Chapter 1: Spring

I was the first to admit that I don't handle breakups well, but after Yvette, I was a mess. I spent a lot of time brooding. I didn't ignore Alex or my family but I wasn't really connected either. I did what was expected of me and nothing more.

Mom showed up one Sunday afternoon with luggage.

"What's up?" I asked her after I kissed her cheek and got her some ice tea.

"Just came to visit my baby. A mother can do that." And if I didn't know what a brilliant liar my mother was, I might have believed that. I waited. Finally, she relented. "Fine. Alex says you stopped swimming."

"Alex should mind his own damn business." Alex didn't say anything to that. "But that's no reason for you to lug all the way up here."

"Peter Harper McElroy, you been up an' in the water by 5:am ever since you 10 years old. You tried ta swim when you had chicken pox. Now, all uh sudden, you ain't seen sight uh water in uh month?"

"I work in a pool. I swim every day."

"Not the same." Alex muttered behind me. I glared at him.

"It ain't the same, Peter, don't try an' bullshit, me boy. I done it uh whole lot longer-n you. Somethin' eatin' at you an' it's more-n just Yvette done left ya. She ain't appreciate you, no how."

"She loves me, Mom." I stood up; I still hated talking about her. "We just had some issues."

"You love somebody, you make sacrifices fo' 'em." Mom repeated Dad's favorite adage.

"I'm not discussin' this, Mother. How long you fixin' ta stay?"

"Long as I need to." She took a sip and looked at me. "Long as I'm welcome."

"You're always welcome, Mom." I'd have to be a whole lot angrier to put her out. "Come on; let's get you settled in." Alex and I passed in the hallway when he went to get clean sheets. "You ain't gonna be able to walk fo' uh week, when I finish with you, boy."

He grinned for the rest of the day. But he deserved a reward; someone had to give me a kick in the pants.

Mom stayed for two weeks. We gave her a tour of the campus and took her to DC for dinner a couple times. She came by the pool and I let her 'audit' one of my swimming classes. I had to restrain myself when one of her classmates got a little too friendly but once he understood that he was groping my mother, he learned a little decorum.

"Worse than yo' Daddy, boy, I swear." Mom chuckled on our way home.

"Where you think I learned that move from?"

"Yeah, but he ain't never done it off the football field."

"So?"

She laughed outright. I loved my mother's laugh. I loved everything about my mother. I have never 'loved' my mother although I think she's still one of the hottest women I know but I have enough presence and self-control to have a little common sense. My sister, my cousins, hell even my Aunt if she ever expressed an interest but not my mother. That's too far for even me.

But she is an incurable flirt and I was more than a little concerned when the living Goddess, the Divine Ms. Helen arrived at my door to take Mom for a night on the town. She was wearing a dress that was little more than an oversized tube top. Not that I minded — I'd had a serious thing for Ms. Helen since I was fourteen but I also knew she would take my mother to every illicit den of lechery in a ten mile radius. Once again, I cursed the Human Physiology test that was keeping me home that night.

"Peter McElroy." Ms. Helen's hand stroked just shy of my package. "My how you've grown."

"I've got some time; why don't you come in and stay?"

"Talk like that will get you in trouble, young man." She winked at me. "Of course, you wouldn't be interested in an old woman like me."

"Of course not. You be perfectly safe in my room."

"A gentleman. Just like your Grandfather." Her eyes looked down the hall. "He still keep his, uh, 'liquor' down stairs?"

She knew about the playroom. I had no idea Granddad was such a hound dog — although, I confess, I suspected. "Why don't we find out?" I offered her my arm but she reached past me instead.

"Oh my goodness! Little Alex grew up too, didn't he?"

"God damn, Ms. Helen! You ain't need ta advertise." Alex, always a step bolder than me, kissed her firmly. "Everybod' already buyin' what you sellin'."

"Always the charmer."

"Boy, uh little slut, he is." We all turn to see Mom coming down the stairs in a dress that proved to me that she still worked out on a regular basis.

"Christ! Uncle Charles know you wearin' that, Aunt Elizabeth?"

"No. An' I ain't tellin' him." She slipped into Ms. Helen's arms for a hug that left me uncomfortable for a number of reasons.

"Beth got it honest." Alex whispered in my ear.

I cuffed him. "Stop starin' at my Mom's ass."

"You boy's behave yo'selves." Mom shouted as she slinked into Ms. Helen's car.

"Ain't us misbehavin'!" Alex yelled back. "Ya'll breakin' all ten commandments just breathin'!"

Their laughter was drowned out by the squealing tires.

"They are so getting' laid tonight." Alex said, watching them pull out of the neighborhood.

"That is my Mother, do y'mind?"

"Yeah. Whatever. Hey?" I turned to him. "Am I gonna get laid any time soon?"

"You all healed already?"

He grinned at that. "Mostly. But I ain't mean that. I mean, it used ta be, before, it used ta be we had fun sometimes an' you fucked me sometimes." I started to speak but he shook his head. "No, no. I know you. You ain't gettin' laid, you ain't happy. I ain't gettin' laid by you, you damn unhappy."

I sat down on the porch swing. He sat beside me.

"What if Vette's right?"

"'Bout?"

"About me being, I don't know. Oversexed."

He snorted. "Then you get laid uh lot. So?"

"So, it ain't normal."

He laughed outright. "Normal? What in the hell do I know 'bout normal. Dude you have got ta be shittin' me!" He swung around and put his head in my lap. "Peter, I will do whatever you tell me. I'll do it publicly, long as it won't get me arrested. But ain't neither one of us 'bout ta do it normally." He reached up and ran his fingers through my hair. "You getting' kinda shaggy."

I'd always worn it kind of short — a by-product of swimming a lot. I used to swim obsessively. Maybe not. Maybe I just liked swimming. Maybe it was the same with sex. I kissed Alex softly. I would have loved to take him upstairs and blow off studying. I couldn't but I would have loved to.

"Up." I shook my leg and he sat up. "I got uh test tomorrow. You too, right?"

"English Lit. Done deal."

"You read the book?"

"Twice." I look at him. "Come on. I drop below uh 2.5, Dad freezes my cash account." Which sounded like Uncle George.

"Then you can help me study. You have physiology."

"Yeah, you just wanna use my body."

"Like you object."

I woke up early as usual and lay in bed the way I had for the last few weeks. I didn't want to go swim but I couldn't stop waking up at the same time every morning. Someone tapped on my door.

Mom. She came in and sat beside me.

"You up." It was a statement not a question.

"Yeah. Can't manage ta sleep late."

"Yo' Daddy like that. Still up by first light even if he ain't workin' the dock." She was quiet for a minute. "You hungry? I make you breakfast."

I shook my head. Mom was a rotten cook. "I usually don't 'fore I swim."

"Yeah, but you ain't swimmin'." She poked my stomach. "Getting' kinda pudgy, are ya?"

"No." I wasn't but I couldn't say I wasn't worried about it.

"I guess not. So?"

"What?"

"So why you up 'fore the crack uh dawn if you ain't swimmin'?"

I shrugged. "I can't sleep."

"Maybe you got too much energy." I might; I doubted it. "Maybe you need a new outlet." She was probably about right. "You don't swim like you used to. You don't work like you used to. You don't screw around like you used to."

"MOM!" she caught me off guard with that.

"Well, you don't. You was always an active child gettin' inta everythin' so I knew when you managed to bring it down to just one hobby, you had ta be workin' that energy off somewhere." She looked at my wide-eyed expression. "Oh now, come on. You ain't think yo' Daddy kept condoms in yo' glove compartment, did you? Mr. Moral Majority? The Church Deacon? Oh, honey, now please."

In retrospect, the 'magic condom box' in my glove compartment all throughout high school was an odd thing for my father. I had always just assumed that it was his concession to the reality of having a teenaged son with a car.

"So you ain't swimmin' and you ain't screwin'. What are you doin'?"

I wanted to be shocked. But I couldn't be. My Mother amazed me. "Nothin'. Probably why I can't sleep."

"Likely." She noded. "So what you gonna do 'bout it?"

"Weren't you ever worried? I mean, I was kinda obsessive, wasn't I?"

"Peter, you were obsessive about everything when you was three. If you said you didn't care was when I started worrin'. Hell, I wish Robert was as easy. That one-" she shook her head. "Beth too much like me, so at least I knew what ta look out fo' and you all but raised yo'self — which was uh good thing 'cause I wasn't in the mood ta do it." We both smiled at that, in large part because we both knew it was true. "But Robert? He's uh handful."

"He always seems kinda quiet to me."

"Yeah, 'cause you ain't never go see what he doin' in his room all alone, all quiet. Trust me, that one gonna give yo' Daddy uh massive coronary one uh these days."

"Don't say that, Mom."

"See if Ima uh lie."

Mom never worried. She thought that was just how I am. "Robert, not me."

"Robert. Not you." She tilted her head. "Maybe Beth she don't hurry up an' marry that boy. He's afraid they'll have kids before the weddin'."

"Not Beth." I shook my head. "She uh good girl."

"No she not. But she's real good a pretendin' around yo' Daddy. None of which answers my question. What are you gonna do with yo'self?"

"I guess, Mom, since I'm up, I'll go swim."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. And maybe I'll ask one of my co-workers out to dinner tonight."

"Well, that was fast."

I had enough grace to be chagrinned. "Maybe I've considered asking her before."

"Oh, I see."

"Mom!" She spent another half hour teasing me about being grown but I flat refused to get out of the bed 'til she left the room. Last thing I need is my Mother's complete commentary. I did get out of the house. I did swim for about half my usual time. I did feel better afterward.

Chapter 2: Summer

I did ask Pat out.

"Oh, I, uh." She was extremely unnerved. "I'm sorry. I'm uh..."

"If you're unavailable, no offense."

"Actually, a group of us are going out tonight. Why don't you join us?"

"Sure. Love to." Not what I wanted, but I wasn't going to be petty.

The evening turned out to be three couples and me in a private room at a club in Arlington. I knew it wouldn't be a typical evening when, during the appetizer, they asked one of the women about her new tattoo. She took off her pants to display it. She left them off.

"Pat?" I leaned over and whispered in her ear. "Somethin' you forgot to tell me about this evenin'?"

"Kim," she turned to her husband. I didn't know she had a husband until I arrived for dinner. "Should I tell Peter what this is?"

Kim looked at me. He was East Indian with a face like a Bollywood heartthrob. If I hadn't sworn off men after Ryan, I'd be on my knees in front of him. Not that Pat was unworthy of his attention. She was blond and thin compared to my usual taste but something about her was just magnetic. "I don't think he really wants to know, Kitten."

Dinner was 'family style' with large serving trays of pasta, salad, roast beef and some vegetable casserole being passed around the table. Clothing fell away as the meal progressed. By the time the waiters took the dishes away, everyone was down to their underwear. No one seemed to have any desire to tell me what exactly was going on.

Kim whispered something to Pat that made her giggle and made me twitch. I was watching the other two couples exchange partners and although no one made any overt sexual moves, it was clear where things were headed.

I leaned over to Pat and whispered. "I can't tell you how much I appreciate you inviting me to this, but, I think I'd better go."

"Why?" she asked aloud.

I winced as everyone looked at me. "Well, for one, I didn't bring a partner to share with the group, so it's not really fair."

She looked a little disappointed. "Oh. I had sort of ... oh. Sorry."

The response caught me. "You had sort of what?"

She looked at Kim then looked away embarrassed.

"She had been sure you were gay." Kim said sounding amused.

"After Yvette?"

"Because of Yvette."

I sat back, more than a little stunned. "I didn't know I gave off such a gay vib." I looked at her. "So what did you think when I asked you out?"

"I wasn't sure." She confessed. "But I figured either way, if you were into it, one of us would get lucky."

I had to chuckle. I wanted to find a new woman. I had never considered a new couple before. Maybe Bi-as-a-lifestyle-choice? Not gay, not straight but both? I looked at Pat and Kim and laughed again. It was certainly the most attractive offer I was ever going to get.

"What?" Pat prodded me gently. "Don't laugh at me."

"No, not at you. The circumstance. You thought one of you would get lucky. You never considered both?"

"Ah." Kim said smiling. "A happy medium." He leaned forward. "Could we both get lucky?"

I stroked his face gently and wondered if the rumor I had heard about Indian men was true. "Depends on how the word's defined, I guess, doesn't it." I kissed him softly. His tongue flicked against my lips and I parted them to let it in. I found myself breathless in short order.

He pulled back just far enough to whisper, "The club is off-premise. Our house is available."

"I'll follow you."

We dressed fast, said our goodbyes and left the restaurant. Pat rode with me to direct me while Kim made a quick stop on the way home. Pat kept her hand on my dick the whole way. I kept my fingers in her slit as much as I could — It's hard to drive and finger fuck.

"So what made you think I'd be into this?" I asked her while I licked her juice off my hand.

"I'm not sure. Some things you've let slip — about you and Yvette, how you weren't getting along, in bed. That sexy friend of yours, Alex? He wants you bad. You know that, right?

"What makes you say that?"

"The hungry look he has when he stares at you getting out of the pool? He practically drools." I hadn't realized that. I made a mental note to tell Alex to cool it in public. "He must be bi, too. Right?" She gasped as my fingers slipped back inside her. "For a long time I wasn't sure if Yvette was with you or him."

I almost lost control of the car. "Why did you think that?"

"Well, you knew about them, right? That they were fooling around?" Her eyes widened. "Maybe I was wrong. I'm sure they weren't doing any thing." She grabbed my wrist and rubbed her pussy against my hand. "Can you feel that?" Her heartbeat pulsed through her clit. "Keep that up and I'm going to stain your seats."

It was a bit much at the same time. Alex and Yvette. Pat cumming on my hand. Driving at speed on a dark highway. I choose surviving over all, and tried to keep my mind on traffic. Luckily we weren't too far from their house. I parked in the driveway and dropped Pat's seat back. Then I pushed two fingers inside her and rubbed the palm of my hand against her clit. "Tell me why you thought Alex and Vette were fooling around."

Her eyes rolled back and she groaned. "Oh God I can't think while you do that." I fluttered my fingers inside her. "Oh, ahah! They would come in, to wait — wait for you, but they'd — ceeeeeeee! Ooooh! They'd neck the whole time. Once — once, I think he diddled her — 'cause - 'cause — 'cause, oh yeah! — she looked like she had a good one and he was licking, licking, licking his — fing — gers — oh — god — yes!" She came, shaking and drenching my hand.

She lay panting as Kim pulled into the driveway beside us. He looked at me in confusion but must have seen her as he got out of the car. He grinned and tapped on the window. I rolled it down.

He sniffed once then smiled. "The lotus in blossom." I held my hand up; he took it and licked it clean. His eyes watched mine the whole time he sucked her juice from my hand. I couldn't think of anything but getting that tongue around my dick.