Re-edited the book and am thinking about adding a novella sequel. If anyone who has read it has thoughts, let me know. Here is another small section from the start. The book traces the journey of Rick and Mel from high school into their early 30s and is loosely based on my own story.
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Melanie was my sister Roxanne’s besty for as long as I can remember. She was also one of my best friends. We trolled malls, had squirt fights, watched TV together, and simply hung out. Whenever she came over and spent the day it was more like all three of us were besties. She was a dancer too, working hard on her craft just like my sister for hours each day. Unlike my sister who had the traditional dancer’s body, long and lean, Mel was thin but had a more athletic build. She was also shorter, like 5’3” or 5’4”, which was a bit under the traditional size for a dancer. Conceptually, I knew she was pretty. She was, after all, blonde-haired, with beautiful blue eyes, and had a quirky smile I enjoyed. In fact, she was probably a dream girl for many of my friends who often appreciated the potential sexual abilities of dancers and gymnasts, but it hadn't really registered to me before because she was my friend.
The only time I had noticed her body at all was when she once moaned about her calves being big. She wanted them to be more like my sisters - long and thin - more traditional for dancing. Without thinking or noticing her I spouted, “C’mon you guys are both amazing. Stop bagging on yourself.” As the words came out of my mouth I turned to look at her calves and it registered for the first time that they were in fact a little big, but in a muscular way. It still didn’t dawn on me to want her in a physical kind of way, though. It was more like, whoa those are really nice calves.
Later I realized that she was probably fishing for a compliment or at least trying to get me to look at her. I wish I had been a little more positive with her but I wasn’t quite in that space yet. The sweltering night at the football game changed everything. The next time I saw Melanie, I viewed her in a completely different light. She was pretty, yet more muscular than the average woman, and my tactics were going to have to change. She was someone I wanted to pursue.
Don’t get me wrong, she was still my friend, but she was hot too. When she walked through our front door prepared for our Sunday water festivities (which incidentally ended up extending into the house that day and I remember getting in terrible trouble), I no longer saw her as just a friend, nor as just an opponent in our water balloon fight. I now perceived her as someone I wanted to get to know another way. The pursuit began that day.
It was a hot summer day. A few clouds dotted the sky and a light breeze pulled at the leaves on the trees in the yard. There were flower beds next to the door that my Mom tended diligently to produce the tallest flowers on the street. We knew better than to mess with those and left that part of the yard alone. The lawn was freshly cut and had that sweet aroma that helped me recall endless baseball and whiffle ball games while I was growing up.
I scanned the field of play as we prepared to start and noted the defensive position behind the walnut tree that my sister liked to hide behind and the best routes to engage her should she use that again. As always, I expected it to end up with an alliance of the two of them against me. That was okay because I normally had a pretty good strategy and wouldn’t hesitate to resort to cheating to win if need be. On a scorching hot day, getting a little wet was just the thing to engage in before lounging under the fans and watching TV the rest of the afternoon. Confident in my strategy, I looked up as the two of them came outside. Mel had taken off her t-shirt and her bikini top and shorts ensemble were enough for me to do a double take and earn a sweet smile from her. Woah, she was looking good but I had to focus on the fight. I hated to lose.
Mel and I began filling three buckets with water balloons at a faucet in the front yard near the juniper trees. I had stood in this position with her a dozen times before, but today felt different. It wasn’t just the heat that shone both from the sky and radiated up from the ground, but also a lurching feeling in my stomach that told me my friend could become more than just that.
She stretched and held the balloons while I placed them on the spout and filled them. Even the tiny movement revealed her intense level of fitness and striations flickering in her taut arms.Try as I did to avoid scanning Mel up and down, I snuck more than an occasional peek at her until my sister diverted my attention. My competitive nature was able to overtake my sexual drive at this point. Roxy hadn’t joined us filling up the water balloons and seemed to be setting up what looked to be some kind of fort in advance of our game.
I looked over at her and said, “I’m not going to fill your bucket up as high if you don’t come help Rox.” I didn’t know what she had planned, but for some reason, it seemed more detailed than their normal frontal charge tactics that resulted in both of them soaked, and me gloating and laughing hysterically.
