"Do you like pickles? I brought pickles."

Ronnie leaned over and selected one of the spears that Kitty had rolled, deli-style, into a sheet of waxed paper covered with tinfoil. He stuck the end of the pickle in his mouth to hold it with his teeth like a cigar while he squirted some more mustard onto his sandwich. Kitty giggled at the image he presented.

"What?" he asked around the pickle.

She chuckled as she bit into her own sandwich.

"What'd you have today?"

Kitty swallowed her bite and took a sip of her soda. "Trig," she answered grimacing. "Asian history. Physics."

"I didn't know you're taking physics," he exclaimed, impressed.

"Well, physics for poets."

Ronnie cracked the pickle between his teeth. "That's what the class is called?"

"No! It's, like, 'Physics for Non-majors'. It's for kids who are, you know, stupid at math and science."

"You're not stupid."

Kitty smiled and stared into his large blue eyes.

I feel safe when I'm with you, Ronnie.

He licked the last traces of pickle juice off his fingers, then started on his sandwich. "Why didn't you leave town to go to school? You could have gotten into somewhere better than Southeastern Community."

She looked down to reach for her soda and noticed a bunch of crumbs on her leg. She brushed them off. "I got into Amherst," she said softly.

"Amherst?" he repeated, flabbergasted.

"And UMass. And B.C."

Ronnie stared at her open-mouthed. "So what the hell are you doing here? Was it money?"

"No," she said softly. "Dad said he would find a way to pay for school. I just couldn't leave him, you know? Ever since Mom died, he's been...I dunno, like a child. Well, that's not it exactly. It's just that he doesn't wantanything, he doesn't mind anything. He just sort of drifts in the breeze. If I wasn't here to make sure he eats and to clean the house..." Kitty shrugged.

"How did your mom...?"

"Ovarian cancer."

Ronnie scooted over next to her. She relaxed against him, nibbling the last of her sandwich. His arm went around her. Kitty sighed. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and nuzzled her neck comfortingly.

"Anyways, I told Dad that I'll transfer next year when I've got my Associate's."

"Are you going to?"

"Maybe."

He turned her face toward him, resting his forehead on hers. "Yes, you're going to. Got it?"

"Are you trying to hypnotize me?" she asked, grinning. She pushed her jaw forward to kiss him briefly on the lips. "You're getting verrrry sleeeeeepy."

"Sleepy is not what I get when I'm around you," Ronnie whispered in her ear.

Kitty slapped his shoulder and jumped up. "I'm going to throw the trash away. Don't make any life-changing decisions for me until I get back." She stuck her tongue out at him as she gathered up the detritus from their little picnic.

"Don't show me that thing unless you intend to use it," he teased.

Twitching her hips, Kitty headed over a slight rise to a cluster of picnic tables and a barbeque grill. She dumped the handful of rubbish into a trashcan.

"You should be ashamed of yourself."

Kitty whirled to face the blonde woman who had spoken. The stranger was sitting on the bench of a picnic table, sipping from a can of diet soda through a straw.

"Excuse me?" Kitty asked sharply.

"Troy! Play nice with your sister!" the woman yelled at a husky blonde toddler. She turned back to Kitty and repeated her statement crisply. "You should be ashamed of yourself. Spending time with That Man." Her voice lent capital letters to the closing phrase. There was an expression on her face that suggested she smelled manure.

"Gimme a break," Kitty muttered, rolling her eyes. She turned back toward Ronnie.

"Just keep him away from the kids, do you hear me? He doesn't belong here with decent people." The blonde took a sip of her soda.

"They should have castrated him before they let him out," she added as Kitty walked away.

Kitty tucked her hand behind her back and flipped the bird. The blonde made a noise like a duck getting trapped in the exhaust pipe of a moped. Ronnie smiled uncertainly at Kitty as she returned to their spot under the tree.

"Hey, cutie," she said, resuming her place next to him.

He frowned and looked past her over the rise. "What did that woman want?"

Kitty shrugged. "Just saying hi. She comes to the bookstore sometimes."

Ronnie eyed her warily. "She was giving you shit, wasn't she?"

He started to rise, but she tugged him down.

"So what if she was? I don't care."

"I don't like people talking to you that way," he said grimly.

"If you can handle it, I can handle it," Kitty asserted. She clasped his knee possessively.

"You don't need that!" Ronnie insisted. "They'll poison you against me-"

"Hey!" she whispered, brushing his lips with hers. "Hey! I'm crazy about you, and she's not gonna change that, no matter what she says. No one's gonna change that."

He squinted at her for a while, then relented. "I'm crazy about you too, Kitty," he said.

"Yeah?" she asked shyly.

"Yeah." He paused. "For one thing, you make a mean ham sandwich."

She laughed.

"Not to mention how goddamn sexy you are," he added, lowering his voice.

"Crazy in lust, is what you are," she scoffed.

Ronnie kissed the corner of her mouth and held her gaze. "I'd be crazy about you even if they had castrated me."

Kitty frowned. "Jesus, Ronnie, you heard her!"

"She's not the first, and she won't be the last," he snorted. "But it's not just that part of me that wants you. It's all of me."

Kitty nibbled on his lower lip. Her hand went to his chest. "But that part too, right?"

He gave her a devilish look that sent warmth flooding between her legs. "Mhm. Hey, remember all that business about when you feel 'wiggly' and nothing makes it better?"

"Oh jeez!" Kitty clapped her hands over her mouth, stifling her mortified laughter.

"Are you honestly telling me that you've never found anything that makes it better?" He cocked a knowing eye at her.

"Ronnie!" she exclaimed, scandalized. She looked around to see if anyone was nearby. Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Are you asking me if I masturbate?"

He waggled his eyebrows.

"Yes. I do," she answered primly. She trailed a lazy finger along the skin of his neck. "Feverishly, actually, just these last few weeks."

"'Feverishly'? Why's that?"

"Well, I met this supercute, older guy who can get me off better than I can, which I didn't even think was possible. But when I'm not with him, I've just been in, like, overdrive."

Ronnie swallowed. "You'll have to let me watch sometime."

"Let you watch me?"

He nodded. "I want to see how you do it."

"What do you mean: 'how I do it'?" she giggled. "How do you think I do it?"

"I want to know how you please yourself, so I can please you," he whispered. The heat of his blue eyes made Kitty's mouth go dry.

"Didn't I just tell you? You're better at it than I am!"

He eyed her thoughtfully for a long moment, his fingers stroking the bare flesh of her calf. "I'm going to call you tonight," he said at last, "and I want you to do it for me."

"Do what?" She raised her eyebrows deliberately.

"Touch yourself," he murmured. "And I want you to tell me about it while you're doing it."

"No way!

He lifted his soda and took a sip. "Way."

*****

Ronnie was as good as his word.

"I just got into bed," Kitty told him when she answered her cell. She curled up on her pillow, cuddling the phone against her ear.

"Oh, really?" he teased. "You alone?"

"Yeah, unless you count Pooh Bear."

"Never thought I'd be jealous of Winnie the Pooh." Ronnie sighed. "Thanks for the picnic, Kitty. I can't think of a better treat after working all day."

She grinned. "Yes, you can, or you wouldn't have called."

"What?" he asked innocently. Kitty could just picture the wide-eyed expression on his face. "I can't call my girlfriend to wish her good night?"

"You know very well that you have an ulterior motive, Ronnie!"

"Whatever do you mean?"

Kitty rolled her eyes and flipped onto her back. "Hmph."

"Ohhh..." he said thoughtfully. "You mean, what we were talking about earlier..."

"You're crazy if you think I'm doing that."

"I thought you said you'd do anything I wanted."

The silky smoothness of his voice made Kitty shiver. She was aroused, even though she would not admit it to him. She sighed and slid her hand down her belly. Her thighs parted slightly, almost of their own accord.

"Oh, Ronnie, I'm really wet," she moaned theatrically.

"Yeah? Tell me."

Kitty cracked up.

"Come on," he begged. "Please. Just pretend I'm there."

"If you were here, I wouldn't be doing this," she retorted. Nevertheless, her fingers slipped down into her passage. She was, actually, quite moist. She bit her lip and spread her legs farther.

"So you are doing it?"

"Yes," she admitted, giggling. Her voice dropped shyly. "I've got two fingers inside myself."

He exhaled shakily.

"I'd like it to be you, Ronnie."

"Me too," he breathed.

"I really want to have sex with you."

"Soon, baby. When you're ready."

"How will you know when I'm ready?" she asked, sliding her fingers in and out.

"I'll know. Besides, you don't like what we do now?"

"Mm, I love what we do now."

"Tell me, Kitty."

She could practically feel his voice stroking her. "Should I move up a little? I'm all swollen."

"Where?" he demanded. "Say it."

"My clit," she whispered. "Oh, that feels good. I'm rubbing it."

"How? Describe it."

"With my middle finger. Just the pad – oh!"

"Where? That spot on the left?"

"The right!" she exclaimed.

Ronnie chuckled. "My left. Your right. Toward the bottom."

"Yeah," she gasped, the pleasure intensifying. "That's the spot."

"God, you're gorgeous. Wish I was there."

"Me too. Your tongue is so much more fun than my finger."

"I try, baby."

"Ooh, Ronnie...I...oh!"

"Christ, I love you, Kitty."

"OhgodIloveyouIloveyouIloveyou."

"Don't stop," he urged.

"OH!" she gasped as her climax rolled through her. She shook with pleasure and release. "Ohhh!"

"Good girl, Kitty," he whispered. "Good girl."

******

A/N: Sorry if reading about someone else's phone sex doesn't do it for ya. LOL