It
almost
happened when Michael was seventeen,
almost
. Of course the four year gap in ages between him and Ellen was huge for them at that age. As a twenty one year old, she, of course, supplied the beer and pretty much ran the show. Michael had been careful with how much he drank, wanting to be sure he remembered everything.
Ellen appeared drunk to him, so when he mentioned taking a walk along the beach he figured he had it made. As they started their walk he had to divert her from the swimming pool and then had to trip her as she started to run out toward the water once they made it onto the beach. When he finally got her walking with him, he led her up into the dunes where the light foliage offered several places where they could spread out and do it.
It was spring break so while the weather was generally good, that evening there was a light breeze that made it a bit cool. Michael wore his jacket, which made an excellent blanket when they found a clearing circled by some scrubby trees and brush. He figured it was an excellent hiding place.
Up until they slipped into the dunes, what he and Ellen had done was all very innocent, holding hands, him putting his arm around her waist as they walked and a light kiss or two on the cheek. Yeah, he placed his jacket on the ground thinking he was about to have sex for the first time and up to that point the two had not even really kissed.
It almost happened, it would have happened had Michael not said, "Wow, I've lived seventeen years to come to this place with you."
"Seventeen, I thought you were eighteen like your friends," Ellen replied, suddenly acting a lot less drunk.
"Yeah, I meant eighteen," he said, trying to laugh it off.
"No, I think you meant seventeen," she said standing up.
"Okay, okay, but why do we have to stop? No one will know," no sooner than the words left his mouth and he was shielding his eyes from the bright light of a flashlight.
"Evening folks," a young man in uniform said, "I'm Hank with the Beach Patrol. Sorry to disturb you, but I need to ask you to leave. You're not supposed to be up here in the dunes."
"We just followed the path," Ellen replied, pulling her coat tight around herself.
"Yeah, we have no trespassing signs out, but not all the paths have them yet. It's an ecological thing, people get up here with fires and blankets and stuff and it damages the plants. Then when a hurricane comes, the damaged plants can't withstand the storm and the dune loses its natural protection."
"How many times do you say that in a day, Hank?" Ellen asked, obviously flirting with the Beach Patrol guy.
"Quite a bit ma'am."
"It's Ellen."
"Okay, quite a bit Ellen. It's just part of the job."
"And what time do you get off from your job, Hank?"
At that point Michael just walked away. Back at the party he was too embarrassed to tell his friends he hadn't even gotten to first base, he just let them think he scored. He told them he dropped her off at her hotel room to sleep it off before he returned to the party.
________
Four years later Michael returned with his friends for Spring Break again, same beach, same hotel, and basically the same group of friends. Even though he had a girlfriend he was still, technically, a virgin. Yeah they messed around some, mostly masturbating each other, with an occasional jaunt into oral sex, but she was firm in the belief she wanted to save it until they were married. At the time Michael thought she was what he wanted, so he went along with it, besides, his girlfriend had gotten quite accomplished with her hands.
The second night they were there, Michael's girlfriend, not much of one for wild parties, went back to her room early. Michael, not much of a partier himself, walked out past the pool and was about to head to the beach. Remembering his last trip out there, he headed over toward the dunes, but this time there was a no trespassing sign. He smiled, remembering what almost happened last time he was here.
