Her Journey Begins

by Karen Einsel

  “Brandon….” Even though her mind is saying no, there are other parts of her body screaming yes.”

  “Come on.” He urges as he lays the quilt down over the pine needles and then spreads out the sheet on top. He grabs the picnic basket and sets it down on the middle of the sheet then lays down, propping himself up on one elbow. “Come on sit down and let’s eat. I’m hungry and I know you are starving.”

  Chris sits down on her knees and opening the basket she pulls out a couple of sandwiches. Looking at one and then the other. “Hmm…Let’s see there is turkey…and there is turkey. Your choice.”

  Brandon takes one of the sandwiches from her. “I think I’ll have turkey.” Done eating Brandon lies down on his back. With his hands under his head as a pillow he watches Chris through half closed eyes. “Chris, lie down with me, please.”

  Chris purses her lips and leers at Brandon who has already taken off his shirt and shoes. “Are you sure nobody can see us?”

  Brandon smiles at her. “Lie down with me and we shall find out.”

  Chris sets the picnic basket off to the side.

  “Brandon…”

  “Come on, you know you want too.”

  She takes off her shoes and crawls under the sheet.

  “You’ll have to climb under the sheet with me.” Brandon lifts the sheet and lies down next to her. Lying on his side, he props himself up on his elbow and slides his hand under her shirt.

  “I’m not taking my shirt off out here.”

  “Then why did you wear a bra?” He wants to know as he tries to wriggle his fingers under it. Giving up he slides his hand down the front of her shorts. “Are you excited?” Feeling her warmth and wetness he smiles. “Oh yeah, you are.”

  Chris reaches down to unzip her shorts and remembers the condom in her pocket. She holds it up for Brandon to see.

  Brandon takes a deep breath and lets it out. “If you want.”

  Taking it from her Chris stops him from opening it. “I’ve been reading a book in the library about pregnancy, childbirth, and birth control methods.”

  “And?”

  “And there is a birth control method called the “Rhythm Method”

  “And what is that?”

  “It says that there are only 9 days a month that a woman can get pregnant and I’ve been counting my days and today isn’t one of the 9.” Chris nods to the package in Brandon’s hand. “It’s up to you.”

  Lying in his arms with her head resting against his chest listening to his heartbeat, Brandon holds up the condom package.

  “We’ll save this for the next time. Hey you didn’t cry this time.”

  “I know, weird huh?”

  “I’m glad you didn’t. I was afraid the last time that maybe I had hurt you.”

  “You didn’t hurt me, you made me feel good.”

  “Did I make you feel good this time?”

  “This time you made me feel even better. A girl could get used to this.”

  “Then maybe we should find a way to do it a little more often.”

  Chris raises her head and kisses him. “I’d like that.” Chris looks at her watch and taps it for Brandon to look. “We should get going or we won’t make it home by 3 p.m.”

   Pulling up in front of the house Brandon leans over and gives Chris a kiss. “I’m not coming in, if I come in and see your mom right now, she’ll…..”

  “She’ll what? She’ll know?”

  “Yeah, she might.”

  Chris looks him over from head to toe.

  “Hmm, you don’t look any different to me.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “Oh, so you don’t think I look any different, just you.”

  “Give me a kiss so I can go.”

  “Alright” Chris leans over and kisses him before she gets out.

  “Hey! Are you coming to practice tomorrow?”

  “No, I have to baby sit tomorrow, but I plan on coming to your game on Friday.”

  “What time do you have to baby sit?”

  “3 p.m. to 6 p.m. while the lady goes and gets her hair done.”

  “Want to go get a pizza with me after you baby sit?”

  “I can if you want, or you can come have dinner here.”

  “No, it won’t work that way.”

  “What won’t work that way? What do you have up your sleeve?”

  Brandon grins, “You’ll see. I’ll be here at six to pick you up.”

  “Okay, I’ll see you then.” Chris gets out and Brandon hands her the picnic basket out of the back seat.

  “I love you Chris.” Chris smiles and heads up the sidewalk.

  

  Brandon knocks on the door and Brad answers.

  “Is Chris home?”

  “No, not yet, but she should be here any minute. Come on in. What do you two have planned for tonight?”

  “Well, we are going to meet Brent and Wendy for pizza and then I think we might head over to the record store at the mall for a little bit.”

  Chris walks in the door just as they are sitting down.

  “Sorry I’m late. Are you ready to go?”

  Barb hears Chris and pokes her head out the kitchen door.

  “You sure you two don’t want to eat dinner here?”

  Brandon answers her. “No, but tomorrow night sounds good after my game. That is, if the offer is still good?”

  “Of course it is. Brandon you are always welcome. You know that.” Brandon takes Chris’ hand. “You ready?” Chris nods. “Okay, I’ll have her home by nine.”

  

  After they eat, Brent and Wendy take off in Brent’s car and Chris and Brandon leave in Brandon’s. Turning left instead of right Chris looks over at Brandon. “Where are we going? The mall’s back that way.”

  “I thought we would go someplace else. You’ll see.” They pull up in front of Brandon’s house.

  “Your house? I knew you had something up your sleeve. We can’t do it in your house.”

  “Why not? No one’s here. We’ll lock the front door and my bedroom door and we can even do it under the bed, if you want. Just in case anyone walks in. Besides you said you’d like it if we did it more often. And who knows when we will get another chance.”

  Chris laughs, “I’ve created a monster.”

  Brandon gets out and comes around to open her door. “Come on beautiful, your beast is horny.”

  

  Lying in Brandon’s arms with her back to him, Brandon is softly touching her hip. Sliding his hand over to her belly Chris jumps.

  “That’s a sensitive spot.”

  “Chris?”

  “Hmm?”

  “I’m going to tell my mom that I don’t want to go away for college. I want to stay and attend one of the universities here. I don’t want to leave you.”

  “Brandon you can’t do that, you know your mom won’t let you. Besides we have all of the summer and you’ll be home at Christmas.”

  “It took me four months to get you to talk to me and now that you have, I don’t want to miss a word of what you have to say. You love me, don’t you?”

  Chris rolls over to face him. “Oh Brandon, you know I do, but your mom isn’t going to let you stay here, especially if she knows that you are still seeing me.”

  “We’ll talk about it some more later, but right now…..” He slides his hand from her hip to her buttocks, pulling her closer. She softly moans as he starts kissing her neck.

  “Again?” She whispers, her breath coming in soft gasps.

  

  “Mom” Chris yells up the stairs to Barb, “I’m going to go hang out with Wendy. I’ll be back in about an hour.”

  “Okay, is Brandon coming over today?”

  “Yeah, but not until later after his game. I think he’s going to stay for dinner, if that’s okay with you?”

  “You know its okay or you would have asked me first.” Barb yells down to her laughing.

  Chris smiles and walks out.
<
br />   

  Wendy and Chris have been friends since 7th grade, but drifted apart when Chris got bussed to the other high school. Now that Wendy and Brent are going out, they have started hanging out occasionally again.

  Sitting in Wendy’s room Chris asks her, “So what do you want to do?”

  “I thought maybe we could go down to the store and see if that cute guy is working.”

  “Wendy, you’re going out with Brent. Why do you want to go see that guy?”

  “What, just because I’m dating Brent, means I can’t talk to other guys?”

  Chris shakes her head. “Okay if that’s what you want to do…”

  As they are walking Wendy is going on about how cute the guy is. Not really listening, Chris doesn’t say anything. What Wendy and Brent do is between them, besides Chris has seen Brent flirt with a couple of the cheerleaders. Heck he’s even flirted with her a couple of times when Brandon wasn’t around. The last time he did she gave him a look that said, You’ve got to be kidding me. Don’t even go there. And he held up his hands defensively and told her, “I’m just kidding. Come on Chris relax.” She’s thinking he was afraid she’d tell Brandon, but she never did.

  “Chris, hellooo… earth to Chris.”

  Chris smiles at her, “Sorry, I must have been day dreaming, what did you say?”

  “I said, “Have you and Brandon had sex yet?”

  “No” Chris crosses her fingers and thinks to herself, “Okay I’m lying, but the last time I confided in her in 8th grade about having a crush on a certain boy, Wendy blabbed to everyone, and it got back to him. Didn’t really matter because he turned out to be a jerk anyway, but her and Wendy had a fight and didn’t talk to each other for weeks. Besides what Brandon and her do is between them. It’s not anyone else’s business.

  Walking into the store, Wendy walks up to the counter inquiring where the cute guy is while Chris walks back and grabs a soda. Taking it up to the counter Chris sees the sign and inquires with the owner.

  “You’re looking to hire someone?”

  He smiles at her, “Yes, I am going to need someone to work four nights a week while Joe, (aka the cute guy) is going to school.”

  “I’d like to apply for it. How many hours?”

  “You are 18 now?”

  Chris smiles at him. “Yes, I am 18 now.”

  “Well I need someone, Monday through Thursday, 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. Here I’ll give you an application. You can fill it out and bring it back.”

  Chris smiles. “I’ll just fill it out here, if that’s okay.”

  “Sure” And he hands her a pen and the application.

  After giving him back the completed application Chris asks Wendy if she’s ready to go.

  Walking home Wendy wants to know. “Why do you want to get a job already? We still have 2 months before we graduate.”

  “Because I need to start saving up some money so I can go to college. Also, I won’t be a foster child once I graduate high school, so I’ll have to start paying Barb rent money, or I’ll need to move out and find an apartment, because they can’t afford to support me.”

  Back at Wendy’s, Chris only stays for about half an hour before heading home.

  “Mom, I’m home.” Chris yells up the stairs.

  Barb pokes her head out the kitchen door, “Chris, I’m in here.”

  “Sorry, I didn’t know. Are you starting dinner already?”

  “Yep, I figured it could be cooking while we are at Brandon’s game, then it will be ready when we get back. Do you want to help?”

  “Sure, I’ll help you. Just let me go wash my hands real quick.” Chris runs upstairs to the bathroom, washes her hands, and runs the brush through her hair and pulls it back into a pony tail before going back downstairs.

  “So, what did you and Wendy do today?”

  “Not much. We walked to the store to get a soda and then just hung out and listened to some music.”

  “Which store? The market a couple of blocks away where that cute guy works that Wendy talks about all the time?”

  Chris chuckles, “Yeah, that one, I put in an application there.”

  Barb looks at her. “What? Oh Chris I don’t know if that’s the best place to work besides you have school.”

  “Mom, I need to start saving some money, so I can get my license, get a cheap car and go to college, and…he’s looking to hire someone now. Besides if I wait to look for a job after I graduate, everyone else will be looking for a job too and jobs are scarce right now, you know that.”

  “You have this all figured out, don’t you?” Chris smiles and raises her eyebrows at Barb. “What are the hours and how many days are we talking about?”

  Excitedly Chris tells her, “Four days a week, Monday through Thursday, 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. I’ll be here for dinner, then go to work, close up at 11 p.m. and be in bed and asleep before midnight.”

  “What do you think Brandon will say?”

  “I don’t know. If I get the job he will probably say, You’ve got money now, so the next time we go out, it will be your treat.” Laughing she says, “Come on mom, it’ll be fine. Don’t worry so much.”

  Barb shakes her head and smiles, tells her okay, but in the back of her mind, she’s hoping Chris doesn’t get the job.

  Coming home from Brandon’s game, Brad is just pulling up in the driveway. “So where are my two favorite girls coming from?”

  Barb walks over and gives Brad a kiss. “Brandon’s game. They beat the other team by three runs. Dinner should be ready soon and Brandon can tell you all about the game when he gets here.”

  

  Brandon and Chris are sitting out on the porch swing after dinner. Sitting Indian style, with her legs crossed and facing Brandon, Chris takes his hand.

  “I went and applied for a job today.”

  “Where at?”

  “At the convenience store a couple of blocks away. It’s only for four days a week, five hours a day.”

  “What about school, or does the job start after we graduate?”

  “It’s in the evenings from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.”

  “Who’s going to work with you?”

  “Well probably the owner the first week, so he can train me, then after that, probably by myself, why?”

  “Because, you can’t work there by yourself. It’s not safe. And how are you getting home every night?”

  “I’ll walk to work and then when I get off, I’ll walk home, simple as that. It’s only a couple of blocks. Come on you sound like my mom.”

  “Then I’m going to come and help you close every night and take you home. And don’t even say, “But you have to go to school” because so do you and if you can do it, so can I.”

  “But…”

  Brandon stops her by holding his hand up. “Uh. Give me a kiss so I can go home and we will talk about this some more tomorrow.”

  Chris sighs, “Fine” Giving him a sheepish smile Chris leans over and gives him a French kiss, teasing his tongue with hers, wanting to turn him on. Brandon reaches under her shirt and softly touches her breast and kisses her neck.

  “You are a little tease, you know that?”

  Chris whispers. “Hmm, maybe, maybe not.”

  “Yes you are, because you know we can’t do anything tonight. When are we going to sneak off again? Have you thought about that?”

  She whispers to him, “I think about it all the time.”

  Brandon smiles, stands up, and holds his hand out to her. “Come on, I’ve got to go home, and as for sneaking off, how about tomorrow after the game, unless you want to come home with me tonight?”

  Chris kisses him again, “Oh yes that would go over real well with mom and dad. Go home and I will meet you at your game in the morning.”

  

  Chris is standing at the fence talking to Brent who is standing on the other side.

  “So where’s Brandon at?”

  “I’m not sure. I haven’t seen him since our game yesterday.”<
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  Brandon walks up and tugs on Chris’ braid, “Good morning beautiful.”

  Chris glances over her shoulder at him. “Where have you been?”

  Brandon sneers at Brent before answering her, “Are you waiting for me to tell you good morning beautiful too?”

  “Ha ha, very funny.” Brent smirks back.

  Brandon glares at him. “Then go do something and quit flirting with my girlfriend every time I’m not around.”

  Chris watches Brent walk away. “Brandon, he wasn’t flirting with me. We were just wondering where you were, that’s all. So, where were you?”

  Brandon puts his arms around her waist and rests his chin on her shoulder. “I was on the phone with my mom. They are flying in tonight and she wanted to let me know what time to pick them up at the airport. And yes he was flirting with you. Now I have a question, will you go with me?”

  “To pick up your parents?” Chris asks mortified.

  “No…home to take a shower after the game.”

  Chris turns around and slides her arms around his neck. “Are you teasing me?”

  Brandon kisses her on the nose, “No, I want to know if after the game, you will go home and take a shower with me.”

  Chris lowers her eyes and whispers. “Maybe”

  “Are you getting bashful on me?”

  “I’ve never taken a shower with a guy before.”

  He whispers in her ear, “I hope not. Now I better get out on the field. Besides your mom is going to wonder what we are planning over here. So quit blushing.” Brandon gives her a quick kiss, lets her go and runs out onto the field.

  Chris walks over and sits down by Barb. “So what are you two up to with all those whispers?”

  Chris blushes. “Nothing”

  “Uh huh, sure” Barb tells her as she’s thinking to herself. “I was young once too, you know. But they are 18 and hopefully they are being responsible. She thinks they are because the condoms have been slowly disappearing from the box in the bathroom. “So is he coming over for dinner tonight?”

  “No, he has to pick up his parents from the airport tonight.”

  “What did he say about the job you applied for? Or did you even tell him?”

  “I told him and he said basically the same as you, but he also told me he would come and help me close every night and then take me home.”