I like Nick, a lot!
Felt a kindred spirit in him here
I also like that it didn’t seem that Tracy outright ‘tricked’ him.
I was nervous at the beginning of the chapter that Nick might be exposed to his whole class, or more, but you didn’t jump the shark.
Great job keeping it believable and pretty innocent.
I look forward to more of these segments
The audience laughed as Nick finished telling his story. “Oh Nick, how unfair. You went through all that, and gave her a very good look from the sound of it…” Callie teased, pausing for a few more giggles before continuing “… and got nothing in exchange! Now, to be fair to Tracy, I think she just got cold feet at the last minute. But still, you went in and gave her a show expecting the same in return. Is that right?”
“Yeah, she told me she would…”
Callie cut him off “And you really wanted to see, didn’t you?”
A flustered Nick replies “Y-yeah, I’m-was really curious!”
“Well, that’s understandable then. It’s not like you agreed to show her your bits knowing you wouldn’t get to see hers.” As Callie said that second sentence, Nick’s head dropped a bit. He knew exactly which story she was going to make him tell next. “What’s wrong Nick?” Callie taunted him. “Was it something I said? Wait, have you agreed to show a girl your parts knowing she wouldn’t show hers?” Nick rolled his eyes, why was she putting on this act?
“Yes, but you already knew all of that.”
“Oh? How would I have known that?”
“Because it was you. You want me to tell the story of how you saw my thing?” Nick asked, managing a slightly defiant tone.
Callie put him in check immediately, saying “You mean, besides like this?” as she pulled out the front of his underpants and made a show of looking down at what was in them. All the girls watching broke into giggles as Nick froze and turned even more red. “Yes Nick, let’s hear that story…”
—————
Callie Folston had a problem. Not a very big problem and one she was probably making into a bigger deal than it needed to be, but it was still a problem to her. Her friends Krystal and Emma had recently found out that Callie, despite having just finished Fifth grade, had never seen a boy’s penis in person before. Not that she didn’t know what one looked like, she’d seen drawings in health textbooks and had the general idea of what to expect. And she’d had a few opportunities as well. Over the years a couple of boys had propositioned her to play Doctor or Truth or Dare, but she had just been too shy to go through with it.
Now Callie’s friends had been poking fun at her over it. They weren’t terribly mean spirited about it, just gentle ribbing about her “virgin eyes” or “delicate sensibilities”. All the same it was a vulnerability she would be happier without. She had been in her room thinking all morning, trying to come up with a way to get a look at a boy without having to show him anything. She couldn’t bear the idea. Letting a boy see any part of her normally covered by clothes sounded embarrassing beyond her imagination, but that was exactly why she had this problem to start with. She hadn’t come up with any great ideas yet, so she decided to go with one that was just “worth a try” and see how that turned out.
Nick was enjoying the start of his summer vacation, sitting in the living room and watching cartoons. It was nearing mid day, and Nick’s stomach had started rumbling. As if on cue, his sister came out of her room and said “Hey bro, gettin’ hungry?” as she walked through the living room toward the kitchen.
“Yeah, it’s about lunch time, right?” Nick responded.
“Just sit tight, I’ll handle it.” Callie said, heading to the pantry. She opened it, and retrieved some bread and peanut butter, then got the jelly out of the fridge and started making a couple of sandwiches. As she did she was considering how to approach Nick. She had to ask in some way, but how? It’s not like it was that big of a deal. He’d done it before, and she was going to offer him something in exchange, just not THAT! Definitely not that.
Callie came back from the kitchen and handed Nick his sandwich on a paper plate. Nick nearly yelled “Oh, thanks Callie!” and took a big bite. Callie sat down at the other end of the couch and began to eat her sandwich as well. She was halfway through with it before she found the guts to start the conversation.
“So, Nick, once you’re done would you mind doing me a favor?” She started. Nick looked up with a mouthful of peanut butter and jelly, clearly listening. Callie continued “See, my friends have been kinda giving me a hard time about something lately.” Nick swallowed his food and spoke up.
“What are they bothering you about that I could help with?” Nick asked. He wasn’t sure how he could be helpful to her, but he was willing to try.
“Remember what you told me awhile back, about you and… um… Tracy?” Callie knew there was no going back now. For better or worse she was going to offer him her deal. All she could do was hope he would accept.
Nick had gone red at the mention of Tracy. It had been two months, and he still felt embarrassed to remember it. He had told Callie about that because he had felt tricked, and wronged, but she had said it didn’t sound like that, and Tracy probably just got too scared. Why was she bringing that up now? And what did it have to do with her needing his help? “I remember telling you it was a secret. What does that have to do with you?” Nick asked before finishing the last of his lunch.
“I’ve never seen a boys penis” Callie muttered, almost too quick to make out. But Nick had heard her, loud and clear. “That’s what they’ve been teasing me about.”
“So you want to show me yours and I’ll show you mine?” Nick asked the question with a bit of hope. Maybe he would get to satisfy that curiosity of his!
“Wha-No! No! That… uh, that wouldn’t be appropriate, I’m too much older than you, see? I mean, I’m about to start Middle School soon! So it wouldn’t be okay for you to see me.” Callie sputtered out the best excuse she had come up with. It sounded almost believable to her, maybe her brother would buy it.
“So what then?” Nick was even more confused now. What was she suggesting if not showing each other? “You want me to show you for free, like Tracy? And I get nothing again?”
“Look, I just want a look at what she saw. No, I’m not going to show you mine, but I can offer some help with that.” This was it, she had to hope his curiosity about girls outweighed his modesty by enough.
“What do you mean, help? What kind of help?” Nick was asking for details instead of just saying no. Callie took it as a good sign.
“I know all the naughty tricks. I can give you ideas, games and dares and stuff like that that might get a girl naked. A lot of them will require you to get naked too, so be ready for that. That’s the deal, you show me, and I’ll help you satisfy your curiosity with someone else.” It was kind of a long shot, but she thought it just might work. The neighborhood had quite a few girls around Nick’s age. Surely with Callie’s help he could get at least one of them to show him what he wanted to see.
Nick considered her offer carefully. If she could help him like she said, that just might be worth it. He certainly hadn’t gotten anywhere on his own. Ultimately, his curiosity got the better of him. “Okay, fine, but let’s be quick. And you’d better actually help me.” he said, getting up from the couch.
“My room” Callie said, gesturing toward the hallway, trying her best not to lose her cool. He said okay! He was going to do it! She had actually gotten him to agree to showing her without getting to see anything of hers! For a moment she imagined it the other way around, she would never agree to that for anything! Callie followed Nick into her room, both trying to be nonchalant and failing as only kids can. She closed the door and turned to Nick, who was now already turning red again. “Okay Nick” she said, her giddiness now visible on her face, “let’s see it.”
“Alright, alright” Nick said, struggling with his pants. His hands wouldn’t hold still, he was starting to feel sweaty. At least they had more privacy than an alley by the playground. Callie was over the moon watching her brother unfasten his pants. Her friends teasing would end today! At the least they’d have to find something new to tease her for. She had started to think she might never get to see a boy’s privates due to her unwillingness to show her own. Emma had said she was crazy to think she could get a boy to agree to a one-sided show. But here she was just moments away from seeing her brothers penis, and he’d agreed to her not showing him anything!
Nick’s pants dropped to the floor. His hands instinctively moved to cover his undies. “You don’t have to be shy about your little underpants bro. You’re about to take them off anyway!” Callie couldn’t help but tease him. He looked so silly trying to cover himself like that when the whole reason they came in here was for him to show her.
“Yeah, whatever, just… don’t take too long looking, okay?” Nick said as he grabbed the waistband of his briefs. He started shaking even more and had to take a deep breath to steady himself. “Okay, on three I guess. One…two…three!” And Nick pushed his underwear down past his knees and let them fall to the floor. He saw Callie’s eyes go a bit wider when his private bits came out. That was it, she had “virgin eyes” no more.
“So, that’s a penis, huh? It is different seeing it in person. It’s cute.” Callie moved closer as she spoke. Before Nick realized what she was doing, Callie had crouched down right in front of him, with his exposed privates now less than a foot from her face. He wasn’t sure what to do. He had agreed to show her, and neither had said anything about looking that closely. He decided to just let her have her close up look for the moment. “And that…” Callie said, pointing at Nick’s sack “…must be the balls!” She continued to look at all of his private parts, examining them from all angles and considering this a big win for team Girl.
Nick finally said “Okay, that’s enough.” And started pulling his pants up. Callie stood up and stepped back, still looking very happy. “I think I’ve showed you… pretty thoroughly. Now let’s talk about you helping me.”
—————
“I got a really good look, too!” Callie said to the crowd. “And that time you knew you wouldn’t get to see anything!” The girls watching ooh’ed and ahh’ed and giggled at that.
“You said you would help me. That I would get to see a girls privates, just not yours.” That got an altogether different reaction. The audience went quiet as Callie explained.
“Nothing nefarious! I wasn’t going to sneak him into a locker room or anything! Just give him some ideas of games to play with girls his age!” Callie could see the crowd wasn’t entirely back on her side yet, so she decided to make it a bit clearer. “Nick! Tell us, did I try to help you? Did I give you suggestions?”
“Well… yeah.” Nick replied “I guess”. He wasn’t sure what she was getting at.
“How did I help you? Let’s be specific here. What was the first way I tried to help you?” Nick thought about it. Was she going to make him tell all of those stories? There couldn’t be enough time for that, right? For now, he answered the question.
“You said I should try playing Doctor with Jessica next door.” Nick said.
“And did the doctor cure what ailed you?” Callie asked, retaking a bit more control of the situation. “Tell us all about it, Nick.”
Good pull-back/slow-down on the pacing here.
Still loving the set up and the fact that so many girls are there.
The little stories build both the embarrassment AND anticipation.
This is a lot of fun!
NudeBaG wrote: Sun Apr 19, 2026 8:55 pm
Good pull-back/slow-down on the pacing here.
Still loving the set up and the fact that so many girls are there.
The little stories build both the embarrassment AND anticipation.
This is a lot of fun!
Glad you are enjoying it! That was what I was going for so it’s good to hear it’s working.
Callie didn’t waste much time in starting to help Nick. She had made that deal in good faith and fully intended to keep her end. First, though, she needed a few more details from him. “Alright Nick, first off, how many girls have you even tried with? And how did you approach them?”
“Well… uh…” Nick was looking for a way to phrase his answer, but Callie didn’t need to hear him say it, his hesitation told her all she needed.
“Tracy was the only one, wasn’t she?” Nick nodded silently. “And that’s why you need my help! There are plenty of girls you could ask! What about that friend of yours, Molly? Have you ever thought about asking her?” Callie knew her brother had been friends with Molly for practically their whole lives. She likely would have assumed Nick and Molly had already shown each other if recent events hadn’t proven otherwise.
“What!? Molly? No! She’s my friend! Wouldn’t that be weird? What if she gets mad at me for asking?” Nick was obviously uncomfortable with the idea of letting Molly see him naked, but he was even more upset by the thought that he might alienate his friend by trying. Callie would have pushed harder for him to talk to Molly about it, but right now she was trying to make the point that he had lots of girls to ask, so she decided to move on to another and come back to Molly if necessary.
“Ok, ok, not Molly. I still think you have a better shot with her but, like I said, plenty of girls. What about Jessica? She lives right next door.” Jessica had lived next door to the Folstons for a couple of years now, and she and Nick had played together before. It could work.
“You think she’d do it? She’s a grade ahead of me at school.” Nick wondered.
“But she’s only a few months older than you. You’re only in separate grades because her birthday is in the spring. Besides, she seems to like you enough. What have you got to lose?” Callie was right about their birthdays being only a few months apart, and Nick couldn’t think of any other concerns, so that was settled.
“Ok, so what do I do? Just ask her to show me?” Nick thought back to how Tracy had approached him, and how Callie had for that matter. It had worked for them after all.
“Maybe not quite that directly. I was thinking you hang out with her for a bit, and try to suggest that the two of you play Doctor.” Nick had heard other kids mention playing Doctor before, in the same sort of hushed voices as ‘show me yours and I’ll show you mine.’ He knew it was the same kind of game, but not much more than that. He realized he needed to know more about how the game is actually played. What if Jessica didn’t know and asked him how to play? Stumbling over explaining how to play the game he suggested seemed like a bad look.
“How do you play? I’ve heard of it, but don’t know much about playing it. I should probably know more about it if it’s going to be my suggestion.” Nick asked, further confirming for Callie that her deal was perfectly fair. Nick clearly needed a lot of help.
“Well, one of you is the doctor and the other is the patient. The patient takes their clothes off so the doctor can ‘examine’ them. You know, heartbeat, breathing, reflexes, all the check up stuff. Lots of looking, usually a little touching, and then you switch places to do it all again.” Nick listened intently to Callie’s explanation, but his eyes bugged out at the word ‘touching.’ If this worked, he’d not only get to see Jessica’s private parts, but would get to touch them too? That idea excited him in ways he didn’t fully understand, but it also meant that she would get to touch his privates as well. The whole idea gave Nick butterflies already, but now he had a plan, and tomorrow he would put that plan into action.
The next day was a nearly perfect one. Enough sun to really feel like summer with just enough clouds to provide some shade and keep the weather from getting too hot. It was a perfect day for playing outside, which was perfect for Nick. He didn’t need an excuse to be playing outside in the neighborhood on a day like this. Now he just needed to find Jessica. There was a park around the corner that local kids liked to go to in summer, so he started there.
Jessica had woken up that morning with a good feeling about this day, and everything that had happened so far today had proved her right. It was a beautiful day, she had a nice breakfast, and even got exactly the prize she had wanted in her cereal box. Her dad was at work as usual, and her mom had several appointments that would keep her out for most of the day. Not wanting to sit around the house by herself, Jessica decided to enjoy the nice weather. Wearing a gray t-shirt with the logo of some brand she didn’t recognize and a blue skirt, she headed over to the park to look for someone to play with.
And that’s exactly where Nick found her: sitting on a bench watching a group of local kids run around chasing each other and yelling. She looked up when Nick sat down next to her. “Huh? Hi Nick!” she greeted the boy warmly. Maybe he’d play with her!
“Hi Jessica! What’s up?” Nick replied. His plan was off to a good start, now he just needed to ask if she wanted to play today.
“I came over here looking for someone to play with, I even brought my sidewalk chalk, but they’re all playing cops and robbers or something.” Jessica answered plainly, before looking at Nick with smile. “What about you? What are you up to today? Do you want to play?”
Well that sure made Nick’s life easier, for the moment. “Sure! What do you want to play?” He asked. Let her pick the first couple of things and then he could make his suggestion. Jessica grabbed her chalk and drew out a series of squares and rectangles, putting numbers in each.
“Hopscotch! You’re up Nick!”
After half an hour they had both gotten tired of hopscotch and so the moved on to simply drawing things with the chalk. An hour later, the sidewalk was covered in houses, birds, flowers and stick figures drawn in colorful chalk and the two kids needed something else to do. Nick figured it had been long enough. It was now or never. He leaned over close to her and whispered “Do you… wanna… play… Doctor?”
Jessica tensed a bit at first, she did know what that meant. But Nick was looking at her with these hopeful eyes. She couldn’t say no. Besides, she had always been kind of curious about the boy next door. But there was something to address first. “Where? I mean we obviously can’t do it in the park!”
Nick almost couldn’t believe it. Was that a yes? It was at least a maybe. “Yeah, I guess we could go to my house, but my sisters are home so that might make it tough.” He responded. He felt pretty sure Callie wouldn’t deliberately get in the way, but Sherry could be a bit unpredictable sometimes. Nick would prefer not to deal with that risk.
“We could go to my house. My dad’s at work and my mom will be gone most of the day too. We’d have the house to ourselves!” It was perfect! All the privacy they could need. Nick was struggling to hide his excitement.
“That’ll work, let’s go!” And Nick got up to leave. When Jessica got up and followed with him it started to feel real. They were on their way to her house to look at and touch each other. It was such a surreal idea to both of them. Before either of them knew it, they were walking up to Jessica’s front door.
Nick had been inside Jessica’s house before, so he knew as they entered the living room that the door way to his right led to Jessica’s play room. They had played together in that room a few times before but never like this, and Jessica’s mother had always been around too. It had never been just the two of them alone here. He followed Jessica into the playroom. She turned to him, her cheeks starting to turn pink. Nick could feel his own face getting warm as well. “So who’s going to be the patient first?” Jessica asked hesitantly. Nick definitely didn’t want to go first this time, but he couldn’t bring himself to explain to Jessica why.
“I don’t want to go first.” Nick said, still remembering how that went badly for him. Jessica’s smile dropped a bit and hers eyes went wide.
“I don’t want to go first either.” She said, suddenly sounding more shy. Then she had an idea to settle this fairly. She started looking around the room.
“What are you doing?” Nick asked as she started searching.
“Looking for a coin. Pretty sure I had one around here. One of us has to go first, so let’s just flip a coin and get on with it.” Jessica explained as she continued to look through toy boxes and drawers. Finally, she yelled out “Aha! Found it!” As she pulled a quarter from the bottom of a box. “Do you want heads or tails?”
A coin flip sounded fair enough to Nick. Obviously he’d have preferred for her to just go first, but at least this gave him a fair chance at that happening. “Tails” Nick said, trying not to show his nerves. Jessica tossed the coin into the air. Both kids watched, holding their breath, as the coin spun upward, the light glinting off it whenever it hit the correct angle. As the coin came back down both stood still, frozen in anticipation until the coin struck the carpet.
“Heads! Looks like you get to be the patient!” Jessica gleefully exclaimed. Nick was disappointed, but it would be alright. It’s not like Jessica could just run off like Tracy had, they were in her house. And he knew he was going to have to take a turn anyway. That was the game and he didn’t want to be unfair to Jessica. Jessica, meanwhile, was ecstatic. She wasn’t in any hurry to show Nick her girlhood, but him going first made her feel much more comfortable with the idea. She was, however, very eager to get to the part where Nick’s clothes come off, so she started to get into character as ‘Dr. Jessica’. “Okay Nick, let’s get started with your check up!” she said, trying her best to use a tone that she thought sounded professional. Nick just nodded nervously. “Go ahead and take off your clothes and we can begin.”
“O-o-okay” Nick replied and grabbed the hem of his t shirt. He pulled it over his head and dropped it on the floor while Jessica just stood there watching, very much enjoying the view already. Nick continued to undress, removing his shoes and socks. Then it was time to take off his pants. His hands didn’t shake as much this time so he had an easier time with the snap and the zipper. Was he getting used to this? He hoped not, and reasoned he must be a bit less nervous because he and Jessica were the only ones there. He lowered his pants and stepped out of them, leaving him in just his briefs in front of the fully clothed Jessica. She looked at Nick in just his undies and the butterflies in her stomach got way more intense. Here was her neighbor, the boy next door, wearing almost nothing! She could even see some kind of lump or bulge in the front of his underwear. She wasn’t sure what exactly that was, but she was looking forward to finding out. Nick’s hands moved to the waistband of his briefs.
“You can leave those on for the moment.” Jessica stopped him. This was already more exciting than she had expected, and she needed a moment to adjust to seeing this much of Nick before she’d be comfortable seeing the rest.”They will have to come down later but we can do this part with them on.” Jessica set about ‘examining’ Nick the best she could. She walked around to look at him from behind and then back around in front. She asked him to flex his arms and felt his muscles. He didn’t have that much muscle, but it was enough for Jessica to enjoy. “Let’s check your heartbeat” she said as she put her hand on his bare chest. His heart was absolutely racing and she could feel it. She looked up at his face and saw his rising blush as he tried not to look at her. He already looked so embarrassed, and she was only just getting to the good part. “Okay Nick, we’re almost done, just have to check a couple more things.” she said as she stepped around behind him again. This was it. Time to pull down the undies so she could see everything. She felt as ready as she was going to get. Nick felt her hands on the waistband of his briefs. “I’m just going to pull these down now, okay Nick?”
She waited for him to respond, so Nick finally managed to choke out a “y-yeah”. That was all Jessica needed to hear. She started to slide Nick’s briefs down until they were around his ankles. Nick wasn’t sure why she was starting in the back, apparently she wanted to see his butt too. Jessica knelt on the carpet as she finished pulling down Nicks underpants. She looked up to find Nick’s butt cheeks at eye level. Nick stood there for a second while she looked, and then jumped a bit when he felt her finger poking at his right cheek. It felt very awkward and kind of exciting to him, but then he was caught by surprise when the girl behind him grabbed both cheeks and spread them open. This was definitely not something Nick had planned on, nor something he remembered agreeing to. Jessica was looking at his butthole! Why would she even want to see that? It didn’t really matter that much now, she had already seen it, and if Nick wanted to get his look at her he knew he had to keep playing along. She played with his cheeks a bit more, squeezing them and jiggling them a bit, before she finally spoke up again.
“Okay, everything seems fine here. Now if you’ll just turn around to face me, I can check out the front and we’ll be done.” Jessica was unable to keep up her professional tone with a naked boy butt right in front of her, especially when asking that boy to turn around so she could examine his privates. Only one part of her neighbors body remained a a secret to her, and it was time to change that. Nick slowly started to turn and face her, and Jessica felt the butterflies again. It was time for her to see what that lump in his briefs was. All she knew for sure was that it was something she didn't have, and she didn’t think other girls had one either. She was beside herself with excitement waiting to find out, and it took everything she had to not squeal with glee when his penis came into view. Soon she was face to face with the boy next door’s most private bits. She was still kneeling, her face just inches from his junk, and she was looking very closely. But she didn’t stop at just looking. Nick almost jumped when she reached up and touched his penis. She touched it so gently and her hand felt so soft. It was an amazing feeling to Nick, if also still quite embarrassing to have this girl touching him there. He felt tingly as her fingers slid along his weiner, and he was confused to find he didn’t want her to stop. He still wanted his turn to end so he could finally see her, but he wasn’t in as much of a hurry to stop this as he thought he should be. Jessica kept happily exploring Nick’s boy parts with both her eyes and her hands. She ran her fingers along him before lifting up his penis with one hand so she could use her other to feel his balls and Nick let her keep going, finding a surprising amount of enjoyment in letting her fondle him. He could feel something happening, like a pressure in his privates, but nothing else happened. Finally, after playing with Nick for a few minutes, Jessica said “Alright Nick, looks like you are perfectly healthy. You can get dressed now.”
Almost as soon as she finished the sentence, Nick whipped his underwear back up as fast as he could and found his pants on the floor. Jessica couldn’t stop herself from giggling a bit at the boy’s rush to cover himself. Nick was pulling up his pants when he heard something that made him freeze. The look of panic on Jessica’s face told him she had heard it too: a car door. A few seconds later they both heard the front door unlocking. “Oh no!” Jessica said “My mom’s home! You need to get dressed now!”
“I thought she was supposed to be out all day!” Nick replied, hurriedly pulling his shirt on.
“I thought so too! I’m sorry! I don’t know what happened! Just hurry up!” Jessica said as he reached for his socks. He didn’t have time to put his shoes and socks back on before Jessica’s mother walked into the doorway looking for her daughter.
“Hey Jessica, hon, my appointment got cancelled beca- Oh hi there Nick! You came over to play with Jessica?” She asked, surprised to see the neighbor boy.
“Yeah! We were hanging out at the park and then decided to come over here for a snack.” Nick lied, hoping she would leave soon and he and Jessica could resume.
“Well it looks like you’ll have to put up with me being here too kids. Just pretend I’m not here.” That was easy for her to say, there was no way they could continue the game now. So they tried to carry on normally. They played a few awkward rounds of Connect Four and a few other games, keeping up the appearance of a normal play date. Jessica would never admit to it but she was a little bit relieved to get out of taking her turn as the patient, though she did feel bad about how unfair it was for Nick. Not bad enough make things even, but a bit guilty all the same.
After a little over an hour of playing games and watching some cartoons it was getting into the afternoon. Jessica’s dad would be home from work soon. Nick knew it was game over. He said some goodbyes to Jessica and her mother, thanked them for letting him come over to play even though, in his mind, Jessica should have been thanking him. He went home and told Callie what had happened. She couldn’t help but laugh at her brother’s terrible luck.
Once he had left, Jessica thought to herself that she was totally right about this being a good day.
—————
“Oh man! She saw, and touched everything! Front and back! And you still missed out?” Callie twisted the knife.
“I lost the coin flip! And then her mom got home early! What was I supposed to do?” Nick shouted. It wasn’t like he did all of that on purpose. How could he have?
“Yeah, it was clearly just bad luck! That’s not really your fault. Although you could have asked her sooner and had more time, or you could have just gone to our house to do it in your room. But you had no way of knowing what would happen… that time anyway!” Callie emphasized the last part, and the audience giggled. Nick squirmed a bit and looked down. “But you didn’t give up, did you?” Nick just shook his head. “No, you still wanted to know what girls have down there. I didn’t give up either. I kept helping you didn’t I?”
“Yeah, you kept trying.” Nick said. Callie put one finger under Nick’s chin and tilted his head upward to look her in the eye.
“What was my next suggestion?” She asked.
“You talked me into playing Truth or Dare with Molly…”
Molly had always been a bit different from her peers. She never found a lot of common interests with other girls and tended to fit in more with boys. She had been called a ‘tomboy’ a few times and could tell from the tone that it was meant as an insult, but it never really bothered her. If preferring monster trucks and Godzilla movies over more stereotypically girly things was weird, then why would anyone want to be normal? She certainly didn’t. So she wound up spending a lot more of her time with boys than with other girls.
She considered several boys to be friends, but her best friend was Nick. He had always treated her the same as he treated any of the boys, even when other boys didn’t and that made her feel like, to him at least, she wasn’t just ‘a girl,’ she was Molly, his friend. It wasn’t easy to find boys that treated her that way and, based on what older girls had told her, it was only going to get harder. At least she could count on Nick.
It had been almost six weeks since Nick had played Doctor with Jessica, and he had been trying to talk to her about playing again since. Apparently she wasn’t interested in playing games like that with him anymore. Her curiosity was satisfied, so she didn’t think it was worth it anymore. He had finally given up on getting to see her, and was kind of sulking in his room when the phone started to ring.
He head the ringing stop a few seconds later, followed shortly by a knock on his door. He opened the door to find Callie waiting, phone in hand. “It’s Molly” was all she said while handing him the phone with a playful wink. Nick grabbed the phone and glared at her.
“Hello?” He said.
“Hi Nick.” Molly’s voice responded. “Are you busy today?”
“No, what’s up?” Nick asked. Hanging out with Molly had always put him in a good mood, and he was looking to take his mind off of Jessica.
“You wanna come over to watch ‘Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla’ with me?” She would have shared those old movies with anybody willing to sit through one. Luckily for her, Nick liked them too.
“Yeah, I’ll head over that way!” It sounded like a pretty good time to him, and Molly lived close enough.
“Cool! See you in a bit!” And Molly hung up the phone. She got the movie ready to go and twenty minutes later there was a knock on the door. Molly welcomed Nick in and the two went to the kitchen to make some popcorn.
“Do you, uh, have any plans for after the movie?” He asked over the sound of popping kernels.
“Not really, was thinking we might just hang out for a while?” Molly said, still paying more attention to the popping sounds. When they started to slow, she stopped the microwave and carefully poured the popcorn into a bowl. Their snacks ready, they headed to the living room to watch the movie.
It had rubbery costumes, dated effects, a nearly incomprehensible plot, and was an all around blast to watch. Nick had a hard time following the story and had to ask Molly to explain a couple of times, but that didn’t take away from the fun of watching giant monsters beat the snot out of each other. All too soon the credits were rolling.
“Wow, that was good one!” Nick said happily. “I liked the aliens!”
“Yeah, that was cool. The part with the prophecy seemed a bit… strange.”
“That was weird, but it was also an excuse to add a third monster into the fight, so I’m fine with that!” Nick said as he carried the empty bowl back to the kitchen. Molly noticed Nick fidgeting. Was he getting nervous about something?
“So, what do you want to do now?” She asked Nick. He glanced around and leaned in.
He lowered his voice and asked “Do you want to play Truth or Dare?” Molly nearly gasped. He’d never wanted to do anything like that with her before. Something was off about him today, and she intended to find out what he was up to.
“Okay, let’s head to my room.” Molly responded, and started walking that way. Nick followed close behind. He was still nervous, she could tell. Now that she was thinking about it, there were a few questions she wanted to ask him. They got to Molly’s room and she turned to him “Any big rules you want to establish up front?”
“No repeats. Once a question has been asked or a dare given, it can’t be used again.” Nick responded. Molly agreed and, to Nick’s surprise she even agreed to go first. “Now, Truth or Dare?”
“Truth” Molly said. She could tell from Nick’s face that he had wanted her to pick dare. Now she knew what not to do, but not why. Nick thought for a minute, settling on a question.
“Do you like me?” He asked.
She replied without hesitating “Of course I like you, you’re my best friend! But do I like you, as more than that? No, I don’t. Not that way.”
She was worried Nick might be sad, but he just smiled and said “I told Callie she was wrong! She thinks you are ‘sweet’ on me or something.” That was a relief to Molly, who was glad to learn she and Nick were on the same page about their friendship.
Now it was her turn to ask “Truth or Dare, Nick?”
Nick looked like he was thinking, but Molly could tell he was faking. She knew him too well to be fooled. They both knew he was going to pick truth before she even asked, and she already knew what her question would be. Finally, Nick answered “Truth”
Molly didn’t even pretend to think about it, she just immediately asked the question on her mind. “What has been up with you lately. You’ve been acting kind of weird for weeks, especially toward that girl… uh… Jessica? What is going on with you?” She wanted answers. She had already noticed the change in his behavior and now, out of the blue, he had put her in a position to ask him point blank.
Nick was caught off guard by the question and briefly considered trying to lie. But this was Molly, if he couldn’t trust her then he couldn’t trust anyone. Molly watched him sit there, his eyes darting around as he thought about how to answer. Eventually he sighed and said “Ok, fine. A few weeks ago she and I tried… playing Doctor, but we got interrupted by her mom coming home. I never got my turn as the doctor, so I have been trying to get her to play again but she doesn’t want to.”
“That does sound kind of unfair…” Molly considered what her friend told her. It certainly explained some of his strange behavior, but how did that connect to his sudden interest in playing Truth or Dare with her? A thought suddenly occurred to her. No, he wouldn’t try something like that, would he? Not with her, right? She’d have to wait until her next turn to ask. For now it was Nick’s turn again.
“Truth or Dare?” He asked.
Molly definitely wasn’t going to pick dare given what she now suspected, so she calmly answered “Truth”. Again Nick thought about a question to ask. After a moment he got a look on his face that Molly recognized. That was the face he made when he had a ‘clever’ idea. She wasn’t prepared for him to ask “What girls do you think are cute?” Molly froze. Why would he ask her that? He couldn’t know. How could he? She felt the heat of her face turning red, but didn’t answer yet. “What’s wrong? I just asked that so you couldn’t ask me! I assumed the answer was ‘none’!” Nick started to realize what he had accidentally learned about his friend.
Molly finally spoke “You… can’t… tell… anyone! EVER!” she said. Nick nodded and did a ‘zipped lips’ gesture to indicate her secret was safe. “Okay… can’t believe I’m telling you this. You don’t know her, but you might have seen her around before. Her name is Kim.” Nick didn’t recognize the name. When he did end up meeting her later, he had to admit that Molly wasn’t wrong. Molly, meanwhile, was quite eager to move on and, having answered the question, proceeded to start her next turn. “That’s enough about that! Moving on, Truth or Dare?”
Nick didn’t pretend to think this time. He was still processing what he’d just heard. “Truth” he blurted out without thinking.
Molly narrowed her eyes a bit. “Were you planning to use a dare to get me naked?” All the color drained from Nick’s face in an instant. He was busted. “Oh my god you were! Unbelievable! And that ‘no repeats’ rule… You wanted me to be the only one to get naked!” Molly was furious! How could he do something like this to her? He wanted to put her through the same thing that happened to him! For almost a full minute they sat there, silently. Molly glared at Nick, and Nick stared at the floor.
Eventually Nick managed to choke out “Truth or Dare, Molly? Please just say Truth.” Molly looked at him, he was on the verge of tears. She wasn’t sure where he was going with this, but she decided to hear his question.
“Ok, whatever, Truth.” She said.
“How can I make this up to you? I really screwed up. I know that. What can I do to make it right?” He was almost begging. She thought about for a bit. He had screwed up, in epic fashion, but she also remembered the Nick who treated her the same as anyone else. There was more going on here, she planned on getting to the bottom of it. But first, she was going to see how serious Nick was about making amends.
She looked at him at said two words that froze Nick’s blood. “Choose Dare.”
Nick’s throat felt dry. He didn’t want to lose his friendship with Molly. He would do anything to prevent that. Whatever dare she had in mind, he would do it. He nodded to Molly, who summoned her most sinister voice to say “Truth or Dare, Nick?”
“Dare” Nick replied immediately. He was incredibly nervous for what was coming next, but that was probably part of the point. Molly stood up, waved for him to follow, and walked out of the room. Nick nearly lost his balance jumping up to follow after. She led him out through the living room and out the sliding door to the back porch. Then she went around the to the side of the house, where there was a gate in the wooden fence. Molly opened the gate and peeked out, looking around as best she could. She turned back to Nick.
“You wanted to make me get naked for you.” She said quietly. “Well, let the punishment fit the crime. I dare you to run out and touch the mailbox, down by the street, and run back completely bare!”
Nick probably should have seen that coming. It didn’t matter. If that’s what it took to earn Molly’s forgiveness, he’d do it. Still, running out into the open, nude, in public? It sounded like an absolutely terrible idea, almost certain humiliation. But his shirt was already off. He was going to do whatever it took.
Molly wasn’t actually that interested in looking at her friend’s body. She didn’t look away, but she was more interested in watching him streak than looking at those dangly bits between his legs. Soon he was fully naked, and she held back a laugh just long enough to say “Alright Nick, go!” And she opened the gate as wide as it would go. Just like that Nick was looking out at the street. The mailbox was about 15 feet from where he was standing. He wasted no time and started running. Heart jumping into his throat, one foot in front of the other. He was naked in plain view of the street! He just had to hurry and reach the mailbox. He reached out his hand. Just as his fingers were about to make contact with the mailbox, he heard a car about to turn the corner on to the street. He touched the mailbox and ran with all the speed he could. He could see Molly still holding the gate open and having a great laugh. He just had to get there and he’d be safe. Just a few more steps. He heard the car pass by behind him just before he got through the gate, but it kept going. Molly doubled over laughing while Nick got dressed. At least she seemed to be in a better mood.
“Did you see that? Someone in that car probably saw me!” Nick said, the panic still fresh.
“I don’t think so, there was only one person in that car and she was watching the road.” Molly said when she got her laughter under control. Nick finished dressing and managed to calm down a little.
He looked to Molly, who was still smiling, and said “Hey, I’m really sorry Molly. Are we good?”
“Yeah show off, we’re good. I hope you’ve learned your lesson.” Molly said teasingly. Nick squirmed at the idea of that being his new nickname. She couldn’t help but tease him a bit further “You know, you should have just asked more directly and a bit more fairly. I probably would have done it if you had.” She giggled at his look of shock “Too bad you blew it!”
—————
“And that’s where the game ended.” Nick concluded his story. He had, of course, omitted the secret Molly had revealed to him. He looked around at the audience. Molly wasn’t here, Callie hadn’t invited her on the entirely correct basis that she would have tipped off Nick. Kim, however, was here, which was even more reason to leave it out.
“Well at least she forgave you in the end. But there is something bothering me. I didn’t suggest that ‘no repeats’ rule to you, was that your idea?” Callie drove the question home by poking Nick’s ribs with her finger, causing him to jump slightly.
“Yeah, it was a really bad idea, I know.” Nick hung his head.
“And not part of my help! You sabotaged that one on your own.” Nick couldn’t argue with her on that, so Callie moved on to a different question. “I think you left something out, though, Nick. You said you asked Molly what boys she thought were cute, but you never gave her answer. Who was it Nick? Who was Molly’s crush?” Callie leaned in to put more pressure on him, but Nick stood strong.
“No, I’m not saying anything else about that story. This is about humiliating me, not her, isn’t it? Leave her out of it.” Callie grabbed the waistband of Nick's underwear.
“How about you tell us or you tell the rest of your stories with these around your ankles?” Callie demanded as she toyed with the elastic.
“Then do it. I’m not telling.” Nick said, and he meant every word. Callie looked him in the eyes for a few seconds.
“Wow, you are a good friend Nick. I’m impressed.” And she let go of his waistband to a chorus of boos from the crowd. “Don’t worry girls, it’ll happen. In the meantime, since you don’t want to talk about Molly’s crush, let’s talk about yours. She’s here tonight, isn’t she?” Nick looked around again. She was here, of course she was! Natalie wasn’t in the front row, but she wasn’t far back either.
“Callie, please…” Nick entreated his sister to no avail.
“She’s going to figure it out from the story, so you might as well rip off the bandage and just say it now. What’s her name?”
There was a hush, and all attention was on Nick. He let out a defeated sigh.
“It’s…N-Natalie” he said to an eruption of giggles and gasps. Nick forced himself to look up at Natalie. She wasn’t upset, she wasn’t laughing, she was smiling. That wasn’t the worst reaction she could have. In fact it seemed pretty good.
“Well then, why don’t you tell us all about how Natalie got to see you in the buff? Was it a suggestion from me?” Callie pressed
This pacing is PAINFULLY good!
And I’m glad he didn’t fully screw up with Molly.
That’s a sweet friendship.
Nick just can’t seem to catch a break, though.
WILL he get to see a girl’s bits/reveal that he’s gotten to see a girl’s bits before EVERY girl gets to see HIS?
The build up to the big reveal is being handled beautifully!
Keep it up!
