index


Message-ID: <32463asstr$999965404@assm.asstr-mirror.org>
From: "Mementh" <mementh@home.com>
Subject: {ASSM} RP  In Memory on Xanthos Pendragon: MasterPC: The Eclectic's Edition 02/10 (file 03/18)
Date: Sat,  8 Sep 2001 12:10:04 -0400
Path: assm.asstr-mirror.org!not-for-mail
Approved: <assm@asstr-mirror.org>
Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories
Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d

Sorry about the file being truncated i was copy and pasting


Master PC: The Eclectic's Edition
                               by Xanthos Pendragon

                                  Chapter 2

   Anna - Late Monday Afternoon

What to do, what to do...  No more books to read...  Nothing on TV
tonight...  Maybe I can get Lis to come over... We
could play some cards or go to a movie or something - anything as long as I
can be close to her.  I just wish I could tell
her how I really feel about her...

(Before she could complete the thought, the phone rings.)

"Hello?"

<Hi girl!>

It's Lis! - "Hey Lis, What's up?" - Talk about timing!

<Hot date tonight!  I need you to cover for me.>

Hot date?  It can't be her boyfriend, she'd never be that excited about it
if it was...  and that SOB'd kill her if it was
anyone else... - "You have a date tonight... and it's not Jesus?  You trying
to get killed?"

<Don't remind me.  I met this hot guy today, and we're getting together for
a private dinner at his place.>

WHAT?!? - "It doesn't matter.  You know all guys like to brag to each
 other." - That's one of the reasons that I quit
dating guys - "Jesus WILL find out."

<I don't think so - I don't think this guy's ever spent a day in the hood -
he's not the type.> - Not the type?  That's the only
type of guy you've ever dated! - <But listen, I just got off the phone with
Jesus.> - WHAT? - <He thinks that we're going
out tonight, so I need you to cover.>

Damn, girl!  What do you think you're doing?!? - "Okay, I hope he's worth
it." - He'd better be... you're risking BOTH
our necks on THIS one!

<Me too.  God, I'm so hot just thinking about him!> - I wish it was me
making you hot instead! - <If turns out to be
another jerk, I may just switch to women!>

Could she really be interested?  No...  I've never seen her show that kind
of interest in women before...  Maybe she's
changing her mind?  Maybe we can... No.  I can't risk it.  As much as I love
her, I can't risk our friendship... can I?  I
mean...

<Anna?>

Oops. - "I'm here"

<What's wrong?>

No, I can't risk it. - "It's nothing, really."

<Was it what I said about switching to women?>

Oh, Shit!  What do I say?!? - "No... yes... I don't know..."

<Okay, we can talk about it tomorrow.  We're still on for tomorrow, right?>

Tomorrow?  Oh, the mall. - "Yeah.  Sunland Park Mall tomorrow at eleven."

<OK.  See you there.>

"See you," Anna said before she numbly hung up the phone.

The rest of Anna's evening was spent digging herself deeper and deeper into
a pit of depression and confusion.  Needless to
say, she didn't get much sleep that night.  Between the nightmares and other
things, she was still sobbing when she finally gave
up on getting any more sleep around 5:00am.

"Oh God, what am I going to do?!?  If I tell Lis how I feel about her, I
just KNOW that she won't want anything to do with me
again!!!"

   Melissa - Tuesday Morning - Arriving at the Mall

What a gorgeous day!  I can't believe how lucky I am!  I meet this guy at
the grocery store, and in less than 24-hours, I am
absolutely in Love with him!  Thank you God!!!

Melissa got to the mall and started looking for her friend at the food
court.  Anna's gonna be SO JEALOUS!  He was
DEFINITELY "Worth it."  Where's she at?

A couple of minutes later, she spotted Anna, only to find her looking very
depressed, sitting at one of the tables.

There she is...  Oh man, she looks terrible!  I've NEVER seen her look that
down before! ... I wonder if it has anything
to do with our conversation last night...

Melissa walked up to the table that Anna's sitting at.  "Anna?"

"Huh?  Oh, hi Lis," Anna said, not really coming out of her mood.

"Damn, girl.  What's wrong?" Melissa asked, concerned.

"Nothing."

"Don't give me that, you know you can always talk to me."

"I... I can't... I'm sorry... I shouldn't have come." Anna said, while tears
were coming from her eyes.

Anna got up quickly and started walking hurriedly towards the mall entrance.
Melissa quickly caught up and grabbed her by
the shoulder to stop her.  When she did, Anna just looked down, still
crying.

Gently, Melissa said "It's alright, let's talk about it."

"I can't.  I don't want to lose you," she said as she really lost it.

Melissa just pulled her in for a long, tight hug.  After a minute of Anna's
sobbing into her shoulder, Melissa softly said "It's
okay, Anna.  Really."

"But you don't understand," Anna sobbed.

Melissa pulled back a bit so she could look Anna directly in the face.  What
she saw looked like a mixture of fear, shame, and
need.  Nodding to herself, she leaned forward again and gently kissed Anna
on the lips.  When she pulled back again, Anna's
expression had changed to one of complete shock.

Melissa smiled and said "I kinda figured it out yesterday when we were on
the phone."

"It doesn't bother you?" Anna said, still shocked.

"Why would it?  You've always been my best friend...  I guess we just got a
little closer than either of us ever expected we
would." Melissa gently said.

Anna just looked into Melissa's eyes.  She couldn't believe what she was
hearing.  Suddenly, she threw herself back into
Melissa's arms and hugged her as hard as she could, never wanting to let go.

"GOD!  I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!" she cried into Melissa's ears.

They held tight to each other for a minute or so - until Melissa remembered
where they were and that the lunch crowd was
already there in force.

"Come on girl, I think we're making a bit of a scene, and there's some stuff
we really need to talk about," Melissa said, gently.

Anna pulled back, blushing, and nodded, then they started walking further
into the mall - and away from the lunch crowd.  A
little ways in, Melissa started doing more of the leading.

"Where are we going?" Anna asked.

"First things first - I need to find something more comfortable to wear,"
replied Melissa

"What do you m... LIS!  Your Breasts!" Anna exclaimed - before she could
catch herself.  They just looked at each other,
then Melissa grabbed her wrist and they ran through the mall and ducked into
a clothing store.  Melissa was smiling as they
stopped to catch their breaths.

"I know it's a shock, but you didn't have to be so loud about it."

"Sorry, it's just... Wow!" Anna said.

"You like, huh?"

"They look great!"

"Let me grab a couple of new bras and blouses, then we can go somewhere and
talk for a little while.  Okay?"

Anna just nodded, not knowing what else to say.

They both left the store a half-hour later, and decided that the best place
to talk was Anna's apartment since it was only fifteen
minutes away.

The moment they got inside the front door, Anna turned around and pinned
Melissa to the door, kissing her hungrily.

Melissa let it continue for a minute before she finally pushed Anna back.

"Anna, we really do need to talk," Melissa said gently.

Anna got a concerned look on her face, backed off, and said "Okay."

Melissa went to the kitchen and grabbed a couple of wine coolers and brought
them back to the living room.

"Here."

"Thanks."

Anna was already sitting on the couch, so Melissa sat there as well, facing
her friend.

When Melissa hesitated a bit while trying to think of what to say, Anna took
it wrong and got depressed again.

"You don't feel the same way, do you," Anna said, feeling let down.

"Anna, listen to me."

Anna looked back up at her long-time friend.

"Look, we've been friends forever.  That's not going to change...  I do love
you - as a friend - but I also love someone else,"
Melissa explained.

"You call what you and Jesus have LOVE?" Anna interrupted.

"NO, no, I'm done with him.  Remember the guy I mentioned last night?"

"Your 'Hot Date'?"

"Yeah.  Well, somehow we fell in love with each other."

"What - overnight?  Yeah, right!" Anna said sarcastically.

"Anna, stop it!"

Anna looked like she'd been slapped.

"Look, I know you're jealous... Don't be."

"But..."

"Anna!"

Anna looked down again.

Melissa sighed, gently took Anna's face in her hands, and forced Anna to
look her straight in the eyes.

"Anna, I really do care about you - just like I do him.  There is room in my
heart for both of you - do you hear me?  For
BOTH of you," Melissa said.  When she noticed tears starting to come down
from Anna's eyes, she pulled her close for
another long hug.

A few minutes later, after Anna had calmed back down, Melissa pulled back
and seemingly changed the subject.

"Is there anything besides college keeping you here?" she asked.

"What?  What do you mean?" Anna asked, completely puzzled by the change in
the conversation.

"Is there anything - besides college - keeping you in El Paso?"

"Of course!  YOU!"

"Okay, besides college and me."

"Well... no... not really...  Why?"

"How would you feel about moving to North Carolina?"

"North Carolina?  What are you talking about?"

<Sigh> "Xanthos is in the process of moving there... and I'm moving with
him."

"WHAT?!?"

"If you go there too, we can still be close, and you can finish college
there."

"But I can't afford that!  With my night job, I can barely afford college.
You know that!"

(Pained sigh) "We'll figure out something. ... What time is it?" Melissa
said looking at her watch.  "SHIT!  1:50!  Let's go!"
she exclaimed.

"What is it?  Where are we going?" Anna asked, puzzled once again.

"We're supposed to meet Xanthos back at the mall at two!  We're going to be
late!"

"Why would I want to meet HIM?  Let's just stay here!  Please?" Anna begged.

"What's wrong with you?  You've always been more mature than this!"

"But, Lis..."

"No, Anna, LISTEN to me.  I - LOVE - YOU - and I love HIM.  I WANT to always
be around YOU, but I AM going to
be living with HIM.  I would LOVE for the three of us to all be together,
but this jealousy of yours isn't getting us anywhere."

"I... I... <Sigh> I'm sorry. ...  What do you want me to do?" Anna said,
giving up.

"Xanthos is waiting for us at the mall.  Both of us will go there and meet
him.  I want you to give him a chance and just try to
get to know him.  He really is a nice guy.  Okay?" Melissa urged.

"Okay..."

"Good.  Let's go then."

Melissa gave her one last hug, and they left in Melissa's car for the mall.

   Xanthos - 2:10 back at the mall food court

Hmm...  I wonder where they are...  Heh.  They probably lost track of
time...  Might as well grab something to drink.

While I was at the counter buying a Dr. Pepper, I noticed them entering the
mall from the outside.

There they are... coming from the outside? ... O...K...  Hmm... Then I
noticed Anna's puffy eyes and forlorn expression.
What the...  O...K...  something is definitely wrong.  Melissa probably told
her about us moving to North Carolina...
but I don't think that's all that's going on...  Maybe Melissa made a pass
at her? ... No... I don't think that would have
happened yet... and I don't think that would be the reaction if she had...
Hmm...

Melissa came up, dragging Anna behind her.  "Hi, Xanthos.  This is my best
friend, Anna Li.  Anna, this is Xanthos Pendragon
- the guy I was telling you about," she said, smiling.

"Hello Anna, it's nice to meet you." I politely said.  Anna just nodded, not
really even looking at me.  I glanced over at Melissa
and she was standing there frowning at Anna.  Not good.  "Are you okay?" I
asked, still looking at her.

"Not really," she responded.

"I'll tell you what, why don't you go freshen up a bit, and I'll get us
something to drink." I suggested.

She looked up at Melissa.

"You do need it." Melissa urged.

"Okay," Anna replied, and headed off towards the restrooms.

As she was walking off, I asked Melissa what they wanted to drink.  They
both like Diet Coke, so I ordered a couple for them.

When Anna was out of site, I turned to Melissa.  "Do you want to tell me
about it?"

She sighed and said, "I'm sorry, this isn't like her.  I expected her to be
jealous of me - not you."

"Jealous?  You're saying that she's in love with you?" I asked.

"Yeah.  When I got here this morning, she was really broken up.  I kind of
suspected she might be leaning toward women when
I talked to her yesterday, but apparently she's been in love with me for a
while and she's been afraid to tell me because she
thought I wouldn't want to be her friend anymore."

"And how do you feel about her?"

"I love her too - as a friend."

"And romantically?"

"I... I don't know.  I never thought about her that way before."

"From the way she looked, I take it you told her about us moving to North
Carolina."

"Yeah.  She didn't take it well.  She thinks you're trying to take me away
from her.  I thought she might move there too, but
she can't afford it."

"What if she didn't have to worry about the money?"

Melissa's eyes went wide at the suggestion.  "You're willing to pay her
moving costs?"

"Yes.  She can even live with us if she wants."  Melissa was amazed at the
suggestion, so I continued.  "Look, I'm not going to
be jealous of another woman.  Another man, probably," I said grinning.  "but
if you love another woman - and you want to
have sex with her - I don't have a problem with that, because that's just
one more thing that we have in common."

She looked at me, curious about the last comment I made, so I smiled and
explained: "We both love women."  Melissa smiled,
so I pulled her into another hug, then gave her a gentle kiss - as Anna was
coming back from the restroom.

When I noticed her, I saw that she had an angry look on her face.
Wonderful.  Jealousy in full bloom.  <Sigh>  I was
almost tempted to use Master to clean up this mess, but I had a feeling I'd
regret it later...

Melissa noticed the look on my face and looked over to see Anna coming back.
She apparently caught the expression on
Anna's face, because she let out a sigh, then turned back to me and said "I'
m gonna go see if I can calm her down again," but
before she could get up, I put my hand on her arm and shook my head once
when she looked back at me.  Melissa sat back
down, obviously dreading the argument that was obviously coming up.

Anna came back to the table, glaring at me, and forcefully said "I am NOT
going to let you take Melissa away from me!"

Gently, I said "I'm not trying to take her away from you, now calm down."
... And she did - instantly.  It was the strangest
thing I had ever seen before - one second she was cold and determined, the
next, she was nice and calm.  My jaw about hit
the ground, and I imagine Melissa's did the same.

Suddenly, it dawned on me what had just happened.  My "Seed" macro...  It
must have already gotten to Anna, so when I told
her to "Calm Down," she had to instantly obey.  While this was definitely
NOT what I had in mind when I wrote the macro, I
was going to take some advantage from it - I just had to be VERY careful
with whatever I said.  Unfortunately, the mall is not
a good place to do what essentially boils down to "Mind Control" on
someone - it's far too public.

"Both of you - come with me - now" I ordered.  I got up and started leading
them to my car.

"Xanthos, what's going on?" Melissa asked, concerned.

"Something I wasn't expecting, but this isn't a good place to talk about
 it." I quietly replied.

Once we got to my car, I opened the door so they could both get in the back
seat together.  When they were in, I closed the
door, got behind the wheel, and started driving North on I-10.  When I
glanced at my rear-view mirror, I saw Melissa with a
concerned expression on her face, looking back and forth between Anna and
me, but Anna's face was still calm.

At some point, Anna asked where we were going.  Her expression was calm but
curious, so I just told her that we were going
someplace more private to talk.  She just said, "Okay."  This was too weird.

One of the few nice things about El Paso is that it has a nice little
mountain in it that divides the West Side from the Northeast.
Fortunately, there's a road called "Transmountain" that cuts across the
mountain and continues all the way to the far-east end of
El Paso.

When I took the exit to get onto Transmountain road, Melissa calmed down a
little bit, but not much.  I wanted to tell her to
calm down, but I couldn't take the chance that she might have already been
affected by the macro too.

A few minutes later, we got to the top of Transmountain where there are a
few "Picnic" areas.  Since they were all empty, I
pulled into one, stopped the car, and we all got out.  Once we were all
seated at the table there, it was time to see if I could
straighten this mess out without causing too much damage.

Anna was sitting on one side of the table, while Melissa and I were sitting
on the other.

I reached forward and gently took Anna's hands in mine and looked her in the
eyes.  "Anna, I want you to listen to me very
carefully, okay?"

"Okay" she said calmly.

"I know that you love Melissa - I don't have a problem with that.  I love
her too.  Melissa told me that you think I'm trying to
take her away from you.  I'm not.  I am more than willing to share her with
you if that is what she wants.  If you're concerned
about her moving to North Carolina with me - don't be.  If you want to
remain close to her, you can either move in with us or I
can help you find a place of your own - and you don't need to worry about
the cost of moving either - I can cover it easily."

"I don't understand...  Why would you do that?" Anna asked.

"Let me tell you a little about my life - then maybe you'll understand.  I'
ve lived a life of loneliness, shyness, and pain.  Out of
my thirty-three years of life, I can count those who I considered to be good
friends on one hand, and most of those are gone -
never to be seen again.  I've always been painfully shy - in fact, I was
almost twenty-one when I finally lost my virginity - and
I'm not real proud of the way that happened either.  Imagine the tension of
being oversexed, but only having had one girlfriend
within more than thirty years.  Pile on top of all that the fact that from
the time I was in preschool, all the way into the early 90's,
I had headaches literally almost every single day.  It's a wonder I didn't
try to kill myself after some of the more severe ones.
I've even seen lives ended in front of me, and felt the frustration when the
person responsible only gets a slap on the wrist.  But
even with all the bad, I've had some good.  I've always had a 'giving
personality' - even with as jaded as it's become, it's still
there.  And a couple of weeks ago, I gained the ability to do some good and
make a difference.  In the process, I went from
unemployed, after working for the same company for nine years, to
permanently retired.  <Sigh>  I guess the answer to your
question boils down to: I enjoy making people happy.  If you're happy, and
Melissa is happy, then that makes me happy." I
finished, sadly.

Anna sat there, wide-eyed, stammering "I didn't know.  I..."

"There's no way you could have known. ... Look, it's starting to get a
little late...  Why don't I drop you two off back at the
mall so you can spend the night with each other... and you can decide
weather or not you want to come with us.  Besides, you
don't look like you've gotten much sleep lately."  Then I turned to Melissa.
"Would you stay with her tonight - help her decide
what she wants to do?"

"Yes," she weakly said.  Considering the expression on her face, and the
tears in her eyes, I guess my little tale had an effect on
her too.  "Will you be okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, it's just another bout of depression."

Melissa pulled me into a hug that lasted a while.  A few seconds into it,
Anna decided to join in too, forming a nice three-way
hug.

When we finally separated, I thanked them both for the hug, and we drove
back down to the mall.  Before they got out, we all
exchanged phone numbers and I told Melissa that I'd give her a call in the
morning.  I gave her one more hug and kiss, then left
for the motor home.

When I finally got back to the motor home, I put some of the leftover pasta
in the microwave and sat down at the computer to
undo some of my overzealousness.

   Melissa - Back at her car with Anna

Man, I'm feeling drained.  I don't think I've had a day that was this
emotional in several years. He wasn't kidding
about his life having improved.  Only one girlfriend in his life?  Headaches
almost every day for more than a decade?
It IS a wonder he didn't kill himself.

I guess we'd better get going.

"So... your place or mine?" I asked her.

"Huh? - Oh, mine, I guess..."  I wonder what she's thinking about...

"Lis?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you think about him?"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know...  From what he said, he's had a pretty miserable life..."

"Yeah, no kidding."

"I also get a feeling that he's really powerful..."

You have no idea!

"But it also seemed like he was really lonely, too."

"Yeah, I felt all that too...  When I was at his place last night, he
mentioned that he got some sort of 'ability to do some good' -
as he put it - just a few weeks ago... and he does seem to be a 'giver' ...
and the fact that he's willing to share...  I don't
know...  I just love him very much, and I know that he feels the same way
about me.  I wish I could be with him all the time, but
right now I'm just too emotionally fried."

"I know what you mean, but I hate seeing anyone who's as depressed as he was
when he left."

"Yeah, me too...  It really hurts knowing it's someone I love, too.

Anna turned and looked at me for a few seconds then asked "Lis?"

"Yeah?"

"Wanna make it his place instead?"

I looked back at her for a second and nodded.  "Okay, but we need to stop
and grab some clothes for tomorrow..."

(Nod)

-- 
Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights
reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| alt.sex.stories.moderated ----- send stories to: <ckought69@hotmail.com> |
| FAQ: <http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/faq.html>  Moderator: <story-ckought69@hotmail.com> |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Archive: <http://assm.asstr-mirror.org> Hosted by Alt.Sex.Stories Text Repository |
|<http://www.asstr-mirror.org>, an entity supported entirely by donations.         |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+