Chapter 07: Further Complication
I arrived home to be greeted by a room full of smiling females.
“She didn’t take us up on our offer?” Shani asked.
“No, though I suspect it was more to be fair to Kitty than anything. Though,” I hesitated to build a little tension, “she did mention a certain fear of being dragged into the sacrificial bedroom by the likes of all of you.”
“Yeah, as if she’d be kicking and screaming in anything but orgasmic bliss,” teased Cate.
“And speaking of which, what the hell was that whole discussion about, Shani? Were you trying to scare the pants off her? OK, scratch that. You’ll probably answer yes. Were you trying to scare her away?”
“No, as I said, I had a feeling Caroline would appreciate the direct approach.”
“And telling her about our secrets?”
“I didn’t tell her any secrets, only that we had secrets. And what was Chalise’s reaction to that?”
“That she’d keep any and all secrets I had to tell her,” I sighed in resignation. Shani grinned at me.
“So where’s Dad?” I asked. “This is where he usually asks me if I expected anything else.”
“He ran screaming from all the excess estrogen. I think he’s upstairs watching football or some such,” replied our mother.
“Sounds like an excellent choice,” I told them, thinking anything would be better than the teasing I knew I was in for. I wasn’t serious, of course, as the teasing was all good natured. Still....
“I think we have better options than football,” suggested Shani.
“Oooh, Ooooh, can we come and watch?” asked Melinda.
“Nope,” replied Cate quickly. “In order to make room for everyone in the house, I’m offering to give up my own bed to my dear sweet sisters. I’ll sleep in Alex’s room with all the other females in there. I figure it’s the only safe place from salivating sex fiends.” Both of my other sisters stuck their tongues out at her. They all giggled.
“That’s OK,” offered Melinda. “I can wait until my turn to escort him around looking for new followers. Then I’ll get all the benefits Cate’s been enjoying up till now.”
“Girls, girls, girls,” chided Mom. “What makes you think I’ll let you accompany him? A boy needs his mother for things like that,” she laughed. I felt my face burning again as everyone laughed.
“I think having you all here is a bad idea,” I told them, glancing mainly at my two sisters. “You have the same sense of humor. I’m not going to have enough blood left in my nether regions for my girls tonight, because it’s all going to be in my blushing face.”
“Anh wants you all to know that she has a way to reorient the blood flow,” I had to translate, much to my chagrin.
“Poor Alex,” cooed Becky, “all these beautiful women willing to do anything for him, and not a drop of respect among them.”
“Hey, it’s not the respect we’re interested in,” Shani replied.
“So, is that it?” Allison asked.
“What, no comment on how much you enjoyed the evening or the girl?” Shani asked, changing the topic.
“I like to keep some things private,” I replied, keeping it simple.
“You know Cate will just call her in the morning,” Becky warned.
“Try calling her mother,” I informed them, “she’ll appreciate the concern.”
“Seriously, though,” Cate asked, “any feelings about a possible future together?”
“I think I’d be happy to spend a considerable amount of time with either one. They’re nice interesting, intelligent, and likely to keep secrets, those they haven’t already guessed that is.”
“Well, that’s good news,” Cate responded.
“Yes, it is,” I replied, standing up.
“OK, just make sure you call them both back tomorrow,” Shani replied, walking up to take my hand.
“Oh, I thought I was supposed to wait a couple of days?” I stupidly responded.
“Whatever for?” she asked, sounding shocked that I wouldd suggest such a thing.
“Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do, to show them you’re not desperate?” I asked, seriously confused by their collective response.
“Men,” they all responded, rolling their eyes.
“If you like them, you call them back and let them know,” explained Cate very slowly, as if I’d have trouble understanding her. “Besides, you are desperate, you’ve been dying to get laid for years now.”
“Too true, too true, though I might be able to last a little longer with the help of my friends,” I answered, smiling at them all. I got many harrumphs as the girls led me up the stairs. I noticed Cate was following us.
“Where are you going?” I asked her.
“I told you, I’m sleeping in your room tonight.”
“You were serious?”
“What else? There’s a shortage of beds.”
“There’s enough room, as long as we utilize the couches downstairs,” I informed her.
“As I said, there’s not enough room. I need to bunk with you. And I know your friends will protect me from all the horny women around the house tonight.”
“I wonder who’s going to be protecting whom?”
We ascended the stairs to yet another chorus of laughter. When we got to the room, Natalie immediately dropped to her knees and fished my cock out in full view of Cate, who was just walking into the room.
“Excuse me,” I protested.
“Hey, it’s not like I haven’t seen it before,” Cate argued. Remembering all our nights in New Orleans, I certainly couldn’t refute her point.
“Mmrum um fromrum,” Natalie stated.
“Yeah, like she said,” agreed Cate, sitting herself at my desk chair. Shani just draped herself against my chest, kissing me as she slowly unbuttoned my dress shirt. I was starting to get erect when suddenly they both stopped, leaving me high and dry.
“Hey!” I protested, but they were both busy undressing me.
“What? We can’t have you wrinkling all those nice clothes,” Shani argued.
“Yeah, you didn’t sit down anytime during the evening?” Cate teased. I finally just shrugged as they continued undressing me, which did things to my exposed cock that seemed to fascinate Cate. When they finally had me undressed, I lay down on the bed to relax while they undressed, my cock still bouncing from my motions.
“You gonna do something with that thing, before you put someone’s eye out?” teased Cate. I had images of Ralphie in the movie “A Christmas Story”, playing with a different kind of Christmas present that his mother would warn him about.
“You have any ideas?” I asked.
“Several. Unfortunately none of them involve me as I’m still suffering a bit of the yuck factor. You’ll have to get one of them,” she made a vague waving motion, “to take care of it for you.”
“Maybe we should get Dad in here for a lesson?” I offered. Anh perked up at this and spoke to Cate. Before she was finished with her broken English, Cate was nodding her head.
“Damn right I want a cock sucking lesson. I may not be able to practice it until breakfast tomorrow, but a bit more knowledge is always a good thing to a serious student.”
“What’s at breakfast? Dad?” I asked.
“Ugh, no, bananas.”
“Now that’d be interesting to watch,” I commented.
“Try walking around the house tonight,” she countered, “You’ll get quite a show.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” I replied, as the girls arranged themselves around me. They each kissed me for a few moments. Natalie started to bend over me, clearly headed for my waiting cock, until Anh slapped her, causing her to back up. Anh simply shook her finger at her.
“Lesson,” Anh simply replied, taking my cock into her own hand, motioning for Cate to come closer. I started getting a bit nervous, but Shani was quick to kiss me and keep me occupied so I couldn’t think about it.
“Drat,” Natalie complained, “I haven’t had access to it for quite a while. I’ve been dying to try it out again.”
Anh leaned over and kissed her gently, then said, “You get lot tries. Give Cate chance, learn.” Natalie simply nodded, conceding Anh’s point.
“Well, I can understand Natalie’s sentiment, but this is merely a fact finding mission for me,” Cate explained to her, although I’m not sure whether anyone actually believed her.
While I couldn’t see very well, Cate settled in next to Anh, who was leaning down beside me, getting a good view directly up the length of my bare legs. Anh reached out and grasped my erection and slowly started jacking it up and down, until Cate got a good view of this simple technique, then proceeded to speed up to a more rapid pace. She then leaned over and licked me from the base of my cock all the way up the underside of my erect penis to the sensitive underside, where she applied pressure and licked it up, never reaching the head. Pulling back, she then positioned herself above my cock and slowly lowered her head for Cate’s appreciation. She demonstrated taking it into her mouth until just the head was inside, then sucking gently, making a milking motion with her hand.
“Anh says just suck gently,” Shani said, after separating from our kiss.
“Yes, suck gently,” Anh stated, a tiny bit exasperated at everyone speaking simple sentences for her. She then slowly took me deeper, keeping up the repeated sucking motions, keeping them simple enough for Cate to clearly see and recall. Once she reached about the three quarter mark, she started to bob her head. Finally she pulled her head free, still applying the same gentle sucking, resulting in a gentle ‘pop’ sound. Anh pointed at the top.
“Head, glans,” she stated simply. She then pointed at the sensitive site right under the head and said something I didn’t recognize in Vietnamese. I was going to translate, but realized I didn’t have a clue what the English word for it was.
“Frenulum,” Shani supplied. Anh surprised me a little when she drew a line from the head down through the part specified and repeated “frenulum”. Now, I wasn’t sure which the frenulum was, but I didn’t interrupt. Personally, I didn’t think it terribly important.
“Yes, very sensitive,” Anh confirmed. Cate nodded and Anh gave it a very long lick and left it shining with her saliva.
“Very nice, good for you, taste good,” Anh commented, then licked the very thin section between the head and the sensitive section.
“Suckus,” Anh instructed.
“Sulcus,” Shani corrected her.
“Yes, sulcus,” Anh agreed.
I stopped to consider how Anh would know these technical English terms, and then felt like slapping myself in the head. They weren’t English words, they were Latin! If she had advanced training in her home country, they’d probably teach her enough Latin to recognize the terms when she saw them.
Anh then began stroking me up and down.
“Shaft,” Anh stated simply. Next she pinched above the head of my cock and glanced at Cate with a curious expression. This time she again spoke in Vietnamese.
“Foreskin,” I supplied. “I appear to be missing mine.”
Anh tilted her head and sighed longingly, stating “Nice have, but look good with no,” then smiled and continued with her instructions. She drew two lines along the top half of my shaft.
“Corpora cavernosa,” she replied and I was impressed she knew the technical term, even if she didn’t know the common name for them. She then drew along the bottom half and stated, “Corpus spongiosum. Name not portant.” Leaning down she first licked one ball, lifting it up and letting it drop before doing the same to the other.
“Balls!” I shouted.
“Balls to you, too!” we heard shouted from somewhere down the hall. We all laughed.
“I’m glad you speak blowjob well enough to translate,” Cate offered. I blushed again.
“He only knows the parts he likes to play with,” Shani teased. Anh suddenly yanked my cock straight up in the air, causing me to lift my ass in the air in order to preserve my vital equipment. Anh quickly pointed under me.
“Asshole,” she stated flatly. They all laughed loud and long. Suddenly my face was as red as my cockhead was. Anh released me by lowering my penis so my ass returned to the bed. She licked my balls again. “Scrotum.”
With the various names out of the way, she got back to the interesting bits. This time she took me into her mouth and lowered her head, not sucking this time, but just running the sides of her mouth along my shaft. Then, stopping short of the base, she resumed sucking and slowly lifted her head, slowly rotating her head as she went. I threw my head back and moaned. Anh popped her head off.
“He like.”
“Clearly,” Cate replied.
“You like hold?” Anh asked, offering her my penis. Cate initially looked at it a bit queasily, then seemed to consider it, finally she reached out hesitantly and grasped the shaft. Cate started gently rubbing it up and down and squeezing it.
“It’s soft but hard underneath,” she marveled. “This is the first one I’ve held naked. All the others I’ve handled were still inside of their pants. I’d just jerk ‘em off real fast so they’d leave me alone.” I detected a bit of bitterness in her voice at the recollection.
Anh reached out and held Cate’s hand, stilling it, Holding it firmly, she started up an easy pace. Then once Cate was used to it, she speeded up until I started breathing hard.
“Fast better, fast faster,” she explained simply. She then let Cate’s hand loose and sat back and watched. Cate looked at me hesitantly again, and then slowly started jacking me again. Watching my sister jack me off really got my heart racing and I again started gasping.
“Good, good. He like,” Anh told her.
“He like very much,” I enthused. I started to thrust along with Cate’s pumping motion. Anh now reached out and grabbed my balls, gently massaging and rolling them around in her hand. She did this for a second, then held them out for Cate. Cate hesitantly grasped them with her left hand while still pumping me with her right. She played with both for a bit, but eventually left my balls alone to concentrate on my cock.
“Balls not as much fun,” I answered for them.
“Sometime fun suck ball,” Anh suggested, making an offering motion to Cate. She looked, but then shook her head, wrinkling her nose to let us all know her feelings about the difference between touching and licking the offending appendages. Cate continued jerking me off, getting me hotter and hotter until Anh leaned forward again and removed Cate’s hand. She reluctantly released it, and Anh carefully positioned herself, before taking a slow approach to deepthroating me. She kept going farther and farther until she got near the apex, then she made obvious swallowing motions, allowing Cate to see her throat as she did so, then dropped down further until her throat was bulging with my cock. I was in heaven. I held my breath to hold on. Anh started bobbing gently before she finally lifted off and took a deep gasping breath.
“Deep good, hard breath, though,” she explained.
“It feels VERY good,” I told her.
Anh then swallowed me again, bobbing with just a little bit in her mouth, this time while wrapping her fist around the base of my shaft and starting a jerking motion. I gasped again and started thrusting to match her motions. She sped up and this time kept going as I got closer and closer. Shani leaned down and started sucking on one of my nipples. I finally groaned and started to prepare to fire. Anh quickly lifted her head off and continued jacking me off. I jerked hard and held it as I fired, and a shot of my cum shot out into the air, hanging briefly, only to fall back onto my stomach. Anh then returned her mouth to my cock and proceeded to suck down the rest of my cum.
As I finished pumping sperm out, I finally collapsed and Anh kept sucking to make sure she had it all. Shani wiped up some of the loose cum and offered it to my sister. She shook her head no. Anh, having finished cleaning me, lifted her head and opened her mouth, revealing my load in her mouth. Again Cate shook her head no, but only after looking a bit longingly. Anh just turned and offered her face to Natalie, receiving a nervous kiss where they both shared my cum between them. Natalie eventually pulled free, turned to Cate and revealed my load in her mouth as well. She then shut her mouth and resumed kissing Anh until it was all gone.
When they were finished, Cate reached out and flicked my limp penis and simply said, “Cock broke.” They all giggled at this. After that, Anh repeated her earlier lessons on cunnilingus for both Cate and I; me practicing and she observing. I proceeded to suck Natalie off three times before she begged off, claiming being too sensitive. When I then went down on Anh, Allison claimed she was missing all the fun, so Shani voluntarily went down on her, giving us another nice demonstration. By the time Anh came, I had managed to resurrect my erection. Natalie started to reach for it, but Anh wanted a cuddle, so we all curled up and settled down and kissed. Cate settled in behind Shani, cuddling her as well until we all finally fell asleep.
Waking up groggily, I stretched a bit and opened my eyes. Somehow, the heads lying scattered around me seemed wrong, then it came to me. There was one missing. I figured that Shani must have gotten up for something, and Cate just snuggled up for warmth and ended up entwined with me instead. Shifting some of her long brunette hair out of my eyes, I took in her form. She was dressed in simple panties and a T. She was never a big fan of bras due to her small size. I also noted the T-shirt she wore was one of my old ones. One I hadn’t noticed was missing, so she must have grabbed it sometime I wasn’t watching and had been using it ever since.
Her head lay on my shoulder, her upper body draped over mine, her right breast pressed up against my chest, her thigh thrown over my leg, and her ass on clear display resting above my hip. I resisted the temptation to reach down and grasp that delectable little bun. No, there’d be no end of trouble if I tried that.
I thought back over last night and considered that my dating had certainly improved my sex life. Why, my sex life hadn’t been this good since, well, since it first started a couple of weeks earlier! Plus, I got all this without even trying anything with my dates. I wondered what it would be like when I started. Would I even have the strength to make it to school?
Since I had several sleeping forms draped over me, I briefly debated how to avoid waking them in order to extract myself. I especially didn’t want to wake my sister, as she might get a little angry over waking up cuddling with me instead of Shani, who she’d been snuggling with last night. I didn’t want to start her whole yuck factor going again. However, since she was on the outside edge and since she was a bit less draped over me than Anh was, I tried to gently roll her over. This was met by a groan of protest and her snuggling in even tighter.
Figuring it was a lost cause, I simply cleared my throat loudly. Anh shifted a bit but Cate didn’t respond at all, so I repeated my actions a few times. Both girls’ eyes flickered open, and I heard a couple of moans from the other occupants of the bed. Anh simply smiled at me and played with my chest hairs. Cate, however, opened her eyes, looked momentarily confused, then sat up quickly and unsteadily.
“Oh, good morning, I guess,” she greeted me, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “I was just appreciating how comfy I was and then you had to go and spoil it.”
“You might have been comfy, but Alex Junior needs a little relief,” I informed her.
“Well, I’m not gonna wank you again, so you’d best go play with yourself while you’re peeing,” she teased, pouting playfully. I gave her cute butt a playful pinch and, when she yelped, I used the opportunity to slip past the other girls, smiling as I hurried to the toilet. I still didn’t see Shaniqua. I eventually climbed into the shower, soon to be joined by both Natalie and Allison, who were each feeling a little neglected last night. We cleaned up and fooled around a bit.
“More moaning, please,” my sister called out from her place on the toilet. “If we are gonna have this no kissing or touching, vicarious thing work, we need more moaning.” We laughed and began to make fake moaning sounds. We were hamming it up so much we couldn’t really continue playing, so we just continued with the act until Allison faked an orgasm, very realistically, too. I guess the ability to convincingly fake an orgasm would help in her previous line of work. I’d have to pay attention the next time she came, just to make sure. We finally slid open the door and climbed out.
I went through the process of toweling the girls dry, but when they went to return the favor, Cate got off the toilet seat, knelt down at my feet and closely examined my cock from only a few inches away. I could feel her breath against my half-erect cock and it began jerking as it inflated.
“I touched it last night, but I didn’t get a good look at it,” she explained to us. “Since I’d have to get intimate with someone for them to let me examine them this closely, I figured I’d just use you to continue my external anatomy lessons.” She was carefully examining my twitching cock from all angles, occasionally poking it or my ball sack with a finger. Allison and Natalie just worked around her as they dried me off. Finally, having finished everything else, they offered Cate the towel. When she shook her head, Allison quickly fluffed me dry and everyone got up and walked back into the bedroom as if nothing untoward had happened. I just chalked it all up to our never having played doctor when growing up.
Cate finally turned to me, “You know, last night was certainly... uh, educational, and I love waking up next to you, but I promised you I would stop doing that. I said I’d respect your privacy now, and my sending you these mixed messages isn’t very fair to you. I apologize for my behavior last night and this morning. It was really a mistake.” With that, she quickly fled them room, leaving me less than surprised. I knew she’d have a guilty reaction to it, so I figured we’d just let her adjust to it on her own schedule. Instead I merely set about dressing, ignoring the whole issue.
When we stumbled downstairs to the kitchen, Shani and Mom were working around the stove, and two of my sisters were sitting at the kitchen counter. They were all giggling.
“Balls to you!” Melinda toasted, holding her little glass of orange juice up in salute.
“Balls to you!” Becky and Shani cheered along, although Mom glanced questioningly at me, cocking her head.
“Just something silly,” I commented. Shani quickly started whispering to her, explaining the joke. Soon she was giggling along with the rest of them.
“I thought I was gonna lose something important,” I stated to more confusion, which prompted further whispering between Mom and Shani. When Mom started to giggle the other girls ran over to them and they all started whispering together. Figuring I wasn’t needed any more, I started rooting about in the refrigerator.
While I was pouring myself some OJ, Cate and Anh came in together. Melinda repeated her “Balls!” toast, to which Cate responded “and Assholes”, generating another round of giggles, leaving Melinda looking stumped. I figured I’d have to include all my sisters in my bedtime antics if everyone was going to be able to keep up on the breakfast jokes.
“So what’s all the salty breakfast talk?” asked my father, entering the kitchen still scratching his ass.
“I’ll explain later, dear,” Mom replied.
“Yeah, I get all the details about my children’s sex lives ‘later’, by my darling wife,” he deadpanned.
“Mom, how’d you ever know?” cried Becky, breaking into a new round of girlish laughter.
“OK, girls, before we all descend into perpetual giggles, does anyone have any plans for today?” my father asked. “Is everyone too debauched for church today?” Various suggestions floated around, but church didn’t exactly seem to be big on the agenda for the morning. Everyone was still too excited about yesterday’s events to want to be distracted by simple mundane things.
“I need to talk with Alex for a while about something I’ve been working on,” Melinda said, “So maybe the rest of you may want to find some other things to do.” They all took that into consideration and there was another round of discussions before they finally settled on a quick shopping and gossiping trip. They announced I needed additional ‘nice’ clothes if I was going to continue making a good impression on my dates.
“It seems all he had before we showed up, were a few ratty old T-shirts and a couple of well worn cotton shirts,” Shani observed.
“You know,” I said, attempting to distract the women from further disparaging me, “Chalise asked yesterday what I was going to do in deciding who gets first dibs at my virginity. Seems I made the mistake of commenting that Kitty was welcome to try out the merchandise before making a commitment. I said it so she’d feel comfortable going out with Darrell, but now it’s coming back to haunt me.”
This simple conversation starter began attracting the attention of my sisters.
“That is problematic,” Cate began, pondering the issue.
“Maybe that’s a bit too special to be wasted so casually,” Shani offered.
“You know,” Becky threw in, “there doesn’t need to be intercourse for her to try the merchandise.”
“If I told her she could sleep with Darrell without consequence then, in fairness, I should give her the same opportunity with me.”
“You told her to sleep with Darrell?” Melinda asked.
“I didn’t specifically tell her to. I just told her I thought it would be OK if she did. I was trying to work in an explanation of how I saw her fitting into my world with respect to all of my women. I simply stated that I wouldn’t get upset if she decided to try us out before deciding.”
“You are entirely too hung up on this whole fairness issue,” Cate declared flatly.
“Yeah, that’s kind of what Chalise was saying. She argued that if I insisted on taking them both to the same restaurant so they wouldn’t fight with each other over who got the best table, then I couldn’t very well just sleep with whoever came first in the rotation.”
“She smart cookie,” Anh commented.
“Yeah, unfortunately, it’s my position that’s crumbling.”
“There’s always ‘first cum, first served’,” offered Becky with a smirk, pausing to emphasis the words so the meaning was clear.
“Think they’d consider going together?” asked Melinda. I just stared balefully at her until she dropped her eyes in defeat.
“I wouldn’t rule it out,” Dad suggested, “After all, no one’s managed to tell you ‘no’ yet.”
“It’s not the same thing. I’m trying to head off any emotional and jealousy issues. Picking one over the other or holding it over their heads just isn’t right,” I insisted.
“You could simply rescind the offer,” Mom offered. “Just explain you hadn’t thought it out. Tell her she can sleep around if she wants, but that you think it is unfair for you to do so until there’s some sort of a commitment.”
“Just remember, the deal was to find your first love, not just lose your virginity,” Shani reminded me.
“Guess you’ll have to pick one or the other before it gets to that point,” suggested Dad. They all seemed to consider that option.
“Which way are you leaning at the moment?” Cate asked me.
“Hmmm, I’m not really sure,” I answered, seriously considering the issue. “After all, I’ve only known them both less than a week. I guess there’s less complications with Kitty, but you’ve already sold Chalise and her mom the bill of goods about our secrets, Shani.”
“Yeah, you kind of committed him a bit, Shani,” Becky added.
“And by making her mother complicit in her own daughter’s seduction, you’ve pretty much done the same, Alex,” Melinda pointed out. I just grabbed my head and groaned.
“Just sit them both down and discuss it. Get everything out in the open. The way they’ve been talking, they are surely both already aware of the issue,” my Dad stated. “By the way, why’d you ever ask two girls at the same time anyway? What were you thinking? It sounds like you were looking for some friendly competition.”
“I don’t know. Darrell let slip they were both interested in me, and I was tired of people judging me based upon rumors. I just thought I’d go with someone already showing an interest. Since I didn’t know either one, and since they were equal unknowns, I just asked both.
“Plus, there’s the issue that I insisted that Kitty date Darrell,” I argued weakly.
“Making it doubly difficult, whichever way things work out,” explained Dad. “If Kitty likes you, both Darrell and Chalise are upset. If Chalise likes you, Kitty and Darrell get upset. No matter what you do, Darrell’s going to be upset. Plus there’s the issue of her family.”
“Yeah,” I moaned, “Chalise explained that her whole family is just like Darrell. Her father is the driving force in her brothers being the way they are. He drives them to be jocks and basically ignores his daughter, resulting in her being treated badly by all the males in the family. So, if we get serious, I can expect several Darrell style antagonists.”
“There is that,” Dad agreed with me.
“What did Chalise’s mother, Caroline, say?” Natalie asked.
“Nothing, she’s basically keeping everything under her hat. I don’t think Chalise’s father or brothers know anything about me, and Darrell’s only keeping silent to play nice with Kitty.”
“Man, you sure know how to rile up a chicken coop,” Dad opined. “Maybe you’d best just start over with someone new.”
“No, I promised them that if they viewed me honestly, without regard to what they might’ve heard about me, that I’d treat them honestly as well. I can’t very well go abandoning them because of promises I made myself.”
“There might not be an easy answer here, Alex. The fact that Chalise mentioned it means that the idea is bouncing around their heads, so they’re clearly both aware of the situation. Just deal with it as best you can and let the chips fall where they may,” Cate offered, effectively summing the situation up.
“Now that’s probably the best suggestion I’ve heard,” I replied, toasting Cate with my OJ.
As everyone started going about their business, I told Melinda I’d work with her as soon as I called Kitty, as per the girls’ suggestion.
“Hello?” someone I didn’t recognize responded.
“Hi, is Kitty there?”
“May I ask who’s calling?” the person I assumed was her mother asked.
“Certainly, this is Alex. We went out together on Friday.”
“Oh, Alex, I’m glad to speak with you. I’ve heard soooo much about you.” I just rolled my eyes at what she must be thinking of me.
“How much have you heard?” I asked her, dreading her response.
“Oh, enough to keep me interested, I’m sure,” she hedged, immediately making me think she was fishing for additional information.
“Well, just don’t believe most of what you hear. The rumor mill isn’t very reliable. If there’s anything she needs to know, I’ll tell Kitty about it.”
“And who determines what she ‘needs to know’?” she asked pointedly.
“Sorry, it was a silly turn of phrase. I meant I’ll be completely honest with her. I won’t hide or cheat behind her back or anything like that.”
“But you don’t mind that she’s dating someone besides you at the same time.”
“Heck no, I talked her into doing it.”
“And I suppose that was a difficult task?” she asked, sounding like she didn’t think much of her daughter for going along with my suggestion.
“Hey, your daughter has her own mind and her own ideas. What she does with both is her concern, not mine.”
“You’re just too much, I’ll get her.” There was a brief pause as she lay the phone down. I could hear voices in the background as her mother called Kitty to the phone. I heard Kitty asking who it was, and when her mother responded Kitty yelped, “What’ve you been telling him? Oh God...” So when she finally picked the phone up I was ready.
“Hello, Alex?”
“Didn’t know you were so religious,” I joked.
“What? What’d my Mom tell you?”
“Nothing, you were just talking about what your Mother and God had been telling me.”
“You... you heard that?”
“Couldn’t help it, she didn’t put me on hold, just put the phone down. If you want to keep secrets, you’ll need to teach her more about technology,” I teased.
“Oh, you. Seriously, though, did she give you a hard time?”
“Who, Chalise, my sisters or your mom?”
“My mom,” she laughed. Apparently she’d already heard about my sisters.
“Your mom’s fine. She’s just concerned about you going out with someone with such a salty reputation.”
“Why, what’d you hear?” she laughed.
“I’ll tell you on our next date, I’ve got the juiciest gossip,” I said.
“Yeah, as if, you wouldn’t tell me if another girlfriend set your hair on fire, would you?”
“Well, only if I needed to explain why I needed a ride to the Emergency Room,” I replied, thinking she had a valid point.
“Yeah, I thought so. So, what’s up?”
“You’ve heard most of what’s up with me. What did you think of my performance on Friday? Do I pass muster?”
“I don’t know, handsome, how’d you do at home? Seems your girlfriends are the ones to know what’s up with you.” Well, whatever else I had to say about her, I couldn’t credit her with creative jokes, but at least she was still in a good mood.
“They were disappointed, mainly in the fact that we didn’t do anything.”
“Yeah, all that premature ejaculation prevention effort gone to waste.”
“Yeah, at least they have the rest of the week to rest their wrists before any further dates,” I replied.
“Just how many of them does it take to relieve your tensions?” she asked before she continued, not waiting for a response. “Anyway, I had a great time on Friday, Alex. I’m hoping you’ll ask me out again soon. And tell your sisters I’d like to meet them as well. They sound like a lot of fun. Sounds like you have a pretty wild family.”
“Well, I don’t know how long they’ll be around. They were mainly here for a family confab.”
“Any specific topic being addressed?” she asked, curious.
“No, it’s just general stuff. We were debating the future of various college funding options,” I improvised.
“Oh, you’re still able to go, aren’t you?”
“I don’t know,” I teased, “my sisters were all arguing convincingly against it.”
“No, they didn’t?” She sounded aghast.
“Hey, they all offered to take a year off to help out as well,” I offered. How quickly little lies spin out of control, I thought.
“That’s terrible,” she protested.
“Not really. I may be rethinking the whole college thing anyway.”
“Really? What’ll you do instead?”
“My sisters are suggesting I just take off and travel around for a bit.”
“Must be nice. There I’ll be with my nose to the grindstone, while you’re off gallivanting with a new girl in every port across Europe.”
“Really, I hadn’t noticed your nose being especially polished? Seems to me it was a bit brownish last I saw it.”
“Oh you, you’re so bad!” she responded to my poor attempt at humor.
“Look, changing the topic a bit, Chalise probably told you about her issue with my losing my virginity to one of you, and I talked it over with my family...”
“Oh, wow!”
“... and my Dad suggested we should probably all just sit down and talk it over. What do you think? Do you want to talk it over with Chalise?”
“I didn’t mean for any of this to make you uncomfortable, Alex,” she began.
“Look, don’t worry about my feelings. I made certain promises without thinking through the potential complications. I’m not going to renege on my promises, but I just want to make sure nobody’s going to feel hurt. Why don’t the two of you talk it over and maybe we can get together at school or something?”
“Yeah, right, like that isn’t a discussion everyone would be dying to listen in on.”
“OK, how about I take the both of you out after school?”
“And continue to feed the rumor mill?” she asked.
“OK, then, how about I take one of you while one of my girls takes the other? Would that be any better?” She laughed at that.
“No, we’ll stick with the basics. After all, if you’re going to lie, best stick with the simplest one,” she advised me.
“And that would be?” I asked, intrigued by the concept.
“That you have two girls madly in love with you, all at the prompting of your various lovers and your many sisters.”
That simple statement by her filled me with confidence that all my bravado was actually paying off. I hadn’t been too sure.
“Yeah, that’s a pretty simple story. Absolutely no controversy there, is there?” I countered.
“So, how’d you like to go out on Saturday?” I asked, not giving her a chance to respond to my previous comment. “You can switch off with Chalise since she had Saturday this week?”
“I’d be happy to. Am I to expect that you’ll ask her to go out on Friday, then?”
“Hey, I don’t kiss and tell,” I protested.
“This isn’t kissing. It’s simply setting up a pretext for a kissing opportunity, so you’re free to tell all you want. Besides, she’s sure to call me anyway.”
“Just tell her to expect a call then.”
“And make sure you do call, buddy. This phone sharing thing only works if you don’t stop being a gentleman about it all.”
“Got it. Thanks for the warning. It’s nice to know so many people are watching my back for me. Oh, and how about after school tomorrow or Tuesday for the other thing?”
“That’s fine. So it’s Friday at 8:00 for Chalise, Saturday at 8:00 for me, and tomorrow after school for both of us?”
“Yeah, that’s about right,” I laughed and was preparing to bid her adieu when she jumped back in.
“Alex?” she asked, sounding nervous, alerting me she had something bothering her a bit.
“Yeah?”
“Do you want to hear how my date with Darrell went?” The question surprised me a bit. I wasn’t sure whether she actually wanted to tell me. She may have been trying to gauge my reaction or to assure me that she was still interested in me, I didn’t know.
“Nope,” I replied simply, “that’s strictly between the two of you. Whatever you do with Darrell is your responsibility, so don’t go asking me about what kind of presents to buy him.”
“OK, I’ll keep that in mind,” she responded with a smile in her voice. “I won’t bring it up again.” We both signed off after that. I called Chalise next.
“Hello?” she responded.
“Hey good lookin’,” I greeted her in a teasing voice.
“Hey handsome, listen, I can’t talk right now, I’m expecting a call from Alex any minute now.”
“I deserved that, I’ll admit it,” I laughed, she was pretty quick on her feet. “That’s just what I need in my life, someone else to keep me in line.”
“Yeah, I can imagine. It seems like you have a house full of women. How long are your sisters staying with you?”
“They’re leaving today, except for Cate of course, I seem to be stuck with her. Becky and Melinda came home from college just to see the cute girl their brother is dating.”
“What, only one? Don’t we both qualify for intense family scrutiny?”
“Nah, personally, I think I should be the only one scrutinizing you.”
“And Kitty? She gets scrutinized by both my date and my brother.”
“There is that. I’ll have to see about finding you someone else to date. How about one of the women here at the house, would they qualify? They may lack a little of the necessary equipment, but they’re still a lot of fun to play with.”
“No, thanks, I’ll just have to put up with poor little you. So, what’s up?”
“Just calling to find out about your reaction to our first date, and whether you were willing to consider another one?”
“Well... I might be willing,” she teased, “Am I to assume you’re asking Kitty as well?”
“Yeah, she hasn’t told me to bugger off yet, so she’s still in the running. Mind if I take you out on Friday about 8?”
“I get to go first this week? Oh goody! If we both get lucky, I’ll get the special prize this time.” We both laughed.
“I just talked with Kitty, she was planning on calling you but I beat her to it. I also wanted to ask you if we could all meet to discuss that very issue?”
“We? Who’s we? Kitty and I or your girlfriends and your sisters?” she giggled at her own humor.
“I’ve got to come up with a better term for them than girlfriends. They’re not my girlfriends. We’re currently holding auditions for girlfriends. Maybe you know someone who’d like to try out?”
“Very funny, I think I already have enough competition as it is, and if you ask anyone else, both Kitty and I will be pissed. I think I’ll tell Kitty to break up with Darrell, just so he’ll have a good reason to punch you out.” I could tell by the continued laughing that she wasn’t serious, but I didn’t think I’d test that particular theory.
“No, I think I’ll try to keep from asking any additional women. You’ve already pointed out the difficulties in asking two different girls if they both want to be my first. But,” I hesitated, “I can’t necessarily promise other women might not show up with an interest in me.”
“Oh, no, Alex, you’ve got other girlfriends?”
“No, but I just want to give you some advance warning that I might be surprised by someone else popping up.”
“You’re weird, you know that? So, is this like those other girls in New Orleans, the ones you didn’t sleep with?”
“No, it’s like more like Shani, Anh and Allison.”
“And Brooke, Patricia and Rebecca?”
“Well, technically not Rebecca.”
“Man, how do you classify all these women? I take it that it’s more than just who’s cute enough to hump?”
“Yeah, there’s more to it than that,” I conceded with a laugh.
“So, these mysterious strangers might just suddenly show up some time with no warning?”
“Yeah, that’s about it,” I admitted, hating that I even brought the subject up. “I’m not looking for anyone and I’m not going to intentionally bring anyone else into the mix, but I’m just saying that someone could possibly pop up on their own.”
“Man, I hope you can tell me the full story some day, cause I’m dying to know what this is all about.”
“Well, I can’t promise to tell you anything, or even whether there’s anything to tell. But I have a feeling I can trust you. Unfortunately, everyone thinks that when they first meet someone, yet everyday thousands of people have ugly break ups. Genuine trust is built slowly, and even then it’s fragile. I’m hoping to establish your trust in me by being honest with you from the beginning. So I didn’t invent excuses for my behavior or try to lie about the strange events in my life. Sometimes I don’t mention things, but I’m doing my best to establish your trust in me.”
“I appreciate that Alex, and I’ll do my best to earn your trust as well,” she assured me.
“Good, I appreciate that. But you never mentioned whether you’d accept another date or not?”
“Yeah, if you twist my arm I guess I’ll accept another one. It seems like ever since I’ve met you, every time I turn around something new about you surprises me. I wouldn’t miss a chance at another date. So, can I expect one of these mysterious women to show up on one of these dates?”
“No, I don’t expect you’ll have to deal with anything like that,” I laughed, hoping it was true. “OK, so we’re on for Friday, and we can all go out tomorrow after school.”
“Good, it’s a... well, it’s a couple of dates,” she corrected herself, laughing again.
“Thanks for calling, Alex.”
“No, thank you, Chalise, and I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
We finally hung up and I was just heading upstairs when the doorbell rang. When I opened the door it turned out to be Mike. I invited him in and tried to be civil and friendly to him, but so much had been happening to me lately that it already felt like I only knew him from a previous life. Of course, the first thing he asked was about my recent dates.
“So, what’s the deal with Kitty and, what’s her name, Charise or something?”
“You’re close, her name is actually Chalise. They’re both fine. I don’t know about any deals, though. They’re just friends I met recently.”
“I heard they’re more than just friends.”
“That’s what you get for listening to gossip, Mike. Anyway, I don’t know what you heard, but Darrell mentioned they liked me. So, not wanting to appear rude, I asked them out. That’s all there is to it.”
“Yeah, right,” he leered. “Bulldozer asked you to date his sister when he’s trying to pound your face in? Are you dating his sister out of spite?”
“No, Mike. That’s not who I am. You should know me better than that.”
“Then what the hell are you doing dating them both?”
“Exactly what I told you, I heard they were interested and I thought I’d ask them out so I could get to know them a bit better. That’s it, end of story.”
“So what happened?” he demanded.
“Mike, I hate to say it, but that’s a private matter. I’m not going to tell you about Chalise’s private affairs. If she wants to tell you then that’s her business, but I’m not going to tell you anything.”
“Man, you’ve changed. You’re not the same guy you were just a couple of weeks ago. We used to share everything, man. Now suddenly you’re living with a bunch of women, you’re standing up to bullies and dating their sisters, you’ve got everyone in school watching you, waiting for you to do something else crazy, and you can’t even mention anything to your best friend?”
“Mike, I’m sorry if I’ve upset you but, as you can tell, things in my life have gotten a bit messy lately. I’m not going to complicate your life as well by dumping my problems on you. Believe me, having rumors about your personal life following you around school is a definite problem. If you want me to confide in you and possibly ask you for advice, then don’t demand I drop everything and tell you every little detail. I’ll confide in those I trust, and right now, you’re not acting very trustworthy. You don’t even ask what’s going on in my life or how I am. Is that supposed to show how concerned you are about the changes in my life?
“Yes, things have suddenly changed in my life. Can I explain them all to you? No, I can’t because I don’t understand them myself. How’d I end up dating Darrell’s sister? I don’t really know. It just sort of happened. How did I end up with everyone thinking I’m a sex freak? I have no idea.” Though the women hanging around me might provide a clue, I thought to myself.
“Well, I’d expect you’d mention having a bunch of women living with you. I’d expect you to mention women following you home from another state. I’d think you’d mention you suddenly changed your whole personality and would be finding new friends and leaving me behind.”
“Look, I’m sorry for not telling you, but I hardly had the chance to deal with it all and I’m still reeling from it. You expect me to tell you all these intimate details about my life, in front of a class full of students? That’d cause the same problem I’m currently trying to clear up. Nobody will deal with me honestly anymore. Everyone sees me based on the rumors surrounding me, not accepting me by what I say or do. That’s not what friends do, Mike. You want to know why I’m dating Kitty and Chalise? It’s because I somehow managed to convince them to treat me as if they don’t already know me. That’s it. No one else in school will do that. They all assume they know all about me because they saw a couple of women they don’t know kiss me in front of the school. That’s just crazy!”
“So, you’re not going to tell me anything?”
“Mike, have you listened to anything I’ve said? First, I won’t tell you about other peoples’ business. Secondly, I won’t confide in you about controversial things in my life unless I think you won’t add to the controversy. You want to be treated like a friend, then try acting like a damned friend!”
“Ha,” he scoffed, “I don’t think you intend on confiding in me at all. You’re just going to keep putting me off while you run around with all these girls and getting on with your new life. I should have known better than to ever trust you.”
“Mike, if you don’t want to reach out to me, then fine, do whatever the hell you want to. I certainly won’t stop you. If you want me to suddenly cease everything that’s been happening in my life the last couple of weeks, just to pamper you and make you feel better, than forget it. In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been having a LOT happening to me. Now, if you want to be friends, how about you drop the attitude and we’ll just talk. Want a drink of something?”
“Forget it. You’re just gonna dance around the issues and not tell me anything. I don’t think you’re much of a friend. You’re suddenly full of excuses, lies and rationalizations about why you won’t say anything. I’m out of here.” And with that he stormed out, slamming the door behind him.
I was plenty mad myself. Mike and I had been best friends mostly because we were the only people who’d talk to each other. We really had little in common. I liked to read and he liked to play video games. I was terminally shy and he couldn’t be bothered making any new friends because he was, you guessed it, playing video games. I liked odd sports like skate boarding, skiing and hang-gliding and he liked, wait for it... playing video games. He wasn’t interested in being friends, he just wanted someone who wouldn’t bug him about spending all his time playing games. I hurried away before I ran out and yelled something after him.
Cate came up to me as I was storming back and forth, pacing a trail in the grass in the back yard.
“Alex? Are you alright? We all heard your fight with Mike, but everyone’s kind of afraid to approach you.” Her words reached me and I fought to control myself.
“Yeah, he really pissed me off,” I admitted. “He wants gossip, and probably for me to hook him up with one of the girls so we can share. Man, I’m angry! Still, I don’t mean to scare anyone so I’ll try to calm down a little.” I opened my arms and welcomed her as she came to me for a hug. As we did so I waved for Shani and Anh to come forward as well, once I noticed them lurking by the door. They quickly ran up and joined into a group hug.
“We heard all the things you were thinking and your anger was scary,” Anh admitted.
“Yeah,” Shaniqua added, “I’ve never felt such raw anger before. It’s different feeling it from the receiving end. Usually it doesn’t feel as angry when you’re the one being angry.”
“Don’t worry girls, I’m calming down. I didn’t mean to scare you. But I can’t swear to never get angry again. If this is a complication of our new abilities, then we’re going to have to find a way to deal with it.”
“Well,” giggled Anh, “I might know of one way to distract you, and it’ll certainly relax you as well.”
“Thanks, but I think I just need to be held for a bit. I don’t feel terribly romantic at the moment and I don’t want to get in the habit of relating sex with anger. I think it’d set a bad precedent in my young, impressionable mind.” So we all just stood enjoying this closeness with each other.
“I don’t think Dad’s theory applies to guys,” I complained to Cate.
“I’ve always thought you and Mike were friends simply because of loneliness. That’s about all you’ve got in common. And once you finally quit being a loner he was reminded that he has no life. Don’t feel bad about it,” she confided. That did make me feel better, but now I was starting to feel less angry and more frustrated and abandoned by someone I once thought was my best friend. Seems friends can change pretty quickly. That was something for me to keep in mind in the future.
Finally we broke up as the girls still planned to head out, so I went off in search of Melinda to see what it was that she wanted to talk to me about.