His fingers started tracing little patterns on the skin at her knee.

"Drink a little more," Timmy urged. "It'll make you feel good."

"Are you trying to get me drunk?" Marilyn asked.

"Who me?" Timmy asked innocently. "Why would I want to do something like that?"

She laughed as she sipped again at her beer. It didn't taste good. It caused her to make a bitter face but she managed to finish it.

"Want some more?" Timmy asked.

"No," she said. "That will be enough."

"Just one more," he said.

"No thank you," she said. "It's getting late. I think it's time to leave."

Timmy glanced down at his watch. There was still light enough for him to see.

"Come on, Marilyn," he said. "It's only five. Your parents will probably think you're staying with a friend."

Marilyn started to protest but then Timmy was kissing her. It wasn't one of the chaste kisses that she'd had from other boys, not one of those quick good-night kisses at the door. Or even one of those kisses from the post office game they sometimes played.

Timmy's kiss was hungry, demanding. It took her breath away.

"Don't, Timmy," Marilyn said weakly. "Don't." His hard tongue forced its way into her mouth. At that moment she could have stopped him. She could have pushed him away. She started to. His kisses were not really turning her on. But he stopped kissing her. He started talking to her again.

"I think you're beautiful, Marilyn," he said. "Your body really turns me on. You're the sweetest-looking thing in a swim suit that I've ever seen. You make those other girls look skinny when you get around them. It's like you're already a woman while the others are little girls."

"Do you really think so?" Marilyn asked.

It wasn't what she'd intended to say but his words had turned her on far more than his kisses ever could. He was saying the things that she'd always wanted to believe but had just been too unsure of herself.