58 -ALWAYS A BRIDESMAID

I was jealous but he said, "I love you, Todd. Dating a lot of different guys makes me feel accepted. His cheeks glowed and his eyes sparkled as he said it-making him even more attractive to me.

Baily and my sister Emily double dated sometimes. They both really liked getting ready together. They would put their hair up, spend hours trying on clothes and doing each others make-up. They flitted around and posed like models.

They always left on their dates in a silly mood. I think Baily was learning from my sister about what being a girl meant.

He caught me staring at him in a short minidress. He said, "So what. . .I am a girl now."

"I just hope that you are ready for the attention that dress is going to get you."

Our last summer together passed in a whirlwind of activities: parties and beaching.

I once unthinkingly barged into the dressing room at the beach. I don't know who was more embarrassed. Baily was about to pull up his swimsuit top. He admonished me, "Don't you know better than to enter without knocking?"

Baily's hair was in a braid which reached just below his shoulders. Two large hooped earrings, hung from his delicate ear lobes. His make-up was impeccable. Just the right amount of mascara, eye liner, eye shadow, blush and lipstick. But it wasn't the make-up I was staring at!

"Sorry," I stammered, "I mean..."

"Maybe you should be more careful!" he said as he continued to cover his breasts with his hands. Then mischievously asked, "Would you like to see them?"

"I don't know."

Baily immediately turned to face me and dropped his hands. He exposed what were obviously breasts.

SANDY THOMAS PUBLICATIONS ·

--

59

They weren't large but unmistakable girlish mounds thrusting outward from his chest. His pink nipples were about the size of milk caps and were erect.

Later he came down to the pool, looking like a model. His hair was combed loose, hanging in waves over his shoulders. He wore a one piece swimsuit that was almost the same as my sisters'.

I watched him as he sat down next to Emily and applied suntan lotion.

I raced him across the pool and to my surprise, he beat me! He teased me. "Shame on you.. .to let a mere girl win..."

Emily and Bailey became almost inseparable during those last weeks before college. They went together shopping and then had loads of fun doing girl things like trying on each others clothes, gossiping and reading what to wear at college. My sister was teaching him about how girls feel. Stuff a girl couldn't ask her mother about.

Baily's Mother went out of her way to make sure he had a complete and an attractive school wardrobe. I guess having a lot of dresses would make Baily feel more at home with the girls in his school.

The day arrived when Baily was leaving for college. He had his doubts about going to a girls college and was quite nervous. Of course it was also the first time for him to leave home and to be on his own.

We were both feeling sad because our boyhood days were now behind us. His more than mine. When we were alone to say goodbye, I hugged him and found myself passionately kissing him on the lips.

His lips accepted my passion and he whispered, "Thank you for your support all these years. I'll miss you."

I nodded, "I will miss you too. I just feel so sad about you having to go to a girl's school.'