Chapter 2

Meanwhile, Rick started attempting to settle the remainder of the group in, but got bogged down providing answers to general housing questions like "Will there be food?" Not wanting to get bogged down in general questions that would need to be answered again in a few minutes, Rick re-opened the port shutters and made himself available for specific questions. There were several...

"When will we start picking up children?" Mitch asked, while Mickey hovered in the background.

"We need a half-hour of general briefings on where to go and what to do to get everyone settled, then that comes next," Rick replied. "A couple of hours, worst case. Is that a problem?"

"I have one in day care until noon... after that, things could get ugly," Mickey replied. Rick looked at his watch, which was set to the zone local to the pickup site. "Eleven-twenty. We'll be pushing it. I can probably get you to a phone -- well, it'll be a patch..."

"That might be a good idea," Mickey replied. "If they can't find me by a quarter after twelve, they'll call Brett..."

"Your husband?" Rick clarified. Mickey nodded. "How big a problem is that?"

"I... don't know," Mickey frowned. "We haven't been doing all that well..."

"We have rules about these things," Rick said gently. "You're stuck."

Mickey nodded. "It's for the best."

"Hey, uh, Jolene!" Rick waved at the black woman.

Jolene wandered over, eyes dancing. "You like rings?" she asked. Rick had been tracking the rings in her big but saggy breasts as they bounced and jiggled.

"They're an attention-getter, but that's not why I called you over," Rick replied, getting himself in order. Ogling some woman's tits didn't mean he had any serious interest -- just that he was male... "Do you have any kids that need picking up urgently?"

"Tyrone is in second grade -- they get out at two-thirty," Jolene replied. "The other two are with their grandma. She's gonna want to know where the fuck I've been, but..."

"We'll clear that up," Rick assured her. "Husbands?"

"Nope." Jolene grimaced and shook her head. "Hey, about this guy who picked me up..."

"You're stuck with him," Rick replied bluntly. "If he's not interested in YOU, that's another matter, but you're out of options."

"Well, what about my kids?"

"What about 'em?" Rick replied. "Has he agreed to take them on?"

"Uhhh, no. Doesn't he have to?"

"Well, no, he doesn't," Rick amplified, "but once he does, he's stuck with them -- even if he does away with you!"

"Uhh, run that by me again?" Jolene looked distinctly nervous.

"Were you listening earlier?" Rick asked. "Your sponsor has the right to trade you away, or even kill you -- but he has no such rights to your kids. Oh, he can ship them off with you to someone else as a package deal, but if he takes you out or sends you off to the Civil Service pool, he has to keep the kids."

"I'm having a real hard time with this killing me thing..." Jolene muttered.

"Well, that's probably not a big surprise. It really OUGHT to be a last-ditch thing -- but YOU need to know that it's a viable option, so we stress it some," Rick told her. "You are totally dependent on the guy who picked you up -- TOTALLY! I can't stress that enough! You need to plan to do absolutely everything in your power to keep him happy, because if you make a pain in the ass of yourself, YOU are the one who will lose by it!"

Kiran, who was more or less indulging Kellie out of a morbid desire to toy with her, had brought his harem in close so that she could ask questions. Kellie contributed to his amusement by bursting out, "How can you allow that?"

Rick eyed her. "Did you every watch old westerns? You know how there wasn't much law? If the sheriff or the marshal happened along, maybe he fixed things -- but in general, things were a little reliant on everybody doing what they were supposed to? Well, individual colony worlds have their own governments -- or they don't, in some cases. It's a frontier. Nobody tells them what to do -- except for the fact that just about everyone is in the armed forces. So we have military law, but it really doesn't extend to concubines, who are property. Remember the westerns? Well, it's probably best if you think of yourself as a c--..." Rick eyed Kiran and his Indian women; maybe they were Hindu -- in which case, cows were sacred. "Ummm, a horse. Stealing a horse was a crime and people got hung as horse thieves -- but shooting a horse was okay, as long as it was yours and not someone else's..."

Kellie looked kind of green. "I'm a horse?"

"Figuratively." Rick nodded.

"Oooohhhh..." Kellie could barely look at Kiran. "And if he shoots me?"

Rick shrugged. "Then he loses some breeding stock."

"Omigod." Kellie rubbed her face. "I'm dead..."

"Not yet," Kiran observed phlegmatically, "but the results thus far have not been impressive."

"I will... What can I do?"

"Stop questioning and obey!" Kiran retorted.

"Yes, Sir!" Kellie bleated. "Um, is it Master?"

Kiran thought about it. "For now."

"Master, what must I do now?"

Kiran sighed. "Kneel at my feet, I guess." He eyed his other three concubines, obviously considering his options. Sharmila blanched and went to her knees, and the other two followed suit. Kiran returned his attention to Kellie, "Do you remember your name?"

Kellie blinked back tears. "I am called Slut, Master."

"Yes, you are," Kiran reached out to tousle her blonde locks. "Yes, you are."

Jolene watched the scene play itself out, working hard at denial -- and failing. It wasn't like there was anything wrong with this Mike character -- it was just the fact that she was not in control of the relationship. Each of her kids' fathers had been hot stuff at the outset -- but after a while, they'd gotten to be a pain in the ass, one way or another, and she'd put them on the street. Now, they were telling her that with this guy that wasn't an option -- that he held ALL the cards! Given her history, could she put up with that? And then there was that silly white cow he'd saddled them with... Man, she was just fucking DUMB! Jolene had gone with the game on the ground, but now... Now she was in deep shit, and there wasn't even a rope! "So, it's, like, possible to talk a guy into giving you to someone else...?"

Rick grunted. "Sometimes. You have three kids, right? That's not going to make things simpler." He eyed her for a moment. "I know -- you like to run things. Well, if I were you, I'd settle for running Linda -- who can probably use it -- and making yourself look good with Mike by handling the small shit -- being head bitch. Right now isn't the time to try jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire!"

Jolene nodded, frowning. "Maybe."

"Trust me," Rick advised, "you want to know what's up before you even THINK about jumping -- those who don't are generally NOT happy with the results!"

Jolene's nod admitted the wisdom of this counsel, but Rick continued, anyway, "In the first place, he's offering to take on your kids -- which we encourage, but he's NOT obligated! You really need to see what you've got before you decide the grass is greener..."

Jolene grimaced. "I'm kinda hard to keep a handle on, sometimes..."

"Maybe you'll need someone with a little patience," Rick advised, "as opposed to someone without..." He swept his eyes to Kiran, who was no longer paying him any attention.

"Yeah..." Jolene sighed. "I'm just afraid he won't be able to hold his own..."

"Honey, you just have to remember that no matter what happens, you'll NEVER be boss!" Rick advised.

Jolene shrugged. "That might help."

"About the time," Mickey muttered.

"Yeah." Rick glanced around. "Come with me."

Eventually, Mickey found herself fitted with a headset and a microphone; Rick had to get the communications techs to hunt down the headset, apparently. "Mrs. McPherson?"

There was a good one second delay. "Yes?"

"This is Michelle Rawlins -- Lisa's mother. I might be a bit late..."

Again the pause. "You know we don't tolerate that, Mrs. Rawlins. Where are you?" Mrs. McPherson sounded long-suffering.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Mickey replied.

"I suppose you're stuck in traffic..." Mrs. McPherson huffed.

"No, not really... Not much traffic up here..."

"Are you drunk? Why are you so slow?" McPherson asked suspiciously.

"Why IS everything delayed?" Mickey asked Rick.

"It takes light a while to cover the distance from geosynchronous orbit," Rick replied. "It's making the trip twice..."

Mickey started composing a reply, but Mrs. McPherson beat her to the draw, "Geosynchronous orbit?"

Mickey changed up. "I'll be withdrawing Lisa from the school, Mrs. McPherson."

"Because..."

"Yes. I've been... picked up."

"I... see. We'll be waiting. I'll try to put together a few things for her."

"That's very kind of you, Mrs. McPherson. Please don't tell a lot of people -- we don't want any trouble or to endanger anyone."

"No, no -- of course not!"

"We'll be along as quickly as we can," Mickey assured her. "Goodbye!"

Rick rolled his eyes. "It'll be all over the school -- at least the faculty. We'll both have to go -- and have backup on call."

"Sorry!"

"Not really your fault." Rick sighed. "The other one is in grade school?"

"Yes."

"We'll drop in unannounced."

"Okay."

"This boy..." Rick eyed her.

"Is this going to be a problem?" Mickey asked.

Rick pursed his lips. "We're more or less committed. As long as your sponsor doesn't change his mind, we'll run with it."

"Thank you."

"At this point, I'm just doing my job." Rick looked up. "There come the stragglers -- let's go back."

Pete wasn't happy. "Couldn't you tuck some of them in?"

"They were asking questions in the standard briefing. It was run it down two or three times or do it right once. I did manage to scare a couple of the possible troublemakers and start working on the Rawlins woman's kids."

"Problem?"

"Day care lets out in twenty minutes."

Pete puffed out a sigh. "I guess it could be worse." He strode to a locker and popped it open to reveal some PDAs with GPS functions -- keyed to the ship, not the planet below. "All RIGHT! Listen up! He triggered a hologram displaying a chunk of the ship's interior in 3-D, then started a briefing that was all but canned, "We are here..." He pointed with a finger to a flashing dot. "Mess Area C is here... Pay attention if you want to eat!" He related the basics of pod location and what could be expected to be found in one, where meals would come from, both inside and outside of the pods, the schedule for the next day or so, clothing... Reaching into the locker, he pulled out a grey hunk of cloth. "This is the standard issue shift. I won't tell you that in the long run it's this or nothing, but it DEFINITELY is in the SHORT run! Everybody wander up and get one from my partner here... Not sponsors, obviously. Ummm, Brad? Sorry about that..." There were giggles. "Sponsors, you're NOT required to have your concubines wear anything -- mine is gonna continue to be naked in fact -- but it is this or nothing for the next few weeks -- that's how we tell the players without a program. Concubines, get naked and leave your stuff in a pile with your sponsor, so you can sort out keepsakes, later..."

Some of the less appetizing concubines had managed not to be revealed -- Elliott Bradley's pair of dumpy secretaries, for instance. Now, the playing field got leveled as everything came out -- at least momentarily. Pete kind of got a kick out of the logic behind who got to get into a shift and who didn't; basically, if a concubine's sponsor told her to dress, she could take it to the bank that she was less than appetizing when nude. Elliott put his women back in shifts, but true to form, Elias put Sue, Beth, and Penny in shifts and left Alicia, Denise, and Shelley Nakahara (the Japanese-American girl) nude. Mike spent some time thinking about it, but went with nudity for both Linda and Jolene. Sanket dressed Inez only -- probably as much because she had an obvious nudity taboo as because her age and build left her needing work. Kiran moved everyone to nudity, to the surprise of Sharmila and Amita. Mitch looked around, then told Tamara and Mickey, "You know, it's more or less an insult if I put you in clothes..." They went nude; the younger pair already were.

"Hey, can I play?" Leah asked.

Tamara spun to rebuke her, but Mitch got there first, "This is a grown-up game, I'm afraid, Honey. You can run around frog naked in our pod if you want to, but not here, okay?"

"Cool!" Leah was thrilled -- but Latoya obviously couldn't understand the reason for the excitement.

Nadine just raised an eyebrow -- but Jason read it correctly. Another woman might have been angling for clothing, but Nadine wasn't. Allison went nude, too, and ended up holding Nadine's shift as well as her own while Nadine calmly braided her grey-shot black hair into pigtails. The picture was just too much of a stereotype; Jason couldn't help himself. "You aren't...?"

"Yep, full-blood. You own a squaw, Honey." Nadine grinned.

There was never any question for Wayne's brood, but Sandrine spent some time obviously weighing things before she decided that BOTH Brad and Barbara would go without. "I think this is better than a shift, don't you?" she asked Brad. "Besides, I'd be proud of that..." Bradley had a nice-looking cut cock of a decent length -- fully erect under the vast amount of visual stimulation available.

"I'll get used to it," Brad said tightly. Actually, Sandrine was right; his position as the only male concubine made him unique, anyway, and a little mental flexibility let him put any embarrassment away fairly quickly.

"Moving right along..." Pete put things back on track, rapidly dispensing some more tidbits of information that were of immediate use, then handing out the PDAs to sponsors. "These are keyed to your pods and will guide you to them. If one of your concubines has kids to pick up, settle your brood and get back here with her, ASAP! Let's move! I want to see those with pickups back here in twenty minutes, tops!" Heads down, sponsors gathered their harems and moved them off down the maze of corridors toward their new homes.

Mickey Rawlins' broadcast sense of urgency pushed Mitch's group rapidly along despite the fact that there were a half-dozen others in the party, some of them children. Tamara and Mitch understood, Leah and Latoya wanted to dash around a bit, and Nikki and Vickie had no trouble keeping up. Getting past Elias' herd presented the only real obstacle -- and they weren't actively attempting to bar anyone. Elias took notice, but Mitch explained briefly, "We've got a pickup..."

"All right, Ladies -- quit acting like a herd of cattle and put your butts against the wall -- these guys have got kids to pick up!" There was a scramble, and women hit both sides, but the center of the hallway allowed passage.

"Thanks!" Mitch puffed; Mickey was all but running at that point.

"Better get a leash on that one before she outruns you!" Elias laughed. Other groups, having heard the byplay, made holes.

Mike had to get Jolene back, but the three of them were burdened by Tommy and his support materials; besides, Jolene's kids were safe until midafternoon. They went with the flow, eventually arriving before a door (well, hatch) that the GPS insisted belonged to Mike.

There wasn't a knob; Jolene, who was in the lead, felt around but found nothing. The PDA indicated that there was a touch panel, so Jolene tried that -- and it still didn't work -- but when Mike touched it, the door popped open. Jolene wasn't pleased. "What the fuck?" she groused as she led the four of them inside.

"You have a question?" The voice seemed to come from the air before them.

"Yeah," Jolene replied, glaring around, looking for a source. "Why didn't the door open for me?"

"You are not your sponsor," the AI replied.

"So I can't get in and out on my own?"

"Correct. This can be altered by your sponsor on a temporary or a permanent basis at any time," the AI informed them, "however, since newly arrived groups tend to be unstable and require some time to settle in, this is not recommended for the next several days."

Jolene glared at Mike, then grimaced as Mike waved a hand in an obvious 'leave it alone,' gesture.

Glancing around, the four of them noted an open kitchen to the right of the entryway, followed by a dining area. Beyond this was a small open living room area with a single door beyond. "These must be temporary quarters," Mike observed.

"These quarters are considered to be permanent," the AI announced. "They are highly modular, and capable of expansion to approximately nine times their current volume without augmentation, but this is impractical while in space."

"I don't get it," Jolene grumped.

"Humans call this a pod," the AI explained. "Transports of this type deliver these pods in much the same manner as your oceangoing container ships deliver cargo. When the ship arrives at the colony world designated for you, the pod will be ferried to the surface and sited in a location where basic services will be provided. At that point, the pod can be resized and reconfigured to meet your needs more comfortably. While in space, however, you must operate within this limited volume for the operational efficiency of the spacecraft."

Linda looked around. "It's bigger than my trailer," she said simply. This was home? This wasn't so bad...

"I hate the color..." Jolene grunted. Things were uniformly grey.

"This is a common observation," the AI responded. "While the specifications for the pod were created by humans, actual manufacture of this series occurred at a Darjee facility. The Darjee perceive the electromagnetic spectrum differently than humans do. This is a human representation of how the pod appears to a Darjee..." Suddenly, the walls were light colors and covered with large, bright whorls of darker shades in what appeared to be random patterns.

"Yikes!" Jolene blinked. The change was pretty radical. Linda and Mike were likewise taken aback.

"This would seem to be a default human color scheme..." the AI droned on, and the walls changed to eggshell and the floor simulated a light brown tile pattern. Kitchen cabinetry assumed a wood-grained look, but the appliances remained stainless steel.

"Yeah, that's not bad..." Jolene mused. "Changing things is that easy?"

"With the basic wall and floor materials, adjustments for response to electromagnetic spectra are a standard function," the AI agreed. "Other items require greater effort or may not be readily changeable."

"Uh huh..." Jolene gruntred. "Carpet?"

"Extrusion of fibrous material from the floor surface takes from one to two diurnal cycles, depending upon depth."

"Diurnal cycles?" Linda blinked.

"Days," Mike replied. "Right?"

"Correct," agreed the AI.

"Sweet," Jolene muttered.

"Where can I put Tommy down?" Linda asked Mike.

"The nursery unit is on the level above, accessible by grav lift ," the AI told her. "Reconfiguration of the existing space is still under way, but once this pod was assigned the nursery assumed priority. The master suite, which includes a bathroom, is straight ahead. Two bedrooms for concubines, a bath, and a subdivided room for children will also occupy the level above when reconfiguration is complete, according to the standard floor plan for a group of the size reported. The rooms are being resized to accommodate this."

"So when do the carpenters show up?" Jolene asked.

"The process is automated; the areas are being reconfigured as described at this moment according to standard templates that the pod's wall materials are designed to conform to," the AI explained.

"So, the walls are movin'?" Jolene squinted at the far wall.

"Yes."

"That's fuckin' scary."

"You are in no danger," the AI insisted.

"How do I get to this other level?" Linda asked.

A spot on the floor in the left corner of the room lit up; above it, everyone noted an opening, now that their attention was drawn to it. "Stand on the lighted area and you will be conveyed to the second level," the AI told her.

Linda glanced at Mike, got a nod, and went to stand on the lit square -- and it rose slowly into the air without apparent support. The look on her face was priceless, and she clutched little Tommy tightly, but the AI droned, "There is no cause for alarm." Linda sucked in some air -- but she had arrived already; it was too late to get excited about it.

"I'll take the stairs," Jolene muttered.

"There are none," the AI retorted. "They would have been inconsistent with efficient utilization of the space."

"Uh huh," Jolene puffed out a sigh.

Upstairs, Linda diffidently stepped to the indicated doorway and stuck her head through. "Oh, this is nice!" The crib extruded from the wall, as well as surfaces for use in changing and bathing and storage areas.

"The arrangement is meant to be efficient," the AI's voice came from inside the nursery. "If there are issues, they can be adjusted as issues are identified."

"Thank you," Linda glanced around.

"You are welcome."

Linda placed Tommy on the soft crib surface and headed back out to the lift to go to the main room to collect the baby things they'd gotten at Medical. When she stepped onto the pad, though, it dropped rapidly, eliciting a short scream from her before it decelerated.

"What the Hell?" Mike yelled.

"I am sensing some surprise..." the AI murmured.

"That thing almost dropped her!" Mike yelled.

"Incorrect," the Ai replied. "She was merely deposited at the most efficient rate."

"It looked awful fast to me!" Mike retorted. "It was a LOT faster than she went up!"

"Allowances were made for the comfort of the infant," the AI replied, unperturbed. "This was your first experience with a grav lift?"

"Yes!" Linda panted, from where she leaned against the wall, having had the living shit scared out of her.

"Lift velocity will be moderated until you are more experienced," the AI said. "You are encouraged to practice utilizing it until you are familiar with it."

"Good frigging idea!" Jolene rasped. "Thanks for the frigging warning!"

"The error will not be repeated," the Ai replied, unperturbed.

"We should go," Mike announced. "Linda, you should be safe here. I bet you can get just about anything you need by just asking for it."

"That is correct," the AI agreed.

"This is gonna take some getting used to," Jolene mumbled. Linda looked around for the local source of the AI's voice without success and nodded.

"Well, we'll have time to dig into it later," Mike replied. The PDA in his hand was beeping and displaying a message requesting their return. "Come on, Jolene -- we're wanted..." He looked up at the ceiling. "For now, assume that we don't know how anything works and make explanations unless you're told otherwise -- understand?"

"Understood."

Mike waved Jolene through the door and they headed out.

Others had different revelations. Because of the initial size of his brood, despite the fact that none of them had children, Elias got two pods -- and he was pretty callous about who got assigned where. "I'm sleepin' here," he announced, waving at the entrance to the first pod, "me and Denise, and Alicia and -- what the fuck IS your name, girlie?"

"Shelley," the Japanese-American girl replied, "Shelley Nakahara."

"Right." Elias shook his head. "Anyway. The other three of you are going in there where you won't bother me until we get some of the crap that's fucked up about you fixed. That'll be soon enough, I'm sure -- but I might as well work on the stuff that doesn't hurt my eyes first."

Penney, in particular, took it hard; she didn't have Denise to lean on and Elias' remarks hurt. Sue was almost used to such things; another insult in the great long line of them that was her life was no big thing -- and Beth was sort of numb, so it rolled off her. Elias sealed them in the other pod with a gruff, "Stay the fuck out of trouble," and turned to the trio that were to cohabit his pod. "Let's go."

"Um, about Penney," Denise piped up.

"Yeah, you've been babysitting her forever, and?" Elias grunted.

"Well, I know you hurt her feelings..."

"Probably. When was somebody gonna tell her that she's anorexic?"

"She isn't, really..."

"Honey, I've SEEN her naked! She's a skeleton and skin and pigeon-toed and needs probably forty pounds to be skinny!"

"Well..."

"If she gets upset and cries, maybe somebody will find her a gallon of ice cream to eat or something," Elias waved it off. "By next week it won't fucking matter, anyway. Now move that sweet bubble butt of yours so we can get a look inside this fucking place."

Nadine Peters wasn't thrilled; the sophisticated materials and construction of the pods made it clear to her that motherhood was likely to be her primary occupation once again. "They won't need me for this," she muttered glumly.

"It's just new tools and materials," Jason replied. "I wouldn't let it get to me if I were you. Besides, we have other things..." He reached out to palm a breast.

"I don't see how you boys can get all excited over those things," Nadine muttered. "They aren't what I had at eighteen. Yeah, they're bigger -- but they aren't EVEN perky."

"They're womanly," Jason replied. "Besides, from what I hear, they can be perky again, if you want."

"That's if YOU want," Nadine pointed out. "I'm just a squaw."

"Yeah..." Jason's sigh made it seem like the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Nadine laughed and ruffled his brush cut. "Well, it's all yours -- but don't ignore the young stuff!"

Jason crooked a finger at Allison. "I don't intend to." He settled on the couch, pulling them both down with him.

Allison leaned into his lap diffidently, but Nadine told her, "Go ahead and find it -- I can wait for seconds. If you get stuck or need advice, let me know." Jason settled back to enjoy the absolutely novel experience of having two women plying him for sex.

Allison wasn't a virgin, but she wasn't far out of the gate. Her natural expression was somewhat down in the mouth -- not from any real unhappiness (at least, not at first, or not generally), but merely out of the luck of the genetic draw. Even when she smiled, she tended to look wistful. Since appearance is reality to a lot of people, she lived with the fact that a lot of people assumed that she was an unhappy young woman -- and that limited her options considerably. She'd managed to put herself out there on a few occasions -- generally under special circumstances -- but relationships hadn't been forthcoming. Now, she fumbled at Jason's fly and wondered why he'd picked her. Even if she'd been perpetually sunny, Allison was a big, somewhat softly-fleshed girl with lank brown hair -- there was nothing remarkable about her at all.

Lift your hips, Honey," Nadine directed, "give us girls some access." Jason did as he was asked and Nadine helped Allison get his Dockers and underwear down. Once it was done, Nadine backed off again and contented herself with rubbing Jason's neck and chest while Allison confronted his erection.

It was... nice -- pink and curved and not huge but not small; Allison thought that with a little work, she could probably learn to deep-throat it. She held it at the base and ran her tongue over the head, listening to Jason hiss in pleasure. She collected his eyes and gave it a lollipop lick -- and the question in her mind found her voice without her thinking about it. "Why me?"

"Because you're sweet and you work hard and you have a good attitude -- and because you took the time to learn what I liked and made the effort to make sure I got it." Jason ate the same thing every morning; if someone else was tending the counter, they approached him as if they'd never seen him before -- but Allison would see him coming in the door and have his bagel toasting before he got to the head of the line.

"Oh!" That flood of words was probably the most appreciation Allison had gotten in one paragraph in some time! It told her so many things... She dove on his erection, sucking gustily.

"Like I said..." Jason gasped through clenched teeth. She was all over his cock -- there was no way he was going to put on some impressive show and fuck them both before blowing his wad. Hell, he'd seen too much and done too much and was too worked up -- and Allison was sucking like a wild thing... "Aah, shit! I'm gonna...." His legs started to jump and he put his hands on Allison's head -- but she was doing everything he could ask for, anyway... "AAAGGHH!!!" His cock exploded just as her lips rolled over the flange of his glans, pouring one, two, three, four blasts of seed before the pulses backed off. Allison locked her lips around him and took it in, swallowing the sticky stuff, proud of herself -- and pleased that she could give something back after his revelation.

"If you had asked, I'd have said yes," Allison purred, settling back on her heels.

Jason got a 'deer in the headlights' look. "Asked?"

"You thought about it, didn't you? Asking me out?"

Nadine cackled. "Well, well, well! So it wasn't that random, huh?"

"No." Allison's laughing eyes dared Jason to lie. "It's been going on for a while -- but he wouldn't push things..."

Jason considered denials, but it didn't seem worth it. What had he said that let the cat out of the bag? "You don't have the right to ask a girl out just because she waits on you at a restaurant. What kind of guy hits on a girl just because she's at the cash register?"

"Every day?" Allison raised an eyebrow.

"It seemed... egotistical." Jason looked defensive.

"Don't tease him, Honey -- he admitted it," Nadine advised. "Sometimes you have to give them a little room to wiggle."

"Well," Allison looked reluctant, "I waited MONTHS!"

"He was being chivalrous," Nadine argued.

"There is a lot about chivalry that is stupid."

"All's well that ends well," Nadine said smoothly -- with a look at Allison that said, 'Don't be stupid!'

"Yeah." Allison subsided, putting her cheek in Jason's thigh and kissing the shaft of his still half-erect cock. Jason sighed in relief.