It's Been Such a Long Time

Chapter 2

I stood in front of a mirror that looked like it had seen better days and ran a towel over my long blonde hair. I was still wearing my bathing suit and had even kept it on in the shower, since this was a public facility, and I did not want to become an accidental exhibitionist. I could wait to change once I got back to the privacy of the tent.

Marianne emerged from her shower stall a minute later. She must have had the same idea I did, because she was still in her bathing suit too, and it was shiny from being wet. Ever the shy one, Marianne didn’t really meet my gaze as she stood next to me toweling off her short hair. Though every so often I swear I caught her checking me out in the mirror. I smiled.

I’m not surprised. My body had really filled out over the last year and I would catch plenty of guys fixing me with a lecherous gaze, and even some of the girls in what I decided must be minor fits of jealousy.

Marianne probably had it worse than most. Throughout high school she never really made it out of the gangly pre-adolescent tomboy stage and had very little going on in the chest department. She certainly grew up, just not out. Her slim figure was nicely tanned, and even I was well aware of her enchanting green eyes and full honey-colored lips. I could certainly see why Tom found her attractive.

“So, what’s with college, Marianne?”

“I dunno.”

“I always figured you and Tom were going to State together.”

“Nah. We decided to take a break. Do our own thing for a while.”

“Hmm.” Tom and Marianne had been a couple since freshman year, and I really pictured the two of them as the first to go off and get married. Their relationship was just so solid. Better than Brad’s and mine, which seemed to be based entirely on his constant desire to get into my pants. I often wondered if he would lose interest after I gave in to his never-ending quest to get between my thighs.

I was just about to press Marianne for more details about why she and Tom were apparently on the outs, but she changed the subject.

“Come on,” she said. “We don’t want to be late for the bonfire.”

I decided to let my curiosity rest and figured we could talk about something else for a while.

As we walked back to camp, I heard the same guitar sounds wafting through the air, probably pumped out by the same boombox as before, though this time the guitar was interspersed by the tremolo swell of a rock organ.

“What’s this music I keep hearing?” I asked Marianne. “I feel like it’s been following me since I got here.”

“The band’s called Boston. Guess where they’re from.” Marianne smiled. “That kid must have just gotten the tape too, because he’s been playing it non-stop since we got here.”

“Hmm, not bad. I kind of like this song. No words, that’s different.”

“It’s just an intro and only ever gets played on the album rock stations.” Marianne leaned in and whispered, “Don’t tell the boys, but it’s called ‘Foreplay’.”

“No s**t?”

“No shit.”

“Well, don’t worry. I think Brad’s idea of foreplay is taking his pants off. Tom’s probably the same, huh?”

We both grinned and giggled. Marianne declined to comment on Tom’s views on foreplay, so I didn’t press it. The whole subject of Tom seemed a bit uncomfortable for her at the moment, so we talked about other things like the guy with the boombox, and the one tape that he seemed bent on playing over and over until he wore it out.

Our little conversation about that Boston album on the way back to camp was probably the most I’d ever heard come from Marianne’s mouth during our entire senior year. If I had known that she was into music we might have had something to talk about for the past year, but hindsight, as they say, is 20/20.