Spencer's Face (Buckeye Hawks) (29 page)

“I’ll run.” I
told him. It was only three miles. Hell we ran that every other day in football
practice. I turned to walk out.

“I’ll take you. I
just needed my car today, Spencer.” He called to me.

“Thanks, Todd.” I
said to him. I really should take some money out of my account to buy myself a
car or a truck.

I put my shoes on
and met Todd at the door. When we backed out of the garage, we almost backed in
to Taylor as she was pulling into the driveway. I jumped out of the car to talk
to her. She stepped out of her car and ran over to me. She slammed into my
chest when I was close enough. She hugged me and held on for a few seconds. I
was so relieved that she was here, and that she wasn’t so mad at me that she
was going to quit speaking to me.

“I’m sorry.” She
said to me. “I’m grouchy when I’m in pain and I don’t think before I text.”

I rubbed her
back, and held her close to me for a few more seconds. “I don’t lie to them.
When they ask, I answer.” I told her.

“I’m sorry. I’m
not used to a guy who tells his parents everything. Or his aunt and uncle.” She
tried to explain.  

“Can you stay and
watch a movie?” I asked her.

“Sure.” She said.

We went inside.
She was embarrassed to talk to Todd and Janel, but I tried to make her feel at
ease. We sneaked past them so she didn’t have to talk to them. I didn’t want to
tell her, but that doesn’t work for too long in my house. She really didn’t
want them knowing that she wasn’t a virgin any longer. Even if it was because
of me.

We sat on the
couch together and put in a movie. I held her close. “Did you try the hot
bath?” I asked her in a whisper.

She shook her
head. “No. I felt bad for being mean to you so I drove over here as quick as I
could.”

“Well, I was on
my way over to you. I didn’t want you to be mad at me.”

“Well, it is kind
of your fault for being large.” She teased me.

“Shh!” I
whispered to her. “I don’t want everyone knowing that.”

“I thought you
told them everything.” She whispered back, teasing me.

“I wouldn’t tell
them that.” I told her.

My aunt walked in
about that time. “How are you feeling, Taylor? Did the bath help?”

“I didn’t have
time before I came over. I’ll be okay.” Taylor said. She wanted the conversation
to end right there, I could tell.

“Can I get you
some aspirin?” she asked.

“Sure. Thanks.”
Taylor answered. I was sure she just wanted to get rid of her.

After she left
the room, Taylor whispered to me. “I feel so funny with them knowing.”

“You’ll survive.”
I told her.

“Here you go,
Taylor.” My aunt gave her some aspirin and some water. “Let me know if you need
any more. You’re probably going to hurt into tomorrow as well.”

Taylor gave me a
look that told me she was completely uncomfortable right now. I hugged her
closer and kissed her on the head.

“Can I talk to
you two?” Aunt Janel asked as she sat down in the chair across from us. It
wasn’t exactly a question. It was a warning. She was warning us that she was
going to talk to us about sex.

Taylor took a
deep breath and sat up on the couch better. I think she was getting ready to
run toward the door. I grabbed her hand to hold her there.

“Sure.” I told my
aunt.

“I just wanted to
reiterate the birth control lecture. I don’t want you two ruining your lives.
You both have bright futures. It’s a lot harder to finish college with a baby
in tow.”

“We used a condom
every time.” I told my aunt. I was a little uncomfortable talking to her about
sex in front of my girlfriend. But it was her house and apparently she wanted
to lecture me.

Todd walked in
about that time. I felt Taylor twitch under my hand. I held her hand tighter.

“And, I told you
to pull out too. You remembered that. Right?” Todd asked.

“Yes. I
remembered. I remembered everything you told me, Uncle Todd. I pulled out every
time. Can we talk about something else?” I asked him. I was about to join
Taylor in her run for the door.

“
Every
time?” Aunt Janel asked. “I thought you two just started having sex last
night.”

She thought we
were lying to her for some reason. I never lied to them. “We did.” I told her.

She gave me a skeptical
look that told me she still thought I was lying to her.

“I should go.”
Taylor said, then struggled to get up from the couch. She was really sore and
wasn’t moving too smoothly. I helped by pushing her up.

“That should tell
you that he’s telling the truth, Janel.” Todd said to her.

I didn’t know
what they were talking about. “I am. Why would I lie to you? I’ve never lied to
you, Aunt Janel.”

“You said
every
time, and if you’ve only done it once, you wouldn’t have said every time.”

“We didn’t say we
only did it once. We said we didn’t start having sex until last night.” I told
them.

Aunt Janel’s face
turned really red. “Oh.” she said, as if she’d suddenly realized something. I
don’t know what.

“Way to go, son.”
Todd said to me with a pat on the back. I didn’t really know why.

“No wonder you’re
so sore.” Janel said to Taylor. “Sit down. Don’t leave. I’m sorry I’m grilling
you two. I’m a little anxious that my nephew is having sex, and a little
worried that he’s going to get you pregnant.”

Taylor sat back
down slowly. She was still embarrassed. “We’re not going to quit having sex.”
she said to Aunt Janel. It was the first firm thing she’d said today. I knew
she would stand up when necessary, but I didn’t think she’d stand up to my
aunt.

“I know that, but
maybe you could use something besides just condoms.” Janel suggested.

“Like foam too?”
Taylor asked.

“That’s an
option, and would improve the reliability some. Have you thought about the
pill?” Janel asked.

“I’m not sure how
I feel about that.” Taylor answered her. “Some girls at school are on it and it
messed up their periods kind of bad at first. And, made them kind of sick, and
they gained weight.”

“Time for me to
go.” Todd said quickly, then left the room. He was embarrassed.

“I’m not pushing
you.” Janel said. “I just wanted you to know that you have other options other
than leaving birth control
completely
up to Spencer.”

Taylor gave her a
look, then looked at me. “Do you think I should get on the pill?”

“I don’t mind
using condoms.” I told her. I knew that some guys did. “And, it’s your period.
I don’t see where I have a right to say anything there.”

“But it will be
your baby, if she gets pregnant.” Janel argued.

“I just don’t
know if I want to go on the pill.” Taylor told her. “If I gain five pounds,
they’re going to put me on the bottom of the pyramid.”

“And, if you gain
twenty five or thirty five, they’ll take you out of the pyramid.” Janel came
back at her.

“I’ll buy some
foam, but I’m not ready to go on the pill. I’m trying for a cheerleading
scholarship, and we’ve got championships coming up. Maybe after the
championships are over. I can’t risk it now.”

“But you can risk
getting pregnant.” Janel said.

I felt like I
needed to step in between the two of them somehow, but I wasn’t sure how
without getting in trouble here. If I sided with Taylor, like I knew I should,
Janel would be upset with me. If I sided with Janel, I was risking my chance of
ever having sex again.

“I don’t think we’re
risking it if we use condoms, and he pulls out. And, if we add the foam, I
think we’re going above and beyond.” Taylor argued with her. It was turning
into a debate now.

“Just promise me
you’ll always use as much birth control as possible.” She relented.

“We will.” I
assured her. “We don’t want a baby either.”

“Thanks.” she
said, then stepped up and walked away.

Taylor gave me a
look that told me she was dumbfounded. “Man!” she mouthed the word without
making a sound.

“I’m sorry. I
don’t know why she’s so worried.”

“Do you think I
should go on the pill? It would make things easier for us. No condoms, no foam,
no pulling out.” she asked me.

“You tell me what
you want to do. I don’t want to tell you to do something that’s going to mess
up your period, or your body. And, I don’t really know what messing up your
period means.” I said. What the heck could that mean?

She smiled at me.
“It would be nice to be able to feel you.”

What was she
talking about? I gave her a confused look.

“Inside me. Instead
of a piece of rubber.” She whispered in my ear as she nuzzled up to my chest.

Damn, I was
getting hard. It would be nice to feel her too. “We can think about it, but
it’s up to you ultimately. It’s your body.”

“Can we go for a
drive?” she asked me.

“Sure. Where to?”

“The desert.
Bring the condoms. We’ll go buy some foam.”  She said.

After our
embarrassing trip to the store, we drove to the desert. It was the middle of
the day and extremely hot, as always in October. We stayed in the car to have
sex on the passenger side. It took us a while to figure that one out. It worked
out pretty well. Rubbers and foam. We thought that would be our birth control
of choice. The more we thought about it, the more we thought we didn’t want
Taylor on the pill. I didn’t want her risking her body to make things easier on
us.

We must have
spent a fortune on rubbers and foam. We had sex twice a day for the next month.
We had our favorite spot in the desert that we went to every morning. Taylor
would pick me up for school early and we’d go out to have sex. After practice
every night, we’d go out again. After the game, instead of going to the party,
we’d go out again. Taylor and I spent every minute together that we could. We
were both extremely busy with football and cheerleading. Taylor had to work at
the dairy on the weekends. I helped every chance I had. Sometimes, I had to do
yard work with my uncle on the weekends.

One day while in
the kitchen grabbing something to eat, I decided to ask Janel’s advice on
something. “Aunt Janel? Can I ask you something?”

She was slicing
up tomatoes for dinner. She turned to look at me, giving me her undivided
attention. “Of course. What is it?”

“I want to buy
Taylor a ring.” I told her.

“Spencer! Tell me
she’s not pregnant.” She exclaimed immediately, very worried.

“No! She’s not
pregnant. I didn’t mean an engagement ring, just a ring that says we’re going
out. Or going steady as they’d say in your day.” I teased her, trying to calm
her down and keep her from panicking.

“Oh! Okay. But a
ring? You don’t really don’t want to buy her a ring. Do you?”

“Yes.” I said
quickly. I did want to buy her a ring. “I want to tell her how much she means
to me. That we’re more than just going out.”