The Agreement
3 Invitation
THE DANCE ENDED at midnight, but we all had midnight curfews except Candace and Renee, so we took off early.
“Oh hell. I don’t have a ride home,” Renee said.
“I’ll take you,” Candace jumped in. “I’m taking Brian home. Where do you live?” When Renee said the neighborhood, Whitney spoke up.
“Hey! That’s right where I live. Can I get a ride, too?” Whitney bit her lip and looked pleadingly at Candace. Candace winked at her.
“Sure. Let’s go. Seniors in the front, freshmen in the back!” I think Renee might have been a bit disappointed in that, but she was laughing a few steps ahead of us by the time we got to the car. I offered my hand to Whitney and she took it. I guess that was explicit permission to hold hands. This was going to be good. Candace’s car was a not-particularly big two-door. Poor Whitney is the tallest girlfriend.
“Maybe Whitney should ride up front,” I suggested.
“No!” Whitney almost shouted. I held the passenger door open and the seat forward while Whitney crawled in. Now that was a view I hadn’t seen anywhere near enough of. Renee smirked beside me.
“You next. You might have to get cozy in there.” No kidding. Whitney and I were going to be cramped and uncomfortable. Candace opened her door and watched Renee try to put the seatback upright.
“Okay, that’s not going to work like that. Will you two give permission to hold each other in your arms?”
“Sure,” I said.
“Hell yes,” Whitney responded.
“Okay. Not that I’ve ever done this, mind you, but I’m a theater director. Buckle your seatbelt, Brian.” I did. “Now Whitney turn around so you are up against Brian with your feet on this side. Brian, hold her so she doesn’t fall off while she’s buckling the middle belt. You might have to turn your knees toward the center so Renee can get the seat up.” When we were finally situated, Whitney was more or less lying in my arms and had her arms around me and her face buried against my chest. It was a very… nice feeling.
“Brian,” Whitney whispered when we were barely out of the school parking lot, “will you kiss me?” Whitney was the first girl I’d ever held hands with and we’d been friends for years, but I realized that we’d never given each other even the simplest kiss. “If it’s not too gross. I know I’m big and everything.”
“Whitney, nothing about you is gross. Don’t forget, you’re talking to your boyfriend here. I know these things.” I bent to her lips and brushed them with my own. I suddenly felt like I had a cat in my lap that was trying to mold every part of her body to every part of mine, only this cat was six feet tall and I was five-five. No matter. I loved every inch. Whitney didn’t have much up front, but I could feel what there was pressed into my chest as we lost ourselves in the kiss. I didn’t let my hands roam. We didn’t agree to that, but I felt her fingers tightening and loosening against my back as the fervor of the kiss mounted.
“First stop,” Candace announced. Renee opened her door.
“Wait!” I said as she stepped out of the car. “I need to walk you to the door.”
“Oh, you’re with Whitney. It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not okay. You joined us as a date tonight and I always walk a date to her door.” Whitney smiled dreamily at me and pushed herself up so I could get my belt unfastened. I managed to practically fall out of the car and then stood next to Renee. “May I hold your hand as we walk to the door, Renee?” I asked. She nodded and gave me her hand. It was no big deal. This was a Leave It to Beaver kind of neighborhood and it was all of about twenty feet to her door. We got there and she waited not reaching for the doorknob. I finally figured out that was my cue.
“You were really brave tonight to break up with Chad like that. May I kiss you goodnight?”
“I think I gave you permission in the first full sentence I spoke to you tonight,” she said lifting her lips. I didn’t push the kiss. I didn’t put my arms around her but continued to hold her hands between us. I had a feeling this girl had kissed a lot and I wasn’t going to try to compete. It was just a sweet goodnight kiss. She smiled and waved as I went back to the car and she went inside.
“Just get in front, Brian,” Whitney said. “It’s really only two blocks to my house.”
“I could go out and drive around for a while if you want,” Candace said. “You were so cute back there.”
“Curfews,” I said. “We’ve only got fifteen minutes till I have to be home.”
At Whitney’s house, I walked her to the door. Kissing was a little different. Whitney had to bend down to meet my lips.
“It’s so awkward. I wish I was shorter.”
“I wish I was taller,” I said. “But Whitney, you are beautiful. I am so proud to be your boyfriend.” She practically crushed me in the hug she gave.
“That was my first,” she whispered. “My first kiss ever. Thank you, boyfriend.”
Candace got to my house with five minutes to spare. She got out of the car just as I was reaching across the console to kiss her. I turned back and she was opening my door.
“What’s this about?” I asked laughing.
“You made the rule. Always walk your date to the door. It’s a cinch you aren’t walking me to my door since I drove, so I have to walk you to yours.”
“Candace, you are the funniest woman I’ve ever met. I’m so glad we had that demo together.”
“Me, too. I’m going to have a lot of fun with my new boyfriends and girlfriends. Next week, though, I want you to reserve at least one lunch to come join me when I sit with my theater friends. I think you’ll like most of them. Aside from Joe. He thinks he’s a movie star because he did a TV commercial for Ed’s used cars last summer. I think that just makes him a used car salesman. But you’ll like the others, I promise. I think you should try out for the fall show.”
“Uh, maybe,” I said. It would be fun to spend time with Candace doing what she likes to do. Well, besides kiss.
“Permission to kiss my boyfriend and put my arms around him?” she asked.
“Granted.”
“Ditto.”
I was in the house at thirty seconds before midnight.
I met Hannah at the gas station at ten and we rode her collections route. I was proud to note that there were several new subscribers on the route. She’d really worked hard over the summer. We parked our bikes at her house and her mom took us to the newspaper office to pay her weeklies. There was her picture, right in the middle with “Carrier of the Month—August” under it. My picture was still on the wall, too, as “Carrier of the Month—January.”
“You just wanted me to see your picture on the wall, didn’t you? And look, June, too! Wow! Everybody’s going to think our route is magical since we have so many pictures.”
“Every morning when I head out on my route, I say ‘Thank you, Brian.’ This is the best thing that ever happened to me.”
“Well, wait until the snow starts to fly before you thank me. Do you have good boots and snow gear?”
“Mom promised new boots this fall and she’s been knitting hats and scarves like you wouldn’t believe.”
“Keep those cute, precious ears of yours warm,” I said touching one lightly.
“Oooh,” she said, scrunching up her shoulder. “Brian, I have that trip to the dude ranch that I can take this fall.”
“You’ll love it! You get to trail ride, tend the horses, and even get riding instructions.”
“Do you want to go, too? Like for your birthday again?” My birthday at the dude ranch. Oh man! What great memories. Hannah picked up on my hesitance. “I’m sorry. I forgot that was where you met the Kokomo girlfriends. It must be special to you. Maybe I shouldn’t go. I could give you the trip for your birthday.”
“Hannah, no! That’s not fair. Besides, they signed the agreement, too. There was a message that Mom took last night that they called and had signed.”
“That’s right! Let’s ask them to go, too.” Hannah, Jennifer, and Courtney at the same time? Whoa!
“I don’t know.”
“Really, Brian. It would be fun. We could ask some of the others to go, too.”
“Well, um… Hannah, the problem is that if you and I went, we sort of know how to treat each other. We love each other, but we don’t do mushy things together. And that’s all right. I’m going to keep loving you, no matter what. But Courtney and Jennifer sort of like to…” Hannah started laughing. “What?”
“I think I’m the only one in the dating group who doesn’t like all the kissy stuff. Except maybe Whitney. I don’t know.” And I’m not telling. “It never bothers me to see you hold hands or kiss Liz or Rose. Sometimes I get kind of excited to see it. It just doesn’t appeal to me to do it. As long as you don’t abandon me in a field somewhere, I don’t mind if you kiss Courtney or Jennifer.” Hannah dropped her voice to a whisper. “Or even if you touch them like Liz said you did her.” I flushed and could feel the heat in my ears. I wondered how much and what Liz had told anyone.
I rode my bike home still flushed.
“Mom, I was wondering if I could spend my birthday weekend at the ranch again this year. I’d be home Sunday afternoon so we could still celebrate on my birthday.”
“What brought this on?” There was just no way I could lie to my mom. She had this built-in bullshit-detector that I’d never managed to get around. I already figured I’d have to tell her.
“Hannah won the trip from the paper this month and asked me to go with her.” Mom looked at me while she mouthed the words ‘with her.’ I nodded.
“Just the two of you?”
“No. Not exactly. We thought we’d ask Jennifer and Courtney to meet us there if they can. Of course, they might not be able to because they were there… uh… this summer.”
“Brian, you aren’t pushing Hannah, are you? I know you are a little more advanced or maybe well-educated than I expected at fifteen, but Hannah isn’t.”
“No, Mom. We signed an agreement.”
“The call last night from Jennifer said to tell you ‘We signed the agreement.’ Suppose you tell me about this.” If I ever wanted to go out with my friends again this year, I was going to have to show Mom the agreement. I went to the attic and brought it down.
She read it.
I waited.
“I like the ‘no penetration’ clause,” she sighed. “Brian…” she started then backed up. “There are fourteen names on this list and only four are boys.”
“Plus two girls in Kokomo.”
“Aren’t you a little outnumbered?”
“Should I complain?” I could act so innocent sometimes.
“I can see the benefit in this. We used to call it ‘playing the field.’ Only you’ve narrowed the field. It’s going to be tricky keeping to this agreement—especially the no jealousy part. That’s what I’m worried about. Will Hannah get jealous seeing you with other girls on a special weekend for your birthday? She is a very special girl to us and we are so glad you are still friends.”
“Hannah suggested it and I asked her the same question. She likes to be with us, but she just doesn’t like anything that is remotely sexual—I mean like kissing. Even hugging or holding hands is something that we only do occasionally. Mom, I would never do anything in the world to hurt Hannah. I know I’m too young for these feelings and that’s why we all agreed to write the agreement so we protected each other. But I love Hannah. I will never hurt her.”
Mom sat there rereading the agreement and the names that were on it.
“See if you can arrange for Jennifer and Courtney to get there at the same time we do so the mothers can all meet.”
She handed the agreement back to me.
Jennifer and Courtney squealed so loud on the phone when I called them that it hurt my ear. I was beginning to wonder if they were always at each other’s houses since I’d always found them together. But it was Saturday afternoon, after all. There followed a number of calls back and forth and our moms, including Mrs. Gordon, all got into the act before they called the dude ranch and finally, there was an agreement on when we would all show up. It took about a week to get all the arrangements made. It was going to be an interesting weekend.
Monday morning, I rode my bike to school. I don’t know why I’d never ridden my bike, but it was a good three miles and that was normally bussing distance. But biking was the only way I could think of that I’d be able to see Judy. I headed out of school with the ‘walkers’ Monday afternoon and got to the bike rack just in time.
“Hey, Shorty,” I called.
“Don’t you call me… Brian! What are you doing out here with the little kids?”
“Judy, is this guy bothering you?” a gruff voice asked from behind me. He wasn’t much bigger than me, but enough. I put both my hands up.
“No, Monte. This is my friend, Brian. Thanks for checking up on me.”
“You want me to ride home with you?” he asked.
“I’d like to ride along if I could,” I said.
“You go ahead, Monte. I’ll be fine. Thanks!” Monte shot another quizzical look at me and then rode his bike toward the street.
“You really want to ride home with me?” Judy said.
“That’s why I rode my bike today. It wasn’t a bad ride, though. I miss riding since I gave up my paper route.”
“Why’d you give it up?” Judy asked.
“I… uh… got hurt last spring and my girlfriend took it over. She really loved the paper route, so I let her have it.”
“Girlfriend? Is that why I couldn’t be your girlfriend?” Judy teased.
“Judy. You know why you couldn’t be my girlfriend. Even though I broke up with Hannah, or she broke up with me, you and I aren’t at a good age to be boyfriend and girlfriend. I like you, though, and I wanted to see how you were doing this fall.”
“Hannah? But she’s the girl in the barrel race who said she was your girlfriend.”
“You saw that?”
“Are you kidding? After the demos, Miss Sullivan called everyone in the group and made us watch your demo on The Homemaker’s Hour. After that, I just made sure I tuned into any live broadcast from the Fair. Did you… uh… do it with that other Demo Dolly?”
“Judy! First of all, you know I wouldn’t tell you if I did. Secondly, I’m at least as much a virgin as you are.”
“What makes you think I’m a virgin? Just because I’m little?”
“No. Just because I think you’ve got enough common sense to avoid that kind of situation until you are ready. Nobody’s tried to force you, have they?” Judy was quiet for a minute as we pedaled toward her neighborhood.
“Tried. But he didn’t succeed. And now… Brian, there’s some guys and girls that like adopted me. If someone tries to pick on me, they just back away or something. I’ve got some new friends this year.”
“That’s great, Judy. I was worried about you and that’s why I wanted to ride with you today.”
“Well, you saw how Monte reacted. He and Rich always seem to be close enough that if anybody comes up to me they just ask if I’m okay. And there’s this cool girl at lunch named Lexi who asked me right out of the blue to sit with her. I’m loving junior high.”
“I am so glad to hear it,” I said. Samantha’s little sister made the first move. Sweet. “I was really worried that things would be hard for you. I don’t want to interfere, but I want you to know that if you need a friend—not a boyfriend—that you could call me. Okay?”
“Yeah. Now tell me about Hannah. And what’s this about five girlfriends?”
“Fourteen, I think,” I answered. Judy’s eyes got big.
Thankfully, Lionel, Carl, and Derek were all in my Phys Ed class. For the most part, we just played whatever sport we wanted to. On Wednesdays we had to run a mile and we were marked down a point if we couldn’t do it in six minutes. We got four weeks to get up to speed and then our times each Wednesday would count. Coach Hancock was our Phys Ed teacher. He also taught history. I thought it was cool that all our coaches and PE teachers taught real subjects, too. But he was the JV basketball coach and he always suggested we play a little basketball if we were interested. Well, having Lionel and Carl there, I chose basketball whenever it was offered.
I couldn’t even get the ball to the hoop until I was twelve. But like every Indiana kid I ever met, I’d pick up the ball and throw it at the hoop every day when I walked by. The doctor had encouraged me to shoot the basketball to strengthen my arm after Kirby broke it. I guess, I’d become pretty good at hitting the basket. We’d scrimmaged a little in gym, but mostly we played HORSE. The only thing that was out was dunking, but you could put all kinds of spin on the ball and make ridiculous moves while shooting that the next player would have to duplicate. If somebody ahead of me made a bunch of moves or switched hands or threw the ball over his shoulder and made a basket, I’d get a letter. But if I got a free shot from outside the foul circle, the next guy almost always got a letter. Seemed I was the only one who could make those outside shots.
Coach Hancock came up to me after gym on Tuesday and laid a hand on my shoulder.
“You need to try out for the JV team, Brian. We could use you.” I laughed.
“You need a short kid for some federal equal opportunity program?” I asked.
“Basketball is a game of skill, not just a game of height,” Coach said. I looked up at him. He was almost as tall as Lionel.
“If you say so, Coach.”
“We’re playing a girl this year. We might as well play a short kid, too,” Coach laughed. I got to thinking. Whitney was the girl. It would be pretty cool to play with her. I was sure Lionel would play varsity, but Carl and Doug would probably make the JV team. Hell. Why not?
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