Old Friends

Old Friends

Jeremy had been out of high school for…what was it now…over 40 years? He could hardly believe it. It was not like his life had been empty or missing anything. He had followed his dreams from childhood and become a successful if not nationally-recognized writer. Jeremy had gone off to college with his plan in mind while always communicating a different scenario back to his parents and other relatives since he remembered the sting of how they had all told him writing was a pipedream. In fact, the criticism and ridicule had fueled him even more than he already was. Ever since he was very young, all Jeremy had needed to pursue anything was to be told, “…oh…you can’t do that…” or “…you’d have to be crazy to do that…” or the golden oldie, “…how can you possibly support yourself doing that…“.

So with this smokescreen in place, Jeremy got a degree in business as a cover and shocked all his family back home when he began to publish one after another piece of his work. He did novels, short story collections, and even a few non-fiction things here and there and soon the voices from home went silent as his bank account grew along with his critical reviews. Granted he was no Stephen King or James Patterson or even the acclaimed Michael Connelly, but Jeremy was just famous enough to keep doing what he wanted without having to worry about some screwball who might stalk him or otherwise want to insert themselves into the life of an American celebrity…what to him seemed to have become quite an obsession these days.

His work had allowed him to travel, meet people he otherwise would never have run into, and most importantly set his own schedule and work just like he chose to…or chose not to…versus being a slave to some corporate cubicle like so many of his friends. Jeremy had regretted nothing in his life and the choices he had made along the way. Well…almost nothing.

To promote his books, Jeremy had resisted social media for a long time, but when the platforms became the inescapable juggernauts they were, he finally gave in when his publicist would not stop hounding him about it. He let Gregory take charge of that completely as Jeremy had zero interest…and by his own admission, zero abilities when it came to marketing. Gregory launched a several-pronged attack on this front and Jeremy for the most part just ignored it all. That was what he paid the man for after all. But one day Jeremy got into this conversation with his good friend, Rebecca Norris, who did illustrations for him when he needed them.

Rebecca told him how she had reconnected with many people from her past using Facebook. It was easy she told him and said he might even find someone from somewhere in his past that had inadvertently slipped away. Jeremy listened to her but initially did not think much of it. He had few friends from high school he cared to hear from again…he had not run in the same cliques as them or even been welcome in them, despite having known a lot of these people from childhood.

“Look, Rebecca,” Jeremy said one day, “none of those assholes gave two shits about me back then…why would they care now?”

“You mean why should you care now, don’t you?” she shot back.

As usual, Rebeca could see right through him and laughed at her response.

“Touché, my friend!”

“What about from college?” she asked.

“Oh…not really. At one time I thought my roommates and I were close, but when I tried to keep some sort of dialogue going they had no interest.”

They chatted some more but Rebecca could see she was fighting a losing battle. At least she told herself I planted a seed. Guess time will tell to see if it grows. And though he did not know it at the time, Jeremy had listened to her and would one day join the happy throngs of Face book devotees. He did not know when the exact moment came when Rebecca’s seed sprouted in his brain, but it did as Jeremy recalled his one true friend from high school who was now abroad doing some work in the theater as a performer. If nothing else he figured maybe I can catch up with Simon and see was is going on with him these days.

And so with still a considerable degree of reluctance, Jeremy signed up for a personal Facebook account and began to look around. To his surprise, he found the tool to be a nice way to hear about current events from people with his own way of looking at things, and indeed he had found Simon and they were now back in touch on a regular basis. Which brings us to how Facebook intervened to let Jeremy fix that one thing that was mentioned earlier that he did have regrets over. This application on the site called “people you may know” kept popping up and Jeremy was finding it more annoying than anything else until he came across a name from his past.

Kathy Roberts…that was the name. He had clicked on a few other old familiar faces out of curiosity from his days back in high school despite his serious disdain for most of his so-called friends from those days. But a few were nice walks down memory lane and through another connection he had added he got this nice note from Kathy Roberts one day out of the blue. Jeremy sat back and just let all the memories of his short but ill-fated, he supposed, relationship with Kathy when they had been 17 or 18. Jeremy had not been much of a dater back then, but the one exception to that had been Kathy.

They had known each other since…he could not remember exactly…but they had just been little kids as he recalled. Time had gone by and they both had gravitated toward the music programs that the public schools and their church offered and the two of them had fallen into this kind of light high school attraction during one of the bus trips for some group of some sort. Jeremy could not remember the specifics at the moment. But he did remember how sympathetic and caring she had been toward him following an embarrassing moment of his on stage. He had come back to the bus completely crushed and crestfallen, but Kathy had put her hand over his and lifted him from his funk.

One thing led to another and they soon found themselves lying in a bed during an overnight on the trip making out madly. Jeremy, as was already pointed out, did not have much experience with girls at that time, but he could still, even now 40-years plus feel her kiss if he closed his eyes and concentrated. Kathy was the most amazing kisser he had known—though he supposed he had not much to compare at the time—and it was where he really learned how to kiss with real passion and feeling. Even today, if Jeremy was honest, Kathy still remained a kisser without parallel. Following the trip they got together and picked up where they had left off, mostly locked at the lips like teenagers are prone to do when the hormones bloom. The highlight of their short relationship had been on senior day when all seniors were given the day free to do anything.

A lot of the kids got together for cookouts and beer bashes at local lakes and parks but neither he nor Kathy had much interest in hanging out with people who had no real interest in them, to begin with. So on a whim, they piled into Jeremy’s father’s car and drove up into the mountains just outside of town and hiked up a short but beautiful little waterfall and lay among the mosses and rock outcroppings kissing and touching each other. Oddly enough they never had sex, though Jeremy supposed that if either of them had had more experience at that age it would have been a foregone ending. He remembered lying with Kathy as they kissed and ran their hands over each other.

He could still envision her tongue playing along his ear—a move that still drove him wild even today—as he felt her up. Kathy had not had enormous breasts…to him, they had been just right and it took little encouragement as he recalled to bring her nipples fully erect. Jeremy would like to say he had taken those hot engorged appendages in his mouth and between his lips and let his tongue tease them, but he was sure this was just in his faulty memory of the time. As amorous and willing as Kathy had been back then he was sure that would have led to intercourse even if neither of them had any idea what to do.

But as he felt her up he did recall her hand finding his penis and stroking it until he came in his pants. His last vivid memory of that day was the two of them sitting back to back and just relaxing in each other’s company. They went home later but the next time they got together Kathy just said she could not this anymore, Jeremy was not sure if it was because maybe he had orgasmed up in the mountains and she had not or because she was getting the feeling he only wanted to see her to make out. To his chagrin, Jeremy had to admit the latter had some validity.

Among their peers, Kathy did have something of a reputation as being easy and he supposed it made him uneasy to be seen out in public with her. It had disappointed him at the time, but he never really talked to her about it. And now here he was looking at her again through his computer screen. She had changed a bit…hell who of us has not in 40 years, Jeremy thought…but he could still see the person she was in her eyes. Jeremy sighed and sat down to write the long-overdue apology she had deserved so long ago. He had no idea if she would get it or even how she might react if she read it, but the next day there was a private message in his inbox from her.

She was kind and warm…same old Kathy he mused…as she assured him there had been no need for an apology, though she appreciated it and it made her cry. Jeremy smiled glad that he had hopefully made a difference in her day. He hardly imagined just then what he had unleashed with his simple act of kindness. A week later he got an invitation from a committee back in his hometown about a high school reunion. Jeremy rolled his eyes as he always did when these things arrived and just tossed it. But that changed when he got an email from Kathy that afternoon wanting to know if he planned to attend.

Jeremy,

I know you detest these things as much as I do, but I was wondering if maybe you might be going. If so, I might be talked into going as well. It would be great to see you again and maybe get to catch up after your sweet note to me on FB. Please say you will attend?”

Kath

Jeremy was speechless and he felt a shiver race up his spine. Was she maybe wanting to rekindle some old embers from the past? Or just wanting to see an old friend? Then he recalled that she was married. Probably just the latter as he put his ego in check. But with this in mind, Jeremy broke his promise to himself about never going back to one of these ridiculous gatherings and told Kathy he would see her there.

Jeremy rolled into town the day before all the organized events were to begin and drove around to take a look at his old hometown that he had not set foot back into since leaving for college. It was radically different visually, but emotionally it was the same old town that he knew he wanted to get far away from when he was 18. He just shook his head wondering how any of his childhood…he was about to say friends but shifted to acquaintances…had been able to stomach staying here all these years. He drove over to the motel where he had reservations and checked in before walking down the incline into downtown to get some dinner.

He was still a bit nervous as he turned and entered this small diner about halfway down the block. It was pretty empty…Wednesday night he guessed…and he took a booth sitting so he was facing the entrance. That was when it happened. Jeremy was about a third of the way through his cheeseburger deluxe when he looked up and standing just inside the doorway he saw Kathy. She was alone and seemed to be just looking for a seat when he looked over and their eyes met. Jeremy stood and had just barely gotten to his feet when she came flying and threw her arms around him in a tight embrace. And just like that Jeremy felt himself getting hard. It had been 40 years but it seemed to make no difference.

“Holy shit, Kath! I was not expecting to see you until tomorrow!”

“Yeah, me either,” she said as we sat back at my booth looking over the table at each other. “Just got to town and needed a quick bite to eat.”

“You alone? Where’s your husband, Tom?”

Her smile faded away.

“We’re…well…having some difficulties at the moment. He did not come along.”

“You getting divorced?” Jeremy asked with true concern as he took her hand.

“Truthfully? I have no idea. We’re on a trial separation at the moment. Guess time will tell.”

“Want to talk about it?”

She shrugged.

“Not much to talk about. Tom and I just…well…I know it sounds hackneyed and trite, but it’s like we just went as far as a couple as we can. I thought we had a great marriage and we would grow old together, but I woke up one morning and I just knew we had hit a wall.”

“I’m so sorry, Kath.”

“It’s OK…life goes on. So tell me what it’s like to be a big famous author?”

Jeremy looked behind himself and scanned the rest of the diner.

“What the hell are you doing, Jeremy?”

“Sorry…I was looking for this famous author you spotted…”

Kathy snorted and smacked him playfully in the arm.

“Same smart ass that you were, I see..”

“Guilty as charged…”

Kathy ordered her dinner and they talked and talked until the owner was giving them the skunk eye indicating he wanted to close up.

“I think maybe we have worn out our welcome here, Kath…”

She laughed again and they began to walk back up the hill together as a half-moon shone high in the sky.

“Where are you staying, Jeremy?”

“Just up the hill…the old Colonial Inn.”

“Wow! Me, too.”

“Cool…want to grab a 6-pack and talk over old times some more?”

“Actually that sounds wonderful…”

Jeremy got them the beer from a convenience store just across from the motel and followed Kathy into his room where he offered her a beer before taking one for himself.

“It really is wonderful to see you again, Kath. I have to say the years have been kind to you.”

“Not so sure about that but thanks. You, too.”

“Want to talk more about what I sent to you on Facebook?”

“I guess, though like I said, it was not necessary. We were both young kids at the time, it was what it was.”

“Yeah, I know, but I just wish looking back now I had taken us a little more seriously. I am afraid maybe I was a bit more immature than you at the time.”

Kathy shrugged as she opened and brought them both a second beer.

“Perhaps, but here we are now and all is well.”

They clinked bottles. Jeremy lay back as he listened to Kathy tell him about her job up near Washington, D.C. where she worked for a nonprofit lobby and a smattering of the other highlights of her life since leaving for college. Jeremy replied politely to her questions about his work, though it sure seemed like she had an elevated perspective of what he had actually produced. Soon the second beer became a third and Jeremy tossed the cardboard holder in the trash as he joined her back on the bed.

“Remember that music tour in New York?” Jeremy asked as he rested against the headboard.

“How can I forget! We kept getting interrupted in that hotel room by kids running in and out!”

Jeremy laughed out loud.

“But that is where we began, right?”

“It was.”

They clinked bottles again and Kathy moved closer to him.

“And that little waterfall we hike up beside on senior day?”

Kathy just closed her eyes and sighed as if remembering a wonderful bit of her past.

“You ever wonder why we never went further and had sex back then?” he asked.

“Guessing you were as inexperienced as and as virginal as me back then. Likely to have been a nightmare.”

“Probably…”

“But I am guessing a lot of water has passed under the bridge for you now, so to speak, Jeremy? I know it has for me.”

“Yep…but ever since our Facebook reconnection it has put me to wondering what if…”

“Really?”

“Really.”

The next thing Jeremy knew, Kathy had crawled toward him and was kissing him. It sent a shiver through him as it was the same sensation he remembered from so long ago. Despite all the time, Kathy was still a world-class kisser. He pulled her to him and they kissed long and deeply just as they had as teenagers.

“What about Tom?” Jeremy asked as they broke and Kathy lay her head on his shoulder.

“In all honesty, Jeremy I do not see Tom and me saving our marriage. And since I found out you were coming here for the reunion, I wanted to see if maybe you would be interested in getting an answer to that question about us having sex?”

“For real?”

She sat up and unbuttoned her shirt revealing her breasts before tossing it aside and straddling him.

“This real enough for you?”

Jeremy helped her off with her clothes and then stripped himself as she curled on top of him and they kissed sweetly. He bent to her and took her rising nipples in his lips as she gasped and leaned her head back. Kathy lifted her hips and guided Jeremy inside her as she sank down onto him and slowly began to pulse up and down letting his full length fill her up, With each successive pulse Kathy cried out in pleasure and Jeremy reached up to massage her breasts and squeeze her hard nipples between his thumb and index finger. This made Kathy moan louder and increase her rhythm a bit until she could feel her orgasm coming on and she went faster and faster and pushed him deeper and deeper inside her before she exploded with relief.

“Oh, My God, Jeremy!” she cried as he pulled out and she fell on top of him in a heap.

Jeremy kissed her sweaty neck and throat and ran his strong fingers along her smooth back and cupped her small and round buttocks in his palms.

“Good?” he asked.

“You have no idea,” she replied between gasps for air. “Boy am I glad we waited!”

“That makes two of us, Kath! You really know how to move!”

“Thanks…interested in round two?”

With that Jeremy move her thighs apart and began to kiss and lick and move his tongue in all the places he knew most women loved during oral sex. Kathy responded immediately as she writhed and twisted moaning gratefully as she said Jeremy’s name over and over. He had buried his face into her crotch leaving his rear toward Kathy’s face and she groped for his once again erect penis and she slid it into her mouth as she joined him in an oral exploration. Jeremy gasped with pleasure just as Kathy had and soon they were both a pair of writhing twisting forms working steadily until they both exploded almost simultaneously in orgasm.

Jeremy came to her as she was still trembling with an aftershock of her climax and kissed her passionately ignoring the dribbles of his semen that were along her lips and tongue. She clung to him and continued whimpering and kissing him all over as they lay side by side.

“More?” Jeremy whispered.

“Bring it, big boy!” she replied with a giggle.

And bring it he did. Jeremy had her support herself with her hands and knees as he moved inside her one more time from behind and Kathy sucked in air suddenly when the head of his penis moved past her labia and plunged deep inside her. He rocked his hips back and forth as Kathy cried out and groaned in ecstasy. This was a position that Jeremy knew he had much more staying power in so he thrust in and out for quite a while making Kathy arch her back severely and sputtering for him to go faster and deeper—her request was broken and ragged but Jeremy got the idea. He was happy to oblige and he exploded inside her just as she reached her own climax and fell to the mattress in exhaustion.

Jeremy straddled her and dug his fingers into the muscles of her neck and back and Kathy moaned with delight with each successive pass of his hands down her back muscles.

“You OK, Kath?” he asked as he went back and worked the knots out in her neck.

“Other than maybe never walking again, I am great.”

Jeremy chuckled and moved his efforts a bit lower concentrating on her lower back and buttocks.

“You down for the count?”

“Sort of, Jeremy…what did you have in mind?”

“You ever try anal sex?”

“Cannot say I have…you?”

“Never ran into a woman that was into. What do you think?”

“Seeing as how I am about 70% disabled now…what the hell…”

She got back onto her knees and elbows as Jeremy slathered himself with lubricant and began to enter her. He moved very cautiously as this was new territory for them both. AS the head of his penis hesitated and then slipped inside her Kathy gripped the sheets in both fists and groaned, but not in objection or discomfort.

“Still OK, Kath?”

“You bet…keep going but take it slow and easy, OK?”

“Will do…”

Jeremy continued pushing himself further along and Kathy moaned and cried out in response.

“Oh my God, Jeremy…this is wonderful,” she rasped in between gasps of excitement. “Go ahead and move a bit deeper if you like and it’s OK to thrust in and out as well.”

He did so and Kathy began to quiver and tremble each time Jeremy pushed deeper into her. He eventually found a comfortable rhythm for both of them and they both moaned and groaned in unison until Jeremy exploded again and Kathy had the most overwhelming orgasm of her life. He withdrew from her and they lay together holding each other tight, falling asleep in just a few minutes.

************

Kathy awoke and found Jeremy right where he had been when they had fallen asleep the night before as thin rays of the sun shone over their still sticky and exhausted bodies. She kissed him lightly and he opened his eyes, smiling.

“So you think waiting made this so great, huh?” he asked as she stroked his flaccid penis with one hand.

“You really think we could have even come close to that back when we were 18?”

“Unlikely, Kath. I would say all that we both have experienced over time made this extra special.”

“For sure…you still planning on going to all the stuff they have planned for this shindig?”

“Seems pointless now…after…well…”

She laughed and kissed him again.

“I know. You know I only came with the hopes of seeing you again anyway, Jeremy. I was not actually planning on the night we just had, but I am not complaining.”

“Me either. I have zero interest in standing around and watching all those assholes I do not care about drink themselves into oblivion and lie about their lives.”

Kathy laughed out loud.

“Makes two of us. You want to spend the day together?”

“You know it is tempting but how do we top last night?”

“Always worth trying don’t you think?”

“I don’t know, Kath. I mean... after all, this time has gone by, and now that we have spent this night together maybe it is better to just leave things alone and pack this away as another wonderful memory between us.”

“You may be right. You heading back down south?”

“I suppose. Back to D.C. for you?”

“Yep. I’ve got a busy week coming up and I think I may need some recovery time after this.”

“You and me both, my friend.”

“So we just go back to our lives as they were?”

“For now I guess so. But you are always welcome to come to visit, Kath.”

“Thanks. I may take you up on that one day. But for now, I guess this is so long.”

“I suppose so.”

“Well…maybe just one more.”

And with that Kathy spread her legs and Jeremy slipped into her one last time and they enjoyed one final coupling at the reunion. It was neither better nor worse than the night before Jeremy thought as he drove away from The Colonial Inn after getting what he thought might have been the sweetest kiss ever from his old friend. He waved to her as he left the parking lot and truly did hope that one day she would arrive at his front door, but he would also not be surprised if he did not see her for a long time. In either case, it had been a time he would never forget…