Chapter 30

Denise woke up.

It was Sunday morning. She, Elaine and Susan had spent the whole of Saturday together, just simply enjoying each other's company.

Susan's bed was crowded with the three of them, and Denise wondered idly for a moment whether she should broach the subject of getting a bigger bed.

She twisted over and met the twinkling eyes of Susan. They both heard a soft snore from Elaine, and smiled at one another. Susan mouthed "Coffee?" at Denise, who nodded, so they carefully got out of bed, grabbed robes and went into the kitchen.

"Do you think we went a little over the top with Elaine last night?" asked Susan.

"Nah. Though it was fun, wasn't it?" answered Denise.

She thought back. They'd double-teamed Elaine, giving her no mercy, each delighting in pushing the diminutive blonde higher and higher, until eventually Elaine had screamed "Stop!" and curled into a foetal position. Then they'd both hugged her, feeling her come down gradually, body quaking, as they delighted in expressing their love for and joy in the pretty girl.

Once she'd recovered, Elaine had simply wanted to roll over and go to sleep, so Denise and Susan had let her, making a bedtime drink of hot chocolate and relaxing, feeling the love between them deepen, but though both were aware of Denise's words from the previous night, neither had spoken openly of them.

Now, in the wan Sunday morning light from the overcast sky outside, Susan brought it up.

"Denise, you recall what you said just before you went to sleep Friday night?"

Denise blushed. She hadn't been certain that Susan had heard her.

Susan laid a hand over the older redhead's. "It's okay, I understand. We'll have to see what can be done, won't we?"

Denise looked glum, despite her companion's upbeat mood.

"I don't think it'll be that easy. I really think I've burnt my bridges with those two. Friends, yes, but I think Stan's out of my reach now."

Denise couldn't help it. Unbidden, tears began to fall as she said that, and a lump filled her throat. She opened her mouth to add that she was happy with Susan and Elaine, but couldn't get a sound out.

Susan stood, came around the table and hugged the older woman. Denise simply let it happen, her mind elsewhere. Stan was nice, protective, and friendly to her. It was Anne who'd been distant, but even she was being friendlier now. Could it be possible? The concept of a 'troi', three people committed to one another, not just some fun for a night or two, was very new to her. She resolved to see if there was anything she could find out about such things.

In the meantime, life still had to be lived. She pulled away from Susan, wiped her eyes and said, "Are we going to go down to Iorio's for breakfast today?"

Susan resumed her seat. "I don't see why not. I quite fancy something nice this morning, and the walk will do us good — wake us up. We'll need to check with Elaine, of course."

"Of course!" said Denise.

"Besides," said Susan with a sly grin at her new lover, "A certain gentleman and his girlfriend might be there.

Elaine, Denise and Susan walked down the hill and onto the High Street to Iorio's. The three of them walked in together and greeted Tony.

"What-a can I get you, ladies?" he asked.

Denise took charge, this time. "Three cappuccinos and, I guess, six butter croissants? Yes?" she asked, checking with the other two. Hearing no objection, she confirmed, "Yes, six of those please, Tony. We'll be at the back."

"My, who's got all assertive?" teased Elaine as they walked to their usual booth.

"I have!" laughed Denise. "Well, about breakfast, anyway!"

The three ladies sat, with Elaine and Susan next to one another, Denise opposite. They chatted about this and that for a while, then tucked into their croissants when Tony served them up with the coffees.

It wasn't long afterwards when Susan saw Stan and Anne coming towards them.

"Hey, you two! Come and sit with us!" she called.

"What makes you think we weren't going to gatecrash anyway!" laughed Anne.

"And look who we've found here!" said Stan, grabbing the only newspaper from the rack. "A fine group of young ladies — I expect we'll be reading about you in here soon!" The newspaper he'd picked up was well known as liking risqué tittle-tattle, the more salacious the better, especially if the people involved were in the public eye at all.

Stan sat next to Denise, while Anne perched on the end of the bench next to Susan. Once again the friends settled down to talking about nothing much. Tony brought Anne and Stan's breakfast over, and the five friends enjoyed their Sunday morning.

Anne turned to Denise sitting diagonally opposite her and asked "Are you looking forward to the dancing tomorrow night, Denise?"

"Yes, very much — but I wonder if Tom will be there. It might be a bit awkward if that two-timing bastard's going too."

Stan assured her, "Tom would have to be a dick to go, surely?"

All there agreed with him, but Denise wasn't so sure. She said, "Yes, but he is a bit of a dick, isn't he?"

Denise was reassured by everyone there. Anne said, "Even if he is there, Denise, stick with us and we'll make sure there aren't any problems. Okay? Besides, I'm getting excited just sitting here and thinking about doing that dance."

Denise nodded, but Anne could tell she wasn't happy. Susan changed the subject to Kate Beckinsale in the Underworld movies, "Don't you think she's hot?" she asked.

"Well, she's not really my type!" laughed Anne, but she added "Mind you, she does look very sexy in that outfit!"

Susan filed the information away. It might be useful in the future.

Monday morning found Elizabeth in a good mood. James had come round again, she told Stan, "Just to do a bit of gardening, and to fix up a shelf of mine, you know."

"And to have a nice meal, and perhaps a little wine?" he asked, with knowingly raised eyebrows.

"Well, it seemed only fair to cook him a meal, after all!" replied Elizabeth.

Stan smiled. It seemed that Elizabeth and James were seeing a lot of each other lately. He knew that Elizabeth had, herself, been lonely. She'd told him once or twice, long ago, how empty the house felt now the children had grown up. Stan hoped that James would be capable of filling that emptiness for his friend.

Later that morning Denise tracked Elizabeth down in the manufacturing test area. She asked if she'd have lunch with her, as usual. "Of course, Denise, silly!" came the reply, so at lunch the two ladies met. It was raining, so they found a table indoors by the wall where they could talk in relative privacy.

"Elizabeth, I wanted to talk over some stuff I'm going through at the moment," she said, after the weekend's chatter had been gone over. "Do you mind if I use you as a sounding board?"

Elizabeth smiled. She was used to this, first from Stan of course, but also from Denise in the past.

"Of course not. I'll just listen."

You know about me and Elaine, don't you? Well, you know that she's with another girl now, Susan, yes?"

Elizabeth let Denise tell her about the two girls, and how she'd fallen into a new relationship with both of them.

"So now, I've got not one but two girlfriends. Trouble is, what I really want is a boyfriend. Worst is, I've come to realize who he is."

"Stan," Elizabeth replied flatly, astonishing Denise. "Why do you look surprised? You never got over him, did you? Those other guys were merely attempts to replace him, not real boyfriends as such, really, were they?"

Denise closed her mouth and thought for a moment. At the time, she'd really felt for Jim, on holiday. But he was a bit young, and he was fun but a bit shallow. Tom? Well, least said, she thought.

"You're probably right, Elizabeth," she said with a sigh. "But now I'm left in a quandary. Don't get me wrong, I love Elaine and Susan, but we all know that I need more than that, or perhaps something different to that. What I don't know is how to go about it."

Elizabeth smiled in distant remembrance. "It was easy in my day, I suppose. I'd just go up and tell the guy I fancied him, and ask his girlfriend if it was all right. It usually was..." She tailed off. "Somehow it all seemed so easy then, so uncomplicated. I suppose you'd tell me we were all naïve, and you'd be right, but it was nice at the time."

Elizabeth focussed, and looked hard at Denise. "You need to do some serious soul searching, Denise. You have to decide what you want, really want, and how much you want it, what compromises you are willing to make for it. Take your time, dear, but please be careful and try not to hurt anyone." Denise started to protest, but Elizabeth held up her hand. "I know you wouldn't hurt anyone deliberately. But you have to consider a lot of people, not just yourself. There are four other people involved!"

On Monday afternoon, before leaving work, Stan made sure he saw Denise. "We'll come around to pick you up then, Denise. About a quarter to seven?"

"That'll be fine, Stan. I'll see you later." She told him, and went back to her current troubleshooting job.

That evening, Denise again took a great delight in a little dressing up.

She wore her 'little black dress'. She'd been told by Elizabeth, "Every woman should have one, dear." And Denise had to agree that she looked good in it. This one had two thin straps for her shoulders, came to about mid-thigh apart from the longer flutter hem which came down almost to her right ankle. She'd found a black velvet diamanté belt to go with it, and a pair of burgundy satin-finished shoes.

She wore her long wavy hair cascading down her back. A little makeup completed her look. She was studying herself in the mirror, turning this way and that, when the doorbell rang. Stan and Anne were here.

She collected her shoes — Denise was wearing sneakers, and would change once there — and ran to the front door. There she found Anne, grinning from ear to ear, and seeming very, very happy indeed. No, not happy, Denise decided, satisfied.

There'd been reason for that. Anne had arrived home and got herself a quick snack, then got herself ready for the night. She thought back to last week, when she'd got so horny dancing with Stan, and then afterwards, what they'd got up to... or down to, she thought, with a guilty giggle. Looking at the clock, she realized she was almost a half hour early. She wondered what to do, and then with a sly grin she wondered what Stan was doing. So she called him, and he said he was simply waiting.

"Well, come on over!" Anne said.

He arrived scant minutes afterwards. Anne had simply told him, "I want you, now," and had pulled him into the living room, bent at the waist over the arm of her chair, pulled her panties aside and told him, "Now, Stan, I'm horny. Now!"

Stan knew when to do as he was told, but honestly he was worried he wouldn't be ready, at first. But when he saw Anne bent over like that with her ass wiggling and her pussy shiny with juices he found he was very, very ready.

Anne wasn't kidding. She was wet, easily accepting Stan as he unceremoniously thrust himself home. He didn't think he'd last long, and tried to hold back, but Anne urged him on, grunting "Faster!" as he moved in her. Stan went into overdrive, and very quickly he came. Anne whirled around and kissed him, then she told him "God, I enjoyed that! A change of pace — I think we'll have to do that more often!"

So now Anne was at Denise's door, wearing her black and gold high collared dress again. Stan took one look at them, glanced at his own dark suit and asked them "Where's the funeral?" and then ducked as both women hit him, playfully.

Stan drove, and Anne twisted in her seat to look back at Denise who was sitting behind him.

"Are you going to go on to the intermediate classes after this, Denise?" she asked. "I'm not sure if I want to or not."

"Neither am I, but probably not for the same reason," responded Denise. "I think Raoul will still be going, and I don't want to meet him."

"What happened to 'I'm fed up with pussyfooting around'?" Anne asked, with a slight smile.

Denise looked at her a little sheepishly. "Um, yes, I did say that, didn't I? Well, okay, but I still don't want to meet him. But you're right, I did mean that I wouldn't hide away."

"Well, there's a difference between going because you want to, and going through bravado, Denise. Think it through — it's not as if you've got to decide straight away."