Naked In School

"I’m fine," she blushed.

"Hands off my sister, Bauer, you reprobate," Lily laughed as she walked by.

"Oh, go away, Lily," Amber spouted, to laughter.

"How are you doing?" Ed then asked me.

"Fine. Everybody else decided to go nude, too. I’m feeling less self-conscious," I admitted.

"Jared and Amanda need less of an excuse than that to go nude, believe me," he laughed.

"True, true," Jared agreed.

After that, they went to warm up, and then the game started. It was a lot of fun. We won by something like 9 to nothing. Ed even hit a home run. And Lily really is good. Jared and Amanda helped me with some of the stuff about baseball I didn’t really know. I had a great time.

I’m really glad I went.

CHAPTER SEVEN ED

After the game, I ran over to where they were sitting. "We’re hitting the Burger Hut afterwards. Who’s coming?"

"I can’t," Amber said.

"Ah, well, I’ll just have to get another date then," I teased.

"You’ll live," Amber teased. "Anyway, my Mom’s here." She kissed me on the cheek, and waved goodbye to the rest of them, then ran over to her Mom’s car. Still naked. I think Natalie was completely stunned.

"We’ll be there, but I already have a date," Amanda giggled.

"Fine, be that way," I said. "How about you, dear Natalie. You wouldn’t force a poor, defenseless, naked third baseman to show up at the post-game Greasefest sans date, would you?"

She giggled. "Do most people go to the post-game Greasefests with a date?"

"Well, no, not really, but forget that part," I grinned. She giggled again. Finally the vaunted Bauer wit was working. "Come on. You can even get dressed for this."

"I really should go home. My mother’s pissed I was even here," she said, then thought for a minute. "And I don’t care anymore. I’d love to go," she said.

"Great. Wait here, while I shower and stuff."

I went in, got cleaned up, and got out in a hurry. Natalie had dressed. She was wearing something a little less armor-like than her usual get-up-a mid-calf chino skirt and a blue polo shirt. I walked her to my car.

"You sure this is all right? Your mom and all?"

"No, but I don’t care," she said. Then she giggled. "Of course, I should’ve decided to get rebellious on a night she was working, then I’d get home after she went to work. But I don’t care."

"OK, then." We headed to Burger Hut, got our food, and grabbed a table with Mike and Lily, Jared and Amanda. It was fun. Natalie was really loosening up. I congratulated myself on a great idea-getting the Ed Posse involved in helping her. It really did help. Natalie and Amanda really hit it off.

We got back in the car and I said that to her. "Yeah, I like Amanda," she told me.

"She and Mike are my best friends, have been forever." I looked at the clock. It was plenty early, but I said, "I suppose you need to go home."

"I suppose. Why?"

"Well, I do still owe you that date."

"I thought I was your date at the Burger Hut," she giggled.

"No, I meant the date. Singing In The Rain."

"Oh, yeah. Yeah! Let’s do it," she said.

"Are you sure?"

She got serious for a minute. "Can I tell you a secret?" she asked. I nodded. "The later I stay out, the more my mother will drink. The more she drinks, the better chance that she’ll be passed out on the couch before I come home."

"Oh, shit, Natalie," I said.

"That’s my dirty little secret. Well, one of them." She visibly collected herself. "Anyway, spending time with you watching old musicals is vastly preferable to dealing with a drunk. So, please, take me to Gene Kelly, kind sir," she smiled.

I did. Maybe I shouldn’t have, but she clearly didn’t want to go home. I was thinking that I didn’t blame her. She was enjoying herself, and didn’t want it to end. I got the impression that ‘fun’ wasn’t a word much in her vocabulary.

Anyhow, we pulled up, walked in, and Mom and Dad were there.

"Hey, Ed, how’d the game go?" Dad asked.

"We romped. Nine-zip. I went two for four with a dinger, and Lily was her usual unhittable self."

"Great. Any problems with the nudity?" Mom asked.

"No, Lily didn’t let them hit any line drives at my exposed ass." They laughed at that. "Mom, Dad, this is my friend Natalie Weinberg. Nat, this is my parents. Natalie’s my program partner this week."

"Hi," she said. Dad came over and shook her hand.

"Come in, come in," Mom smiled. "What are you two up to?"

"Well, I was wondering if we could commandeer the TV."

"What for?" Dad asked.

"Well, Natalie here fancies herself to be an old film buff, and she’s never seen Singing In The Rain," I said.

"Well, we can’t have that, can we?" Dad said, smiling at Natalie. "That’s a travesty."

"That’s what I said," I grinned.

"Well, of course, how can we deny that kind of educational opportunity?" Dad said. "It’s all yours. We’ll go upstairs."

"Thanks, guys," I said. I went over to find the DVD.

"Ed, you want me to put some popcorn in?" Mom asked.

"Thanks, Mom, that’d be great." I looked at Nat. "Sit," I smiled, pointing to the couch. She grinned back, and did. I got the DVD out, put it in the player, and let the opening stuff run while I went to check on the popcorn. I grabbed it and a couple cokes and sat down next to her.

"Your parents are really nice," she said.

"Yeah, they are," I agreed.

The movie started, and, as always, I got into it. As I expected, Natalie got into it, too. We were sitting side by side, the popcorn bowl in between us, munching away and laughing. After Donald O’Connor did his "Make ‘Em Laugh" bit, Natalie turned to me and said, "Now I know why you like this movie so much. It’s got your philosophy of life in it."

"You got that right."

After the dance scene in the soundstage between Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds, she turned to me and said, "You’re right. This is great."

The popcorn was gone by then, so I put the bowl on the coffee table in front of us. And she moved closer to me. We were practically touching, side by side, on the couch.

So, I did what seemed natural. I put my arm around her. She sighed, smiled, and snuggled up to me. I must admit, it felt nice. Of course, part of my brain was screaming "Danger Will Robinson Danger!" but the part that liked snuggling up to a sweet, warm girl told the danger part to shut up.

All right, dammit, I admit it. I liked her. God save me, but I liked her. I was in big fucking trouble.

I’d deal with that later. Who cared about that when you’re snuggled up to a gorgeous sweetheart watching the greatest movie ever made? Who cared about memories of getting your heart put through a shredder, when Gene Kelly was dancing up a storm on a wet soundstage, and the lovely curled up by your side was enjoying it as much as you did? Yeah, I thought about Annie. A few memories crept up. I just let Gene’s dancing feet stomp all over ‘em.

Like I said-big fucking trouble. After Amanda went through her sex-drenched Program week, she told me she had discovered a few things. First of all, that there were certain acts that were more intimate than sex. Kissing. Undressing each other. I think cuddling would qualify. I agreed with her-which is why, though I had sex a lot-I didn’t cuddle. And here I was, not only cuddling-but cuddling with someone that I was not going to have sex with. And enjoying it. She looked up at me and giggled, "that’s awesome!" right after Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor’s stunning "Moses" routine.

Annie didn’t like old movies. She never got "Singing In The Rain." Now, why did my brain dig up that little factoid right at this moment?

Damn, my brain was out of control. Good thing I know this movie by heart.

When it was over, she sighed, and looked up at me happily, "You were right. That’s one hell of a movie."