Howie Erikson picked up the Nintendo controller reluctantly. Jesus, I don’t want to do this, he thought as he held it in his hand.

It might have been better if Jack had been home. Jack was usually wrapped up in his birds or other stuff, but occasionally he’d play Nintendo with him a little, or throw a football around with him some. That wasn’t going to happen today, since Jack was out having dinner with some girl. That was just a little strange for him, Howie thought; from what he could tell Jack hadn’t had much interest in girls, only in birds. It didn’t matter much; either way he was stuck with a long, hot, dull summer afternoon.

On a normal hot summer afternoon, Howie would have gone to hang out somewhere with his friends, but that wasn’t going to happen today. Greg and his family were on vacation, and would be gone the whole week. He didn’t envy Greg; from what he knew their family vacations mostly consisted of visiting relatives and that could get old in a hurry. Mike never was around on the weekends – he spent them with his dad down in Camden. Jeff was home, but he had family visiting and he’d made it pretty clear on Friday that he was going to have to stay home all weekend whether he wanted to or not.

There were some other people he might have been willing to hang out with, but not very many. Really there was no one he’d call to ask if they wanted to play Nintendo or hang out with for a few hours, although there were a few he’d hang out with if he happened to run into them somewhere.

That offered at least a little glimmer of an idea of something to do. Anything beat hanging around the house all afternoon bored to tears. He could head down to the Frostee Freeze and see if anyone else was there he’d like to talk to. Since it was right along the big city beach that stretched for blocks on one side of Lakeshore Avenue, there might be someone on the beach, too. Especially, there might be some girls there dressed in as little as possible for a nice day like this. Howie got along with the girls in school all right, but he was just a little shy about asking one to go on a date – not that there was much that he and a girl around his age could do for a date in this town but hang out around the Frostee Freeze anyway.

But the girls were real nice to look at in their tiny swimsuits – it didn’t take much imagination to think about what might lie under those bits of cloth. He had a pretty good idea in general of the wonders that lay there, since he’d checked out more than a few sites on the ’Net, but he’d never actually seen those wonders in the flesh, so to speak. It sure would be fun, though, and maybe this year he’d get to sooner or later. The mere thought excited him.

He got on his board shorts and a shirt that sort of resembled a football jersey, labeled for the Packers, of course. Football practice would be starting in a week, and Howie knew he was going to be on the junior varsity team. He’d be playing varsity next year, maybe sooner depending on how things went. That was a big deal in Spearfish Lake; the varsity team was about the coolest thing a guy could do in school. Once again, he wondered about his older brother, how he could pass up something like that for a bunch of stupid birds. Jack was weird, and that was that.

He stuck some money in the pocket of his board shorts – not a lot, but enough to have a cone or a cola – then headed downstairs. “So where are you off to? ” his mother asked as he came through the living room.

“Oh, I thought I’d head down to the Frostee Freeze and see who’s hanging out,” he replied honestly. “Maybe take a swim.”

“If you’re going swimming, don’t do it alone,” his mother warned. “Have a good time.”

Howie didn’t reply as he headed out the door, and went to his garage to get his BMX. Last year it had been fun to ride the bike around town, but this year he sort of resented it. Bikes were kid stuff when a car was definitely better. Shit, he’d just turned fifteen, he’d had driver’s ed earlier in the summer, and his mom or dad occasionally let him drive around with them in the right front seat to help him build up the fifty hours of supervised driving he would need. Occasionally Jack would take him out of town so he could drive on some of the woods roads. That didn’t count since Jack had to be eighteen to be a supervising driver, but at least it was more experience behind the wheel. In a year, maybe, he could have some wheels of his own.

He wasn’t sure he wanted to put up with the Jeep but it wasn’t as if he had a lot of choice. After all, the Jeep wasn’t Jack’s, but his dad’s; Jack had been talking about getting a regular car for when he went off to college in a year. On the other hand, driving a Jeep around was cool in a way and it beat having to ride a fucking bicycle to get around town.

The bike wasn’t fast, but it was faster than walking. He pedaled his way toward Lakeshore, mostly thinking about the car he’d like to have, which was a whole lot more than what he’d ever be able to afford while he was in high school. Sometimes you have to take what you can get and like it.

It took a little while to get down to the Frostee Freeze, and what he saw was disappointing – he didn’t see anyone around his age he actually knew, or anyone he’d like to hang out with. For the most part it was summer tourists, people with their families, and a few older kids that he didn’t know well and wouldn’t take him seriously because of his age.

That didn’t mean he was totally out of luck; there was more to the beach area than just the Frostee Freeze, and there was still the prospect of checking out girls in their bikinis. After a minute of looking the crowd at the Frostee Freeze over, he decided he’d ride down the sidewalk on the beach side of Lakeshore Avenue and see what sights there were. Maybe he’d find someone he could hang out with, but at the absolute worst the scenery would be worth the effort.

He wasn’t hurrying and there were sights to see. There were a lot of families, kids and women of all ages in swimsuits. He actually stopped for a minute to check out a guy and his girlfriend. He was wearing board shorts, but she was wearing an honest to God thong bikini, and he got a good view of her bare butt, with what looked like only a piece of string around her hips and another one up the crack of her butt. They were pretty well plastered together, and it did not take a lot of imagination to realize that they were going to be getting it on before the day was over with, like about ten seconds after they got in private. Once again, he wondered what it would be like to do it with a girl.

He could have watched that all afternoon but decided that it might not be the best idea to get caught staring at the scene. Reluctantly, he stood on his pedals and continued working his way down the beach; he could at least grab another glimpse on the way back. This was one place, he thought, where having a bike almost made sense. He could go very slowly and take his time checking things out without having some idiot behind him honking his horn. This, he thought, sure takes the sting out of a dull summer afternoon.

Up ahead, he could see a nice bikini on a girl who looked to be about his age, at least from her size and her legs; the long, dark red hair in a ponytail seemed familiar somehow. The bikini was white, trimmed with dark blue, and with dark blue strings tying it together. The excess string hung a long way down her legs, and Howie wondered if that might be a little irritating to have hanging around. But still, the girl didn’t seem to mind. She was just fooling around in the edge of the water, kicking up a little sand, and not doing much that he could see. As far as he could tell she wasn’t with anyone.

A little closer, she turned a little and he realized who she was: Misty Frankovich, a girl from his class. Misty wasn’t exactly the cutest girl in school, but she wasn’t far from it. They weren’t exactly friends, but like all kids of an age, they knew each other. Still, she was the first person his own age he’d actually seen out on his journey, and it probably wouldn’t hurt to stop and hang out with her a little. Maybe he could get a closer look at what was in her bikini that way. He stopped, got off his bike, and from the sidewalk called, “Hey, Misty! How’s it going? ”

“Oh, hi Howie,” she spoke up, turning to look at him. The bikini didn’t cover very much in front, and that was an interesting view. “It’s kinda slow. I thought there might be someone down here I knew, but there hasn’t been anyone till you came along. It’s been a little tense around the house. Rusty has been a bear, and I thought I might find someone I knew down here. I’m glad you came along.”

That sounded pretty much like an invitation to him. He let his bike bang down on the grass, close to where another bike was laying – a girl’s bike. Maybe it was hers; he didn’t know. He stepped out onto the sand and replied, “Yeah, I haven’t seen anyone I know but you, either. You been doing anything this summer? ”

“Playing a lot of Nintendo,” she shrugged, momentarily deepening her cleavage, something Howie did not miss. “It gets pretty boring after a while. I don’t really like to be in school, but part of me can’t wait to go back.”

“I know what you’re saying,” he nodded. “I’ve got football practice to look forward to, at least, but my Nintendo has been taking a workout. I can barely look at it anymore and I’m getting tired of playing by myself.” Might as well drop a hint, he thought, giving her a closer look. She really looked good in that bikini; in school, she usually looked pretty much all right, if not hot, but that bikini showed that she had a pretty good body. Better try to look her in the face and not in the boobs, at least some, he thought. “So what else is happening with you?”

“Not a lot,” she sighed. “I guess you heard what happened with my brother. Boy, is he in trouble.”

“No, I haven’t,” Howie said. “I haven’t talked to anyone much today, besides you. What happened?”

“Oh, the great lover shot himself in the foot,” she snorted. She gave him a brief description of the story of Rusty’s date with Summer Trevetheck, and how it had ended with her father, her mother, and Mr. Trevetheck getting on Rusty’s case big time, ending up with Rusty’s grounding. “I can’t believe you haven’t heard about it,” she summed up. “After all, it was your brother who brought her back to town.”

“I haven’t seen much of Jack the last couple of days,” Howie admitted. “He and Vixen Hvalchek have been spending a lot of time together. They actually got up and went birding before dawn, if you can believe that.”

“I’d wonder how much bird watching got done,” Misty smiled.

“Knowing my brother, I’d bet that it was about all they did,” Howie shook his head. “He takes it pretty seriously. Hey, he doesn’t even do school sports, it might interfere with his looking at birds.”

“Your brother is strange,” Misty said flatly.

“Don’t I know it,” Howie replied, shaking his head. “Cripe, he’s missing out on football, of all things, but he doesn’t care.”

“Well, Rusty is going to be missing out on football, too,” she giggled. “It might actually do him some good. He might even study a little bit, rather than hanging out with those low-life friends he runs around with.”

“Rusty’s not going to be playing? Wow, that’s news to me. I guess that means the varsity is going to be in even more trouble than usual.”

“Not that they’re not in trouble whenever they go out on the field,” she snorted. “Actually, it’s good news to me. If he’s not playing, that’ll mean I don’t have to go to the games, freeze my butt off, and watch them get stomped. It’s actually more fun to hang out at home than it is to do that stuff. Hey, why don’t we sit down? I’ve got my towel here.”

“Sure,” he said, wondering a little at the invitation – at least that she’d make the offer. Hanging out with a pretty girl in a nice bikini was a heck of a lot more interesting than hanging out with his friends, wishing that they had something to do. He plopped down on the towel next to her, taking care to not get too close, and lay halfway down in a position where he could look her in the face, rather than in the boobs. Not that it wasn’t really interesting to check out her boobs, but he realized that a little of that went a long way, and he’d still be able to get a few glances.

Howie was just a little surprised at himself over the next half hour or so. He’d always been tongue-tied around girls, but in spite of the soft, creamy, partially white- clad distractions on her chest he was able to carry on a conversation with her. A lot of it was about people they knew – she did more talking than he did, that was no surprise. The discussion drifted to computer games and Nintendo, and it proved she liked them and felt that she played them more than she should. She had a couple of games that he hadn’t played, and he had a couple that were strange to her.

Of course, the conversation drifted to the upcoming school year. They were both going to be sophomores. “At least we’re not going to have to deal with Mr. Ordway,” she said at one point.

“Something happen to him?”

“Boy, you have been out of touch, haven’t you?” she smiled. “You know who Mr. Ordway is, don’t you?”

“Yeah, teaches English,” Howie said. “Jack said he was a lousy teacher and to do anything I could to avoid his classes.”

“That wasn’t going to be easy, since he had all the sophomore English sessions,” Misty told him. “But it doesn’t matter now. Someone found him dead in his car out on the point yesterday.”

“Dead? What happened?”

“I don’t know,” she replied, shaking her head, which made her boobs jiggle, a movement that Howie did not miss. God, they were cute! Her nipples made the fabric tent out, and when the light was just right Howie thought he could make out the darkness that lay below, literally the stuff of dreams right in front of him. “All I know was that they found him dead, so I guess the school is going to have to look for a new sophomore English teacher. Hopefully it’ll be someone who knows how to teach English.”

They sat on the towel for another hour or more, just talking, never touching, and Howie didn’t begrudge a minute of it. Sure, they talked about some inane things, but he really liked the look of her face, the color of her hair and the sound of her voice, along with what the bikini both concealed and revealed, of course. This was easily the most pleasant afternoon he’d spent all summer.

The sun was significantly lower when Howie decided to take the next baby step. “You know, I’m getting a little thirsty,” he told Misty. “I’m getting a little stiff, too. I don’t have much money with me, but I’ve got enough to get a couple small colas if we want to ride up to the Frostee Freeze.”

“Sure,” she replied. “It sounds like a wonderful idea to me. I’ve really been out in the sun a little too long and I’m feeling like I’m on the edge of a sunburn.”

“Then maybe we’d better get you out of the sun,” he agreed, “especially since I sort of feel one coming on, too.”

They both got up a little reluctantly – Howie had been having a heck of a good time and it was pretty clear to him that she had been enjoying herself, too. Misty picked up her big towel, folded it a couple times, and then rolled it into a tight roll, which she had in her hand as they walked up to their bikes. They picked their bikes up, and Howie got astride his, both feet on the ground. He watched as she unwrapped a bungee cord that held a white T-shirt around the handlebars, and used the cord to fasten the towel in place. Then, to Howie’s sadness, she picked up the T-shirt and began to pull it on. At least he could watch her boobs one final time.

“Thanks, Howie,” she said as she pulled the T-shirt down. It wasn’t enough to cover her bikini bottom, and it left a fair amount of skin above it revealed.

“What, for the cola?”

“No, silly,” Misty grinned. “For not talking to my boobs all the time. I know you were looking some and I don’t mind under the circumstances. But most of the time you were talking to me, and I like that. You’re a good guy, Howie, not like that idiot brother of mine.”

Shit, Howie thought. She caught me fair and square. I guess I did the right thing, though; at least she wasn’t pissed off at him; he could think of a lot of girls in his class who would have been a lot less nice about it. “Well, you’re an interesting person to talk to,” he replied as graciously as he could. “There’s a lot more to you than just your chest.”

“Oh, don’t get too gentlemanly,” she grinned. “After all, I was checking you out, too. Let’s go get that drink.”

They got on their bikes and started riding slowly up the sidewalk toward the Frostee Freeze. There wasn’t enough room on the sidewalk for them to ride side by side, so Howie let her ride ahead of him, which gave him the chance to check out her nice butt in that white bikini bottom without her being aware of it. The curve of her butt, and the way her legs on the bike made the fabric flex was downright intoxicating to him, giving him hints of greater things to come.

Watching Misty’s butt was hypnotizing enough that Howie wasn’t paying attention to much else, especially the traffic on the street next to him, until he heard the squeal of brakes just up ahead of them. He took his eyes off what was holding his interest and looked up to see a red Mustang convertible screech to a stop. Someone got out the passenger side, and Howie recognized Frenchy LeDroit.

Frenchy was far enough ahead of Howie in school that he’d never had much to do with him, but Howie knew that Frenchy had a reputation of being a bully and a loudmouth. As much as he liked football, he was glad that he would never have to play on the same team with Frenchy.

“You, you little bitch!” Frenchy yelled at Misty. “I want to have a word with you.”

“What if I don’t want to talk to you?” she sneered.

“Watch your mouth, you little slut,” Frenchy roared. “You just tell your fucking brother that I’m on to him and his little games. I’m not going to put up with that shit from him and I’m going to have his ass the first chance I get. Tell him he can’t hide in his house forever.”

“He’s not hiding, he’s grounded,” Misty said. “It’s probably best for him so he can’t be hanging out with a loser like you.”

“Loser?” Frenchy roared. “I ought to pound the fucking shit out of you right here and now for saying that. In fact, I think I will. I don’t have to take that shit from no fucking girl.”

Oh, shit, Howie thought. Frenchy’s reputation was that he liked to pound people first and ask questions later. He couldn’t let that happen to Misty; she hadn’t done anything. “Frenchy,” he spoke up, “Why don’t you just take your bad act and get out of here.”

“And who are you to talk to me like that, you little shit?” Frenchy snarled. It wasn’t fun to have Frenchy in his face, but at least his attention was off of Misty for a moment. If nothing else, maybe she could get on her bike and ride like hell. There was no doubt that this was going to hurt – Frenchy was bigger than Howie was and liked to use his fists.

“Don’t give me that stuff,” Howie said bravely. “I’m a football player, just like you are. I may be on JVs, but I’m also better than you are.”

“Better? Shit!” Frenchy snarled. “I can squash you flatter than a turd hit by a truck without half trying.”

“Better me than some girl,” Howie said, getting off his bike and letting it crash to the ground. “Of course, you like beating up on people smaller than you are, don’t you? You like beating up on girls, but you don’t ever fuck with people your own size, do you? Now, I told you, leave her alone. She didn’t do anything to you.” Although his attention was largely on Frenchy, out of the corner of his eye he could see that Misty was on her bike, riding hard for a crowd of people not far off. At least she’d be safe. He’d bought her the time to escape, and she’d used it. Now he was going to have to pay for it.

“You smart mouthed little shit,” Frenchy snarled, stepping a little closer. “I’m gonna kick your ass.”

“Bring it on, dickhead,” Howie replied menacingly. There was little chance he could win this fight, but maybe he could make Frenchy hurt a little.

Frenchy didn’t really have a lot of fighting skills; he was used to being with a crowd of guys, and having a couple of his friends hold on to the guy he was beating up. Matt was still in the Mustang, but getting out as Frenchy threw the first punch. Howie saw it coming and raised his arm to deflect it. It wasn’t enough to do the job, but it turned a hard punch into a soft one. Frenchy raised his other hand in something that might have resembled a combination, but Howie saw his chance and kicked Frenchy in the knee with his running shoe.

Howie wasn’t skilled as a fighter either, and the kick broke down his guard. Frenchy’s hard left was already on the way and pasted him a good one in the face even as the bigger teen let out a howl of pain from the kick to the knee. It hurt him, but it wasn’t enough to take him down.

Howie was still a little dazed from the left, and his guard wasn’t quite good enough to block the right that the swearing Frenchy threw, or the next one, which knocked him to the ground. He lay there, expecting a kick and trying to ball himself up to protect his vitals, when he heard Matt yell, “Frenchy, we’d better get out of here.” He heard a door slam, and the screech of tires as Matt did a burnout.

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