One of Two

By J. Strickland

Sam had everything going for him. He was a high school senior, he had just turned eighteen, and he had a beautiful girlfriend. Then Nancy moved into town. And she set her sights on him. And she was his girlfriend's friend.

Other guys would do anything to have either girl as his girlfriend. Sam's problem was that he suddenly had too many girlfriends.

Sam's toughest subject in his senior year will be learning about relationships.

Sometimes you have to choose.

31,000 words

What readers are saying about One of Two:

Brilliant - just brilliant

A very enjoyable read that moved along at a steady pace - well done.

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Excellent Story

Unlike so many erotic stories, very well and carefully plotted with excellent consideration of the emotions involved. Purely perfect release (excuse the expression) of information and involvement. Bravo.

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Very well done

Another great story! I like the way you did this one, kids growing and learning how to handle themselves. Everyone grew in the end, even Nancy got her act together. Keep up the excellent work!

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Incredible

You are far and away one of *the* most talented writers I've ever seen.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J. Strickland
• Release date: Mar 7, 2012
• ISBN: 9781465819857

Book preview

One of Two

by

J. Strickland

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2012 J. Strickland

Cover photograph licensed by depositphotos/ Piotr Marcinski

Discover other titles by J. Strickland at Smashwords.com

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

One of Two

by

J. Strickland

Table of Contents

Part I - Freudian Slip

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Part II - Choices

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Part III - Double Date, Double Trouble

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Part I

Freudian Slip

Chapter 1

The school bus rumbled on through the cold late-night air. As it hit a bump, I felt my bare leg brush against hers. How did I end up here? I wondered to myself. It was a long story and I knew it was only the beginning of what would surely become an even more interesting tale. Passing streetlights briefly illuminated the interior, revealing the blonde huddled next to me, her legs up on the seat as she struggled to keep my jacket over both of us. Beyond her, I could see some of my friends in the nearby seats. Most of them were sleeping, or talking quietly. What I was about to do was crazy. She was probably going to slap me, or at the very least get up and move to another seat. At the worst, she was going to make a loud scene. But if she didn’t, did I really want this to continue? As I reached out to slide my hand between her knees, I thought back to how I had gotten into this situation …

###

Over the summer, before my senior year began, I had met Carly. She was tall, trim and brunette. I was attracted to her at once. At that age, I would have been attracted to anyone female. What made her different was that she was attracted to me, only I didn’t recognize this at first. She teased me a lot. It took me some time to realize she was teasing me more than she teased the other guys. She was paying a lot of attention to me. I wondered if she might like me. I decided to play along to see what happened.

What happened was that we started talking. It always started with a group of friends hanging out. Carly would tease me about just about anything. I didn’t mind it because I liked having her attention. When she saw I was playing along, the teasing changed to something else. At first, it was light conversation – what teenagers talk about. Who was dating whom, what we were going to do after graduation, when we would each have that magical eighteenth birthday (mine in September right after school starts, hers a few weeks later), movies, songs, things that would turn out later to be unimportant but seemed to be so important to us at the time. A few people noticed this change, maybe even before I realized it, but no one said anything about it. Then, one hot afternoon the teasing turned into tickling.

The usual group was hanging out under this lone oak tree along a dirt road at the edge of a pasture. We met here often to hang out. It was a ways outside of town and off by itself. We would sit there in the shade and talk for hours. On this day, we had been sitting on the ground when I started tickling Carly. I was so glad to have an excuse to put a hand on her that I was not about to let up. She was giggling so hard from my tickling that everybody turned to watch us. I laughed along but only tickled her harder. I was merciless.

She struggled to get out cries of Stop! Stop! I did everything but stop. Carly was trying to hit me but she was laughing too hard to put any strength behind her punches. She finally pushed me and rolled away into a ball. She looked at me kind of funny, then sat up, leaned over to Sharon and whispered something to her. Sharon’s eyes grew wide. Carly said something else no one but Sharon could hear. Sharon got up and, standing in front of Carly, announced that she had to leave. She and Carly headed quickly to her car. They drove off without any further explanation.

I felt really bad. I thought I had pushed Carly too far. I was sitting there under that lonely tree, surrounded by my friends and feeling like shit. I had finally gotten my hands on Carly and I had driven her away. For a long time, everybody just stared at me, wondering what I had done to her. The dust stirred up by Sharon’s car finally settled in the breezeless sky but the mood was definitely spoiled. Even though it was only early afternoon, the others drifted off, driving away until I was all alone under the tree. I sat there for probably an hour, all alone. I was trying to figure out what I had done wrong.

I could hear someone driving along the dusty road. The car stopped but I never looked up. A door opened. I was surprised when I heard Carly speaking.

I’ll be okay, Sharon. I don’t know where everybody went, but I’ll get a ride with Sam.

Are you sure? Sharon asked. I can wait.

Go. I need to tell him. I owe him that.

There was another short exchange I couldn’t quite hear before the car door shut and the car slowly pulled away. I looked up to see Carly standing alone. She was wearing the halter top she had on earlier, the one I had run my hands over when I was tickling her. She was still wearing short shorts, but they were a different color. I figured she was there to tell me off, but I couldn’t figure out why she would be willing to ride home with me after.

She was just standing there barely inside the shade of the oak tree. Beyond her, the bright sun was illuminating the empty field almost to the point of being featureless. My attention was on Carly. On her long lean legs, her brown hair, her cute face. She smiled.

Huh? I asked.

What? she asked back.

What’s going on?

What do you mean? She was grinning, obviously enjoying my confusion.

I don’t understand. What is going on? I repeated.

She put her hands on her hips and stared at me. Then she looked around, as if to see if anyone else was still there. We were alone. There wasn’t another person for miles. Just the two of us under that big oak tree in the field, surrounded by grass starting to turn brown from the summer sun. She seemed to be coming to a decision. She sighed and approached me.

When she reached me, she crouched down in front of me and sat cross-legged. She reached out for my hands. I expected that I was finally going to hear how I had hurt her, or worse. I was ready for what I knew I deserved. She was going to tell me off. She was going to confirm that I had ruined my chances with her.

Where did everyone go? she asked.

Huh? I asked. I wasn’t sounding very intelligent. She told me as much.

Why did everybody leave? she asked, mirth in her voice.

I think they didn’t want to be around me. Carly, I’m really sorry I hurt you – I started.

She cut me off. When she spoke, it was quiet and gentle. You don’t know why I left, do you?

I shook my head.

I had to. She had my full attention. This was not at all what I expected to hear. You tickled me so hard that… I wet my pants. She laughed an embarrassed laugh.

I stared at her, at those lovely green eyes, not sure I had heard correctly. She grinned sheepishly and nodded.

You wet -? She nodded. your –? She again nodded. "I am so sorry. I never meant to –"

I intended to continue my apology but she stopped me with an index finger on my lips. I was still saying the last word when she touched my mouth and it was as if I was kissing her finger. She seemed to realize the same thing. There was but an instant of indecision in her eyes. Then, she quickly removed her finger, leaned forward, and kissed me.

I know you are supposed to close your eyes when you kiss someone, but I was too much in shock. My eyes were wide open, and I saw her face pressed against mine. Her expression was the loveliest thing I had ever seen. She was peaceful, happy,