County Road 5

Thanks to my Sweet Inspiration blackrandl1958 for her guidance, advice, and of course her editing.

We almost missed the turn-off. Hard to believe, considering how many times we had made that turn, but it had been ten years and the brush had grown denser over the years.

Jason jammed on the brakes and carefully turned into the drive. We drove around the bend and there it was: the old red barn, though it was now more gray than red. I was amazed it was still standing; it was decrepit when we last saw it when we were teenagers.

We had such big dreams, lying in that loft on the hot summer nights, drinking the beer that Jason had snuck from his father's stash.

We gave each other our virginities there the Fourth of July after we turned 18, and I'm still not sure if the stars I saw were from our love-making or the county fireworks that we could see through the hay loft window.

While we had made out many times, Jason had even felt my breast under my bra, we were very nervous. Jason lowered his lips to mine, rather tentatively considering how often we had kissed, but this was somehow different.

Soon, we were kissing with a passion unlike any time before, and Jason's hand began softly caressing my breast.

It seemed to take forever, but it must have only been a few moments when he began unbuttoning my shirt. I helped by pulling the bottom of my shirt out of my jeans, unbuttoning from the bottom, and Jason pulled open my shirt, exposing my bra-encased breasts to the cool night air.

My nipples reacted, trying to poke holes in my bra as Jason's thumbs gently stroked them, and my back arched to maintain contact.

I was glad that I had worn a front-fastening bra so that there was no fumbling as Jason first saw my naked breasts, heaving with my excitement. I wished that I could have bottled the fascination, the admiration, the lust that was in his eyes.

When he hungrily took my nipple in his mouth, I had to gently push him back, as he was a little too rough, but soon he settled into a gentle sucking, moving between my nipples as his hands massaged my breasts.

The heat was growing in my pussy and I nearly popped his buttons as I removed his shirt. I had, of course, seen his bare chest before, but it seemed somehow different that night. His nipples seemed harder than when we jumped into Miller's Pond right after the spring thaw.

We got in each other's way as we tried to remove the other's pants, so we settled on each doing our own, and soon we saw each other naked for the first time. I was in awe of his cock. I know now that it was only a little larger than average, but at the time, I was afraid that it would never fit in me.

In spite of my trepidation, I could feel my pussy moistening, preparing itself to surrender its virginity.

While I was familiar with pornography, I was surprised when Jason lowered his mouth to my pussy; it still seemed somehow dirty.

The electric shock that ran through me when his tongue touched me cast all those thoughts aside, and I was soon experiencing my first orgasm not from my own fingers.

Jason looked up at me with a big grin.

"I guess you liked that," he said as he moved up my body, kissing as he went.

I was a little hesitant when he went to kiss me with his face wet with my juices, but decided that was unfair, and we were soon kissing with a passion that made our earlier kiss seem tame.

I was wondering whether I should reciprocate, not sure if I could, when I felt his cock probing at my entrance.

"Are you sure, are you ready, Ella?" he said. "There's no turning back after this."

While I was nervous, I pushed my nervousness aside.

"I'm ready, my love, take me, please."

With that, Jason began a slow, steady push. There was surprisingly little resistance or pain, and we were soon making real love for the first time.

As should probably be expected, Jason came very quickly.

"I'm so sorry, Ella," he said with his head hanging down.

I took his face in my hands and kissed him as hard as I could.

"Don't you say that! It was beautiful; besides, you took care of me earlier."

That seemed to relax him, and he rolled over beside me as we gazed out the hay loft window.

"I can't wait until we graduate high school and can get out of this hick town," I said to Jason as I lay with my head on his broad chest.

Jason was twirling a strand of my hair in his fingers as he gazed out over the fields.

"I feel the same way, Ella. This place is so dull, I want to live somewhere things are happening."

It seemed like we spent every spare moment up in that loft, sharing dreams, hopes and fears; the whole world disappeared.

Sometimes he would bring his old guitar, gently strumming as he made up little love songs.

Unfortunately, we had to come down and return to the real world.

I don't want to give the wrong idea. We weren't abused or living in poverty, it's just that we could see no future in Emmitsville. We watched our older cousins and classmates. They'd graduate high school, then get a job at Walmart or the mill. Most got married young, usually because the girl got knocked up.

The lucky few got into college, some the military, and rarely came back.

We both got part-time jobs and enrolled in the local community college. At the end of the first year, we found ourselves, as usual, back up in that loft.

I had dozed off after he made sweet love to me. When I woke up, he was sitting up with his arms around his knees, just gazing into the distance.

I sat up and rested my head on his shoulders.

"What are you looking at?" I asked.

He didn't answer right away.

"Jason?"

He turned towards me, a wistful smile on his face.

"I don't know. Nothing. Everything. Just wondering what I'm going to do with my life."

"Our lives Jason. Whatever we do, we're going to do it together, do you hear me?"

He just turned and wrapped me in his strong arms.

"You know why I love you so much?"

"Well, I'm beautiful, and sexy, and I like to fuck . . ."

Jason pushed me down onto my back, and I thought he was going to make love to me again, but he just brushed my hair off my face and kissed me tenderly on my lips.

"While all that is true, what I really love about you is your faith in me, in us. We're not so different from so many who have gone before us, yet you believe that we'll do so much more."

"Because we will, you just wait and see."

With that, he kissed me with more passion, moving between my legs as I opened them eagerly for him. He entered me tantalizingly slowly, but soon we were lost in our passion, and all too soon, it was time to clean up and go home.

I got a strange call from Jason on Wednesday.

"Ella, Friday night, please wear a nice dress, I've got something special planned."

"Why? What's going on?"

"It's a surprise, a pleasant one, I hope. Just be ready at 7:00."

"Okay, but if this is some sort of a joke, you're gonna be in big trouble, Mister."

"Well, I might be asking for trouble, but I hope it's good trouble. I'll see you Friday. Love you."

"I love you, too," I said as we disconnected the call, wondering what was going on.

Friday night around 6:30, I heard the front door open and close. Who could that be, I wondered, then I heard my parents laughing.

I finished getting ready in record speed and went downstairs to find Jason already there, and my parents with shit-eating grins.

I probably should have known what was coming, but for some reason I didn't have a clue.

Jason had me sit in my mother's chair, dropped to one knee and it became obvious what was going on.

Now I knew what the laughter was about: my romantic boyfriend had asked my father for my hand in marriage, and it was obvious from their smiles what their answer was, just as it was obvious what my answer would be.

I snapped out of it in time to hear Jason's proposal.

"Ella, I suppose it's no secret that I think that you're the love of my life, and I flatter myself that you feel the same way about me. Will you do me the honor of being my wife?"

No words were necessary as I launched myself out of the chair, nearly knocking him over, shedding happy tears. My hands were shaking so much that Jason had a hard time getting the ring on my finger, but he did get it on and helped me to my feet.

I hugged my father while Jason hugged my mother, then I hugged my mother while Jason and my father shook hands.

Jason took me to the nicest place in town for dinner and dancing, and I was on Cloud Nine.

My parents were still up when we got home, and after some more congratulations my mother dragged me off to begin planning the wedding, I heard my father saying to Jason, "You realize this is only the beginning, right?" I was gone before I could hear his answer.

Our mothers were giddy at the idea of planning a wedding. We were only children, so my mother let Jason's mother share "Mother-of-the-Bride" duties.

Jason was lucky and was spared most of the craziness, but not poor me. It seemed like every day we were off to another vendor or three.

Jason was on the deck enjoying a beer with my father when we came home from yet another expedition. Our mothers were positively giddy, but I just went out, grabbed a beer and plopped down on Jason's lap.

"I swear, if I have to look at another venue, try on another dress or taste another hors d'oeuvre, I'll lose my mind. Are you sure it's not too late to elope?"

My father grinned. "My checkbook will certainly thank you!"

"Don't you even think about that," my mother said from the doorway. "I've been dreaming about this since you were born. I didn't deal with your going through puberty to get cheated out of my big day."

"Your big day?" I stared at her.

"You know what I mean," she said.

After a moment of nervous silence, we all burst out laughing.

Despite all of my complaining, our wedding day was just perfect, and our wedding night was out of this world. You might think that after being intimate as long as we had that the wedding night wouldn't be such a big deal, but somehow, being husband and wife made it special.

We spent our honeymoon in New York City. Seeing all the sights, going to fancy restaurants, Broadway shows and the night life, just whet our appetites for getting out of Emmitsville, but all too soon it was time to get back to reality.

The first year was definitely a "Honeymoon period." We couldn't get enough of each other, and enjoyed being able to make love, or have sex (they are different) whenever and wherever we wanted. I never got tired of gazing at Jason's face while he slept, or waking up to find him looking at me with the same love that we had found up in that hay loft on County Road 5.

We celebrated our anniversary in New York City, reliving our honeymoon, which may have been a mistake.

Returning home our everyday lives seemed so dull by comparison. Fortunately, our love life wasn't affected; it was just as passionate as ever, but we were both feeling that itch to move on; it was a frequent topic of discussion in our apartment.

We redoubled our efforts at saving; we knew we'd need a lot of money up front for an apartment in the city, and also polished up our resumes.

It took us a while, we didn't even bother seriously looking until our second anniversary, but midway through our third year, Jason got an interview with a company in Worcester, MA.

Worcester isn't a big city, certainly not New York or even Boston, but it was a real city, with nightlife, even a minor league baseball team.

I hadn't had any success in my job search, but if Jason got the job, we should be okay until I found something.

Jason came home smiling.

"Ella, I got the job! I start at the beginning of next month. My boss says that I only have to work one week of my notice so that I can wrap up my projects, but he'll still pay me for two weeks. With my accrued vacation time, that will give me two weeks to look for an apartment."

"Jason, that's wonderful, but you'd better not sign a lease before I check it out," I said with a smile.

"Don't worry, I don't like sleeping on the couch!"

I slapped him on his arm and went to finish preparing dinner.

The next three weeks were crazy, Jason wrapping up his job while searching for an apartment, me stepping up my job search. I wasn't even overly concerned if it was in my field, as long as I could work and help with the finances. I could look for a better job once we were settled.

At the end of the first week, there was a going-away party for Jason. Even though he hadn't worked there that long, he was popular, and people were sad to see him go, even if they were happy for him. I was pleased to see that none of his female co-workers were overly affectionate, not that Jason would ever do anything if they were.

I easily approved of the garden apartment that Jason had found, and a week after moving I had a job as a receptionist at a doctor's office. It wasn't the most exciting job, but it helped us build our savings.

While Worcester was definitely more exciting than Emmitsville, things quickly settled into a dull routine. Fortunately, that didn't extend into the bedroom; our love life was as exciting as ever, but I think we put too much stock into a change of scenery.

I trudged home from the bus, somehow tired from a job where I barely did anything. Maybe it was just boredom.

I climbed the stairs to our empty apartment. Jason was off on another business trip. I just dropped my shit by the hall closet and slumped down in my chair. I didn't know if I could stomach another frozen dinner, but it hardly seemed worth the trouble to cook for one person.

I was shaken out of my doldrums by the ringing of the phone.

"Hello," I said.

"Hi, Babe, it's me," Jason said, sounding infuriatingly cheerful.

"Oh, hi, Honey, I just got home from work, I was trying to decide what to do for dinner."

"Are you okay? You sound depressed."

"I'm okay, I guess. It's just my lousy job. It's so boring I could do it in my sleep, and there just doesn't seem to be anything out there that I'm qualified for."

"You just hang in there, Babe, it'll all work out. Hey, I gotta go, I've got a dinner meeting with Acme. I should be home tomorrow afternoon. We'll go out for a nice dinner."

"Sure, that sounds good. Good luck with your meeting. Love you."

"I love you, too, Ella. Good night, see you tomorrow," and he was gone before I could even wish him a good night.

Jason came home the next day, and we did go out for a wonderful dinner. We even went dancing, something we hadn't done in a while, and for that one night all was right with the world; the weight was lifted off of my shoulders. We went home, made sweet love and fell asleep in each other's arms.

Unfortunately, the next day we were back to our usual routine, Jason back to his exciting job, me off to my drudgery.

Weeks went by, some better than others, especially if Jason didn't have to travel.

With Jason's encouragement I did make some casual friends at work, and was often invited to join them on Girls' Nights Out, but I had resisted. I'd heard stories about what could happen, especially when a group of women had maybe a drink or two too many.

One week I was feeling especially down, and even Jason noticed.

"Are you okay, Ella?"

"Yeah, it's just that all I seem to do is work and come home. It's not bad when you're home, but when you're away, I just go stir crazy."

"Don't you have any girlfriends at work? Why don't you go out with them once in a while?"

I couldn't believe that he was actually asking me to go out with the girls.

"As a matter of fact, they have asked me, but I'm reluctant. I've heard horror stories; some marriages have ended because of them."

Jason actually laughed.

"What, you're afraid that you might cheat on me? As if that could ever happen. Just watch your drinking and don't leave your drink unattended."

I gave him a puzzled look.

"Come on, you said it yourself, you've heard horror stories. Didn't any of them involve date rape drugs being dropped into unattended drinks?"

I gave myself mental dope slaps, of course I had.

"So you really wouldn't mind if I went out occasionally?"

"Of course not. I'll be well rested and ready to relieve your tension when you get home," he said with a grin.

My spirits lifted, I attacked him right there on his chair before he carried me off to bed.

The next day I told the girls that I would be joining them Friday.

It was a lot of fun. I did watch my drinking, and at first, I would only dance fast dances. As time went on, I did have slow dances with the men who appeared to be gentlemen. Jason also benefited as I came home hot to trot.

For a while, everything was fine. Oh, I was still bored to tears by my job, but Jason's career was going well, we were even talking about children, and the nights out did indeed result in nights of passion with Jason.

While the GNOs did lift my spirits, things were still off. Jason was still working so hard, and we seemed to be losing the connection that had bound us together. I made an extra effort to take every opportunity to be close to Jason, and while it helped somewhat, there was still something missing.

Then came that night.

It started just like the nights usually did, with a light dinner followed by hitting a club or two. At first, things were fine. Many of the men had danced with us before, and were well aware of the rules; those who didn't like them found more willing partners.

There was one new man there. He was very handsome and confident as he approached our table. I was secretly pleased when he chose to ask me to dance; I thought that I was far from the prettiest woman at the table.

I took his hand as I stood up and followed him to the dance floor. We danced to a couple of fast songs, then the DJ switched to a few slow songs. At first, things were fine, he kept a respectful distance between us, but during the second song he pulled me close. I put my hands on his chest and pushed him away, and for a few moments things were fine again.

I tried to return to the table after the song but he grasped my wrist and pulled me back. I was too shocked to resist, but when his hands slipped down to grab my ass, I snapped out of it. I hauled off and slapped him across the face as hard as I could, and when he raised his hands to his face, I strode back to the table.

The other women had seen what happened and wanted to talk about it, but I just grabbed my purse and went back to my car as fast as I could.

I sat in my car until I pulled myself together, then drove home.

Somehow, I managed to get home without getting into an accident, but now I had another problem; how could I tell Jason what had happened? Would I tell him? What made it harder for me is that I was turned on; there was no way that I could tell Jason that.

I knew Jason must have heard me pull up and would be wondering what was wrong if I stayed out there any longer, so I grabbed my purse and went into the house.

I must have looked awful, because Jason immediately got up and came over to where I was still standing in the hallway.

"Ella, what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."

I broke down and fell into his arms and told him what happened. I kept my reaction to myself.

"Ella, it's all right."

"No, it's not all right. We seem to be drifting apart. What's happened to those two teenagers up in that hayloft, so much in love? It seems like a lifetime ago."

Jason seemed stunned. I had never expressed those feelings before. I don't think I had consciously felt them before, but they were obviously there, bubbling just below the surface.

"Ella, we're not lovestruck teenagers anymore. We're adults now, with adult responsibilities."