More and more, during their all too infrequent get-togethers in what had become the late summer of their lives, Ennis and Jack turned reflective and nostalgic towards the past, both of their times together and of their lives generally, and so it came as no surprise when Ennis at one point said, "Ya know, not having finished high school, I missed out on so much of that high school stuff, like datin' and shit...hell, I never even gave a girl a hickey, much less got one"; Jack smiled at his friend's effusiveness that even now could invest him with so much boyishness, at which he replied that, as a fellow dropout, he too had missed out on many of the teenage rites of passage...including hickeys.
"Ya know, Ennis, it's not too late", Jack said with a fresh gleam in his eye, his voice rising to the lilt that colored it when he became excited, continuing with, "Hell, we've never given each other hickeys...how about we make up for lost time?"; at that, Ennis needed no further prodding, and, grabbing his friend's head firmly in his hands, sank his face upon Jack's warm neck, sucking and slightly biting the flesh that felt, at such times as this, like his own.
Jack laughed at the ticklish deliciousness of the sensation, and immediately after returned the favor, noting a little rasp of pleasure coming out of Ennis's throat even as his mouth was upon it; the deed done, the two of them went to look at the results in the mirror of Jack's truck, whereupon they burst out laughing at the massive red marks they had carved on each other, whereupon Ennis said, "Well, we may be old-timers, but those young 'uns got nothin' on us", already contemplating how he would show off the mark to his fellow ranch hands as a trophy from Cassie, while Jack, right then touching his neck with apprehension, began to worry as to how he would explain it later to Lureen.