The young soldier came to visit again. He, too, was surprised. She had changed very much."I detected a sudden change in her mood. I had the feeling th...t she just made a decision. She rolled away from me and lay very still. Her voice dropped its teasing quality and became very small as if she was speaking from a distance. The gentle modulations that I had come to associate with her disappeared entirely and she spoke on in a flat monotone."One night, he came late to their house. Her father and. Lindsey is nine. Lindsey and I arenot the same age. I must be eight. Something in Dar's head screamedthat he was sixteen, that he shouldn't be a Girl Scout, that it wasn'tpossible, that it made no sense. But, as always, that voice wasquieted."Yeah. I'm eight. I should join the Girl Scouts. Yeah."And Dar drifted off to sleep.The next day at school Dar told all of his friends about his decisionto join the Girl Scouts. Megan and Jessica were particularly excited,and confessed that they as well had. I shifted about on the couch and leaned in, putting only an inch or two between our faces. Nicole’s gently curly hair weaved around her head, a few stray locks hung down, partially concealing her right eye. I brushed them away. “Well ... we could try...” she began, but I interrupted as I went in for a kiss.Our lips brushed together. A gentle caress of flesh against flesh. Despite my growing elation of being with Nicole, I took it slow, soft kisses as we let our hands start to explore. Gradually. Turning to Tommy and resting her hand lightly on his thigh, she prompted, “You do want to hear about this too, don’t you?”Tommy had been listening patiently. “Sure,” he replied. And you can leave your hand where it is too.Charlene did leave her hand on Tommy’s thigh as she turned back to Blake, providing a significantly abbreviated accounting of her topless experience. “I know you guys are anxious to make something out of this, but it really wasn’t all that big of a deal. This one guy and me.