THE EXPERIMENT BITES BACK (Chapter 42)

Warren woke up. The first, barely coherent, thought he had was that he was clutching a breast. The second, slightly more coherent thought was "Did Sophie lose a cup size somewhere?" The third, now completely coherent, thought was—this isn’t Sophie’s tit I’m squeezing. It’s Jessie’s.

I’m in bed with Jessie. We slept together last night. I slept with my girlfriend’s best friend. And she slept with my best friend.

And I still can’t believe we did it.

Warren got out of bed, since he had to pee. He managed to disengage himself from Jess, despite her still-asleep moans of protest, and headed to the bathroom. He checked the clock—5:30. He didn’t think they had wound it down the previous night until, like, 2:00. Three and a half hours was not enough sleep. He really should go back to bed.

He looked at Jess, lying on the bed. Then looked at Sophia, all curled up with Crash. He looked at Jess again, looked at the bed, looked at the space he had just been lying in. And turned toward the dufflebag he had brought with him. He pulled out a teeshirt and a pair of sweatpants and the Dostoevsky book he was in the middle of. He pulled on the clothes, glanced back at the three people still in bed, and walked out of the bedroom. He went into the kitchen, brewed some coffee, poured himself a cup, and headed out to the front porch outside the cabin.

He looked out at the gorgeous sunrise over the lake, and sighed. Then he picked up his Dostoevsky and pretended to read it.

It was close to three hours later when the next person woke up. It was Jessie. She rousted herself, and wondered where Warren was. Ah, she thought, the culinary marvel is probably out in the kitchen preparing the breakfast of all time. Shoulda waited for me. I’ll catch up with him in a bit.

She crept over to the other bed, leaned over Sophia, and gave Crash a big wet kiss. As his eyes fluttered open, she grinned and said, "Hi, Big Boy, was it good for you, too?" Crash woke up and burst out laughing, which woke Sophia. She looked up at Jess leering at her, and laughed herself.

"Morning, Jess. Morning, Jason." Jason kissed her on the cheek.

Jessie looked at Sophia and asked, "Is he still functional? All the parts still work and everything?"

"Last time I checked, everything was in working order, but I’ll let you do the final inspection." She sat up, and peered around Jessie. "So, where’s mine?"

"Dunno. I just woke up, and he was gone. I figure he’s out in the kitchen inventing Eggs a la Warren, or something."

Sophia giggled, and reached in her bag and pulled out a bra and a set of panties, and her long robe. She put on the bra and panties, and got off the bed. Jessica zoomed past her and replaced her in the bed with Jason, giggling. Sophie smiled, put on her robe, and went out into the kitchen.

"Warren?" He wasn’t in the kitchen, and he wasn’t in the bathroom. She looked in the living room—no Warren. She went back in the bedroom.

"Guys, Warren’s gone."

"Did you check the porch?" Jessie asked.

She went out to the porch, and then came back in. "Guys, he was there—his book and an empty coffee cup are out there—but there’s no Warren. I’m worried."

"The car’s not gone, is it?" Crash asked.

"No. I hope not, since he doesn’t have his license yet."

Crash had a brainstorm. "Soph, go check down by the lake, on the dock or something. Warren’s told me before that being around water helps him think."

"You’re right." She hustled out of the bedroom and then out the front door. She walked down the little path through the trees that led to the lakefront. And there, sitting on the dock, staring out into the lake, was Warren.

"Snugglebear?"

Warren looked up, and gave her a half-smile. "Morning, Pookie."

"I was worried. I didn’t know where you were."

"Sorry. I couldn’t sleep. I was out on the porch, attempting to muddle through Dostoevsky, but I’m too incoherent in the morning to handle him. So I decided to come down and watch the sun rise over the lake."

"Too bad I missed it. Sounds romantic."

"Very beautiful. I like sunrises, I’m just not enough of a morning person to see them often."

Sophia smiled, and sat on the dock next to him. She put her arms around him and gave him a hug—and he stiffened—just slightly, but she felt it.

"Warren, is anything wrong?"

"No, Pookie, everything’s fine." But he was still stiff, and his arms were making no effort to return her embrace, as they normally would have.

"Sure?"

"Sure."

She stood up, "Well, then, why don’t you come on up? I can help you make breakfast. Besides which, I think Jess wants to thank you for last night—she was very impressed." And the minute she said it, she realized she had said the wrong thing, because she saw the muscles in his back clench, and heard him take a deep breath.

But he turned to her with a half-smile and said, "No, Pookie, you go on up. I’m not hungry. I’ll be up in a little while."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I’ll be there in a bit."

"OK." Sophia turned away from Warren, and climbed the path to the cabin, and practically ran through the front door. She found Jess and Crash on the couch.

"Didja find the Prep Stud?" Jessie cracked.

"Yeah, I found him."

"Is he coming in?"

"No. Not right now anyway."

Jess and Crash looked at each other. "Where is he?" Jess asked.

"Down on the dock, by the lake. Looking like he wants to throw himself in." Sophia was close to tears by this point. "I couldn’t get him to come back here. I gave him a hug and he stiffened. I made a joke about coming up here so Jess could thank him for last night and he really stiffened. I asked him if anything was wrong, and he said no, but there is."

"Oh, shit," Jessie said. "Regrets?"

"Yeah, I think so," Sophia asked.

"Want I should go talk to him?"

"I don’t know if that would help, or hurt."

"Let me give it a try." She ran in the bedroom, threw on some clothes, and headed down to the dock.

"Hey, Prep Stud!"

"Hiya, Jess."

She sat down next to him. "So, did you have fun last night?"

"Yeah," he admitted. "It certainly was different. I gotta admit, Jess, you’re something else."

"And you are very, very good." She kissed him on the cheek. "Now, tell me, what happened this morning."

"Huh?"

"You woke up, saw the rearranged sleeping arrangements, and got out of the bedroom like a rocket, didn’t you?"

Warren sighed. "Please don’t take offense to this, Jess, but I woke up snuggling the wrong girl this morning. I got up to go pee, and it was only 5:30, and I should have gone back to bed. I went back in the bedroom, and saw you where Sophie should be, and I got out of there."

"Well, we all just kind of passed out where we were," Jess said.

"I know, I know….it was just….." he faltered. "Look, Jess, don’t get me wrong. I had a blast last night. It was great; you were great. But the only thing that’s been running through my mind all morning is, ‘Oh my God , I slept with my girlfriend’s best friend. How could I do that?’ over and over again."

"Hey, she slept with your best friend, too. And she gave you permission."

"The first part does not help, and the second part doesn’t seem to matter so much anymore. I thought it would be OK. I was wrong."

"Oh, shit, Warren, now I feel horrible, since this was all my idea."

"I agreed to it, Jess."

"Yeah, but I can’t help but think that we pushed you."

"I agreed."

Jessie sighed. "Warren, I don’t know what to do or say right now. Look, I love Jason with all my heart and soul. I wouldn’t trade him for anything." She took a deep breath. "But the reason I came up with this idea is that I wanted a night with you, just one night, and I wanted it in the worst way, and I was willing to share Jason with Sophia to get it." Warren looked at her, startled. "Now, I also knew that Jason wanted a night with Sophia, in the worst way, and would be willing to share me with you to get it. But it was selfish, and I’m sorry. I’m sorry you regret it. I never meant to hurt you."

"Jess, do you regret it?"

"If you’re this upset by it, of course I regret it."

"Forget that. Outside of that, do you regret it?"

She looked him dead in the eye. "Not for a fucking second. Now, I say that knowing that Jason doesn’t have a problem with it. I’d never jeopardize what we have together, and I never would have wanted to jeopardize what you and Soph have, either. But if you weren’t out here having second thoughts, I’d be jumping for joy. You, my dear Prep Stud, are a legend, especially with that tongue of yours. Shit, Sophie should rent you out—you guys would make a mint."

Warren cracked a smile at that. Then got serious again. "Jess, why am I the only one having regrets?"

"I can’t answer that, because I don’t know what’s going through your mind."

"Fair enough, so tell me what’s going through your mind. Tell me what you thought of last night."

"OK. I had fantastic sex with one of my dearest friends. Twenty feet away, my boyfriend had great sex with one of his dearest friends. And, when we were done, we all still knew who we were in love with."

"Damn, Jess, you’re just too sensible."

"Well, what’s going through your mind?"

"I cheated on my girlfriend with her best friend."

"How can it be cheating when she gave you permission?"

"You’re sensible, I’m emotional."

Jess cracked up laughing. "You’re right, Warren, you are emotional."

"Jess, I have a serious emotional investment in my relationship with Sophia."

"Of course you do. You think she doesn’t? You think Crash and I don’t?" Jessie thought for a minute. "Going to bed with me hasn’t thrown you into emotional confusion over Sophia, has it?"

Warren laughed. "No, of course not. That is not the problem. Don’t get me wrong, Jess, I love you, but I’m not in love with you, and I never will be. The sex was fantastic, but it was what it was."

"Right, Warren, that’s exactly my point. It was what it was. It was great. I’d do it again, if everyone else agreed and if it didn’t put you in such a damn funk. But it was what it was. Great sex with a dear friend, no emotional entanglements, no commitments. And don’t forget one thing—Sophie wanted you to have this."

"Hmmmm," was all Warren said.

"No, really. She’s told me that she’s badgered you about going to find someone else. Look. Instead of going out and finding some unknown girl who’d figure out how wonderful you are and try to dig her hooks in you, Sophie gave you to me. Her best friend, who would have lots of fun with you and return you to her, safe and unharmed." She touched the hickey on his cheek, and giggled. "Well, relatively unharmed."

Warren had to laugh at that. "Jess, maybe you have a point."

"One thing puzzles me, Warren. You seem much more upset about what you did than what Sophia did."

"Actually, I am. If I can come to terms with the first, the second will be easy. I’m not the jealous type; I’m really not. I gave her permission."

"Yup. And so did she. If you can go easy on her, why can’t you go easy on yourself?" She stood up. "Crash and I are taking off for a while. There was a little country store about an hour down the road that we wanted to go check out. So, go back to the cabin, and spend some time with your girlfriend. You know, the woman you love?"

"Good advise as always, She-Devil."

"You know it." She reached down and gave him a kiss. "Thanks for last night, Warren. It really was a whole hell of a lot of fun." She walked back to the cabin.

He waited a couple of minutes, until he heard the car pull out of the road. Then he walked back up to the cabin.

Sophie was sitting on a couch, wearing only a bra and panties, reading a book. She looked up as he came in. "Hi," she smiled.

"Hi yourself."

He closed the door behind him, and she patted the couch next to her. He sat, and she put her book down and snuggled up next to him. This time, he didn’t stiffen, as he wrapped his arm around her.

"Are you OK?" she asked.

"Yeah, I think so. Jessie talk to you?"

"Yeah, I got the gist of it. I’m so sorry, Warren. If I had known……"

"Ah, Sophia, I didn’t know. I went along with this, willingly. And last night, I was fine with it. But this morning……."

"Yeah, Jessie told me." Sophia looked up at him with a wicked grin. "So, how was she?"

"What?"

"How was Jessie? Good? Bad? Indifferent?"

"Sophie, this is not helping."

"Yes it is, you just don’t know it yet. How was she?"

"You’re not gonna let me get out of this one, are you?"

"No. I’m working up to something, here. How was she?"

"Fine. Great. Very different."

"Different? How so?"

"Quieter, for one." Sophia cracked up at that. "Where you scream, she purrs and growls a lot." Sophia was still laughing. "She’s more aggressive."

"Yeah, I can tell," Sophia said, fingering the hickey. "Damn her, I told her to return you undamaged," she said, but with a smile.

"Oh, you haven’t seen my back yet."

"Huh?" Warren took his shirt off, and leaned forward. "Scratch marks! That hussy!"

"Yeah, and she gave me the fastest blowjob of my life and I swear she took some skin off." Sophia cracked up laughing. "Wait a minute, why am I telling you this?"

"Because, dear heart, I asked."

"Oh."

"Like I said, I’m building up to something. So, it was different, but fun."

"I’d say that’s accurate."

"Do you prefer the differences?"

"Are you asking me if she was better than you are?!?!?"

"No, I phrased it the way I did deliberately. Take actual people out of it. Do you prefer the way you did it last night? Abstractly."

"It was fun, once in a while would be fine. Heck, we’ve gotten overly aggressive a couple of times. Once in a while, it’s an interesting and fun diversion. But all of the time? No. I prefer a more gentle approach most of the time."

"Fine. One more question. Are you in love with Jessie?"

"WHAT? No! Of course not."

"But you consider her a friend."

"One of my best. After you and Crash, probably the best."

"And you are in love with me."

"You have to ask? Yes, I am completely, hopelessly, head over heels in love with you."

"Thank you, Snugglebear, I never get tired of hearing that. So, what you’re telling me is that you had a fun, interesting diversion with one of your best friends, with my permission—but you wouldn’t want to have her all the time sexually, and it didn’t change your feelings about either me or her one whit. Does that just about cover it?"

"Yeah, that just about covers it."

"OK, you think about it that way, and then tell me what the problem is."

Warren couldn’t help but grin. "Well, when you put it that way…….."

"Y’see, I told you I was building up to a point." The both smiled at each other.

Then Warren asked, "So, how was it?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?"

"I’m not quite sure." They both laughed.

"Well, the basics are almost the same answer. He’s also more aggressive than you are, and it was a fun interesting diversion, but I prefer it our way 95 percent of the time."

"OK, I’ll buy that."

"I can’t imagine the two of them both being more aggressive. I’m surprised there aren’t more flesh wounds." Warren cracked up laughing. "I love you, Warren."

"I love you too, Pookie."

"I’m gonna go make some tea."

"Good idea. This place could use some music." Sophie went into the kitchen, and Warren rummaged through his CD case. He chose a selection of swing music, and put it into the player. He was grooving to Opus One when Sophia emerged from the kitchen, with the tea—and without her bra and panties.

"Coffee, Tea, or ME?" she giggled.

"I’ll take the tea," he teased.

"FINE,’ she replied, and in one move yanked his sweatpants and underwear down to his ankles. "And I know just where to put it," she said as she hovered the teapot above him.

"I’ve heard of Chinese Water Torture, but not Chinese Tea Torture."

"You goof!" She put the teapot down and snuggled into him. He kicked his sweatpants off of his ankles. They snuggled for a minute, naked, not doing much of anything, and then Warren heard the song on the CD about to end, and he knew what song was next.

He stood up, and held his hand out to Sophia. She looked at him quizzically, but stood up and took his hand. He drew her close, without a word, and then the song changed, and Moonlight Serenade started. Wordlessly, they started dancing naked around the living room. There had always been an erotic overtone to their dancing, but nude, slow dancing to a beautiful, romantic song, the eroticism was overpowering. They held each other tight, his erection hard against her stomach, her nipples hard against his torso, eyes locked on each other, as they glided as one around the living/dining room. Their breathing got shallower as they danced, and Sophia got more and more flushed. They never said a word, and their eyes never wavered from the other’s.

When the music ended, they were in the dining room. They stopped moving, but didn’t break their hold on each other, nor did they break their gaze into each other’s eyes. The CD changed to the uptempo beat of In The Mood, but they didn’t even notice. The music was gone, the cabin was gone, the world was gone, and all that was left was each other. And this wasn’t just sex. It was sex, and passion, and romance, and love, all wrapped up into one.

Without breaking his gaze, he suddenly grabbed her by the hips and lifted her onto the dining room table. Still, no words were spoken—none needed to be. She spread her legs, and he aimed and entered her.

He kept his hands on her hips, and she put hers on his shoulders. She was quieter than usual, panting roughly, flushed from her head to her breasts. They kept their eyes locked on each other, as they moved back and forth, she moving on the table to meet his thrusts. They both usually had the tendency to close their eyes during sex, but not this time—they kept them open, and locked, gazing deep into the other’s. Their orgasms were not long coming, and they were powerful and glorious. Sophie let out a wail, but, even in the midst of their orgasms, their hold on each other’s eyes never faltered.

And, it didn’t falter afterwards. And Warren, unusually for him, didn’t go soft. They stayed there, still looking at each other, for a minute while they came down from their orgasms. Then Warren drew Sophie in close, wrapping her arms around his neck. Again, no words were needed, as she wrapped her legs tight around his waist. He reached under her, supporting her under her ass, and lifted. And he carried her, still buried in her, to the bedroom.

Quite a long time later, when they were done, they were snuggling in the bed.

"Right girl, right bed?" Sophia teased.

"Right girl, right bed, right dining room table, right dance floor, right teapot, whatever." They both laughed.

"Better about last night?"

"Yeah. It was a fun diversion, but you are it, you know that."

"I know."

"And, if it ever happens again—which, knowing you and Jessie, it probably will"—Sophia giggled at that—"just promise me one thing."

"What’s that?"

"I don’t mind fun, interesting diversions, but the only person I ever want to wake up next to, is you. Call it the ‘switch beds before actual sleeping so your sweetie wakes up clutching the correct breast’ rule."

Sophia giggled. "Deal. Since I’ve reserved you for dancing, you can reserve me for sleeping."

"Oh, you bet your bippy that you’ve reserved me for dancing. After that? If we ever have a daughter, my father will have to teach her to dance, because I’m taken on the dance floor for ever."

They quieted for a minute. Then Warren laughed.

"What’s so funny, Snugglebear?"

"I was just thinking. We’re using last year’s free dance for the Junior Grand Prix because of the length difference, right?"

"Right."

"Moonlight Serenade is part of that music." Sophia widened her eyes in realization, and cracked up laughing. "I am never going to look on that particular piece of music the same way again, and now I’m going to spend all fall ice dancing to it with you in front of an audience."

"Dear heart, when you perform in front of an audience, the mental trick is to imagine the audience naked, not your partner."

"Too late. That music is going to come on, and all I’m going to be able to think of is today."

"Well, that might be a good thing, because today I give you a 6.0, 6.0."

"Yeah, but will we get an increase in the base mark if I boff you on the judges’ table?"

They snuggled into each other, still laughing.