I didn’t know Lynette well enough, but was surprised to hear from Camille that she might have lesbian tendencies. “Lynette?”
“Lynette and I fool around, and I doubt my sister had anything to do with that. I’m not in love with Lynette like I am with Kristen, though.” Camille closed her eyes for a few moments and continued. “Anyway, Lynette and I don’t advertise our relationship to the world, and it’s not like we’re going to spend our lives together. Aside from any girls that Debbie made me do, Lynette may be the only one that I did by my own choice. Even so, sometimes, I find myself thinking of Kristen when I’m with Lynette.”
I didn’t know how to respond to this, so I said nothing.
“I’m sorry, Jim,” Camille said, hugging me. “I don’t want to steal Kristen away from you.”
“I don’t think you could,” I said with a sigh.
“Huh?”
“Kristen still has her addiction, Cammy,” I pointed out. “If she decides to sleep with you one day, she will still need me. I don’t like that one bit, but I can’t seem to think of anything that I can do to prevent it.”
Camille looked at me for a few moments. “I never thought about that.”
I shrugged. “It’s my mess. I’m going to have to clean it up. I don’t have a clue how, but I will do everything I can. If, afterward, Kristen hates me, then that will be my ultimate punishment for what I did to Kristen last fall.”
Camille hugged me again, and when we finally pulled apart, I could see tears in her eyes. It wasn’t surprising—I had tears in my own.
I decided to grab the bull by the horns.
“Go into the master bedroom, and from there into the bathroom and into the shower. Find the soap while you kiss her. She’ll open her eyes and she’ll be surprised, but start soaping her breasts and whisper, ‘Jim says it’s OK.’”
“Huh?”
“Cammy. I spoke to you in plain English. Isn’t that a language that you, your class’ valedictorian, can speak?”
Camille’s eyes opened wide. “You mean…?”
“Treat her gently,” I advised. “Make her feel good, but don’t make her too worried.”
“Soap her breasts?” Camille asked, still unsure of herself.
“Trust me. Soap her breasts and she’s yours.”
Camille looked at me for a few moments and then walked toward the master bedroom. Before she entered it, she stopped, and turned around, as if she was going to say something.
I waited, but we stood there, staring at each other.
Camille turned as if she were to continue toward the bedroom, but stopped again. She ran back over to me and kissed me. “Thanks, Oogie! You know, you are a real friend to the cheerleaders to help us deal with Tim Hawking!”
I watched Camille tiptoe into the master bedroom to give Kristen an interesting surprise.
After Camille entered the master bedroom, I wondered why I told Camille to take her shower with Kristen. After all, Kristen never gave me permission to do anything like that, and after Camille left, I realized that I hoped I hadn’t crossed a line.
However, Camille alerted me to one of the biggest dangers I faced. She was a friend—more than just a friend—to me, and to Kristen. I think she told me about her love for Kristen and me in a moment of weakness, and if she were to admit that to me, she must have felt it hard.
I knew how hard one can fall for my lovely blonde Goddess, even without the benefit of having that love imposed upon you unwillingly by a ticket. Even with Camille being a female, I knew that Kristen was quite sure of her heterosexuality. I didn’t see the two of us as being competition for Kristen’s affections, just like I didn’t have a problem with Kristen’s apparent ongoing relationship with her brother. I figured that Camille’s love was a different expression of love than mine. Of course, if Kristen didn’t want to swing that way then that would be her choice, but they had been together in that bathroom for a while.
I started to understand the concept that Kristen’s brother Will explained to me: bisexuality. I still didn’t agree with Will completely about it, though. As I mentioned, I felt no jealousy about Kristen and either Camille or Will. The truth of the matter was that what I told Camille before was the one truth that I never told anybody—not even myself!—up until now.
On New Year’s Day, Kristen told me that her addiction made me hers, but in truth, she was quite mistaken. I loved Kristen because she was a wonderful person. She was more mature than me, but also more impulsive. She fit a part of me that I didn’t even suspect needed a connecting part until she was there. On the other hand, I still had moments when I suspected that Kristen’s love for me was just a way for her to get her fix without making her feel less in control.
That was punishment enough for me, I thought. Maybe Kristen and I were doomed to a life where she would never love me as much as I love her, despite all her acting to the contrary.
At the same time, I realized that I might have been more than a bit presumptuous about giving Kristen so casually to Camille. After all, both Kristen and Camille told me that Debbie offered Camille to Kristen and Kris apparently turned her down.
The girls spent a half hour in the shower. Neither one could look me straight in the eye when they finally came out of my bedroom.
“I was hoping that we’d not be late for school,” I said.
We took Kristen’s Camaro to school. Both girls kissed me as we parked, and got out and headed for homeroom.
I was quite moody, and Sherry noticed my feelings in first period. Between first and second periods, Sherry tried to get me to talk. “What’s up, Jim?”
“I have a lot on my mind,” I said.
Sherry reddened, no doubt believing that I was thinking of her extracurricular “lessons.”
I sighed. I found myself making more mistakes than great decisions lately.
At lunch, Kristen didn’t appear to be angry at me. In fact, she didn’t appear to be as embarrassed as she was earlier when she came out of her bedroom this morning.
“What’s wrong, Jim?” Patty asked about halfway through lunch.
“Huh?” I asked. I hadn’t been listening to what the girls were saying.
“What’s going on?” Patty asked.
“Problems at home,” I said.
Patty looked at Kristen, who shrugged.
I tuned everybody out and kept on thinking about the situations that I was about to fuck up.
When the class bell rang, it surprised me. Sherry, Patty, and Kristen were all looking at me strangely.
As we left the cafeteria, I held Patty back. “Patty, I need to talk with you… privately.”
“You seemed a million miles away,” Patty said.
“Can you meet me at the band room for a few moments?”
As we were walking toward the music room, I noticed Tim Hawking about halfway down the corridor. I don’t think he saw me, but I immediately spun around, surprising Patty. “Let’s go upstairs and come back downstairs.”
“I’ll be late for class…”
“Please, Patty.”
“All right.”
We took the long way, and finally made it to the band room unmolested.
“What’s up, Jim?” Patty asked.
Instead of answering, I handed Patty a ticket.
“You have one wish.”
“Answer me truthfully the following two questions.”
“Your wish is my command.”
“Do you know Tim Hawking, and has anybody other than me ever given you a lucky ticket?”