Juicy Secrets Forbidden Tales of Lesbian Love

A brief summary of what has transpired thus far. (To get a more detailed breakdown of the earlier chapters, please see Pages From a Diary Chapter Links )

Eleven-year-old Mallory is a bright but lonely girl with strict fundamentalist Christian parents whose marriage is going through a rough patch. One day, Mal gets acquainted with a girl named Julie, who lives with her father Jason and his girlfriend Lisa. Soon, the girls become fast friends, and before very long, more than friends. Mallory has a difficult time reconciling her emerging sexuality with her faith, but soon finds her desire for Julie and her interest in sex getting the upper hand, especially once she learns to masturbate.

Meanwhile, her parents’ relationship is really starting to founder. By then, Mallory and Julie are beginning to experiment sexually, but don’t really know what they’re doing. Julie’s dad’s girlfriend Lisa finds out about their curiosity and offers advice, then the girls persuade her to undress and join them in bed. Mal and Julie have full-on sex for the first time, then Lisa gets involved. 

Soon thereafter, Mallory and Julie are confronted by a fifteen-year-old girl from their school named Megan, who tells them she recognizes their feelings for each other, admits to being gay herself, and invites them to drop by her place a few days later. Megan only wants to hang out and chat, but Mallory casually takes charge of the situation, and soon the three of them are naked and having sex. In the weeks to come, they will get together again every now and then for more of the same.

Mallory’s mother Sharon is spending more and more nights away from the home, supposedly staying with her own mother. So she isn’t there when Mal’s father Dan collapses and nearly dies from alcohol poisoning. Only Mallory’s quick thinking and immediate response saves his life. Once Dan is taken to the hospital, Mal learns that her mom isn’t really at Grandma’s house, but out with another man.

Not long after her father is released from the hospital, Mallory is taken out on a shopping trip by her mother. During the lengthy drive, Sharon explains her side of the story, treating her daughter more like an adult than she ever has before. Mal finds herself feeling sympathetic… but then she’s startled to catch herself having sexual thoughts about her mother, and gets flustered and confused. Those thoughts won’t go away, either.

Sharon soon gets a job at a senior center, and is making plans to go back to school. Needless to say, Mal’s father is most unhappy with this development. On the other hand, Mallory is quite pleased for her mom, and takes the opportunity to get in her lap and give her playful, but subtly flirtatious kisses. More then ever, she suspects that her mother is secretly gay.

Mal is gradually becoming more popular at school. One result is that she and Julie are invited to a sleepover with Emma and Cindy, a couple of Julie’s friends. Once the parents are asleep, the girls get into a discussion concerning masturbation, which leads to everyone getting naked and engaging in mutual touching. Emma and Cindy love it, and the four of them get together for more fun a couple of weeks later.

Mallory finds a new student project: playing keyboards in a rock band of high school students supervised by Jason, who has also been teaching his daughter Julie how to do mixing work. Mal is much younger than the other members, but her skills soon win the others over. One of the band members is a sweet hippie girl named Jamie, and Mal is immediately attracted to her.

An ugly scene occurs at the home of Mal’s grandmother, where her mother Sharon is staying until she finds her own place. When Sharon makes a disparaging comment about lesbians, Mal loses her temper in a big way. In her anger, she comes out there and then, venting until her mother breaks down and cries. Mal quickly becomes remorseful, but the damage is done.

A couple of unhappy developments occur. First, Mallory’s parents make it official: they are to divorce. Mal is utterly disgusted with them both. Second, two of Julie’s cousins have vanished without explanation, eleven-year-old twin girls named Anna and Nettie. A search is underway, but without success thus far. Mallory has never met these girls, but she prays as best she can for their safe return.

A few days later, the twins are found and their kidnapper arrested, but not before he murdered Anna. Nettie is still alive, but devastated, and the girls’ parents go completely to pieces, turning on each other in their grief. Obviously, they are unable to take care of Nettie, so after a family discussion in which Mal is asked to participate. Jason, Lisa and Julie decide to bring Nettie into their home for the time being. Mal vows to do everything she can to help Jason’s niece to recover from her emotional trauma.

Mal and Julie pay Jamie a visit. The girls admit to being lovers, then tempt Jamie into masturbating with them. This quickly leads to much more.

Mallory gets to meet Nettie soon after that, when Jason brings her home. Sure enough, she is in bad shape: unable or unwilling to do or say much, often having screaming herself awake from nightmares.

Mal’s band is making serious progress, which gets her and Julie a sleepover at Jamie’s place. Needless to say, music isn’t the only item on the agenda that night.

The next day, while practicing her keyboard part on a Black Sabbath cover, Mal puts the album on, only to get a positive response from Nettie, who asks to hear more. It’s the first time she’s shown interest in anything since her twin’s sister’s death. Mal, Julie, Lisa and Jason are is thrilled. Could their tormented guest be on the mend?

And now we rejoin our story, which is currently in progress. Do enjoy!

by Rachael Yukey

February 11th, 2007

My parents have got things worked out so they can swap me back and forth without ever having to see each other. That’s just as well, cause if they did meet face to face things would probably get ugly. It’s Sunday night, and if I wasn’t at Julie’s house, I’d be at Home One (Dad’s place). Tomorrow afternoon when school lets out, I go to Home Two (Mom’s place). I’ll stay there all week, and next Monday I’ll take the bus to Home One after school.

I honestly don’t know what they’d do if I wasn’t old enough to take care of myself. When I’m at Home Two, I get there just a smidge after three on school days, and on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays Mom doesn’t get home from school till four thirty or so. Some days I go to Julie’s house, but if I have a lot of homework or whatever I go straight home.

Dad is well… Dad. He’s kind of old school; men make money, women take care of kids. Now that there isn’t a woman in the house, I’m his job for a whole week, and there’s no how-to manual telling him what he’s supposed to do.

He’s trying; I’ll give him that. After school he’ll ask how my day went and talk a little about his, then we’ll eat dinner together, but more often than not he’ll spend the rest of the evening either in his shop or his office. He says he has work to get done, but I think it’s mostly because he feels the awkwardness as intensely as I do.

I overheard Dad on the phone with a lawyer a couple of days ago, so I know Mom’s filed for divorce. It could get really messy because Minnesota’s what they call a community property state. I had to look that up, but it just means that Mom owns half of their combined assets. The reason it’s a problem is there’s a very big combined asset, and one that existed before Dad married Mom: the farm.

From what I could hear, just the land is worth four or five million dollars, and the machinery probably close to two million. Maybe more than that if you include the tanks and equipment for drying and storing grain. Those numbers flattened me. It’s strange to think our family is worth so much when money has always been such a struggle.

The big question is whether Mom and her lawyer are going to push for half of what the farm is worth, and I get the idea that Dad and his lawyer don’t have any answers yet. What they do seem sure of is that if Mom asks for it, the judge is probably going to give it to her, and the only way Dad will be able to raise that kind of money is to sell the place.

I have to tell you, dear diary, that I’m not crazy about the idea. In fact, FUCK that idea. I’ve spent my entire life on this farm, and even if I won’t be living here full-time anymore, I don’t  want to see it sold out of the family. It’s a messy situation, and I guess I don’t know what the right answer is.

Okay, subject change. Nettie went back to school on Monday. She doesn’t know anyone, of course, but all the kids know who she is and why she’s there. They know, because their parents know. I think everyone’s treating her like a raw egg that’ll crack and splatter all over if you drop her or squeeze her too hard. Julie and I are a grade ahead of her, but our lunch hour and recess periods (in the gym right now because it’s so cold) are the same as hers, so we try to hang around her a bit so she doesn’t feel alone. Cindy and Emma are right there with us, and I love them even more for it.

But Nettie doesn’t really want to do anything. She eats everything on her tray but doesn’t really talk at lunch, and then in the gym she mostly just wants to sit. Eventually we end up going off and doing our thing, making sure she knows the invitation is open for her to join in.

It’s frustrating. Julie says it’s about the same at home, that Nettie is still waking up screaming. This is the first time I’ve been to Julie’s house this week; it’s much harder to visit her when I’m at Home One.

Something occurred to me today: this is the last year I’m going to have a recess period! If I was in a bigger town with a separate elementary school, I probably wouldn’t even have one this year. It’s funny. Sometimes I’m in a huge rush to grow up, but other times I want to hang on to the kid stuff I love. Some things you don’t get to keep, though.

God, I’m just going from one depressing topic to the next today, huh? Julie would be way better at this, I think. She’s really good at finding the bright side of everything, and sometimes I wonder what she sees in a gloomy girl like me.

Fortunately, everything else I want to write about is more cheerful. First, Jason started paramedic school this week. It’s through a certificate program out of Fargo, but they’re running something called a satellite in Wadena, which is also where Mom goes to school. The classes are in the evenings, six to ten on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Once he’s been in school for a few months there’ll be something called clinicals, which means Jason will be spending time in hospitals and on ambulances, learning to do stuff hands-on. Apparently that’ll be even more time-consuming than the classes.

Once again, I’m getting my information from Julie, cause I’m seeing next to nothing of Jason these days. She says her dad is totally excited, and when he isn’t in class, he’s spending most of his time buried in his textbooks. I feel like maybe Jason and my mom should hang out; they can talk for hours about their classes, get exalted together, and leave the rest of us out of it. I know, that sounds kinda mean, but when my mom starts droning on about how awesome IT school is, Grandma and I just kinda roll our eyes and shut down. It sounds like Jason is acting the same way right now. I guess it’s probably a good thing that he is. I think that kind of enthusiasm is what carries you through when it gets hard, even if it annoys the people around you.

We rehearsed without Jason on Thursday night, and it went well. Jamie acts as our musical director when he’s not there, and she’s getting really good at it. She and I were prepared to wow everyone by mastering five new songs in a week, but it turns out everyone else did too! Not only did we rehearse all five songs to everyone’s satisfaction, we ended up sticking around for an extra forty-five minutes, just hanging out and jamming.

Julie even joined in the jam session! Jason has two guitar amps and a spare guitar down at the rehearsal space, so Julie just plugged in and started playing. Honestly, she’s not that good, but she plays decent rhythm and doesn’t mind just backing us up while Jamie and I take turns “wailing” (that’s Jamie’s term for improvising solos). Before we left, Roger suggested that we try writing another song next week, and we all thought that sounded like a great idea.

Yesterday was my birthday, AND the day of the Tri State Student Arts Exhibit in Minneapolis. Which was kind of a conflict, since I had artwork being judged at the competition. True to form, Mom and Dad worked it out so they wouldn’t have to spend time together. The idea was that Dad would take me down to Minneapolis for the exhibit, then take me birthday shopping. Next weekend, Mom will throw a big birthday party with my friends at Grandma’s house.

I want to make the party next weekend a sleepover, but Mom’s apartment isn’t really a great place for that, and Grandma didn’t offer. Lisa caught wind of the problem and told me that ordinarily they’d be happy to have me and my friends, but with Nettie’s night terrors she doesn’t think it’s such a hot idea. At the moment, the sleepover situation is… big capital letters… UNRESOLVED. Most likely, it just won’t work. Not the end of the world, I suppose.

My trip to Minneapolis with Dad didn’t work out, either. Friday morning Dad was hacking and sneezing, and by nightfall he was throwing up. There’s been a nasty flu bug going around, so I guess it shouldn’t have been a surprise. Mom wasn’t available to take me; she and a couple of her classmates were going on a weekend trip to Fargo and had already left. I’m glad she’s making friends, but talk about crappy timing!

It was around eight on Friday evening, and I’d just about resigned myself to missing the exhibit, when salvation came by way of a phone call.

“Hi, Mallory,” said Jason’s voice. “Your art exhibit is in the Twin Cities tomorrow, true or false?”

“True,” I said listlessly. Right then I realized how bummed I was to be stuck at home on my birthday.

“Well, it so happens I’m taking Julie down for a visit with her mom. We’ll be done at three, and I was thinking we’d swing over to the exhibit after that. I was wondering if I could talk to your dad about a good time for us to meet up.”

Suddenly I burst into tears.

“Hey, kiddo.” Jason sounded alarmed. “What’s going on?”

“Dad’s got the flu,” I got out through the tears. “He can’t take me. And Mom’s out of town… she doesn’t even know he’s sick.”

“Okay,” said Jason. “Okay. Calm down, Mallory. Is there any way I can talk to your dad without him having to get up?”

I carried the cordless down the hall, knocked on Dad’s door and gave him the phone. He took it and waved me out of the room. I stood in the hallway, fidgeting. I could hear Dad’s voice from the bedroom, but couldn’t make out any words. I had a pretty good idea what Jason had in mind, but wasn’t sure what my dad was going to say. Finally he called me back in. He had his hand over the phone’s receiver.

“Mr. Hanson just offered to take you with him to Minneapolis, so you could go to your exhibit,” he informed me, his voice hoarse and thready. “I told him I was okay with it. He’s doing you a big favor, so make sure you’re polite and grateful. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Daddy,” I said. Then a thought struck me. “What about you? Will you be okay here alone?”

He smiled weakly. “That’s thoughtful of you, but there’s not much you could do for me. There’s canned soup I can heat up… I’ll be fine.”

On impulse, I leaned over and kissed his forehead. “I love you, Daddy,” I said, meaning it.

“Go on,” he said. “Mr. Hanson is waiting on the other end to talk to you about the details.”

“I’m here, Jason,” I said as I made my way back to the living room.

“We’ll be leaving early,” he said. “Probably we’ll pick you up around eight. Can you be ready to go?”

“Definitely,” I said. “I’ll get my stuff together tonight, and set up something for Dad to eat while I’m at it. Jason… thank you.”

“No strain, kid,” he said. “We’re going in that direction anyway.”

***

I guess I know Lisa and Jason well enough that the way things went down shouldn’t have come as a surprise. I got up at 6:30 yesterday morning, showered, got dressed in a nice pair of jeans and my favorite blouse (I considered a dress, but the thermometer on the wall informed me that it was thirty degrees below zero), and ate breakfast.

Time to get Dad sorted out. Rummaging through the cupboards, I selected a few different cans of Campbell’s soup. Then, in a burst of inspiration, I unplugged the microwave and wiggled it to the edge of the counter.

I almost dropped it; that thing is heavier than it looks! I lugged it down the hallway to Dad’s bedroom, then realized that I’m an idiot. It took both arms to carry the microwave, and the bedroom door was closed. I had to put it on the floor, standing on end. I knocked.

“Yeah?” came Dad’s voice, sounding a bit muffled.

“I’m coming in,” I informed him. Without waiting for a reply, I popped the door open, picked up the microwave, and staggered into the room.

Dad raised his head. “Mallory… what’re you doing?”

I cast my eyes frantically around the room, looking for a convenient flat surface and kicking myself for not doing that before I picked the microwave back up. Mallory the Great Genius strikes again. The nightstand on what used to be Mom’s side was empty, so I rounded the bed and set the microwave on it with a big heave-ho.

“Mallory… ?” said Dad.

“I didn’t want you to have to go all the way to the kitchen for food,” I explained as I hunted around for a wall outlet and got the microwave plugged in.

His head dropped back to the pillow. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“I don’t mind,” I said. “I’ll be back.”

I gathered up the soup cans I’d selected, added a can opener, a spoon, and a couple of bowls, and managed to get the whole works back to the bedroom without dropping anything. This time I’d remembered to leave the door open; I’m not a COMPLETE idiot.

It dawned on me that you usually have to add water to canned soup… and Dad was going to need some to drink, of course. So I went back to the kitchen, filled a pitcher and brought that back to the bedroom, along with a glass.

“You know, I’m going to have to get up once in awhile to use the bathroom, anyway,” Dad said.

“Yeah,” I said, “but this way you can come straight back to bed.”

He gave me a weary smile. “Thanks, honey.” I hugged him, then headed out to the living room to practice my Chopin while I waited.

The knock at the door came just a couple of minutes before eight, and there on the front porch stood what Jason likes to call the Whole Fam Damnly. Lisa looked radiant, wearing a long magenta skirt beneath a stylish winter coat. Julie was bundled up like an Eskimo, practically bouncing on the balls of her feet. Nettie was bundled up too, but staring at the ground, pale and silent as usual. Jason was grinning ear-to-ear, holding a crock pot with steam rising from around the edges of the lid.

“Happy birthday!” Lisa and Julie chorused.

I blinked in surprise, then waved them inside. “Come in, it’s cold,” I said. I didn’t bother asking what they were all doing here; I’d already put the pieces together.

“Lisa made soup for your dad,” said Jason as they tromped into the front hallway. “Where should I leave it?”

Mentally I was rolling my eyes. If I’d been using my brain, I’d have known Jason and Lisa would do something nice like that and saved myself the trouble of lugging all that stuff into Dad’s room. It’s just how they roll. I led Jason down the hall to Dad’s room and knocked, then opened the door.

Jason looked around the room, taking in the microwave, the canned soup, and the utensils at a glance. He grinned sheepishly. “Hi, Dan,” he said. “Lisa made you some soup. But it looks like you thought ahead.”

“No, Mallory did all this,” Dad replied, his voice still sounding weak. “I was just planning to go to the kitchen if I needed anything.”

“It’s okay, Jason,” I told him. “Lisa’s soup will be way better than the canned stuff, anyway.”

We got things situated, and Jason, bless him, carried the microwave back to the kitchen. Then we got moving. Nettie, Julie, and I were a tight fit in the back seat of Lisa’s Honda, but we made it work. Nettie thought she’d have to sit in the middle because she’s the youngest, but I insisted she take the door seat because I’m shorter than she is. It might or might not have had something to do with wanting an excuse to snuggle up with Julie, who I’d barely seen outside of school all week. And we might or might not have done a little fooling around under Julie’s coat, which was spread across our laps.

It was a terrific day. We dropped Julie off at the visitation center, then drove over to the art exhibit. It was in a big convention center and took up three large rooms. Jason had planned to do a little shopping while Julie was visiting her mom, so Lisa, Nettie, and I wandered the exhibit, looking over everything. Some of it was beautiful, some of it was awful, some of it I just plain didn’t get. Abstract art doesn’t do anything for me. I had to do some of it for my AL art class, and I even hated my own work.

We finally found my tree mushroom drawings. Lisa spent a long time looking at them; she’d seen my drafts, but not the finished product.

“This is gorgeous, Mallory,” she said. “It’s tragic and hopeful all at the same time. I love it.”

“It’s nice,” said Nettie, startling us both. She’d barely spoken all morning.

I grinned at her. “Thanks, Nettie!” She gave me a small, hesitant smile.

For lunch, we got hot dogs at one of the vendors’ stands. Jason showed up just in time for the judging, which took place at two. Well, actually the judging had already happened… they handed out awards at two.

Guess what? My art was judged Superior, which was the highest award! Only five of us, out of over six hundred contestants, got a Superior. The other four were in high school. Happy birthday to me!!

Jason left again, this time to pick Julie up. I had to stick around because they were tearing down at three, and I wanted to take my project home with me instead of waiting for it to be returned. By the time he got back to the convention center with Julie I had my mushrooms safely boxed, my award plaque tucked in with them.

“What kind of food appeals to you, Mallory?” Jason asked as we stuffed ourselves back into the car.

“Huh?” I said.

“It’s your birthday dinner. What do you want to eat?”

After giving it some thought, I decided on Chinese. Now, you have to understand: the only Chinese I’ve ever eaten is the China buffet in Alexandria. I was totally unprepared for the classy place Lisa guided us to. There they served your food in a bowl, and put an empty plate in front of you. There were heaping bowls of rice in the center of the table, and the idea is that you spoon rice onto your plate, and then put some of your food on the rice. We all ordered something different, and everyone tried a little of everything.

There was also a sushi bar. Julie was clearly an old hand with sushi and served herself up a big plate of it. I didn’t want anything to do with it at first, but she put her never-ending enthusiasm to work on me and got me to try a bite of her raw fish. Then I went and got myself a plate. I think I just discovered a new favorite food!

It was approaching nine when we pulled into the driveway at Home One. “Stay put for a minute, Mallory,” said Jason. He got out, rounded the car, and opened the trunk. He returned a moment later with a box, which he handed over the back of the seat to me. It was heavy, and had a picture of a thin black object with big switches on the front.

“I didn’t wrap it,” he said, “but happy birthday anyway. It’s a midi foot controller for your keyboard. Now you can switch patches without taking your hands off the keys.”

I was blown away. “Oh, Jason, thank you!”

“I have something for you, too,” said Julie, “but I’ll give it to you next time you’re at my house.”

Julie and Jason came in with me. Julie and I shared a brief but very passionate kiss in the entryway while Jason went to collect the crock pot from Dad’s room. After they left, I checked in on Dad myself. He seemed to be doing better, and said he thought he’d be okay after a good night’s sleep. I got myself up to my room with my gift and my art project.

I’m sorry Dad got sick, but all the same, I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday. I only wished I could cap it off by making love to Julie! So I did the next best thing; masturbated to an orgasm while thinking about her. Contented as could be, I drifted off to sleep.

***

Dad seemed to be feeling all right this morning. He gave me my birthday gift, a large articulated doll. It confirms what I already suspected; in his mind I’m still stuck at age eight, and probably will be until my boobs are more noticeable. But hey, at least he’s trying.

Just before we left for church, I got a phone call from Jamie. “Hey, little sister,” she said. “Are you gonna be in town for church this morning?”

“Yeah… why?”

“Wanna jam afterwards? Bring Julie, if she wants to come.”

I thought fast. Dad would probably want to come home right after church, but maybe I could persuade him to leave me at Jamie’s place. Then I had another thought.

“Are we just talking about jamming,” I asked, “or did you have more in mind?”

“Not today,” she said. “I have my you-know. Otherwise, I’d be into it.”

“I’m not sure yet I can come over,” I replied, “but if it works out, would you mind if I bring someone who might be real interested in your record collection?”

“That’d be great, little sister. I’m not going anywhere today, so just show up if you want, okay?”

“Sounds good!”

I hung up the phone just as Dad was emerging from his office. “Hey, Dad,” I said. “Were you planning on coming straight home after church?”

“Yeah… why?”

“Oh, Jamie from the band wanted to get together and work on some stuff. Is there any way we can make it work?”

I was a little nervous about his reply; I know Dad isn’t crazy about me being in a rock band. But he just shrugged. “We’ll get it figured out.” Like I said, he is trying.

A quick phone conversation with the Hansons solved it. Julie wanted to come along, even though we wouldn’t be doing anything but play music. When I suggested we invite Nettie to join us, she agreed right away.

“She’ll be there if I have to drag her by the big toe,” Julie proclaimed.

The plan we devised was that Dad would drive me to Jamie’s house after church, stopping on the way to pick up Julie and Nettie. I’d just go back to Julie’s when we were done, spend the night, and go to school from there. Dad offered to come back to town for me, but Lisa insisted on picking us up herself. “It’s the least I can do, Mallory,” she said. “I can’t thank you enough for inviting Nettie along.”

***

Jamie was all smiles when she greeted us at the door. She hugged Julie and me, then turned her attention to Nettie who, as usual, was trying to memorize the contours of her shoes.

“I’ve heard a lot about you, little sister,” said Jamie. “Can I hug you?” Nettie hesitated a moment, then raised her arms and allowed herself to be hugged. She perked up a little when she got a look at the pull-down ladder that leads to Jamie’s room.

“Whoa,” she said. “That’s wicked.”

We plugged in and cranked up. Jamie had recorded backing tracks for the songs we’re doing for the band, and we blasted through all of them. Julie followed along on rhythm guitar, not always well, but she was clearly having fun. Nettie sat in the old overstuffed chair with her legs curled up, watching us intently the whole time.

After practicing the band stuff we spent time playing around with riffs and progressions for the song we’re going to write in rehearsal on Thursday. Jamie recorded what we thought were the best ideas, so we could present them to the band. The best thing was a chunky, syncopated descending riff Jamie came up with, that I put a high keyboard melody on top of. Neither the guitar or keyboard part is anything special by itself, but put together they scorch! I bet we’ll end up using that one. Jamie programmed a drum and bass part on her drum machine, and it came out sounding really heavy, just what Jamie likes. I couldn’t help but notice Nettie leaning forward in the chair while we were doing that part.

Finally we put the instruments down, and Jamie turned to Nettie. “Little sister, I hear you’ve taken an interest in the heavy stuff.”

Nettie shrugged. “I like it, I guess.”

Jamie crossed to her turntable, opened the transparent lid, and lifted whatever she’d been listening to before we got there from the spindle.

“Whoa,” said Nettie, sliding out of her chair and coming over to join Jamie. “That’s, like, a real record, huh?”

Jamie grinned. “Sure is!” She slipped it back into its paper sleeve, then slid that into the cardboard jacket. The artwork on the cover caught my eye; a man with wild hair and too-big hands dressed like a space pirate, against a space background. I could see from where I was sitting that the art was in relief.

Jamie must have caught me looking, because she held it up for closer inspection. “I bought this when I went to the Twin Cities with my brother last weekend,” she said. “The first Captain Beyond album. This is a first pressing from 1971; super-rare! Even if it didn’t have a pressing date on it, you could tell from the 3D art. The vinyl’s in great shape, too. It’s a killer record… I’ll play it for you sometime. But I think Nettie came here to get into something a little heavier.”

She turned her attention to the shelf full of records and examined the contents, her fingers tracing the backs of the cardboard jackets. Then she looked to Nettie, still standing at her side. “Mal told me you dug ‘Dehumanizer.’ Do you want to listen to another Black Sabbath album, or try something different?”

Nettie cocked her head. “Something different.”

Jamie went down a shelf, pulled out an album, slid the inner sleeve out and gently shook the vinyl free. Nettie reached out for the album jacket, and Jamie handed it to her with a smile. From where I sat, I saw this hideous skinned man holding a gun, set against the backdrop of a grim city street. It looked seriously intense. “I bet you’ll like this,” said Jamie. “The band is called Iron Maiden, and the album is ‘Somewhere in Time’.”

Nettie looked on with rapt interest as Jamie placed the record on the turntable, wiped it with a soft cloth, and carefully placed the needle in the groove. She turned the music up pretty loud, pulled the shades, and killed the overhead lights.

It was totally surreal, listening to that pounding yet surprisingly melodic record in the twisting red and purple glow of the lava lamps. Julie and I were snuggled up on the love seat, Jamie sprawled on her bed, and Nettie sitting bolt upright in the chair. Before we’d even reached the end of the first song, I knew exactly what band Jamie got her love of instrumental harmonies from!

We got into discussing how the different parts were done, with Jamie pointing out details I wouldn’t have caught myself. Nettie didn’t join in; she was totally fixated on the music. We kept our voices low, so we didn’t break her concentration. When Jamie got up to flip the album over to Side Two, Nettie blinked a few times and whispered, “Wow.” Then she was immersed in the record all over again.

We ended up listening to one more after that, an Ozzy Osbourne album called ‘Blizzard of Oz’. Jamie, Julie, and I chatted some while that one was playing, but again, Nettie didn’t join in. Her attention seemed completely absorbed by the music.

Five o’clock found us in Jamie’s entryway, Lisa waiting for us at the curb in her Honda. Jamie gave Julie a hug, then me, and she’d barely turned to Nettie when the younger girl threw both arms around her.

“That was really nice,” Nettie said. “Thanks for letting me come, Jamie.” Me and Julie stared at each other, doing our level best not to die of shock.

“I had fun, too,” said Jamie. “Come by anytime, little sister.”

Nettie looked up at her, wearing the biggest smile I’d ever seen her give. “Thanks, I will… big sister.”

***

Two hours later we were lounging around the Hanson’s living room, stuffed to bursting with venison steaks, mashed potatoes, and brussel sprouts. Jason was absorbed in a big, scary-looking textbook, Lisa was doing paperwork for her job at City Hall, me and Julie were making a pretty bad attempt at learning to play chess, and Nettie was leafing through a young reader’s chapter book. As far as I could tell, she wasn’t really reading at all. Finally she set her book down on the coffee table and settled back into the couch, looking down at her hands.

All of a sudden she got up, crossed the room to where Jason sat and hunkered down next to a stack of books piled next to his chair. She studied the titles listed on the bindings. Finally she looked up to Jason, who was gazing down at her. “Which one is the simplest?

Jason raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. Bending down, he tried to sift through the books, managed to knock the pile over, and finally came up with one.

“Our main text is a five-volume series,” he said, holding the book up for her inspection. “This is Volume One. I’m reading Volume Two right now. Check it out if you like, but I warn you… even this first volume is pretty heavy-duty stuff. You might not understand it all. Hell, I don’t understand it all yet.”

“I’ll try it,” she said, plucking the book from his hand.

“More power to you,” said Jason. “Just leave it out here where I can find it. If you leave a bookmark in there, I’ll make sure not to move it.”

Nettie crossed back to the couch, settling in with the book in her lap. Moments later, she had it open to the first chapter, looking utterly absorbed.

Julie and I went to bed a few minutes afterwards, pleading exhaustion and the need to be up for school in the morning. Lisa gave us a knowing grin as we made our exit.

Upstairs in Julie’s room, the door safely closed behind us, we fell into each other’s arms. Our mouths came together, tongues meeting in a heated dance, as we tore at each other’s clothes.

We didn’t even end up getting completely naked; our mutual need was simply too intense to be contained. Panties on the floor, we got our heads at opposite ends of the bed, two dripping pussies squashed together and grinding furiously. I came first, biting down on my forearm to keep from screaming. Julie was bucking against me, drawing in sharp, gasping gulps of air. She went rigid, then convulsed, burying her face deep in a pillow.

We didn’t bother with pajamas, just shucked off the rest of our clothes and snuggled up under the blankets.

“First the music, then Dad’s textbook,” said Julie once we’d settled in. “That’s two things in one day Nettie’s been interested in, and it’s two more than I’ve seen the whole time she’s been here.”

“The music doesn’t surprise me,” I said. “We’ve seen that before, a little bit. The paramedic book, though… I sure never saw that coming.”

“That might not last,” said Julie. “I tried reading one of those things, and my eyes got all crossed after about two minutes.”

“Guess we’ll see,” I said. My hand was cupping her ass cheek, and I let it slip inward a little bit, one finger tracing the edge of her crack.

Julie giggled. “You’re skating on the edge of a cliff,” she informed me. “Be careful not to fall in.”

I went a little deeper, then slipped my hand between her thighs. “So what’s on the other side?” I asked her.

“I guess you’ll just have to go exploring and see!”

What I found was velvety soft and slippery wet. Locked in a tight embrace, we fingered each other to another orgasm. We shared a long, deep kiss, then Julie immediately drifted off to sleep.

That was over an hour ago, and I’m still awake. I realized within a few minutes I wasn’t going to sleep right away, so I got up, slipped my journal from my backpack, and poured all my thoughts onto the pages.

So here I sit naked in Julie’s computer chair, listening to the warm, soft sound of her breathing, still glowing from making love. Writing about what we did a little while ago has me all worked up again. In fact, for the past few minutes my left hand has been busy between my legs while I wrap up this entry with my right. I’m tempted to wake Julie up and have my way with her, but there’s also something incredibly erotic about listening to her sleep while I get myself off.

Oh, god, Im gonna come. It’s gonna be a big one…

Soon to come: Chapter Twenty-Five!