The Telling of Our Lifetime

"Jacqui tells me you're taking her out for dinner?"

I just shrugged my shoulders and headed back upstairs to grab some clothes. Somehow, my shorts and t-shirt didn't really fit the occasion. I made it about halfway up the stairs before I made my comment.

"The PX is open, do you like milkshake Jacqui?"

The pause in the conversation between them was only momentary. Mom's voice carried the distance between us like a guided missile.

"Martin Joseph Anderson. You get your ass down here this instant and clarify that statement."

Those seven steps back down to meet both the coordinator of my torment and her accomplice, reminded me of those last walks condemned men going to the gallows, take. The hands on hips gesture let me know ahead of time, this could get bloody.

"It's apparent you told this young lady that you would take her to dinner, she for whatever reason known only to herself, given the rudeness of your last remark, still wishes to go to dinner with you. Your father and I didn't raise a son who takes such little regard for another, so live up to your word young man."

Being railroaded, by my mom and watching miss goody two shoes sitting over at the kitchen table trying to hide a smirk, left me wondering if even at my young age temporary insanity would be a plea I could get away with if my dark thoughts became real. However, mom was right on one point; both my folks did raise a man who stood up to his responsibilities. So even though I never agreed to this stupid dinner date in the first place, I sucked it up and walked over to Jacqui and asked her to dinner later tonight and offered to take her to the PX to talk times and where she would like to go for dinner.

With the grace of a ballerina, she sure skipped around the trap I had set for her. "Seven would be fine and you can pick me up from home. I get the feeling my folks will want to meet you anyway."

*******

She was right of course; her brother met me at the door and grunted a greeting. Well, I think it was a greeting. Mabel of course, practically skipped over to the bottom of the stairs and I'm sure she had rehearsed what she said next.

"Oh Jacqui, the white boy is here."

Although her mom rounded on her, it was clear that Mabel had already got her 'dig' into her sister and took the rebuke with a shrug of her shoulders. I suppose what followed would be along the lines of bitter sweet, as Jacqui came down the stairs and her father came out of the kitchen. She was dressed rather conservatively for her, a summer dress of cream and pastel colors that hugged in all the right places and flowed in others.

It was plain to all, as we watched her come down those stairs that her dress screamed 'I'm a woman in here' and that same woman came to the bottom of the stairs with the attitude of 'damn right I am'. Her dad however, then stood between us and sized me up and proceeded to give me his pre-prom night speech.

"Young man, that's my daughter standing right there. I want her, not only back here at ten on the dot, but also intact."

Jason just smirked, Mabel followed, but hers quickly turned into a smile. Jacque's jaw dropped, and I actually believed her eyes were going to fall out, they were so wide open. As for me, I didn't give a shit. Yes, she looked hot and that's probably the first time I had seen the woman more than the 'attitude baggage' she dragged around with her.

"Well sir, I suggest you take her out then, because it's now seven and if you believe that a lady like that can be fed, danced and brought back here in three hours, then I want to be sitting on your front porch to see it."

I'm sure her dad said something; I was already heading back out the door and heading back to the car. I had done my bit; I turned up as agreed and fulfilled my part in this charade of two dates and dinner that I had never agreed to. The strange thing was the closer I got to my car the louder the shouting that came from the house.

"You had better have that passenger door open by the time I get to the car white boy, or so help me you're going to get comfortable with the sidewalk."

Yes, I was shocked that she was following, but I wasn't dumb enough not to have the door open for her when she got there. As she held onto the top of the door and turned to look at me, her face although neutral, held a glint of anger, she let me know why.

"You ever treat me less than a lady again Martin, and so help me you're going to wish you had never been born. I expect to be walked back to the house later tonight or me and your dad are going to talk about the manners you lack to be a gentleman."

Ok, I admit, she had a point and I did my best to make it up to her. The Italian Restaurant, over on Randolph Street was owned by one of the wives from the base. It was also staffed by some of the other wives as well, so Jacque and I got comfortable. That evening, I found out she had a sense of humor. That she could laugh at others and herself and once she learned to drop the attitude, the woman inside sure made the time we were at the restaurant go by far too quickly.

"You said to daddy, we were going dancing?"

As if on cue, Rosie stepped up with the bill and we headed back onto the base for a dance hosted at the PX. She kept me out on the dance floor most of the evening and when I needed a bathroom break, she sat with mom and dad. She was asked to dance several times but was polite when she told them that I was her date. Every time I wanted to pull her up on that statement, Jacqui always seemed to be able to deflect me.

I walked her back to her front door at five minutes to eleven. The porch light came on five seconds later. Two seconds after that, her dad opened the door and stood watching as his daughter pulled me to her and kissed me before thanking me for a great evening and looked forward to our next date, before she let go of my shirt and walked past her father. The glare I got was from a father protecting his daughter. I of course, wished him a good night and left happy that tomorrow was Sunday and I could sleep in.

"Martin honey, your young lady is here."

I'm sure my mom had that on tape so she didn't have to keep repeating herself. The thud as I fell out of bed and the slow walk down the steps, gave me time to wake up. Both women were in a huddle at the table when I got to the kitchen to fix myself breakfast. I sat across from them, ready to tuck into my bowl of cold cereal when I picked up on the silent treatment from them both.

"Ok, what have I done this time?"

"I'm pregnant and it's yours."

It seems I have now mastered the art of spitting milk clear across the kitchen floor and up against one of the doors by the sink.

"Ok, now that I have your full attention, what are we going to do today?"

"That wasn't even funny."

As you can gather, my voice wasn't heard over the laughter from both women, even dad rested his hand on my shoulder to signify that I had no chance against two women in the same house, let alone one. He came and sat next to me, his coffee already in his hands.

"Mom read daddy the riot act last night after we left. I'm told she threw in words like racist and bigot as well and if you knew my daddy that didn't go down too well. He sat me down this morning and agreed that I could date whomever I wanted and since school is going to know about us by Monday, what are we going to do for today."

She had already picked up her orange juice and was taking a sip when I said, "Divorce?"

Jacqui spit back into her glass and then had to wipe the residue of her orange juice off her face and mom and dad laughed this time. I also picked up a look between them that I didn't recognize until much later, Jacqui and I were treating each other like mom and dad do, when they are alone.

*******

We never left the base that day. I suggested it, but Jacqui declined. So we walked and talked. We sat in the PX and had something to eat and talked and then sat on the porch and talked. Damn, I thought, that was the cheapest date I had ever been on. But, I found out who Jacqui was. She still had the baggage of attitude, but when you got past that, I was truly surprised at her depth of knowledge on any given subject and her inherent hunger to always learn more. She would make a great hostess, that was a given.

She was right of course, the brats gave me crap all the way into school and since English was the only class we had together that day, the rest of the class thought it a good idea to move around and fill every seat, leaving two together in the front row. Mrs. Bannerman came in and noticed the change in the seating plan and how uncomfortable Jacqui was. It was perhaps the only time I knew Mrs Bannerman to let the seating plan slide and spent her class enjoying Jacqui's torment.

Of course, I caught the back draft after school and decided to nip it in the bud. Jacqui ranted all the way to the library and I let her have her moment, but as her hand went to the door of the library, I stopped her.

"Look, given your past history and the biting at each other we had back then, you didn't expect to get off lightly did you? Take it all on the chin and learn from it."

"But you didn't."

Even doing a quick recap in my head, I just didn't see where her last statement came into all this.

"Didn't do what?"

It was then I knew, the smirk got bigger and I just knew.

"You didn't bite me."

With my last vestige of logic, I gave her the only excuse I could think of.

"You really don't want to do this in the middle of campus and in broad daylight, do you?"

That damn smirk of hers just got bigger; she even placed her hand on her hips.

"What's the matter white boy, afraid to kiss the black girl?"

Our eyes locked on one another, I vaguely remember her shoulder dipped for a second and her bag hit the floor. I think mine was next to hers as my arm now rested on her hip, a year ago, hell even six months ago, this would never have happened. This wasn't a dare, Jacqui knew what today had been all about and she wanted the whole damn school to know, she didn't care anymore.

As my other hand rested on her hip both her arms came to rest on my shoulders and we kissed. Even then, I gave her the option of backing out as our kiss ended. She looked at me, both hurt and surprised.

"If you don't do better than that, I'm telling all my girlfriends you have a two inch dick and that's when it's erect."

"Do that and I'm telling those same girlfriends, that it fits in your ass quite nicely."

Her forehead rested on mine, she couldn't hide the giggle from me either.

"Martin Joseph Anderson, what have you done to me?"

I kissed her again, this time we both put some effort into it. The thing is, both of our bodies gave away to what our voices refused to tell each other. She felt my erection grow in my pants and her own body pushed against it. Her nipples gave her away when we parted; we both looked down and smiled.

"What? It's cold out here."

*******

It was official, we became an item. Mabel used the words 'I told you so' around her sister as often as she could, or rather until Jacqui took her to one side and 'politely' told her that was enough. I also got a visit from Jason; it wasn't the fact that I was a white boy dating his sister. It was the fact that I was a boy and prom night was looming. I swear he followed in his own fathers footsteps more each day.

My folks invited Jacqui's folks over for a barbeque to try to ease the tension of the forthcoming prom and as my mom put it.

"Honey, your girlfriend is over here most weekends and some evenings studying with you. It only seems fair that we get to know her folks."

Jacqui and I just looked at each other and clearly saw a train wreck approaching. We even turned up late hoping that any blood spilled would have been cleaned up by the time we got there. Not such luck, both families were actually having a good time, right up until dad admitted that he was being transferred a week after our graduation. Both families looked at us expectantly. I suppose I knew it was coming. Dad was getting older and had been offered another promotion. Soon he would be too old to lead his team and the thought they would have to carry a team member, didn't sit right with him.

Plus, dad was a career officer; it's what people like him do and families simply up and went with them. I had already been offered a place at college, so our family was breaking up anyway. Jacqui sidestepped the glances our way and handed me a soda and then a burger.

"Eat. We will talk about this in our time, not theirs."

The party continued and true to her word, she told her parents that she was staying the night. Both our folks rounded on her and the Jacqui with attitude quickly emerged. If they wanted a fight, they got one. She told my dad that he was being inconsiderate to drop a bomb like that into a conversation without giving at least a heads up to those (us two) who should have been, forewarned. Then she let loose on her dad and brother and told them to back off or what was intact at the moment, won't be for much longer.

Her father flustered and her mom just smiled that her own daughter actually admitted to still being a virgin. The air seemed to go out of the party soon after that. Jacqui still insisted she was staying and she was sleeping with me. She looked towards both moms for support and got it as well, much to the surprise of just about everybody standing there.

Jason came to me and shook my hand. "If she bleeds you bleed."

It didn't take Einstein to figure out what he meant. Her folks left soon after and I noticed both fathers talking to each other just before they shook on something. Mom donated a t-shirt and some shorts for Jacqui's 'sleepover' and for the first time in a heck of a long time, I actually wore something to go to bed in.

As she sat crossed legged on the bed she said, "You know why we are doing this, don't you? My folks know how I feel about you now. We need to discus if we have a future or if you're just happy to date the black girl."

We both knew we needed to talk and be more honest with each other than at any other time and we had to do it fast, since exams and prom night was speeding down our road. However, it's also the closest we had come to being in bed with each other, so neither of us was going to let that pass without our usual little digs.

"Show me your tits."

Jacqui smiled, this woman knew me too well, she had been expecting me not to pass up this chance, she may have come to my bed, but she also knew that even this horny guy would respect her and wait.

"Will not."

"Go on, you have seen my dick, you even admitted it some time back."

"So you must have seen the magnifying glass I had to use to see it, as well. Honestly, it's true what they say about white boys."

"Oh, you mean the bit about 'we all carry ten inch dicks'?"

Jacque laughed and nodded towards my shorts.

"If you can pull a ten inch dick out of them shorts, you can see my tits."

Conversations like these were common with us now, the level of comfort we had around each other was at first gradual, on occasions our comfort level would increase when events like school and my dad dropping a bomb on our family life happened. We talked well into the night, we also hugged and kissed, neither of us went any further because we knew it wasn't time yet. The change in our relationship was plain to see. What started out as total dislike for each other had blossomed into this.

I had Jacque in my bed and although we touched it was hands, although we kissed it was to seal a deal, although we wore minimal clothes we knew that those same clothes would be on each of us in the morning. Jacque simply wasn't ready and I had more than enough respect for her to wait. Yes, that was a night that both of us kept in a small part of our minds, that we hold those precious thoughts. That was the first night I slept with Jacqui.

By the time I woke the next morning, Jacqui was gone, the laughter coming from downstairs told me she hadn't gone far. They must have heard me get out of bed because there was a coffee on the table waiting for me when I got there.

"It was plain to hear from the talking coming from your room, that you two had a great deal to say to each other, although I will tell you, your father was awake waiting for the headboard to start knocking against the wall so he could come in and hose you two down."

Jacqui laughed, I blushed and that again set them both off. Over breakfast we talked to mom and told her what we had both decided, there was no arm twisting, no negotiations, and no deals. We had both been more honest with each other than even our relationship would deem acceptable. Jacqui told me what she wanted from this relationship and I told her what I wanted, the distance between both was so ridiculously small that even we could see it working.

The trouble we now had, was selling it to the families. Mom listened and then stood and picked the phone up to talk to Jacqui's mom, both of us wondered how she got the number and she must have had it for sometime, since it was on speed dial. An hour later both moms sat across from us and listened, it wasn't until we had finished that we both realized that we were now holding hands and still in our make shift pajamas. Jacqui watched her mom look at her and her t-shirt and shorts.

"Yes mom, they stayed on, although Martin did ask to see my tits."

The heat around my neck went directly to my cheeks and I just knew that statement deserved a reply, even as I watched Jacqui stand and sit on my lap. My answer was on my lips. The kiss that followed made me forget what I was going to say.

"Honey, your girlfriend is on your lap and has just given you a kiss to remember. Please tell me how you're going to get upstairs without showing both our moms your response."

The bitch had made me as hard as steel, she even helped it along a little by wriggling her ass on my lap. The look of innocence didn't fool anyone, it still didn't stop me picking her up and sitting her on the table, my hardness now in full view in my shorts and both moms trying hard not to laugh as I walk away from the table and up the stairs.

My back was to the shower door, the coolness of the air made me realize the door had been opened. Hands started to soap my back. My dark mood didn't ease when she said sorry. I rested my hand against the tiles and let her continue and I tried ever so hard to control my breathing.

"You embarrassed me in front of both our mom's, that doesn't happen again. You allowed the way we talk and act towards each other to be seen by others, you didn't give me a choice in the matter. From were I'm stood sorry doesn't cut it."

"Please Martin, turn around and talk to me."

Taking a lung full of air I stood up straight and turned around, my hardness took on a whole new level, hell I was sure another pint of blood poured itself into it.

"I realized I did wrong when you dropped my ass onto the kitchen table, both the moms agreed with me, they know I'm here and like this. I needed you to know I was sorry, I left you with blue balls and I deeply regret that."

"You're naked." Even when I stated the obvious and felt like an idiot as I did.

At first Jacqui simply nodded her head, but it seemed to get stuck more times than seemed to be polite when she kept looking down at my erection. It still took Jacqui a moment to find her voice.

"Well... I... Ermm... Dammit Martin you need to turn around so I don't keep speaking to your cock.

"You have got to be kidding me, the first time I get to see your tits and you tell me to turn around, you came in here naked and I plan on making as much out of it as I can."

Instantly her hands went to her hips.

"So you plan on taking advantage of the black girl."