Learning Life's Lessons Ch. 01

Mickey turned the volume on his stereo to maximum. He lay back on the bed and pressed the sides of his pillow to his ears, trying desperately to shut out the noise from the room next door. When that didn’t work, he got up, switched on the T.V as well, then angrily went back and buried his head deep under his pillow. As the track playing reached its noisy crescendo, the sounds next door also came to a climax. He sat up and switched off the T.V with the remote and was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief as silence filled the room. After a couple of minutes he heard the door of the adjacent room open then close and footsteps head off down the hall. Mickey tried to calm down and flick through a magazine, but soon abandoned it, his face still bright red with anger and embarrassment. He hated in when his sister had sex.

Sophie had been seeing this guy, whoever he was, for about a month. Mickey hadn’t even met him yet, didn’t know anything about him except that his name appeared to be Max. He had only gathered this from hearing his sister groan it during their constant sessions in her room. Whoever he was, the guy worked quietly, because Mickey only ever heard his sister’s voice moaning in pleasure or begging for more. With these thoughts still bugging him, Mickey shoved his feet into his shoes, grabbed his coat and headed for the door. He had no idea where he was going, he just had to get out of the house and away from that infuriating nympho in the next room. Getting into his old but reliable car, Mickey drove away from the house in the hope that putting some distance between them might calm him a little.

Things had been difficult for Mickey ever since they had moved to this stupid new town. He had always been a shy, quiet guy, and being dragged away from the few friends he had turned him into a virtual hermit. Still a virgin at 18, he had never been good with girls, always saying the wrong thing or blushing at the wrong time. He had always been in pretty good shape, with a sort of boyish charm, short, spiky hair and a cheeky grin that girls found ‘cute’ but never really sexy. Like any other 18-year-old, Mickey thought about sex a lot, but he was always too nervous to try and actually do anything about it. Besides, his sister’s constant escapades always put him off any sexual thoughts he might be having.

Now Sophie, on the other hand... she was a different matter altogether. At 20, she was bubbly, outgoing and very flirtatious when she wanted to be, with a body that left guys- and girls- drooling in the street- firm, round 34c breasts with perky nipples that always seemed to be hard, a tight little bum which wiggled a bit as she walked, and a slim waist which many a guy tried to slip his arm around. All in all, she was a gorgeous little package and certainly never lacking in company. When the family had moved two months earlier to follow their father’s work, Sophie had happily left her vast group of former friends behind and easily slipped into a new circle, making Mickey all the more depressed. There was one girl she had become particularly close to, a stunning creature who Mickey had often seen her out with but to whom he had never been formally introduced, as with all her friends. The one thought that had kept him sane these past few weeks was that in just a few month’s time he would be off to university. He hoped he could start a new life, make new friends, maybe even get a girlfriend. As he glanced at himself in the rear view mirror, he sighed and realised he’d spent the whole drive in which he’d been trying to clear his head thinking even more about how crappy life was. Spotting a pub pass by, Mickey pulled over and parked the car.

Stumbling up the stairs, his head woozy as the world spun, Mickey tried his best to be quiet. He couldn’t remember where the pub was at which he’d left the car, but it couldn’t have been far because somehow he’d managed to stagger home. Unsurprisingly, all the lights were off when he got through the front door. In the dark, he clumsily felt his way through the hall, up the stairs and across the landing. As he passed his sister’s room on the way to the bathroom, Mickey noticed a light shining through the crack under the door. In his drunken state, whilst splashing cold water onto his face, he could have sworn he heard giggling and a slight buzzing noise. Feeling sick, Mickey staggered back to his room, collapsed on the bed, and passed out.

Summer had crept by far too slowly for Mickey. Having no real friends, he had spent most of it sitting in his room dreaming and counting down the days until he left for university. This solitude was only interrupted twice- the first time by a much-welcomed fortnight spent back in his old town with his friends, and the second by a two-week family holiday in Spain. This trip was the worst period of the whole summer for Mickey. His parents did their best to keep him amused, offering to take him out on daytrips with them when they went sightseeing. He always went along, not wanting to seem ungrateful, but each time was relieved to get back to his room in the villa, put on his headphones, and lose himself in his music. The worst part of the whole experience, however, was Sophie. She strutted around the place like she owned it, usually wearing nothing more than her skimpy pink bikini which left very little to the imagination. Every night she would dress up (or rather down) in tops which squeezed her tight breasts even closer together and revealed most of them, and skirts that looked more like belts. She would then demand money from their parents, who willingly gave it to her, partly because they wanted her to have a good time, but mainly because they couldn’t bear the thought of her stomping around the place if she couldn’t go out. As always, she virtually ignored Mickey, which was fine by him. On more than one occasion, Sophie didn’t return the same night, strolling in the next morning with her clothes in disarray. Mickey was so relieved when the final day passed and they boarded the plane back to England. Just three more weeks to go.

Packing the boot of his car, Mickey wore the biggest grin in as long as he could remember. His parents stood in the doorway, excited for him but naturally sad to see him go. They had offered to drive him, but as he was going to university in a city 200 miles away, he didn’t feel the 8 hour round trip was fair on them, considering how busy with work they both were. As he shut the boot, Mickey took one last look up at the house, glancing for a second in the direction of his sister’s window. Typical. She hadn’t even bothered to look out and wave goodbye. The way Mickey was feeling right now, that didn’t matter to him in the slightest. Still grinning, he felt a pang of sadness and guilt on seeing the looks on his parents’ faces as he went over to give them a final hug. Quickly shaking this feeling off, he jumped into the car and hit the road, waving out of the window as he pulled off. He was finally on the way!

Mickey closed the door and sat down at his desk. With a sigh, he opened a book and decided he’d better get on with the essay that was due in on Friday. University life wasn’t turning out quite as he’d hoped. Sure, he’d made some friends, a few of them he was even quite close to, but in the two months he’d been there he still hadn’t yet managed to get a girl to look at him twice. Just as he began to contemplate this, the phone rang and made him jump.

“Hello?”

“Michael, dear, it’s mum.”

His mother was the only person who ever called him ‘Michael’.

“Hi mum, what’s up?”

“Why does something have to be ‘up’? Am I not allowed to phone my son occasionally just to say hello?”

Her voice sounded hurt. Mickey was instantly annoyed at himself for his bluntness.

“I’m sorry, mum, of course you can! How are things at home?”

“Oh, just fine, your father is killing himself with work as usual!” she joked.

“Glad to hear things are still normal then! How are you?” he enquired, feeling guilty at having left it so long since he last called.

“Fine as well, dear, thank you for asking.”

She went on to describe in some detail over the next twenty minutes every recent event, from the leaking tap in the bathroom to the state of his uncle’s bowel condition. Mickey in the meantime settled back on the bed, listening politely and adding the occasional appropriate murmur of acknowledgement. Eventually, the conversation began to wind up. As an afterthought, Mickey asked,

“And how’s Sophie?”

“Oh, it’s a good thing you mentioned her, dear! I almost forgot!” his mother exclaimed.

“Forgot what?” asked Mickey.

“She and that best friend of hers, they’re going to some concert-or-other near you next weekend. She asked me to tell you they might stop by and say hello!”

Mickey, its fair to say, was more than a little shocked. In all honesty, he was quite surprised that his sister even remembered which university he was at, much less that she would want to stop by and see him. He couldn’t stop himself in time from blurting out,

“Why?”

“Oh, Michael, don’t be like that!” his mother scolded, “I know the two of you don’t always see eye to eye, but she is your sister after all!”

His mother always had a knack for understatement.

“Anyway, dear, I must go. Your father will be in soon sniffing around for food! Take care, dear, and don’t forget to call sometime!”

And with that she hung up. Mickey realised he hadn’t even had a chance to ask her how he would know what Sophie's plans were. He thought for a second about calling her back, but realised that the chances were that Sophie would have forgotten all about it by now. ‘Oh well, no loss to me’ he shrugged to himself, then sat back at his desk and opened the textbook again.

The knock on the door woke him. He prised open his eyes and looked at the bedside clock. 12:30 on a Friday night. Most people he knew were out partying, and for a second he felt a pang of guilt for not being out there with them. That quickly passed, however, as the knock came again, louder this time, and he grew annoyed at being woken. Stumbling out of bed in his t-shirt and boxers, Mickey opened the door. There, standing in front of him, were two gorgeous women.

Sophie.

Shit.

He had completely forgotten about the weekend trip. He turned bright red. Both girls eyed his attire.

“Hi, little brother. Did we wake you?” Sophie laughed as she brushed past him into the room.

Her friend just smiled at him, winked then waited for him to step aside and let her in.

“Um... hi Sophie... how are you?” Mickey stammered, aware of how red in the face he was.

“Just fine, thanks. Mum told you we’d be coming, right? The concert’s tomorrow night. We would have left earlier this evening, but I was working till 8. We didn’t think it would be a problem, though, thought you’d be out getting pissed with all your friends!” Sophie laughed cruelly again.

“Er no, I was... tired”, Mickey replied awkwardly. He couldn’t take his eyes off the girl who was casually glancing around the room, and occasionally at him. She was stunning. Almost 6’ tall, with legs that made up most of that height, and a figure which was fuller than Sophie’s, culminating in breasts which to Mickey looked slightly smaller than Sophie’s yet somehow wider and more juicy. Perhaps it was just the way she held herself, he thought. All this was topped off by a slender face with full, pouting red lips and piercing blue eyes, surrounded by loosely falling blonde hair. Mickey was entranced.

“Well, I’m totally cramped after all those hours in the car. You got a shower or something round here? The one at our hotel is disgusting”, Sophie asked, stretching.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, its just down the hall”, Mickey said, distractedly.

“What, you have to share one? God! Good thing I brought my shower slippers! I’ll see you in a while. Oh, by the way, this is Maxine.”

Mickey’s jaw almost hit the floor.

“You... you’re... you’re Max!” he stuttered in disbelief.

“Yeah! How did you know people call me that?” Maxine asked in a surprised voice, looking Mickey up and down.

It all suddenly fell into place for poor Mickey as he stood there bewildered- the fact that he had never met Sophie’s ‘boyfriend’, the lack of a male voice during her wild sessions- he could even guess what that buzzing noise had been! The concept was so overwhelming that Mickey had to sit down on the bed. He looked up with wide eyes at Maxine.

“So... you and Sophie... you’re... lesbians?” he managed to force out.

Maxine gave the prettiest, tinkliest little laugh he had ever heard, and said,

“Well, Sophie is, but I prefer to think of myself more as... open-minded!”

As she said this, Maxine sat down on the edge of the bed just inches away from Mickey. She was so close that there was no way she could fail to see the bulge in his boxers that he was trying desperately to prevent. A small smile flickered across her face as she glanced at it, then looked back to his face.

“So, your sister tells me you’re still a virgin”, she murmured mischievously.

Mickey could have died with embarrassment. He flushed bright red and had to look away, staring at the floor.

“I... er, well... its just...”, he began to try to explain, then gave up, and blurted, “I can’t believe she told you that! It’s none of her business!”

Maxine smiled gently at him and placed her hand on his bare knee.

“Hey, its ok, nothing to be ashamed of! I’m just a little surprised, that’s all.”

Mickey glanced back at her face then quickly returned his eyes to the floor.

“Surprised...?” he asked, feeling a rush of excitement at her touch.

Maxine moved her hand ever-so-slightly up his leg.

“That a guy as cute as you has managed to stay one for so long.”

Mickey almost burst through his boxers. He couldn’t believe his ears! Was this gorgeous being really flirting with him?

“Maybe you just haven’t met the right girl yet”, Maxine said quietly, leaning in and almost whispering in his ear. As she did this, her hand brushed the rest of the way up his leg until it reached his groin, where she placed it on the bulge. Mickey felt himself twitch at the sensation, even through the material. No girl had ever touched him there before. He looked nervously up her body, allowing his eyes to stop at her breasts. Through the thin top she wore, he could clearly see her nipples hardening and poking through.

Suddenly, Mickey heard a door open at the end of the hall and the sound of footsteps approach his room. He leapt backwards to the top of the bed. As the door handle turned, Mickey lifted his legs and pulled his cover over his lower half so as to hide his excitement. His sister walked casually into the room, dressed but still drying her hair with her towel. She stopped and surveyed the strange scene.

“What? What’s going on? Did I miss something?” she asked.

Maxine smiled and winked again at Mickey as she slowly stood up.

“No, nothing at all, we were just getting to know each other a little better”, Maxine replied.

“Well, we’d better get going to our hotel. Its a little dump, but it’ll do for two nights. I’ll call you tomorrow morning and sort out when we’re meeting up, ok? Night!” Sophie explained as she packed her stuff away and breezed out the door.

Maxine stood there for a second, looking down at Mickey.

“Well, it was very nice to meet you, Mickey. I hope we have the chance to get to know each other much more very soon”, she purred.

“Maxine, are you coming?” Sophie called impatiently from down the hall.

With another little wink and a grin, Maxine glided out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Mickey hardly slept at all that night. He lay awake, tossing and turning, his mind racing with thoughts of the evening. Had she just been teasing him? Or was she genuinely attracted to him? When he finally dozed off, hours later, he still sported the erection which he had been unable to touch since she did.