Chapter 25: Too Much Boobage l

-- SUNDAY, APRIL 23, 2006, SENIOR YEAR --

The early morning air was cold against my right cheek, the pillow reassuringly warm against my left. Instinctively, I turned my face deeper into the pillow and inched my shoulder up to carry the warm blanket higher toward my ear.

Little by little, my body came alive as sensory input crawled along my nerves. The lone exception was my left arm, slightly deadened from being trapped beneath her pillow for some time, the tips of my left fingers somewhat frozen from exposure off the edge of the king-size bed we were snuggled upon. But my right hand was nice and warm, layered not only beneath the blanket but also beneath the baggy T-shirt she used for pajamas. As consciousness slowly trickled into my brain, I became more aware of the large breast I currently palmed in that right hand, and of its matching twin squished against the back of that same hand.

I squeezed, reveling in the mammary's pliant firmness, as well as the feeling of a hard nipple circled by the curvature of my thumb. I also became aware of her soft yet deep breathing, accompanied by a low erotic tone of pleasure. And as I listened to the sounds of each inhale/exhale pairing, I realized that their cadence was incongruently out of sync with that of another sensation coming from lower down my body.

A firm yet supple hand gripped my cock, stroking up and down with its own rhythm that didn't match my cuddle-partner's breathing. Only now did my brain fully activate and flood my consciousness with a sea of information. I now remembered where I was, who I was with, and how I had come to be here. And I now remembered everything I had done last night with the TWO young women currently in my bed.

I'd ridden an emotional rollercoaster yesterday. Having gone through an insanely taxing period spanning 24 hours of Elyse-drama, Kim-drama, and finally Sasha-drama, I was exhausted, plain and simple. I'd been running on very little sleep, and the very last emotional catharsis of opening my heart once again to the possibility of real love with Sasha had put me in a mental state where all I wanted to do was wrap her up in my arms and drift away to blissful sleep.

But then Andie had walked through the door, and I really can't blame the girl for what she did next. My petite little Tri-Delt cutie had no idea what kind of special moment Sasha and I were sharing, and she simply behaved in the same way she'd behaved the other few dozen times she'd walked in on me and another girl: She joined in, asking, "Is this a private party? Or is there room for one more?"

While unexpected, I can't say I was surprised by Andie's request. I was however QUITE surprised by Sasha's reaction. While I pondered some nice way to ask Andie to give us five minutes because my potential new girlfriend and I were having a moment, Sasha propped herself up on her elbows and replied cheerily, "Hey girl, there's always room for you!"

My jaw dropped open and I gawked at Sasha in surprise, but she was already rolling off me, my deflating prick pulling free of her saturated snatch with a wet [slurp].

"We went dancing at this ballroom club and we're all sweaty and grimy," Sasha explained, oblivious to her nudity as she moved to sit beside me and pat my tummy. "Care to help me get Ben all squeaky clean in the shower?"

Andie, of course, was only too happy to help. I gawked at Sasha for a bit longer, until she and Andie both dragged me from the bed and into the bathroom. Sasha deflected my questioning eyes with head nods and sharp looks to pay attention to Andie, and while perhaps I should have called a timeout to get some kind of a verbal explanation, I didn't, and I let myself be pulled along into the threesome as if it were any other night with the two of them.

Andie, Sasha, and I were no strangers to having sex with each other, and once I decided to go with the flow, I found my sexual energy reserves and formed a fresh erection in the shower. But rather than start something in the bathroom, Sasha turned off the spray and had us dry off before we re-assembled on my bed. There, Sasha gleefully showed off her new deep-throating skills, much to Andie's amazement and happiness for her good friend. So of course Andie had to show off HER deep-throating skills, and the girls kept switching back and forth until my rod was hard enough to etch glass.

As tired as I felt, I let the girls do most of the work while they rode both my face and my cock to starter orgasms. Then, Sasha explained that she'd already gotten a load out of me before Andie's arrival, so she graciously offered up my next one to the Tri-Delt cutie. Andie rolled onto her back and spread her limbs aside while beckoning to me invitingly. I found enough energy to climb aboard and sink my prick into her achingly tight pussy. And then the two of us humped and bucked on my bed, thrusting away to our final climaxes while Sasha reclined beside us with a dreamy smile on her face.

In the end, Andie pulled my face to hers so that my tongue was in her mouth while she screamed in orgasmic ecstasy. I delighted in the feeling of my wonderful cutie quivering beneath me as she clutched my body with all four limbs. And as her inner muscles milked my cock, they drew out my final load as well.

Sasha had gone after the creampie while Andie lay dazed in post-orgasmic bliss. Afterwards, the girls hopped into their sleep attire before cuddling up on either side of me. And only then was I finally allowed to get some much needed sleep.

So even though it was now the following morning, Sasha and I STILL hadn't gotten a chance to talk about the parameters of our budding relationship. And as I opened my eyes to look down and confirm that it was indeed Andie stroking my morning wood in her hands and grinning up at me, I wondered what the hell I was supposed to do.

It wasn't that I liked Andie any less, or that I hadn't enjoyed last night's threesome. And it wasn't that I'd made any commitments to Sasha for fidelity or exclusivity in our relationship going forward. If anything, I would strongly resist any proposals of monogamy, knowing that I really LIKED having sex with Andie and others and had come to terms with my sexual identity as a guy who would ALWAYS have multiple partners.

But sex is sex, and love is love, and as fond as I was of Andie, I could feel myself falling in love with Sasha. I wanted, for a little while at least, to be ALONE with Sasha to cherish this new milestone in our developing relationship. And I wanted to confirm from both sides that the sentiments we'd shared last night were still true today.

And we simply couldn't DO that with Andie still around.

But Sasha was still asleep in my arms, my left arm a little numb and my right hand trapped between her big boobs. Andie was already up and active, stroking my cock and ... nevermind ... she was sucking my cock. And well, once a girl's got your cock in her mouth, it's kind of rude to tell her to go away.

So with a sigh, I gently rolled onto my back, taking care to remove my right hand from underneath Sasha's T-shirt without waking her. Andie kept slurping on my dong, make wet squelching sounds as she bobbed her head up and down with her lips sealed around my shaft. And with one more sigh, I draped my right forearm over my eyes and let my little cutie have her way with me. I'd talk to Sasha when she woke up.

Thing is, Sasha didn't wake up for another twenty minutes. By then, Andie was kneeling on an armchair and bent over the backrest, shivering as my renewed cock burrowed inch after inch up her tight asshole while my previous load trickled out of her cunt and down her inner thigh.

We'd talk later.

"Hey, I'm serious. It wasn't your fault." Sasha emphasized her words by reaching over and stroking Andie's left forearm. The three of us were seated around the dining table with Sasha at the head and Andie and me to either side of her, remnants of our breakfast still on our plates. Andie had just finished trying to apologize for her role in letting Elyse leave the house Friday night, but even our assurances that we didn't blame her weren't enough to completely assuage her guilt.

"I just wish there was something I could do to make it up to you," Andie pouted. "Something I could do to help find her again."

I sighed and leaned back against my chair, rubbing my temples. "Elyse made her own choice, and she's gone now. There's nothing any of us can do right now, and really, we all have our own things to deal with. Finals are just around the corner."

"I guess..." Andie said glumly. She sighed, and then sitting up straight, she surveyed the table and announced, "Well at least I can clean up these dishes for you guys."

Again, my eyes flicked over to Sasha's. I still wanted to talk to her about our confessions of love from last night. Catching my gaze, she read my eyes and took a deep breath before nodding slowly. But just before I could tell Andie that Sasha and I needed to talk and that we'd be upstairs while she finished cleaning up, Sasha spoke up instead.

"Actually, leave the dishes alone for a minute." Sasha put her right hand on top of Andie's left to stop the other girl's movements. "There's something Ben and I need to talk to you about."

My eyebrows popped as I sat up straight and looked over at Sasha. Wait, what?

Sasha looked back at me with a calm expression, nodding slowly again. And then with a deep breath, she turned her head and re-focused on Andie. "You and I have talked a lot about how we both feel for Ben, and about his feelings for each of us. And part of those talks centered on what would happen if he ever fell in love with one of us, do you remember?"

Andie started nodding, but then she got the implications and her eyes went wide as she muttered, "Oh, shit!"

Sasha pursed her lips and reached out to stroke Andie's forearm again. Taking a deep breath, she glanced down at her stroking hand and murmured, "Well ... last night Ben and I had a pretty intense talk along those lines." She then picked her head up to stare into Andie's eyes and read the other girl's reaction.

"Oh, shit!" Andie muttered again as she sat up straighter and retracted her arm away from Sasha's hand ever so slightly.

Frowning, Sasha pouted and gave Andie a wounded expression. It seemed to work because Andie immediately moved her arm back and actually reached up to capture Sasha's hand with her own.

With raised eyebrows, Andie gave Sasha a questioning look and asked, "Did he..." She glanced at me before returning to Sasha. "Did he tell you he loves you?"

"No..." Sasha shook her head immediately before thinking about it as she glaced over at me. "Well sorta..."

I took a deep breath and began to try and explain, but before I could Sasha spoke up again.

"He said that he's going in that direction. And he said that after graduation, he'd like to explore our relationship and find out if he and I can become something more."

"That's..." Andie pinched her lips and furrowed her eyebrows in thought. She blinked a couple of times, looked away, and took a deep breath before looking back and finishing, "That's ... that's great. I'm happy for you, Sasha." Her smile was a little forced.

"But nothing's set yet," Sasha said quickly. "We both talked a lot about how we'd handle things if he showed these kinds of feelings for either of us, and we both talked about how we'd react to each other as well. We both promised we'd never be jealous of the other, to never try and nudge the other one out, and I'm sticking to that promise. Nothing changes. I'm not his girlfriend yet, and we both are his special favorites."

"One of us a little more 'favorite' than the other," Andie muttered while flashing me a dark look.

"Don't be like that. You're my friend, and more than that, you're like the sister I never had. I like Ben, and of course I've fallen in love with him, but I don't want to lose your friendship over this."

Andie frowned. "What, you'd pick me over him?"

Sasha shook her head. "I don't want to HAVE to pick between you two, period. He's the guy I fell in love with, yes. But we've become so close these last few months, closer than I ever thought we could be. I don't want to lose you, and I'd like to think that even though I'm not a Tri-Delt, you think of me like a sister, too. Really, if our roles were reversed and he expressed those kinds of feelings for you, I know I'd be happy for you. And besides ... this is Ben... Big Ben."

I arched an eyebrow, wondering where she was going with this.

Sasha smirked at me and drawled, "And I know that alone, I'm not nearly enough woman for him. I need help keeping the beast tamed, and we already know we both love trying."

Andie started to brighten. "So nothing changes? You, me, and him ... however the three of us work out?"

"Well, some things will change. I know you've gotten a little used to having him all to yourself at night, at least for six nights out of the week."

Andie shrugged, "You said you're not much of a cuddler."

"I lied. I was deliberately avoiding those times in a futile attempt to keep my emotions in check." Sasha shrugged. "Didn't help. Maybe even only made me miss him that much more."

Andie smirked. "I sorta figured. I mean, for someone who supposedly didn't like to cuddle, you sure looked happy whenever he spooned up behind you on the nights all three of us were in bed together."

Sasha nodded. "So I do want to spend the nights with him now, but it doesn't have to be exclusive. There's plenty of room for all three of us on the big bed."

"Of course," Andie sighed and started shaking her head. "But there's one thing we never talked about regarding AFTER he said he was in love with one of us."

Sasha frowned and asked, "What's that?"

"We agreed that we'd never be jealous, and that we'd never try to push the other one out." Andie wistfully looked over at me, biting her lip and giving me big puppy-dog eyes. "But I'm still in love with him, and it's only fair that you know that I'm going to do my damndest to make him fall in love with me, too."

Sasha barked a short laugh and reached a little higher to rub Andie's upper arm. "Oh, I know. I know. But you already know I won't be jealous. I love you too, Andie, and I'm only too happy to share."

Andie beamed, and the two girls came together to rub noses and giggle.

I blinked, somehow feeling that I shouldn't be surprised by this turn of events, and yet for some stupid reason, I still was. Blinking again, I started scratching my head before opening my big mouth and asking, "Um, do I get a say in any of this?"

The girls both looked at me, Sasha smirking and Andie pursing her lips in thought. They looked at each other again, and back at me. And Andie tapped her lips before chirping, "Nope." And they started giggling again.

Still holding Andie's arm with her right hand, Sasha reached out with her left and interlaced her fingers through mine. "Come on, loverboy. I think we've had plenty of time to recharge, and the dishes can wait."

I thrust forward a final time, grunting my orgasm into my lover's ear as a quart of spunk flowed out of me and into her sucking pussy. Moaning in ecstatic pleasure, she dug her heels into my ass and tightened her arms around my back to pull me deeper as she felt the cum flowing out of my body to crash against her insides like waves cresting on the beach. The first wave would start receding only to be met by the second coming forth, and both our bodies twitched and humped together as I finished filling her up with my jism.

"Fuuuuuck ... yeah..." Andie groaned, letting her head drop back against the mattress while her arms uncurled from around my back to flop limply to the sides.

I held myself at full depth for a couple of extra seconds, reveling in the feeling of her tight cunt wrapped around my cock just a little longer. But then I too relaxed all the tension in my body as I let my weight collapse onto Andie beneath me.

"Hmm..." she hummed, accepting my weight and patting my shoulder while nuzzling her nose into the crook of my neck.

"That sounded like a good one," Sasha commented from her spot in the armchair at the foot of the bed. After a lazy Sunday, night had now fallen and the moonlight peering through the curtains cast her in an ethereal white glow, enhanced by the way the light played off my white button-down dress shirt she was wearing.

Gazing dreamily at the ceiling, Andie sighed, "They're all good when they're with him."

"You'll get no argument from me," Sasha agreed.

Andie closed her eyes and resume rubbing her nose against my neck before working her way up and pecking my cheek. "I still love you, too. You know that, right?"

I blinked and gave her an apologetic look. "No promises."

"I know. Still ... it's there." And she turned my head so that her next peck was on my lips.

"You don't have to go," Sasha spoke up. "We talked about this. Nothing has to change. Any other Sunday night and you'd stay right here."

"I know I would," Andie replied, taking a deep breath against my crushing weight on her chest before patting my shoulder and giving me a 'get up' look. As I rolled off her, she much more easily took another deep breath and exhaled slowly, saying, "But it's because you're my friends that I want to let you have tonight alone with each other. When I walked in last night, all I was thinking about was how I'd let you both down by allowing Elyse to walk out the door. I didn't realize it was a special night for you two, and for realz, I'll feel better about it this way. Besides, you've already gone out of your way all day today to make me feel welcome and prioritized. By my count I've gotten Ben twice as many times as you have in the last 24 hours. I appreciate it, but really, I'll clean up and get out of here, and I'll see you both tomorrow night before dinner, okay?"

Sasha sighed. "If that's what you want."

Andie now rolled onto her side, keeping her thighs tightly closed to control the leakage of our mingled cum.

"Want me to suck it out?" Sasha offered.

Andie shook her head and smirked. "Wanna keep him inside me as long as I can, actually." She bent, collected her panties off the floor, and snaked them up her legs.

Sasha smiled, and she glanced down at the floor where Jamie lay in the same spot she'd been for the past twenty minutes: face-down, unconscious, and with my previous load of cum still leaking out of her ass. "Well, we'd better wake this one up too."

"Bye, cutie. See you tomorrow." I kissed Andie and smiled to see her glow a bit before she turned around and hopped down the front porch steps toward her Lexus parked on the curb. But despite her glow, I still felt bad for not being able to return her level of feelings for me.

"Bye, Andie!" Sasha called one last time after her as well, and Andie turned back for a moment to flash another smile and wave.

"Bye, lovely!" I called after Jamie, who was waddling a little uncomfortably ahead of Andie, although her fellow Tri-Delt was catching up quickly.

Jamie didn't turn around, merely holding a hand up without waving and without looking back. I felt bad for her as well, but not for emotional reasons. Really, it was Jamie's fault when you think about it, since she'd kept screaming at the top of her lungs for me to cornhole her harder and harder and deeper and deeper.

Still, I felt bad.

Soon enough, both girls were in Andie's car and on their way back to the Chapter House. Sasha and I watched them go and then headed back inside.

"Have a fun night?" Sasha asked.

I smiled and nodded, thinking of the past eight hours or so spent with a good chunk of the original Tri-Delt West harem. After spending the morning with Andie, studying, and making another round of fruitless phone calls looking for Elyse, Sasha had spontaneously come up with the barbecue suggestion, and Jamie, Jocelyn, Tonya, Lakhi, Whitney, and Nora had all come by to hang out. "It was nice to get the gang back together again. That was a good idea, and I feel much better."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it. I did, too. This is going to sound horrible of me, but Elyse's presence the whole last week is really what killed the whole thing. I'd still rather she was here, so that we could know that she's safe, but it felt like old times to see the house full of girls again."

I nodded. "But now it's just you and me."

Sasha smiled. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

I grinned right back. "Well to be honest, Jamie and Andie together pulled three loads out of me. Now that may not seem like a whole lot, but after the morning we had, I'm actually a little tired."

Sasha rolled her eyes and lightly shoved me in the chest. "No, silly. Although if you want to, of course we can fuck before falling asleep. What I meant was that you and I are finally alone. And I can tell that you've been itching all day to sit down and talk, haven't you?"

I blinked twice, thought about it, and grunted, "Oh, yeah. I have ... I guess I just got a little distracted by the girls."

Sasha beamed. "I'll bet you did. But come on. Let's take a shower together first to clean up AND put us in the right mood."

Taking a shower with Sasha, and letting my hands roam all over her fabulous, curvaceous, bodacious naked body definitely put me in a good mood. Getting out of the shower and rubbing a towel all over her fabulous, curvaceous, bodacious naked body kept me in that good mood. And then she went and blew up the mood by neutering my ego.

"I realize that you're Mr. Project Team Leader and Harem Master and all that jazz," Sasha began with a light smile that couldn't quite make up for the slight condescension in her tone. "But your track record with romantic relationships sucks so if you don't mind, I think I'd better start laying down the parameters of our relationship."

"Hey, I..." I began instinctively to defend myself before her words sunk in, and the full weight of my romantic failures settled around my shoulders a bit. We were sitting in our usual conversation spot: the two armchairs in my sitting area. And taking a deep breath, I gestured for her to continue. "Fine, go ahead."

"We're not actually together yet, not as 'boyfriend/girlfriend', and we won't be until Graduation at the earliest. Maybe not even then."

My eyebrows went up. "Okay..."

"Well let's start with a simple question: Are you in love with me?"

I blinked and raised my eyebrows a little higher. "That's a simple question?"

"You didn't seem to have a problem answering it last night. If I recall, your exact words were--"

"I think I'm in love with you, too," I finished.

"Well, yeah," she grinned. "But I was actually thinking right before that, when you said 'I kinda think I can and will feel that way'. You really know how to sweep a girl off her feet there, you silver-tongued devil."

I arched an eyebrow. "As I recall, you pretty much grabbed me and fucked my brains out immediately after I said that."

"Well, I bent over and had YOU fuck MY brains out."

"To-MAY-to, to-MAH-to."

Sasha grinned. "The point is that 'kinda think' was the way you felt BEFORE we had sex, and now it's MY turn to tell you that an 'I love you too' AFTER having sex is the orgasms talking. You're not really there yet."

I took a deep breath. "You don't mind?"

"Mind? No. Again, I didn't particularly mind the way our relationship was BEFORE last night. We've been friends, and we're very close friends. Intimate, even."

"But you always told me you wanted to be my girlfriend. From the time this semester started and I broke up with DJ, to that time you confessed you loved me after we had sex in the private room at Nocturne, hasn't that been your goal?"

"Yes and no. Yes, I've long thought I wanted to be your girlfriend, but you have to remember that before this semester the ONLY way I knew how to have an intimate relationship with a guy was as a 'girlfriend'; I couldn't imagine being close to you in any other way, so I put my hopes on being... 'girlfriend'. But what we've meant to each other these last few weeks – being your constant – I don't think in such narrow terms anymore."

I arched an eyebrow. "So what, you don't want to be my girlfriend anymore?"

"Didn't say that." Sasha giggled. "Sure, I still fantasize about being a happy couple, but I don't have that fantasy for the sake of being your girlfriend. Rather, I dream about having the emotions you and I would both have for each other if we ever actually got to that point, even if it means sharing you with others." Sasha took a deep breath, propped her elbow on an armrest, and dropped her chin into her hand while staring dreamily at me. "The reality is that we're NOT at that point, not yet. So as of right now – and until at least Graduation – you and I are NOT a couple."

I mulled that over and nodded. "Makes sense. I've always tried to make it clear that I wasn't looking for any serious relationships until that time anyway."

"Me, too. I told you how detached from the whole dating scene I was in high school. I'd like to think that I do a good job of keeping my emotions in check, even my emotions for you. Plus, I don't need to remind you how important my academic career is to me. Sure, I've already got a great job lined up downtown – and I don't think they'd pull their offer if my grades tanked or anything – but still, school has always been my top priority, and I'm not going to flake this close to the finish line, not even for you."

"I'd never--"

"I know you wouldn't," she interrupted me with a smile. "But it doesn't hurt to SAY it plainly, just to make sure there's no confusion on either side."

I snorted. "This is the 'open communication' thing Bert says I suck at, right?"

Sasha smiled easily. "Something like that."

I arched an eyebrow, "But here's the thing: if you and I are NOT a couple, then what really changes between us? Or is it really like you told Andie: nothing changes?"

Sasha mused on that for a moment. "I guess nothing does. It really is just like I told Andie: from here until Graduation at least, nothing changes. Once we get to that point, we can stop and think about it. Except, of course, for me sharing your bed a little more often."

I shook my head. "Well one thing has changed: the admission of my feelings for you. I haven't committed to you per se, but I've taken a step beyond considering you just a fuck-buddy. And if there's one thing I've learned through all my failures, it's that every relationship hinges on our expectations for each other. So what is it that you expect from me going forward?"

"That's just the point: you're NOT my boyfriend so I don't have any right to have expectations of you."

I shook my head. "Whether you have the right or not, you HAVE expectations. Andie's got expectations, expectations that are starting to worry me right now. I've given her even less of a commitment than I've given to you, but I can already tell she's expecting me to love her back someday the way she loves me. You've told her that nothing changes and our little three-way arrangement will continue for the foreseeable future, but I already know the sand is running and at some point, time's up and she's gonna demand an answer."

"And when it does, what are you going to tell her?"

I sighed. "I don't know yet. I mean, I like her, but I don't know that I can ever love her the way she really wants."

"Did you know whether or not you could ever love ME the way I want?"

I took a deep breath before looking Sasha right in the eyes. "I wasn't sure about ever getting to 'love', but one thing I realized from the very beginning was that you had a way of getting me to open up to you, to share my thoughts and feelings in a way that I couldn't share with anyone else. You were becoming a very special person in my life, becoming my 'constant', and the bond we formed built from that."

"But it wasn't a romantic bond, not then."

I shrugged. "Were YOU ready for a romantic bond back then?"

She sighed. "I suppose not. That close to my break-up with Rod? And before I learned everything about myself after moving in with you? No, I wasn't ready. But after all that's happened over the past six months, I've changed. Our circumstances have changed, and we've grown a lot closer, haven't we?"

"We have. We wouldn't have been right for each other last semester, but I think now is the right time for us. It's not that we hadn't developed real feelings for each other back then, but only now are we both ready for a relationship."

"Yeah..." Sasha smiled and nodded. "As for Andie ... well ... Who knows? You didn't realize you could love me at first. Maybe the same will be true for her."

I blinked. "And you really wouldn't mind that?"

Sasha shook her head. "She's my friend, and she's one of my closest friends at this point. How could I ever begrudge her being happy? I certainly can't fault her taste in a man to fall in love with."

"Even though you want me to be YOUR boyfriend someday."

"So we'll share. It's not like Andie and I aren't used to doing that already."

"And there's Kim to consider. I've told you from the beginning I've already committed myself to taking care of her and our baby."

"I know. I didn't forget her, either. But like you said, your relationship with Kim is a little different, and a little outside of what's going on between you and me. I think I can handle it, even if you two resume a sexual relationship as well. At the very least, I'm not going to give up on us just because of her."

"So you really have no expectations of monogamy from me?"

"Monogamy? You? Puh-lease..."

I blinked. "Uh, I seem to remember you saying the exact opposite at the beginning of the year."

"Yeah, well, a lot has changed since then. I've changed since then. The 'me' who said that was probably the 'me' that was a lot more buttoned-up and traditional about these things."

"But you're not 'her' anymore?"

Sasha shook her head. "I suppose there were two of me before: the studious, sexually reserved, conservative Sasha with the loyal next-door neighbor/boyfriend and equally conservative friends; and the stripper who started enjoying the power rush of sensual manipulation with lesbian inclinations and a box full of sex toys under her bed. The two sides of me were never in harmony. As a teenager, I was all about my studies and completely suppressed the seductive side of me. Once I got the job, I realized I liked certain aspects of what I was doing. But I had to keep the two halves completely separate: Rod and my old friends never understood. And I guess I was so used to feeling guilty about my ... depravity ... so used to keeping that side of me under wraps, that I said to you what I thought I should be saying: that we would never be together because your way was just wrong and immoral."

"And you don't really think 'my way' is immoral anymore?"

"Well it's certainly naughty. But I don't have the guilt anymore, no. Spending all this time with you and the Tri-Delts, seeing how they're still genuinely nice and caring people even though outsiders would label them as sluts, well it's been an eye-opening experience to say the least. I feel like a bird set free from a cage I'd been in for more than twenty years, because when I'm with you, I don't have to choose a side anymore. With you I get to be both student AND sexpot. And just as important, for me at least, I don't feel so alone anymore."

She smiled, and I smiled at the honest look of contentment on her face.

Sasha took a deep breath and looked me in the eye. "We've talked about my parents abandoning me and then losing all my friends when Rod and I broke up. Well the whole Tri-Delt West thing meant that this house was full of girls, full of friends, at all hours of the day. Even when you were out, or even when you were IN but occupied upstairs in your bedroom, I had people to talk with and keep me company. I haven't felt alone at ALL since I moved in here, and even though the charter has been taken down from the foyer wall, I don't want that to change."

I frowned. "I thought you had a roommate in San Bruno."

Sasha shrugged. "That was a Craigslist thing to save money. She and I had nothing in common and we barely spoke. Seriously, going from that apartment to this house was like night to day."

"So part of the reason why you don't want to become monogamous with me ... is because you want to stay close friends with Andie?"

Sasha blushed and shrugged. "I guess, yeah. But really, I don't mind sharing you."

I blinked. "Okay then, back to expectations: Would you want me to restrict myself to just the two of you?"

"Restrict you? No. To be honest, I think DJ had the right idea with the 'Green List'. In some cases, go right ahead whenever you want. Andie, Jamie ... well, the whole Tri-Delt harem, for that matter. Anyone beyond that, I guess I'd like to know beforehand. But we're getting ahead of ourselves; that's the sort of thing we might settle when and if I actually become your girlfriend. Until then, you're still free agent."

I frowned. "But the thing is: I know I don't want you hooking up with any other guys without my express permission."

"That's fine."

"But I'm not your boyfriend yet."

Sasha shrugged. "No biggie. Granted, I don't have much history to compare, but I haven't even been attracted to another man since you and I started fucking. And I know how jealous a man can get about quote 'his' girl being around a potential rival – after all, Rod never liked me hanging around you. So even though you and I aren't a 'committed' couple just yet, I know full-well that hooking up with anyone else could very well derail that potential future, and that's the last thing that I want. Relax ... I'm good with just one dick."

I furrowed my forehead but didn't question her further on the subject. On a different subject, though, I said, "Well if you are really okay with other girls being around, then there WILL be occasions where I'm ... how did you put it?... occupied without you. Are you expecting any sort of priority or rank you can pull to garner my time and attention?"

Sasha blinked and thought that over. "Would you GIVE me such a rank if I expected it?"

I thought it over. "Well ... yeah, kinda. We're NOT a committed couple yet, but we're on that path, and so I guess what I'm saying is that amongst the harem of fuck-buddies, you're ... well ... you're number one. Andie's number two. My favorites."

Sasha blinked. "I like that."

"But still, I don't want you barging in while I'm gettin' busy to kick girls out of my bed and claim your rights mid-coitus or anything."

Sasha laughed. "No, of course not. I might invoke some sort of right to cuddle overnight once you and I become that couple, but for now I'm perfectly content to have a bedroom across the hall. I like cuddling with you, but I'm used to only one night a week as it is."

I chuckled. "Good to know. Anything else?"

"Other expectations?" Sasha mused on that. "You know, for a pair that supposedly ISN'T committing to each other, we certainly seem to be setting down a lot of boyfriend/girlfriend rules."

"Not 'rules', just 'expectations'. And YOU were the one who opened this conversation by wanting to 'lay down the parameters of our relationship'."

Sasha laughed. "Fine, fine. Uh, expectations: Fidelity? Check ... Status? Check..."

"What about the future?" I asked. "What are your expectations about our future, long term?"

"Well that's just the point: it's long-term. I don't really have any."

"None?"

"No, but I'm sure you do, Mister Can't-wait-to-have-a-family-so-I-knocked-up-KIM-only-hours-after-DJ-left-me."

I winced. "That was unkind."

Sasha blushed and looked down with a sheepish expression on her face. "Sorry."

I sighed. "But it's accurate. And that's just the thing: I've been taking things slow, trying to reevaluate my life and the way I approach relationships so that I don't put the cart before the horse anymore. But the simple fact is that long-term, I DO want a family. And even though you've stated all along that you're into your career and you're not all that keen about having kids, I might very well want that with you."

"Someday."

"If we make it that far."

"Then there's your answer: if we make it that far. I love you, Ben. I'm head over heels for you and I cannot currently imagine a future where I'm NOT in love with you. But to be perfectly honest, my level of commitment at this point is at a place where it wouldn't kill me if our romance fizzled out and we decided to stay friends, although I'd hope we could stay friends-with-benefits. I really want to take things one step at a time, and we haven't even made it to the 'boyfriend/girlfriend' committed couple step just yet. I'm not in any rush to get to that commitment, and I'm certainly not in any rush to get married. I want to become your girlfriend, and I want to spend the majority of my free time with you by my side. I'd like to think you want the same. But as for marriage and kids and all that jazz, I think it's in BOTH of our best interests to table those discussions and put them off into the future after we've both graduated, after we've both started our careers, and when we're BOTH ready to really consider how those things will shape our futures. For now, we're barely 22 for God's sake. Let's enjoy our time together without worrying so much about where we'll be when we're 30, alright?"

I took a deep breath and nodded. "Alright."

Sasha grinned. "Anything else?"

I thought about it. "Uh, nothing else immediately comes to mind."

"So that's that then. We continue as before. Nothing really changes."

I reached out and caressed Sasha's cheek. "Something changes."

She pressed her face against my palm and smiled dreamily. "What's that?"

"I'm falling in love with you."

Sasha giggled. "That's a good change."

"Yes it is." And then we kissed.

-- MONDAY, APRIL 24, 2006, SENIOR YEAR --

"Hey there, stranger," Bert greeted me with a fist bump and hooked his thumbs into the straps of his backpack. "How was your weekend?"

"Long story."

"With you, when is it not? Me? My weekend is a pretty short story. I get sucked into a family trip up to Sacramento for my cousin's wedding. I come home, I play video games, and then I go back to school. You? Never a dull moment. I mean, maybe there was ONE dull moment somewhere amidst Elyse running off to who knows where with your emergency cash, Kim's dad forbidding you from ever seeing Kim or your son ever again, and you falling in love with Sasha while keeping Andie, too."

After staring slack-jawed at my buddy for a moment, I blinked, rolled my mouth up, and asked, "How the hell do you know about all that?"

Bert shrugged. "Lynne, of course. And Sasha."

I frowned. "Sasha TOLD you already?"

He shrugged again. "She's excited and I like to keep in touch. You never go out of your way to keep me in the loop about this stuff, so I talk to your friends. Dude, with all the shit you go through, your life is the best reality TV show on air."

I lowered my eyelids and glared at him. "Do NOT tell me you're watching The Real Housewives. I'll end this friendship right here and now."

"Psht, no. Lynne and I prefer Paris Hilton and The Simple Life."

I shot him another look, but Bert was chuckling too much for me to believe he (or especially Lynne) would actually watch that crap. We continued making small talk and giving each other a hard time for the next few minutes, right up until our lunchtime rendezvous was within sight. And only then did it occur to me that in addition to discussing my über-complicated life with Lynne and Sasha, he had probably talked to Kim as well.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," I said, stopping dead in my tracks and holding my arm across Bert's chest like a crossbar, stopping his forward movement as well. It took me a moment to wrap my head around this realization, but after that moment I turned to him with an accusing glare and said, "YOU talk to Kim all the time! Now maybe Sasha would've told you about me and her and Andie and all ... But the stuff about Kim's father cutting me off, that had to come from Kim herself!"

He blanched, screwing up his face and scratching his head. "Uh ... well..."

I frowned. "You must have talked to her since I went down there. And the fact that you're hiding it – or at the very least not coming out and volunteering to me how she's reacting to everything – can't be a good sign."

"What do you want from me, man?"

"What I want is for my trust in my best pal," I emphasized myself by shoving Bert lightly in the chest, "to be validated by him TELLING me how Kim has been doing since I went down there. Dude, you KNOW you're my only line of communication to her."

Bert gave me a frank look and held his hands out helplessly. "I know. But ... well ... I don't have anything new to tell you."

I leveled my gaze at him, staring with infinite doubt in my eyes that he was telling me the truth. Mentally, I started counting, 'Three ... two ... one... '

"Okay, okay. It's just that Kim's explicitly told me to NOT tell you things that would make you worry about her."

"Oh really?"

"She wants you happy and doesn't want you stressing out about her. She's fine. She insists that I tell you she's fine."

"Then why are you hiding things from me?"

"Because she doesn't want you to know that things are getting worse!"

"Worse?" I blinked and gave him a look of alarm.

"No, no. Not like that. Kim's fine, she's fine." Bert sighed. "But her dad banned you from ever seeing them again, even AFTER the baby's born, right? How is that NOT worse?"

I groaned and shook my head. "He's overreacting."

"Of course he's overreacting. He overreacted the first time and he's going to overreact again in the future. But he's her father and of course Kim's going to let him. I realize that you've never talked to me about this, because you've been trying to protect her, but don't think I'm stupid; I've known about her submissive personality for a while now."

I picked my head up. "You have?"

Bert shrugged. "She's my friend."

I sighed and gave him a pleading look. "How is she? Please tell me I didn't make things worse for her."

Bert shrugged again. "This whole 'submissive' thing has kind of thrown her dad for a loop. If anything, this new knowledge has amplified his sense of protectiveness. He always kept her at home, but he used to let her go around the neighborhood at least. But now he won't even let her go to the grocery store without an escort."

I put my forehead into my hand. "Ah, shit. So it IS worse."

"But she's fine. Her dad just needs some time to process, but in the end it's all status quo. She's fine, the baby's fine, and ... well ... that's that."

"That's that?"

Bert sighed. "You're gonna have to think of something else if you want her back. Or, you're gonna have to decide you don't want her back."

"I'm not giving up on her."

Bert stared at me for a long moment.

"I'm not!" I insisted. "I went down there yesterday, didn't I?"

He continued staring at me expectantly.

"Look, what do you want from me?"

Bert sighed and shook his head. "Look, it's not about what -I- want from you. It's about what KIM wants from you."

"And you'd know that?"

He immediately raised his eyes and looked up and to the left.

I stepped forward and lightly shoved him in the chest. "Hey!" I growled a little angrily. "What are you not telling me?"

"Nothing."

"Has Kim TOLD you what she wants from me? Something she's said that you're actually HIDING from me?"

"No, of course not. For one thing, even -I- wouldn't trust myself to keep a secret from you, so I know that Kim wouldn't."

"But you ARE hiding something from me."

"It's just my opinion."

"Then spit it out!"

"But you're not gonna like it."

"For gawd's sake, Bert. I swear I'm going to castrate you right now if you don't--"

"There! Right there!" Bert suddenly shoved ME in the chest, not hard but enough to stand me up straight. "That FIRE. That's what you're not giving Kim, and that's what she wants."

"She wants me to castrate you? Hmm, I can work with that."

"Gahh..." Bert sighed and let his head loll back as she gazed up at the sky. Taking a deep breath, he got his bearings and fixed me with a serious look. "You know what? Nevermind."

"No, I'm serious. What's your opinion?"

Bert shrugged and shook his head. "My opinion is that if Kim's a submissive, then she's going to respond best to someone who takes charge and gives her commands. I think you know that, and I think that if you really wanted her back you would have gone to fight for her a LONG time ago."

"'Gone to fight for her', 'gone to fight for her'," I muttered in disgust. "You know what? For once I'd like someone to give me an actual plan of action more than 'go fight for her'."

"I think waiting for someone to GIVE you the plan would defeat the purpose."

I rolled my eyes. "What does 'go fight for her' even mean? Drive down, tell Kim's dad that he can go fuck himself and order Kim to get into my car? Tear her away from her father and her brothers and insist I can take better care of her than they can? Hell, no. I can barely take care of myself. I'm a fucking MESS right now, and I'm smart enough to not drag her down with me any further into the goddamn sinkhole of my life than she already has. She's better off without me."

"So that's why you didn't go to her until yesterday? Because you believe she's better off without you?"

I sighed and shook my head. "You care about her too. What do YOU think?"

"I think she's in love with you. And I think she wants to see you become all you can be. And in her mind, that means becoming her 'Master'."

I shook my head. "She's got one. Her dad. And he's a better 'Master' than I'll ever be."

"Because you're not even trying."

I stopped walking and stared straight ahead. "No ... I'm not."

"Why IS that?"

"Because ... I'm not..."

"You're not trying because ... you're not trying?"

"What?" I picked my head up, only now getting a grip on my train of thought. "No, not that. I'm not trying because ... because we're incompatible."

"Incompatible? The fuck is that supposed to mean?"

I sighed and shook my head. "Kim's a submissive, right? That means she needs a Master. And where might we find an example of such a man? Hmm, how about ... oh, her DAD? You've been there. You've met him. Strong. Decisive. Focused. And damn fucking sure of exactly what he wants. Right?"

Bert shrugged and nodded. "Right."

"Remind you of me at all?"

Bert snorted. "Are you kidding me?"

"I'll take that as a 'no'. Let's face it: I'm NOT that type of guy. Despite whatever successes I've had with women, I am NOT an 'Alpha' male. I don't get laid because I'm aggressive or über-masculine or even charismatic. I get laid because I'm technically good at it and girls share that information, that's it. I don't take the dominant lead in my relationships, whether the girls are submissive or not. I value their happiness above my own, and usually that's meant going along with whatever THEY want. THAT'S why I get laid. I'm a woman-pleaser, and I do it on THEIR terms, not mine. Dawn, Adrienne, Amber, my high school girlfriends, even Lynne. They called the shots. They dictated the terms, and Adrienne even called me a pussy over it, saying that I always let her manipulate the hell out of me. She's right. I let the girls run all over me, I go along with making THEM happy without getting upset or annoyed by it like some guys would, and they love me for it. But it all goes to show that I'm too flexible to be an Alpha. It's just not in my nature."

"Kim certainly seemed to think you took charge of her when you were together."

"Psht. In the bedroom; that's different. But in our personal lives? Even when she was, quote, 'my' submissive, she pretty much drove our relationship from the bottom."

"So what are you saying?"

"She wants me to be an Alpha, but I'm not it. She wants me to be her Master, but I'm not it. Seriously, when have I ever been that kind of guy? Even with an entire harem of Tri-Delts in my house, it's not like I'm the harem Master. Fuck, Jocelyn did most of the organizing, and I didn't even fuck her most of the time because she has a boyfriend!"

"Kim's not asking you to be a 'harem' master, just HERS."

I shook my head. "I told Kim way back in the beginning that I wasn't the Master type, and I honestly don't believe I have it in me to cast aside my empathy and take command of someone."

"Look, I'm not arguing with you about not being that kind of guy."

I sighed. "I think I realized that I'll never be that kind of guy. And for me to go down there and ORDER her to come with me? To take her away from her family, her FATHER, her real master? No. That would have been abusing her love for me for my own selfish reasons and taking her AWAY from the best Master she has. You wanna know why I never went down to fight for her? THAT'S why. Because even though you and Brooke and Viktoriya and everyone else seems to think I should have gone down there and commanded her to come with me, deep down I knew I shouldn't. Because it wouldn't be fair to her. Because I'm NOT the right guy for her. And because ... well ... because knocking her up in the first place was a huge mistake."

Bert snorted again. "You think?"

I shot Bert a harsh look, but he shrugged me off.

"What do you want from me?" he scowled. "Even if YOU don't think you're the right one for her, SHE still loves you. She still believes in you, and whether or not you consider knocking her up to be a mistake, she's certainly still pregnant. And because of that I don't want to see you abandon her!"

"I'm NOT abandoning her! Look, I realized that I couldn't take her away from her family, but I still went down there promising to care for her and our son as best I could. I can't be her Master, but I CAN be the baby's father."

"Then BE the baby's father. Do something. Say something. Toss aside this 'lifetime ban' and go back there and change his mind. I'm not saying you have to do it now. It's still April and she'll still be pregnant after you graduate in month. Maybe things'll be better then. But don't forget about her."

"I won't."

"You sure? Because you've certainly been doing a good job of forgetting about her the last few months."

I sighed. "I've been busy."

"Too busy, if you ask me. And that's something else you might want to think about changing."

"What?"

Bert took a deep breath and looked away, shaking his head. "It's Lynne."

I frowned. "What about Lynne?"

Still shaking his head, Bert explained, "We get into our disagreements, like any couple, but one particular sticking point between us has been this thing with Kim. I've been of the opinion that you shoulda pulled your head out of your ass months ago and gone to do something about her, but Lynne says you're better off cutting your losses and moving on."

I blinked in surprise. "She said what now?"

"Obviously, with how much I care about Kim, I vehemently disagree with you abandoning Kim. But Lynne thinks you're stretching yourself too thin. It goes back to your White Knight nature, this ... almost pathological need you have to try and make the lives of those you care about better. You remember all our talks about self-interest? The stuff about collective utility?"

"Yeah."

"Well Lynne says that you and Kim are more alike than you think, at least in terms of valuing the happiness of others. She talked about everything you did for Adrienne, all that shit that happened with her family and her brother. She talked about your high school relationships, the thing you did for some girl named Summer. And she talked about how you voluntarily gave up Amber at the expense of your own happiness."

"Well, I don't know how 'voluntary' that was so much as we both realized--"

"That's not the point," Bert cut me off. "I've seen the same thing here. Look at Paige! Look at how much of a fucking mess her life had become before you literally rescued her out of the gutter and got her back on her feet. Who knows what would have happened to her if you hadn't done that? Sasha? An orphan who turned to stripping to make ends meet. Now she's here, with you, surrounded by a whole network of girlfriends because YOU took her into your house. Peyton? You set everything into motion to get her out from under Rutledge's thumb. You'd barely MET the girl but you did all that out of the kindness of your heart."

"Well I DID get to sleep with her."

Bert shook his head. "Not until AFTER you'd started helping her. And like that was any big chore for her, either."

"Fine."

"And this thing with Elyse? Just your latest Goodwill project. The girl screams DANGEROUS and LOST CAUSE and you didn't even think twice before jumping in to help."

"So what IS your point?"

Bert gave me a steady look. "On the one hand, you're a fucking hero. You've changed peoples' lives. But on the other hand, you can't be everywhere at once! Where's the time for you? Where's the time to take care of Ben?"

I snorted. "Have you not been paying attention for the last few months? I think the whole Tri-Delt West thing was about taking care of Ben."

Bert shook his head. "Bullshit. The sex is great, yeah. But seriously, the girls are using you. You've given them your home to be THEIR personal playground, and you've given them your time, too. They show up and ask for sex and you give it to them. They get nice stress-relief on THEIR schedules without the complications of dating or boyfriends or clinginess. And you've been sooo occupied taking care of dozens of them that you've had almost NO time for yourself! Seriously, until Elyse put a lid on things, I only saw you at class and at lunch, remember? No more dinners. No more evening study sessions. No more Project Ben. You were busy entertaining THEM. Making THEM happy. Making OTHER people happy makes YOU happy, and if that's the way you function, then so be it. But that didn't leave you any time to deal with YOUR shit ... like ... oh ... a particular Japanese girl in Sunnyvale carrying your BABY. And what does it say that you go so far out of your way to help all these different girls you barely know and apparently can't lift a finger to do something about Kim? Huh?"

"So what are you suggesting? I kick out all the Tri-Delts and stop worrying about Elyse and go get myself back into Kim's life?"

Bert blinked for a moment before nodding his head vigorously and saying, "Well, YES!"

I arched an eyebrow and look at him questioningly. "And what does Lynne think I should do?"

He scowled and turned his head. "You know, I love Lynne to death but sometimes she doesn't know what the fuck she's talking about. She's not HERE, she can't SEE what's going on and--"

"She actually agrees with what I've been doing, doesn't she?"

Bert's scowl deepened, but he exhaled and nodded. "She's actually glad for the Tri-Delts. After everything that's happened to you, she was worried you might crack – or 'break', as she put it, actually. Dawn, her, Amber, DJ, Kim ... That's a lot of failures for you in the last year."

"Don't remind me."

"Sorry." He took a deep breath. "Anyway, she says Tri-Delt West is the best thing that could have happened to you. At a time when you could have felt most abandoned and maybe gone off the deep end if left alone with your thoughts and regrets, a whole gaggle of girls showed up to soften your landing and distract you. Couldn't have turned out any better."

I mused on that for a moment and thought about the LAST time I went through a horrible break-up and how I'd gotten through it. "Well you tell Lynne that even the whole of Tri-Delt West wasn't as comforting or supportive as those couple of months I spent with her and the Stanford girls."

Bert blushed and smiled. "They ARE good people, aren't they."

I nodded. "The best."

Bert sighed and shook his head. "Fuck."

I blinked in surprise. "What?"

He sighed again. "You know all that stuff you said about NOT being an Alpha? Lynne said all that to me before. It's not that you're a Beta, per se, and you're certainly an Alpha in the bedroom. But it's simply not in your nature to enforce your will on others. And because of that, from her perspective, Lynne thinks you – AND Kim – are better off apart. Well, maybe you can raise the baby together, but not as Master/sub. You're too ALIKE, remember? It would be a disaster for both of you."

"Maybe she's right."

"Don't tell me that. I really don't want to go back there and tell her she's right because she's gonna waggle it in my face." Bert smirked and shook his head good-naturedly, but then he sighed and took on a more melancholy expression. "But I DON'T want you to abandon Kim."

"I'm NOT going to abandon Kim. No matter what."

"Do you really mean that?"

"I do. She needs me, in some form or another. I'll be there for her. It's in my nature, remember?"

"I guess. But I need you to REALLY mean it."

"I do."

"Ben, you're my bro, and because of that I'm giving you the benefit of doubt that others might not give." Bert's eyebrows went up and his eyes hardened into lumps of frosty coal. "But you know I've always had strong feelings for that girl, and I swear to God, if you fuck this up I will never forgive you."

"Dude..." I stood up straight and spread my arms a bit, palms out. "I care about her, too."

For a few seconds, neither of us spoke. And then with a deep breath, Bert turned his head and started walking again.

I followed after.

For a couple of minutes, we simply walked, and soon enough we were nearing our destination.

"Meantime, we finish classes. We finish our exams," Bert said out of the blue. "And of course, there's your new relationship with Sasha to figure out as well."

There was an odd tone in Bert's voice, so I frowned and asked, "You don't approve of me and Sasha getting closer?"

He shook his head immediately. "No, no. That's not it at all. If anything, I'm happy that you're finally giving her some kind of commitment after everything she's done to stick with you. But I have to admit, dude ... I'm a little jealous."

I arched an eyebrow. "Jealous?"

He chuckled and shook his head. "I love Lynne, man. Ain't no question about it. She's incredible, and I still can't believe she actually likes ME."

"What can I say? You make her laugh."

Bert rolled his eyes. "The point is that I'm happy, and I wouldn't want things any other way. But at the same time, the horny male inside can't help but envy you. We both know the way I felt about Kim, but she's always been in love with you. Not me, you. And now you get to have Sasha, too."

I frowned. "You had feelings for Sasha?"

"No, no, of course not. But I can still be envious that she picked you."

I shook my head. "Never forget, Lynne could have had either of us. And SHE picked YOU."

Bert grinned. "Damn straight."

I clapped him on the back. "Let's go."

We continued on then, and my stomach growled in anticipation of lunch, and a short time later we came within view of our destination.

We weren't the only ones. Paige and Sasha turned the corner about twenty yards away from us, and as soon as she spotted me, Sasha took off straight for us at a dead run. "Hey!!!" she squealed excitedly.

The obvious excitement on her face coupled with the adrenaline rush of newly blossoming love lit a fire in my heart, washing away the melancholic aftermath of my conversation with Bert. I wouldn't forget about Kim, but for a few brief seconds all I could think about was the gorgeous girl sprinting straight for me.

I had a few moments to brace myself, so I was prepared when my new 'not-girlfriend' vaulted into my arms and wrapped her legs around my waist. Her tongue speared into my mouth and we kissed each other madly for about three full minutes. What can I say? It was the first time we'd been apart since our 'almost in love' declarations.

It was Bert who finally cut us off by tapping impatiently on my shoulder. I flipped him the bird, but he kept tapping, and so with a groan I finally released Sasha and glared at him. "Dude!" I complained as if it were a four-letter swear word.

"I'm hungry," Bert said matter-of-factly.

"Then go order and get us a fucking table!"

He brightened. "Oh, right."

And then I went back to kissing Sasha.

Paige giggled and patted my ass. "So what now? You two fall madly in love and ride off into the sunset to your happy ever after?"

Still lip-locked, neither Sasha nor I answered her right away. But after a minute, Sasha sighed and pulled back. "We'll see," she replied while keeping her eyes on mine. "For now, I just want to enjoy today."