"Okay, okay! Too much information!" Eleanor took off to avoid having her embarrassment seen. George would use his fingers on her — but never his tongue…
"Sal?"
"Hi, Teela," Sally answered her phone, "How are you doing?"
"Fine — great, actually! How did your date with Lon go?"
"It was a little rocky in places, but…"
"Rocky?" Teela asked.
"Yeah," Sally sighed. "You know, there comes a point when it just doesn’t pay to stay suspicious — not if you really WANT a relationship."
"Uh huh," Teela agreed, "At some point, you have to jump in…"
"I hit that point," Sally announced.
"Me, too."
"Things were kind of hairy for a while, though. You knew he was telling the truth, but some of his answers…"
"You got into the sex thing," Teela guessed. "I did, too."
"Yeah." Cautiously, Sally asked, "What did Rick tell you?"
"They’re having sex with each other’s mothers," Teela replied flatly.
"That’s about the size of it," Sally agreed, relieved that her friend had gotten the same tale. "Kind of intimidating…"
"Oh, I dunno…" You could hear Teela’s shrug in her voice. "It could have been Lucinda Stomp…" Lucinda was a girl on the fringes of the group of beautiful people at school — and she made no bones about blowing half of the football team in her search for the guy who would give her a full-fledged membership.
"Yeah," Sally agreed, "I’d rather not have to compete with a girl our age. The women in the group aren’t that kind of competition."
"Yeah," Teela agreed. "It’s just sex."
"So, how are you dealing with it?" Sally asked carefully.
"I told Rick that he could only have sex with another woman if I was in the room," Teela announced. "I don’t mind him draining his excess and making some poor old woman happy in the process — but I get MINE, first!"
"How did Rick take that?" Sally asked.
"He seemed fine with it," Teela replied. "What did you and Lon hammer out?"
"I, um, decided not to sell tickets to a show that might not open…"
"Huh?"
"Until I learn a few things, I’m not going to be competitive with Lon’s current sex partners. I kind of figured that ultimatums were stupid, at this point."
"Oh." Teela thought about it. "Rick seemed to feel that I was competitive…"
"You had sex?"
"Oh, yeah!" Teela bubbled. "It was WONDERFUL! You didn’t?"
"Well, not the whole thing," Sally admitted. "We made out — a LOT — and he … licked me out and I sucked him — but I made him promise on the front end that we wouldn’t this time." She sighed. "I spent a lot of time wishing I hadn’t. I even released him from his promise, but he wouldn’t go for it. A lot of it was all the suspicion — he’s proving himself, you know?"
"So you blew him? How was it?"
"Fun. Exciting. I’d have never imagined it, but after he caused me to nearly explode with his tongue…"
"I offered," Teela snickered.
"Well, maybe I’ll get a comparison sometime, but for now, I have other priorities," Sally chuckled.
"Like what?"
"Like making sure he gets plenty of sex from me. Like learning deep-throat. Like, jeez, I dunno … I treated him like crap — and I don’t even deserve him! I’m gonna be as good to Lon as I know how — and I’m gonna learn to be GREAT!" Sally declared.
"Sounds good," Teela agreed, "Where are you gonna do all this learning?"
"We have a resource," Sally explained. "The mothers! Lon has already promised to introduce me to Beth; she’s gonna teach me deep-throat!"
"There’s a thought…" Teela mused.
"So how was it?" Sally asked.
"What?"
"You KNOW what!" Sally pressed. "The first time!"
"Unbelievable! I came so hard you could hear me scream up the block, apparently! I don’t remember it — I was too far gone…"
"No kidding?"
"No kidding! Rick’s Mom came outside to ask us to be quieter before the news crews showed up…" Teela giggled. "Rick’s mom is, well, VERY nice! She lent me a bikini and even helped me shave … I was too furry to fit!"
"Nice. Lon’s mom is a tough chick — but she seems to like me," Sally confided. "She’s a bleached blonde — but high-maintenance. Very good looking for her age."
"Rick’s mom is a redhead — and she’s not much bigger than me, anywhere!"
"Wild…"
"When are you seeing him again?"
"Tomorrow," Sally replied. "He’s going to call Beth — I kind of promised to see her before we had it the first time — and I want that all out of the way! I can’t wait! What about you?"
"He’s coming here. I’m gonna try to drain him dry. Maybe I’ll ask to meet Beth — I want to learn deep-throat, too!"
"What do you plan to do about the group? The other boys in particular?" Sally asked.
"I dunno. I got Rick to give me the same deal I gave him, but I don’t know if I am going to take him up on it. You?"
"If Lon wants me to fuck dogs and horses, I’m gonna kneel up and smile!" Sally declared. "I don’t think he will though." She paused, then, "What about the Carter boys?"
"I’m gonna wait and see."
"I’ve seen Damian; he came to visit Candace while I was with Lon. He seems okay, if a bit … I dunno — self-satisfied?"
"The black superman thing?" Teela asked.
"I’m not sure — maybe it was just Candace — they seemed to be up to some game … He must be fairly good, though — he made her scream…" Sally giggled.
"Is he a big ugly guy like his brother?" Teela asked.
"No, he’s smaller, and … smoother, I guess. Both physically and mentally. He’s sort of handsome and he has that way you sometimes see black guys have…"
"A talker?" Teela guessed.
"Yeah."
"What are you gonna do?" Teela turned Sally’s question back on her.
"If Lon tells me to fuck one of them?" Sally clarified. "Well, it’s better than dogs. Or horses…" She chuckled.
"Yeah…" Teela mused. "We’ll see. I’m not making promises. On the other hand, Poppa seems to think that maybe I ought to get my wild side aired out early…"
"Huh?"
"We had … a talk. About Momma. He told me things that had never come up before — he seemed to feel that now was the time, since I was having sex."
"Oh. Bad?"
"Well … Some things I’d never thought too much about started making sense. Momma … liked to play. Hard. Poor Poppa — he put up with a lot, apparently…"
"Did you learn anything new about … that day?" Sally asked carefully.
"They had a long fight — and now I know what about. Momma left the house mad. Poppa blames himself, but it sounds like he was right," Teela related.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah. Poppa seems to think that I might have some of Momma’s … issues. If I do, poor Rick is in for it — he may be happy that he has the other guys around to help…"
Is she serious? Sally wondered. "Well, don’t let it get you all bent out of shape — it’s not like these things are all fate, or a prophecy, or anything."
"I’m not," Teela blew it off. "Talk to you tomorrow?"
"Sure."
Okay, bye!"
"Bye!"
"Beth?"
"Lonnie? How did it go, Sweetie?"
"Oh, good, actually. You were a lot of help!"
"Any time, Sweetie, any time. I was worried…"
"Well, it was a big pill to swallow. She thought about it — what you said, more than anything else, apparently — and everything was cool after a while. Maybe better than cool," Lon related.