Author's Note: This is my entry in the Literotica Summer Fun contest and I want to thank my dear widowed aunt for helping me with some of the details of the time and place where the story is set. She wouldn't say how much of the story was true, if any. I hope you enjoy it and vote accordingly.
All persons in this work of fiction are at least 18 years old.
*
"You'll see, Patty," Tom told his fiancรฉe. "This is a great spot for a picnic. It's right on the lake and there's nobody else around.
"Well, I don't know," Patricia replied. "Isn't it awfully windy there?"
"Yeah, that's why nobody goes there. But the wind is blowing out to the lake so it's not at all cold. Besides, I found a great spot, almost completely surrounded by trees and bushes so even the land breeze won't be a problem. And, if there does happen to be a few other people there, they won't be able to see us."
It was the first Saturday of June, 1957 and Tom Burns and Patricia Green, both 18 years old, had graduated from the local high school a few days earlier. They had been classmates there for four years and, before that, had attended eight years of elementary school together. After going steady for the last two of their years in high school, they planned on getting married three weeks from that day and living happily ever after. Like most young women at that time and in that place, Patty was a virgin and fully expected to remain one until her wedding night. Tom's only sexual experience had been with one of the "bad girls" of the small city where they lived and he swore it would never happen again. Patty had forgiven him for that one indiscretion and expected him to keep his promise.
The wedding plans of the happy couple were moving right along, mostly under the direction of their mothers, and the engaged couple had decided to take a break that Saturday from their part of the planning. The weather was finally warm enough for the young lovers to go on a romantic picnic on the shores of Lake Michigan, just the two of them and that's what they had decided to do. Before giving their blessings to the outing, both sets of parents had cautioned their offspring to be sure to save themselves for their approaching marriage and they had agreed. After all, up until then, Tom had no more than gotten to second base and that had been more by accident than design so they expected no problem in keeping their hands off each other until the night after they had been joined in marriage.
Patricia made potato salad and her mother fried chicken for them and provided a half an apple pie. Tom brought a thermos full of iced cherry cider, strictly non-alcoholic because neither of them was old enough to drink, and an old army blanket he used to take on campouts when he was in the Boy Scouts. Having had a license for almost two years, he drove his family's car. He did not yet have his own transportation but expected to buy a car after starting to work the next month at the automobile factory where most of the men in town were employed. As far as Tom and Patricia were concerned, their future was bright and one of the brightest parts was the deep love they felt for each other.
It was three o'clock in the afternoon when they set out on their short drive to the lake. That time had been chosen because there would be plenty of daylight left and the water would be at its warmest. Lake Michigan was always too cold for swimming but they expected to do no more than splash around near the shore anyhow.
Patty wore a bikini bathing suit, which she regarded as quite daring and Tom had a conventional pair of navy blue swimming trunks. They both wore their swimming attire under their blue jeans and sweaters because they were still at the point where neither of them would suggest getting undressed in front of the other until they were in the hotel room together on their wedding night. They were impatient for that glorious event to occur and Patty especially wondered if they could hurry things along a bit, perhaps on that day at the beach, although she would never have made any such suggestion to Tom.
After driving two miles along the black-topped state highway that wound along the lake shore a few hundred yards from the water's edge, Tom turned into a gravel road that ran out to the edge of the lake itself. He stopped beside a grove of trees and flowering shrubs that had just recently come into bloom. "Here's the place," he announced and opened the driver's side door preparatory to unloading what they had brought on their picnic.
Tom carried the blanket and the cider and, after setting down the thermos jug where it would be safe, he started preparing a comfortable place on the sand for them. As Patty finished bringing the basket of food and their bath towels, he pulled up some clumps of grass and removed a few stones to create a smooth area for the loving couple to lie while they ate and talked about their upcoming nuptials. As they fed each other chicken and potato salad and chatted, they kissed a few times, but strictly with closed mouths because they were both well-brought up young people who were dedicated to saving themselves for marriage.
"This pie is really good," Tom commented as he licked the last of the filling from his fingers.
"I know. Mom won second prize last year at the county fair and she gave me the family recipe," Patty informed her young man, giving him something else to look forward to during their married life together.
"Do you want to take a dip?" he asked after they had eaten all they wanted.
"Is that safe? Shouldn't we wait 'til a half hour after eating?"
"Well, we're not gonna do any real swimming. The water's still way too cold for that."
"Oh, okay." She started to unbutton her cardigan. "Turn around and don't look, Tommy."
Dutifully, he turned around and busied himself removing his outer clothing until Patty said he could look at her. It was worth the delay. He'd seen her in bathing suits before, of course, but not since the last summer and she was far more voluptuous than she had been then. The new suit was dark blue and set off her pale blue eyes, her clear complexion and her soft, light brown hair while her big, luscious white breasts bulged over the skimpy bikini top. Tom began to regret the solemn promise he had made to keep his hands off her because just then, he wanted nothing more than to hug her and kiss her face and run those hands all over her lovely white body.