Double Time
Chapter 63
“Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn’t it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up.”
—Neil Gaiman, The Kindly Ones
“THE TYPICAL CLIMAX of a Shakespearean play comes in the third act.” There were a few titters in class and I had to think Ms. Levy knew exactly what she’d just said. “And that is where we find the death of Caesar and Marc Antony’s rousing speech, ‘Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears.’ In a space of ten minutes, we see Marc Antony turn a crowd from fans of Brutus and Cassius to a mob bent on revenge. Who would like to compare the argument of Brutus to the argument of Marc Antony?”
The discussion was a little lame. I glanced over at Brittany and she was writing in her literary journal. I supposed I could do the same. I opened it.
“Jacob? What is your assessment of Marc Antony’s argument?” Ms. Levy asked. Damn! I need to put together a coherent thought that doesn’t include salsa dancing with Brittany yesterday.
“Oh. Well, I don’t think it was very good. In fact, it shows everything about why it is futile to argue. He has a few points that contradict what Brutus said at the beginning of the scene, but mostly he relies on tearing down Brutus and Cassius, not on refuting the arguments. He constantly uses the refrain ‘honorable men’ to cast doubt in the citizens’ eyes as to whether they are really honorable. He says he isn’t there to praise Caesar but that is what he does. He says Brutus is an honorable man and then concludes by saying judgment is fled to brutish beasts. I’d say off-hand, both Brutus and Marc Antony belong in a US Presidential election to see whose smear is most popular with the voters while neither of them actually offer any positive actions.”
“Well! That is an unexpected declaration. But not inappropriate. Even in great literature, satire and parody have been shown as means to political ends. The worst of it is seen when it simply degenerates to name-calling. However, we have seen in our own partisan politics exactly the same rabble-rousing that Jacob has pointed out from Marc Antony’s speech. This week, I want you to spend time thinking through a logical argument on a US policy that will convince your classmates you are right. In order to have a choice in the matter, you will divide into two-person teams, select an issue from those in your syllabus, and each take a different side. You are to agree on the subject and which of you will take which side, but write your argument independently. You are not to read each other’s work until read in class. We will begin readings of your argumentative writing on Monday. There’s the bell. Class dismissed.”
Brittany took my hand as soon as I stood up. I really liked having girlfriends in my different classes and walking hand-in-hand with them down the hall. And besides, both Brittany and I had nearly come while we were dancing with Sophie yesterday. It was a new dimension to salsa dancing and we were all learning how to dance in threesomes. But Sophie… le sigh.
“Well, partner? What shall we have as our topic?” she asked.
“Are you sure we want each other as opponents in this? Seems like we should have someone to argue against that we don’t care about quite as much.”
“We aren’t going to get into personal name-calling. I think that’s why Ms. Levy said we weren’t supposed to see each other’s work until we present it. That way we can only attack the subject and not each other.”
“When you put it that way, I can see the sense in it. Let’s think about it and talk at lunch,” I suggested.
“Hey, you two!” Rachel said as she caught up with us. She gave Brittany a quick kiss on the cheek and Brittany headed off to her class while Rachel and I headed for Trig holding hands.
“Maybe we could all four use the same subject and then the pros can work together and the cons can work together,” Beca said at the table. She and Desi were in a different section of Ms. Levy’s Honors English 10.
“Not sure that would be a good idea,” Brittany said. “I don’t mean the part about choosing the same subject. I mean about working together on the presentation. I’m pretty sure Ms. Levy would spot it if we came in with two similar arguments on the same topic.”
“You’re right,” I said. “I don’t think we should try to work together that way, but maybe our opposite number could proofread for us.”
“What would happen if we worked with the opposite opinion,” Desi said. “So, we can formulate arguments against the other team’s contrary position. I mean, Brittany and Beca take the pro, Jacob and I take the con. Jacob can’t work with Brittany because she can’t see what he’s written in advance. I can’t work with Jacob because it would end up having two arguments that were too similar. So, Jacob takes the con and works with Beca on the pro. We have an opposite to argue with in advance. She might come up with a completely different argument, though, than what the other team would.”
“I think you’re onto something, sweetheart.”
“How about if I get on you?” she asked. “And ride. Forty-seven.” Desi kept counting down the days until she turns sixteen.
Not to belittle high school, but that pretty much set the tone for the next week. High school, dating, running—they all are like I’m told war is: Moments of abject terror followed by days or weeks of incessant boredom. The routine of the day didn’t allow for huge amounts of flexibility. Up at five to meet Nanette and go running. It seemed she spent a lot more of our runs actually running with me instead of ahead of me. I knew she also ran in the evening and was training herself for the Hoosier Marathon in Bloomington Thanksgiving Weekend. She’d already talked Livy and me into registering for the 10k that weekend if we could get our parents to agree to let us go. Even thinking about a weekend in Southern Indiana with Nanette and Livy made me hard.
Then it was off to school. Rachel usually swung by in her Yaris to pick me up for school and we tried to make it early enough that we could spend five minutes kissing in the car before we had to go in. From seven-forty-five till two-thirty, we endured the packing of our brains. And I don’t mean school wasn’t interesting. I felt that I had some really good teachers this year. I’d mostly shaken off my petrified eighty-year-old mind and was able to absorb new information like I had… when I was a teenager. I’d read most of the books we would study in English, so that part went quickly. Writing the essays and papers was more time-consuming and I was focused on honing my writing skills. I had a new appreciation for grammar.
Pre-Calc/Trig was going well and Rachel and I invited the other sophomores to our Monday night study sessions so we could help them with Geometry. I thought I might stop taking the advanced math courses after this one. I could do Calculus next year, but it was taking more time the more I progressed. Since we had to have a computational component every year, I thought I might take accounting next year and perhaps statistics the following year.
Biology was the subject I had to force myself to study. Not that it was difficult, but I just wasn’t interested. I’d take Chemistry next year and finish out my senior year with Physics. Latin, on the other hand, was new and enjoyable. I was beginning to see where many of our words came from and since it was a language that was essentially classic and not conversational, I was able to focus on it more in the abstract.
AP US History with Beca was probably the class I considered most critical this year. It was my gateway into today’s culture. There were subtle differences in our history. There was still an aspect of religious freedom in the founding of the country, but far more emphasis was placed on political suppression and persecution than on religious oppression. It was the intellectual front that debated the wisdom of the Constitution and the deep south was very nearly not invited to join the new nation. The South clung to ideas of becoming nobility, setting up religious states, and maintaining slavery. Those three things continued to be the battlefield right up through the Civil War, fought as much to end religious domination and a very non-representative rule of the Gentlemen, as about ending slavery. I had a lot to learn about the alternate reality in which I lived.
My time of peace during the day was Music Theory and Composition. I downloaded new music onto my iPhone every day and spent time on the bus and even time running with my earbuds plugged in. We’d moved to classical music history and a lot of our class time was spent listening and identifying themes. I soon discovered that I could relate certain Latin words I was learning to musical phrases. Not just the musical notation, but simply that I was memorizing certain words at the same time I was memorizing musical phrases. I often spent the end of my day with my guitar, picking out the music I’d heard while reciting the day’s vocabulary.
And finally, I was learning basic business from an independent perspective in Introduction to Entrepreneurship. One of the key concepts Mr. Bryce was getting across was that being in business was not the business. We needed to develop procedures and methods that made managing the business secondary to conducting the business or we would have nothing but numbers on the paper and no product or service to sell. Desi was helpful in our Tuesday night study sessions. And motivated. She wanted to make sure we had the business concepts down so we could go to her room and get naked. It was one of my most intense study nights of the week, being entirely one-on-one with Desi.
So, after seven hours of classroom time, I was ready to get onto the track or out to one of the runs Jock had prepared for us to train for the next race. Monday and Tuesday, Livy was at volleyball practice and a match in Huntington Tuesday after school. I noticed when we did our Tuesday four-and-a-half mile run from the school out around the pond, Sue fell in step with me and paced me the whole distance. This was to be a gentle tempo run to get our legs in shape for the 5k races this weekend. I didn’t mind Sue’s presence. I kept thinking of the way rubbing her had affected Livy and me on Saturday.
After practice each night, I had a study session with one or more of my girlfriends. We always made sure we had a few minutes for some intense kisses after studying, but we had no time to get carried away. I felt bad that Pey got home alone in the afternoon. Fourth grade was considered old enough to have her own key and not get into too much trouble. At the same time, there were half a dozen girlfriends from her class that she often went with instead. Regardless, we were all home for dinner at five-thirty. After Pey and I cleaned up the kitchen, there was always more homework. And then guitar. And finally, too little sleep.
Saturday was the New Haven Classic meet at the IPFW Sports Plex. We’d had one practice at the facility but it was abbreviated because we had to have the team bus take us over after school and get us back in time for the football team to load up for their away game. That’s when I really appreciated Nanette getting me into the facility for a couple of our early morning runs.
The Purdue campus is on the east side of the St. Joseph River. The Plex is on the west side. So, it’s a little counterintuitive to have the race start at the Plex and then cross the river for most of the course across and around the campus before it crosses back on the north end of campus and down to the start. It does make for a few interesting turns and variants. And mostly no streets.
Our race was once again four starts with boys’ varsity teams for the six schools represented going off at nine, girls’ varsity at nine-fifteen. And the boys’ and girls’ middle school teams at fifteen-minute intervals after that. I ran a personal best at 23:07. I’d stayed with the pack most of the race and was in the middle of it when I entered the chute. Turned out I placed twentieth out of fifty-seven runners. I’d come in third on our team. I was pretty stoked as I watched Livy cross the line in fourth place for a new personal best 18:51. Yow! I love fast girls.
You might think that was an awfully slow time for a 5k in competition. I have no doubt there were a couple dozen boys at Mad Anthony High School who could run 5k faster than me. But they don’t compete in cross country. Football and Soccer are also fall sports and have more teams and much larger teams. They have freshman, junior varsity, and varsity teams—like basketball does in the winter. That leaves guys who only run competing on cross country and explains why I got third on my team while running more than five minutes behind our first place guy.
Livy ran straight to me and collapsed on the ground for me to help stretch. Her legs were slick with sweat and my hands glided up and down them, working on her muscles. I didn’t worry about letting them stray across the junction between her legs.
“Can we go somewhere after we get showered?” I asked. I was poking a tent in my shorts straight toward her pussy.
“I wish. As soon as I set foot inside the school, my ass belongs to Coach Miller.”
“Lucky coach,” I said, squeezing her butt cheeks. She moaned.
“She wants me warming up with the volleyball team at twelve-thirty for our one o’clock match against Lafayette Jeff. I just hope I can still jump when I get on the court. My legs feel like rubber.”
“I can’t believe you play two sports. Isn’t it getting hard to do two competitions in a day?”
“Yeah. Coach Miller has been arguing with Jock about who has priority when we have overlapping events. The thing is, I’m an elite runner. I’m just an auxiliary player on the volleyball team. If I can shave thirty more seconds off my 5k, I have a chance of at placing at State. Both coaches know the best the volleyball team can expect is to win one at Sectionals. The team isn’t going any further,” Livy sighed. She dropped her legs to the ground and squeezed me between them.
“Me too?” a voice beside us said. I turned to find Sue.
“I can’t work on you. I’m too beat,” Livy said. “Jacob is doing a good job, though. You’ll have to make do with just one of us.”
“I’ll suffer,” Sue said. “Get between my legs, Jacob.”
Livy got up and walked around a little to make sure she wasn’t going to cramp and then plopped down beside us as I worked on Sue’s sweaty legs. I was also noticing some of the places where Sue was moaning when I touched them. I figured nothing ventured, nothing gained, so I moved my hands down the back of her legs and really went to work on her butt. Not only did she moan, she humped forward and brushed the tip of my hard-on.
“Oh, God. Did you just touch my pussy with your cock?” she moaned. Livy got a little more active, stroking Sue’s arms. She sat at Sue’s head and pushed right up against her. She might have been too tired to do a full massage but she couldn’t resist the girl between us.
“He did,” Livy whispered. “Just like the top of your head is touching mine.” Sue moved her head around a little and looked up at Livy. “Yeah. You want him to touch again?”
“Yes,” she whispered. This time when she hunched her hips a little, I pressed forward a little and made solid contact right at the important place. “Oh! When can we fuck?”
“Depends,” Livy said. Hell, I was ready to pull aside her shorts and drive in right now. “You ran 21:30 this morning. Break twenty by the end of the season and we’ll put in your application.”
“Application? Who else needs to decide?”
“His other six girlfriends,” Livy laughed. “Besides, I get to go first. We just need to find the right time.”
I started to say, “Little did we know…” But if we don’t know, I can’t really tell you. I need to ask Ms. Levy about that construction.
We had another meet on Tuesday the seventeenth. That meant I wouldn’t have time to go to Desi’s to study. We didn’t have many weekday meets, but we were running this one at 5:45. We’d be running the Kekionga Shores trail which cut through Indian Trails Park and around Lake Kekionga. It was a nice time of day to run, too, since it was about two hours before sunset.
I didn’t mention to anyone at lunch that we didn’t need to be back to school until four-thirty. Joan grabbed my hand as soon as I left my last class and hauled me out to her Miata. Desi looked confused. We scooted to her house and ran to her bedroom. I don’t think her mom knew I was there.
“It’s been so long, Jacob! Please make love to me.”
“Joan, honey, you know that’s what I want to do. I don’t want you to ever feel like I’m unavailable. I came here this afternoon specifically to make love. Let me undress you, baby.” She was wearing a blue halter top, short orange skirt, and black platform heels. I started at the feet and removed the heels. I was always surprised how much shorter my girlfriends were when I got rid of their heels. They didn’t always wear them, of course, but Joan and I had made arrangements yesterday and she dressed to impress today. She sat on the edge of the bed while I massaged her feet and stole glances up under her skirt. She wore pale blue cotton panties.
I slid my hands up under her skirt and grasped the waistband of her panties and started pulling them down. She shifted her hips so I could get them over her butt. I pulled them slowly down her legs and off her feet. As soon as she was free, she opened her legs to give me a clear view of that beautiful bare pussy.
She already had her halter top pulled up above her breasts and was manipulating her nipples with both hands.
“I’m going to eat you, Joan.”
“Yes. Eat me, Jacob.” I knew how sensitive her nipples were and the way she was pinching at them left her short of breath. I pushed my head under her skirt and caught the fragrant release of her juices. Parting the folds of her labia with my thumbs, I took a long lick of her opening and went straight to the nub of her clit. Joan was on a short fuse with the way she’d been playing with her nipples and as soon as I sent two fingers questing for her g-spot, she took off. When she’d peaked, I started to back off, still loving her nub but not trying to ramp her up again.
“Mmm. Will you make love to me now, Jacob?”
“You bet I will.” I pulled off my polo shirt and jeans while Joan finished taking off her top and unzipped her skirt. I was done in time to pull off the last garment and kiss from her mound up her torso, stopping to pay special attention to her nipples. She squealed and rolled me onto my back, an unusually aggressive move for Joan.
In a few seconds, Joan was slamming herself down on my cock repeatedly. I held her boobs in my hands and continued rhythmic pinching and licking of her nipples. Joan just kept ramping up higher and higher. She didn’t slow down a bit when I let go of my first burst of come. I made it through the oversensitive phase and started mounting again myself. It looked like she was beginning to tire, so I rolled us over again and pressed her into the mattress with my weight as my hips jerked back and forth, my pubic bone rubbing against her clit. She caught my lips in a kiss and we both came again.
I barely made it to school on time for the meet. After non-stop sex with Joan for nearly two hours, my legs were shaking and I felt totally drained.
I didn’t place in the race.
Comments
Please feel free to send comments to the author at devon@devonlayne.com.
