Ivy had just gotten home from the hospital when she called Clarissa on her cell.
It was an early Saturday evening in mid-July. Ivy had gotten a call at work from her mother telling her that her brother Bret was in surgery after a collision in a baseball game that afternoon. Ivy managed a clothing store and left immediately to meet her parents at the hospital. After several hours waiting around they learned that Bret had serious leg problems and would be laid up for a while. His ankle was broken and his knee was too, or damn close, the X-rays were inconclusive. But if it wasn’t broken it was bent, wrenched, torn, turned, strained, sprained, hyper-extended and seriously fucked up. After surgery Bret was half asleep and flying high, so once his family members learned he was okay they left the hospital and headed home. They would go back in the morning.
“Hey, girlfriend,” Ivy said when Clarissa answered her phone. “Breaking news, no pun intended. Guess who’s been admitted to the hospital on your floor?”
“Who?”
“My little brother.”
“Get out. Really?”
“You’re on four south, right? Orthopedics?”
“Of course.”
“Well, we just got back home after a few hours in the waiting room and then they put him in your unit. I didn’t see you, though.”
“I’m on nights this week. What happened?”
“Don’t know all the details. He was playing ball and had a collision with another player. The other guy was okay. Bret went to the hospital.”
“I go in at eleven. I will check on him overnight.”
“I’m sure you will,” Ivy said.
----
Ivy and Clarissa were both now twenty-eight years old, had been best friends since first grade. They went through elementary school, middle school and high school together, close as could be, thick as thieves, despite their differences. Both were slim, curvy and attractive, Ivy white-skinned and blond, while Clarissa had black hair with olive skin, the daughter of a Lebanese dad and a raven-haired American mom.
They went on to different universities. Clarissa achieved a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, and was now an RN on the orthopedic unit at the community hospital. Ivy wanted to be a writer, majored in English, and had published several short stories. She managed a retail clothing store to pay the bills while writing in her spare time, mostly short stories, but hoping to write a novel.
They grew up together. Did everything together. Double-dated for the Prom. Told each other everything. And over the years Clarissa had always felt, and had told Ivy numerous times, that she thought her little brother Bret was cute, even though he was seven years younger. Seven years is a huge age difference when you are kids, with no mutual friends, seems almost like different generations. But that was then; now they weren’t kids anymore.
----
Bret has grown into a damn good-looking young man, was Clarissa’s first thought when she saw him there, although all she could see of him was his tired, handsome face, mussed blond hair and broad shoulders. He had a single room, and was lying in the hospital bed, mostly covered up with his right leg elevated in a soft cast that went from his foot up to six inches above his knee. He looked like he was dozing.
“Hello, Bret?”
He looked up at this nurse at his bedside wearing green scrubs, a good-looking gal with a thin face, dark complexion and her black hair tied back. “Yes…”
“I’m your night nurse. Remember me?” she said, and pointed to her name tag.
“Clarissa!” he said with a smile, and tried to sit up a little straighter. “God, I haven’t seen you for years.”
“I know, it’s been a long time. Ivy called me when you were admitted. Told me to take good care of you.”
“Everybody’s been great so far.”
“That’s good to hear. Mind if I sit with you for a few minutes?” she asked.
“Not at all. I could use the company. It’s hard to sleep anyway with the buzzers and beepers and the blood pressure cuff squeezing my arm like a vise every hour.”
Clarissa pulled a chair up beside his bed. “So what happened to you? A little mishap on the ball field?”
“You could say that. I’m a pitcher on my college team, but the coaches like us to play summer ball too, you know, to keep in shape, so I’ve been playing on this semi-pro team. We had a double-header down at the sports park. I pitched the first game, that went well, we won 4-2, but in the second game they put me in at second base. I hadn’t played infield since high school, and back then I played shortstop, not second, so I was out-of-position. Anyway this big black guy who was at bat took a big swing and hit a little dribbler between the pitcher’s mound and the first base line. The first baseman charged the ball so I had to cover first. I got my footwork all screwed up and collided with this huge guy running full speed down the baseline and we bashed knees. Felt like I was hit by a truck. I got flipped head-over-heels and came down hard on my leg. He got up, but when I tried to stand up I fainted. Ended up here, and I’ll be here a few days. My knee is all fucked up. So is my ankle.”
“I know. I read your chart.”
“So, the rest of my summer is officially down the tubes. I’ll be sitting on my ass for a few weeks and then rehab. Ugh.”
“You are young and healthy. I wouldn’t be surprised to find that you are a fast healer.”
“Hope so. I’m off to a good start. I have a good night nurse. Good looking too.”
Clarissa smiled shyly, blushed. “Thank you,” she said.
“I’m serious, Clarissa. You really look good. And want to know a secret?”
“What’s that?”
“I always had a crush on you.”
Clarissa was silent, didn’t know what to say. Had Ivy told him that she had told her that she thought he was cute all those years ago?
“You had a crush on me? But you were…”
“I know, I was just a dumb kid. I was like nine or ten when you and Ivy were in high school. I know it sounds ridiculous, that’s why I never told anyone.”
“Well, I heard that by the time you got to high school, you were beating the girls off with a stick.”
“Nah, not really. Just nasty rumors,” he said with a grin.
They talked for a while, reminiscing and laughing about the old days. He told her some college stories, she told him some hospital stories. The conversation flowed easily, no effort at all. Finally Clarissa glanced at her watch.
“Well, I better get back to work,” she said, and stood up and slid her chair back to its original spot. “I’ll check on you later.”
“Okay, thanks for coming by, it was nice talking to you. My door is always open.”
She chuckled and said, “I’ll remember that. Bye,” and left the room.
She checked on him in the middle of the night and he was sound asleep. In the morning at the end of her shift, she looked in on him again and he was awake. She said goodbye and told him she would see him that night when she came back to work.
“Sounds good. My door is always open” he said again, and they shared smiles.
He’s still awful damn cute, Clarissa thought to herself, as she walked to the nurse’s station.
----
The next evening Clarissa was anxious to get to the hospital and go to work. Night shifts were always low-key and made for easy work because the patients were winding down and ready for bed, and most slept through the night and needed minimal attention. That was one of the reasons she didn’t mind rotating to nights, because the work was easy, usually stress-free unless some kind of emergency arose, and with the pay differential she earned extra money. But none of that was what made her anxious to get to work.
She was anxious to see Bret. Preparing to go to work, she found herself applying a touch of eye makeup and a dab of lip gloss, which she rarely wore on her job. But she’d thought of him throughout the day, how attractive he was, and how well-spoken he was. Their conversation had been so natural, she could have talked to him for hours. And he said he always had a crush on her. Does he still? She knew it was crazy, he’s only twenty-one years old, seven years younger. He was in Little League when I went off to college for God’s sake, she thought.
Clarissa got to her floor early, and went to see Bret. He grinned broadly and was obviously glad to see her.
“How are you feeling tonight, Honey?”
“I’m doing okay,” he said. “Got poked and prodded by doctors all day, and they’re optimistic, said there may be hope for me yet. Plus, I had a bath. That was badly needed. I feel almost human.”
“That’s good, Bret,” she said. “You sound good. Did your family visit you today?”
“Oh, yeah. My parents came in the morning. Mom stayed most of day, but my Dad left to play golf. Ivy stopped by for a few minutes this afternoon, plus a couple of my buddies.”
“Everybody is concerned. They care about you.”
“Yeah, I know. I told them not to worry, because I’m getting top notch care and my night nurse if off the charts.”
Then, that cute grin of his. It practically melted her, Clarissa was smitten. How can I feel this way?, she wondered, I’ve known this guy since he was a little kid. She pulled the same chair up to his bedside and had a seat. They talked for a while, more easy, effortless stream-of-consciousness conversation, with a few memories, a few laughs, and a couple of flirts. Then she told him she had to punch in and catch up, but once she made her rounds and could take a break she’d be back to see him.
She got caught up in work for the next three hours, but her mind was often on Bret. And some of the thoughts she was having about him surprised her. And no doubt they would surprise Ivy too.
It was nearly three a.m. when she went back to check on him. She stood beside the bed and watched him sleep for a minute. The light was still on, and a paperback book was on the mattress next to him. She picked up the book and put it on the bedside table, dimmed the light and retook her seat beside him. Then she noticed something.
The hospital gown he wore was loose, he had evidently untied it behind him for comfort and the thin fabric was resting on his groin. Clarissa let out a little gasp when she noticed the shape that the cloth was sheathing. It was unmistakable: Bret had an erection, and it looked to be of good size. Clarissa resisted the urge to reach out and touch it.
Then the blood pressure cuff on Bret’s arm went into action, pumping and hissing and squeezing as it did every hour, and he woke up. When he saw Clarissa sitting beside him he smiled.
“Hello,” she said.
“Hello,” he said.
“Are you happy to see me?”
“Yes. It’s not very often that I wake up in the middle of the night and find a pretty woman sitting beside me.”
Clarissa smiled coyly and said, “Do you often wake up in the middle of the night with one of those?” nodding at the bulge between his legs.
“Fairly often.”
“Do they last long?”
“They can.”
“Are they painful?”
“Yeah, if it’s stretched to the max like it is right now.”
“Does it go away on its own?”
“Sometimes. But like I said, I don’t usually wake up with a pretty woman like you beside me. I don’t think it’s going away anytime soon, not while we are sitting here talking about it.”
“So. You need some relief?”
“Yeah,” he nodded, hopeful.
Clarissa took a deep breath, glanced at the open door to the room. The floor was quiet, the room mostly in the dark. She looked at Bret, put her index finger to her lips. Quiet.
Even as she did what she did next, she had a hard time believing she was doing it. She folded back the gown, and there it was, and even in the semi-darkness she could see that Bret was well-endowed. His cock lay against his belly, swollen and long, its dark helmet pointing north of his navel. She licked her lips and reached for it.
Its girth felt firm and fat in her hand when she wrapped her fingers around it, its heat radiated into her palm. She stroked it, easily at first, a gentle rhythm, and Bret murmured softly and his midsection squirmed with pleasure. Normally his legs would be flailing with delight, but he tried to still them, especially the right one. Clarissa cupped his balls with her other hand, massaged them gently as she gradually picked up the pace, jerking him, felt them loose in her grip. Bret hissed wet, airy breaths between clutched teeth as his cock was stroked and his nuts were stoked by this foxy older woman, his nurse, his sister’s lifelong friend, his childhood crush.
Within three minutes his cock exploded. It was the kind of orgasm when a man can feel the sizzling burn all the way up from his balls through the head of his cock. His semen shot in forceful spurts like steam from a busted pipe, all over his stomach and chest.
Clarissa rubbed his jism into his skin, the hard flesh of his abs, his nipples, his chest and crotch. She dabbed her fingertip into his cum-filled navel and tasted him. She leaned over, put her lips to his ear and said, “Don’t tell anyone.”
“I won’t,” he whispered, breathless.
She kissed him on cheek and said, “Sweet dreams.”
----
Clarissa was both excited and appalled by what she’d done, found it hard to believe that it had actually happened. She knew it was wrong, but she rationalized it. She’d known him most of her life, he was her best friend’s brother, she was a nurse, comforting him, easing his pain, administering T.L.C. to the Nth degree. She knew Bret enjoyed it, that was obvious, but she had enjoyed it too. Giving him pleasure gave her pleasure. It made her feel bold, and it made her feel good.
The next night she checked on Bret at the beginning of her shift. She entered his room and strode up to his bedside. He was propped up reading his book.
“Hello, Bret, how are you doing?” she asked.
“Hi Clarissa. I’m doing well,” he replied. Then in a lower voice added: “But not as good as I was last night!”
Clarissa blushed, then whispered, “I’ve never done anything like that before. I hope you don’t think I’m a trollop or anything…”
Bret reached out and grabbed her hand, held it tight. “Hey Clarissa, listen. It was beautiful. I’ve thought of nothing else but you ever since. If I wasn’t crippled at the moment, I’d sweep you off your feet and run away with you.” His large, firm hand felt good wrapped around hers.
She chuckled and said, “Well, let’s get you healed up first before we think about that, okay?”
“Okay.”
“I’ll let you get back to your reading. I’ll come back and check on you again later.”
“Please do. We’ll be ready for you.”
She shook her head as she was leaving. “You are a naughty boy.”
“My door is always open,” he called behind her. Clarissa was smiling on the way out.
----
Four a.m. The deadest time overnight. Not much to do. Nurses would do a little reading, or do some paperwork, or play Solitaire on the computer. Clarissa slipped down to Bret’s room. She knew what she wanted to do.
The lights were dimmed. Bret was still, looked to be asleep. She went to the side of his bed.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” he said, startling her. She sat.
“I’m here.”
“I see that.” His hand surrounded hers again. It felt good.
“Listen, Bret,” Clarissa said softly. “There’s something I have to tell you.”
“What?”
“What I did last night. It was wrong. It was counter to the code of ethics. And I never did anything like that before. But it didn’t seem wrong, somehow it just felt natural because I have known you for so long. And I’ve thought about it, and thought about you, ever since.”
She felt his hand squeeze even tighter around hers.
“May I kiss you?” Bret asked.
“Yes.”
He pulled her hand toward him and the rest of her came with it. Their mouths met gracefully, and soon their lips parted and their tongues slipped through and gently danced, and pranced, and probed, and tasted.
“That was nice,” Clarissa said.
By this time, Bret’s cock was distended to the max, and it didn’t go unnoticed by Clarissa. She uncovered it, again marveled at it. She traced her fingertip along its length, and it rose to her touch. She cupped his balls in one hand, sweetly caressing them, took his shaft in her other. She looked into his eyes.
“For medicinal purposes…”she said. He nodded. Then she leaned forward and took him into her mouth.
Bret stifled a moan with the back of his hand. He felt her mouth surround his bloated member and her nimble fingers cover his scrotum. He arched his back to ease more of him into her. He put his hands behind her head and kneaded her neck and scalp and shoulders as she sucked him.
Clarissa’s head bobbed up and down in a gentle rhythm. His cock was long and wide and warm and with each movement more of it would make its way into her mouth until it was at the back of her throat. She didn’t want to gag so she backed off slightly so that she had a comfortable, packed mouthful and sucked him with added force while her hand gave his balls a circular massage. She felt the soft swing of Bret’s groin fall into sync with her. They kept at it, gradually picking up, adding percussion to their tempo, making music together with barely a sound, a mutual accelerando, Clarissa playing his instrument for the first time and not missing a note.
Bret was floating on an airy bliss. He didn’t want it to end, but he felt his cauldron coming to a boil and knew he was going to pop his top pretty damn soon. When he felt Clarissa’s index finger enter his asshole, that was all she wrote.
His ass lurched up off the mattress when he came, sending a quivery jolt of pain through his right leg. But damn, it hurt so good. Cum erupted out of his cock, to which Clarissa’s mouth stayed plastered, through multiple thrusts and spurts. Her mouth filled with his semen and oozed from the corners of her mouth. Finally his spasms abated, her finger came out of his ass, and his cock came out of her mouth.
She barely had time to swallow before Bret pulled her head up to his and mashed his mouth onto hers. His tongue plowed between her lips with a feral force and filled her mouth, it was almost like having another dick in there. She sucked on it.
It was a long kiss. Clarissa felt Bret’s hands firmly roaming her body, pulling her to him, one behind her head, the other on her ass. Their tongues skated together on the cum still in her mouth. When the kiss ended, she had to wipe some off of her chin.
“Clarissa, I don’t know what to say,” Bret whispered. “That was incredible. I wish I wasn’t an invalid right now, I wish I could…”
“Ssssh.”
“I wanna tear your clothes off and…”
“Ssssh. That sounds good to me, there will be time for that later on. First you have to focus on getting healed up and healthy.” She kissed him again. Then she patted his penis and added, “Now you can get some sleep.”
She headed for the restroom. She needed to clean herself up a little. And down a little, too.
----
Clarissa had the next two days off, and she thought of Bret constantly, and hoped that he was thinking of her. She thought of visiting him, or maybe calling, but decided against it because she thought some of her coworkers, and maybe even Bret’s family, might put two and two together and suspect that some hanky-panky had gone on between them. Nurses are the worst gossips, so she didn’t want to take the chance and risk sending out any red flags.
When she came back to work on the evening of the third day, she discovered that Bret had been discharged that morning.
----
Clarissa called Ivy. She always told her everything, so she knew she had to tell her this. It would be embarrassing to them both if she found out any other way. First she asked her how her brother was doing.
“Oh, okay considering everything, I guess,” Ivy said. “He’s in some pain and can’t do much but sit around on his butt and read a book or watch TV. He’s at my parents’ house getting waited on by my mother. And he sure appreciated the care he received on your unit. And he especially raved about you. Thank you for taking such good care of him. My whole family really appreciates it.”
Here we go, thought Clarissa.
“You’re welcome, I was happy to. But there is something I have to tell you.”
“What’s that?” Ivy said eagerly.
“Well, night shift is pretty laid-back, not much is going on so there is less pressure and lots of down time. So I was able to spend time with him, talking and getting reacquainted. The first night I sat with him three different times. And he was so easy to talk to, we talked about one thing after another, never a dull moment. I can’t remember ever talking to guy like that before. The only person I could ever talk to like that, is you.”
“What are you getting at?”
“So, in the morning at the end of my shift I stopped by his room, asked if he needed anything. He said he didn’t, and we said goodbye. Then all day, I couldn’t get him out of my mind. That night when I got to work, I looked in on him first thing, and again we talked, and it was like magic. Like you and me, but it’s a guy.”
“Oh brother, you’re falling for him, aren’t you?”
“Then a couple hours later, I check on him again. The overhead lights were off, so it was very dim. I go over to his bed, and he’s sleeping. So I just sit there and watch him sleep for a minute or two, thinking how handsome he is. Then I notice that his gown is untied and is loose and barely covering him. And I notice this big long bulge between his legs.
“Oh, God…”
“He has this huge erection. And then the blood pressure cuff flipped on and started tightening around his arm. And he woke up.”
“So what happened then?”
“I jacked him off.”
“You what? Are you crazy?”
“I uncovered it, and it was so beautiful, he has a big cock. It just felt like the right thing to do.”
“You could get fired for that, lose your license. Maybe arrested. Then what?”
“It was all consensual.”
“I’m sure it was. What guy wouldn’t like that?”
“I wouldn’t try it on day shift, though.”
“I would hope not. Then what?”
“He came. A lot. All over himself and the gown. Then I kissed him goodnight and left.”
“Oh my God, girl. You never cease to amaze me. I bet that took his mind off his leg for a little while.”
“And then the next night…”
“You didn’t do it again!”
“No. Blow job.”
“What? You gave my little brother a blow job?”
“I did. I swallowed, too. As much as I could, anyway. Then he pulled me on top of him and kissed me. No man ever kissed me like that before. His tongue was in my throat, took my breath away. I creamed my panties.”
“Ugh, ugh, ugh, girl. You take the cake, you know that?”
“I’ve been thinking about him. Do you think we could go over to see him together?”
“I guess I could set that up without setting off too many alarm bells. You can’t be giving him any BJ’s over at my parents’ house, though.”
“I know that, Ivy. I’d just like to see him. I’d like to look into his eyes.”
“Okay. And I’ll text you his cell number so you’ll have it.”
----
Clarissa called Bret on his cell the next day. She was relieved when he was happy to hear from her. They talked for over an hour, and they could have gone on for a couple more, but she had to get ready for work. They talked again a day later, and every day or two after that. But it was nearly two weeks before she and Ivy could schedule to visit him together. Their varying work schedules made it difficult.
It was a Monday morning. Ivy had the day off and Clarissa didn’t have to go into the hospital until the evening shift. Dad was at work, Mom was out back weeding the garden.
The girls walked into the family room where Bret was propped up in a recliner, wearing a golf shirt and a pair of sweatpants with the right leg cut off at the knee. He had been watching ESPN but turned it off when he heard them coming. After greetings and five minutes of small talk, Ivy excused herself and went into the kitchen and out the back door and joined her mom in the garden.
Bret thought Clarissa was gorgeous. She wore tight black jeans that showed off her slim bod and hugged her cute ass, and a sleeveless red blouse that showed off her toned arms. Her long black hair hung free, dusting her shoulders.
“Goddam, Clarissa, you look terrific. Those scrubs you wear in the hospital don’t do that body of yours any justice. Wow! Sorry I look like a crippled bum.”
“Thank you. But I think you look pretty good, too.”
Clarissa looked into Bret’s eyes and liked what she saw. She was pretty sure he was feeling what she was. But what feeling was that? She could tell he was glad to see her. But she sensed some reticence as well.
He reached for her and she took his hand, he pulled her to him, she sat on the arm of the chair. They kissed.
“I’ve missed you,” Bret said.
Clarissa nodded. “Me too.”
There was a silence between them for a bit, then Bret took a deep breath and sighed.
“You know, Clarissa, with everything that has been going on with my leg, and the doctors and appointments and feeling so helpless, I still haven’t been able to get you off my mind. And what you did…” He held her hand.
“It’s okay. I still have a hard time believing I did what I did. But after the way we talked, I wanted to make you feel better.”
“You did. It was beautiful. I’ve relived it a hundred times. But I’m stuck. I wish I could wine you and dine you and dance with you, and have you on my arm and show you off…”
“You getting healed up is what’s most important right now.” She noticed a pained look of doubt on his face. “What?” she said.
“I have to go back to school.”
“I know. You have another year to go. But you don’t have to go back till the end of the summer, right?”
“No. Tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow? Why?”
“Because of my injury. My coaches want the doctors and trainers at the university to oversee my treatment and rehab.”
“You can’t do it here?”
“I’m on scholarship, so I have to do what they say. Believe me, I’d much rather stay here. But we already discussed it. They’ve arranged my transportation. I’ll have to leave my car here and try to come back for it at some point, or have somebody drive it to me.”
Clarissa’s heart sank. She knew he would be heading back to college for his senior year, but she thought they would have another month before he left. Now it appeared that she would be losing him before she ever had him.
Then they heard voices and Ivy and her mom came clomping up the back steps into the kitchen. Clarissa took a seat on the adjacent sofa, a sad look on her face.
Ivy came into the room and said softly, “I tried to keep her out there longer, kids. Sorry. I made some noise so you’d hear us coming.”
“Thanks,” Bret and Clarissa said in unison.
A couple minutes later Mom brought in a pitcher of iced tea and four glasses. For the next twenty minutes, the four of them talked about silly things and sipped their tea.
Once Mom was back in the kitchen, the girls got up to leave. Clarissa kissed Bret goodbye. It was a dainty kiss on the lips. They would have preferred a long, wet mouthfuck, but with Ivy there it wasn’t going to happen. Bret did manage to cop a little feel on Clarissa’s left buttock, though. Felt good, too.
In the car, Clarissa said, “He’s leaving tomorrow to go back to school.”
“I know,” Ivy said, “Mom told me. She doesn’t like the idea, but they have to go along with it. And they say the university hospital has the best doctors.”
“I guess so. Bummer.”
“Look at the bright side, Clarissa. By the time you get him back he’ll be good as new and you can both maul each other.”
“He’ll probably be dating cheerleaders by then.”
“Oh, come on girl. He’s had three years to date cheerleaders. He’s ready for a real woman.” Ivy could tell Clarissa was down. “Hey, when’s your next day off?
“Thursday.”
“Okay, good. I’m taking off too. Why don’t you come over to my place Wednesday night. We can have a girls’ night, drink some wine, maybe get drunk, like the old days. You can spend the night, and on Thursday we’ll make a day of it. Have a fun day. What do you say?”
Clarissa said that sounded good to her.
----
“Whatever happened to that guy you were seeing? The radiology tech,” Ivy asked Clarissa.
They were sitting on Ivy’s sofa, shoes off, wine glasses in hand, cheese and crackers on the table. Clarissa was still wearing her scrubs, but she’d let her hair down. She had worked the evening shift, but left early. She had worked some overtime over the weekend to cover for a night nurse that had some family drama that made her late, so she had no trouble getting permission. Ivy looked sexy and relaxed in tan cotton shorts, a white t-shirt, no bra, and her frizzed blond hair loose and free.
“Who, Marty? Oh, I see him now and then around the hospital, but we only dated a few times. He’s an okay guy, but there’s no magic there. He still hits on me but I’m not interested. I never gave him a hand job, either.”
Ivy burst out laughing.”Well, who knows, maybe he’ll get lucky and break his leg and end up on your floor.”
“Ugh, God I hope not. What about Paul? You haven’t mentioned him much lately.” Paul was Ivy’s boyfriend of convenience.
“Oh, I don’t know. He’s nice to look at, and he’s successful, and the sex is okay, but long term, I don’t see it. Plus he travels a lot, and I work such crazy hours, and I want to have time to write, it makes it hard to spend much extended time together. And I think he fools around.”
“That would end it for me.”
“Me too, if I knew for sure. But judging by the way he flirts when we are out, and considering he is in hotels in other cities all the time, I think he probably does. I really don’t care enough to find out. If I find out it’s true, then it’s sayonara baby.”
“Just so he doesn’t pick up some social disease or something.”
“I don’t worry about that, not with him. He’s a cautious, paranoid germophobe. He wouldn’t take a chance.”
They opened another bottle of wine, filled their glasses, munched a cheese cracker or two. They talked for a time about a number of things. Their jobs. Ivy’s writing. Clarissa’s ambition to become a nurse practitioner. Then after a comfortable pause between friends, Clarissa took a gulp of wine and said:
“So what do you really think about me and your brother?”
“Truthfully, I was shocked at first, when you told me what went on at the hospital. I knew you always were attracted to him, but I just blew it off, figured nothing would ever happen because of your age difference, and so many years had gone by. But then the more I thought about it, knowing you both so well, your personalities and values and whatnot, it makes perfect sense that you two would be compatible. Of course, you live in different places, and he will graduate next May, so there will be challenges.”
“Do you think I’m crazy?”
“I think you’d be crazy not to be attracted to my brother. He’s good-looking, intelligent, talented and has a great future. And he is a good person. Hey, if I wasn’t his sister, I’d probably blow him myself. And we know he is attracted to you. You two would make a beautiful couple. But like I said, there could be difficulties. You want to go back to school to get your MSN. He wants to play baseball. Might not be easy.
“If two people want to make it work they will figure out a way.”
“That’s the spirit. And I know what you can do when you put your mind to it.”
“Thank you for listening to me. It feels good to be able to talk about it. Makes me feel less crazy.”
“Hey, you’re my best friend, and he’s my brother. You deserve each other. I’m rooting for both of you.”
“Thank you for saying that,” Clarissa said, and scooted a little closer. “I love you, Ivy.”
“I love you, too.”
They hugged each other, squeezing tightly. When the hug ended they didn’t let go. They remained close and locked eyes. A moment later they locked lips.
They had kissed each other before, as friends, but never like this. It became intimate and deep, their tongues exploring and tasting each other for the first time. It went on as their fingers wandered over necks and backs and legs and rumps.
“Wow,” Clarissa said. Her hand was resting on Ivy’s thigh.
“Wasn’t expecting that.”
“Me neither.”
“Felt good though, didn’t it.”
“Yes, it did.”
Ivy took her hand and clutched it. “Come to bed with me,” Ivy said.
“Really?”
“Sure, why not? We’re buzzed enough to do it, but not too drunk to fuck it up.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yep. Come on,” Ivy said. She took Clarissa’s hand and led her to her bedroom. “Maybe I’ll give you a hand job.”
They did more than that. They kissed as they undressed, then fell into bed naked and made love. Their lips and hands roamed and loved every inch of their foxy flesh, their mouths sucked nipples and ate pussy, and their orgasms were loud and wet. They slept soundly, their bodies molded like one.
----
In the morning, Clarissa woke first. She cupped Ivy’s breast with her hand and kissed her lips.
“Good morning,” Ivy said.
“Yes it is,” Clarissa said.
“So what do you think?”
“About what?”
“About this,” Ivy said, waving her finger back and forth, meaning you and me, here, in bed.”
“Ivy, I think this was beautiful. A hundred percent unexpected, but so…wonderful.”
“No regrets?”
“No, never. I feel closer to you than ever.”
“Good. Me too.”
“How come this never happened before, do you think?”
“Oh, I don’t know. We were never curious enough, I guess. But last night we were. The timing was right.”
“Yes. It did. Do you think we’ll do it again? Like regular?”
“We could, but I don’t think so. First of all, we like men. Secondly, I have a relationship, fragile as it may be, with a man and it’s already hard for us to make time to see each other. And thirdly, you’re in love with my little brother, and I don’t want to compete with my brother for your affections.”
“I wouldn’t say I’m in love…”
“Yes, you are. You just haven’t admitted it yet. I know you better than anyone on Earth, Clarissa, so trust me, if you’re not quite there yet, you are falling in love and definitely headed in that direction. And Bret is young, but if he has any sense, he will figure out how lucky he is. In fact, I’ll promise you this: If you marry him someday I will sleep with you the night before your wedding.”
“You will?”
“Yeah. I just remembered. I never gave you a hand job, so I owe you one.”
----
The next day Bret was carted off in a university van and would spend the rest of his summer in the mostly-empty players’ dorm. He would share it with a couple players that were taking summer classes, several team managers and trainers that would come and go, and some incoming freshmen that were on campus early for classes and orientation.
The first week or two Clarissa and Bret talked on the phone nearly everyday, and she felt that their intimacy and bond were growing stronger, but that soon changed. He would become distracted easily, seemed distant and the calls would end awkwardly. Clarissa hoped that he would invite her to visit him--it was a four hour drive, but she would have done it without hesitation--but he didn’t ask.
Bret was lonely and depressed. He had little to do other than see doctors and trainers, and couldn’t do much because of his limited mobility. He became obsessed with learning to walk on his crutches. He walked all around the dorm and surrounding part of the campus, fast as he could, trying to get a workout, practicing for when classes started. That’s about the only physical activity he had.
By the time the fall semester got underway he was getting around pretty well. He became busy with his classes of course, but also put in many hours with team activities. Although the fall was off-season, there were practices, workouts, weight training, scrimmages, and a few games to help the coaches assess their squad. Bret had to be there for all of it even if he was injured.
His cast came off and the trainers gave him an aggressive, two-a-day rehab program, which he had to do in addition to everything else. He had to work that much harder, endure the pain, and became more and more discouraged as he realized that his right leg was not responding well to the treatments. There was the pain of course, but what scared him most was the weakness. His leg strength was not coming back. He felt isolated, a feeling he’d never had before, and helpless. It was becoming apparent to him that he may not be pitching for the team come spring. For a hard-throwing right-hander, the right leg is what provides the zip on his fast ball. And that strong right leg was gone. And slipping away was his dream of getting drafted and playing pro ball.
Clarissa felt isolated too. Over the next few weeks their calls became shorter and fewer and farther between. Then her voice mails went unanswered. He’s blowing me off, she thought, so she quit calling him. She called Ivy.
“Hey, what’s up with your brother?” Clarissa said.
“What do you mean?” Ivy answered.
“He’s blowing me off, won’t call me back.”
“Really? I thought you two were in touch all the time.”
“We were at first. But then he started acting all weird and awkward, didn’t have much to say. Then he quit calling and I’d leave messages and he wouldn’t call me back. What happened, did he get his cast off and then go find a cheerleader to fuck?”
“Clarissa, come on.”
“Well, what gives?”
“How should I know? I haven’t talked to him since that day we visited him at my parents’ house. Take it easy.”
“I’m sorry. I’m just confused, I guess.”
“Listen, hon. Let me give him a ring. It’s not like him to just ignore you. If I can talk to him, maybe I can find out what’s up. That is, if he takes my call.”
----
Ivy called Bret that same day and left a message asking him to call her back. He didn’t. Two days later she called again and left a more forceful statement:
‘Hey little brother, I called you two days ago and asked you to call me, and you have not. I will give you the benefit of the doubt and pretend you didn’t get the message. I know you are the superstar ace pitcher big man on campus babe magnet, but I don’t like being ignored and I have something important to talk to you about. Call me, damn it.’
He called back in less than an hour. “What’s up, Sis?” he asked.
Ivy let him have it. Told him to wake up little brother, and have some common courtesy and decency. Clarissa calls you, you don’t call back. I call you, you don’t call back. She’s my best friend, you’ve always liked her and she’s always liked you and she deserves better treatment. She’s in love with you and you won’t even call her back. If you’re not interested fine, but at least have enough class to call her back and tell her.
“She’s in love with me? She said that?” Bret said.
“She hasn’t admitted it yet, but believe me, I know her. She will.”
Then Bret told her all about the problems he was having. The rehabs, the pain, the frustration, the loss of strength, the loss of hope and dreams. He opened up, it felt good to talk about it, to finally verbalize it, something he didn’t feel he could do with coaches or teammates or trainers. Ivy listened and sympathized with her younger brother. It was the most intimate conversation she could ever remember having with him. She’d never seen him this down before. She tried to energize him, told him how strong he was and how much she admired him.
“I understand, Bret,” she said. “But give Clarissa a call, okay?”
“I will,” he said.
Later Ivy told Clarissa all of it. “He’s depressed,” she said. “Needs some time. He said he’ll call you.”
But he didn’t.
----
Every time Bret started to call Clarissa he would bail out at the last second. Then as more time elapsed he felt more and more awkward about it, and thought he would just piss off Clarissa after waiting so long. The more he procrastinated, the stupider he felt. His rehab and training and attitude got worse. The pain wasn’t lessening, and neither was his depression. His name was dropping down on the team depth chart, which meant the coaches weren’t happy with his progress and were losing confidence in his ability to come back from his injuries.
As the semester drew to an end, Bret had finals to concern his distracted mind. He finished his exams and headed home for Christmas break. He still didn’t call Clarissa, felt bad about it, but thought it would be too weird between them. Christmas, presents, ho ho ho. He missed her, but he felt guilty, it didn’t seem practical. He figured Clarissa had moved on.
Christmas came and went. As New Year’s Eve approached, Ivy called Bret and invited him to a party a couple of her friends were throwing.
“You’re invited, you should come,” she said. “What else are you going to do, stay home and pout in the new year? Wake up, damn it.”
“What?” he said. He was practically speechless. His sister had never before talked to him so forcefully.
“Don’t be a wimp. Come to the party, live a little. Or are you just gonna blow it off because Clarissa might be there? Well, grow up little brother, you can’t run away and hide forever.”
She had his number and he knew it. “Is she going to be there?”
“Probably. But don’t worry, she’s seeing some guy, so relax, the pressure’s off.”
“Really? Who is he?”
“Some guy at the hospital who’s been hitting on her forever. But I’m pretty sure she’s not in love with him, if that matters to you. And you can’t avoid her forever. She’s my best friend and it’s embarrassing the way you’ve been treating her. Time for the big man on campus to man up. I thought you had more guts than that.”
Bret broke down. Told her everything about his eroding dream and the depth of his depression and how much he cared for Clarissa, how much he missed her, and how many times he wanted to call her and bailed out, and how stupid he felt about it all. He was blubbering by the time he was through.
Ivy said, “Don’t tell me. Tell her.”
----
The New Year’s Eve party was at the home of Charles and Hilda Webster, the owners of the boutique Ivy managed, as well as numerous other enterprises and properties. The house was large, surrounded by expansive grounds, in a posh suburb. They hosted the party every year for all of the associates and employees of their various businesses, and they encouraged them all to bring along their friends. It was an annual tradition.
Bret drove his car and followed Ivy and her boyfriend Paul to the party. They parked in the field adjacent to the property.
“Damn, that place is huge,” Bret said, gazing at the house, all lit up.
“Are you alright, little brother?” Ivy asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” he said.
“You’re not drunk are you?”
“Not yet.”
“Well, behave yourself, okay? I know most of these people and if you get stupid I’ll never hear the end of it, might even get canned. You hear me?”
“Yes, I hear you.”
They went into the house and were welcomed by the hosts. Introductions were made and they quickly moved on to one of the open bars that were situated here and there, and ordered drinks. Bret downed one Heineken in five minutes, then got another. He stuck with Ivy and Paul for the first few minutes. He was unsure of himself, felt out of place.
“She’s coming with a guy named Marty,” Ivy said. “He’s a tech at the hospital and has been after her for some time. But she’s not gaga over him. If you see her, talk to her. Just don’t be an ass.”
Ivy gave him a stern look, then recognized a couple she knew and had to go over and say hello. Bret was on his own.
He wandered around, through the rooms, then outside on the back patio, watched people, listened to the music that emanated from unseen speakers, tried to blend in, had another beer. After about thirty minutes he spotted her. She was on the fringe of the covered pool. Instantly he felt like the dumbest man on Earth. It hit him like a lightning bolt. What the hell am I doing?
She looked amazing. Her dark hair long and straight, her slim curvy bod hugged snugly by a sleek black dress that came down to her knees, heels accentuating her delicious legs and toned calves. She stood beside a tall, skinny guy with dirty blond hair and a green blazer. Not a bad looking guy, but after observing them for awhile he didn’t pick up on any measurable chemistry between them. Soon they were engaged in conversation with another couple he didn’t know, and before long Ivy and Paul joined them and they had a six-way gabfest going on. Bret sauntered over to a bar. One more beer, what the hell.
The sextet continued talking and yukking it up as Bret watched and sipped his green beer. Ivy saw him first, made a face, like come on you fool. Clarissa noticed and soon her eyes found him and locked onto his. Laser glue, like they couldn’t look away. Finally Bret subtly pointed a finger and nodded toward the back of the yard behind the patio area, where there were no people. She gave him a barely discernible nod in return.
It took a while. Bret stood next to a tree, waiting. Barely fifty feet from the patio, but private, with ambient light from the party nearby. And then there she was.
“I don’t have much time,” she said.
“Clarissa, I’m so sorry. I have so much to say to you. I can’t believe how stupid I’ve been…”
“Save it. There’s no time.”
“Clarissa, don’t give up on me, listen to me.”
“Listen to you?”
“I know it sounds lame. But I’ve been going through some heavy shit. I’ll try to explain it.”
Clarissa had already heard it all from Ivy, but she decided to challenge him a little.
“How do you explain away being an asshole?” she said.
“I can’t,” he replied. “But I need you to trust me on this.”
“Trust you? Now you want me to trust you?”
“Yes. Please.”
She was miffed, but she wanted him, and wanted to believe him. And she thought the fact that he said ‘please’ was endearing. She paused, eyed him up and down and had to smile.
“I have to say, you look pretty good all dressed up. A lot better than the last time I saw you.”
Bret chuckled. “That’s for damn sure. And you look fantastic. I want you to know how sorry I am for…”
“Oh, shut up Bret, will you? Here we are, I’m standing in the shadows, stealing a couple minutes with you while your sister is distracting my date. Duh. Does that send a message of any kind to you? I know you are an athlete, but I never thought you were a dumb jock.”
At this point, Clarissa knew she had him, and Bret was figuring out that he could still have her.
“Would it be okay if I kissed you at midnight?” he asked.
“No, I don’t think that would be a good idea, Bret. I wouldn’t want to embarrass my date.”
Bret, disappointed, said, “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Sorry, I…”
Clarissa interrupted him and said, “But now would be okay.”
The magic of a kiss. Lips molding, tongues twisting. Bodies flush, enwrapped by arms, legs to legs, groin to groin. It was intoxicating, their bodies taken over, hard and wet. The air outside was cool, but both had a sliver of sweat on their goaded flesh.
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” Clarissa said, once she extricated herself from Bret’s embrace. His cock was hard and she’d felt it against her.
“Okay.”
“But I’m only going to call you once, so pick up.” She slipped away and didn’t wait for an answer.
----
Bret snuck out of the party. He felt happy for the first time in quite a while. His mind was not on his injury or his rehab or his pain or his coaches or his waning ability to hurl a baseball. His mind was on Clarissa. He drove home, to his old bedroom in his parents’ house, reliving their kiss.
Clarissa kissed Marty, as well as a few others, at midnight, and he drove her home. In the car she thanked him for a pleasant evening and told him, as nicely as she could, goodbye, you’re a good guy, but that it just was not going to happen between them. She was in love with another guy.
“Who is it?” he asked
“It doesn’t matter,” she said, as she opened the passenger door and got out of the car.
----
The next morning Bret got up early. Couldn’t eat. Charged his phone to one hundred percent, put the ringer on full blast. Kept it by his side. Ready. Waiting.
Clarissa slept in. Had coffee, V-8 juice and a bagel. Took a shower, scrubbed herself squeaky clean outside and in. Dried off. Misted herself here and there. Subtly, but in all the right spots.
It was early afternoon when she called him. He answered instantly.
“Do you know where I live?” she said.
Bret had to think for a moment. “Uh, the Westside Apartments…”
“Right. Building three, apartment D, second floor. Can you remember that?”
“Right. Three, D and two. Got it.”
“Good. Now get over here and fuck me.”
----
Bret got over there pretty goddamn quick. He knocked, she let him in, locked the door, fell into his arms. Another monster kiss, mouths meshing, tongues twisting, groins grinding. She mashed her crotch against his, felt his cock come to life against her hungry cunt. She wore an extra large t-shirt that covered her down to several inches below her ass, and nothing else.
“Make love to me,” she hissed into his ear.
He picked her up, she was a hundred and ten pounds of hot, no problem. He said, “Where?”
She directed him to her bedroom. He waddled with her in his arms, across the small living room and down the narrow hall, navigating carefully, as their tongues were actively engaged and his vision was limited. They got through the doorway into the bedroom. Bret stopped in his tracks.
The room was ambrosial, smelled like a fresh fruit salad in a pine forest. Conducive to love. The blinds were drawn, so no outside light came through the windows. There were a dozen candles burning, well-placed all around the room, on the nightstands, the dresser and desk and chair, in front of the mirror, radiating around them. His mouth never left hers until he put her feet down on the floor beside her bed.
“Do you like that shirt you’re wearing?” he said, as he undressed.
“Yes, why?” Clarissa said.
“Because if you don’t take it off, I’m going to chew it off of you.”
She was out of it in two seconds. He told her to lie down on the bed. He was down to his socks, his cock was a missile homing in.
The lighting and scents were subtle and sublime. He eyed her naked body on the bed as he took off his socks. Her long dark hair, halfway to her butt, her foxy olive skin, her smooth arms and legs, her shaved twat. Bret’s dick was pulsing. He got onto the bed beside her, put his arms around her, held her close, pressed his cock against her. And then he started talking.
“Clarissa, I want to apologize to…”
“Bret, shut up. Do you want to fuck me?”
“Yes.”
“Do you want me to suck your cock?”
“Yes.”
“Do you want to eat my pussy?”
“Yes.”
“Then let’s get to work.”
In the hospital, Clarissa had had Bret’s cock in her hands, and in her mouth, and had swallowed his cum. She wanted to taste him again, but first she wanted to feel him inside her. She needed to.
He took her back into his arms and kissed her again, their tongues went instantly back into action, tasting, probing, plunging, his cock was erected and stretched to the max. He slipped a hand between her legs, into her saturated opening. He rolled on top of her, their lips still plastered together, their tongues on maneuvers, and with almost no effort at all, his cock found her, and slipped into her watery cunt with slick grace. This was something new for Bret, it was like his cock was a heat-seeking missile that found its target all on its own.
Just like that they were fucking. Their bodies were quickly in sync, and their kisses kept up with their groins, working as a unit to consummate their longtime latent feelings for each other. Clarissa was grunting her pleasure with every push, and Bret started pounding her harder, ignoring the twinges of pain in his right knee. Her pussy was so wet, his dick was sliding in and out with ease. He fucked her harder.
That’s when he felt her cunt muscles clamp around his cock and Clarissa added some extra bucking into her fucking. She squeezed him, she was on the verge.
“Fuck me, fuck me, fuck me, fuck me,” she cried. Bret was banging her bigtime, so it didn’t take long.
With Clarissa’s twat muscles surrounding his pulsing member, Bret came with a flourish, his spermatozoa rushed up through his shaft like they were going to a fire. Seconds later, her body went into its own convulsions.
“Oh my God,” she hollered. “Oh, fuck.” She came in waves.
Both grunted guttural groans as they emptied their tanks. Spent.
He pulled out and collapsed onto the mattress beside her, took her into his arms, kissed her lips, her chin, her forehead, her cheeks, her chin, slowly, gently. Then he kissed her breasts, licked her perked nipples, and placed the side of his head on her bosom. They rested and dozed.
----
Bret was awakened by Clarissa’s mouth wrapped around his erected cock. He ran his fingers through her hair, massaged her scalp. She came up for air briefly.
“You were hard,” she said. “Didn’t think you’d mind.”
“Go right ahead. Then it’s my turn.”
She sucked him with a passion, pictured in her mind that night in his hospital room, how she wanted him then, and now. She felt his fingers sifting through her hair, massaging her scalp, slipped her finger into his ass.
Then it was come on, let’s go, hurry up. His cock was in the mouth of his lover, and his lover’s index finger was knuckle-deep in his ass. If that didn’t make him come, nothing would.
He came alright. Like a hurricane.
----
“Where have you been all my life?” Bret said.
They were lying in bed, enwrapped, in repose, her head on his shoulder, the sweat on their flesh about halfway air-dried. Clarissa looked up into his eyes.
“A stone’s throw away. I could ask the same question,” she said.
“I know,” he said. “That’s what is so amazing. You were right in front of my eyes…”
“And you couldn’t see it,”
“Right. And you…”
“Bret, shut up and eat me.”
Bret went down. Clarissa showed him what she liked and he was an apt pupil. His lips and tongue got busy pleasing her, and she manipulated her crotch this way and that to give him ultimate access to her moving parts. She came like a river and yowled like a puma until her body quivers abated.
They slept together peacefully. Then woke up in the early morning and fucked some more until their genitals were bruised.
----
Bret pretty much lived at Clarissa’s place for the next two weeks. Clarissa would go to work, and they’d go out to the grocery store, have a drink somewhere, go to a pizzeria, get some take-out. The rest of the time they made love, and voiced their love for each other, over and over. In those two weeks they fucked two or three times a day, took care of each other orally just as often, and in the last few days Clarissa’s ass became a target of Bret’s affections. With his fingers and tongue and finally, his cock. Clarissa knew, when she felt his cock up her ass, his hands surrounding her tits, his lips on her neck, and she came like a busted dike, that this was her man. So what if he’s younger. What’s seven years?
Near the end of those two weeks, Bret mentioned how much he liked waking up with her in the morning, and maybe he’d drop out of school.
“You do that,” Clarissa said, “And I’ll dump your sorry ass right now.”
“Huh?” he said. “I can’t pitch for shit anymore, I might even get cut. I’d rather be with you.”
“No way, Jose. You get your degree. I don’t want to be known as the girl with the stupid boyfriend. And I don’t want to hear any rumors about you boinking any cheerleaders, either.”
That shut him up.
----
Bret went back to school with a sore, proud penis. He was a graduating senior, so his classes were slam dunks. Three classroom courses and a six credit internship assisting a nearby high school athletic director two afternoons a week. Automatic A’s.
His baseball prospects had dwindled to next to nothing. There were a few scrimmages, and Bret got smacked around. It wasn’t pretty. He messed around with his form, but nothing seemed to help. His fastball had been in the nineties before his injuries, but now he could not get much above eighty. The strength in his right leg was gone, and the hurt didn’t go away. Every time he tried to throw hard like he had before, a pain radiated up his leg. When the season started he was relegated to mop-up duty. The coach would put him in when the game was out of hand and he often got clobbered.
By this time Bret knew that he was not going to be signed to play pro ball, and he would have to fall back onto his college degree to have hopes of a career. His major: Physical Education.
----
There was a freshman, a big kid, rough, a pitcher from a high school in a small town in a rural area, and the coach told Bret to take care of the kid, take him under his wing and look out for him, mentor him. So he did.
The kid was huge. Strong looking right-hander and tall, maybe six-four. He was intimidating to the hitters, but he didn’t throw that hard, not really, not for a guy that big. Bret looked at his form and knew instantly that the kid’s mechanics could be improved upon. So he worked with the kid every day. Worked on his stride, how he toed the rubber, the push-off of his right leg. Taught him how to focus on the target, the catcher’s mitt, hold runners, and not be distracted.
After a few weeks the coaches saw that the kid was throwing bullets and strikes. He was already contributing to the team, overpowering hitters sometimes, even as a freshman. And they knew why. Bret had coached him up.
----
Clarissa visited Bret twice during that semester. When she had a couple days off in a row and the team wasn’t on the road, she made the drive and rented a cheap hotel room near the campus, and they would sleep together and fuck like rabbits.
The first visit, they both verbally expressed their love, over and over and over, and their bodies were like chemistry labs, one experiment after another, so there was no turning back. Before her second visit, Clarissa went to a costume store and rented a skimpy cheerleader outfit. She had it on when he came to the hotel room. She told him to undress her, and make love to her. So that’s what he did. He never did tell her that she was the first cheerleader he’d ever fucked.
----
Graduation was in May. Clarissa made the drive with Ivy in the passenger seat, an hours-long gabfest. There was a big dinner celebration planned afterwards at a local restaurant. Then Ivy would ride back home in the car with her parents. She knew Bret and Clarissa would be anxious to get back to their hotel room and screw.
The dinner was fine. Everyone had a great meal and a good time. They all hugged and kissed and said their goodbyes in the parking lot of the restaurant. Then Mom and Dad and Ivy hit the road, and Clarissa and Bret went back to the hotel to screw.
----
They woke up in the morning with tender genitals. Bret took Clarissa in his arms and kissed her, held her tight.
“I have something to tell you,” Bret said.
Uh oh, Clarissa thought, now what? “Oh no. What’s the matter?” she blurted.
Bret laughed. “No, it’s not bad,” he said.
“What is it Bret?”
He smiled, kissed her lips, and held her breast in his hand.
“I got a job offer.”
“Already? That’s great. I’m so proud of you! What is it?”
“My coach offered me an assistant coaching position and…”
“Take it.”
“It wouldn’t pay that much, but…”
“Take it.”
“But we’d have to live here, and you’d have to move, and I would have to travel with the team…”
“Take it. End of story.”
“Really? You sure?”
“Bret, I’m a registered nurse. I can get a job anywhere. I love you. You love me. I want to be with you. What part of that do you not get?”
He told her that he got it. He also told her that his coach made a call and had secured an interview for her at the University Hospital.
Clarissa hung around for a couple days, interviewed and was hired. She also learned that an an employee she would be entitled to take three course credits per semester for free to work toward her MSN. She would start in the emergency room, and could move to orthopedics when a position opened. The timing was serendipitous because with the school year ending, many of the nursing students that worked in the hospital would be graduating and moving on.
The timing was also advantageous in finding somewhere to live, as so many kids were leaving for the summer. They found a small two-bedroom place in an older neighborhood less than a mile from campus. They could walk to work if they felt like it.
She went back home to resign and give her notice, and started packing. Her apartment lease was month-to-month so getting out of it was not a problem. Bret got a ride back and they rented a van and loaded it with all of Clarissa’s boxes and lamps and wall hangings and furniture and window treatments and kitchen utensils and linens and you name it, they packed it. Bret didn’t have squat, so the decor of their first home together would be kind of Early Girly, but he couldn’t have cared less about that. Bret would drive the van and Clarissa would follow in her car.
They had dinner with Ivy the night before they left. It was a casual restaurant, close by, a local place that tried too hard to look like a trendy franchise chain, with high ceilings, hard surfaces, too-loud music and bad acoustics. They were drinking pitchers of beer, eating wings and nachos and fries, laughing it up and talking loudly just to be heard.
“I’d like to make a toast,” Ivy said. She was tipsy. Well, they all were, but Ivy moreso. They grabbed their mugs.
“To my little brother, a fine young, talented, handsome man. And to my best friend, who I have known longer than any soul on Earth except my parents, and would trust with my life. You two have finally found each other after salivating over each other for many years, and have decided to be together and share your lives. I think that is wonderful. However, I must say this. You two better take care of each other, and love each other, protect each other. You both better do that, you both deserve it. And if you don’t I’ll kick your asses two at a time.”
They all burst out laughing. Ivy was bent over giggling, could hardly sit up. Clarissa and Bret had big grins on their faces.
“I want to get serious for a moment,” Ivy said.
They looked at her, trying to decide if she could be serious. They were all buzzed, but Ivy’s eyes were now sober as a judge.
“I want to thank you.”
Bret and Clarissa looked at each other, went from amused to confused.
“As you know, for some time I’ve been trying to write a novel, but just couldn’t seem to find a story that I could delve into, and develop, that I could get excited about, with characters that were believable and situations that readers could identify with. It has been frustrating, to say the least. But a few months ago I had a breakthrough, and I’m 100 pages into it, and it’s good. I know it is. I can feel it.”
“That’s great,” Bret said.
“All right, I knew you could do it,” said Clarissa.
“It’s a good story,” Ivy continued. “It’s about an athlete who gets injured and is admitted to the hospital, and his nurse is his sister’s best friend, who he’s known since childhood. And in the hospital, the nurse and the athlete, in the middle of the night…”
“All right, that’s enough,” Bret said, and stood up. He helped Ivy up.
“...they fell in love and…”
“Okay, girlfriend,” Clarissa said. “Time to call it a night.”
They took her home, less than a mile, and walked her inside. Bret waited in the living room while Clarissa put her to bed. Got her a cup of water, adjusted her covers, made sure she was comfy.
“Are you okay?” Clarissa asked.
“Ooh, I’m fine,” Ivy said. “I’m so happy you two got together.”
“So am I.”
“Will you do me a favor?”
“Of course. What?”
“Once you get settled into your new house, invite me over for a weekend.”
“Sure. No problem there.”
“One other thing.”
“Oh? What’s that.”
“Make it when Bret is on the road.”
“Okay, why?”
“I still owe you a hand job.”
Clarissa kissed Ivy on her lips and tucked the blanket snugly up to her neck.