New Year, A

Mark had not enjoyed New Year's Eve since the year in high school when he and
Buddy waited outside the liquor store and scored a bottle of gin a college guy
bought for them. Since then, he'd gone to polite parties, made uneasy
chitchat, and left alone soon after midnight.

Still, Mark had been glad when Buddy phoned him at the dorm. New Year's party
at Greg's house. Sure, why not? Now, as he drove down the hill toward Greg's,
Mark began his pre-party confidence rap:

Weight: check. Actually I'm thin right now. Tall, dark and thin. Hair looks
good. Sharp new sweater. Remember to drink the first beer fast. Be loose.
Smile. Circulate. Meet all available women. Look into their eyes, deeply,
deeply. You are irresistible, sensitve, patient--oh, so patient. Hell, I was
patient with Dora. Left high school a virgin. Wish I'd stayed one after laying
that nympho Margaret while Will watched. Okay, this party isn't a swap meet,
just the old gang looking for a good time. And this year, I am going to have a
good time!!

And it wasn't a bad time at all. Ten guys, ten women, about half couples, half
singles. Mark downed three beers trading notes with the guys, and then found
himself warmly reminiscing with Sue, his first date ever in junior high. Sue
was majoring in forestry at UC Davis and had been seeing a guy named Robert
for more than a year. That revelation made Mark both time-conscious and guilty
that he was losing interest in Sue's story.

Mark politely disengaged, then wandered into a conversation with Buddy and
Janet, seldom shall they part, Walter and Vivian, and Elaine.

Elaine. A monument, Elaine. Nearly straight A's in high school, friendly but
aloof. Promising curves. Dark, curly hair. A too-understanding look. Mark had
not been ready for an Elaine, and now, as he glanced up at her, a sensation of
chilling anxiety overwhelmed him.

Elaine was not smiling at him the way people smile at parties. She was smiling
as if he had returned from the seas, as if ...

"I was hoping you'd be here, Mark."

(Okay, get it together. Steady, steady. Smile. Good.) "It's great to see you
Elaine. How's Berkeley?"

Unbelievable. The others were wandering off. Elaine walked up to him, The
Smile playing across her soft, wise face. "Berkeley has its moments, but I
want to know about you. Let's sit down somewhere."

Detour for beer. A couch. Elaine: "Mark, I don't want to make you uptight, but
I promised myself this if you were at the party, so here it goes. In high
school, I always hoped you'd take me out. I was too shy to do anything about
it, or about dating at all. I know we're different now, but maybe we can leave
early and find out about each other.

Twenty after midnight. Mark and Elaine at Howard Johnson's, ignoring burgers.
Mark, wondering whether he's simply digging being wanted or whether the
incredible pull he's feeling toward Elaine is real. She tells him about her
two lovers, her two breakups, the pressure of her studies, the longing she
feels for a relationship with all the trimmings--care, support, sharing.
There's no question about the entree.

Mark relates his non-history candidly. "Dora and I were shy, even after a
year. I think our shyness about sex kept us from getting close in other ways.
At UCLA it's been a lot of studying, a few dates and that magic encounter with
Margaret. But this is going to be my year."

"Do you know what you want, Mark? What's your image?"

"Equal parts libido and friendship. She's a bit overwhelmed taking care of her
Uncle Fred's summer home at Malibu. She spots me one day as I'm handily
repairing the dorm bike rack. She asks me if I can lend her a hand at the
beach. The beginning of an epoch."

Elaine, smiling and shaking her head with delight: "My folks are in Hawaii and
one of the kitchen cabinet doors is loose. Want to tempt fate?"

In the front door two steps and locked in a clinch. Elaine's lips like melting
butter, her tongue gently inquisitive. Mark's hands wildly stroking her back,
her sides, her ass. Elaine, clutching at his shoulders, rubbing his hair.

On the floor, frenching, tearing off each other's clothes. His tongue rolling
through neck hollow and down, into the valley of her breasts, now up, reveling
in the firmness of her left nipple. She moans as he sucks, hard, his right
hand moving to her other breast, stroking, kneading, pressing and rolling the
nipple. His left hand finds her hot and moist. His middle finger probes,
joined by an index finger with radar for her clit. Her moans become higher,
shorter bursts that spur him to stronger movements with his fingers, harder
stroking with his tongue as he sucks. With a sustained scream Elaine arches
and comes.

Mark has never felt so virile, competent and hot. Resting on an elbow, waiting
for Elaine's panting to subside, he focuses on his cock. (Fuck her, you're
gonna fuck her hard, fuck her, fuck her.) It's turning him on too much. He
shakes off the sensation and blurts: "Pill, you on the pill?"

"Yes, and no diseases. If you have any problems, say so fast," and she slides
around to his ramrod and takes the head in her mouth, rolling her tongue
around it, sucking. Mark lets out a loud "aaaaaaaaah!!" and reaches for her
ass. He pushes her to him and plunges his tongue into her. She is slowly
moving her lips up and down on him, grabbing handfulls of his ass. Mark's
going to pop soon, but he is light years beyond restraint. Unbelievably, she
rolls under him, and says, "Go." Mark manages four strokes and explodes.

In the shower together. Mark: "Why me, Elaine?"

"I liked your mind, and I thought you were cute. I fantasized about you. I
can't believe it's happening like this."

"Shut your eyes, Elaine." Kneeling down to her, tongue on her, in her, the hot
water playing on his back, her taste and silkiness and the return of her moans
reawakening him. Thinking he could die this way.

"Mark, it's so intense! Let's dry each other off."

As he tamped at Elaine, Mark was struck by the whiteness of her skin and the
beauty of her breasts, large, firm and crowned by delicate pink tits, hard
nipples. Her hand reached for him, found him ready. "Perfect," she said. They
both laughed as his cock bobbed.

In bed. In Elaine. Enjoying self-control, and her moans, her soft walls, her
breasts, her. Steady, serious strokes. Elaine's feet up and around him. "Give
it to me Mark, do it." Mindsnap. Banging, pumping, fucking her, hard. More,
more. Fucking, fucking, and that scream again, high and sustained. Mark felt
the come rising. He slammed again, again,  as hard as he could, his mind
flashing vivid emerald patterns as an incredible spurt surged through him and
his screams joined Elaine's. Mark blasted and yelled, felt turned inside out,
saw colors never seen, felt pleasure beyond imagination, and then, still
pumping and never wanting to stop, he snapped clear. There lay Elaine, gasping
and smiling, still moving with him. Their eyes gently engaged and they held
each other tightly as the aftershocks subsided.

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