Chapter 23

Proofing by Pertinax, Errors by Armitage

The next two weeks were manic. The girls got schedules and I assumed that by the end of the second week we would be falling into a routine. I was wrong. Week one was nothing but chaos and I barely saw them except for Wednesday. By Saturday afternoon Lavi was in a mood and frustrated. Melissa just looked tired. We all snuggled on the bed for hours, had lazy sex, paid half attention to movies, and recharged emotionally. The week had been hard on all of us, having been so close so much for the last few weeks and then apart from each other this one. One decision we came to was that we needed more blocks of time together and with weekends needing to be figured out we decided that Thursday nights would be our time as well as Wednesday.

Weekends were harder to figure out. Saturdays Lavi went to temple with family and Sundays Melissa to church. We floated about every possible combination of these including all three of us going to both, which I wasn’t in favor of. In the end, we decided to mostly keep the status quo. We would spend Saturdays together as a family but while Lavi was at temple Melissa and I would have some alone time. When Melissa went to church on Sunday mornings Lavi and I would have some alone time and then see her parents in the afternoon. Despite an earlier, naive, plan to always share time with me they were alone a fair bit due to life. Lavi admitted she liked some alone time with Melissa and wanted some with me. Melissa felt the same. Lavi’s only conflict was that she always had family dinner on Saturdays and it was special. I asked if we could host it here and after a frantic phone call with her parents, it was done. I was now obligated to make meals for a Jewish family dinner every Saturday despite not being Jewish. I was reminded of John Lennon saying that life is what happens when you make other plans. I offered to cook a Sunday meal for Melissa’s parents and she agreed to take me up on it if her mother ever acknowledged my existence.

Through all this, a lot of life changed for me. Melissa continued to come every day possible to clean the pool but every now and then it was impossible. This meant about once a week I found myself cleaning the pool, which amused me. When Melissa did come, so did Lavi and Lavi did some cleaning around the house. Both had steadily increased their clothing stored in the closets and occasionally one would even pop over to look for something they may have left which were always pleasant surprises. When I was in high school you had six classes per day and they were the same every day. Now it was more like a college schedule, and I couldn’t keep track of theirs though I added both their schedules to my calendar just in case I needed to know. Melissa had the jeep most days and began running errands for me including a lot of pickups I used to pay extra for, which reduced some bills, making her insurance, I was pleasantly surprised to note, pay for itself.

Things were beginning to settle down by the third week. Practice for the girls was really ramping up as the following Friday was to be the first game for the football team and cheerleaders. It was late-August; the season didn’t properly start until after Labor Day so this was an exhibition game, to help the teams get the dust shook off with only a couple of weeks of practice under their belts. Melissa and Lavi caught me up on everything that had happened when they arrived Wednesday night.

We were all in the kitchen. I was cooking. Lavi and Melissa were going over notes at the table for some classes. Lavi was not enjoying her history class, and Melissa was quizzing her. I had earbuds in, watching TV while I grilled chicken breasts in the skillet. I heaped onions and mushrooms around them while the gravy was thickening. I suddenly felt arms around me and it was Melissa. I took my earbuds out as I felt her kissing the back of my neck.

“Done?” I asked.

“Lavi is as ready for her history test as she will ever be.” I flipped the chicken breasts and I reached awkwardly for the garlic butter as Melissa stayed glued to me.

“Bah fucking humbug.” That was from Lavi as she was piling books up at the end of the dinner table and got out plates. “Robert, seriously, have you ever had to know which English king came after which English king?”

“Honestly, no. I don’t remember anything from my history classes.” I turned the heat down. “Most of the history I do know comes from looking up stuff related to books or movies.”

Melissa disengaged and grabbed a carafe with homemade apple cider out of the fridge. Soon we were all eating.

Melissa, “Still coming next Friday night?”

“Couldn’t keep me away,” I said. “I look forward to the cheerleader skirts.”

Lavi, “Unfortunately we wear shorts under them.”

I grinned, “You don’t have to on the way home.”

“Perv.” Melissa smiled as she said it. “So, you’re driving Lavi’s car?”

“Yep. Then you can ride with the team and back with me.”

Lavi, “Sounds good. I don’t really want to ride with everyone on the bus...”

Melissa cut in, “but it’s good for morale on the squad.”

Lavi got a salacious look and replied, “I can think of how you can raise my morale on the trip.”

Melissa swallowed the bite of onion and chicken before saying, “Not on the bus. The testosterone is high enough.”

Lavi snorted, “Seriously.”

“So,” I said trying to ask a question I’d wanted to ask for a few weeks now. “How has their response been to our relationship.”

Melissa, “Well, I haven’t said anything to Mrs. Remington, but I’m sure she’s heard. She keeps giving us looks during practice.”

Lavi, “I noticed. I’ve gotten some crude comments, especially from the football team but all over the school really.”

“Me too.”

“Like what?” I asked.

Melissa cut up a few more pieces. “They break down into two sets really. The ‘oh you’re into pie now’ and the ‘oh, tired of hot dogs how about some thick sausage’ ones.”

Lavi shrugged. “Pretty much the same ones I always got. I don’t think it’s completely gotten around about you Robert, I think the only ones that really know are the cheerleaders and they’re not volunteering.”

“Except,” Melissa speared a piece of chicken a bit harder than she had to with the fork, “T’wana. You can bet it’s just a matter of time.”

Lavi laughed briefly. “What?” I asked.

“Oh,” she replied, “I did get one high five from one of the stoner crowd. What did he say? Something like, ‘Melissa Milton, you scored!’”

Melissa looked aghast. “What did you say?”

Lavi blew her a kiss. “I told him the truth, I did in fact score the best prize in creation.”

Melissa still looked embarrassed but pleased also and went back to eating.

“So,” my other lingering question was having trouble coming out, “uh, what about Jerry.”

Lavi stopped chewing, saw me looking at her, and looked back down at her plate. Melissa finished her bite and put her fork down and took a drink before replying.

“He cornered me in the hallway last week.”

“You didn’t say anything about it,” I said.

“There’s nothing to say.”

“Really?”

Her mouth pulled back a little tight and then she took a deep breath. “He asked if we could get back together, he said he didn’t have anything against Lavi and it was fine I was seeing her.”

Lavi’s voice dripped with sarcasm, “How magnanimous of him. He better not have thought I’d be into him.”

“Is it?” I asked. “I mean, you were willing to sleep with me before you got to know me for Melissa’s sake.”

“Yeah, but you’re not a simp.”

Melissa, “That’s mean.” Lavi shrugged and when it was clear no apology was forthcoming Melissa continued. “I told him I didn’t appreciate him talking to my mom about me. Then he said ‘us’ and I said there wasn’t an ‘us.’ He said there was a rumor and I told him not to listen to rumors but that I was in two relationships now and there wasn’t going to be a third. I told him I liked him as a person, that I liked him so much I wanted it to work and tried to but couldn’t make it happen. It was mostly true.” She looked at Lavi, “So no, I didn’t say he was a nice guy or we could be friends.”

She was looking at her plate. “Was it hard?” I asked.

“Yeah, I did the ‘rip off the band-aid’ thing, but I know it hurt him. I think he’s also gotten shit from the team about him turning me gay or something.” Her voice was soft and a little weak. Lavi grabbed her hand and squeezed it.

I thought about saying something but decided it would be trite so I got up and got the bananas and caramel from the stove. It was too easy for me to blaisé about it, I’d never even met the kid. Did I really call him a kid? Shit, he was about the same age as Melissa and Lavi.

I put the dessert on the table and rubbed at Melissa’s shoulders and kissed the top of her head. She slumped a bit and let me work my fingers into her muscles. Changing the topic, “So, there will be ten games?” I asked.

Lavi, “Yeah, once a week. There could be a few more if they win regionals but the team isn’t that good.”

“How far away do the games get?”

“Well, if we were to win regionals it’d be all over this part of the state but I think the furthest we’ve gone is maybe two hours away. The practice game is at a high school on the other side of town.”

“So the nationals you’ve done have just been for cheerleading competitions, not for football or anything?”

Melissa rejoined us after collecting herself, “Yeah. We travel less often but further for cheering. A lot of the smaller schools don’t even compete. We have one event somewhere this semester but the football season will be over by winter break and after winter break is when we’ll really get going. The whole football season is just warmup for us.”

I blinked. “Wow, I didn’t know it was so competitive.”

Lavi and Melissa smiled at each other with that telepathy thing again. A few minutes later we were in the living room, caramel, and bananas in bowls and I was being introduced to a cheerleader movie called “Bring it On”. Two hours after that I looked at them.

“Why did we just watch that?”

Lavi smiled warmly, “Because we tricked you into watching it?”

I’d walked into that. “That was not a good movie,” I replied.

Melissa had her head in Lavi’s lap and feet in mine, “It’s a classic,” argued Melissa.

“Seriously?”

Lavi, “Cult movie, at least.”

“It was special,” I allowed.

Melissa, “Nothing enjoyable?”

“I was amused by the kid reading the Naked Ape during the football game.”

Her toes poked me in the stomach. “Seriously?”

“Seriously? I guess the dancing did surprise me. I always wondered why you didn’t do more dance since you like it, but if cheering is like that I guess you do.”

Lavi, “I’d forgotten there were guys on the squad in the movie. We could use a few for lifts.”

“So, Claire Kramer or Kristen Dunst?” I asked Lavi.

Lavi, “Claire was the bitchy blonde?”

“Yeah.”

She stretched which did very nice things for her chest. “Neither. Dunst isn’t blonde enough and I prefer to be the bitchy one.”

“Eliza Dushku?” Asked Melissa.

Lavi stroked Melissa’s hair. “I could eat her with a spoon.”

“Gabrielle Union?” I asked.

She looked at me. “I wouldn’t need the spoon.”

I think Melissa and I were both trying to hold it in but within seconds all three of us were laughing.

“Our football team isn’t that bad though,” said Lavi. “I mean they’re not good but they do win games.”

I rubbed Melissa’s feet, “What happened with Xinyi?”

Melissa, “She’s an alternate. If she keeps a good attitude we’ll add her into the team after three or four games. She actually is talented.”

“But,” said Lavi, “if she pulls any more shit...”

Melissa finished, “it will be next year before she has a chance.”

Saturday came around. Lavi was at temple and I hadn’t bothered to get out of bed except to get coffee and was reading. I heard footsteps and looked up to see Melissa was in the doorway. I got to see her skip forward and then was stretched out with me. She wiggled out of her pants and blouse without getting up and soon was gloriously nude, her clothes thrown around the bed. She laid her head on my shoulder and was playing with herself. I put the bookmark in and laid the book on my side table.

I rolled over so I was facing here. “Horny?”

She kissed me and pressed against me.

“Very,” she replied when the kiss finally stopped. I kicked the sheet off and pulled my boxers down. Melissa’s hand grasped me immediately and stroked gently.

“Any particular reason?” I pulled a strand of hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ear.

“You’ll think I’m silly.”

“I already think you’re silly.”

She pouted but replied, “Fine, I was in bed last night and it felt weird. I had to imagine, like trick my brain into thinking you and Lavi were there with me to help me go to sleep.”

I looked in her eyes. “Now, you’re a silly girl but that wasn’t silly, I do that every night you aren’t here.”

“You do?”

“Uh-huh.”

She kept stroking me but rubbed her face against my chest. “Maybe it just means I’m not the only silly one.”

I ran my fingers through her hair. “Maybe so. Still doesn’t explain why you’re horny though.”

“I was tense going to sleep, tense waking up. I walked over here and I came in the front door and it was just like this ball of tension was gone in my gut. It kind of freaked me out but then I realized what it felt like. It was like when I would be gone on trips and I finally got back to my room, my little refuge, and was safe again. But now that’s here.”

“I’m following but how does relaxed equal horny?”

She sounded like I should understand this. “I don’t know. But once I was relaxed it was like my uterus was screaming to get laid and I found you in bed and it felt right to get naked and get you hard.”

“So ... you’re saying the only thing keeping this from being better is that my dick is in your hand instead of inside you?”

She grinned and looked up at me. “Uh-huh.”

“M’lady, I shall oblige.”

She rolled over and I was on my knees between her legs when she said “Stop!” I did. She looked at me, golden hair around her, one of my hands on her hips, her tracing a finger along with it. “Can you put on music?”

I laughed and grabbed her phone from where she had tossed it onto the bed and set it to going with the speakers in the bedroom and put her ever-shifting ‘fun’ playlist on. Soon the room was pulsing with light vocals and the very regular percussion of some K-pop song. Melissa was wiggling her hips and legs around as if she was dancing while lying down. Her eyes were closed and remained that way as I got between her legs again and slowly worked my way into her. I got there and didn’t even really fuck her. I just remained inside her and moved out a tiny bit and pushed back in. Melissa just kept her eyes closed and sighed contentedly.

“Anything you want to talk about?” She asked.

“Right now?”

“Seems like a good time to me. Just stay like this and spend the rest of the day with you hard buried in me. This is my happy place. If Lavi was curled up next to me and a couple of kids running around downstairs it’d be perfect.”

“Do you want kids as much as Lavi?”

“I didn’t use to. I used to be pretty ambivalent, like maybe one day I would, but now every time you cum in me I find myself imagining one of your sperm making its little journey and me swelling.”

I admit I was a little concerned. “You’re taking the pill though, right?”

“Oh yeah, but it’s not perfect, it could happen. I know it’d screw up so many things but...” She ran her hand over her lower stomach and didn’t finish the thought.

I thought about it, really thought about it, and buried in her I felt like my penis swelled as I imagined her large round belly with my child.

“Ooo...” she said, “someone likes the idea.” I felt her muscles squeeze me. I growled and grabbed her legs, pulling them up and bent them towards her chest. Exposing her as much as I could I began slamming into her.

“You like that?” I asked.

“Fuck yeah.” She grunted as she bucked her hips back at me. “I thought we were just going to relax here though.”

“That was your plan, mine is to fuck a baby into you.”

“Damn goat men, thinking with your dicks.” But she wasn’t unhappy about it.

We stopped talking and just fucked then, our light banter turned into enthusiastic sex. She came twice but never stopped bucking her hips as she did and when I came I found myself holding my breath as I concentrated on the sensation of emptying into her.

As I started softening I began to pull out but she scooted like a mongoose and got my dick into her mouth and hard again.

“Come on, scoot behind me.” She laid down on her side and I spooned behind her as she guided me back in. I reached around and held her as we listened to music and chatted. Eventually, hunger won out over our indolence and we went downstairs to make sandwiches.

While Melissa got out fixings I put on the brisket for later to let it slow cook. We then sat at the kitchen table, chewed on ham turkey sandwiches and drank coffee. Melissa started to go through the pile of mail that had been growing as Lavi deposited it there when she came in each day. Everything was paid automatically by bank draft so I didn’t look at it very often. I was going over the prep list for dinner when Melissa held one up and said, “HOA.”

I looked at her. “HomeOwners Association?”

“Yeah.” She took the letter out. “They say your grass is too high.”

I grunted. “Every few years someone gets a bee in their bonnet and goes around measuring everyone’s lawns and gets pissy about it.”

“It says they can charge you a fine.”

“Nah, the rule is it can’t be above a certain height but you only have to mow it once a week at the maximum no matter how high it is. The lawn guys I hire do that and often twice a week when we have a lot of rain like now.”

“Oh. Wonder if Rian got one of these; he’s really bad about mowing.”

“Really?” I had everything I needed for the brisket, veggies, and bread. “He seems like the kind of guy that would be really on top of that stuff.”

“He has grass allergies so he puts it off. And mom insists he mows it himself, something about that’s what the husband is supposed to do.”

“Well, I’m happy to let someone else do it.”

“Oh speaking of chores...”. I paused looking at my tablet and looked up at her. She grinned. “You don’t have to look so afraid.”

“I’ve heard of these honey-do lists. We men have newsletters. I’ve been warned.”

She smiled sweetly. “I’m not going to tell you to do anything but...” she reached out and stroked my hand, “what if I ask pretty please with sugar on top.”

“Topless?” I arched an eyebrow.

Without hesitation, she took her shirt off. She hadn’t bothered to put her bra back on and leaned over and hugged herself pushing her cleavage up. “Pretty please?”

It took a moment but I did look her in the eye. “I’m doomed.”

“I hope so.” She grinned. “So, I picked up the art prints from the crafts store yesterday. They’re all framed and in the garage along with a picture hanging kit.”

“You and Lavi picked spots?”

“Yep, I’ll show you.”

“You have to stay topless.”

“Deal.”

She got up and I followed. In a few minutes, she was holding pictures in place, topless, while I marked where to put hangers in the drywall. I realized as doing it that a honey-do list might be tolerable with a topless Melissa helping me. Or Lavi. Or both. That chore was followed by laundry. I put things in and out of the washing machine and dryer while Melissa put things up. She had decided that I had a distinctly masculine approach to folding clothes. I preferred washing anyway so it seemed like a win to me.

After that, I started the dough in for the challah bread so that it would have time to rise before baking. The plan was for a three plait loaf though if I got comfortable with it I’d like to try a really fancy six plait ones at some point. I turned around after putting it in the proving drawer. She was leaning against the door frame, still topless, watching me.

“I thought I was supposed to be the one who creepily watched you,” I said.

“Nope,” she replied, “I’m the pervert, seducing the innocent older man with my feminine arts.”

“You seduced me when you said hello.”

“Then why did I have to strip down to a bikini and jump in your pool!?”

“I like to play hard to get.”

“Not anymore, you’re mine.” I approached her and she put her arms around me.

“I am.”

It seemed like a good time to kiss her so I did. Then I pulled my head back and she did the kissing. Maybe we needed a tie-breaker because we did it a third time and this time I pushed her back against the wall and grabbed her ass. She filled my hands perfectly in her tight pants.

Melissa, “We should take a shower before Lavi and her parents get here.”

I dug my fingers into her taut ass. “How about you take a shower and I just happen to be there at the same time?”

She took on her little girl voice she liked to tease me with, “Oh my! Do you think that’s proper?”

I sneered dramatically, “Don’t worry, I’m good at helping little girls clean the hard to reach places.” I used both hands to pull on her cheeks and make my innuendo clear.

“Well, so long as it’s all about proper hygiene...” She pushed me off her and wiggled her hips as she climbed the stairs. I was immediately behind her.

Once upstairs we both got clothes to change into and put them in the bathroom. I also grabbed a bottle of lube and put it onto a shelf next to the hair products in the shower. In the shower, we laughed and played with each other. I washed her hair and back while she did the same for mine. At some point, she noticed the lube and picked it up.

“Oh dear sir, what could be the intent of this?”

“Just something to help get the cleaning really deep in the dirty places,” I replied as cheesily as I could.

She put it back down. “Oh!” She used her mock innocent face and bent over, “I have a dirty place. Can you help me?”

I took the lube from her hand and stepped out of the stream of water. I played with the rosebud of her ass with my thumb and fucked in washing it before getting on my knees and tonguing it.

“Oh, good sir, you’re putting your mouth there!”

Drops of water ran into my face but I held her butt cheeks open with my hands and lapped at it. Honestly, doing this wasn’t terribly interesting to me but I knew Melissa loved butt play and loved the dirtiness of it and as she got excited so did I. Getting the lube I let it dribble and worked some in with my finger. Standing up my knees protested. Kneeling in the shower isn’t that much fun but this next part would be.

Lubrication plus experience made a huge difference and Melissa took me. She released a few grunts as I worked in but it was a radical difference from the first time we’d tried anal. I worked in and out slowly as she leaned forward and just braced against the wall.

“Oh yeah, fuck my ass baby.” I love it when she’s vocal. “Fuck my ass like you mean it, fuck me into the wall, fuck me until your cum is trailing down my leg. Maybe I should get you to fuck me before church tomorrow and go with your cum trailing down my leg, would you like that baby?”

Fuck. I responded by fucking harder.

“Oh, you do like that. Is it the church? No, you just want me marked as your’s don’t you.”

I almost spit it out. “Yes.” It came out harsher than I intended.

“Then fuck me so that I know it. Fuck my ass so that I can still feel it when I have to sit. AH YEAH!” She shuddered, clearly cuming. One of her knees started to give and I slapped her on the ass.

“Keep your position slut.”

“Yes sir. God, you’re thick, you’re going to bruise my ass ... no, don’t slow down, bruise it, make me feel it!”

I couldn’t take any more and I grabbed a fist of her hair and pulled her hair back. She shuddered again and shook happily against me.

I kissed her gently. “Are you okay?”

“Uh-huh.” She beamed. “I like getting you worked up.”

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I trust you not to ... too much.” She grinned. I think she saw my concern. “I’ll tell you what. If I ever want to try ... really rough stuff, like where I don’t want you to stop even though I tell you to; I’ll set a safeword with you. Until then just stop if I say so. How’s that?”

“And you promise to say so?”

“If we ever go too far it’ll be because I really thought I’d be fine. Is that enough?”

“All right but I have the right to stop things too then.”

She nodded. “That seems fair. Now, my hair if you would?” She turned and I reached for the shampoo. This would take a while. One half of eternity later we were almost done when Melissa brought up something from the past. Melissa had been wanting to do this for a while and knelt while I released a yellow stream across her chest. I finished and looked to see what she was feeling.

“That was...” she seemed to search for words, “less interesting than I thought it would be.”

After one quick rinse off we were finally done and drying off. “You seem almost sad about it,” I said.

“I’ve watched videos, they seemed really turned on by it.”

“It’s their thing, not yours.”

She was putting her panties on. “I know but I want to do everything for you.”

I let her get her legs straight again and held her from behind. “Is the unbelievably hot nymph concerned about not being enough for the old wrinkly satyr?”

“I won’t be a nymph forever and you’re distinguished, not wrinkly.”

“No, you won’t be a nymph forever but you will be smart and kind and wonderful forever and ever.”

“What about when the house is in chaos?”

I asked back, “What do you mean?”

She was putting her hair back in a ponytail. I enjoyed watching it. “You like things calm and ordered and ... if Lavi and I have kids it’s going to be crazy - screaming babies and things constantly changing. Can I still make you happy then?”

“I didn’t grow up around kids. We didn’t have extended family. But I’ve been alone long enough. I don’t know what kind of dad I’ll be but I’m ready to do this for us including whatever comes with it.”

“To make Lavi and I happy?”

“Yes and no. I can’t be happy unless you are.”

“You got harder thinking about me pregnant earlier.”

“What can I say, satyrs like the fruit of their labors.”

She continued getting dressed and looked at my slyly. “Fruit is good for you.”

I grinned back, “And I hear nymphs are especially good at picking and delivering it.”

She smiled and in a formal voice, “Thank you for your help bathing, good sir. I’ll be sure to tell mommy you’ve been such a good friend.”

I laughed. “If you do I want a recording of her reaction.” With that, we finished getting dressed and just in time as I heard the bedroom door shut and Lavi walked in.

“Did I get here too early or too late?” She asked.

“Definitely too late,” Melissa responded and kissed her eagerly.

“So, when are your parents going to be here?” I asked.

Lavi looked at me. “They’re here.”

“Uh ... dinner won’t be ready for a while.”

“They know.”

“So... “ I was confused.

Melissa looked at me critically, “So, we socialize.”

“Oh.”

A few minutes later I was downstairs greeting Peter and Sylvia who sat at the kitchen table and Peter was putting out some kind of game with wooden tiles that had shapes of various colors on them. Soon, Lavi, Melissa, and Peter were engaged in the game while Sylvia surfed for something on her phone to play in the background while I began preparation for dinner. She was standing at the island while I got things out of the fridge.

“You know,” she said, “you don’t have to cook. We just order Chinese a lot of the time since we’re not supposed to do big stuff on Saturday.”

I shrugged. “I’m not Jewish though, I can do it for you.”

“Seriously, we often just make something on Friday and re-heat it or make sandwiches. You’re going to spoil us.”

“How about this,” I countered, “I’ll cook except when I don’t want to. We’ll order Chinese those days.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

Appeased, she went back to browsing. Soon the soundtrack to the Commitments was playing.

Sylvia again, “How can I help? I feel useless.”

“Just talk to me. They’re in their own universe over there.”

She laughed. “Yeah, they’re all competitive. I like the game, it’s simple but Peter has a bad habit of pointing out when something is statistically a better bet so I sit out a lot. Lavi does the number crunching in her head. One of them usually wins. Mellie does pretty well though. You should probably get used to the games, they’re one of Peter’s social tools. Give him a chance and he will suck you into mahjong without hesitation.”