A Long Time Coming [Fiction]

[interesting]

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[This stems from a dream I had last night...]

It was the middle of the afternoon when I chanced upon her. Danielle. I couldn't believe it. How she had grown. She immediately recognized me.

"Frank? Is that you?"

I smiled at her.

"Oh my God! Danielle! Danielle? Can it be you?"

She hugged me and I knew it was her. She had become a young woman. I was utterly shocked and pleasantly surprised.

"Wow! You've grown."
"Thanks."

She giggled and took a step back. She stared me down.

"You used to be taller."
"You used to be a tad shorter..."

A few other comments popped into my mind. Her shapely figure had filled out. She wasn't the most buxom of ladies but she was definitely gorgeous. I hoped I was presentable. From the way she stared at me, I figured I wasn't doing too bad.

"How long has it been?" I inquired.
"Five years, give or take."
"What are you doing here?"
"In the mall? Shopping."
"No I mean here, in Sherbrooke?"
"Oh! I moved here, about four months ago."
"Really. Wow!"

My mind was taking a trip down memory lane. Danielle... how could I ever forget our time together? I hadn't. Although truth be told, our time together hadn't really been all that much. But still...

I had known Danielle many years ago. I was five years her senior, and her brother had been my best friend for a time. One day, when I was thirteen, he invited me over to his place. His family was loaded. His father worked for the government and his mother was a secretary at a law firm. They had a big secluded house in the woods, several guest rooms, an indoor pool and a lot of other services. I was from a middle class family on the side of poor - I treasured every opportunity I had to visit my friend.

That day, we went for a dip in the pool. That day, his sister Danielle came in to join us. Despite the fact that she was only eight and I was thirteen, my blossoming sexual energies had spotted her body's curves longing to show themselves. She practically ignored me. I felt bad that night as I lay in bed at my friend's house, thinking of his sister in that fashion. I tried to deny my desire - because that's all it was, given the inexperience and awkwardness of a young teenage boy. For a time, I could, But every time I visited his house, I discreetly tried to seek her out. When she wasn't there, I wasn't as enthousiastic to remain there.

And then, I moved away to Sherbrooke.

I kept visiting him for a few years, but I saw him (and her) less often. Every time I visited, I stayed over a little longer; this gave me a few more opportunities and I started seeing her blossom into a young woman. I noticed her breast developing, her hips widening, all the while keeping my interest for her tucked away in my pants - so to speak.

"How have you been?"

We chatted for a while, in the middle of mall, staring at each other like two long-lost friends. Eventually, we moved towards the wall and kept exchanging words, trading stories of the past five years.

"Do you remember last time we saw each other?"

How could I forget? I nodded accordingly.

"I still think about it."

My memory took me back to the last time I had visited my friend's house - the last time I had seen Danielle...

[HSsportsstar 1]

please continue, sounds like it could get very interesting.

[Coyote]

Good story EXCEPT----- that the fact that she was 8 years old. That creeps me out.

[interesting]

I know it does - it's sort of meant to. But nothing happens - the character knows his feelings are inappropriate, so he doesn't act on them (and would never have). It's establishment. But I do understand where you're coming from.

Stories don't always deal with feelgood things. Sometimes, they're meant to challenge our boundaries - for those who wish to be challenged. It's up to you if the introduction makes it too creepy for you to keep reading. I'll get to this one eventually - I want to work on one story arc at a time...

[interesting]

I got off the bus at two in the afternoon in the small town of St-Etienne. My friend, Paul, was coming to pick me up and we were going to head for his place. I had last seen him the year before that. School and other activities had kept us apart. I felt we were drifting away from each other and our interests were diverging. I was going on seventeen in a few months; he was a year younger than me. That meant Danielle was twelve or thirteen. I kept thinking of that as his parents' car pulled up. I packed my bag and my guitar in the trunk and sat in the back.

"Hey Frank. Long time."
"Yeah. Good to see you, buddy."

On the way to his home, we talked a little. His mother inquired about my studies. I answered her questions politely and without detail. We were at their home before we knew it.

"You brought your guitar."
"Yeah. I figured we could play some music together. You told me you're learning bass?"
"Yeap. I have a whole setup for recording. Maybe we can record ourselves."
"That'd be cool."

We got into the house. It was always a big place. The entryway led into the living room, a large screen television, gaming systems. The couches were the same as those they'd had when we just met. That led into a smaller dining room and an even smaller kitchen. The bedrooms were to the right at the end of the corridor; there was a staircase leading up; his parents and Danielle had their rooms there. And of course, to the left, the gigantic (at least to my tastes) indoor swimming pool, their once-prized possession.

We moved my stuff to his room, where I'd be staying. I unpacked my stuff. He lived in the woods so we went for a walk outside. We talked stories. We were both very much into imagination; we'd created this shared virtual world where our characters coexisted. Sometimes, we played out these stories, especially when we were younger; getting older, we had a tendency to write them down, in correspondance. We always tried to outdo one another, to come up with plot twists which the other hadn't conceived. It was my favorite part of our relationship, its creationist approach. I still miss it now and then.

Supper rolled around, and with it came his parents, his younger brother and of course Danielle, looking very much like a teenager now. She was definitely thirteen. She practically ignored me for the entire duration. His father inquired about my parents, their jobs. My father had just been laid off and was going through some difficulties. I really didn't want to talk about it too much.

We ended up watching the original Star Wars trilogy that night; we filled in the blanks while talking about our stories and our characters again. He'd called shotgun on the character of Luke, and since I wanted to have a Jedi as well, we'd decided that Luke and Leia had another brother, and his name was John. So I was John Skywalker, and he was Luke. We joked about it a lot; being older, we saw the many different ways we could have solved our dilemma, but we'd come up with the idea in grade five.

As midnight rolled around, we decided we'd head for bed. I had practically not seen nor thought about Danielle the entire time; yet as my head hit the pillow, my mind drifted back to that pool of his... and Danielle in her swimsuit. All of the times I had seen her there, from those first innocent glances to the improper thoughts of a growing boy becoming a man through all the angst required.

I rolled to the side and tried to get some sleep. I was to be there for three whole days. It was best not to dwell on the impossible. After all, chances were I wouldn't see that much of her anyway. Besides, she was thirteen, I was going on seventeen; it wasn't proper of me to try anything, especially since she was my best friends' sister.

As it would turn out, things wouldn't be so simple. But I'd find that out in the morning.

[interesting]

When morning rolled around and the sun beat down the night, I got up a little before my friend. I made my way into the downstairs bathroom, shut the door and, without opening the light, made my way into my morning ritual: whizz, hand and face wash and a glass of something. I made my way into the kitchen. His mother was up and apparently making breakfast. I was glad I'd worn long pajamas and the matching top.

"Good morning."
"'Morning..."
"You want something?"
"Just juice."

She poured me a glass of orange juice. I gulped it down.

"So, what do you boys have planned for today?"
"Not sure. Paul said we'd talk about it."
"Well, my husband is already gone for work and I'll be leaving soon. You'll have the house all to yourselves."
"All right."

She left me alone in the kitchen with my juice while she went to get dressed. I sat down at the table, looking at the headline of the local paper.

I heard the stairs creaking again. My gaze wandered in that direction: Danielle was making her way towards me. It didn't seem like much but it brought last night's thoughts back into my mind. She was also wearing a pajama; her buttoned top had the few bottom buttons undone so I could see her navel. The pants rested loosely on her hips and I wondered if she was wearing panties. But that was the extent of my reflection. She practically ignored me as she went into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of juice. She gulped it down, leaning her head back as she did, which gave her chest some evidence. She turned to me; I looked away as if I had been looking elsewhere the whole time.

"Hi."
"Hey."

She moved towards the table.

"Paul not up yet?"
"Nope."

I couldn't think of anything clever to say. It was better to keep my answers short. My eyes had a tendency to go back to her half-exposed belly; it was better than staring at the small mounds I mostly imagined at chest level.

"What are you gonna do today?"
"Probably play some music, or video games..."
"Cool."

I was tempted to ask her if she wanted to play with us, but I knew better. Besides, she surely had her own plans for the day.

Paul finally joined me in the kitchen. We talked about our upcoming day as he took out the cereal boxes. Danielle left and returned to her room. I chatted with Paul and we decided we'd go into the backwoods and do some walking around in the morning. Afternoon was left up for grabs. Danielle came back down; she was wearing low-cut dark blue jeans and a hight cut red t-shirt. Her midriff was completely exposed. There was something hypnotic about the exposed flesh. She wished us well and bolted outside - I imagined she was going to hang out with some friends.

Paul and I got dressed and went outside.

As we were walking around, we started chatting about our lives in general. He told me about his troubles at school, how he was being ostracized because he didn't fit in with the regular crowd. His influences were starting to make him more and more gothic-like in his demeanor and attire. He had a few friends who were like-minded, but that didn't stop the heckling. Someone had actually accused him of performing satanic rituals. The thought made us both laugh.

I didn't share much about myself. I spoke more about my latest heartbreak, the last one in a series of disappointing attempts at finding a girlfriend. They had all declined my invitation. Truth be told, there weren't that many, roughly one per year. The latest one had not gone any better. He sympathized but he couldn't understand - he'd already had three girlfriends so far.

Lunch rolled around and we headed back home. We got to talking about his family.

"So your younger brother's going to his friend's house, then?"
"Yeah. He's always gone, anyways."
"And what about Danielle?"

I was scared to inquire, but since we were on the subject of their whereabouts...

"I don't know."

When we got home to lunch, we raided the fridge. We cooked up some leftover ham and rice, and made our way into his living room, turning on the console. We played for a half-an-hour, alternating through the single-player mode.

Eventually, the door opened and Danielle came in, with a friend. She was about her age, long reddish brown hair, with a long skirt and a camisole. They waved to us and moved up the stairs to Danielle's room. As I watched them go up the stairs, Paul answered my unspoken question.

"Rita."

I nodded and we went back to the game.

"What do you want to do later?"
"Maybe go for a swim?"

He smiled. I always wanted to go for a swin. His indoor pool was a luxury I didn't have at home. He took it for granted, but he could understand why I wanted to take advantage of it.

"All right."

We paused our game - no one but us would use the console anyway - and we went to get our swimming trunks. We made our way into the pool area and before long, I was wading through the pool and enjoying its nice lukewarm waters. Paul dove in from the board and we kept chatting about how nice the weather was.

All of a sudden, movement caught my eye. We turned our heads and saw two figures enter the pool area. Both were wearing their swimsuits; Danielle and Rita had probably had the same idea as me. For a moment, they paused at the entrance. There was a moment of awkwardness, not because they were showing themselves in swimsuits in front of us, but because we'd beaten them to the punch. But Danielle's friend, Rita, had her mind set on the pool, as much as I'd had, so she pulled Danielle into the room.

There was ample room for four in there, anyways.

"You don't mind?"

The question finally popped from Danielle. It was Paul who answered.

"Nope."

And before I could even utter a word - not that I wanted to - Danielle and Rita had joined us in the pool.