Chapter 149

February 17, 2018

Dear Ms. Diary,

Katie arrived a bit after 10. We gabbed for a while and shared lunch, after which she timidly asked, “I ... I don’t know how to k-kiss. Could you g-girls teach me?”

We all turned to face Lana, whose eyes went wide at the focus on her, but she swallowed hard and said, “I guess I’m elected.” When we nodded, she turned to Katie, and asked, “Do you have any experience?”

“Not really. I let Davin kiss me on a date in 10^th grade.”

Lana moved her chair over next to Katie’s to sit next to each other but facing opposite directions, then said, “Let’s do a simple couple-second kiss. Katie, please don’t take any criticism personally, as I won’t mean it that way.”

“Yeah, I understand.”

After they parted, Lana said, “Soften your lips. You want your lips to be able to respond to little changes in your partner’s mouth, whatever those are. No two kisses are exactly the same, except, perhaps, for little pecks.” They shared a slightly longer kiss, after which, she said, “That was better, however even softer. This time, just hold your lips loose in the same ... posture. I’ll be changing how I hold my lips on yours. Feel those changes, but don’t change how you hold yours, however, take in what those different postures feel like to you. Are some more interesting than others? Do any feel weird or tickle or ... or whatever? I’ll take it slowly, changing posture only after a few seconds of each. This will take a while, so breathe calmly through your nose. Pull back whenever you feel a need.”

Lana waited for Katie to respond, then leaned in and began a nearly two-minute kiss. I found it somewhat fascinating as it looked like both were nearly immobile, but Katie was a bit in awe after they separated.

“I had no idea that kissing was ... so ... demonstrative. Some of those ... postures didn’t feel any different, but I could feel when you were ... pressing more firmly as compared to when ... our lips were only barely touching. Those felt ... tender, I think, while some of the others felt ... aggressive. Wow. Are those the sort of ... feelings you were trying to ... display?”

Lana nodded and responded, “Kissing cannot help but impart the individuals’ interests and feelings. While those feelings can be misinterpreted by the recipient who has little experience kissing with that person, lovers that know each other well can discern much of a partner’s mood and even interest – or not – of elevating the intimacy at that time between the two participants. This is why it’s usually best to have a period of kissing before heading down the road of sexual intimacy. That allows the two to get an idea – at least – of where continuing intimacy may lead, to determine the mood of the partners. Let me give you a quiz. I’ll kiss you in a certain fashion, and you tell me what I’m trying to tell you.”

After the first one, Katie said, “Tender, but I’m not sure what that means.”

“Good. You don’t know me that well, but that could mean I’m feeling more ... romantic than sexual, although it could also mean that I’m interested in sex, but I want us to take our own sweet time getting there, that if it takes us less than an hour, let’s say, to get to first orgasm, I might be disappointed. If you’re receiving a tender kiss, then your partner is certainly interested in you from a romantic POV. At least, I’d never give someone that’s just a friend a tender kiss.”

Lana kissed her again, and Katie responded, “That’s a friends kiss.”

“Correct. This one?”

Katie’s response was, “Umm, I don’t know. You sort of bit me. Playful?”

“Yes. It could mean that I’d like to bond with my lover by being goofy or, as you said, playful. It might mean that sex may not be part of the play, but it could also mean, ‘Hey, I’m feeling playful and let’s just see where things go.’ With a lot of experience with me, if you’ve been paying attention, you may be able to discern the difference between those two meanings.”

The next kiss was passion incarnate, even without tongues, and Katie sat back once Lana pulled away, breathed deeply, then said, “You want in my pants, now.”

“Or I want you to want in my pants, now. If we had only recently started down our relationship’s path to intimacy, that kiss could let you know that I’m very much interested in elevating the level of intimacy between us. Personally, I would be waiting for you to accept the invitation to get more intimate, an acceptance that you could give me by matching the passion in the kiss. If you were really interested in moving ahead, you could elevate the passion of the kiss further, perhaps by introducing your tongue into my mouth or by putting one of your hands on one of my erogenous zones. We all have obvious erogenous zones, but nearly everyone, seemingly, has unusual or unexpected ones. Additionally, different people have different levels of response even in expected erogenous zones. Some women respond more or less fully to caressing or fondling their breasts. Some can be driven nearly to orgasm just by kissing her neck. However, all that is down the road for our ostensible beginning stage of figuring out what each of us want from the relationship at any given point.”

Lana continued instruction for another five minutes, then asked Katie if she wanted to learn French.

“Umm ... not right now. I’ve got a 2-10 shift at the store. May I stay here tonight?”

“You never have to ask,” Meka said immediately. “We told you that you’re welcome here anytime. It would be good, however, to let us know when you’re coming, like today. Will you be visiting more often? If so, get with Liya or Gracey and let them get you set up with the phone app for accessing the house.”

“I’d like to, and I understand that I have an open invitation. I’ve always had ... some difficulty dealing with the long time of ... less interaction with friends between school soccer season and club soccer season. That is, since...”

Kim interrupted with, “Yes, since Meka and I turned away from each other and our gang. We understand. I guess I was unaware of ... your needs, although I probably wouldn’t have understood them then.”

Liya said, “Let’s set you up, Katie. Bring you and your phone to our hub.”

Somewhat oddly, once Katie departed, we decided to get weekend homework out of the way, particularly those of us with a big paper due in Geography on some aspect of the impact of the geographic distribution of key resources on settlement patterns in the New World prior to the 18^th century. I had chosen Veracruz, Mexico, primarily because I figured most of our classmates would pick a place in the US and because I remembered that Cortés landed there and established the town. Char spent a bit of time looking over my shoulder while I wrote.

She commented, “I like your geography class a lot better than mine. At least, yours seems a lot more interesting. I think I still remember most of what Mr. Pavletic said about the Silk Road and its impact on ... well ... the same thing you’re writing about.”

“I really like his class, and this... [I indicated my laptop screen and paper thereon] is why: context with ... a lot of stuff, and not just names of places or capitals and battle dates.”

“Do you have him spring quarter?”

“I should. That reminds me, have your parents begun paving the way for you being at Central?”

“Yeah. I think confirmation is expected soon.”

“When I get a chance, I’ll go talk to ... I guess the Assistant Principal. I think she’s the one that oversees scheduling. Oh, but if you’re going to be here on Friday, we could go in then.”

“I already texted Mom. She’s thinking about it. It might be an easier sell if you’ll take me home on Saturday, as there are only four weekends until the start of spring quarter, and we’ll be moving me on the fourth one.”

“I think we can manage that. Would taking you back tomorrow help even more?”

She huffed, then replied, “I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t want to leave here at all. I ... I love it here with all my friends and ... l-lovers. But I’d definitely give up the rest of this weekend just to have next Friday. I really need to be here then.”

“Why don’t you give your mom a call.”

“I’ll do that, once I calm down a bit.”

Katie wanted to sleep in the big bed with us, so we put her in the randomization mix, with Liya saying, “Celeste and Andy are sleeping in one of the upstairs bedrooms, so Brett’s cute cuddlers tonight are ... Brit and Meka! The wings are Gracey, Heather, Rhee, Char, and Cera on the left, with Beth, Liya, Kim, Lana, and Katie on the right.

February 18, 2018

Dear Ms. Diary,

The four parents went out around 10:30 to do some shopping and grab lunch. We declined their offer to join them in favor of the hot tub, with all the J residents and our visitors joining in. Brett wore one of his sexier trunks while the girls wore bikinis, although Heather wore one of her narrower tubes rather than a bikini top. The walk from J to the hot tub was brisk while wearing so little, but that made the hot tub feel even better. We lounged and gabbed for a while, then exited and stepped into the W to make lunch.

We were eating soup and sandwiches at the dining-room table when Brett looked up and around, saying, “Thanks, everyone. It just hit me that this – sitting with my friends while doing something mundane like eating lunch – is one of the best aspects of my new life. I’ve become comfortable ... well, mostly comfortable with wearing a single item of clothing while hanging with what must be the single largest aggregation of pretty girls in Elkton, and they’re all wearing bikinis. Yes, Heather’s wearing a sexy tube top, but her pretty little titties make that look ... delicious.”