Chapter 22

Jack flicked a quick glance to the passenger seat as he drove back towards the school. Denise appeared to be sleeping quietly in the seat beside him. 'God she's wonderful, ' thought Jack as he returned his attention to the road in front of him. He still had about an hour of driving before reaching her apartment and he allowed his thoughts to return to the night before. The fact that he'd gotten to escort three beautiful ladies to dinner was enough to swell his ego - and other parts - for the whole evening.

Jack had been nervous about being in public with the three girls when he first came down the stairs of the house. In the short time he'd known all three of them, Jack had never been out on a formal dress up style date with any of them. To comprehend the fact that he had to escort all three of them at the same time, was slightly intimidating. Jack suspected they had all tried to out do each other in the fashion department, but the effect was breathtaking. Once over his original shock, Jack had escorted them to Staci's convertible and when she handed him the keys, driven them to the restaurant. Denise had curled up in the front seat since she had the shortest legs of the trio. Jill and Staci had huddled together in the small back seat, but neither one voiced a single complaint about the cramped conditions. The girls had selected a fancy looking restaurant on the edge of town and it only took a few minutes and a couple wrong turns before Jack deposited the three women at the sidewalk leading up to the front door. Once they had disembarked, Jack found an empty slot, parked Staci's car, put up the top and then joined his three impatient dates that had remained waiting right where he'd dropped them off.

Denise had selected an elegant seafood restaurant and Jack immediately began to worry about how he was supposed to afford dinner. As he fidgeted nervously, Denise slipped her arm around his waist and gave a gentle squeeze. Turning slightly, she pulled Jack to her and kissed him on the lips then whispered, "Don't worry about the price, we'll all go Dutch," as she pressed her free swinging breasts into his chest. Jack looked down to see her erect nipples poking holes in her blouse as she moved to stand next to him. Jack was certain that they would be waiting for a long time due to the crowd of people at the entrance, but to his shock, the maitre d took them immediately to a table on the deck.

The man seated the girls first and waited until everyone was seated before handing out the menus and promising that the server would be with them momentarily. Jill shot a dirty look at the man's retreating back before opening her menu to look over her choices for dinner.

"What was that for?" asked Staci, a tad innocently even for her.

"Like you couldn't tell he was oogling my boobs the whole time," growled Jill.

Staci leaned over and kissed Jill gently on the cheek. "First of all with this new job you're starting, you'd better get used to it. Secondly, I've been oogling them all damn day too and I'm going to love getting my hands and mouth on them later so you just deal," she whispered, "besides you look hot. You probably gave him his first hard on by a woman in ages."

Jill flushed and pouted for a minute.

Staci pulled back slightly and quietly remarked, "Jill look, I know you weren't keen on this but you look great and I wish you'd loosen up and have a good time."

Jill's face relaxed slightly and she gave Staci a long look. Finally she nodded, returning her attention to the menu.

Jack and Denise ignored the whole exchange and instead concentrated on the menu and it's multitude of offerings. After a lengthy discussion, Jack took his menu and set it on top of Denise's at the corner of the table. Staci and Jill were still looking things over when the server appeared. The young man seemed a bit flustered as he told them about the specials and offered to bring them drinks. Staci smiled and ordered a margarita on the rocks; after a sidelong glance at her roommate, Jill ordered the same. Denise gave Jack a quizzical glance and when he nodded, she ordered one for herself. Jack had iced tea.

The poor waiter hustled off, returning momentarily with the drinks and a large basket of white rolls and butter. Assuring him that they needed a few minutes, Staci sent the young man off, much to his obvious relief. Smiling she raised her glass and offered a toast.

"To the end of a wonderful weekend."

The group clinked glassed and settled back into their chairs.

"Well, I've had a wonderful time this weekend," said Denise, "I think we both have. Thanks so much for inviting us."

Jill smiled demurely, "you should really be thanking my aunt and the wonderful people who left early. Thank you for coming, it's been fun."

Staci slid a hand down on to Jill's thigh, squeezing slightly. "Yes," she seconded, "It's been a wonderful weekend and one I wouldn't mind repeating next summer."

Jill tensed a bit with Staci's hand rested familiarly on her thigh, the nails gently caressing the inside. "I'll tell my aunt," she mumbled, "but I think the place is a bit expensive for us to afford."

Staci giggled and gave Jill's smooth thigh a final teasing squeeze before removing her hand to take another sip of her drink.

"Thank you both for inviting us," Jack said finally, "I hope that I didn't upset anyone with how I acted yesterday."

Staci smiled as Denise grabbed his hand.

"Don't worry about it," Denise said with a small smile, "by taking us all out tonight you're more than making up for it."

Jack's face paled as the three girls laughed. Staci leaned across the table, revealing that she had undone the first three buttons on her blouse, and patted Jack's hand lightly while he looked down her top.

"She's kidding of course. We know that you're just paying for Jill and Denise, I'll buy my own."

Jack's eyes flashed and he was about to say something when Denise kicked him under the table. Turning towards her, Jack caught the stern look in her blue eyes. He swallowed the nasty comment he was about to make and looked down at the table. Fortunately the waiter returned a moment later to take their order.

The food, when it finally arrived, was excellent. Jack and Denise shared a pile of steamed mussels and a large Caesar salad. Jill had opted for blackened Grouper with a house salad while Staci went whole hog and had the all you can eat crab legs with fries. Jack slowly relaxed as the girls had another round of drinks before their entrees came and was convinced to join them in sharing a bottle of crisp white wine with the main course. The salad was kind of bland but the mussels more than made up for it. They were steamed and served in a large bowl over ice. Jack and Denise tore into them like they were on a time limit, pausing several times to accuse each other of eating more than their share. Across the table, Jill slowly ate her grouper, her eyes dancing with amusement as Staci inhaled her first plate of crab legs only to request another from their harried waiter. The waiter whisked away with her now empty plate and returned a few moments later with a second large pile of crab legs. Staci was just finishing her second plate when the waiter returned to take the dirty dishes away from the other members of the table.

"Would you like more?" he asked solicitously as he bent down to remove the overflowing plate of shells from beside her.

Staci assumed a thoughtful look as she sucked the last of the meat out of the leg she was currently devouring, "Hmmm, yeah, I think a half order ought to do it."

Jill's eyes grew round as Jack snorted and Denise giggled. The waiter looked stunned, but retreated and brought another plate for her. Staci looked around the table making eye contact with each of her friends in turn as the young man set the plate down and proceeded to tear into the fresh pile of food. When the dust settled several minutes later, Staci leaned back holding her mostly empty wine glass and stifled a small burp.

"That hit the spot," she sighed, contentedly.

"My god, Staci," giggled Jill, seemingly more relaxed after a margarita and a glass of wine, "I may have to roll you home. I don't think I've ever seen you eat so much in one sitting."

"You do realize," interjected Jack, "that you ate almost three whole crabs tonight?"

"Well, I haven't eaten anything all day," whined Staci, "besides it was all you can eat and I like to get my money's worth."

"Haven't eaten... anything?" queried Denise with a hint of a grin on her face.

Staci flushed slightly, "Ok, so I haven't eaten anything that actually contributed to my caloric intake."

Jack snorted loudly, causing both Jill and Denise to start giggling which led in turn to all four of them laughing loudly for several minutes. Several tables around them looked for the source of the loud laughter, but didn't appear to get the joke. They were just regaining their composure when the waiter returned with their bill. He placed the small slip of paper in its black tray with four peppermints, on the table next to Jack and scurried back to the kitchen. Jack gazed thoughtfully at the three girls for a moment, but didn't touch the bill.

"So what's the damage Jack," asked Staci.

"Don't know, why don't you look for yourself," he replied coolly.

Staci shot him a strange look. "Just pick it up and tell us. You're the CS major after all, you have the best math skills."

"Can't do it, sorry," he replied as he tried to hide a burgeoning grin.

"And why not," asked Staci archly as she snatched the bill from beside him and turned it over to look at the itemized report.

"Because I was always brought up to believe that whom ever first took the bill was required to pay it," he stated gleefully.

His declaration brought fresh gales of laughter from both Jill and Denise while Staci glowered at him. When everyone calmed down again, the negotiations began. Finally, Staci tossed her credit card on the bill and asked that everyone else pay her in cash. Jack and Denise both coughed up ten dollars apiece to cover their meal, then an additional three apiece to cover the tip, while Staci handed her card to the waiter as he hurried by with yet another tray full of steaming food.

It was several minutes before busy young man returned with Staci's card, a pen and the receipt to be signed. Staci signed with a flourish, tossed the ones that Jack and Denise had given her for the tip and stood up. The others joined her and they wandered off the deck and down to the cooling sand below.

"I feel like a walk," declared Staci as she shucked off her pumps, inadvertently flashing her black panties to both Jack and Denise.

"I can't imagine why," retorted Jill who was also in the process of taking her shoes off, albeit a bit more carefully than her roommate, "But Staci you'll ruin your hose."

Staci looked down with consternation. "Be right back," she announced as she slipped back on her pumps and headed back into the restaurant in search of the ladies room.

Denise shrugged and slipped off her shoes as well, handing them to Jack. Jack cocked an eyebrow at her, but accepted the shoes. Jill meanwhile carefully knelt down to scoop her own shoes and began wriggling her toes into the slowly cooling soft sand. Staci finally returned about ten minutes later sans hose. She slipped off her shoes with a bit more decorum than before and offered a hand to Jill. The two of them walked hand in hand down the cooling beach sand watching the sunset, followed closely by Jack and Denise. As the foursome reached the edge of the water, Staci paused staring at the red and gold sky. Denise moved in front of Jack so the water was lapping at her feet and leaned back. Jack obediently slipped his arms around her waist while the water swirled around their feet. Jill stood for a moment next to Staci before moving behind her and mimicking Jack by putting her arms around the blonde. Staci sighed contentedly as Jill's arms went around her waist and leaned back, resting her head against the brunette's chest. They stood at the edge of the surf for some time watching as the sky slowly turned from red and orange to violet and indigo and then finally into darkness. Nothing was said as the four of them watched the sun drop into the sea and the stars began to come out. Surprisingly they weren't joined by anyone else the whole time they stood at the water's edge.