As a little note, "Reflections" was written first and is a Generation X tale about tortured '90s character, Lee Rowe. "The Quitter" is in progress, takes place in the 2000's, and revolves around hapless loser, Robert Daggle. The third novel at this point lacks a real title. It takes place in the mid-1980s and right now, I simply refer to it as "80s." All the characters know each other, at least a little bit, from their high school days at Scarlet Hills High School. "80s" takes place at S.H.H.S. Though the books will all be related, they are in no way a triology and can be read in any order. In the below excerpt, Lee is in town for his ten year reunion and has recently flown in from Hong Kong. Prior to his reunion, Lee is exploring the city that he left eight years earlier. His exploration is a melancholy journey through memory lane. Lee is reflecting on the loss of his virginity. Lee is not exactly kind in his description to the girl that he lost his virginity to. The girl, Valerie Krtzkick, will show up in "80s" and the reader will see her from a very different perspective than Lee's.
Winter Park holds a special significance for me. Beyond the hundreds of times that I was here with my friends getting high, it is also the place where I lost my virginity. I wish I could say it was an awesome experience. It was anything but awesome. It was in the latter part of my sophomore year and probably like a few guys before me it was with a girl named Valerie Krtzkick. Valerie was a first generation American born of older Yugoslavian parents who fled to the U.S. years before as the Iron Curtain began closing around parts of Europe. Valerie was a pretty girl who wore way too much makeup and had a love for faux metal bands whose audiences were mostly female. Valerie and I shared a couple of classes, one being world history. During our world history class, Valerie and I would make eye contact and let our stares linger a little longer than normal. I, unwittingly and clumsily, was entering the sexual world of a high school teenager. One day, Valerie suggested that we do some studying in the library after school for an upcoming world history exam. I readily agreed but not because I thought Valerie could help me pass the exam. If I was looking for help on school work, Valerie is the last person I would have asked. I figured that Valerie was simply flirting with me to get her to help her on the exam and like a dope I was hoping that it would lead to sex. Unlike a dope, it actually did. I had agreed to all sorts of stupid things that girls asked me to do since entering junior high school in the hopes of getting laid. They always ended with the predictable outcome of coming up empty. This time, however it worked. Initially after having sex with Valerie, I was serious about wanting to make her my girlfriend. A couple of days later, I heard rumors that Valerie was a total nymphomaniac and had been with countless numbers of guys since banging some twenty two year old when she was in junior high. Upon hearing the news, all thoughts of getting serious about Valerie went out of my head. In fact, I was only mildly disappointed. I kept reminding myself that I had accomplished the more important goal of losing my virginity.
As for how it went down, the very first day we studied at the library was the only day we met to study. Looking back, I am not sure who was pursuing whom. I made my usual flirtations and comments filled with sexual innuendo. Instead of them being met with groans and rolled eyes, Valerie countered my remarks with her own batch of sexually charged comments and flirtations. The one I particularly remember that resulted in my pants becoming immediately tight in the crotch area was her putting a highlighter pen in her mouth and performing on it orally. Before twenty minutes had expired we agreed to ditch the library and the pretense of studying to find a more suitable spot to continue our conversation. Valerie recommended the back of her Civic hatchback but I, in a moment of rare genius, suggested Winter Park.
Once at the park it was a mad scramble to find the perfect spot before her mood was lost and my always predictable outcome of failing to get laid reared its ugly head. Just when I was starting to get worried, Valerie pointed out a copse of greenery that she had used to smoke pot in when she was in eighth grade. Eighth grade? Looking back it was predictably bad. We were covered in pine needles and tree bark poked us in every sensitive spot imaginable. I offered to wear a condom but Valerie refused telling me, "Condoms make it feel like I am being fucked with a dildo. Besides, I'm on the pill." Did she know factually what it felt like to be fucked with a dildo? Her unwillingness to have me use a condom gave me a brief pause but my inner angel was bludgeoned by my inner devil. There was no way I was going to walk away at this point. I remember having a thought along the lines of if I don't follow through in this situation, I'm probably gay. My biggest fear of ejaculating early didn't come to pass in some part due to the surroundings and because Valerie's nether region grabbed me far less tightly than my oft-used hand.
After my eventual, clumsy finish, we brushed ourselves off. Valerie was overly affectionate with kisses. I reciprocated physically but in my mind with the inner devil sated, the inner angel was screaming. You probably got her pregnant. Are you ready to be a father? She's probably got AIDS or herpes. You're only sixteen and you will be dead before you're old enough to order a beer or worse yet, you will be a fucking, sexual leper with sores all over your dick! You're such a stupid, stupid fuck! You're the dumbest fuck that ever lived!!!!! And then came the pleading from me. God, I know I haven't gone to church since I was twelve and I tell everyone that I'm an agnostic but I promise you that if she's not pregnant and I don't have some horrible sexual scourge that I will be in church and I will wear a condom for the rest of my life. Please! Please!
Valerie didn't get pregnant and herpes never showed up but it would be a full five years before I convinced myself that I didn't have AIDS. I could have simply gotten an AIDS test but I believed that as long as I didn't know that I didn't have it. As for my promise to go to church, I offered God a rain check once I got settled down. I still wasn't all that great about wearing condoms either. Come to think of it, I still owe God a church visit. Chances are I will never get around to it unless it's a funeral or a wedding.
