I’m too young for sex :( pt. 28 / end [nosex]

I woke up alone and heard the shower running. I stared at the ceiling and wondered if I’d made a mistake. Then Bethany came back to my room wrapped up in one towel while she dried her hair with another. The smile she gave me when she saw me awake reassured me. Then she dangled her damp hair in my face with a big grin before giving me a quick kiss.

“You wouldn’t wake up, so I showered without you,” Bethany said. She flipped her hair back and continued to work it with the towel.

“I never sleep in,” I said as I swung my legs off the bed and stretched.

“I’m sure it’s okay this once,” she chuckled. “Are you hungry? I’m starved.”

Joe and Mark were already in the kitchen drinking coffee when we made it downstairs. During breakfast the four of us kept up a happy front for my parents. Then we all worked together to clean the kitchen before Mom and Dad headed out to spend the day together at an art festival.

When we’d put the dishes away, Bethany begged me to make the call to the clinic for her appointment. After I hung up the phone, I picked up the notes I’d made. Bethany was chewing on a fingernail, watching me walk over with wide eyes. I sat down next to her on the couch while Joe and Mark looked on.

“The appointment is Friday after school. That way you can come over here and stay with us for the weekend while you recover.”

“Is it going to hurt?” Bethany whispered.

“The nurse said they’ll give you something to help you relax. You may have some bad cramps during and after, but she said it shouldn’t be any worse than your period.”

Joe and Mark looked at each other with grim expressions on their pale faces.

“I’m so sorry,” Mark said to Bethany.

She let out sad chuckle. “It’s my own fault. You tried to tell me it was a bad idea. And I wasn’t all that careful after that.”

“I should have pulled out right after and held onto the condom like I was supposed to,” Joe said.

“But I’m the one who held on to you and wouldn’t let you do it,” Bethany said and wiped the tears spilling down her cheeks. I pulled her closer with one arm and held her while she cried.

She and I might be okay, but Joe was watching Bee sobbing on my shoulder with a look of anguish on his face. I think he stayed over at Mark’s house to avoid hearing anything that might have happened between us. I found it ironic that he had had no problem forcing me to listen to them for weeks. He saw me staring at him and looked away.

Bethany took a deep shuddering breath and sat back to wipe her face again. “I can’t think about this anymore. What can we do that’s fun?”

“We can swim over at my house,” Mark suggested. “Mason has an away game so the house will be empty until late tonight.”

“Sounds good to me,” I said.

“Can I borrow that swimsuit again?” Bethany asked me.

“Sure,” I said. She got off me and we both stood. “Meet you guys over there?”

Mark nodded, then he and Joe headed out while Bee and I went upstairs.

I pulled out both swimsuits and tossed my old one to Bethany. We both stripped down and changed in silence. I’d lost some weight because my suit didn’t fit as well. I was adjusting it to cover everything when I heard Bee.

“Shit.”

One glance showed the problem. Her boobs had grown. She was still smaller than me, but the last time she wore this suit her boobs didn’t hang out the sides.

“Ah, the hormones,” I noted. “Don’t worry about it. Both guys have seen you naked before. Hell, you could skinny dip if you wanted to.”

The look she shot me wasn’t amused. “Considering my situation, I don’t want to encourage them.”

“Why not,” I said as I folded my clothes and left them on the bed. Bethany was just staring at me. “It’s not like you can get more pregnant. And besides, you’ve got to know Joe is still hung up on you.”

“But I thought you didn’t… I mean… you and me,” she stammered.

“Do you still like him?” I asked, cutting through the bullshit.

“Yeah,” she said and looked down at her twisting fingers.

“Maybe it’s real, Bee. I never expected to find what I did with Sam. Maybe he’s *your* Sam. What kind of person would I be to stop you from finding out?”

That made her eyes fill with tears. “I never meant to hurt you.”

“It was my fault. I assumed you were serious about being my girlfriend.” The sad smile I gave her was answered with a hug.

“I thought we were just foolin’ around. It wasn’t until I saw you with Sam that I figured it out.”

“Me, too.” I kissed her hair. “You’ll always be my best friend.”

“I like foolin’ around with you, but I really like Joe.”

“And… I think I’m gay.” Saying it out loud made it real. Sam always knew for herself, but it had taken me a little time to work it out. I liked guys well enough. It’s just that I liked the way being with Sam and Bee made me feel.

“So Mark’s got no chance?” Bethany asked me and I shook my head. “He’s been holding out hope you’d give him another chance. I thought he’d blown it when you and Simon were hugging.”

“No, Simon is a great guy, but we both loved Sam. If we started anything, it would end up more about her than us.”

“Mark’s gonna be heartbroken.”

I shrugged. “In a way, I owe him. I don’t know how long it would have taken me to figure out if he hadn’t dumped me to go after Lydia.”

We finished getting ready and grabbed some towels, both of us lost in thought. I locked up the house and we walked down to Mark’s, slipping around the side of the house to the back entrance to the pool.

“So you’ll be okay if I try again with Joe?” Bethany asked before we got to the screen door.

“Yes,” I said and rubbed her shoulder. “Do what you need to do and I’ll still be your friend.”

“Thanks,” Bethany said as she shot me a relieved smile.

It didn’t take long for Bethany to pull Joe into the middle of the pool. She wrapped her legs around him and they were soon in a quiet conversation. That left me floating on my back while Mark tugged me around by my hands and feet.

“Looks like something’s happening over there,” Mark whispered to me.

The quiet sounds of water, birds, and wind had me relaxed. I cracked an eye to look over and saw Joe and Bee liplocked, his hands holding her up while hers held them together.

“Yup,” I murmured and closed my eyes again. Knowing they were working things out made me smile.

“You okay with it now?” Mark asked.

“Yeah,” I sighed. He was quiet for a minute as he continued to ease me around in circles.

“I’m sorry I hurt you,” he whispered. I’d been waiting for him to say something.

“Water under the bridge,” I said. “Nothing to be sorry about now.”

“So you forgive me?” There was a desperate edge to his tone.

I let out my air and sank through the water until I was standing up. Mark looked confused as he studied me. “I need to tell you something and I need you to understand this isn’t about you. It’s about me. Okay?”

“Okay,” he whispered with a frown.

“I’m gay.”

Mark blinked. “But we—”

“Sam was my first love,” I said and touched his shoulder with my palm. My eyes filled with tears. “I wish she and I had longer, but it is what it is. Someday I may fall in love again. But if I do, it’ll be with a girl.”

Mark sucked in his cheeks. “So even if I hadn’t…”

He trailed off, but I knew what he wanted to ask. “I was still figuring things out, but I’d have gotten here eventually. I’d still like to be your friend, but I know how hard it can be to want something you can never have.”

I’d wanted Mark for years after all. And I’d watched Simon struggle with his feelings for Sam. I didn’t want to hurt Mark, but being with him just wasn’t in the cards. He finally nodded.

“Friends is fine.” Mark looked over my shoulder and raised his eyebrows. “Why don’t we leave the lovebirds alone?”

I glanced back over my shoulder to see Joe pressing Bethany against the side of the pool, kissing her with the kind of abandon that indicated he forgot we were there. Nodding, I stepped out of the pool and grabbed my towel. Mark led the way into his house.

“So what now?” he asked as we both dried off.

There was something I wanted to do but I needed his help. “Would you drive me to the craft store?”

“Sure,” he chuckled as he glanced back out the sliding glass door. “Why not? Go change and I’ll meet you out front.”

I showered quickly and put on jeans, a t-shirt, and sneakers. Then I got my purse and the roll of artwork I’d brought home from Sam’s room, then went out to find Mark idling in his car in front of my house. He glanced at the paper roll, but shrugged and drove us to the store.

When we got there and parked, the two of us walked into the brightly lit store and I guided him toward the back. There was a work area behind a selection of custom frames and I spotted someone working on a framing job.

“Excuse me?” I asked as we reached the counter.

The person working there was slim, but I couldn’t tell it was a girl until she turned around. Her skin tone and dark hair made me think she was Hispanic at first, but her facial features were more Greek or Italian. She had a strong nose and wide jaw that made her look more interesting than attractive. She smiled at me as she approached the counter.

“How can I help you?” she asked with an accent I couldn’t place.

“I have some original artwork I’d like to get framed. Sketches, mostly. Someone wadded them up and I hope there’s a way to smooth them out again.”

“Let me take a look,” she said and rolled out the pictures. I noticed her name tag said *Nadia*. “These are amazing. Did you draw them?”

“No,” I said. “My girlfriend did, but she passed away last month. I want to preserve them as much as possible.”

Nadia looked up to search my face, then glanced at Mark with a raised eyebrow. “I can help with that. We have a humidifier and press that can smooth the paper. Then I can treat them to preserve the sketches and put it behind UV glass to keep the paper from being bleached by sunlight.”

“That sounds expensive,” I whispered as I touched the sketches again. Nadia moved them to look at each one until she saw the nude one of me.

“Oh,” she sighed like she’d been given an unexpected gift.

Mark cleared his throat and backed away from the counter.

“You’re beautiful,” Nadia said as she looked up, her dark brown eyes were almost black and filling with tears.

“That was how she saw me,” I pulled my hand back from the sketch to wipe my own eyes.

“And this is how I saw her,” I continued as I moved the sketch over to show the one Sam had drawn of herself for me. It hadn’t been wrinkled like the others because I had kept that one safe. “Her name was Samantha Juliet Green.”

“I’m so sorry for your loss.” Nadia took my hand for a moment and squeezed it before letting it go.

“Thanks.” I didn’t know what else to say, but her touch made my heart race. “Can you give me a quote?”

Nadia quickly sorted the sketches by size and counted each stack. The two nudes were the largest at eleven by fourteen inches, most of the still lifes and landscapes were eight by ten, and a few were four by six. She tapped on the computer for a bit, then the laser printer whirred to life.

“I’m not supposed to do it, but I’ll press the pages for free. I can use stock frames to save money and replace the regular glass with UV coated glass for a small fee. The matting work is on me; I’m charging for materials only because they have to come out of inventory.”

The cost was more than I’d expected. I would frame the sketches of Sam and I, no matter what, but was considering which ones to leave out when Mark came up again. “Let me help pay for them.”

“No, Mark, I couldn’t ask you to do that.”

“I want to.” I met his eyes and saw his regret and sorrow. He pulled out his wallet and handed over a debit card.

Maybe it wasn’t right to let him, but I wanted the artwork framed too much to pass up the chance. “I’ll pay you back.”

“Or not,” Mark chuckled and muttered, “Stubborn.”

Once he’d paid, I was worried about leaving everything there. If something happened to them I’d lose my last connection with Sam. Then I realized that Nadia wouldn’t be the only employee to see them and got nervous. “You won’t show these around or anything?”

Nadia pulled out an enormous paper envelope and began carefully sliding the pictures inside before grabbing a felt-tip marker. “No. I’ll do the work myself today and tomorrow. I only work weekends because I’m still in school. Can I get your name and phone number?”

“Stephanie Larson,” I said and gave her our house number. When she wrote it down on the large envelope, I noticed her short nails were painted with tiny blue flowers over a pale green base coat. “I love your nails.”

“Thanks,” Nadia said with an smile. “I do things like that when I get bored.”

“I do my nails, but I’m not artistic like that.”

“I could do yours,” Nadia offered as she clutched the pen with an anxious smile. “If you wanted.”

“That would be nice,” I said and felt a little flutter in my stomach.

“I’ll call you,” she said and handed me the receipt and a copy of the work order.

“Good,” I said as I backed away with my heart thumping in my chest.

When Mark and I walked out into the parking lot, the warm air had the earthy smell of impending rain. As the first drops hit my face, I let out the breath I’d been holding. Mark started to run so he could unlock the car, but I put out my arms and turned my face up to the sky.

“You’re gonna get drenched,” Mark called.

I ignored him and let the drops wash away my tears. As the rain fell harder, I spun around and laughed despite everything going on. For the first time in a long time I knew I was going to be okay.

—–

Thanks to everyone who hung with me to the end. This story went places I didn’t expect when I started it five months ago. By the time I introduced Sam in chapter 17, I knew where it was going to end. Not every detail, but the basic plot. Not everyone will like where I’ve taken it, but I’m serious about the story and characters having a mind of their own sometimes.

Many have commented to ask for other stories. On Reddit I also write under all these accounts: jacob_molly_camden, hilly_and_ben, kat_and_renauld, lizette_and_kimmy, and friends_and_benefits.

I also write on a site called storiesonline.net under the account CottonNightie. And of course, for my publishing site with free ebooks and links, you can find it by googling Cotton Nightie Press.

Thanks!
Cotton

Source: reddit.com/r/sexystories/comments/5f92kn/im_too_young_for_sex_pt_28_end_nosex