Beginnings (17 page)

He was annoyed with himself when he finally reached the park for he knew by the way the soft orange light was colouring the tops of the trees on the far side of the oval that Jess would be gone. He stood for a moment. He felt so very tired then. The park was near deserted as he began to walk through it. There was a father pushing a hard-core all-terrain stroller vigorously up the gentle slope towards the main road and a guy Jason had seen before, about his age, who was jogging round and round the oval. He leant against the white picket
fence which circled the oval and let out an audible sigh. He had no option now but to go home. He found the energy to jump the fence and began the walk across the field.

He had missed Jess, had probably missed Emma and most likely, the way he was feeling and the pace he was now walking, would reach home after his parents.

So what did it matter?

Halfway across the field he looked up at the sky and saw a lovely pale blue, then down at the dull green grass and knew what to do. Moments later he was lying on his back staring up at the sky. Memories of the previous night’s antics flooded in on him. The fragrant close-cropped grass differed from Emma’s luxurious thick, long lawn but then grass was grass to the unobservant and he was lying on grass was he not?

He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

TWENTY-THREE

Across the other side of the oval, in the secluded sanctuary between the line of trees that followed the curve of the oval and the picket fence itself, Jess sat with her friends. She had been on the lookout for Jason and had encouraged the group to stay seated by making no move to leave.

The girls had their own reasons for wanting to leave. It was becoming steadily cooler and as each of them attended school near naked they were seated on the cool ground shivering and holding their young male friends chastely but needfully. Each had at least one parent who would complain
of their being late home, again. There was homework to be done, TV to be watched, the web to be surfed and long repetitive phone conversations to be had with the very people they were talking languidly with now.

Jess had reason to stay, but none of the others did. Even though she was the unacknowledged leader of this lacklustre group of friends, she could not hold them indefinitely.

She was thankful then when she spied her young boyfriend jumping the far fence. She watched in disbelief as he lay down on his back in the middle of the oval. She rose unsteadily and her friends all jumped up too. In a flash they were off in all directions and Jess was alone. She climbed up and over the fence, no mean trick for a modest girl in an immodest short denim skirt.

Jess was trembling by the time she reached his prone form. The previous night’s conversation on the phone had awakened an expectation of some further sign, or verbalisation of his feelings towards her. His voice on the phone had been highly charged and each statement seemed to carry undercurrents of sensual meaning. Jess was highly alert to such sensuality. She was starved of physical attention.

Jason was asleep. She saw that immediately. She stood over him and shook her head. He looked pale, worn out and more dishevelled than she’d ever seen him. How adorable! She wanted to lie down and snuggle into his side. Should she nudge him with her foot?

‘Hey!’ she said loudly, and then, ‘Boofhead!’

Nothing. The boy was dead to the world. Jess found this strange. Especially as he had come to meet her as he’d promised. Why fall asleep in the middle of the oval? In a moment of unusual daring she placed a foot at either side of his chest, straddling him, then sat down on his stomach like a naughty little kid.

The rash act did the trick, he woke but what happened next wasn’t to plan. He pulled her down to him and kissed her, holding her closed lips against his till she gave in and opened them and accepted his kiss and warmed to it.

Jason barely knew who he was kissing. Emma was everywhere, filling all of his senses. She had been with him in sleep and had woken with him. Jess was there too. Her kiss differed greatly, her scent was raw, her tongue timid and her presence on his body near weightless. She was at least a foot shorter than Emma and of such a slight build
that Jason soon realised that he had made a very fortunate mistake.

Jess was now kissing Jason with the full force of all her suddenly released emotions. She assumed that he had lain a trap for her and she had fallen in. Thank God! she thought. He held her so tightly and his kisses were by no means those of an inexperienced boy. In fact his right hand was gripping her bottom and the other was lost in her hair, holding her mouth to his. The other fact was that he was evidently hard. This she felt unmistakably, for it was pressing against her with evil intent.

Jason was unwilling to let her from his grip. This accidental turn was further proof of his extraordinary way with women. Emma had been good enough to show him the way and now he could take whom he wanted, when he wanted. And to think how nervous he’d been with Jess in the past. All he had had to do was take her. He was astonished by this revelation. His mind raced ahead to see who else he might have. But he was distracted on his rapid advance by Jess as she pressed herself heavily down against the hard bulge in his school pants. Her kiss became more forceful and Jason was taken in by her and his
mind shut down and his body took over. This girl had much to express.

Though she was technically a virgin Jess was not inexperienced. She had always had boyfriends of a kind and each had pushed her in their own way for more than her peers would allow. She had to be very conscious of the group and those others in her year. Most were happy to make out and then go home to masturbate. She’d only once given a boy help in that and it had been very exciting. The stuff shot out all over her. She had never been as worked up since then. If there was one recurrent fantasy in her young life, that was it.

But now she felt Jason’s passion rise a level and knew he was determined to take her with him.

He rolled her onto her back, lying on his side next to her, not breaking their kiss, and ran his hand up and down her inner thigh, brushing the cotton of her exposed knickers on each downward turn.

His kisses changed too. He slowed her frenetic pace and gently persuaded her to accept a different kind of kiss, one that lingered, one that took note of the sensitivity of their lips and thrilled her like never before. Her whole body tingled. His hand on her thigh was never more welcome. He kissed her like this for ever so long and soon dear Jess
was so far gone she accepted without demure the full palm of his hand slipping between her legs, covering her mound.

How warm his hand felt and how natural that it should feel this way and be where it was. But his kisses! Her whole body seemed to be connected to his lips.

How hot she felt! She couldn’t restrain a soft tender moan as his fingers pressed softly against her.

He was a bad boy. He knew what he was doing. And how happy she was that he should.

An hour later Jason was strolling towards Mosman Junction. He was so hungry and his mood had changed again and was back squarely at open rebellion.

He lifted his hand to his nose and breathed in the scent left by his new girlfriend. Each finger in turn. The smile on his face was devilish. Nothing would stop him now. He’d have a chicken and gravy roll and hot chips. Fuck dinner, he thought. What violence raged through his body! What power!

The body and mind of the boy was so exhausted but his ego was tireless and eager to fly.

When he reached the main road he once again
began his new trick of devouring and challenging each and every female he saw.

Each of his looks was received in a differing light, but incredulous might have been the general tone once he’d passed on. He certainly had a naked, open and utterly sexual look to give. And the incredulity of the women came from the realisation that there was an assumption of their acquiescence in the look. Which, if some of the women were honest with themselves, there was! The bold assumption was not a put-on, it was there, part of his makeup, unmistakable, palpable and thoroughly disarming in its honesty.

Caught unawares by a bold look from an unexpected quarter, some of the women he passed responded with more spirit than even they knew they had left in them. The young man was too enamoured of this new power to make an inventory of his successes or failures as he strolled and followed up none of the returns of serve. His was an assumption of success, and his was the enviable position, that he could pick or choose.

The shops were caught in that dusk of retail when late customers hope for extended opening hours
and the retailers themselves, aware of the financial benefits of patience, have none to give. Gruff, ill-tempered men in suits manage by monosyllabic instruction to buy the wrong potatoes, a packet of unnecessary batteries, soap, and forget whatever it was their wives specifically asked them to pick up. All the while they make a nuisance of themselves by standing in the wrong place, blocking others, while surreptitiously looking at the photo of the latest starlet on the cover of a trashy magazine or, more specifically, looking at her fake breasts. Then they may try to pay with a cheque for naturally they have no cash, till it is made clear that, yes, they may use their credit card.

Jason strolled through all this clamour and haste with the simple intention of buying his take-away. He knew well that dinner was waiting for him on his return home, but home was the last place he wanted to head.

Home for now was a reminder, like school was a reminder, that he was still a boy. These women on the street, the smells on his fingers, the memories of the previous night and the ache in his body were dearer to him because they said – you are a man. The more he thought of home, the stronger the aversion. The explanations he would have to make
for his lateness seemed too heavy an obligation. He banished from his mind his mother’s scrutiny, his father’s silence and their combined love for him.

Up ahead of him, and moving in the same direction as he, a female figure more alluring than any other thus far made her way through the foot traffic. Tall, slender and holding herself straight, she moved quickly and determinedly without losing any of her self-possession. From the back Jason was enthralled, he quickened his pace.

The woman was wearing backless sandals, clip-clopping along, a loose black skirt that fell below the knee but hung low on her hips, revealing her back dimples, and a tight black singlet top which needed to be pulled down after every step if she wanted to remain decent.

The woman up ahead seemed not to pay attention to such things. Jason watched her hips swish back and forth with each step, then, as he drew nearer he felt a fool, for the stranger turned into Emma. Now having her so identified, he was astonished that he could have failed to recognise her. Her hair was up. That was it. No. He’d seen her often enough with it up. She was wearing black, that was the difference.

He followed her into the mini-market.

TWENTY-FOUR

Emma’s day had been one of idleness, of recovery and of frustrated desire. With every step she took, with every movement of her arms, with every turn of her head she returned to the night before. Her body ached in a good way. She could do nothing unconsciously. Every muscle reminded her of what she’d done. Jason’s hands were still on her. He was still in her. Everything aroused her. Standing at the back door, a fresh breeze blowing her hair, she acknowledged that her night with Jason had been no minor indiscretion. Fucking the neighbours’ son was an act of defiance. This
was not the act of a bored housewife. This was a return to the Emma she had always been. The Emma she knew she should be.

She called Paul. He said he would be right over.

As Emma showered and dressed she willed Paul to come quickly. She feared she might change her mind.

There was a knock at the door. Emma dashed downstairs. There he stood, in the flesh, as handsome as ever. He said nothing and stepped into the house and closed the door.

He looked her in the eye as though searching for something. His unbroken gaze excited her.