"Why?"
"Because I feel uncomfortable being naked around an eleven-year-old. Especially one that keeps staring at me."
"Oh, is she?" I giggled. "I guess I didn’t notice."
"What’s up?" Lily’s mom said, coming into the foyer.
"He’s worried about Amber," I told her.
"I’m sorry, Mrs. Woodard, I didn’t realize Amber would be here, or I would’ve put some clothes on in the first place."
"Oh, nonsense," Mom said. "She’s eleven. She’s started puberty already. She’s curious. There’s no harm in it. That’s what The Program is for, isn’t it? It’s outreach, think of it that way," she continued. "Lily’s been around here naked all week. And Amber doesn’t have a brother, so you’re the next best thing."
"He says she’s staring," I told Mom with a giggle.
"Of course she is," Mom said. "Now, you two march back in there and continue this story!"
I grinned at Mike, who just shrugged. We went back in the living room. We finished the story, and my parents were delighted at how the game went. Meanwhile, I took a glance at Amber. She was staring.
After the story was done, I figured it was time. "Amber," I said, "have you ever seen a naked boy before?"
"Uh, no," she admitted.
I looked at Mike, and smiled and nodded. "Do you have any questions?" Mike asked. I knew I could count on him, once he realized nobody else was uncomfortable.
"Well, uh," Amber started hesitantly, "does it hurt when it…you know…gets…uh…" She was blushing furiously.
Mike helped her out. "You mean when it gets hard?" Amber nodded, still blushing. "No, it doesn’t hurt. It’s a bit, I don’t know, I guess ‘stretchy’ is the best word. But it doesn’t hurt. If I stay hard for a very long time, that can hurt a bit."
"How do you get…you know…hard," Amber asked.
"Well, I’m a seventeen-year-old boy. At my age, it’s very unpredictable. Someone like your Dad can control it better. I sometimes get hard when the wind blows." We all chuckled at that, except for Amber, who was looking very confused.
"I guess I thought that boys got-that way-around naked girls," she said. "But Lily’s naked! And she’s your girlfriend! And you’re not!"
"Oh, that’s just because of The Program. We’ve spent a lot of time naked around one another this week. We’ve kind of gotten used to it. If I got hard every time I’ve seen Lily naked this week, it would hurt."
"It would especially hurt if he got hard when we’re out on the baseball field," I said. Amber looked confused. "Do you know what a cup is?"
"No," she said.
"Do you know what a jockstrap is?" Mike asked.
"Oh, yeah, one of the guys at school showed me. Guys wear it when they’re playing sports, so stuff doesn’t jiggle," she giggled.
"Exactly right," Mike told her. "Well, a cup is a piece of hard plastic that fits into a jockstrap. It protects the ‘stuff’" Amber giggled. "Football players wear them. And baseball catchers do, too. If I wasn’t wearing one, and I took a foul tip down there, that would be very painful."
"Ah," Amber said.
"And a cup fits tight. When a guy gets an erection, it gets bigger. There’s no room inside a cup for that. Plus, it’s easier to not get an erection if you’re mind is on other things. Your sister is beautiful, and I love her, and when she was standing on the mound naked I might have gotten excited-but I was too busy thinking about what pitch to call next."
"OK, I see," she said. "But if you don’t get hard around Lily, then how do you…you know…do it?"
I stifled a giggle-and I saw my parents do the same thing-but Mike really was being a trooper. "I didn’t say I didn’t get an erection around Lily-I said I didn’t get one all the time. There’s a difference."
"Amber, if I wanted him to get an erection, he’d have one. There’s ways to do that," I told her.
I probably shouldn’t have said that, knowing my sister. Because the next statement was predictable. "I wanna see," she said shyly.
"You will, eventually," I said, trying to get out of this.
"Lily, if she wants to see, show her," Mom said. Poor Mikey almost died at that one! "Look, this is educational for her."
"It’s not something a girl can ask her father," Dad said. "Her older sister’s boyfriend is perfect. In the world we’re living in, the more she knows, the better off she is."
"Look, I know how old you were your first time," Mom told me. I nodded-I knew she knew that. "Had you ever seen one before, close up?"
"No," I admitted.
"And weren’t you completely flummoxed?"
"Yeah, I was," I laughed.
"Right. So you’re giving her a leg up. It’ll be helpful. Show her."
I looked at Mikey, who was blushing up a storm-but he grinned and nodded. I reached down with my hand and started rubbing him. It took a bit longer than expected-he really was embarrassed-but it was working.
"You owe me for this," he whispered in my ear.
"Maybe she’ll ask to see it ‘squirt’," I whispered back with a giggle. That almost made him wilt! But he rallied. In a matter of mere moments, he was sporting an impressive erection.
"Wow. It’s so big!" Amber gasped.
"God love eleven-year-olds," Mike laughed. "Only a girl your age would think I’m all that big," he said to Amber.
"Why? It’s more than respectable," I giggled.
"That’s because you’ve never seen Jared Wicklow naked," he laughed. "Now that the weather’s better, I’m sure he and Amanda will spontaneously declare another ‘let’s go naked to school for the hell of it’ day, like they did all last fall. One look at Jared, and you may never look at me the same way again," he laughed.
"I don’t know, it looks big to me," Amber asked. "How does it-you know-fit?"
Mike chuckled, and said, "It wouldn’t. Not in someone your age. It would hurt terribly. But as you get older, you’ll get bigger down there. And a girl does stretch. Though the first time for a girl usually does hurt."
"It does?" she asked.
"Sometimes," I said. "My first time only hurt a little, and I was only thirteen."
"My first time," Mike said, "was also the girl’s first time. We were both fourteen. It hurt a lot. Though, the fact that I had no idea what I was doing didn’t help any." We all laughed at that, even Amber. "Our second time-which was the day after our first time-didn’t hurt at all."
"Oh," Amber thought about that one for a minute. "Does it stay hard until you have…you know…" she blushed furiously.
"An orgasm?" Mike asked. She nodded. "Not necessarily. That’s the easiest way to make it go down, but there are others. I can think about something else. Sometimes it just goes down by itself. Of course, your sister’s hand on my thigh isn’t helping."
"Oops," I blushed, and withdrew my hand. "Later for that," I whispered at him.
"What does it feel like, when a guy, you know…I know what a girl feels like, but not a guy."
"You mean, when a guy has an orgasm?" Mike asked. She nodded. "Well, from what I understand, the difference is mostly where you feel it. Guys tend to feel it mostly-not completely, but mostly-down here." He pointed to his crotch. "From what I’ve been told, girls feel it more places. It’s more of an all-over thing."
"Yeah," Amber agreed.
"Have you had an orgasm?" Mom asked her. She nodded yes, but suddenly looked miserable. "Do you play with yourself?" Mom continued. "It’s perfectly fine, Amber, I’m just curious."
"Yeah," Amber admitted, "but I’ve never been able to-you know-do myself."
"Oh," I asked. "So has a boy given you an orgasm?"
Oh, man, she looked horrible all of a sudden. She clenched her eyes shut, and nodded ‘no’.
"Who gave you an orgasm?" I asked.
The tears started right then. "T-Tiffany," she managed to blurt out, and then started crying.