That evening I got a phone call from Gina. She wanted to go to Mass with me the following day. She hadn’t been there in nearly three years, so I was surprised.

“Why do you want to do that?”

“I’m not sure, I just wanted to check up on my old parish.” That church on Gun Hill Road was called Immaculate Conception.

I told her to meet me outside for the 10:AM service. She arrived a few minutes after I did. For a moment we checked out each other. We had both dressed up, which I always did for church. My clothes were a blazer, a white shirt, a skirt, and black nylon knee socks. She had a blue dress, standard nylon stockings, and black shoes. We had several minutes in which to chat. The first thing she said was, “Hey, you’re looking really good today. I like that schoolgirl outfit.”

“I am a schoolgirl. Anyway, I like your look too. A bit more sophisticated than mine.”

“That’s the new me! Although knee socks and ankle socks can be nice to wear too.” She looked up at the building. “This used to be my parish too. I like that name they chose for it.”

I said, “I admit, I haven’t been to Confession in three years.” As at most churches, the confessional booths were lined up near the front entrances, or the back of the church one could say.

“We’d really have something to tell them now. ‘Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned...’”

“Please, I know what you’re going to say.”

“I should do it anyway someday, just to mess with the priest a bit. It must be boring to sit in there all afternoon, so a good spicy story would be appreciated. ‘Really? Then what did you do after you took her panties off?’ ”

I had to laugh at that. “He’d give you ten thousand Hail Mary’s to say.”

“They always say, ‘go and sin no more,’ then you’re supposed to come back in a month. I guess it doesn’t work very well.”

Then she went off on one of those esoteric lectures she was becoming fond of. “Did you ever see the paintings this guy Hieronymus Bosch got away with in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries?

“I’ve heard of him. Where did you see his work?”

“My mom has an art book with him in it. There’s one work called ‘The Garden of Earthly Delights.’ The big middle panel has, I swear, a huge outdoor orgy going on. In the left one, Jesus is talking to Adam and Eve in The Garden of Eden.”

“I thought they lived in different time periods.”

She was fascinated by it. “The amazing thing is that Adam and Eve are bare-ass naked, no fig leaves. Jesus is holding her hand, and she’s got full-frontal nudity. You can see her tits and her close-cropped pubic hair.”

“I’d call that a near-occasion of sin, I mean for him.”

“That’s for sure. There’s a self-portrait that Bosch did when he was about sixty. He’s smirking like the proverbial dirty old man. He’s probably thinking, ‘I can paint anything I want, and as long as it has a religious theme, it’s all good with the Church.’ ” 

I looked at my watch, “We probably should go in soon.”

****

Afterwards, we stood outside again and chatted a bit. Maybe it had something to do with what I had done with her on Saturday, but I suddenly blurted out, “Gina, I love you.”

That caught her by surprise, and she didn’t know how to respond immediately. Perhaps she was a bit embarrassed because she looked down and said, “Well, I love you too.”

I knew what I wanted. “Please, let’s go to our rock in the park. We can be there in twenty or thirty minutes.”

“So now it’s ‘our’ rock. Okay, I’m fine with that.”

As we set off, I almost took her hand, but I realized that I shouldn’t do that in public. As we threaded our way over there, we were fairly quiet. Once there, we sat in the same positions as we had on that earlier day.

Without telling her what I was going to do, I put my arms around her and started kissing her passionately. She kissed back. As we ran our hands through each other’s hair, I murmured, “You’re just so sweet.”

“Baby, so are you. That’s why they call it ‘Sweet Sixteen.’ ”

We were there for a while, then I caught her off-guard again. “I want to go with you to my basement, right now.”

She squinted at me. “And what do you want to do down there?”

I got my courage together. “I want us to do to each other what you did to Jenny yesterday.”

For a moment she gaped at me, her mouth open a bit. Then she said, “Wow, Chloe, you’re really coming along recently. Okay, if that’s what you want, then I’m game for it.”

******

Inside the room, we sat on the couch. We were both a bit nervous, I could see that.

I said, “I told my family that I would be out with you this afternoon.”

“I didn’t think this was completely spontaneous on your part.” She took on her leadership role. “Just relax and we’ll take it slow. You don’t have to do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable.”

“No problem, I can handle this. Although I do wish we had Jenny’s rum today.”

“We don’t need any alcohol. All right, we’ll hold hands and make out to start with.” We sat closer to each other. Soon we were kissing, and our hands went all over each other’s bodies.

I said, “This does feel so good.”

“Oh, I know.” In a few minutes, she said, “I’m going to unbutton your shirt and undo your bra. Are you okay with that? We need to have some foreplay with our breasts and nipples.”

“I want you to seduce me.”

“Let’s be blunt, we’re seducing each other.” After she had undone my clothes, she unzipped the back of her dress and let the front of it fall free. Then she unbuckled her own bra.

We were quite tentative as we began to touch and kiss each other’s bosoms. Gina said, “Neither one of us is exactly stacked in the tits department.”

I quipped, “Unlike Mamie Van Doren,” and Gina laughed at that. A bit later I said, “I’ve never had anyone do this to me before, although I’ve done it to myself often enough.”

“Every girl has done it. But, yeah, it’s a novelty for me too to have you touch me there.” She sounded so serious that I had to smile at her. “Obviously you see how erect our nipples are now. Those are important female erogenous zones.”

A bit later she said, “Since I’ve done this before – well, once – I’ll start by doing you first. Are you good with that?”

“Yes, please go ahead.”

“We could sixty-nine each other, but I think that would be a bit tricky for both of us. So you sit on the couch and I’ll kneel in front of you.” When she got down on the floor, she asked me to take my shoes off.

“My stockings too?”

“No, those should stay. By the way, I’d like to get a pair like that. They really look cute.”

“We’ll go shopping together and you can get some knee socks.”

After I had removed my shoes, she hesitated for a moment. “You know, we’re going to bust each other’s cherries today.”

“That’s not how Jenny saw it.”

“I disagreed with her on that.”

“I’m suddenly feeling a bit nervous about this.”

“Do you think we’ve gone far enough today?”

“No, no; let’s continue.”

“Better that your good friend Gina does it rather than some fumbling young guy. Take it easy, I know what to do.”

She pushed my skirt back and gently pulled my legs apart. I was wearing my black lace panties.

“Wow, that’s your going to church underwear?”

“I admit, I’ve been thinking about this since yesterday. You were right; I had been considering it by the time I met you earlier.”

I reached down to remove my garment, and then I tossed it on the floor. Gina was looking at my body with something like awe. “Move forward a bit. That’s it. Well, here it goes.”

She touched me with her fingers. “Chloe, you’re all wet down there.”

“Of course, I’ve been turned on for quite a while now.”

Within a few seconds of her putting her mouth on me, I could feel the pleasure radiating from my pussy. I ran my fingers through her hair. “You really do know what you’re doing.” I had to ask, “Do I taste like Jenny?”

She stopped for a moment “You taste like myself too.”

“When I sniffed my fingers yesterday, I noticed that.”

She got her left hand behind me, and she stroked the top of my ass. I got my legs up on her shoulders, and I was soon moaning rhythmically. Gina stopped again and said, “We are really B.F.F.’s, aren’t we?”

“I said I loved you, and I meant it. This is great, better than I ever imagined it could be.” I used my left hand to fondle my own nipples, which I knew would add to the experience.

As I approached my climax, I grabbed her head and rubbed myself against her face. I said one of my usual, predictable things. “I’m going to come, I mean right now.”  Then I did just that. I clamped my legs around her and my butt came up off the cushion. There were no inhibitions in the amount of noise I made.

I fell back against the rear panel and she got up and sat pressed against me. “Here, kiss me; taste yourself on my lips.” As we cuddled there, she said,  “I always said that you were a hot little minx.” I had heard that expression before, but I had no idea what minxes were like.

In a little while, she seemed almost apologetic. “Now, you don’t have to go down on me if you don’t want to.”

“But I do want to, very much so!” 

“Then I’ve got more to take off than you did. By that I mean shoes, stockings, and underwear.”

She stood in front of me and lifted her dress. I saw her pantyhose with pink panties showing through.

“So that’s your going to church underthings?”

“Hey, I’m a hot little minx too. And pink panties are a sign that God loves us.”

We got into the reverse positions now that it was her turn. As I knelt in front of her, I looked up into her eyes to try and gauge her expression. She looked very serious indeed.

“I hope I know how to do this.”

“You watched me yesterday, and I learned from the best porno magazines of Europe. You’ll do fine, I’m sure of it.”

I felt along the insides of her thighs, and then I reached forward to spread her lips. “Gina, you’re all wet down there too.”

“Of course, I had plenty of inspiration. You saw that yesterday too.”

My lips and tongue on her worked well because she moaned and squirmed around on the couch. She didn’t put her legs on me, but rather she held them up and out. As her sensations intensified, she put one hand down to stroke my hair.

She approached her orgasm and she giggled. “I’ve always been such an explosive lady!” Then as she came, she called out my name repeatedly. I felt satisfaction about giving someone else that kind of pleasure.

For a few minutes, we sat together on the couch. Then she said, “We should do all of that a second time. I know I have the motivation for it.”

“I know I have it too.”

“Unlike males, we can recharge quickly. And, let’s face it, there is only so much they can accomplish in one day.”

“Do you think they envy us?”

“They would if the majority of them knew anything beyond their own dicks.”

****

Later, once I had my shoes back on, I picked up my black panties from the floor. “You know what, I’ve got my love to keep me warm too. I’m stowing these in my bag today.”

“Good girl! That’s what I’m going to do too.”

“But you have pantyhose.”

“So what? Watch this.” She got her pantyhose and shoes back on and then put her underwear into her bag. Then she stood up to model herself. With her dress held up, I could see her pubic hair showing through the nylon. Then she turned to reveal the rear view. Her ass crack was visible to me. Gina did one of her trademark butt wiggles.

I commented, “I never thought about doing that myself, I mean with pantyhose.”

“There’s a lot you can learn from me, although this stunt just occurred to me now. I’m kind of hungry; let’s go over to the diner on White Plains.”

Something occurred to me that both amused and worried me. “Oh my, we have the taste of cunt all over our faces.”

“They have a restroom over there; we can clean up.”

“Do you think we should tell Jenny about this?”

“I don’t see why not. Except...” She was pondering it. “I’m not sure how to do it, but we’ll figure it out.”

****

At the diner, we sat in a booth to the side. I was feeling a bit subdued. We both knew to keep our voices down if we were going to discuss personal issues.

One of my neighbors, a woman in her fifties named Mrs. Marchetti, was sitting across the room. She smiled and waved to me, and I waved back.

I asked Gina, “Did you ever wonder what adults are thinking when they look at you?”

“But I am an adult! Okay, I know, I’m just busting your chops. So you must be considering your neighbor over there.” Gina had met her a couple of times.

“Yes, exactly. So she must be thinking, ‘Look at those two nice girls; they’re all dressed up for Sunday Mass.’ ”

“We did go to Mass. And Chloe, I also think that you are a nice girl.”

“It’s just that with these changes I’ve been going through recently, it’s been a bit hard to cope with it all.”

“That’s a good thing; it’s called growing up.”

“But I wish I felt better about it.”

“You worry too much. If I ever have a daughter, I would hope she is as well-behaved as you are.”

That had an impact on me. “Do you really think that?”

“Sure I do.” Then she winked at me. “Even if she doesn’t wear panties.”

Gina laughed and even I had to smile. “You’re completely incorrigible, you know that?”

*****

The three of us made progress in finding jobs over the next two weeks. But that Saturday, Gina had something else planned for us.

We were all sitting together on the foundation walls of a former carpet factory inside the park. In the middle of our conversation, she said, “Hey guys, I called that Dan Donovan person. I asked that he and Jake take us to the movies this weekend.”

Jenny said, “It would be nice if you had told us about this first.”

She didn’t answer us directly. “When you think about it, none of us have ever been on a date with a guy, have we? Actually, I’d call this a ‘pre-date,’ very informal as I said. It’s good to get a little experience with this.”

I was incredulous. “You asked them to go out with us?”

“Yeah, so what? In the age we live in, ladies should take the initiative too. Well, I did give Dan the manly task of picking the movie.”

“So what is it?”

“You’ve heard of this thing called The Emperor of the North Pole?”

Both Jenny and I knew something about it. Despite its odd name, it was set during The Great Depression. Ernest Borgnine was a tough railroad conductor who wanted to keep hobos off his train, and Lee Marvin was an equally tough hobo who wanted to ride it.

Gina added, “Oh, they got that third guy they know to be there too. His name is Jeff Kimmel.”

She could see that Jenny and I were not happy about her plan. “What is wrong; is it the movie?”

I said, “No, it’s the whole situation.”

“I can’t believe you two. It’s so simple, a single afternoon. And it’s only a movie.”

Finally, we agreed to her latest proposal.

*****

On Saturday afternoon, the three of us arrived in front of the RKO Fordham to find that the boys were already there. Jeff was a fairly tall guy with bushy dark blonde hair. He seemed more voluble than his friends, and he made a lot of wisecracks. Yet I sensed that he was also nervous. We all were, I’m sure.

Gina just had to pair up everybody. “Since I’m an artistic type, I’ll go with Dan. Chloe is the intellectual, so she’ll be with Jake.”

Please, Gina, don’t say that I’m on the math team. That would be so embarrassing.

But she had the sense not to mention it. “So, that leaves Jenny with Jeff.”

Jake and I looked at each other. I said, “Don’t take this personally, but I don’t have the slightest idea of who you are.”

“Well, I don’t know you either.”

Gina was frustrated. “Come on, none of us knows each other. Don’t make such a big deal out of it.” It turned out that the film was rated PG, but the seventeen-year-old males could have gotten us in if it had been an R.

In those days, the theater house lights were on between showings. Gina and Dan, Jenny and Jeff sat together in one row, with a one-seat gap between the two couples. Jake and I were in the row right behind them.

I didn’t feel comfortable making small talk, so I didn’t even try. Jake seemed to feel the same way and he looked straight ahead. Fortunately, in a few minutes, the first “coming attractions” (trailers) started. There were only two of those.

The film was better than I had expected. It had been filmed on location in Oregon and featured authentic steam trains. I had always liked the “I don’t give a damn” attitude that Lee Marvin projected.

Afterwards, we all felt more relaxed when we had lunch at a nearby restaurant. Some of the pressure seemed to be off of us, and we talked readily as we sat around a table.

When it was time to go, Gina and I took a parallel bus line to the one that took the three guys home. Jenny had gone off to shop for something at Alexanders Department Store.

As we sat near the back, we had a conversation. “You know, I’d really like to go on a date with Chris.” I was his secret admirer down at my school.

“So, as you’ve seen today, you’ve got to be proactive. Do you happen to have his phone number?”

“I do, but I can’t just ask him out.”

“Of course you can. Do you have an idea of where you want to go?”

“I was thinking of The Bronx Zoo; I haven’t been there in years.”

“Okay, call him and tell him about it.”

“What happens if he doesn’t say anything about going with me?”

“Then you have to be more direct. Don’t make it into a question, just make a statement. ‘I’m going to the Bronx Zoo and I want you to come with me.’ That puts the decision back on him.”

“But maybe he’s not attracted to me; maybe he’ll say no.”

She shrugged. “So at least you’ll know. Plenty of fish in that sea.” She smiled. “Although some of them are crabs!”

“Would you be jealous about this?”

She knew what I meant. “No, not at all. We’ve got our own thing going together, while whatever you do with him is over someplace else.”

“If that happens, you’ll know about him, but he won’t know about us.” Gina had met him briefly perhaps twice.

“Sometimes life gets a little complicated.”

Back in our neighborhood, we sat on the old factory foundations again. At one point she said, “I’ve been making up a song about my train flashing last week, and the first couple of verses are done. It’s a parody of Arlo Guthrie’s ‘City of New Orleans.’ ”

“Actually, Steve Goodman wrote it.”

“Are you going to pick nits about this? So do you want to hear it?”

“Of course I do.”

Now it was Gina’s turn to be hesitant. “I’m not used to singing to people, you know.”

“I know, I won’t criticize you.”

She sighed. “Well, I have to pull myself together first.” Then she said, “Okay, here goes.”

Her singing voice was pretty good. I heard,

“Riding on the local to North White Plains,
Penn Central, Saturday afternoon rail,
A bunch of cars filled with tired riders,
And that chick on the platform isn’t wearing drawers.

“All along the northbound odyssey,
The train pulls out of Fordham Road,
And rolls along through all of Bronx Park.
Passing Gina waving her ass,
Man, that girl has got some class,
I wish this train would stop so I could go and say hello.

“Good day, New York, how are ‘ya?,
Said don’t you know me, I’m your native son?
I’m the train they call the local to North White Plains,
And I’ll be gone thirty miles before the day is done.”

She looked at me in anticipation. Then I said, as deadpan as I could make it, “Your rhyming is off. Also, the number of syllables in each line doesn’t always match the original.”

“Damn, you are criticizing me!”

I smiled. “I shouldn’t have fooled you, I’m sorry.”

“Good, because I’m trying to figure out the second half of the song.”

I had an urge to put my arm around her waist and kiss her. But we were only a short distance from the street, and we had no privacy.

I said, “Actually, it seems to be a very clever version.”

“I’m not putting myself in the second part. I was thinking, we should go over to Co-op City and flash some Amtrak trains.”

“You really believe that I’d go there with you and do that?”

“It’s very arousing to do that, which I didn’t expect. Anyway, those things are way too fast for anybody to really see us.”

“Gina, you get aroused by almost everything. Plus, there are apartment buildings on the other side of the tracks.”

“You’re such a good girl, Chloe. What do you do to get aroused?”

I figured I’d surprise her. “I masturbate, which seems to work very well.”

For a moment she did gape at me, and then she laughed. “You have to get up pretty early in the morning to shock me. Although, last Sunday you did blindside me.”

Something occurred to me that I didn’t actually say to her. I am so different from what I was just a couple of months ago.

#####