The Reunion (21 page)

This was familiar, this was right; the smell of the ocean, the *
four
* of them seated in a small circle crossed legged, knee to knee; the coolness of the sand and the breeze off the water, carrying the sound of the waves and blocking out the sounds of civilization.  She missed these times.  She missed these people.

"This is just wrong."  Ryan took another drink.  "I'm surrounded."

"Well we couldn't find Tommy and Pete is asleep."  Em said.

"Kim knows to lock the doors too."  Stacy added.

"True."  Toni laughed.

"What are you doing up anyway?"  Stacy asked.

"Couldn't sleep.  Couldn't unwind."  Em looked out at the moon trail across the water.

"And you?"  Toni asked.

"Leg cramps." Stacy smiled and flexed and pointed her foot several times.

"Toni?"  Ryan asked.

"I haven't got a clue I was dead asleep then I was being dragged onto a beach.  It would have been fun except it was these two."  Toni whined.

"Well drink something I feel like an idiot."  Ryan passed her his beer.

"Where's Ty?"

"Couldn't get him to wake up and we decided we need to talk to you anyway."  Toni handed him the beer.

"RW?" Ryan asked

"Sure, but first I want to know about you and Em skinny dipping."

"I had my suit on."  Em defended herself yet again.

"
She had her suit on
."  Toni laughed, "It was a bra and panties but it was the same as a bathing suit, probably more than that tiny bikini you used to wear."

"Ryan you know what I'm talking about."

"I don't know… it was something to do."  Ryan said slightly embarrassed.

"Shut up and tell me." 

"I liked the feel and smell of her."  Ryan admitted.

"Really?"  Em pictured the two of them playing tag in the pool, first he would get her and then she'd get him but he was always picking her up and holding her against him.  She had tried to forget he'd peeled his wet clothes off.  It was supposedly an accident that they fell into the pool in the first place.

"Do you remember what RW did after she found out about it?"

"Put food coloring in my hair."  It suddenly hit him that someone other than RW would have come up with that idea.  "EM?"  Ryan finally put two and two together.

"I only mentioned that we used it to color eggs sometimes."  She shifted uncomfortably.

"They had to strip my hair white."  He complained without much passion.  "Mom almost killed RW when she caught her.  I should have known it was you."

"She always thought up stuff like that."  Stacy confirmed.

"For someone as naive and angelic looking she sure was a little devil."  Toni said with sufficient awe and admiration Stacy smiled.

"Thank you.  That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me."  Em said smiling.

"Looks like a good girl but hates
being
a good girl."  Toni laughed.

"And, I didn't mean it as a compliment."   She hit Ryan’s shoulder and they laughed.  "You never caught on that's why we always went swimming with you.  We could cop a feel and you just thought we were tickling you or playing tag or something."

"Dumb as a door knob."  Stacy smiled.  "Her and Josh never got as physical as she did with the rest of us."

"He could have taught her a thing or two if he'd thought about it or if she said anything."

"I was pretty stupid."

"How the hell did you rationalize tackle baseball."

"She'd laugh so hard she'd end up on the ground rolling anyway, she might as well roll with someone."

"Did not!"  Em sounded aghast.

"God Em you can't really be that stupid."   Ryan said.

"She's not stupid, she just assumed everything was all innocent and
trusted
everyone." Toni accused.

"Yeah, you guys took advantage, probably why Toni and I didn't play around with you the way like she and RW did."  Stacy confirmed.

"You had your turn a couple of times as I recall."  Ryan laughed.  "They were more into basketball and softball and football than you two anyway."

"Tomboys."  Stacy laughed.  "No one looked less like boys."

"That time I got my blouse torn and we told Mae it was the neighborhood bully."

"God did we all have to go and apologize for that, I hated even talking to that guy."

"It was hysterical."  Ryan said remembering Tommy screwing up and saying they were in a dogpile in the backyard and someone had grabbed her sleeve instead of her arm and almost ripped the thing off at the shoulder seam.

"The grass stains on my ass should have been a dead giveaway." Stacy smiled.  "It was the best summer.  That one just before Bea divorced your stepfather."

"Wasn't that a marriage made in hell."  Em shivered, her stepfather had tried to molest her and her mom had thrown him out and filed papers within a week.  "I never liked that guy.  Too smooth."

"He had a great car though."  Ryan remembered.

"GOD I forgot about that." Em laughed.

"You got in with a coat hanger and he stupidly kept his spare key in the glove compartment…" Stacy said.

"We drove down to Laguna and partied all night in that cave on the beach."  Ryan said.

"I had sand everywhere.  I couldn't get out of that swimming suit fast enough when we got home." Toni laughed.

"Where did you obtain all those skills?"  Stacy asked.

"Reading, [and watching] TV I guess."  Em shrugged.  Looking at the cool sand escaping her fist.

"Natural mechanic.  Saw 'The Sting' too many times."  Ryan teased nudging her with his shoulder.

"God remember Robert Redford… he was so hot."  Stacy looked at Toni.

"Paul Newman." Em sighed.

"That was the first time I thought about older guys."  Toni sighed.  "They should have done another movie together.  I started watching all those old movies with him in it after that."

"If they had cable TV or videos back then we would never have left the house."  Stacy said.

"Did Josh even have his driver's license yet when we stole that car?"  Ryan asked.

"Permit."  Em remembered.

"We had how many people in there?"  Stacy asked.

"I just remember having to sit on Tommy's lap."  Em said.

"I had RW."  Ryan smiled.

"Like that was a surprise.  Toni was on Pete's and Stacy was on Ty's, them being the tallest they were up front."

"With no seatbelt laws.  We were always in cars where we had to lap it."

"I just remember Em's cut offs and that see through white top with those little embroidered flowers, god you had a body."  He received another hit for that comment.

"Ty used to tell them that he'd make a fortune taking pictures of them and selling them to playboy."

"I always had a bra or bathing suit on." Em said insulted.

"Didn't matter.  We filled in the blanks."  Ryan laughed.

"I wish I had known all this when we were kids." Em complained.

"No you don't, we wouldn't have had half the fun."  Toni said.

"I just feel so
used
."  Em blushed and started scooping the sand into a pile.

"Yeah right.  You had them twisted around your little finger.  I can't believe she never got it though… and how the hell did you remain a virgin until you were twenty…"  Toni tried for confused, but just didn’t pull it off.

"TWENTY!" Ryan sputtered.  "You were still…"

"Shut up." Stacy hit Toni for that one.  "I got that out of the way back in high school."

"Me too."  Toni admitted.

"Who?"  Ryan asked his sister innocently enough and Stacy and Toni exchanged glances then started laughing and rocking back and forth.

"No way, I'm not saying another word."  Stacy leaned over and whispered something to Em and her eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open.

"REALLY?"  Em suddenly got a really nasty, sexy expression on her face.  "You know…"

"We're not talking anymore about that."

"But that means…"

"Shut up…"

"OH now you HAVE to tell me."  Ryan pretended to choke his sister.

"That's so freaky."  Em smiled suddenly.  "How old were you Ryan, the first time?"

"First time first time or first time intentionally."  Ryan teased.

"Intentionally then I want the whole story."  Stacy demanded.

"15."  Ryan admitted.

"EM?" Stacy asked.

"Two weeks short of my 20
th
birthday.  Toni?"

"17.  That means Stacy was 17 too then."

"17!"  Ryan looked appalled.  "WHO?"

"Doesn't matter, does it?"  Stacy smiled.  "It wasn't long after that that I realized that we'd been lied to and not everyone was doing it."

"Everyone was doing it, no one talked about it though." Toni joked.

"I can't even talk about it now."  Em mumbled.

"WE KNOW."  the other three laughed after saying it.

"Em, you're just private that way.  You never talked about it like the rest of us did." Stacy laughed.  "Not them…"  she pointed to Ryan, "But Toni, RW and me."

"So Ryan and RW?"

"When she was 16, yeah."  Toni said before Ryan pushed her over onto Stacy.

"What was it televised or something?"  He looked embarrassed.

"No."  Toni suddenly laughed.  "She was just so excited and because the rest of us… I mean Toni and me… she couldn’t wait to tell us."  Stacy said.

"Where was I?"  Em asked.

"You were there, you were just asleep."  Toni leaned over to whisper something to Stacy.

"
GET OUT!
"  Stacy laughed.

"I'm going to leave if you keep whispering to each other."  Ryan threatened.

"Nah, we just need to even the numbers up some."  Stacy said.

"Hey Tommy, where the hell have you been?"  Toni asked.

"I'm up to Hs now."  He winked at Toni.

"Bragger."  Em and Stacy scooted aside to let him between them.  "Well I guess you are the only one that's not paired up at the moment."

"Have to keep the family rep up…" Ryan asked.

"ManWhore.." Toni laughed.

As Stacy said.  "Yeah right."

"When did you first have sex?"  Em asked in all seriousness.  Tommy was in the process of taking a drink from Ryan's beer and choked.

"WHAT?"  Tommy gasped.

"We were talking about sex…"  Stacy told him calmly.

"You're right we should just leave…"  Tommy laughed and handed the beer back to Ryan.  "What brought this up?"

"We were talking about how naïve Em is."  Toni said.

"Did you know she was a virgin until she was 20?"  Even without the beer Tommy choked when Ryan asked.  It took him a minute to get his breath back.

"20?"  He started laughing.  "Well we didn't give her much of a chance to date or anything.  We tied up most of her weekends when she wasn't babysitting."  Toni and Stacy looked at each other and started laughing again.

"She's probably the only one that can count the number of lovers on her fingers."  Toni teased.

"I bet you're right!"  Stacy laughed.

"MR. CLARK!  Don't tell me you two screwed Mr. Clark?"  Ryan hit Toni's leg.  This time Tommy grabbed Ryan's bottle and downed the remainder of the contents.

"He wasn't married."  Toni reminded him.  Stacy's mouth dropped open and she hit Toni.

"You were watching his kids!"  Tommy accused.

"He was guessing!"  Stacy protested.

"He was something."  Toni sighed.

"Don't…  Don't say anything."  Tommy covered his ears.  "Not another word."

"So how old were you?" Em pulled his arm and hand away from his ear.

"16."  Tommy said.

"Hey Ry explain that intent part."  Stacy asked.

"Uh," Ryan paused.

"Never mind."  Toni put a hand on his arm. "Since I just blabbed I want to know who?"

"Who?"  He shook his head. 

"I take the 5
th
."  Toni's eyes got wide and she looked at Ryan. 

"That means it had to be Julie.  She was three years older than you." She said in an accusatory manner.

"So?"  Tommy said.

"Me too."  Ryan admitted.

"WHAT?" Stacy asked.

"Julie Stevenson, Jim's older sister."  Em asked.

"JIM!" Toni started laughing, "There was someone hopelessly in love with Em."

"What?" Em said.  "No way."

"We never saw him unless you were around.  Julie and Judy were always coming over but Jim didn't come over unless you were there, even to swim."