be violated,'" Mike quoted, and we slapped
hands.

***
20:28 31 Aug

     "Well, off for more gaming?" Dad asked.
     "Yeah," I smiled.

***
20:54 31 Aug

     "Have fun, good luck, be careful," Rachel suggested as she bobbed
her head.
     "I will," I promised.
     "Wait, you're wearing that?" she asked.  'That' was a simple
string-strapped top and skirt, along with a pair of plats I'd bought
today.
     "I don't think we're going to be going out to chamber music
tonight," I reminded her gently.

***
21:19 31 Aug

     I finally made my careful way up to the top of Travis' stairs -
these were not athletically inclined shoes - and knocked on Travis'
door, and waited.  Finally, he opened it.
     "You o'der Chinee take-ow?" I said in a not-too-good-at-English-yet
Asian accent, and waggled the cooler (heater/insulator) at him.
     His mouth opened as he looked at me, and then it kind of stuck that
way.

***
21:24 31 Aug

     "And you cooked ALL this?' Travis confirmed once I'd laid
everything out.  Luckily, I'd accidentally overestimated the amount of
freelo- I mean, guests, that we'd have, so there was plenty left over.
I'd even had enough to bring some things for breakfast tomorrow.
     "Well," I admitted, "I didn't cook the salad..."  And then started
giggling at the expression on his face.  "Taste it!" I insisted.

***
21:50 31 Aug

     "Aren't you going to eat anything?" Travis asked mournfully.
     "Travis!  I already ate this stuff, and I had to keep tasting it as
I cooked it!  I am FULLLLL," I groaned.  "Really," I said in a normal
voice, "I did eat TONS of this very food that you're eating now, just a
couple of hours ago, and I can't hold much more."  I waved a shrimp from
my tiny plate at him.  "And this is JUST fine, believe me.  I like
watching you enjoy it, though," I smiled.
     He looked skeptical.  He was so skeptical, in fact, that he stopped
eating.
     "Okay, press my belly," I said, and pulled up my top.  "Go on,
right below the ribs.  Press!"
     "No, I believe you," he grinned, just as I realized I should have
warned him not to press too hard or I might blow up.  "I can't believe
you fixed all this, I mean it's GREAT!"  Apparently so great he had to
take a large bite and chew blissfully through it before adding, "And
that you don't want to eat any of it."
     "Any MORE of it," I reminded him.

***
22:17 31 Aug

     "Fortune cookie?" I offered, and grinned.
     "I suppose you made these too," he grinned back as he took the
plastic-wrapped cookie.
     "Yep!  And I printed up all the fortunes, and cut them into little
strips, and baked the cookies, and then shrink-wrapped them."
     "With the Chinese writing on the shrink-wrap," he 'agreed'.
     "I am VERY talented," I smiled, and posed for him.
     "No," he said, very sincerely, "kidding."
     "But!" I warned him.  "I am NOT washing the dishes."

***
22:39 31 Aug

     We had decided to leave the dishes for later, and now he was lying
on the couch, head in my lap, as he digested and I played with his hair.
     "So, when do you have to go home?" he asked eventually, after
looking at me for a long time.
     "Ohhhh, about five o'clock Monday evening," I managed to say with a
straight face.
     "No way," he disputed, but I just nodded, slowly and confidently.
     I liked it when he smiled that way at me.

***
23:04 31 Aug

     "Go shower!" I insisted, and pushed him, which was a little less
effective than pushing a wall.  "I want you all nice-smelling before I
ravish you."
     "So, the food was just a trick to get me to let my guard down?" he
suggested.
     "Yep!  And you fell for it, and now you're my zombie love slave!"
     He stretched out his arms, made his face blank, and moaned as he
lurched towards the bathroom, "Yesssss, mistresssss..."
     *Get in there, you idiot!* I smiled.

***
23:18 31 Aug

     When he came back out, still quite damp and wrapped in a towel, I
smiled at him and put my book down.  "Hi," I said softly, feeling a
little shy at the moment.
     "Hey," he said softly back, like he was feeling the same way.
     I took a deep breath, then pulled the covers back and got up to
show him what I'd gotten today, turning around slowly so he could see
it all.  It was a purple satin chemise with string straps, that went
down a little past my groin, with a set of matching boxers except they
called them 'tap pants', and the entire thing was edged and otherwise
decorated with black lace.  And the dark stockings hid the bruises all
over my legs, too.  "Like it?" I asked as I turned around, but his face
said everything that he could want to say.

***
23:47 31 Aug

     We were going wonderfully slow tonight, since we had time, which
was amazingly, wonderfully frustrating.  Especially when he was
torturing my ears by just barely licking them at irregular intervals,
and sitting on me so I couldn't squirm loose and rape him.  In fact, all
I could really do was whimper and moan a lot.
     "God you are such a sadist-  Aaiiiiii!" I squealed in something
around a high C, as he bit my neck.
     He stopped doing anything for about fifteen hours then, as I moaned
and cursed him and tried to thrash him off my back, but I couldn't.
     Unfortunately for him, the next thing he tried was another neck
bite as one hand reached around and gently and warmly cupped my breast,
at the same time he slipped a bit on his knees and inadvertently (I
think) pushed my hips into the mattress with his, and wiggled as he got
back up.  Because I did almost manage to throw him off as I screamed and
arched underneath him when I came.
     But he held me tight as I strained and thrashed, and murmured nice
things at me, so I guess he wasn't too displeased.

***
23:55 31 Aug

     As my breathing slowed down, and Travis continued to stroke my hair
and hold me, I grinned to myself.  *You'll pay for that, you big goon,
OH you'll pay,* I vowed.

***
00:10 31 Aug

     I was glad I'd insisted Travis sit on the bed on his hands,
supposedly so he could get a better view of me going down on him.  In
fact, what I was doing was basically crippling his ability to respond
like his instincts told him to do, which was to throw me on the ground
and just get it over with.  But, every time his hands moved out from
under his butt, I'd stop.  He'd moan and plead and beg, and when he sat
on his hands again I'd start up again.
     *A'course,* I realized, *he's gonna do the same thing to me when
I'm on my back...*
     *On the other hand,* I told myself, *he's going to be wanting it as
much as I do at that point.  So, is his control and desire for revenge,
bigger and stronger than his sex drive?  Assuming he has any left, of
course.*
     The looooong black satin gloves I'd added for this, and putting my
shoes back on, just seemed to be making it worse.  Sabrina had been
right; guys DID go apeshit for the costuming stuff.  Who'da thunk?  I
liked skin myself.
     As I slid my hands up his abdomen, he moaned and literally rippled
as a spasm washed over him.  Then he opened his eyes again and just
pleaded silently with me.  I think he would have been begging if he had
the breath to talk, but he didn't.  Heh.
     I slowly cupped my hands around his penis and lowered my mouth onto
it again.

***
00:22 1 Sep

     I'd thought that having both of my hands locked around his penis
would help a lot, when I finally let him come, and it did, but not as
much as I'd hoped, because he literally lifted us both up as he let out
this high-pitched wheeze and then tried to shove That Thing down to my
toenails.

***
00:33 1 Sep

     "You can't be tired yet, can you?" I teased, and he growled and
leapt on top of me.
     We ended up grinning at each other, him on top holding my wrists,
me underneath and folded up into a little impenetrable ball.
     Still smiling, Travis pulled, and pulled, without apparent strain
or anything, and slowly pulled my arms straight out and pinned them to
the bed.  And then stopped, still grinning at me.
     As I panted, with my own effort and other things, I noticed my legs
had also unfolded and locked around his waist and I was urging him on by
pulling him against me in a repetitive fashion that was starting to
drive ME mad with lust.
     "Travis?" I smiled weakly.  "Wanna fuck?"
     "You sure you're not too tired?" he smiled, and thrust against me
with his hips.
     I replied "Aaaaaauuuuhhhhhh!" and almost managed to move him.

***
00:43 1 Sep

     He'd stopped, apparently to try and torment me, so I smiled at him
and rubbed a satin fingertip against his neck.  "You like the gloves?" I
asked.
     "I like the whole thing," he confirmed.
     "You don't think it looks too slutty, do you?"
     "Not TOO slutty, no," he said, and pushed some more of That Thing
into me, which rubbed other parts of him against other parts of me, and
made me realize that 'slutty' was not something I ought to be worrying
about at this point.

***
01:04 1 Sep

     I said, "OooooOOOOOOOHHHHH!" and lurched under him again, and by
the time I finished he was climaxing too.
     Slutty enough, I decided faintly.

***
01:27 1 Sep

     I had finished showering - with shoes off but lingerie on; this was
faster than washing it and me separately, and I needed to get into bed
fast because I was exhausted - and was peeling myself off when Travis
knocked.  "What is it?" I called.
     "I need to go," he called back.
     I skinned out of the now-like-glue satin and nylons and wrapped a
towel around myself as quickly as I could, and when I'd opened the door
he hadn't exploded or pissed himself yet, so I guess I was in time.  He
came in and definitely had other business on his mind, judging by the
way he addressed the toilet.  I went back to rinsing my lingerie in the
sink.
     "What are you doing?"
     "Huh?  I need to rinse this stuff out before the sweat dries, if I
want to wear it again."  And with what it had cost, I definitely wanted
to wear it again.
     "Can, uh, can you do that later?" he asked.
     "No, it's already wet so I have to do it now."
     "Val?" he pleaded.  "Could you leave for a while?"
     "Huh?"  It was then that I realized he hadn't started urinating
yet.  "Oh, okay," I agreed, and left and shut the door.  And put my ear
up against it.

***
01:28 1 Sep

     "Man, he had to go BAD," I commented to myself a while later, when
the water-pouring noise still hadn't stopped.

***
01:33 1 Sep

     He came out of the bathroom, wearing a towel that matched mine,
which I thought was cute, and so I smiled at him as I pushed my way back
into the bathroom to finish doing my laundry.
     He came up behind me as I was rinsing them out again, and just put
his arms around my upper body.
     "So," I smiled at him in the mirror, "you liked tonight?"
     He nodded silently, then stuck his nose in my hair.  After a while,
he kissed me.
     I decided he was trying to hurry me up with promises of more of
this in the bed, so I hurried.

***
01:39 1 Sep

     I slid Amy's nightgown over my head, and when I had it arranged for
decency's sake I reached up and slid the towel off.  I caught a glance
of myself in the mirror, and turned so I could get a better look.
     My hair was all messed up, so I played with that a bit, but I
didn't look half bad like this, especially considering I was in my
boyfriend's bedroom.
     My boyfriend liked it too, apparently, judging by the way he was
Looking at me again.
     When I couldn't take any more of watching him Look at me, I came
over and got into the bed and stuck my face into his shoulder and
wriggled as close as I could get, pressing against him.  He put his
other arm around my body, and hugged me for a long time.

***
08:49 1 Sep

     I woke up with a tremendous urge to go to the bathroom, and had to
claw my way out of the covers to get up and out of bed - TRAVIS' bed,
what a wonderful thing; I had to scam some way to move in permanently -
and made it to the bathroom and had a long quiet private moment.
     Well, mostly quiet.  Running water noises were relaxing.
     My lingerie was fairly dry, I noticed when I'd finished and
flushed, so I collected all of it and took it back in the bedroom so I
wouldn't forget it and leave it here.
     Apparently my departure had woken Travis up, because he was sitting
up in bed and rubbing his eyes a lot.
     I had to stop and smile, and look at him.

***
09:26 1 Sep

     I felt a little reassured this time; I was apparently still
floating on last night's endorphin rush, or whatever, but he had
completely regenerated back to normal, and he wanted some more sex this
morning.  Right now, in fact, if he could...
     Which is why I was on my back, mildly wishing he'd get done so we
could snuggle some more and go back to sleep, and he was on top with
nothing on his mind past The Now he was in, which was me.

***
09:37 1 Sep

     "Mmmm, we'll have breakfast later, okay?" I asked blindly since my
eyes had drooped shut.
     "Mmmmmkmph," he agreed into my clavicle, so I stroked his hair for
a while until he passed out, and then did the same thing myself.

***
12:14 1 Sep

     After almost wriggling myself off the edge of the bed in search of
a warm body to snuggle some more with, I woke up enough to hear the
television out front.  I sighed as I sat up, but grinned a little; I
guess watching me sleep wasn't quite as fascinating as the day's sports.
Or he had gotten hungry - and he did have a tendency to get that way, a
lot - and he'd gotten up to eat something.
     Which reminded me, I had brought breakfast materials, and I didn't
want Travis eating all the shrimp and beef.
     I got up, skipping sliding the nightgown back on in favor of
pulling the sheet loose and wrapping it around myself, because it looked
sexier and felt warmer, and I was cold.  I checked in the mirror and it
did look sexy, though I had to hold the sheet on with one arm, and then
I went to go see what sort of breakfast he was in the mood for.
     "Sweetie," I asked as I opened the door and stepped out, "what did
you..."
     It wasn't a telecast conversation, like a bunch of sportscasters
sitting around a desk yakking, that I'd heard.
     Instead, it was a whole bunch of guys, live and direct, and they
were now all standing very still and quiet and looking at me.
     "!" I sort of choked, and then the bathroom door opened and it was
ANOTHER large guy who wasn't Travis and when he realized what he was
about to run over he slammed into reverse and almost fell into the
bathtub.
     I'd have run except I was paralyzed.
     Then Travis picked me up by the waist and back-kicked the door shut
as he carried me into his bedroom again.
     "Oh, shit!" he breathed into my hair as he sat us down on the bed,
sounding like he'd been relieved of a panic.
     "Ert!" I complained as I pointed to the door.  "Ert!"
     He grabbed me and hugged me and began praying, "I'm sorry I'm sorry
I'm sorry," over and over again...

***
12:37 1 Sep

     After I'd sort of shaken off the shock - sort of - I managed to get
dressed for the day, but going back out there was going to take a lot of
effort.
     Finally, I talked myself into it, but made sure the window was open
so I could bail out that way if I had to, made sure everything was
packed up in case I did have to go out the window, and then I took a
last deep breath and cracked the bedroom door open.
     Nothing.
     I opened it wider, and no one was there.
     I was just starting to take a step out when the front door opened.
I wasn't sure who, or what, was there, because I rabbited back into
Travis' bedroom and slammed the door shut.
     As I made one last visual check of the landing area outside his
window, Travis' voice came through the door, "It's just me!  Val?  Can I
come in?"
     "Are you alone?" I confirmed.
     "Yeah, just me, I swear!"
     I took a deep breath and let it out.  "O-okay..."
     It was, in fact, JUST him, and he looked about as relieved as I did
as we sort of met in the middle of the room and grabbed each other in
shock and horror and relief and whatever else it was we were feeling.

***
12:50 1 Sep

     Apparently, Travis hadn't mentioned that I'd be staying over to any
of his friends.  So, when noon rolled around and they hadn't been able
to contact him - I hadn't noticed that Travis had turned the phone off -
they came by to see what was up.  And apparently my car didn't give any
of them the clue to Go Away.
     They'd knocked at the front door for a while, and Travis had gone
out to try and get rid of them, but they were as bad as my friends
except lots bigger, so he wasn't having any luck getting them to leave.
He thought he'd done pretty well concealing my presence there, for my
sake, until I just sort of popped through the door wearing a sheet and
looking like I'd been...
     Well, I had.
     Then when I was safely locked in the bedroom again, he got rid of
them very quickly indeed, though it was too late.
     Travis had taken great pains to explain that there was nothing
derogatory said about me, or us; that it had all been general admiration
and awe of the 'You got a girl to stay here ALL NIGHT?' variety.  And
there was a great deal of embarrassment, which Travis had capitalized on
to get rid of them.
     I just sat there and let him hold me as I shook.

***
13:26 1 Sep

     I finally laughed when I heard Travis' stomach rumble, and then I
had to explain to him why, which led to us having a somewhat less
relaxed version of the breakfast-after than I'd intended or wanted.
     He was still kissing me as I cooked, though.  And making me feel
very talented and wise for what I was whipping up out of eggs, bacon,
some cheese, and leftovers.  The grocery store hadn't been that far
away, and he'd dashed to get some stuff while I redid my wakeup routine
without the panic this time.  So, scrambled eggs with lots of yummies,
plus bacon and fried biscuits, and plenty of milk and juice.  And
napkins, lots of napkins.
     "Where do you want to eat?" I asked as I started final assembly of
breakfast, shrugging him off me for the moment.
     "Could we eat on the bed?" he asked shyly.
     "Yeah," I sighed and smiled.  He had the same idea I'd been
thinking of.

***
13:40 1 Sep

     Travis held some bacon in front of me, so I leaned forward and
managed to barely lick a finger of his before biting some of the bacon
off.
     Then I held up a piece of bacon, and he sucked my fingers into his
mouth and nibbled on them and the bacon at the same time.  That made me
tingle a lot; I don't know what it did for the bacon, but when I opened
my eyes again, the bacon was gone and Travis was smiling at me again.

***
14:19 1 Sep

     I had eaten until I was full, and then had some more milk until I
was too full, and then I'd yawned, and that was about it for me for a
while.  Apparently humans are predators enough to gorge on the kill and
then sleep it off, like I was going to do.  Whether I wanted to or not.
     I had a vague urge to get up, change out of my 'day' clothes and
back into a nightgown, but I repressed it by remembering what a bad idea
that was.
     Travis pulled me down, head on his arm, then covered my shoulder
with the sheet, and then wrapped his other arm gently around my belly,
and that was about the last thing I knew for a while.

***
15:44 1 Sep

     I didn't so much wake up as float back up, and it seemed like I'd
been awake for hours, just too lazy to do anything about it.  Finally,
though, I realized that I had to go to the bathroom, and that sort of
floated me all the way back to the surface of consciousness.
     I yawned, and opened my eyes, and Travis was there with me, reading
a book.  "Hey," he said when he noticed me smiling at him, and he put
the book down.
     "Hi," I said, and we kissed for a while before I remembered I had
to go to the bathroom.

***
15:48 1 Sep

     "So, did you want to do anything today?" I asked when I came back
in, and he sort of laughed.
     "You did sort of sleep through a lot of it," he reminded me.
     "I've had a hard week, and Saturday wasn't any easier," I said.
"I-  Oh, hey, wanna see my new toy?" I suggested eagerly.

***
15:51 1 Sep

     "What IS that?"
     "It's a laptop, sil-"
     "No, what it's doing?"
     "That's Linux, booting up," I said, glancing at the screen to make
sure everything was going well.  It was.
     "What's Linux?"
     I sighed.  "Traaaaavis..."
     "What?"
     "You're just not a computer geek, I guess," I said, smiling so he
wouldn't take it as an insult, and then I ruffled his hair up, which he
let me do.
     "Naw, I mostly play games on mine, and web stuff," he admitted.
     "Yep yep yep, just a user," I chuckled.  "Not a geek like me..."

***
15:58 1 Sep

     Travis was looking at me a little strange, and he didn't seem as
enthusiastic as I thought he would be, so when I got the hint, I shut
the laptop down and packed it back up.  I sort of felt a little...  I
dunno, down, or something, but I tried not to let it show.  "So what
were you reading while I was snoring?" I asked, to change the subject.

***
16:36 1 Sep

     For a big jock with a social life of sorts, he had a lot of
classical music, which was cool.  I liked listening to classical anyway,
and it was even nicer when snuggling up on the bed with my boyfriend and
talking about things like kids and politics and religion and how schools
should be run and books and baseball and things like that.

***
17:19 1 Sep

     "Val?"
     "Nnn."
     "Your pager's going off."
     *'On',* I thought, and wriggled my face a little harder into
Travis' body.  "I don't care," I told him.  It was his fault anyway; I
had told him that rubbing my shoulders and stuff was going to make me
sleepy.

***
17:22 1 Sep

     "Val, come on," Travis rumbled underneath me.  "Wake up."
     "I don' wanna," I mumbled.
     "What?"
     "Nnnrph."
     I had almost gone back to sleep when he picked me up, which woke me
up way too far, and told me, "Val, go get your pager, okay?"
     I groaned into the bedroom with Travis helping, and got my pager,
but my eyes were too fogged to read it yet.  I rubbed them for a while,
and finally got the lenses clear enough to read

     HEY GET OUTTA BED AND GET OVER HERE TO DO SOME HOMEWORK REMEMER?
     YOUR FRIENDZ, MIKE GEORGE DAN

     "Oh, shit."  *He wouldn't have told them what I was doing, would
he?*

                                   KIM JILL SABRINA KATHY AMANDA-

     "Travis!" I whined.  "I don' wanna go!"

***
17:33 1 Sep

     He'd held me until I got over the impending separation trauma, but
it was still very hard to think about leaving, even though he was
basically stuffing me into my car.  Or trying to; I was better at
clinging than I think he'd thought I would be.
     "Val," he sort of laughed as he pulled my arm from around his neck
again, "come on!  We'll see each other Thursday or something, okay?"
     "I don' wanna go!"

***
18:09 1 Sep

     "Took you long enough," George said as he opened the door.
     "Shut up."  I was still kind of pissed.

***
18:11 1 Sep

     "Did you hear?" Julia asked as I came in.
     "Hear what?"
     "Princess Diana?"
     "Do what?"
     "She's dead."
     "WHAT?!"

***
18:19 1 Sep

     Not like I was that much of a fan of the British Royal Family, but
judging by the net reports, it was not a good way to go.  And, it
sounded awfully suspicious, too.  You had to wonder if she'd been
assassinated, perhaps by a Charles loyalist, perhaps by one of the
Queen's.  "Weird," I mentioned.

***
18:38 1 Sep

     "What is tomorrow anyway?" I asked out loud.
     "Duh, Tues-"
     "No, is it A schedule or B?"
     "Uh, B I think," Mike said, and several people grabbed at their
notebooks to check.  "That means leeches at lunch tomorrow."
     "No, I think we have meatloaf," Kathy quipped.
     "Not that you can tell the difference!" several people shouted.

***
19:04 1 Sep

     "AND we have a TEST Friday on this crap!" Jill complained.
     "A test?" Dan asked.  "On freakin' NAILS?"
     "Even though I am madly in love with you," I said to Jill, "I
should never have taken that class."  She nodded absently.
     "Do WHAT?" Dan gasped.
     I was opening my mouth to explain, when Jill shut me up by kissing
me on it.  I shrugged, mentally, and kissed back.

***
19:49 1 Sep

     "What the hell is THAT?" Julia accused.  When I looked up from
the reference book, she was pointing at the screen of my laptop.
     "LaTeX."  Raw LaTeX, too; I couldn't even begin to imagine the key
bindings I'd have to use for calc and physics, so I had to write it out
'longhand'.  "Why, what's it look like?"
     "Gibberish.  What's 'Latex'?"
     I grinned as I thought of it, and then I said, "I could tell you,
but then your hair would get all dumpy and you'd have to get glasses."
     "I already wear contacts."
     "S'what I mean, you'd have to dump them and get glasses.  Dorky
ones."
     "Are you insinuating that this is some sort of corruptive geek
thing that would permanently degrade me just by knowing what it is?"
     "What, LaTeX?" Mike said as he wandered over.
     Julia threw up her hands and uttered something between an irritated
gasp and a muffled shout.
     I realized once again that I really liked Linux, Unix, Gnu, and the
associated parts and relatives thereof.

***
22:02 1 Sep

     "Got it all done?" Dad asked as I dragged in the door.  I was sore
and tired, from a variety of causes, as well as sort of mentally blown.
Studying was a lot harder than school was.
     "Most of it," I hedged.
     "How's the laptop working out?"
     "Ohhh, great!"  I had to dance about a bit.  Then I had to link up
to the network and print out about ten pages of assorted crap including
math and physics homework before I forgot.  They wouldn't let me turn in
homework on disk or via email - yet - and I didn't think I could hook
the laptop up to a printer cable in the school labs long enough to synch
the two up before someone'd be calling the cops on me.  And I was pretty
sure that I couldn't use a floppy disk either; the school systems were
Microsoft-resistant to things like outside file types.

***
22:09 1 Sep

     "You need a faster printer," I told Dad.
     "I ought to make you use a Teletype," Dad shot back.  But we both
knew he was lying; if he had a Teletype, assuming Mom let him keep it
which was pretty iffy anyway, there's no way he'd let me touch it unless
I could guarantee replacement parts for it.

***
02:19 2 Sep

     We went over the embankment and I fell for a long time before I hit
the ground.
     Which turned out to be the floor of my bedroom.

***
06:53 2 Sep

     "Of course I had fucking nightmares; it was a school night, wasn't
it?" I bitched.  I had gotten all my homework done, and some synth
playing in too, but I'd rather have slept.
     "Chill your goddamned ass out," Kim demanded authoritatively.
     Pause.
     "I think she's reconsidering taking this class," Jill mentioned.
     "Fuck you," Kim confirmed.
     "So," Jill said brightly, ignoring Kim, "how was Travis?"
     "Ooooohhhhh," I sighed happily.  Then flinched.  And flushed.
     "What?" Jill demanded eagerly, and even Kim perked up a bit.
     "Nooooo, NOT here.  It'd take too long to explain."

***
06:59 2 Sep

     Not that it mattered; I had to explain it anyway.
     Jill was still sniggering every time she looked at me, which she
did whenever she stopped sniggering, and Kim was smiling an awful lot
for this time of the morning.  I was just sort of annoyed.  And sort of
amused.  Sort of.
     Shannon came into the room, dropping off her latest victim at the
door, then stopped dead in her tracks when she saw me, a look of shock
and horror on her face.
     "That's the look!" Jill cried out, and then I fell off my chair
laughing, since I probably DID look like that to Travis and his friends.

***
09:47 2 Sep

     "And we have a TEST Friday, ugh," Jill moaned as we left,
discreetly behind Shannon etc.
     "Remind me not to pass Shannon my paper when we're done?" I
requested.
     Kim and Jill both snorted.

***
09:58 2 Sep

     I passed up my nicely laser-printed English paper and scoffed at
the wusses who were limping along with dot-matrix relics, like the one I
had in my bedroom.  There was even one that I had to examine for a
while, because it looked like it had been actually TYPED, as in
completely manually.  I decided after a few seconds, though, that I'd
been wrong and they'd used a daisywheel.  Nobody used a typewriter any
more.

***
11:34 2 Sep

     "What'd I miss, getting my fangs trimmed last week?" I asked as I
slid down into a seat.
     "They all went back in time and now they're trying to get Jesus son
of Joseph out of jail before his sentence is carried out," Mike said.
     "Oh my GOD-"
     "I'm lying, Tuck," Mike said as he patted me on the shoulder.  "And
the answer is no, I'm not going to let you do that."
     "Darn," I sighed.  "What's the boom box for?"
     He just smiled.  I hated it when he did that, especially when he
was being a gamemaster when he did it.

***
11:37 2 Sep

     "Uh, hi," Kelly said as she slid down and stuck her face
practically in her backpack.
     "Hey," I said back.
     "HOW YA DOIN'!" Jill said very loudly and cuffed Kelly on the
shoulder.  Kelly popped up like a spring, and we were both grinning at
her.
     "Ya have a good Labor Day?" I asked first.
     "Uh, yeah, I guess," she said.  "Just kind of read a lot."
     "That'd be nice," Jill sighed, losing most of her loud fake cheer.
"We had bullshit, my family.  Don't even ask Tuck what he was doing,
though," she said, and I grinned, and then shook my head at Kelly's
questioning glance.  "It's disgusting anyw-"
     "Hey!" I complained.  "You keep that up, I won't be in love with
you any more!"  As Kim was sitting down, I added, "I'll have to be in
love with Kim instead."
     Kim perked up at that, but it was Mike who unexpectedly whacked me
in the head with a book, luckily a softcover.  "Ready to play?" he asked
Kelly.  "Didja bring it?"
     "Oh yeah," Kelly nodded.

***
11:41 2 Sep

     "Wilson Philips," Kelly told me as Mike adjusted the volume to a
moderate level and Jill played air guitar to simulate what her character
was doing.
     "This IS cool," I decided.  I'd have to borrow it sometime.

***
11:59 2 Sep

     Mike rolled some dice, and then said, "Hey, Jill, as you're putting
your guitar away, you smell something funny."
     "Like what?"
     "You're not quite sure...  It reminds you of mechanical stuff,
though."
     "What?"
     "If you knew what the smell was, I'd tell you; as it is, you sort
of remember it but can't quite remember what it is.  Something like..."
Mike looked at the ceiling for a while.
     "Mechanical... oil maybe?" Jill guessed.
     "Cloooossse," Mike said slowly, "but not quite."
     "Um, metal?"

***
12:00 2 Sep

     "That's it!" Mike said, like he had been the one that couldn't
think of it.
     "GASOLINE?" Jill repeated, sounding horrified.
     "And it seems to be coming from your guitar case," Mike nodded.
     "Ahh!" she shrieked.

***
12:09 2 Sep

     Jill was greatly annoyed at having to stick her fingers in her
ears, but Mike was serious about her not hearing what was going on.
     "Roll versus, hmm...  Intelligence plus Stealth, since you had a
while to prepare," Mike told Kelly.  "Difficulty six."  Kelly rolled,
but the highest she got was a five.  "Oooh," Mike winced.  "You realize
at the last minute that your FRONT is hidden but your back is plainly
visible.  Wanna try for another hiding place real quick?"
     "Yes!"
     "Wits plus Stealth, difficulty eight, AND Dex plus Stealth, same
difficulty, in order to find a place and move to it quick and quiet."
     Kelly got one success on the first, and one success which got
cancelled by the '1' she rolled for the second.  "No!" she sort of
yelped, then slammed her hands over her mouth.
     Mike rolled dice.  "Oooh..."
     "Can I use Dominate on them?" Kelly asked desperately.
     "Hrm."  Mike looked mildly displeased at that, but I thought it was
a good idea.  That was probably why he looked like he did.  "What's
yer...  Roll Wits plus Dominate, target six, to see how fast you can do
it, and then, uh..."  He started riffling through books as Kelly
anxiously rolled and got three successes and slumped in relief.

***
14:10 2 Sep

     I really wasn't pleased to find that my car had been heavily keyed
along the driver's side sometime today.  The idea occurred to dust for
fingerprints, but that was pretty iffy, since I doubted that anyone
would have needed to touch the car to key it.
     This one was just going to have to go into the bank, to be pulled
out later.  I had my suspicions who did it, of course, but unless I
could come up with some solid evidence, Mike wouldn't let me do
anything.  Damnit.
     Then the sky decided it was through with warnings and opened up.

***
15:07 2 Sep

     "I hate school!" Ricky informed me.
     "I've had better days myself," I said.

***
16:19 2 Sep

     "Watch me, watch!" Ricky insisted, so I did, but I didn't stop
dancing with Stella as he juggled frantically.
     "Hangman, hangman, hold it a little while,
      I think I see my sister coming
      Ridin' many a mile..." and added appropriate sounds to simulate
the band and a half that I wasn't actually.  Stella loved it.

***
19:05 2 Sep

     It was almost nice, eating with the Parkers tonight, but I think
that was partially because it was very unlike Sunday dinner had been
this weekend.  And since I'd fixed roast chicken and some other
'American' food, I wasn't getting weird looks from any of them.  I had
decided not to mention the curry I'd dusted over the chicken, though.

***
19:34 2 Sep

     I had totally forgotten about Sabrina coming over to give me
clothes until I'd walked halfway from the house, when she honked in an
attempt to scare me to death.  It almost worked, too.  At least it had
stopped raining momentarily.

***
19:38 2 Sep

     "Great, so, see you tomorrow?" I commented as I slammed the trunk
shut.
     "Uh, why?"
     "What?"
     "Am I not supposed to come over tonight or something?"
     Pause.
     "Uh, please excuse me, I am stupid," I said, and bowed at her.
"No, come on over...  I have to go to Rachel's to change first, but you
could go over there, to my place, now, as far as I know."

***
19:49 2 Sep

     Or, she could come with me to Rachel's place and talk to other
people while I hung up clothes and changed back into the stuff I'd worn
to school.  I hadn't considered that possibility either.
     I was glad I wasn't going to have any tests or quizzes when I got
home.

***
21:08 2 Sep

     "Hey, Mike, guess what happened to my car today?"
     "You blew a tire when driving real fast, and tumbled and fell off
a cliff into the ocean, and exploded?"
     "Ah, no."
     "You sure?"
     "Mike, shut the fuck up and listen a minute."

***
21:13 2 Sep

     "No proof, no foul," Mike sighed.
     "Yeah, I know..."  I was pretty sure, but I wasn't completely sure,
and the best way to get myself killed would be to start hitting Party A
for what Party B actually did.
     Still, someone was going to pay for this.

***
23:18 2 Sep

     I squeezed the bear as tight as I could, but it wasn't really
Travis, and I missed being with him.  The rain was back, and the sound
make me feel lonely and cold.

***
03:38 3 Sep

     I carefully felt over my body to make sure I didn't actually have
any lesions or anything, and then rolled over, moaning because I hurt,
and got up for the day.

***


"Brevity is the soul of lingerie." - Dorothy Parker (1893-1967)


Distribution:
No part of this work may be distributed as an original work by another
person or group.
Permission is given to redistribute this by electronic means, as long as
the entirety of the work (from the BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE header to
the END PGP SIGNATURE footer) is distributed, and credit is given to the
original author, me.  And no fee may be charged.
Archiving is permitted provided no fee is charged for access.

All rights reserved.


+ ==[--------   Ellen Hayes   @>--,--'---      ellen@barkingduck.net +
PGP DH/DSS keyfing: 33D4 156A AE39 53E2 0313  6714 2878 56A8 61B0 9CDC
+ http://www.barkingduck.net/ehayes -=[1990]=- vicki .sig virus 11.4 +


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