Adrift ll

For a few seconds, I contemplated just dressing and walking out to talk to Paige. I was half-afraid of seeing her and half-afraid she would leave before I had a chance to talk to her. But the chivalrous part of me didn't want to just abandon my lover, even if she was only temporary.

So I bent down and gently stirred Monique awake. She'd curled onto her side and as her eyes fluttered open, she instinctively tugged the blanket up to cover her big, naked breasts. "Hmm? Ben?" she asked in a daze.

"Yeah," I nodded. "It's almost dinnertime."

"Oh, right." Monique blinked as she remembered what we'd been doing earlier. She exhaled and remarked, "I've only passed out three times from sex. Two of them were with you."

I smirked and stroked her cheek before she sat up, now unconcerned with her nudity as she hunted around for her clothes. I also got dressed and in the end, the statuesque beauty pulled me to her for a quick French kiss. "Mmm ... If you're not too busy next year, we will have to do this again. I will find out if you can do that to me three times out of three. And besides, Dayna always bragged about how good it felt when you fucked her ass. I certainly am going to want to try that at least once."

I smiled and patted her cheek. And then we exited the bedroom.

As now expected, the combined crews of both Dayna's and Brandi's friends, as well as mine and Dawn's, were scattered around the living room. Dinner was salad and home-cooked spaghetti, both easily made in large vats for big groups.

Tracy McMillan, seated at the dining table, winked at me as I entered into the room. Only then did I remember Monique informing me that the graduating Senior had wanted to spend the night. But almost as soon as she winked, Tracy blushed and darted her eyes over to the petite redhead who was sitting with Dawn and Gwen on the couch.

Paige herself turned to look at me. Her cool blue eyes darted behind me to Monique, who still looked rather disheveled and in fact was heading over to the bathroom to fix herself up. And then my redheaded ex-girlfriend returned her gaze to me.

Not yet sure whether I was supposed to sit down and talk privately with Paige or just go about my business as if everything was normal, I first went into the kitchen to get myself some food. I came out with my plate and after a little non- verbal communication with Dawn, I did as I was told and went to the dining table to sit between Tracy and Brandi. I then spent the next half-hour chatting somewhat awkwardly with the people around the table while wolfing down my food. Fucking takes a lot of energy — at least the way I do it — and I definitely needed to recharge my batteries.

But after I bussed my plate, I returned back into the living room to find Paige heading for my bedroom. Just as she got to the doorway leaving the living room, the petite girl turned and gave me a pointed look, and I obediently went to follow her.

I found Paige sitting cross-legged on my bed. Her hair was in a functional ponytail, nothing cute or sexy, just efficient. She was wearing jeans and a casual top, an outfit I'd come to understand as non-sexual from the often flirtatious little pixie. As the academic year had progressed, she'd been wearing the Catholic schoolgirl outfits less and less, only bringing them out for the times she deliberately wanted to titillate me into bringing her home and fucking her senseless.

This, therefore, was not one of those times. Paige was in "adult-mode", or at least as adult as a 5'2" 19-year-old-girl could be. And I cautiously went to sit on the daybed across from her. "Hey," I ventured, just trying to break the ice.

"Hey." Paige took a deep breath. As hard as it was to believe, she'd only dumped me yesterday afternoon, little more than 24 hours ago. Only a day before that, Adrienne had walked away from me. And the day before that was Adrienne's and my ill-fated one-year anniversary. Not even four days were done yet, and it already felt like the longest week of my life.

"I'm sorry, Paige," I began softly. I wasn't entirely sure what I was apologizing for right now, but it seemed like the right thing to do.

Paige shook her head. "No, I'm sorry. This is all my fault. I knew how you felt about me. More to the point, I knew how you didn't feel about me. And I needed to come back and apologize to you."

I arched an eyebrow. After Paige's tantrum yesterday, I wasn't expecting a grown-up reaction from her so soon. "Really?"

She nodded. "I still want to be your friend, Ben."

I was still surprised by her maturity. She'd been a sheltered, young girl who'd rather recklessly been throwing herself at me for the entire year. Thoughtfulness and maturity were not qualities I was expecting from her. "So you don't hate me?"

Paige chuckled. "I could never hate you, Ben. I feel hurt that you don't love me the way I want, but that's my own fault. I never should have pressured you into a relationship."

I sighed. "Then why did you?"

She smiled wanly. "A girl could have hopes, right? It all seemed so perfect: You were my rescuing White Knight. You're the man who took my virginity. Wouldn't it be great if you came to me for comfort after Adrienne left, and we fell in love and moved in together and got married and had a family and..." She sighed. "I think I blinded myself with thoughts of Happily Ever After. Isn't that what happens in all the Disney movies?"

"Life is never that simple," I groaned, shaking my head. "And if anyone knows 'complicated', it's me."

"I know. Life just seemed so much simpler in High School," Paige sighed. And for a few moments, we both sat there, staring away and contemplating that last sentence. My life in High School had felt pretty damn complicated. Was College going to be even worse?

But I couldn't ponder the future for very long; I still had too many things on my plate in the present. And wanting to get some closure on one of them, I moved beside Paige on the bed and reached out to hold her hand. "So what now, Red? What do you want from me?"

The cute girl looked almost bashfully up at me, squeezing my hand as she asked, "Can ... Do you think we can still be friends?"

"Of course." I smiled warmly, reassuringly. "But are you sure that's all you want?"

Paige sighed. "It's definitely not all I want. I'm still in love with you. You're my hero."

I winced but Paige squeezed my hand tighter and moved her other hand on top of it. "But I know that's not how you feel about me," she said to our enjoined hands. "Not now at least."

I tightened up at that last bit, and Paige looked up at me, grimacing. "I shouldn't have said that second part."

I shrugged. Was Paige just going to pretend to be my friend and secretly work to make me fall in love with her? I wouldn't put it past her. After all, she'd managed to be pretty infatuated with me for the past year as it was.

"Really, I mean it: just friends," Paige exhaled. "I need to learn to move on. I'm ... I'm not exactly used to this. I don't have much experience with break-ups. Actually, I don't have any experience with break-ups. I never had a boyfriend before. But I do know that I still like being with you and being around our, uh, 'crew', as you put it. Maybe it's not right for us to be boyfriend/girlfriend, but I don't want to ruin our friendship."

Now she looked like a scared little girl. She'd never been in this situation before, and even if she had the maturity to recognize that she shouldn't have pressured me into dating her, that didn't mean she had the experience to deal with the fallout. So it was up to me to reassure her.

"That's okay, Red," I patted her hand. "We'll make it work. We're too good friends, and we've been too close, to let this get between us, right?"

She brightened for the first time. "Right."

We looked into each other's eyes for a few moments, recognizing the deep affection we had for one another. I DID love her, maybe not romantically, but it was still there. And after taking a few deep breaths, Paige managed to smile. So I leaned in and tenderly kissed her on the cheek.

She moaned softly and turned her nose into my cheek, inhaling my scent. And I heard a trace of her old lust in that moan. Tensing up, I slowly pulled back.

Paige was staring at me with those big, dark blue eyes, biting her lip nervously. She quivered slightly and sighed, "You still make me horny. I'm going to have to learn to deal with that."

The image of my pixie bent over in her Catholic schoolgirl uniform came to me, her skirt flipped up to reveal a perfect, perky little ass. I breathed with fresh arousal and murmured, "Well you know me and the girls in this house. People don't have to be in romantic relationships to have a little fun sometimes."

Paige's eyes brightened and she giggled. "Oh, yeah." For a second, it looked like she was about to jump me.

But I held my hand up. "We shouldn't just yet. You need to take some time to figure out your feelings for me, Red."

Paige whimpered, but she exhaled and backed off, nodding. "You're right. You're right." But then her eyes twinkled. "But there's always next year."

Getting some closure with Paige quieted the turmoil in my mind. Yeah, there was still lingering sexual tension between me and my petite, redheaded pixie, but that had been there from the beginning. And so I found myself able to get in some good quality studying...

... but not that much. I only had one more final left, and it was to be on Friday afternoon. That meant I had a free day tomorrow and besides, there was a beautiful and athletic girl who wanted to screw me silly all night long.

As a graduating Senior, Tracy McMillan had completed her last final this afternoon. The sandy blonde-haired babe had wasted little time distracting me away from my books and tempting me into my bedroom with little regard for the crowd of friends who were just outside in the living room.

"So Dayna told me you didn't sleep very well last night," Tracy hummed, her lips scant millimeters away from mine. I could feel the heat of her minty breath on my face.

I shook my head, playing along. "I'm not used to sleeping alone." I mock-frowned as if deeply troubled by this fact.

"Aww, poor baby." The well-built workout junkie ran her hands against my chest and started pushing me back toward my own bed. "Would you like me to keep you company tonight?"

I smiled. "But how will I ever keep you entertained?"

"Oh, I'm sure I'll think of something," Tracy giggled and then literally shoved me down and flat on my back before ripping her clothes off. She'd been wearing a black sports bra with a navy blue tank top over it, clinging quite tightly to her slender frame. Black workout pants were capri cut just below her knees and similarly showed off the slenderness of her legs. I knew that if she'd been wearing that outfit at the gym, quite a few male eyes would have been following her every move.

But right now, I was the only set of male eyes that got to look upon her. And soon there was much more to see. The tank top flew away and then the sports bra, exposing her very firm D-cups capped with the large pink nipples that had been poking through the lycra material all evening. And then she shoved her pants and thong panties to the ground before climbing right on top of me.

"Hey, stud," Tracy grinned at me as she undid the scrunchy holding together her ponytail. The motion of her arms made her tits wobble quite enticingly.

"Hey, Tracy," I smiled back. While not as flirty as Monique, throughout the entire year the athletically-toned Senior had made her lustful desire for me quite clear. As one of Dayna's closest friends, I imagined she'd been one of the first to hear of my supposed prowess in the sack. And at Dayna's blindfold party, she'd been the very first to come after me.

"You know, you don't seem surprised at all by me coming onto you like this." She posed just above me, turning herself left and right slowly to let me ogle all her glorious nakedness without anything interfering with my vision. "Did you recognize me somehow during that party?"

I nodded. "None of the other girls have a body quite like yours."

The well-built girl smiled and blushed at the compliment. "During the party, Dayna said you seemed to have figured it out," she shrugged, making her tits jiggle for a second.

I grinned. "You even came back for seconds."

"That I did," Tracy giggled. "So since you already know we've fucked like rabbits, we can skip all the dancing around. Are you ready to help me celebrate the end of my finals?" She flashed me twin rows of pearly white teeth while her hands worked at my jeans. And she leaned over to push her tits into my face.

I grinned and puckered up to suckle at a proffered breast. "That's what I'm here for."

"Hope you took your vitamins," Tracy smiled at me. "'Cause I plan to celebrate all fucking night."

THURSDAY, MAY 22, 2003, FRESHMAN YEAR

We didn't quite make it through the entire night, but Tracy sure tried. We fucked three times before she fell asleep on top of my chest, my limp cock still embedded inside her. Then she woke me up sometime in the middle of the night for another go.

On Thursday morning, however, Tracy called it quits before we even started anything. She was in fantastic shape and she was used to full-body workouts, but her pussy wasn't quite as used to the pounding and those muscles were feeling too sore for a morning encore. She settled for kissing me goodbye and then leaving me at 6am to head to the gym.

I slept in until 10am, thankful for the time of rest. Never mind the finals and the studying, between Gwen, Brandi, Paige, Dayna, Monique, and Tracy, I'd seemed to be fucking non-stop all week.

And the trend continued. Marian Liu was graduating as well, and she wanted one last quickie just before lunch. So I woke up at 10am to find my dick several inches into the throat of the 5'0" Chinese pixie. Once she realized I was awake, she mounted me, rode me until I gave her a good cream filling, and then pecked me happily before bouncing away without looking back. I never even saw her again for the rest of my life after she left Berkeley.

Dayna then told me at lunch that Angela Chan and Julie Carpenter would be passing on their encores, since they both had steady boyfriends. I wondered about Marian, since she also had a boyfriend, but Dayna said that had been Marian's decision.

Still, there was one more girl left from my Blindfold-Party Six, and Kerri Trainor stopped by that afternoon to finish out the group. The hot, emerald-eyed redhead pulled a fantastic orgasm out of me while I gave her three before we took a break to eat. The sex was just the appetizer.

We had pizza for dinner again. By that point, I was absolutely ravenous and loaded my plate with five slices before flopping heavily onto the couch and dropping my head back while I began to almost vertically cram big triangles of fat, grease, and cheese down my throat.

Ryan whistled from right beside me. "A bit hungry, are we?"

Bert chuckled from the next couch. "He should be. He's been getting more exercise this week than if he were training for a marathon."

I mumbled around a mouthful of pepperoni and sausage. "I am."

Robin rolled her eyes. "How many girls is that this week?"

I turned and grinned at her, swallowing before saying, "Why? You want to be next?"

Robin glared at me and looked away. "You're such a slut, Ben."

"Hey," Gwen put in. "Are you letting girls claim 'next'?"

"Nuh-uh." Kerri walked behind the couch with her own plate and a Diet Coke in her hand, waggling a finger at Gwen with her Diet Coke hand. "I'm not done with him yet."

But then the copper-haired babe paused and leaned over Gwen's shoulder, seductively adding, "On the other hand, if you're willing to play with me, I might be convinced to share."

Gwen turned to face Kerri and smiled thinly. "Pass." It wasn't a surprise; Gwen was straight hetero.

Kerri just stood up and smirked before turning back to her best friend. "What do you say, Julie? Come play with us?"

Julie dropped her elbow onto the dining table and planted her chin in her palm, brushing her long, dark hair behind one ear. "Don't tempt me."

"C'mon. Fair is fair." Kerri's eyes twinkled.

"I'd be willing to share," Paige piped up from her spot at the dining table, giggling cutely.

"PAIGE," I growled, turning around to give the petite redhead a stern look.

"Oh, poo." Paige tossed off her usual comment of frustration, but there was a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye. We were getting back to normal, and I couldn't help but smile myself.

"Less talk," Kerri nodded to me. "More eating. The clock is ticking."

"We have all night." I furrowed my eyebrows.

"And I want to squeeze every second I can get." Kerri's green eyes twinkled, and I promptly returned to inhaling pizza. A half-hour later, Kerri dragged me back into my bedroom, got us naked, and promptly inhaled my cock.

As it turned out, Kerri got someone to play with us after all. The lusty babe had gotten me hard and was stroking my renewed shaft with both hands when a [click] by the door got both our attentions, and we looked up to see that Julie had followed us in.

The pretty brunette with the wide mouth blushed before locking her gaze onto my throbbing, erect shaft, held up by Kerri's pale white hand. The redhead looked at her best friend with a questioning expression, prompting Julie to sigh and say, "I can't help it. I've GOT to fuck him just once more while I've got the chance."

Kerri just smiled and waved her friend over, moving to undress Julie while the brunette simply knelt and inhaled my cock to the root, her wide lips circling the very base of my dick while shoving a good length of it right into her throat. And then the three of us fucked the night away.

It was wonderful. We screwed in every position and every combination two chicks and one dick could come up with, including one gymnastic position where Julie was hanging backwards off the edge of the bed, her legs wrapped around my waist while I fucked her pussy on top of the mattress, and with Kerri kneeling over Julie's head on the floor to have the brunette eat her out.

Alone, Kerri was a hellion in the sack. Together with Julie, the pair of them were mind-blowing. And I nearly passed out from pleasure overload when I fired my final wad of cum into Kerri's tight asshole while Julie was licking my balls. I came three times before we fell asleep, and once more around 2am.

After working through 5 out of the Blindfold-Six in the last 2 days, I should have been happy. But for some reason, just like the last time I nailed this group of Brandi's and Dayna's friends, it all felt a little ... soulless.

FRIDAY, MAY 23, 2003, FRESHMAN YEAR

"Mmm-WAH! See you next year, Big Ben!" Kerri licked her lips and giggled happily, rubbing her nose against mine before she jumped off the bed and turned to join Julie as the two girls headed out the door.

We'd found time for one last threesome in the morning, the two soon-to-be- Senior babes lying face-to-face on top of each other, kissing and caressing while I swapped back and forth from one pussy to the other, eventually pulling out and spraying down Julie's ass with all the cum I'd built up overnight. Kerri was quick to lick my cream off her best friend's buttcheeks, as eager as if it had been Jim Beam whiskey and chocolate sauce. And just like at our more "normal" parties, she moved up to share with her girlfriend in a tongue-filled kiss.

But now they were gone. And I was once again left alone with my thoughts.

Rubbing my eyes, I sat up in bed, only now realizing that the girls hadn't closed the door on their way out. And presently, Dawn stepped into the doorway, crossing her arms beneath her breasts and leaning against the door frame. "You look content."

I shrugged. "What can I say? Fucking makes me happy."

My best friend smirked at me and shook her head wryly. She looked like she was about to say something, but Brandi showed up and leaned against the opposite side of the doorjamb.

My sister smiled and raised her eyebrows. "You do realize you've run out of our friends from the party."

I grinned and then obviously ogled Dawn. "Well, not all of them."

Dawn blushed, then rolled her eyes and chuckled. "Maybe if you're really nice to me. But seriously, what are you going to do now? We've still got one more final left this afternoon."

I shrugged. "Doesn't matter." I then looked significantly at Brandi, gratitude in my eyes. "They kept me distracted long enough to make it to today. Today Adrienne's finally going to talk to me."

My sister tipped her head in acknowledgment of my unspoken thanks. But Dawn furrowed her eyebrows and turned to glare at my sister. "Wait, is THAT what this was all about? Keeping Ben occupied?"

Brandi shrugged. "I take care of my little brother. He was a mess after Adrienne left him and we both know what works on him." My sister arched an eyebrow at me. "Ejaculations are pretty head-clearing, aren't they?"

I nodded and smiled. "Woulda failed every single final without them." Then I sighed a little more forlornly. "Hell, I probably would have driven myself insane overthinking everything and hunted down Adrienne to plead with her to take me back."

Brandi grinned and waved her hand at me in a 'See?-Told-Ya-So' gesture. But Dawn didn't look quite so amused.

"You ... You still want to get back together with Adrienne?" Dawn asked, looking horrified.

I didn't understand her expression yet, so I just answered carefully, "Uh, yeah..." Dawn just kept gawking at me and I almost-nervously stammered, "She still hasn't even explained to me why she broke up with me. I guess a part of me is still hoping we can go back to the way things were."

"So ... all those girls," Dawn began, furrowing her eyebrows, glaring at Brandi. "YOU set those up?"

Brandi shrugged. "Well, me and Dayna."

Dawn blinked. "Ben didn't go out and seduce them on his own or anything?"

Brandi frowned. "What? No. Ben would never mess with our friends without going through us first, and the girls would never have fucked Ben without our permission. Oh, they certainly wanted to, especially after Dayna's party last December. But they never would have gone behind our backs."

Dawn turned to me with confusion evident on her face. "But I thought you were just taking out your aggression and anger at Adrienne? Like with Gwen!"

I pinched my lips and shrugged. "I'm still not sure what happened with Gwen. My mind just sorta snapped those times."

"But I thought you were just fucking around because you were free!" Dawn's mouth was gaping open. "Adrienne dumped you. Paige realized you didn't love her. So you were just going to go nuts, screwing everything in sight and enjoy your freedom, right?"

I frowned. For once, Dawn did NOT understand what was going through my mind. I shook my head and said, "The sex was a welcome distraction; but in the end, I'll never feel for those girls what I felt with Adrienne. I love her, Dawn. I still love her. And I'd trade all of Brandi's friends to get her back. I thought you knew that."

Dawn was standing up straight now, looking at me angrily. I furrowed my eyebrows and blinked rapidly, not understanding at all. And then without another word, Dawn turned and stomped away.

"Dawn?" I first called in confusion. "DAWN?" I didn't need our lifelong connection and understanding to figure out that my best friend was mad at me. And I was quickly out of bed.

"Whoa! Whoa!" Brandi held her hands up to stop me, and then pointed down at my crotch. Belatedly, I realized that I was still naked, having never re-dressed after Kerri and Julie had left me. I turned and scrambled for my dresser while my sister simply backed up and closed the door. "I'll find her," my sister promised.

Something had just gone terribly wrong.

Dawn was pretty easy to find; she hadn't gone far.

Wearing jeans and a hastily-grabbed long-sleeved shirt, without even bothering to put on underwear, I emerged from my bedroom and frantically looked around. Brandi whistled to me and pointed toward the backyard.

I nodded in thanks and hustled out the back door, feeling the adrenaline rush of panic when I hit the deck and saw nothing but empty grass and the fences bordering us from the neighbors.

Someone sighed behind me and to my left. "I'm over here," Dawn mumbled.

I whirled and saw Dawn sitting on the old couch we'd stashed back here, her knees pulled up to her chest with her heels on the edge of the seat and her arms wrapped around her legs. She looked up at me with a sickly expression and then hunched over, resting her chin on her knees. I quickly moved to sit beside her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Dawn. Talk to me."

She exhaled and blinked, pushing out a bead of moisture from the corner of her eye that tumbled down her cheek. She pursed her lips and stared straight ahead, not answering just yet.

I tried to wait her out. I could see the gears turning in Dawn's head and knew enough about her to know she just needed some time to process, the same way I did when I got into one of these moods. So I bit my lip and steeled myself to remain silent.

Still, it was really hard to just sit there and watch her. I rubbed her shoulder for a few seconds and then moved to embrace her, to wrap my arms around my best friend. I wanted to reassure her that everything would be alright with my very presence, the same way she had done for me so many times, including the night right after Adrienne walked away from me.

But Dawn would have none of it. The instant I started hugging her she brusquely pushed me away with her right arm. "Get away from me!" Her volume didn't rise, but there was no mistaking the hateful tone in her voice.

"What?" I was more confused than ever.

"Can't you tell? I'm still upset with you!" she spat.

"Upset? What? Why?" For the past few days, I never noticed any signs my best friend was upset with me. She'd been nothing but supportive and comforting in the aftermath of my breakup with Paige and my ... whatever ... with Adrienne. This weird mood of Dawn's had only started when Brandi told her how she and Dayna had been setting me up for mutual booty calls with their friends. But that didn't make any sense; Dawn had known full well what I was doing and she'd never before given any indications that my actions bothered her. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" Dawn exhaled, looking even more upset that I didn't already know. "What's wrong?"

I recoiled away from her, afraid she was going to attack me. But she backed up and shook her head in disgust. "You're still fucking in love with her! That's what's fucking wrong!"

"Huh?"

Dawn canted her head back, staring at the roof above our heads as she groaned in annoyed frustration. "I'm such an idiot. I knew it. But I didn't realize. I'm such an idiot."

"Dawn. What are you talking about?"

"You! You fucking ASSHOLE!"

"Dawn!" I jerked my head back at the vehemence in her tone.

"Adrienne! You're still fucking in love with her! You still fucking want to get back together with her!"

I blinked. Well, duh... But saying that didn't seem like a good idea right now. Instead, I took a deep breath and nodded. "Of course."

"You don't get it, do you?"

I'm a guy. When do guys EVER get it when a girl gets like this? But I tried. "Does it bother you that I want to be together with Adrienne?"

"YES!!!" she blurted and then immediately clammed up. "I mean, 'no'," she tried to say before sighing and dropping her feet off the bench, stomping them onto the patio hardwood. She planted her hands on her knees and hunched over, hanging her head down between her shoulders. I reached up to rub her arm again, but she slapped my hand away.

"Dawn..." I pleaded, wanting to hold her and scared she would slap me away again. "Talk to me."

"You gave her a promise ring, Ben," she said so quietly I almost didn't hear her.

I blinked twice, not comprehending.

"Uh, yeah."

"You gave her a promise ring."

I shrugged.

She realized I wasn't following and sighed, hanging her head down again. "What does that mean to you?"

I blinked. "It's a promise. Like ... I dunno. An engagement ring is a promise to get married. A promise ring is a promise to ... to be committed, I guess."

"Or a promise to get engaged someday?" Dawn raised her eyebrows.

I pinched my lips. "Well, yeah. I guess so."

Dawn's eyes dipped and she got a look of such unimaginable disappointment on her face. "Fuck you, Ben."

"Wha-?"

"Fuck. You." Her voice was biting, full of hate and anger.

I winced, not understanding anything more than that Dawn hated my very guts.

"A promise ring means an engagement ring. An engagement ring means you're gonna get MARRIED. To HER. Not ME. Don't you get it? You weren't supposed to make some grand commitment to Adrienne!" Dawn practically yelled in my face. "You weren't supposed to get that serious! You're supposed to be MY Ben!"

"What?"

"MY Ben! Mine!" Dawn raged. "As in: NOT hers!"

"Dawn!" My sense of calm was already frazzled from her running away in the first place. Her shouting and her tone now made ME raise the volume.

"What about US?" she yelled again.

"What ABOUT us?" I yelled right back defensively. Sighing, I shook my head and furrowed my eyebrows. Then I thrust my hands at her. "There is no US! You're my best friend! And you're with Ryan!"

"I'm not gonna fucking marry Ryan!" Dawn yelled at me.

"So, what? If Adrienne dumps me, are you gonna break up with him now for me?" I snarled. "After all, you did say I could take you back when my relationship with Adrienne ended. Huh?"

"Fuck you!" [WHACK]

Pain blossomed in my left cheek and I rotated my head to the side with the impact. My eyes were wide open in shock that Dawn had actually slapped me, and I gingerly held my reddened skin.

"I am NOT your fucking fallback!" Dawn spat before she stood up and stomped back to the door.

I was still in shock at the slap and I just looked up, wild-eyed, at my best friend. She stopped at the door, her hand on the knob, and a shudder went through her entire body. Biting her lip, she turned her face to me, now strewn with tears that were pouring in rivers down her cheeks.

"I thought we were going to wait for each other, Ben," she sighed dejectedly. "I was going to be your Dawn, forever. And I thought you would be mine. I guess I was wrong."

She yanked open the door and went through.

"Forget it, Dayna. I'm not in the mood." I waved the hot blonde away and hunched over my backpack, putting in my textbook. I wasn't sure what good it would do me since this wasn't an open-book final, but I packed it anyways and hoisted the bag over my shoulder.

"That's kind of the point," Dayna raised her eyebrows before glancing back at Brandi. She crossed her arms beneath her Double-D's, lifting them partially out of her V-neck sweater. But even glorious breasts weren't going to fix my mood.

I shook my head. "It's not about distraction. And even if you did, I'm going to see Dawn in about ten minutes and I'm going to get all fucked up again."

"What the hell happened to you two out there?" Dayna sighed. "Must've been some fight."

"I don't even know what happened out there," I sighed. Then I stepped forward and pecked Dayna's cheek. "Thanks for the offer, though. You've been absolutely incredible this whole year."

"You too, stud," Dayna winked flirtatiously.

I moved up and hugged my sister. "See you later." And then I made the long trek up the hill to my last final.

As expected, Dawn was already there when I arrived.

As expected, my mood sunk even further when she wouldn't look at me.

As expected, my brain started filling up with ruminations and wonderings about what the hell was going on and would I ever fix things with my best friend and why the hell was she so mad at me?

So as expected, I totally BOMBED the test.

When I walked back into the house after completely destroying my grade in that afternoon's final, all I could think about was how Dawn had quickly gotten up from her seat and fled the auditorium before I could even talk to her. She hadn't looked back at me. She'd merely hustled away as if I were just another stranger in the crowd, instead of the best friend she'd grown up with since infancy.

Where was she right now? When would she be coming home? Why did she-

"Hi, Ben."

I came to a full and complete stop, my eyes going wide as I saw Adrienne stand up from the suitcase she was currently packing. Only then did I remember that this was FRIDAY. This was the day — and the time — she'd promised we'd talk about our relationship. And the weight of our potential discussion dropped onto my shoulders enough to make me straight collapse onto the daybed beside me.

You might not believe it, but I was so preoccupied with Dawn that I completely forgot about my other appointment. You know: the one I'd been anxiously awaiting all week ... And my mind raced as I struggled to switch gears from worrying about my relationship with Dawn to facing the potential end of my relationship with Adrienne.

"Ben, you okay?" Adrienne quickly came over, a concerned look on her face.

I just took a few deep breaths to calm myself before looking her in the eye and saying, "Sorry. I didn't know I'd react like this."

She pursed her lips and instinctively moved to touch me, but checked herself and brought her hand back. She took a deep breath of her own and then said, "I've missed you these past few days."

"I've missed you, too," I said quietly.

"Well, you've been keeping busy from what Dayna tells me." Adrienne smirked.

I sighed and thought about all the girls I'd been with. "I told you before," I began while staring her dead in the eyes. "I'd trade them all for you."

Adrienne blinked and turned away, unable to look at me in the face of my obvious love for her. She looked guilty, and right then I knew this wasn't going to go the way I might have wanted.

"I promised you we'd talk after Finals were over," Adrienne began. "So now we can talk."

I just nodded. Clearly, Adrienne had given this plenty of thought and she was sure to have a lot of things she wanted to say. I, on the other hand, was still caught with my metaphorical pants down and I would need the time to remember all the things I'd been thinking about all week, all the things I wanted to say to her. That was the plan: Let Adrienne talk. I'd get my bearings. And then we could rationally figure things out.

Adrienne said, "We need to break up."

I let out a kind of strangled combination of a squeak and a choke. The odd sound erupted from my throat while I gulped and folded inward, feeling like I'd shrunk a few inches all at once. It wasn't that I was totally unprepared for her declaration. After all, I'd been feeling somewhat "dumped" for days now, even if she hadn't come out and said it yet.

But to hear Adrienne actually declare she no longer wanted to be my girlfriend cut through my heart with such rending pain that I couldn't think of anything else but absolute panic. It was as if I'd been cruising along a powerful speedboat in the open ocean, seeing paradise in the distance not too far away, when suddenly my engines were cut out from under me. One moment, I was sure of my path and my future. The next, I was adrift without a lifeline, so close to happiness and yet now left with no idea how I would survive the next few moments.

"Ben, please." Adrienne reached out and held my hands, sitting beside me on the daybed. "You have to understand."

"But why?" I croaked.

"Because our relationship can't go any further. You want what I can't give you. We've gone as far as we can go."

"But ... that doesn't mean we have to stop and break up!" I whimpered. "Why can't we just go back to the way things were?"

"Because people don't go backwards. We've already gone forward, already tried the cross a line where I just can't follow you."

"What did I do?" I pleaded. "All I ever wanted was to love you."

Adrienne shook her head. "You wanted more. You wanted more of me than I could give you."

"How?"

She sighed and then inhaled deeply. "Remember expectations, Ben? That talk we had way in the beginning? I only had one thing I wanted from you. Just one thing."

I sighed. "'Adrienne keeps her independence'," I quoted.

Adrienne nodded.

"I let you have your independence," I insisted. "I never told you where to go or where to be. You were never my beck and call. And when you wanted to pursue this relationship with Grace, I gave you every freedom."

"You asked me to spend more time with you."

"Was that so wrong? I only told you what I wanted. I never demanded it of you."

"It felt like you were trying to tie me down." Adrienne bit her lip. "That ... that ring was a leash."

"I never wanted to tie you down, and I never meant for the ring to feel like a leash," I pleaded. "It was just jewelry, just a present to show you how special you are to me on our anniversary. I said it when I gave it to you: It wasn't an engagement ring. It was just a promise that I would always love you and that you would always be important to me."

"But it felt like an engagement," Adrienne moaned and turned her back to me, dropping my hands. And facing away, she said, "Ben, I knew you would want the wife and kids and all that jazz someday. I'm too young to settle down; you're too young. And it was so far off in the future that I thought I would have time to really decide for myself. But when that ring slipped onto my finger, I just KNEW I couldn't be your wife. I would have been happy to be your girlfriend for a few more years, and I will ALWAYS care about you. But ... I just can't imagine right now being married and pregnant."

I sighed. I should have known better. Adrienne always had a very defined boundary in her head of how committed she would let herself be. When I wanted a relationship, she wanted 'nottogether'. If I pushed her to be closer, she pushed me away. This was no different. And with a single ring, I'd finally pushed her too far.

"What if I take back the ring and take back the pressure. I just want to be with you, Adrienne, as your boyfriend," I said softly. "I'll take back the feelings and desires to be anything more.

She shook her head sadly. "Feelings don't work like that."

'Feelings don't work like that'. Why did that phrase sound familiar? "Why not?" I asked.

Adrienne smiled wanly at me. "Because those feelings are in your heart. You want to settle down with me. You want to dream about picket fences and children with me. But I'm never going to give them to you."

"Adrienne..."

She shook her head. "I can't lose you, Ben. That's why we have to break up. If we stay together, you're just going to get more and more attached. And it'll hurt even more when you realize I'm not the one you want to be with for the rest of your life. And then I'll lose you."

"Adrienne..."

"We've gone as far as we can go," she said softly, touching my cheek. "I'll love you forever and always, Ben. But we've come to the end of our road."

She kissed my right cheek, wiped the tear rolling down hers, then stood up and walked out the door.

Dawn had walked away from me. Adrienne walked away from me.

I wanted to DIE.

Without my girlfriend or my best friend, I went to the one person I had left. When I knocked on the door, Brandi took one look at me and then waved me inside. I went straight to her bed and crawled on top of it, curling onto my side in a fetal position.

Brandi came over and sat down beside me, stroking my head. "You okay?"

I closed my eyes. "I'll be okay."

"I'm guessing things didn't go very well with Adrienne."

I took a deep breath. "I knew she was going to break up with me. I just had to know why."

"Did she tell you?"

I nodded.

"Does it make sense?"

I sighed, and then nodded again. "Doesn't mean I have to like it, though."

Brandi sighed and ran her fingers through my hair. "You knew she didn't want to settle down and have kids. Especially not at eighteen. But you're young, and I know Adrienne still loves you. You know that, right?"

I sighed and nodded. "I know she does."

"So it's not completely over."

"It's over," I sighed. "She's not my girlfriend anymore. I even lost Paige."

"It's not like you'll have trouble finding another girlfriend," Brandi snorted.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

My big sister sighed. "Ben, ever since Megan, when have you ever had trouble finding a girlfriend? Look at you: you're tall, handsome, have a great body, and you're really intelligent. With every girl of yours I've talked to, they all rave about your attentiveness and sensitivity to their feelings. You're an incredible listener, especially for a guy. You're passionate and emotional and empathetic. And you don't do a lot of those little things that piss girls off. When I send you into the pantry to find something, you never come back and whine, 'I can't find it.' You always put the toilet seat down and you wipe up the water around the sink. You kill spiders and you change the light bulbs. You stopped the toilet from leaking and you fixed the damn heater when it conked out. One minute, you'll delicately fold Adrienne's underwear, but the next minute you'll bend her over and fuck her brains out. You're the sweetest and most introspective guy I know, and yet you can be so ... manly ... when we want you to be. Ben, you're the Brawny man and Mr. Clean at the same time. You're the most perfect boyfriend imaginable, and the fact is, if I wasn't your sister I'd be falling all over myself to be your girlfriend."

My eyes were closed and I whimpered. Despite Brandi's glowing words, all I could think about was the one girl I couldn't have anymore. "You say I won't have trouble finding another girlfriend, but all I want is Adrienne," I whimpered.

My sister sighed. "Can't do anything about that now, but look on the bright side; she loves you and she's still your sister," Brandi ruffled my hair. "Even if you're not meant to be a couple forever, she won't be gone from your life. You'll have plenty of chances this summer to at least talk about it with her and figure out how your relationship is going to continue."

I blinked a few times and thought about that. Even if Adrienne was breaking up with me, we wouldn't actually be separating this coming summer. In fact, this may have even been exactly why Adrienne was breaking up with me, and when. She knew that if she did it now, she could still be a part of my family and a part of my life. SHE didn't want to lose ME, which meant that I wouldn't be losing her.

And those thoughts gave me hope.

Brandi then lay herself down beside me, spooning herself against my back and resting her head on top of my shoulder. She squeezed me in a warm hug and I reached around to hold her arm. "I'm here for you, bro."

I took a long, deep breath, and let out a long sigh of relief. I felt better. And now that I felt a little better, I remembered everything else that was going on and patted Brandi's arm. "I'm okay. You should go. I know you wanted to go prep for tonight's party."

"The party can wait. I'm here for you."

"No, it's alright," I said quietly. "I just need somewhere to be alone. I wanted to let Adrienne finish packing." Once again, Dayna and Brandi were staying for their summer internships and wouldn't be moving out. But Dawn, Adrienne, and I were returning home. We'd leave most of our stuff in the Berkeley house, but we still needed to organize what we were bringing home and what we were boxing up for the three months we'd be gone. I'd finished most of my packing throughout the week, but Adrienne was just now getting started.

I patted Brandi's arm a final time, then she kissed my shoulder and rolled away. I didn't turn around, but I felt my sister get off the bed and walk out the door, closing it behind her.

And then I was left alone with my thoughts.

I loved Adrienne. I was sure of it. At least, my heart was sure. We'd been through so much together: from the temptress in High School to the broken girl who needed to trust me to my absolutely delightful girlfriend and sexual playmate.

Adrienne often asked me, "Am I the greatest girlfriend or what?' And truly, she was. No one could ask for a more beautiful partner. And while she definitely needed me to be her rock of safety and trust, she was never actually "needy". She would be patient and kind and in most cases, avoided the stereotypical "girl- drama" that plagued so many other guys. She was affectionate and loving and perpetually horny. She made sure I was never sexually unsatisfied and even brought me a multitude of girls into our bed without jealousy.

But could we really be anything more? Time and again, I'd started talk of settling down and taking our relationship to the next level. We'd already done everything possible sexually, even shared the most harrowing emotional turmoils; so our next levels were those of codependency and a shared life.

But time and again, Adrienne had expressed a hesitance to settle down. She was young, she was hot, and she greatly valued her independence. She wanted to do her own thing, and when she imagined herself at thirty, she imagined herself single and without kids. Heck, when she imagined herself at fifty, she was still single and without kids. This hadn't been some big secret. She'd made her intentions clear. But I'd blinded myself to the hope that I could someday change her.

I'd created expectations she couldn't fulfill.

I thought, then, of Paige; how she'd hoped I could change. I'd told her way in the beginning that I wasn't going to fall in love with her, that she shouldn't expect me to develop those kinds of feelings. Paige had let herself expect things beyond what I could give her, and she'd been left disappointed when those expectations didn't come true. I'd warned her, but the disappointment was there nonetheless.

Adrienne had warned me, but the disappointment was there just the same.

Adrienne once told me that relationships fail only two ways: One, someone loses interest in the relationship and wants to move on to someone else. Two, someone doesn't live up to the other's expectations.

You could argue that Adrienne was more interested in spending time with Grace than with me, but that first way wasn't the primary reason our relationship had failed. If nothing else, I didn't think Adrienne wanted to move on away from me.

No, the problem was that she couldn't live up to MY expectations, and she knew it. She'd asked me not to form those expectations in the first place; but I'd formed them anyways. I couldn't help it. Marriage and family were things I wanted for myself someday. It wasn't necessarily Adrienne's fault. Ultimately, we were just incompatible. We wanted different things in our futures.

So Adrienne was right. We'd gone as far as we could. We'd come to the end of our road. And trying to keep things patched up any longer, knowing we didn't have a future together, would only make things worse when the time came.

Now, we had to redefine our relationship as friends — and technically, as family. We could make it work. We wouldn't lose each other.

And so, I understood why we had to break up...

... Didn't mean I had to like it.

I just closed my eyes and felt fresh moisture running down my cheeks. And I mourned the end of our romance.

I had just about pulled myself together when a knock sounded at the door. Wiping my eyes, I got up and went to it, half-expecting to see Matt Kanemura looking for Brandi. But instead, Adrienne stood before me with a slightly nervous expression on her face. "Hi, Ben."

"Hey," I said hesitantly. Then I took a deep breath and collected myself, wiping the last tears from my red-rimmed eyes.

"You look terrible," she said apologetically.

I paused to look her over: Poised, upright, and still stunningly gorgeous, even just in jeans and a casual polo top. I returned my gaze to her beautiful face and replied, "You look great."

She blushed and glanced down. "Well, I've had a lot more time to get used to the idea."

"You could have told me on Tuesday." I pinched my lips together.

Adrienne exhaled. "I didn't want to hit you with that until your Finals were over."

I shrugged. "Might have actually been better than the unknown."

"If so, I'm sorry," Adrienne sighed. "Maybe I needed the time to get used to the idea."

A noise sounded off downstairs. Someone was moving furniture in preparation for tonight's party, and at the sound I pointed and gestured with my head. "Let's go to our room, okay?" It felt weird calling it "our" room when Adrienne hadn't slept there all week.

She nodded and turned to lead the way. We waved to Dayna, Brandi, Kevin, and Matt, who were all doing party prep. I looked at Brandi and said, "I'll just be a few minutes. Then I'll come out and help."

Dayna took one look at me and said, "Take your time. We'll be fine without you."

I nodded and followed Adrienne into our bedroom, closing the door behind me. Adrienne went straight to the bed and sat down, patting the spot next to her. After a moment's hesitation, I sat down, but kept a good foot of space between us. "So how is this gonna work?" I asked. "We still live together. Hell, technically you're like my sister. And I don't want things to be awkward between us for the entire summer."

Adrienne looked away from me and took a deep breath. She visibly steeled herself and then turned back to me with a fresh purpose in her eyes. "That's one of the other reasons I wanted to wait, Ben. I talked to my lawyers this morning and they've just about completed the execution of my parents' estate. The lawsuit filed against the cab company has been settled and I've got some assets — millions, actually. I'm eighteen now, almost nineteen, and I think it's best that I move out on my own."

I blinked rapidly and my eyes opened wide. "What?" I'd gotten my hopes up, again, on the idea that Adrienne and I wouldn't really be separating. She was family now.

"Ben, I loved being a part of your family. I especially loved the warmth of your parents and your sisters. But we both know I'm not really one of you."

"Of course you are," I insisted. "Yeah, so you don't look much like us. But you can't undo the past year. You've lived with us. You went to summer camp with us. We're family."

"Not really. And I don't belong with you anymore."

"Of course you do!" I thought back over all of Adrienne's drama last year. "You ... you NEED us!"

She pinched her lips and looked down while shrugging. "I lived on my own for most of my life. It's nothing new."

"And you were miserable on your own," I argued. "Remember all those Wednesday dinners? Breaking up with me, I get; but you need this family more than you need me."

"I have to move out," she insisted.

"Wait, wait, no." I shook my head. "This is ridiculous. A week ago you were still calling our parents 'Mom' and 'Dad'. Brooke, and especially the twins, look up to you as their big sister. You can't just abandon them."

Adrienne smiled wanly. "I'll still be around. It's still my hometown and all my old friends are there. And I couldn't stay away from your sisters if I tried. But I can at least give you your bedroom back and things will be less awkward between us if we're not living together anymore. If we're not dating anymore, I shouldn't intrude. It's time."

"Adrienne, no!" I protested. Breaking up was one thing, but she'd become such an integral part of my everyday existence that I couldn't imagine not having her around anymore. Even if she wasn't my girlfriend anymore, I'd assumed I wouldn't lose her as my sister. I couldn't be losing her.

Adrienne looked at me sadly. "This is the way it has to be."

"Salud!!!" I yelled and then downed the shot of tequila. Quickly, I then grabbed up a lime wedge, sucking on it to numb the horrible aftertaste. Dayna hooted beside me before sucking on her own wedge. Next to her, Bert was starting to look pretty green around the gills by now.

I was pretty drunk already. I'd likely consumed more alcohol at one party than ever before in my life. But I had to keep going.

I HAD to keep going.

Adrienne had left before the party got started. At the time, I'd let her go still harboring a sense of hope. After all, she'd return in the morning so we could drive home, and I'd have at least six hours alone with her and nothing to do but talk. Beyond that, she would HAVE to live with us for a few days until she worked out other arrangements. Plus, she'd still have to explain to our parents that she was going to move out, and I still had confidence that they could talk her out of it.

But the longer she was gone — and the more I drank — the more dark thoughts entered my head. More talking wouldn't change Adrienne's reasons for breaking up with me. And if she was still breaking up with me, then she was still moving out of my life. And that sense of hope began to fade away.

Making things worse was Dawn. She wasn't actively doing anything to make me miserable, she merely avoided me. For the entire duration of this party, she'd hung out with her friends and generally had a good time ... as long as she was a good twenty feet away from me. She didn't approach, and she sent me enough signals to know I would only make things worse if I tried to talk to her now.

On the same day, I'd lost my girlfriend and my best friend.

I needed another drink.

Drinking made me feel happy. So I grabbed the next shot off the table and yelled, "Santé!" Then I pounded that one, too.

Dayna was about three seconds behind me. "Santé!" she repeated. She pounded her shot, then grimaced and bit into a lime wedge.

Bert groaned, but dutifully slurped down his shot and grunted, "Santé."

Monique was across the room, but she heard us and yelled, "Santé!" in response as well. It WAS a French term. At least, I thought it was.

No matter. I was already gesturing for Matt to pour me another one. "C'mon. I got a dozen more ways of saying 'cheers'."

But Matt put his hand over my shot glass, covering the opening. I darted my eyes up to his — a little too fast because I momentarily got dizzy and stumbled. And then I complained, "C'mon, man!"

"How many is that, Ben? In total." Matt asked, searching my eyes.

"What? You think I can count in this state?" I grinned goofily, wobbling unsteadily on my own two feet.

"I think that's enough." Matt patted my shoulder while I turned from giddily happy to morosely upset in a heartbeat. I actually started growling at the guy as I reached for the bottle.

Matt just held it away and gave me a stern look.

"Oh, give him a break, Mattie," Dayna chortled quite drunkenly. "I wanna see how many more languages he can say 'cheers' in. What is that, four already?"

"Nuh-uh." A new body swooped in, Kevin Weiss wrapping his arm around Dayna and pulling her off to the side. "Slow down babe or you won't be any use to me later."

"Ffpt." Dayna blew a raspberry at her boy-toy. "I can fuck you under the table no matter how drunk I get."

"Dizzy-drunk, maybe. Unconscious-drunk: you don't do so well, babe." Kevin shook his head, pulling her toward the middle of the room where about ten people were dancing.

I just waved my empty shot glass rather pitifully in Matt's direction, but he was looking over my shoulder. Dawn was standing just behind me, looking sad and concerned at the same time. It was the first time all night she had approached me.

"Hey, Ben. You really need to slow down," my best friend said gently.

I literally took one look at Dawn's sweet face and broke down crying. With one look, I thought of all the mistakes I'd made in my life, and most importantly the ones that led to me and my soulmate no longer being together.

If I'd just done things differently, I would be with her. If I'd just done things differently, I would have always been with her. Wasn't that the way it was supposed to be?

"Ohmigod!" Dawn gasped as I toppled forward right at her. Fortunately for both her and me, Ryan had lightning-fast reflexes as he jumped in and caught me before I landed on anybody.

My vision was a blurry haze, whether from the room-spinning or moisture in my eyes I'm not sure. Probably both. In any case, I didn't need to see as I felt Ryan's shoulder dip beneath my armpit as he stood me up. And at Dawn's direction, the big guy started hopping me toward my bedroom.

"Is he okay?" Tracy McMillan was beside me, hooking beneath my other armpit. Damn the girl was strong.

"Drank WAY too much WAY too fast, I think," Dawn sighed.

"Ben? You okay?" Kerri Trainor was in front of me, her coppery hair standing out against the background.

And last but not least was the little-girl voice. "Ben? Are you alright?"

In front of Paige, I felt a driving need to appear strong and responsible. So looking blearily at her (well, the middle one of the three of her), I mustered up enough energy to say, "I'm fine, Red." And then wincing in even further mental anguish over how my relationship with Paige had ended, I simply surrendered and let Ryan and Tracy carry me into my bedroom.

Once on the bed, I felt a brief flutter of happiness surge through me as I felt and saw Dawn climb onto the bed with me. This was the Dawn I remembered: ever- loving, ever-faithful. No matter what else was going on in our lives, she was my very best friend. Just like before, after Adrienne had first walked away from me, I knew Dawn would pull my head into her lap and stroke my hair until the dark thoughts quieted down in my mind.

But then I felt the tender kiss of her lips against my forehead. And afterwards, nothing. Dawn had gotten off the bed. A few seconds later, the door closed.

I was alone.

I am a sexual creature.

Once I realized that I was well and truly alone, some part of my brain simply shut off. It was the part of my mind that dealt with love, emotion, and affection. That part of me simply couldn't handle it anymore. Paige was gone. Adrienne was gone. Dawn was gone.

I was alone.

And I am a sexual creature.

I'd been momentarily dizzied by seeing Dawn again after she'd avoided me all afternoon. The part of me that cared had shut down, and the dizziness had faded away with it. I still felt the clouding, sluggish effects of alcohol in my muscles, but at least I could see straight again.

I hadn't understood it the last time this had happened to me. I hadn't realized just how angry and cold I felt when I'd gone into my robot mode. But now I recognized it. Some of the people I loved the most had abandoned me. That upset me. That pissed me off. What had I done wrong? What had I done to deserve this? All I ever wanted was to be the best Ben I could be. I loved without restraint. And I followed my heart.

And got my heart broken in the process. I was angry. At who, I wasn't sure. But I was angry. And the flush of adrenaline coursing through my veins washed away most of the sluggishness I'd been feeling.

Like a robot, I got off the bed and mechanically strode over to the door. Opening it, I let the sounds of partying and thudding music fade into the background as I scanned the room for a good target. Any of them would do. So who would it be? Should I grab Monique, bury my face in her big tits, and drown my sorrows in the lush pleasure of her body? Or maybe I should drag Paige into my bedroom and reintroduce her tight asshole to my big, thick, throbbing dick. Heck, maybe I should just grab a random stranger; perhaps one of Brandi's and Dayna's other friends I had yet to have the pleasure of sampling. Ashley was very cute. And Erica had some serious bootay. Fuck, maybe I should even just grab Brandi and show her boyfriend how my sister REALLY loved to be fucked.

But then I saw HER. And it all just made sense.

The pretty blonde was dancing with some guy. Her long, long hair was a thick mass of curls and waves, interspersed with dark strands. Her dark eyeliner made her look alluringly sexy, accentuating the angles of her face. And her lips were pursed in such a way that I couldn't help but imagine them wrapped around my dick.

I gave her no warning. She wouldn't have wanted one. After all, she'd told me not to say a word. She'd told me just to TAKE her.

So I did.

"Eeep!" Gwen squeaked as I grabbed her arm and hustled back into my bedroom so fast she barely even had time to breathe. I slammed and locked the door before propelling the dirty-blonde babe over to my bed. With a simple push, she flopped onto her back with her legs up in the air, her thong panties on full display as the hem of her party dress flew up to her waist.

I wasted no time. With a sharp tug, the thong broke and ripped away from her crotch, leaving her neatly trimmed pussy naked in front of me. And my tongue was embedded in her channel before she even had time to squeak again.

Shouts and the sounds of a doorknob being twisted were accompanied by banging on the door. I casually ignored them as I reached up with both hands to spread Gwen's legs to the side while digging my tongue deeper into her snatch. A few seconds later, I moved higher and sucked her protruding clit into my mouth.

One ... two ... three ... Touchdown.

Every girl is different, but Gwen's buttons had always been a little more obvious than most to me. She was just a puppet in my hands. Maybe it was because her G-spot was easily accessible to both my fingers and cock, depending on which I had buried in her at the time. Maybe it was because the distance from her clit to her asshole was identically the distance of proper extension from my thumb to my middle finger, so that I could rub her clit with my thumb and pop my middle finger through her anus to JUST the right depth for her surprise and pleasure.

In any case: One, my thumb hit her clit. Two, my finger popped into her ass. And three, my left hand tickled just beneath the eighth rib on the right side of her torso. To most people, such a tickle wouldn't do a damn thing. To Gwen, the light sensation was exactly where and exactly what she needed to light up in a screaming orgasm.

"Oh, FUUUUCK!!!"

Touchdown.

Gwen was shrieking her climax not ten seconds after I'd brought her into the room. Her whole body jerked and she bucked her ass off the bed, pushing her crotch into my face. I let my neck relax against the pressure and then stood up, dropping my jeans to the floor and taking aim at her wet opening.

Three seconds later, she screamed, "OH GOD! FUCK ME!!!" By then, my dick was fully embedded into her cunt.

"FUCK ME!!!" she screamed again. The banging on the door behind me stopped. "FUCK ME!" she repeated.

So I did.

Pounding her poor body with machine-like precision, I pulled Gwen's legs around my waist and held them tight against my torso while I rhythmically lunged my way in and out of her body, my dick very nearly coming out of her with every backstroke. She felt the hammering force with every thrust, knocking the air from her lungs. But her hands scrabbled at my arms to hold me tighter and pull me into her body for the next one.

"Fuck me, Ben..." Gwen crooned. "Fuck the shit out of me!" And within four minutes I had her screaming with her second orgasm.

"Oh, FUUUUCKKK!!!"

I stopped then, to readjust the both of us. After pulling her dress over her head and stripping myself naked, I re-mounted the fully-aroused blonde and crushed her beneath my body. I gyrated my hips in a circular motion while gripping her hands tightly in mine while hooking her legs with my ankles. She squeaked and moaned quite satisfactorily before biting her teeth down on my shoulder and breaking into tears as a tremendous wave of pleasure rolled through her entire body, her third climax coming while I fucked her with a full-body humping motion.

After that, I clamped her legs together to tighten up her tunnel and rutted animalistically until I spent my load deep inside her body. Our initial lustful cravings thus satisfied, we collapsed together in a heap of naked flesh. And we panted to recover the oxygen we'd neglected while taking our pleasure from each other.

But we weren't done yet. Drunk on hard alcohol and physical ecstasy, Gwen then greedily turned me over and slurped my dick into her mouth. I played with her hoop earrings and caressed her face while watching those pouty lips wrap around my cock and move up and down the shaft with her sucking motions.

It didn't take long for me to re-harden. And then I was pulling her body on top of mine, crushing her lips with my own while we attacked each other's mouth. So with her hips tightly gripped in my hands, I guided her steaming pussy down onto my upright shaft. Once seated, I raised my hands to form new grips on her jiggly tits.

And we started up again.

"Oh, God. Not again," Gwen whimpered. That was all she had time to say before I clamped my left hand over mouth and nostrils, suffocating her briefly while I rammed my cock in and out of her cunt at a rapid pace while pushing the thumb of my right hand into her clenched asshole. The slutty dirty-blonde was bent face- down on all fours, her arms and legs beginning to wobble. And as her body consumed more oxygen without being able to breathe more in, I felt her weakening beneath me.

I was going to make her pass out again. And as she realized what I was about to do to her, she panicked and tried to jerk away from me. But with my thumb anchored in her ass, I gripped her buttcheek with my right hand and pressed her against my crotch to hold her in place while I used my heavier weight to pin her to the bed beneath me, still thrusting with my hips to rub the head of my cock against her G-spot.

"Nnnnghhh..." Gwen's neck went limp as she groaned in mixed terror and pleasure. Deprived of oxygen and overstimulated by my cock in her cunt and my finger up her butt, Gwen's body involuntarily exploded.

"MMPH!!!" Her whole body jerked violently to the left, collapsing that arm. And as she began tumbling downward, with my hand still covering her nose and mouth, I yanked her back and slammed my hips to press her entire body flat and flush against the mattress. And I held her there, unable to move or breathe while the orgasm literally sent her into a seizure.

After about fifteen seconds of constantly vibrating, Gwen's neck went slack and I pulled back from her, yanking my cock out as I rolled back on my heels. And like a puppet suddenly deprived of its manipulating hands, she became a limp, boneless pile of empty flesh. Her limbs were splayed out at random, with her legs spread to the sides. Copious amounts of honey squirted erratically out of her pussy to be mirrored by the drool dribbling out of her mouth.

But I wasn't done just yet.

My erection throbbed greedily as I reached into the drawer of my nightstand and then pulled out a familiar tube of KY jelly. I took the time to coat my member with plenty of lube before looming over Gwen's unconscious body and pushing two lubricated fingers into her anus. Slowly and deliberately, I prepared the way. And then I moved myself into position.

Gwen started to wake up as my thick mushroom head pressed against her sphincter. Still limp and unconscious in the aftermath of such a powerful orgasm, her body was at full-relaxation and accepted my cock rather easily. I had the head and the first two inches inside her chute before she stirred awake and suddenly clamped down with her anal muscles. "Oh, fuck!" she whimpered, feeling the intrusion. "What are you-?"

"Shhh..." I soothed.

"Ben..." Gwen groaned as she bunched up the sheets in her hands. "Ben, no. I've never..."

I came to a dead stop at the word 'no'. Even though I'd never personally sodomized the slutty blonde, I was surprised to find out she was an anal virgin. She certainly enjoyed my fingers there often enough. But despite my conscience preventing me from pushing further, my robotic mentality and sheer lust couldn't let me back out. Not today. Not tonight.

"You can take it," I encouraged.

"Ben, I don't think- Ahhh!" Her complaint turned to a hiss as I shifted my weight and moved another two inches into her colon. Gwen gripped the sheets tighter and exhaled, panting shallowly. "Oh FUCK you're so BIG!"

"You can take it..." I husked and pushed in another two inches, reaching my hands up to massage her neck and shoulder muscles at the same time.

"Fuckkkkk," Gwen put her forehead down on the mattress, her teeth clenched as she breathed shallowly. And then at last, I felt her anal muscles relaxing as she released the tension throughout her entire body. Even her fingers stretched out and went limp. "Oh gawd ... Fuck my ass, Ben," she said quietly.

I pushed the rest of my cock inside her, pushing my pelvic bone tight against her buttcheeks. She arched her spine when she felt me hit full penetration, lifting her head up briefly. But then she set her cheek back down on the mattress and surrendered to the sensations.

It didn't take that long.

I was too primed from fucking her and Gwen was too overwhelmed from the entire session. I can only imagine what state her mind was in after being fucked to so many mind-blowing orgasms and passing out from her most recent one. She lay beneath me, humping her ass back to meet my every thrust while reaching down with one hand to play with her own clit. I kept my hands on her shoulders, alternately using them to prop myself up and rubbing her muscles at the same time while I rhythmically pounded myself in and out of her heretofore unused backdoor.

"Fuck my assss..." Gwen whimpered, her voice muffled against the mattress. A wet spot was spreading across the sheets, both from her drool and a few tears rolling out of her eyes as she both winced against the pain and moaned from the pleasure. "Fuck my assss..."

I held on just long enough. Gwen's eyes were already pinched tightly closed when she suddenly grimaced as if in unimaginable pain. Her spine arched, her body tensed, and she stopped breathing altogether. Fifteen seconds passed before she suddenly dropped her face back down onto the bed and exhaled powerfully, a keening moan welling up from deep in her throat as she jerked violently and came. "NNNGH!"

"Nngh!" I grunted in response as my weight fell down against her buttcheeks, burying my cock to the root within her anal chute. I then let the floodgates open, pouring out my built-up load, hosing down her rectal walls with my thick, creamy spunk. Over and over I fired, my ab muscles tensing with every splattering shot. And her sphincter clenched and unclenched rhythmically, milking more and more out of my dick.

When we were both finally done, I rolled off her and flat onto my back, gasping for air. Like always, I left Gwen a puddle of orgasmic goo beside me where she'd turned onto her side, curled in a fetal position and comatose while sperm leaked in obvious white trails from both of her used and abused holes.

My mind was now a complete blank. I thought of absolutely nothing, such a blissful sensation after a full week's worth of agonizing self-reflection.

And for a brief moment, I found peace.