Full Frame
17
Fair Game
I STOPPED AT HOME and told Mom I was going to ride into Huntertown with Chris and have dinner before our Christmas vacation came to an end. She reminded me to be home by ten; it was a school night. Chris drove on this date and I wondered what the proper protocol was about getting out to open her door and how close to my own door or the center of the seat I should ride.
Chris was driving her family’s late model Plymouth Belvedere wagon. I was happy that I wasn’t the only one who drove around in the family’s station wagon. I liked the red color of her car better than the powder blue of ours. She patted the middle of the seat and I slid over next to her.
“Be close, but don’t distract me from driving or you’ll have to sit over there,” she instructed.
“I’ll be good,” I laughed.
We talked some more about the pictures and I said I had one more senior photo lined up on Saturday. She said she’d be happy to help. I think the biggest problem with this girl’s photo was that she really had a bad hair day and it looked lopsided. The photo quality wasn’t bad.
“I need more ideas of poses for the Attic Allure shots. I get that a lot of girls seem to like the bare shoulder look, but don’t necessarily want to go topless to get it. That was a brilliant idea with Linda to use the sheet. And the flower was all the prop she needed, but I need more things and ways to show off the women and my lighting style.”
“I wouldn’t be too surprised if you get a few who want to do lingerie photos. You can put one of mine in the gallery if you want. I thought they were really pretty cute. Just don’t show my nipples, please.”
“I’ve got some good ones that don’t over expose you,” I laughed.
“Also, a lot of your props are really old fashioned. Antiques. You could use more modern props that aren’t so dated,” she suggested. “You might even suggest a girl bring something of her own to be in a picture with. She might have a favorite doll, stuffed animal, keepsake, or even a photo of a sweetheart that she wants in her picture. Even your telephone is old fashioned. It would be cool if you had a Princess phone.”
“I don’t know where I’d get one of those, but it’s a good idea. I’ll ask Marlene to bring something with her on Saturday. Can you help with makeup and hair?”
“I’m so glad you asked. If I’m not modeling, I can still be involved and see you for these sessions. Um… It’s probably best if I don’t help on the ones that decide to do a whole modeling session with you instead of just the yearbook and allure photos. Having a third person in the room might inhibit your model,” she said. “I know I’d have been inhibited if someone else was going to see me expose myself. I’m still a little embarrassed.”
“I don’t know what to say about that. I mean, I understand because I’d be embarrassed for anyone to see me naked. But on the other hand, it was such a precious gift you gave when you did it and the photo of you is so beautiful, I want you to feel great about having done it. Proud. You are really, really beautiful.”
“Thank you, Nate. That does make me feel good about it. I’ll get over the embarrassment eventually. I promise.” That last word was almost a whisper, like she was convincing herself and not me.
We went to Kentucky Fried Chicken for dinner. It wasn’t much of a restaurant, but it was a break from hamburgers. And mostly, Christine and I just wanted to be with each other and talk.
She drove me home and parked at the side of my house rather than on the street. We just sat there holding hands for a minute.
“I’m more nervous tonight than I was Saturday night,” she said. “I was so brazen.”
“I… um… Well, I have to tell you. I know you said that was your first date and a kiss on your first date. You know it wasn’t my first date. But it was my very first kiss. I felt like I was walking on air and fell asleep when I got home just thinking of your lips on mine. But I don’t, like, know anything about this. I’m afraid I’ll really disappoint you,” I said.
Christine didn’t answer. She just put her hand on my face and turned it toward her so she could plant her lips on mine. We shifted a little and our lips moved over each other’s. I put my arm around her and she slid hers under my parka. Eventually, we pulled back and just looked at each other as we tried to catch our breath.
“I think we just need practice,” she said.
I closed the distance and captured her lips again with my own. They were so tender and moist against my lips. I pulled back a little again.
“But maybe not too much practice all at once,” she continued. “Go home and review this lesson as you fall asleep tonight. That’s what I’ll be doing.” She darted in for one more quick peck on the lips and pushed me toward the door.
“See you in class tomorrow,” I said as I got out of the car. “Sleep well.”
“Oh, I will!”
There wasn’t much time between when Anna and I broke up and when school let out for Christmas break. And we’d been working together on photos for the yearbook, so we’d still been seen together quite a bit. But after the break, it suddenly seemed like people became aware that Anna and I were no longer a couple. That might have been because Anna accepted a date from Ben Fisher, who happened also to be a member of her church. As soon as school was back in session, Anna appeared sitting at lunch with Ben.
“You can invite Chris to sit with us,” Karen said at lunch.
“Does it take a special invitation?” I asked. “I mean, I think Chris has a bunch of friends she usually has lunch with. You could ask her.”
“What’s this?” Pris asked, eager for gossip. “Are you going with Chris now?”
“Um… No. Not exactly. We went out together over the break. Might probably do so again. She’s been helping me with some of the photography I’ve been doing. You know a lot of seniors are apparently upset with their senior photos and are asking me to retake them,” I explained. “I like Chris. We’ll probably go out again, but we aren’t going steady or anything.”
“Ohhh,” Pris said, drawing the syllable out as if it were the dawning of great understanding.
I hoped I’d handled that correctly. Chris and I had agreed to not try to go together right now. No one knew we’d been out a second time. Actually, I’d have been fine with going together. I didn’t really have a list of people I wanted to date.
I soon discovered that several senior girls had come back to school with engagement rings given to them by senior boys or grads. I guess as juniors, we were still supposed to be shopping.
I posted the picture of Principal Reichman with a freshman girl on his knee when he was playing Santa Claus on the bulletin board. Anna had set the photo up and I thought it was pretty cute. Miss Sullivan removed the picture and said it would be more appropriate if the child was an elementary school kid instead of a high school girl.
I guess my brief experience playing Santa Claus for Christine made that understandable, though I didn’t think anything inappropriate was going on in the photo.
I had four more girls waiting for me in Miss Sullivan’s classroom after school. Only two of them were seniors. Pris, who had been at the same lunch table with me since the beginning of school, and Debbie, who was another classmate, sat in on my presentation. I showed samples of what I meant by a yearbook photo and what I meant by an Attic Allure photo. I gave them a pricing sheet and the two seniors signed up immediately. I could do senior retakes in about an hour, even with the Attic Allure photo. I put Mona Anderson down for Friday after school and Leslie Weirich for next Tuesday after school.
I turned to my two classmates.
“Pris? Debbie? What kind of photo are you interested in?”
Debbie nudged Pris.
“Well, obviously, we don’t need senior photos. We’ve seen some of the Attic Allure photos, though. That’s, like…”
“Can you make us look like that?” Debbie broke in. I laughed.
“Well, every person is different. The same photo won’t look the same for every person. Was there one in particular that you are thinking of?”
“Um… Not exactly,” Pris said, scowling at Debbie. “We talked with Judy and Janice. They told us to talk to Patricia. Patricia said to talk to Chris. And Chris suggested we talk to Lori because she knew how far things could go. We want to know if you can use new models.”
“We’d be willing to do a shoot with you and have you call on us anytime you have something you want to try, like you did with Janice,” Debbie said. Then she dropped her voice to a whisper. “Um… My boobs are kind of floppy. Not like Lori’s. She’s carrying around a photo you took of her that looks like she just stepped off a professional modeling gig. It’s gorgeous. But I’ve got a nice ass. You could take pictures of that.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I said. “Some models get a little carried away with the way they pose and how much they expose. But I don’t do porn. If I shot any photos of you that were partially or fully nude, I’d try to make them as artful as possible. That means not every image is even close to perfect. The picture of Lori is one of the best I’ve ever taken. But more than that, I can’t actually use any photo that exposes you until you’re eighteen. I don’t think either one of you are yet, right?”
They nodded.
“We weren’t exactly volunteering to pose nude,” Pris said. “But as long as nothing is displayed that shows our bits, we could work with you. I really want to know if there’s something worthwhile in me that you can capture in a photo.”
I had to consider this a little. On one hand, I could really use a couple more malleable models that I could call, just to experiment with. Like I had with Chris on Saturday. On the other hand, I didn’t really want a reputation of taking every girl in my class to the studio and undressing her. Still, if she was willing, I guess I’d suffer through it.
“Okay. Here’s the deal. I have a model release that you’ll sign. It gives me the right to print, distribute, sell, or publish any picture I take of you. My uncle gave me a lecture about some of this and he says that sixteen is the age of consent, so you can pose nude—if we ever get to that—and I can take photos of you legally. But if I attempt to sell or distribute them, I could get in trouble. So, you’ve got a free pass to experiment until you’re eighteen. After that, anything I take could be exhibited somewhere. Out of any set, you can have a free 8x10 photo. If you want to buy more than that, I sell them to my models at half the price of things like my senior retakes. And you can use any of those photos for your own purposes, like a resume or advertisement or brochure or something. I don’t pay for just having you come in and shoot some artistic shots on speculation that I might be able to use them someday. But if I have a specific job that I need a specific model for—like the new calendar picture of Janice that’s hanging in Henry’s garage—then I’ll give you a fee for the work and you can decide if you want to take it. Does that all make sense?”
“Yeah. Seems fair enough,” Debbie said.
“Then why don’t we do this.” I looked at my calendar. “I have Sunday afternoon open this weekend. Why don’t you come to the studio if you want to try this out and we’ll do a roll or two of test shots. I’ve got a new camera and I’m still experimenting on how to get the best possible photos from it. There’s no requirement to get naked for this. We’ll use some props and experiment with lighting and settings to see what we like and whether we can work together. Like I said, you can have an 8x10 of any one shot from this batch that you want, but then we’ll decide if you want to do more shoots or if you just want to be on call for specific modeling gigs, or if you never want to see me again.”
“What time?”
“Let’s plan to start at 2:00. You can either come together or separately if you want. Sometimes company makes a person more comfortable and sometimes they get embarrassed to think that someone else might see them. I’ll work with you either way.” I stood up and closed my portfolio and handed them each a copy of the model release form. Then I headed out. I had a lot of getting ready to do.
I went through the storage area and pulled out anything that looked wintry that wasn’t Christmas. Giant snowflakes I could hang from the ceiling, an old sled, a nice plaid scarf, and a set of cutout birch trees with no leaves. I kept hunting and found a stocking hat and mittens, big mugs for hot cocoa, and a heating coil I could place in a cup of water and bring it to a boil. I could see the possibility of steam coming out of a cup as it’s raised to thirsty lips.
At the antique store, I found a portable phonograph with a stack of 45s, a cool chess set, and a small table with two chairs. I really had no idea what I’d be using next, but I had four photo shoots in five days coming up, including one that was just to experiment with how the girls modeled and posed. I’d still be using the 35 for the yearbook retakes, but I’d be using the new Hasselblad for the experiments with Debbie and Pris on Sunday.
I also went through the process of cleaning everything in the studio. I scrubbed the floor, made sure the furniture was dust free, and even cleaned the toilet and sink in the bathroom. I currently had nothing drying in the racks, so I took them off the door and put them in the darkroom. I made sure all my lights were working and on Thursday went to the post office to pick up my shipment from Camera Warehouse. I’d ordered two umbrella reflectors with stands and 6000k light bulbs and two three-inch Fresnel theatre lights with stands and cords. I had to get Mr. Barkley to show me the fuse box and track down the circuits for the fourth floor so I was sure I wasn’t overloading anything. I found there were actually two circuits for the outlets up there and by running an extension cord from the back of the room for part of my lights, I’d have plenty of power to run the lights I was using.
I knew Levi was giving me a great deal. I was sure the list prices on that equipment totaled more than the check I sent him. And with the lights, I got a box of film. When I opened it, I discovered a gross of 120 film spools. They were individually boxed and I saw that he’d sent me a mix of different ASA ratings on the film. That much film—nearly 1800 exposures—would last me a long time. I thought.
My weekend started with Mona Anderson in the studio at three o’clock on Friday. I was happy to have Chris there to work with Mona on her makeup and hair. The portrait went smoothly and I was sure we got something that would be a big improvement on the shots the other photographer had provided.
Mona had brought a picture of her boyfriend, who graduated a year ago and was in a college ROTC program. He looked pretty sharp in his uniform. We arranged the photo on a small table with a radio, as if she was listening to music while looking at his picture. Then she showed us the engagement ring he’d given her for Christmas. She wore a nice, fairly low-cut blouse and I switched to the black backdrop. With the lights I had now, I was able to really isolate the little tableau against a void backdrop. I was also learning the value of a little backlight to set her off even more.
It was a pretty simple scene. She sat at the table with his picture and the radio. She had her arms folded on the table with the diamond ring clearly visible. She had a kind of dreamy look on her face and I loved the way we captured it.
It took closer to two hours than the hour I initially scheduled, but I was sure I had great shots.
“That was fun,” Christine said as she was packing up her kit to leave. “I suppose you will work this evening processing it, won’t you?”
“That was my plan. Do you have a better alternative?” I asked.
“I think it’s too late to catch the bus to the game. So, I’ll probably just watch TV and go to bed.”
“You could join me for dinner first,” I said casually. “Nothing fancy. I think Mom has meatloaf planned for tonight.”
“You’d really invite me to dinner with your family?” she asked.
“Really, Christine.”
“You don’t have a phone here. Can I call home from your house?”
“Sure.”
“Then I guess I’m going to meet your family. Ready or not.”
It was low-key. I ran inside before I invited Chris in to make sure it was okay with Mom and she was happy to have Chris join us. Kat was a little in awe of the pretty high school girl her dorky brother brought home. Thanks, kid. But I think Kat also provided most of the conversation at the dinner table, so things never got awkward with parents grilling my date or anything.
After dinner, I walked Christine home and we practiced our kissing on her front porch before she went in. Well, we didn’t practice very much. We just had a nice little kiss and then said goodnight. I headed for the studio. I’d need to keep ahead of all the processing and proof printing this week.
Saturday at two, Marlene Dickson came for her photo. She’d been to a hairdresser that morning and had her hair and makeup done. It was a world different from the photo taken earlier. Chris had come over in case she was needed, but when she saw that Marlene had a professional job done, she said goodbye and left me to my work. We agreed we’d see each other at school Monday.
I missed her presence, but Marlene took direction well. She was a studious girl, I guess, and wore glasses that we removed for the Attic Allure photo. She set them on an open book with a tea cup beside her. She was wearing an off the shoulder cowl-neck sweater and it was kind of refreshing to see just the top of her shoulders and not all the way down her boobs. I got the lighting right and took the pictures. It took a lot less time to wrap it up and start processing the film than it had the day before.
Pris Anson and Debbie Faulkner arrived Sunday afternoon and just stood inside the door in their coats and boots as they looked around. I think they were assessing whether it was safe.
“I’d appreciate it if you leave your boots by the door and you can hang your coats on the rack over there,” I said. “Relax and look around. I’m just in the process of loading my camera. Take a look at the display wall over here and you’ll get a good idea of what I’m doing up here.”
The girls slowly complied and left their little cases by the clothing rack as they went to look at the photos. I finished up with the camera and mounted it on the tripod. Then I turned to them.
“Any questions?”
“Um… Do you have any other nude photos or lingerie we could see? Just so we know. We saw Lori’s and that’s cool,” Debbie said. She seemed to have more interest in the idea of posing nude than Pris did, but maybe she was just bolder in expressing her interest. I went to get my portfolio and carefully selected a couple of pictures.
“Obviously, just like it would be with you, I can’t show you any pictures that might have someone under eighteen who is exposed a little. But here’s one of my favorites from my set with Pam Gottschalk.” I showed them the picture of Pam in the middle of the storage area with her arm on her head. “You see, I’m trying to capture images that suggest a story. Like this could be a frustrated girl looking for something in the attic and just at the end of her rope.”
“Or it could be someone you found in the attic who was stored up there a hundred years ago and just woke up,” Pris said. I liked that.
“She wouldn’t have had pantyhose on,” Debbie said, shaking her head.
“Well, this one kind of tells its own story,” I said, showing a picture of Patricia in her little maid’s outfit. It was very suggestive, but it didn’t show any naughty bits. The girls giggled over that one.
“Here’s a lingerie photo that is just on the edge of what I can show of someone under eighteen.” I pulled out the photo of Chris in her black lingerie as she leaned over to answer the phone.
“Chris and Patricia are so sexy,” Debbie moaned. “We’ll never look like that.”
“Maybe not,” I explained, “but what I’ll try to do is find the right setting and pose and lighting and exposure and angle that will make you look incredible.”
“Okay,” Debbie said. “What should we take off first?”
“Do you want, like, a strip tease?” Pris asked.
“No, no, no, no. Let’s just relax and take some photos. You’re dressed nicely. Your hair and makeup look great. Why don’t you each select a prop from over there and we’ll make up a story and see how it looks.”
I took my time with them. And I took a lot of photos, but I didn’t waste film just snapping away. We made up little stories and they began to lose their clothes. Pris was in her bra and panties when she grabbed the hat, scarf and mittens and put them on.
“That’s a cute idea,” I said.
“Wait. You know, Pris. That’s got to go.” Debbie said pointing at her bra.
“Really?”
“It’ll be perfect,” Debbie said, as she went behind Pris to loosen the catch on Pris’s bra.
“You, too. I don’t want to do it alone.”
“Okay, but nobody’s going to look at my boobs when yours are on display.”
Debbie quickly reached behind her and unfastened her bra then let it drop. Pris shrugged out of hers. Both girls blushed all the way to their navels. It looked almost like they were about to hyperventilate. Yeah, Debbie’s boobs sagged a bit, but I really didn’t see anything wrong with them. Of course, Pris would easily pass the pencil test. Her boobs were nice and round and had bright pink nipples.
“That’s great,” I said. “Turn a little to your left, Pris. Debbie, a little to your right. That’s nice. You said you had a nice ass, Debbie. Why did you wear the maximum size panties you could to cover it?”
I clicked a picture and moved a light. Debbie hesitated a moment and then quickly stripped out of her panties. She turned away from me. Yes. As a matter of fact, that was a truly stellar ass.
“Pris, I want you to face me but turn just a little more to the left. Debbie, face Pris and put your left hand on her hip. Step a little closer. Your left breasts should be touching.”
“You can see that?” Pris exclaimed.
“No. That’s just how close I want you to each other. Pris, left hand on Debbie’s shoulder. Now point out here at me as if you just saw me watching. Debbie, turn your head but not your body and look at me. Surprised look. Maybe alarmed. Good. Now a look of relief, like you just realized it was only me and that made it all okay.”
I shot eight pictures of that pose as they went through their exclamations and I moved around a little. I clicked the last picture on the roll and looked at them. They were still frozen in position.
“I think that’s it for today. I’ll go into the darkroom for a couple of minutes while you girls get your clothes back on and fixed properly. You did nice work today.”
I went to get the film ready to process. I’d taken up six rolls or 72 pictures. And I felt I got some nice stuff.
Debbie and Pris were back out before long and I was looking forward to relaxing with a dish of ice cream and a TV show. The two girls came to stand right in front of me before they left.
“Nate, Chris and Judy and Janice all said you don’t mix sex or kissing or anything with the studio. We respect that and we felt really safe here today,” Pris said.
“Now, you’ve kind of, you know, seen us, though,” Debbie picked up. “We thought maybe you might like to… um… go out sometime. You know, maybe to a dance or something?”
“Ladies, you might have missed something when the other girls talked to you. It’s not just no fooling around here in the studio. I don’t date my models. Look, it’s too easy to get distracted when we’re trying to create some sexy poses and all. It would be terrible if one of us started thinking the rules didn’t count any longer so we could fool around up here. Or worse yet, thinking that I’ve seen you in the studio, so you might as well let me feel you up on a date. Understand?”
“But Chris…”
“No longer models for me. We made that agreement right away. We can date sometimes, but she doesn’t come here to model,” I said firmly. Yes, Chris and I made that rule after or at the end of our first date, but when I thought about it, I felt it was a good rule and I wasn’t going to break it with anyone. Pris and Debbie looked a little disappointed.
“She doesn’t even come up here anymore?” Pris asked.
“She comes to help when I’m shooting senior retakes. Some of those girls really need help with makeup or their hair. But she doesn’t come here to model.”
“Okay. We can still, like sit with you at lunch and stuff, can’t we?” Debbie said. She’d sat at our table with us several times.
“Of course.”
“Are you going to tell anybody that you… you know… saw us naked?”
“Absolutely not. Those pictures are strictly between you and me. And if you want one of them when you see the proofs, you get that just for modeling.”
“Thank you, Nate,” they chorused. “Guess we’ll see you tomorrow.”
They got into their boots and coats and scampered out of there like I’d lit a fire beneath them.
The week at school was spent mostly delivering proofs and taking orders. Tuesday, Leslie came for her sitting and Chris was there to help with makeup and hair. Leslie really appreciated it and spent most of the sitting gossiping with Chris, which made her poses look more natural as she was prone to laughter.
Friday night was a home game and a dance afterward. I went alone.
That was an interesting experience. I’d gone to school dances alone in Chicago, but I always met up with the same group of people and we paired up to dance. At this dance, I was truly alone and figured I’d just walk around and take pictures. Instead, I took the first opportunity to have a dance with Christine.
“Save another dance for me at the end, Nate. Maybe you could walk me home tonight,” she said when we parted. I thought that was a little abrupt and didn’t know why she didn’t just stick with me and dance some more, but she was off to join a bunch of girls that I noticed included Ronda.
“Dance with us, Nate,” Judy said as they came up beside me. By ‘they,’ I mean Judy, Janice, and Pete. “We need an extra partner for this dance.” It was a moderately slow song, and when Pete took Janice in his arms for the shuffle, Judy kind of melted into mine.
“Have you guys been having fun?” I asked.
“Yeah. Pete’s really nice. We want to come for a group photo. Could you do three of us?” she asked.
“Sure. I haven’t had any guys up in the studio yet. It would be cool to work with the three of you.”
Judy clutched herself more tightly to me. She was using the rhythm of the music to rub against me and I found my cock responding to her pressure. All of a sudden, Pete and Janice were next to us and Judy slipped away while Janice took her place in my arms.
“Ooh. She did it,” Janice cooed. “She’ll find a nice surprise waiting in Pete’s pants, too.” Janice picked up with rubbing against me the same way Judy had been.
“What’s up. Isn’t Pete enough for both of you?” I asked.
“Well, yeah. Not that we’ve gone all that far with him. I just told Judy that even though you weren’t in love with us, you still responded in lust to us. That was what you said, wasn’t it? We just decided to see if you got as lusty as Pete does.”
“And?” I asked, pushing my groin more firmly against her.
“Oh, yeah. Maybe one day we’ll invite you to our studio and then you can follow our rules for a while.”
“Where’s your studio?” I asked.
“In my bedroom.”
The music ended then and I managed to keep myself from sticking out too far. Janice joined Pete and Judy and they were off for the next number, a faster piece that involved a lot of jumping and moving.
“So, we’re not banned from dancing with you, are we?” Pris asked as she and Debbie stepped in front of me. I laughed.
“Oh, heck no. We’re still friends, aren’t we?” I asked.
“Yeah!” they both agreed.
I was feeling particularly playful and took a hand of each of the girls and did a couple of swing spins.
“Wow! That’s fun! Is that how they dance in Chicago?”
“Believe me, I’m on the lower tier of dancers at my school in the city. If I hadn’t learned to dance, I wouldn’t have gotten to participate in the single most common activity of kids in my school. There were times when someone would turn up a radio between classes and we’d start dancing in the halls,” I laughed.
“Teach us!”
If a girl has any sense of rhythm at all she can be led in a dance if the guy is confident in what he’s doing. Nancy Hargrove found out I had the rudiments of dancing down and she latched onto me as a novelty our freshman year in high school. Having a regular partner to dance with at school dances had helped me practice the steps I was learning from American Bandstand. And it kept me from sitting alone with my camera in the bleachers.
I spun the girls so I had one under each arm and started to move in a simple swing step and they followed right along. Then I spun first one and then the other out in a twirl and collected her under my arm. It was nothing particularly complex. I learned early on that dancing as a threesome was a little tricky unless you actually practiced it. Enter Theresa Newman, my fantasy girl. She was friends with Nancy and insisted that I dance with her, too. We spent all of a dance together at the school just practicing different steps we could do with three people.
But Pris and Debbie and I had fun and only collided with each other a few times. After a couple of numbers, we separated and I turned to head toward the drinking fountain when Elise appeared in front of me. She was a sophomore who attended our church youth group.
“Hey, Nate. Teach me to dance like that, please,” she said sweetly. Elise was a little overweight but with just two of us, I could teach her a couple of ballroom box steps and then get into bigger moves from there. The biggest problem we had was that she was a little out of control. She’d spin back to me with so much force she nearly knocked me over.
“Thanks for the dances, Elise,” I said. “I really need to grab a drink of water.”
“Sure, Nate. You can take me dancing anytime, you know.”
I nodded and went to get a drink.
“Are you too exhausted from all your girls to dance with me?” Anna asked when I turned around from the fountain.
“You want to dance with me?” I asked.
“I always liked dancing with you,” she said. “Is it okay?”
“Sure it is, Anna. I didn’t suddenly start hating you or anything. Um… What about Ben?”
“We’re not going steady or anything. He’s in my church and we decided to go out a couple of times. That’s all,” she said.
I took Anna in my arms and spun out onto the dance floor. We’d only been to about four school dances while we were dating, but we danced almost every dance at them together. It really felt nice to have her back in my arms as we moved into a few swing steps. When the song ended, I almost kissed her.
“Thanks, Nate,” she said, moving away. “It’s always fun to dance with you.”
“If I’d known you could dance, we’d probably still be up in your studio,” Pam said when she caught up with me. “Take me around the dance floor like you just did your former girlfriend.”
“We might not be as smooth,” I said. “Anna and I had a few dances to practice at.”
“Is it true she broke up with you because you took my picture?”
“Not specifically. It was more the idea that I took sexy pictures of girls alone in my studio. She didn’t… doesn’t even know there were pictures of you other than the well-cropped Attic Allure shot of you.”
“Is that what you call it now?”
“Yes. It seems to sell well.”
“You’re selling pictures?”
“A lot of senior retakes. I include an Attic Allure photo in the package. Just like yours. I don’t just offer modeling releases to most of them, though. Just you and Lori, actually.”
“I’d come back to do another set with you. I really do like the pictures you took of me, but that one of Lori is just wow!”
“Everything came together on that one. I’m working with a new camera now and I’m still trying to perfect the technique. I’d love to do another set of photos with you, though.”
“Okay. I hate to put it off, but let’s wait until after basketball season. There’s just too much for a cheerleader to do until March,” she said.
“Sure. I feel a little pressed with some of the requests I’ve been getting. This week, three more girls and two boys asked me to do retakes. It should be interesting trying to get the Attic Allure effect on a boy,” I laughed.
“At least you already know what a boy looks like when he strips,” she laughed. I hadn’t even thought about a guy wanting to strip for a photo. I was sure none of them would want that.
We finished our dance and Pam was off. Ronda was staring at me. I looked at her, kind of puzzled.
“You want to dance?” I asked. “With me?”
“No,” she huffed. “Oh, I might as well, since you asked nicely. It does look like fun.”
I took her out on the dance floor and it turned out that Ronda actually knew a bunch of moves that I knew and we danced like a couple of pros. She even did a slide between my legs and I stepped over her out of it and brought her back to her feet. She was grinning at me with a happier look than I think I’d ever seen on her face.
“Do you watch American Bandstand?” I asked.
“God! Tell me that’s another thing we’ve got in common. Love That Bob and American Bandstand. It’s too bad I’m not that crazy about guys,” she said.
“Well, without offering anything else, anytime you want to dance, I’m willing.”
“I think I’ll hold you to that.”
The song ended and she kept hold of my hand to lead me off the floor and over to a clutch of our female classmates. I’d noticed guys kind of circle around the group or one like it in the gym and then dart in, talk to a girl, and take her to the dance area. It looked pretty intimidating.
“Girls, if any of you don’t know, this is Nate. He’s new in our school and socially a little backward,” Ronda said when she’d dragged me into the group.
What? I didn’t think I’d been socially backward at all. I’d been dancing all evening.
“Hi, Nate,” the girls chorused.
“Hey.”
“For some reason, Nate thinks that all he has to do is be a great dancer and girls will just come to him and ask him to dance,” Ronda continued. I saw Chris on the other side of the group hiding her mouth as she laughed. “So, it’s my duty to give him instructions. Now, Nate, look around this group and ask one of these girls to go dance with you. And it can’t be one you’ve already danced with tonight.” I think she saw me looking at Christine.
“Um… Roxie? Would you like to dance?”
“Nate, I thought you’d never ask me.” She stepped up and took my hand.
“Now, no more than two songs and then you have to bring Nate over here so he can ask someone else. Got that?” I nodded and led Roxie to the dance area.
Before our dances ended, Roxie got up close so she could speak in my ear.
“If you wanted to ask me out sometime, I’d probably consider it. I’m not going with anyone right now.”
Well, that shocked me. All I could do was say, “Thank you.”
It was already after ten and the dance would end at eleven, thankfully. I danced with four more girls who were in my class. Embarrassingly, I had to ask one what her name was. I wasn’t sure I shared any classes with her. Each of the four gave me a similar message, that she wasn’t seeing anyone just now or she was just dating around or some such. Anyway, I was told in one way or another that she’d be available if I wanted to ask her out sometime.
The next time I got back to the circle, I didn’t get a chance to ask anyone. Christine and Ronda both grabbed an arm and headed out with me. The music had been getting progressively slower in the past fifteen minutes and I figured we must be nearing the end of the dance.
“I asked you to save the last dance for me,” Chris said. “I guess we have to share it with her.”
Both girls moved against me and wrapped their arms around me. What could I do but hug them to me and shuffle my feet like everyone else at the dance was doing? And it was really nice. The girls had an arm around each other, too, and they really cuddled in against me. I let my face drop down to touch their hair and they both kind of nuzzled at my neck. Wow!
“You said you’d walk me home after the dance,” Chris whispered. “Do you mind walking Ronda home, too? She lives just two doors up before you get to my house.”
“That’s fine,” I said. I was thinking about holding a hand in each of mine, or maybe my arm around one girl on either side. The lights in the gym came up and we went to get our shoes and coats. It was still only the thirteenth of January and damn cold out at night.
Please feel free to send comments to the author at devon@devonlayne.com.
