Michael woke up at about two thirty. All the pop seemed to have gone to his bladder. He got up, the lamp still one, a small one in the corner. He went to pee. Sleep til noon, eh? That was what they all agreed to do. He could certainly do it. But when he came out of the bathroom, he was suddenly very wide awake.

Terri was standing by the hide-a-bed. She had sneaked down here. Her eyes lit up when she saw Michael, shirtless. He sat down on the bed as she approached.

"What are you doing here? Won't your aunt get mad?"

"She doesn't have to know. Good thing about having your own room and sleeping with the door closed. Unless someone comes into my room and checks, no one finds out. Not even Maria. She's zonked."

"What about you? You looked pretty sleepy . . ."

"I was faking."

Terri was wearing a bikini panty that could have been the bottom part of a bikini bathing suit, a green pattern on it. She was wearing a matching top, like a tank top, very low cut in the front and sleeveless, cropped about halfway between her breasts and her waist. It fit snugly. She was carrying her robe. "It was Maria's but she let me have it." She turned around. "Like it?"

Michael nodded. Maria was taller, but both girls were slim. Maria's breasts were of course larger, she being nearly thirteen. Terri's breasts, outlined nicely in the top, were perhaps each the size of a softball, cut in half, one half on each side. When the light was just right, he could catch the outline of a small nipple.

"Uh, yeah, it's pretty. Uh, want to put your robe on?"

"No," she said.

"Maybe I should put on a shirt or something."

She sat next to him, closely. "I like boys with their shirts off. I like YOU with your shirt off." And she kissed him on the cheek, then on the lips gently, little-girl style with her lips pressed pretty much together. She put her arm around him and kissed him again. He stiffened, embarassed. He'd never kissed a girl, at least not on the lips. Then he put his arm around her, fingers touching her bare waist on one side. Another kiss. And another.

"Look you won't get in trouble . . ."

"Shhhh I told you. They'll sleep til noon at least. Maria probably longer. Leanna works night time a lot. Maria is used to staying out late. At least in the summer. She'll be zonked."

A few more kisses. She leaned back a bit. Embarassed, wanting to say something, finally . . .

"Can I sleep here?"

"What in this bed?"

"Uh huh."

"But, uh, then were do you want . . ."

"It's big enough for two. Three even."

The lamp was turned off. He in the sweatpants, she in her little sleepset, they cuddled under the blankets. It was awkward at first, he never actually figuring out how you sleep with someone while hugging. Sometimes he'd hug his pillow to his chest at night, but pillows didn't have legs.

But eventually they found a comfortable position. Terri kept putting her hand on his chest. He put his hand on her bare waist. She kissed him again, this time puckering her lips a bit more, the contact a bit longer. He moved his lips.

"That was my first kiss," Terri said, "my first real kiss."

"Mine too," Michael admitted. "It's fun."

"Yeah."

A silence. Neither of them wanted to sleep. He feeling her thinly-covered body against his bare chest, she thinking of him tied up naked. Something stirred in her about that.

"I guess you'll never ever want to be tied up again," she said and immediatly followed, "Oh, I'm sorry. We're not supposed to talk about that."

He nodded. "Well, I don't know. I mean, it's not something I do all the time or anything." He was right, he didn't do it all the time. He didn't do it most of the time. But he thought about it often.

"Someday can I tie you up?" she asked. "With rope, not with those metal things."

She added, "You can tie me up too."

He was afraid to appear eager. "Yeah, sure, it will be fun. Unless our parents or your aunt catches us."

She paused. "With your shirt off?"

He nodded.

"But not my shirt off of course."

"Oh of course not," he said.

"I'm sorry Maria laughed at you at first."

"She ran for help. That evens it up I guess."

"OK then we'll never talk about what happened to you ever again."

"OK."

Terri took off her digital watch and put it on the chair with her robe and Michael's clothes.

They drifted off to sleep after a few more kisses and cuddles.

* * * * *

Later in the morning, just after daylight, little Terri slipped out of bed, kissed Michael's shoulder, looked at his hair in it's funny position, and slipped out of bed. She slid on her robe, started to kiss him but didn't want to wake him and have to talk to him. She knew if he asked her to say, she would, and she didn't want to get caught.

She entered the kitchen. If she'd not been missed, she could say she got up to get something to eat. There wasn't any leftover pizza. She slipped upstairs and into the bathroom. There was no evidence of movement. She suddenly wondered what would happen if she went into her room and Leanna or Maria (or both) were there. She brushed her hair, peed, didn't flush for fear of awakening someone. Walked to her door.

She'd put a little piece of paper in the door, a scrap of notebook paper, just in case someone checked on her during the night. She'd never done that before and had somehow remembered the idea from a TV show she'd seen. The paper was near the bottom where it wouldn't draw attention, especially in the dark. The paper was still there. If anyone was up, they didn't check on her. She smiled. She'd never really been devious like this, but she just had to be alone with Michael.

She slipped in. She had several excuses in mind and had decided on one, which would cover her absence for a longer time. Looked like she wouldn't have to use it. She fell asleep as soon as her robe hit the bedpost and her covers were over her.

It was about seven o'clock.

At eight fifteen Leanna got up and took a shower. There was only one bathroom in the upstairs, and she wanted it first. Besides, she couldn't sleep. She wasted little time: wash, shampoo, shave, blow-dry her hair. It was just past her shoulders. She looked at her thirty-three year old body. Not bad. A little more curve in the hips than she'd like, but every woman thought her butt was big. Breasts, 36C, still reasonably firm. Only a tiny bit of belly; she could still wear a bikini. She finally stuck her tongue out at the reflection and, robed, walked back to her room to finish getting dressed.

She listened at, but didn't open, the bedroom doors. All was quiet, apparently, except for a little snoring from Maria's room if she listened quietly. She went to the kitchen to clean up, wearing her jeans, sneakers, and a short-sleeve shirt.

Two hours later Terri came down, in her robe, for a glass of juice. They talked a bit. Terri asked how Michael was doing. A good question to ask to throw off suspicion. Leanna didn't know, hadn't seen him yet this morning, let him sleep. Terri went back upstairs for a shower. Maria still slept.

Michael came upstairs a little later, dressed in his clothes, carrying Maria's running pants. Not hungry. Leanna looked at him closely.

"Take off your shirt," she said.

"Uh, now?"

"Yes, I want to see if you are injured." He slipped off his shirt, feeling a bit embarassed. She bent foreward, as she was quite tall, to check his face. Giving him another good look at her cleavage.

"No black eye," she pronounced. "Maybe a bruise here on your cheek. You might want to think up an explanation in case someone notices. It won't be bad. Not a big nasty bruise. I know, I used to get a lot of bruises when I was a girl. I learned to tell which ones would turn purple or yellow or whatever. With pretty good accuracy."

She looked over his smooth boy-chest and handed him a glass of juice.

"Uh, Miss ... Leanna, did you really tie yourself up when you were a girl?"

"Yes, shhhhhhh, it's a secret. Yes, I did. It was lots of fun. Not as much fun as playing with someone else."

"Did you ever get caught?"

"No. I just had the house to myself a lot. I didn't do the things you did. I only used cloths and ropes and never could get myself tied up good. It's hard to tie your own hands"

"So, did you, like, pretend to be kidnapped and stuff?"

"Yes, captured by pirates, or kidnapped and held for ransom. It was fun to squirm around and roll around on the floor and pretend to be getting free to escape. And sometimes I wound my hands with tape and put them over a hook."

"Yeah, I've done that. I saw once on the internet there are some really complicated things you can do but I never studied them much."

"Well, simple is best," she said. "But I didn't do it for long. I guess I was about your age when I stopped. But it was fun. Like I said, it's hard to bring up the subject with a friend. It was just playacting, pretend, like what you were doing. Can be really exciting though. Of course I didn't take off ALL my clothes," she hesitated, "But I'd wear a little nightie, or a sleeveless shirt and panty, or my bathing suit. My bathing suit was my favorite."

"Mine too. I have speedo swim trunks I use sometimes"

"Oh, how nice. Most boys wear those really baggy long things that are so ugly."

"I don't wear them to swim in, the other kids would make fun of me."

"I wouldn't," she said.

"But my swimming trunks aren't the long baggy kind either. Just, you know, kinda like boxers."

She smiled. "What's your favorite position?"

He thought for a minute. "Well, with my hands behind me ... once you get someone's hands tied, he, or she, is pretty helpless." She nodded. "After that maybe with my feet tied or, best, tied to a pole. My cousin tied me up that way once. But I don't like ropes across ... here," he said, indicating his chest and abdomen. He realized his shirt was still off and he picked it up, put it on. Leanna sipped her coffee.

"So like, just on your arms and legs?" Leanna asked

"Yeah. I kinda like my top part to be, you know, nothing in the way."

She smiled and looked up. "Shhh we'll talk later."

Terri came down in her jeans and top and sneakers, her hair in a ponytail. Michael wondered if Terri and/or Leanna knew about each other's interest in tying. Well, to be fair, Terri probably just thought about it yesterday. He just wished he hadn't been naked. And especially crying.

Terri came down. "Well, how are you, Michael?"

"Pretty good, thanks. You guys patched me up pretty good."

They talked a bit, until almost noon. Maria was still asleep. Terri said she'd sleep all day and stay up all night if they let her. Leanna said Maria wasn't going to stay out late tonight.

Terri walked with Michael part of the way home. Michael didn't go back after his "tie up kit", saying he didn't want to go back to that place. It wasn't safe anymore. They parted ways, Terri giving Michael a big hug and saying she'd see him soon.

* * * * *

Michael's reunion with his family was uneventful. Dad asked him what he wanted for his birthday, which was coming up in a few months. Mom asked him if he had a good time. His little sister would be in summer camp for another nine days (it was a two week camp). He went to his room later and dawdled around, reading some, straightening up his desk. Michael kept his room neat and clean.

No one noticed his bruise. He decided he'd not go out of his way to hide it but would not give them a good opportunity to see it. He looked at his old lunchbox, now with his collection of miniature cars and no ropes or chains. He lost his expensive handcuffs. He still had the keys, 3 keys to the cuffs total, and 3 keys to the little padlocks. Oh, those things were still over at Miss Whelan's house! Well, he'd not go back after them.

The indicent in the shack had been on Tuesday. Today was Wednesday. He generally rested, running one errand for his mother later in the day, on his bicycle. He rode it around a bit.

Thursday morning, at about ten o'clock, his mother announced he had a phone call. It was Terri.

"You didn't call me." she said.

"I forgot your number. I don't think I got it in the first place."

"Well," she hesitated and whispered, in case others were around, "if you're gonna be my boyfriend you have to have my number." He felt all warm inside as he wrote it down, and configured a memnonic to help him remember it. She invited him to go swimming. He asked. Got permission.

"Ride your bike. We'll meet at Dean Street at eleven o'clock, OK?"

It was a date!

He went upstairs, looked at his swimming trunks. He picked his best ones, the blue with white stripes. They weren't too long on his legs, like most kids wore. He put his speedo trunks, the green ones, under it instead of underwear. They were a little small but he hated jock straps, yuk, up his butt half the time and the waistband so high and ... yuk!

He put on his pants, the tan ones, with a belt and decided on a shirt that buttoned. A short sleeve plaid one. He could leave it untucked. He got his small gym bag and put a few things in it, got some money from his jar, and got some more. He might want to buy a few corn dogs for his "date". After his mother fussed around almost making him late, choosing a couple of towels for him, he got some sunscreen and rode off to meet Terri.

She was there, on a red bike that was probably too tall for her, even though she had long legs. Her things were wrapped up in two bundles, along with some kind of carry-bag, in her side baskets. The kind paperboys often use.

They went to the pool, he insisted on paying their admission. They found a spot to put their blankets. She took off her cutoffs and top to reveal a nice yellow bikini, and wanted, to his delight, to get into the water right away. He stripped to his trunks, and they ran straight to the water. He told her he usually didn't even spread out a towel, just checking in everything at the dressing rooms, when coming with his friends, spending the whole time in the water. He put sunscreen on himself and they did each other's backs in a big hurry to get into the water.

The pool wasn't crowded. Both were good swimmers. There was the usual batch of girls hanging around under the lifeguards' high chairs, a couple of boys sitting in front of a couple of them, having been penalized the ten or fifteen minutes or so for some rule infraction. They swam and had a good time. They splashed. She greeted a couple of friends. He saw a boy he knew there with his family. They raced. They dived. They dried off. They bought corn dogs and sodas. They sat on the towels.

"Do my back," she said, her darker skin already looking tanned. She had a complete sunblock, saying she didn't need a tan and didn't want her skin to ruin. He rubbed it onto her back after she applied it to her legs and face and tummy and front. As it was the first time he'd been swimming this summer, he'd put on his SPF 30 but she wanted him to have the more protective sunblock. So she rubbed it on him, insisting on doing his chest and belly too. And she did his back, taking her time. She looked around and leaned down and whispered: "I like you with your shirt off."

"Thanks," he said. "You're pretty in your bathing suit, too."

Then she whispered, "I want to tie you up like that." He blushed, and she added, in even a lower whisper, "and you can tie me up in my bikini if you want to."

Michael thought the whole family must be tie-up fans. "I'd like that."

They sat in the sun, turning this way and that, listening to the radio station that was broadcast over the loudspeaker. Half an hour after lunch, they were ready to jump in but the pool was cleared for a "safety check," really an excuse to let the lifeguards show off or swim or something. When the announcement was given to go back into the water, she turned to him and said, "Let's go now."

"But we've only been here for a couple of hours."

"I want to do something else," she said, and winked.

So they gathered their stuff and left, unlocking their bikes and, she leading the way, they went down a path from one street and up a neglected walkway. They had to walk their bikes as there were steps every 10 feet or so. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

They parked their bikes. She took the carry bag, and they left their things in their bikes, as she said they'd be safe. They walked up a path and to his surprise they were at the back of a few houses that were on Prospero Drive. "Hey, I know where we are. Why'd we come this way?"

"It's a secret," she said. "Wait down here." She went to the back door of one of the houses. She knocked. He was getting a bit nervous. The door opened. There was a conversation. A pause. The door closed and she came back holding a key.

"This is Jenny's house. Back here's a little room they made from a garage for her grandmother when she was living here. Like an apartment. When their grandmother died, they didn't turn it back into a garage. Jenny says I can come here and be alone anytime I want. It was back when Maria and Mom and Dad were fighting all the time and I needed a place to get away. She doesn't know I brought you."

Terri's hair is almost completely dry by now. She unlocks the side door and they step in. Outside it looks like a 2-car garage. Inside it's a miniature house, with carpet, a bathroom, the garage doors sealed from the inside, a couple of small high windows, painted walls, and a few pieces of old furniture along one wall, including a matress.

She locked the door from the inside. The door is solid. There are little curtains on the windows. She turns on a small lamp as it's a bit dark in the room. "It used to be fixed up for Jenny's grandma."

She dropped her things and immediately took off her clothes to her bikini. "Don't worry, no one will come in here. Jenny is busy inside and her parents will be at work, and besides the door is locked.

Michael took about one minute to get to his swimming trunks.

Terri opened her carry bag. There were several coils of rope. His rope. She'd gone back early and got all his stuff, including the blindfold he'd dropped just before he was invaded.

"I want to tie you up. With your shirt off like that."

They hugged, enjoying the feel of each other's skin.

"Who goes first?" he said.

"We flip for it."

He called heads. It landed tails. She pulled the matress onto the floor and in a few minutes his hands were tied behind his back, crossed, and his feet were tied together.

"Now I got you and you're all mine," she said.

He squirmed and rolled around. He couldn't find the knot. It might take awhile to get loose. He was very excited, for some reason getting a stiffy in his swim trunks. It was the touching, the stroking of his skin while he was tied up.

"Now I can do what I want with you," she said. And she grabbed him, rubbing her bikini-clad body against him, kissing him, at first little-girl style with her lips closed, then puckering and opening her mouth a bit. He returned the kiss.

"Wow, you kiss good."

"So do you." The night before last was their first romantic kiss, for either of them.

She ran her hands on him. She kissed his chest and tummy, which still tasted slightly of chlorine from the pool. Their skin was clean and smooth. She teased him about never letting him go. She kissed him more and teased him and said he didn't get to put his hands on her body. She even kneeled up and pretended to untie her bikini top.

It took him almost fifteen minutes to free his hands. She looked disappointed but let him untie his feet. Now it was her turn. She held out her hands, hoping for them to be tied in front. No such luck. After a few minutes she was bound, hands behind her and ankles together, while he kissed her and hugged her and called her a "damsel in distress", having to explain the term to her. An old movie term for a captured girl, he said. He kissed her shoulders and her tummy, especially her tummy, and rolled her around and got a good look at her bikini-clad bottom.

After about fifteen minutes she asked to be freed. He untied her feet first and made her stand and let him hug her before he untied her hands. They talked a bit, not bothering to cover their bathing suits. She wanted to tie him again. This time, she tied his hands behind him and to a pipe that was on the back wall, presumably to supply the bathroom with water. It was painted the same color as the wall. She tickled him. He wasn't very ticklish but liked the contact. She carefullly put a rope around his neck, tying it to the pole so he couldn't bend over. He suggested she tie his legs to the pole at the knees so he couldn't sit down. She did. She put a rope across his chest and neither of them liked it, especially, because, as he had told her aunt, he didn't like anything in the way of that part of him, and she agreed.

She blindfolded him next and then rubbed her hands all over his chest. There was some giggling and kissing. She untied his neck and legs and when he couldn't get his hands free this time she seemed very excited.

"Well it's almost five o'clock," she said. She thought about telling him she was leaving him here but decided against it. Instead, she said, "Now, promise to be my boyfriend for ... for a whole year. We'll be in the same school in September."

He agreed quickly, and she promised to be his girlfriend. She hugged him again after she untied his hands and he really got excited when he realized he could feel her small breasts, or the shape of them, pressing against his chest.

They dressed and rode home. His mom told him to take a shower after swimming. He said he'd probably go the next day and she said fine. She asked him if any other of their friends were there and of course he said yes, glad he'd actually gone swimming with Terri.

He went to take a shower and masturbated furiously sitting on the shower floor.