Ready For Flynn, Part 1

by KL Shandwick

  “Hi, Ziggy. Happy New Year. Did you have a good time at New Years?”

  “Yeah, it was pretty cool. You?”

  “Yeah, and no. My brother was home—that was cool, but some other stuff got in the way of me relaxing,” I answered honestly.

  “Ah. The ex-boyfriend-soon-to-become-superstar thing, huh?”

  “Jesus. Is that why you’re talking to me, Ziggy?”

  “God. No. Well yes…it is,” he huffed looking pretty frustrated with himself.

  “Look, what I wanted to say… ask, I don’t care about anything else. I just… wanted to ask you out. I’ve wanted to ask you out since eighth grade. Bradley’s balls grew faster than mine is all,” he smirked.

  I began to laugh and immediately regretted it. Ziggy was serious. That’s why he’d been so awkward. It wasn’t about Flynn or anything else. It was because he wanted me.

  “You want to take me out?”

  “I just said so didn’t I?”

  “I think so somewhere in between your reference that one of my ex-boyfriends was a rock star, and the other had faster growing balls than yours.”

  Ziggy chuckled at my summation, “Guess I made a mess of that, huh?”

  “Ziggy, as your hit up line has been the most original I’ve heard in a long time, I’d love to go on a date with you.” I meant it. He was a really sweet boy. Handsome and athletic, he had manners.

  Ziggy looked bashfully at me then shoved his hands even further into his pockets as he inhaled sharply. He caught his breath in his mouth before he puffed his lips and let out a slow trail of mist into the cold morning air.

  “Damn that wasn’t as hard as I’d thought it was going to be. I was prepared to beg,” he smirked, glancing over toward the football field.

  Ziggy became cuter by the minute. His boyish flirting wasn’t even practiced, but it was working on me. The way he kept saying what he was thinking endeared him to me, it was funny.

  “So are you going to stand there and talk me out of this or do you have a plan for this date you want to take me on?”

  “Sure I have a plan. I have two. Both boring, of course, and corny. Same ol’ same ol’. Back of my truck with a picnic basket, I drive to a corn field to watch the stars until your brothers find us or if that’s too scary, a movie and popcorn. Although, I wondered about having the popcorn because if we kiss and there’s a bit of—” He started gesturing at my mouth with his finger, grimaced and shuddered. I giggled.

  “So what you’re saying is you have a plan but no plan? So what if I have a plan instead? Can you cope with your date leading the way?”

  “Hell yes, I read all about female domination. I’m sure I can deal with that, Val.”

  “I’m going to pretend that didn’t just fall out of your mouth, Ziggy, okay?”

  “Sure,” he said with a wry grin.

  Ziggy walked me to class and during the lecture, he kept stealing glances at me. I became self-conscious that others might have seen him and began giggling out loud. I was admonished by our teacher and by the time we broke for lunch Ziggy was more than ready to pounce.

  “So—I’m growing on you right?”

  Slowly my smile widened at how cute he looked as he sought my approval. “Yup, but don’t overdo it.”

  “Gotcha.”

  Without another word he walked away leaving me standing alone in the middle of the corridor wondering what I’d said. I giggled and shook my head before heading in the other direction for lunch.

  Chapter 9 ~ Sweet talking guy

  Strange, but I’d felt reservations once I’d agreed to date Ziggy. Although I’d been pleasantly surprised at how attractive he looked in his cowboy boots, faded jeans, white vest, red plaid shirt and his black leather jacket. I’d only ever seen him in gray baggy sweatshirts, black or blue skinny jeans and Chucks. The ‘evening’ version of Ziggy looked much older than sixteen and more like an eighteen-year-old. He was taller than most in school maybe six feet, and he wasn’t at all scrawny. He’d filled out, as my mom would say.

  Shiny blond hair flopped sexily over his almond-shaped blue eyes, and his smile was open and honest. The kind of smile I knew I could handle. My eyes flicked back to meet his because they were just so attractive to look at. Everyone in my family had hazel or green eyes, so Ziggy’s blue ones seemed to pull me in.

  “Alright, I’m ready for this. You want to bring your dad to the door?” I was surprised that everyone wasn’t already in the yard vetting him. My mom quizzed me endlessly, “What did his father do for a living? Did his mom work or was she a stay-at-home mom? Did he have siblings? If so what gender?” I’d felt like I was on an episode of Jeopardy and she was waiting for me to give her the wrong answer with all the questions.

  I rolled my eyes at Ziggy and was just about to tell him not to be ridiculous when my dad came up close behind me.

  “And you’d be?”

  “Ziggy Ally, Sir.”

  “Ziggy? Are your parents David Bowie fans?”

  “No sir. My father’s a Clinical Psychologist. Ziggy…I mean my name is Sigmund after Sigmund Freud the famous psychologist, Sir.”

  “I see. I can also see why you’d go by Ziggy. I take it you don’t have the same level of psychoanalytical bullshit as him?”

  My jaw dropped, and I turned sharply and narrowed my eyes at my father’s unsavory tone.

  “Who my Dad or Freud?” My dad chuckled heartily before Ziggy continued. “No, Sir. That’s another reason for preferring Ziggy. People hear my name, and I hear countless references about him and his theories. I mean no one thinks everyone called David can kick a ball like Beckham from the UK do they? So how come I get the one guy…”

  My father held up his hand in silence.

  “Point taken. You have my permission to take my daughter out. You be respectful of her virtue. You hear me boy? And have her back by eleven.”

  I almost fell to the floor with mortification when my dad said that about my virtue. I’d always known I’d been sheltered and because of that, I was limited in my experiences and friends. But what he’d said to Ziggy sounded like something out of an early nineteenth-century cowboy movie.

  “Right, Dad you’ve had your fun. We’re leaving now.” I reached out and pulled Ziggy’s shirt sleeve, and he followed me down the yard to his truck. Kayden was just leaving the barn, and I heard the heavy pine door bang shut.

  “In the truck and drive,” I said as Kayden began to walk toward us purposefully.

  Ziggy said nothing but climbed in his side and started the engine as I closed the door on my side.

  We passed my brother just as he was reaching the edge of the dirt road, so I waved and smiled sweetly, priding myself for handling the situation of Ziggy’s first visit quite well.

  “So where are we going, princess?”

  “Don’t call me that. My name is Valerie.”

  Ziggy fell silent and drove until we reached the fork in the road signaling East and West.

  “So, is this part of the date?”

  “What?”

  “You— dominating me.”

  “Domineering, Ziggy. The word is domineering. And I’m not doing that.”

  “No? So, ‘Get in the car and drive’ and ‘Don’t call me princess,’ don’t they sound kinda like that to you?”

  I drew breath to argue and glanced over at his face. His smirk revealed a dimple in his right cheek, and I knew he was teasing me.

  “Oh, you’ve changed your tune from yes, sir…”

  “So you think I’d have been better saying, we’re going down by the lake with a blanket, to have some cheese and to drink two contraband bottles of beer. Then, when we’re done eating and drinking I’m going to try my hardest not to get a hard-on while looking at your stunning daughter by the moonlight?”

  Keeping my laughter in check, I stared straight-faced at Ziggy.

  “Is that the plan?”

  “Do you have a better one? Because right now, Valerie, I’m not even making it to the l
ake with the feelings that are stirring in my pants.”

  I knew what he meant. I’d felt lust just from staring at Flynn. The way Ziggy spoke to me made me feel desired in the same way I had when Flynn pushed me against my bedroom door.

  “Do you have some kind of honesty disease or something? I don’t know any other boy that would have said something like that to a girl on a first date. In fact, I don’t think Bradley ever said anything like that to me—ever. I mean he tried to…”

  “Valerie, let me get this straight. I’m not Bradley. He’s a dickhead for what he did to you. His loss is my gain. Not that you’re his seconds or anything…”

  I started laughing out loud. Ziggy was trying to make me feel better, but his ability to put his foot in his mouth was something of a talent.

  “So what am I?” I asked.

  “You’re a stunningly gorgeous young lady that’s way out of my league. But—for some weird reason, you said yes to a date with me, and here I am. Ta Da! Yours for however long that may be. I’m not like my namesake. I’m not going to try to analyze it; I’m just going to live it for what it is. I never expected you to agree to date me. Not in a million years and at some point, your real guy will come and sweep you off your feet, and all I can hope for is that you remember me with warmth and affection. We’re sixteen and I’m not going to pretend that this is forever, but we can make this time a good memory, right?”

  Ziggy pulled the car over at a spot overlooking the lake. There was frost on the ground and the trees surrounding the lake had brittle white, bare branches. The leafless wood allowed the fading winter light to show through the trees as the birds fell silent. Dusk was a quiet time, and we sat in silence for a few moments. Ziggy’s comment was probably the most honest one any man would ever say to me. And it had shocked me that he hadn’t thought he was good enough for me to be his.

  “I’d really like that, Ziggy.”

  Turning toward me, his arm swept along the back of the car seat. His hand curled around my shoulder, and he tugged me closer. My body held no resistance toward his as he pulled me up close to him. Being with him felt pretty natural, and the warmth from his body felt comforting.

  “Is this okay?” he said resting his head on mine.

  “Sure,” I answered as my body trembled slightly at his touch. A little thrill of excitement ran through my veins for the first time since Flynn. I’d missed the closeness of cuddling with a boy. Bradley and I used to do it all the time until he started pressuring me for more, so Ziggy’s forwardness that night was welcome.

  I leaned away from him to look up and his free hand caught my chin. “Anyone ever tell you, you’re all that?”

  A smile curved my lips. “Depends what ‘all that’ is,” I countered.

  “The perfect girl. How you look, talk, walk, smell.”

  “You’re smelling me?”

  “How can I not? You’re all around me, Valerie.”

  “Like a skunk you mean?”

  The rumbly laugh he gave me made my smile wider.

  “Jesus. No. Valerie, you smell like pears and violets.”

  “Pears and violets, huh? I must tell my brothers that one, we all use the same generic body wash my Mom buys at the store. I wonder if girls tell them the same.”

  I was still laughing when Ziggy brought his mouth down and pressed a kiss to my mouth. When I hadn’t objected his tongue skimmed the small opening between my lips and probed my mouth, then he deepened the kiss. He was a great kisser. My heart rate picked up its pace and small bursts of electric energy hit zones in my body previously awakened by Flynn.

  Ziggy pulled away a little breathless and adjusted himself in his seat then suddenly pulled the door handle and jumped down onto the grass. Clearing his throat, he smiled back at me.

  “Don’t worry you weren’t bad enough to make me run away, I’m just getting some drinks for us. This is thirsty work, and I think we’re going to need a bit more practice,” he winked, and I shook my head at his words.

  Feeling good was something I’d taken for granted for most of my life. Incidents in those previous few months had changed that. The tipping point for that had been Bradley’s betrayal, but I felt nothing at all for him as soon as I’d met Flynn.

  As I sat in the warmth of Ziggy’s truck, I knew I was entering a new chapter of my life, and for the first time in a while I was excited to look forward. Ziggy wasn’t Flynn, but he was easy to be around, he said what he meant, and because he was so open, I knew what he was thinking. I figured he’d quite possibly be the person to heal the ache in my heart left in Flynn’s wake.

  Three hours later, we’d kissed ourselves drunk. Both of us had rewarded the other with soft sighs and moans to the point where twice, Ziggy popped the door on the truck and jumped out to wander around it muttering under his breath and adjusting his pants. It had made me chuckle and each time he’d done it, I gave him a little more of my heart.

  Dropping me home at 10:45 pm, Ziggy turned to look at me, the moonlight shining through the windshield.

  “I hope your Dad doesn’t think I brought you back early because you wouldn’t put out.”

  I giggled almost uncontrollably, “How do you know I wouldn’t? You didn’t try.”

  Ziggy glanced over with a shocked look on his face. “Sweet Jesus, you’re not saying…”

  I chuckled even more and felt bad for leading him on.

  “You’re right, I’m not saying,” I smiled and held his hand.

  “Figured. I reckon it’ll take some fancy talking from a smooth tongue to get into your drawers, Valerie.”

  I almost choked with laughter and doubled up in his truck, banging my head on the glove compartment. My dad walked out on the porch before I could respond to Ziggy, he’d jumped out of his side of the truck and ran around the hood to open my door for me. Taking my hand, he helped me down and closed it before looking back with a sheepish look on his face.

  Dad called out, “Ten minutes, Valerie. Good job, Ziggy,” and entered the house again.

  “So did I blow it? I was doing okay until the drawers comment I think. Too much information, Valerie?” he asked cringing as he screwed his eyes tight. A moment later he peeked out of one eye and held his body in a freeze frame until I smiled and patted his chest.

  “Yes, but you can come back. I enjoyed our time tonight; it was real easy.”

  “Yeah, unlike you,” he said and looked horrified with himself.

  “I mean you’re not…and you shouldn’t be…”

  I pulled him in for a hug and his arms wrapped around me in an instant.

  “I know what you meant, I was just teasing you.”

  “You’ve been doing that all night as well, sweet Valerie.”

  “Don’t you ever stop, Ziggy?”

  “Stop what?” he said, throwing his arm out like he had no idea.

  He leaned in and kissed me softly and suddenly I sagged against the car door. Ziggy in his quest to keep his lips connected with mine, dropped forward until his hips touched mine. I could feel his hard cock press against my belly, and he moaned at the sudden contact. Breathlessly, I pushed him back, and I could tell we both felt out of our depth.

  “Okay, well—goodnight,” I mumbled and ran for the door with my head down. I didn’t want to wait around to give him the chance to point out the obvious about what had happened. Once inside the door, I pressed it closed and leaned against it with a smile on my face.

  After that night, Ziggy became a pretty permanent fixture around our place. My mom and dad really warmed to him. Kayden and Adam watched from a distance at first, but he gradually won them over as well. Part of his success with that was that Ziggy’s main hobby was building motorcycles with his dad. Once the boys knew that, Kayden and my dad invited him to tinker with some of the projects they’d salvaged from the wrecker’s yard.

  Our boy-girl dates had turned into a more serious affair without either of us trying. Naturally as our relationship and feelings grew so did our desires. We’d s
tarted to mess around a bit, and hit second base more than a few times. At those times, Ziggy had run outside, and I’d watched him drive off into the distance because our feelings were getting the better of us and he was trying hard not to overstep the mark because of what happened with Bradley, but Ziggy wasn’t Bradley, and it felt different with him.

  If I was honest, I had been starting to struggle not to go further, so I was glad that he was trying to keep us on safe ground. Ziggy told me one night he’d loved me since that first kiss, and I realized my feelings for him had grown to love as well. It was different to what I’d felt with Bradley and Flynn. He felt safe, made me smile, and we were almost inseparable.

  The acid test was Martin. He came home for the Easter break, and I’d been nervous because I wanted him to like Ziggy. He had a great heart, and we’d grown close. After spending the first evening home in Ziggy’s company, Martin flung himself down beside me after he’d gone home. He placed a beer to his lips, chugged some down and stared pointedly in my direction.

  “Never thought I’d hear myself say this about a guy you were with Valerie, but Ziggy’s a good kid. He’s good for you, Beatnik. He makes you smile.”

  I’d known Martin’s approval was important to me. However, it was only when he confirmed he liked him that I realized this.

  Chapter 10 ~ Feelings

  Martin had been gone for eleven weeks since Christmas, yet I felt his presence as soon as he’d walked through the door. Everyone came to life when he was home. Or so it seemed. Mom appeared chirpier; dad, much more talkative – no, more argumentative, and it brought a smile to my lips when I saw how easily Martin could rile him when they talked football and cars.

  His was home for two and a half weeks long before he was headed back to St. Cloud for a few weeks to finish his senior seminar before he graduated. When he’d said he was coming back to live at home, I was excited about it. Something had changed with him, though, for the first time, he’d brought a girl to our home. Jessica, his girlfriend, arrived on the Wednesday after he had and we all planned a road trip to Las Vegas. I’d been so excited when both Ziggy’s and my parents agreed Ziggy and I could go with them. It seemed that since I’d found a boy that everyone agreed they liked, the age barrier wasn’t a problem any longer.