Storms 01 - Family Storms

episodes described here were quite mediocre.”
    “You say,” Deidre told her. “I was quite satisfied the last time.”
    “It takes so little to satisfy Deidre,” Kiera said, and everyone laughed again, including Deidre. “Anyway, a suggestion was made by
moi
to the effect of performing the ultimate sex act as close to in public or in the presence of a third party as possible, trying not to be discovered, of course. Therein lies the danger. Which brings us back to Doris. Go on, Doris,” she said.
    “Crawford hung around longer than usual this particular day. I could feel his eyes on me, and he was flashing that cute, sexy smile of his. To my surprise and delight, I might add, he waited until I was finished with my shift, and then he and I had something to eat and drink, mostly drink. He snuck me some of his vodka. His father asked him to get something for the bar in the storage room, and I went with him. When we got there, we began to kiss.”
    “Storage room?” Marcia moaned. “That’s hardly dangerous.”
    “Will you wait!” Doris said, stamping her foot.
    “She’s right. Don’t rush her. Don’t ever rush it, girls,” Kiera said. Everyone smiled. “Go on, Doris.”
    Doris sent some eye darts at Marcia and continued.
    “He was trying to undo my skirt, and I said, ‘No, not here.’ I remembered our new VA pledge.”
    “Where did you go?” Margot asked, leaning toward her. All of the girls looked more interested now.
    “I took him by the hand to an area right behind the pins. We made love to the sound of strikes and splits,” she said proudly.
    Marcia grimaced, shaking her head. “That’s not much. I don’t think it was possible for anyone to see you.”
    “You don’t bowl at my father’s bowling alley. Anyone looking past the pins might have seen us. That counts, doesn’t it, Kiera?”
    “It counts. It wasn’t as dangerous as Margot’s time with Perry Gordon just under her father’s home-office window, however.”
    Doris looked disappointed. “Well, I thought it was clever,” she said. “And it got Crawford very excited, just like you said it might. He couldn’t believe I wanted to do it there.”
    “It was clever. That was very good, Doris. I don’t mean to say it wasn’t,” Kiera told her, and her sour, disappointed expression flew off her face, to be replaced by a satisfied smile. She nodded at Marcia.
    “From the look on her face, I don’t think Sasha understands us or what we’re talking about or what we believe,” Margot said. Everyone turned to me.
    “I thought I would let you guys talk a while to whet her appetite,” Kiera said, and then turned to me. “You know what Alcoholics Anonymous is, right?”
    For a moment, I lost my breath. She knew very well that I knew what Alcoholics Anonymous was. It was a place my mother should have been regularly, even before we were on the street. I glanced at Deidre and saw the way she was staring at me, poised to see my reaction. Every part of her face was perfectly still. She wasn’t even blinking.
    “Yes, I know what it is.”
    “Well, then, it’s simple to understand,” Kiera said.“Alcoholics go there to swear off alcohol. We meet here to swear off virginity.”
    As if they anticipated my reacting with shock or negativity, they each pounced with a defense.
    “Why should boys be the only ones to be ashamed of being virgins?” Margot asked.
    “Why should they be the only ones to enjoy having sex whenever they can or want?” Marcia added.
    “Why should boys be the only ones who can brag about how good a lover they are?” Doris asked.
    “Why do we have to be the ones who always say no?” Deidre asked.
    “Most boys, the ones who really are good lovers, don’t want to be with virgins, anyway,” Kiera said. “When they are, they always act as though they’re doing the girl a big favor.”
    “What we do here is support each other, advise each other, and protect each other,” Deidre told me. “Any girl out there on her own is vulnerable and afraid. You’re very lucky Kiera has brought you here. You may not realize it now, but you will soon enough.”
    “She thinks she doesn’t have to worry because she’s only fourteen,” Kiera said, as if she were reading my mind.
    “I was only fourteen the first time,” Margot said.
    “I wasn’t quite fourteen,” Marcia said.
    “I confess. I was almost fifteen,” Doris said.
    “The way you look, you’re not long for virginity, anyway,” Deidre said.