Chapter 55: Kaleidoscope

“Ohhh ... dayyuumm...” I moaned appreciatively with my eyeballs popping out of my sockets.

It wasn’t that Skylar was showing me anything I hadn’t seen before – I had bathed her just last night in the shower, after all. But I was so used to seeing her clad in business suits and even one-piece swimwear rather than go out of her way to show off her considerable assets, not to mention wearing minimal makeup and jewelry, that to see her dolled-up and dressed to impress like this completely blew my mind.

I couldn’t say another word. I just sort of stared at her and made a funny noise.

Skylar giggled musically and sauntered forward, brushing right past me and into the house. She paused only a few feet down the hallway, running her hands up and down her sides from her trim waist, around the expansive curve of her ass in the skintight sheath skirt, and then back up to her waist. She let me ogle her for a bit before tossing her hair as she glanced back at me over her shoulder, grinning widely at the slackjawed look on my face.

“So!” she began breezily while spinning around to face me once more, as light as a feather. Her beaming smile would’ve lit up the night sky as she sauntered back up to me and started walking her fingers up my chest, her face only inches away from mine. And her voice was a husky purr as she asked quietly, “Is there somewhere in particular you’d like to go get dinner? Or should we just head straight upstairs? One way or another, this outfit is coming off tonight.”

Without waiting for an answer, Skylar’s hands slid along my upper arms, across my shoulders, and then to the back of my head. With her natural height and her heeled sandals, she was able to look me eye-to-eye. And the blonde tilted my head to hers while leaning forward to capture my lips with her own.

My senses were immediately filled and then abruptly overwhelmed with a familiar kaleidoscope of inputs. The smell of her. The taste of her. The sight of her stormy blue eyes. The sound of her erotic moan. The touch of her mouth pressed hard against mine.

The passion of her raw, naked lust.

But I suddenly stiffened, took hold of her shoulders, and jerked my head back. “Skylar! I-- Uhhh...”

Her face fell, and as the corners of her lips abruptly made a U-turn from a beaming smile to a deep-set frown, she whined, “Please don’t reject me again. Do you have ANY idea how much it’s a kick in the tits to keep throwing myself at you like this and have you turn me down over and over again?”

“N-n-no,” I stammered. “It’s not like that. I-I just-- I mean-- Upstairs I’ve got--”

“He’s trying to politely explain that the two of you are not alone,” Zofi stated primly.

Skylar’s frenzied gaze darted directly behind herself as she whirled around, and I looked up as well.

The exquisitely beautiful brunette stood erect with a ballet dancer’s perfect posture and a mysterious smile on her face. She’d fixed her hair and makeup and now looked just as gorgeous as when she’d first walked through the door: sexy black dress, high heels, and fancy jewelry. In addition, her porcelain skin had gained a well-fucked glow, and her graceful poise stood in stark contrast to Skylar’s somewhat harried demeanor.

“I would’ve said he was trying to discreetly let you know without things getting awkward,” Zofi continued lightly, “but I think that ship already sailed.”

“Oh! I ... You...” Skylar exclaimed while raising an index finger, glancing at me, and then turning back to Zofi while pointing somewhat impolitely. “You’re one of the NBGs. You’re ... You’re Zofi!”

Zofi smiled again, this time somewhat more warmly. “I am. And I’m thinking you must be the enigmatic Skylar everyone keeps talking about. Pleased to meet you.”

“‘Enigmatic’?” Skylar glanced back at me. “I’m ‘enigmatic’?”

“You’ve certainly been an enigma for the rest of us to puzzle over,” I explained kindly, stepping up and wrapping an arm around Skylar’s waist. I admittedly felt a little thrill at the feel of her bare skin against my hand, and an even better thrill at the way she naturally leaned into my embrace. “But a good kind of enigma – the kind that’s made us all want to get to know you better instead of like ... uhhh... ‘Dude, she is weird and I don’t wanna go anywhere near that.’”

Zofi smirked and shook her head ruefully as she descended the stairs and approached a little closer. “He’s such a smooth talker, isn’t he? It’s no wonder he has such incredible success with women,” she deadpanned.

“He knows the right thing to say when it counts,” Skylar said wistfully.

“He does, doesn’t he?” Zofi agreed as the two of them turned to look at me.

Feeling like a deer in headlights, I froze and then muttered lamely, “I ... uhhh ... What are you doing here?”

“That ... wasn’t a good example,” Zofi muttered with a sigh of resignation before fixing me with a disappointed look. “I seem to recall hearing Skylar ask if you were busy and wanted to grab some food?”

“Oh, right.” I glanced at Skylar first before returning my attention to Zofi, explaining, “Skylar was here this afternoon. She knows all of the girls went home for winter break, and I told her not to be shy about calling me up to say, ‘Hey, you busy? Wanna grab some food?’”

“Almost word-for-word,” Skylar confirmed. “I’m terribly sorry for intruding. I had no idea he would have any company.”

“-I- had no idea I would have any company,” I muttered.

“It was a surprise,” Zofi explained.

“Likewise, I was hoping to surprise him,” Skylar mourned ruefully. “I get the feeling Matty doesn’t do very well on his own.”

“Great minds...” Zofi mused. “So you decided to take him up on that offer, but based on your attire, I’m thinking you didn’t intend to go grab Blondie’s Pizza.”

“Ah, not exactly.” Skylar blushed and gestured up and down at Zofi’s sleek black cocktail attire. “I’m thinking you and I had the same idea, though.”

“Again, great minds...” Zofi smiled.

“But your surprise by far takes precedence over my surprise,” Skylar added quickly. “Princeton, right? I’m assuming Matty hasn’t seen you since the summer? I’m sorry for interrupting your dinner plans. It was nice to meet you, Zofi, but I’ll just be getting out of your hair now.”

Skylar had just pulled herself out of my grasp when Zofi quickly stepped forward and held up a hand.

“Oh, you don’t have to rush off or anything. I’d be happy to turn this into a threesome,” Zofi stated with a warm smile. But a second later, her eyes popped open WIDE as she realized what she’d just said, and she covered her mouth for a moment before stammering, “T-that’s not what I meant!”

Skylar was laughing already. “Well, given what I know about The BTC, I’m pretty sure you did!”

“Freudian slip. I’m SO sorry!” Zofi blurted, her previous air of grace and elegance gone. Now she just seemed as nervous as Skylar had been moments ago. “You’ve never met me before and the girls told me you weren’t ... ah ... well ... I mean one should never presume ... I mean, I’m not suggesting that you and I ... Ah, shit.”

“Awkward sailed a long time ago,” I muttered with a smirk as Zofi briefly buried her face in her hands, and I stepped over to give her a warm hug.

Zofi rolled her eyes at me and then turned back to face Skylar, sighing while holding up her hands helplessly and then asking cutely, “Can I please start over?”

“By all means,” Skylar replied warmly.

“You’re absolutely welcome to join us for dinner if you like,” Zofi invited sincerely. “Neevie has spoken very highly of you, and we all know you’re a special friend of Matty’s.”

“We’re just friends, though,” the blonde insisted. “I’m Matty’s T.A., and our relationship isn’t like that.”

“Yes I’ve been told that’s your automatic line of defense. But while you certainly were Matty’s T.A., if I’m not mistaken, that’s no longer the case,” Zofi clarified with a tease in her sparkling blue eyes. “Besides, I did hear you suggest going straight upstairs instead of getting dinner. And that’s a very pretty outfit you’re wearing tonight, the kind designed to get a man’s heart racing and...”

I arched an eyebrow at Zofi as she gazed at me for a moment, delightful mirth spread joyously across her face.

And then Zofi finished, “ ... and to divert a man’s blood flow to his little brain.”

Skylar blushed and snuck a peek at me before running her appreciative gaze up and down Zofi’s model-esque figure. “That’s a very pretty dress you’re wearing. And as I said before, your surprise takes precedence over my surprise. I wouldn’t dream of ... well I’m just going to say it ... I wouldn’t dream of clam-jamming you after you’ve been living across the country from him all these months.”

Zofi smirked. “Oh don’t worry about clam-jamming me. We took care of that already. Twice.”

Skylar’s eyebrows popped. “Really? I was only gone for like ... two hours! And you look as fresh as a daisy right now!”

“Enough time to get two rounds in my belly and then freshen up,” Zofi replied affably. And then she gave Skylar a kind look. “I mean it: you’re welcome to join us. Look at Matty. He wants you to join us, don’t you, Matty?”

Skylar turned to look at me as I blushed, took a deep breath, and then nodded in confirmation.

“Come to dinner with us,” I stated carefully, choosing not to use the phrase ‘join us’ for fear of it being misconstrued. “I really would be happier knowing you didn’t have to eat alone, especially after going to all the effort of getting dressed up the way you have. You’re stunning, by the way. Gorgeois.”

Skylar blushed cutely, her ears turning pink. But she also preened to show off her figure, cocking one hip and placing her hand on it while twisting ever so slightly to narrow her waist and simultaneously enhance her bustline.

“Definitely got my heart racing and ... ah ... started diverting my blood flow,” I added, which made Skylar bark a short laugh and flash a genuine smile.

“See? He figures out the right thing to say eventually,” Zofi enthused with a wink.

“Please come to dinner with us?” I asked seriously, reaching out to hold Zofi’s waist and hug the brunette against my side. “No pressure, no expectations. Just good friends and good conversation, alright?”

“Very good friends,” Skylar stated appreciatively. “And I admittedly have some rather elevated expectations. Neevie’s made sure of that.”

I blushed, took a deep breath, and merely shrugged. “Let’s just start with dinner.”

Zofi had blocked my minivan in the tandem driveway with her dad’s new Audi A8, so I was “forced” to escort the ladies in the German luxury car when she smirked and handed me her keys.

Zofi offered to let Skylar take shotgun, but Skylar insisted that it was Zofi’s car. I offered to sit in the back and let Zofi drive, but the girls both shot me looks that plainly stated they wished to be chauffeured around like proper ladies on a date. So Zofi simply hopped into the back seat and then slid over to the driver’s side. Skylar hopped into the rear passenger-side seat. And once I finally got behind the wheel, Skylar gestured blithely while instructing in a bored tone of condescension made even more severe by her English accent, “You may proceed, Jeeves.”

Zofi giggled from beside her.

Dinner was in the restaurant at the historic Claremont Hotel. I valet parked the car and felt a touch of pride when the valet driver’s eyes bugged out ogling the gorgeous blue-eyed coeds accompanying me in their sexy outfits. I felt additional eyeballs gawking at us when the girls took one elbow each and walked with me sandwiched between them up to the hotel entrance.

With most of the students leaving for winter break, we didn’t need a reservation and were quickly seated by the windows. The waiter didn’t bat an eyelash nor ask any of us for I.D. when Skylar ordered a glass of wine, and then Zofi followed suit with a casual, “I’ll have what she’s having.”

After the girls had received their glasses of wine, Skylar made a point of telling me, “Just the one glass each, though. I don’t want you to have any excuses this time.”

I chuckled at her smirk and shrugged.

I really don’t recollect much about the food, or the restaurant itself for that matter. The company was far more important to me, and to be perfectly honest, the events that followed AFTER the meal blew my mind in such a way that renders my memory somewhat ... fragmented.

I remember the girls laughing a lot, having hit it off immediately. Zofi had started flirting with Skylar right from the beginning, and Skylar was reciprocating in kind. When Zofi asked if Skylar wanted to try a bit of her filet mignon and received an affirmative response, she cut up a piece and fed it to Skylar straight off her own fork. That got Skylar to cut up a piece of her salmon and feed it to Zofi straight off her fork, and they went back and forth like that, giggling constantly. At times it felt like I was being forgotten, and then one or both of the girls would turn to me with a wolfish grin.

I remember my ears burning as Zofi told Skylar little stories about our high school days, including some of the rather ... bawdy ... stories - Zofi’s prim, elegant delivery providing an absurdist undertone as she described yet another variation of the girls gathering in a circle with their asses up and presented for my pleasure. I wouldn’t have been surprised to hear either Belle or even Naimh spinning the outlandish yarns, but quietly shy Zofi was surprising me today.

And I remember blushing and trying to not let my ego get too puffed up as Zofi wove a captivating tale describing our little Audrey Hepburn date, and how I’d turned it into the single most incredible day of her entire life.

I reached out to Zofi, “I’ll never forget it either, mój skarbie. You were incredible.”

She beamed at me, “And to top it off he christens me with a pet name, perfect just for me. Every time he calls me that, I’m transported back to that night. Not that I need it, thanks to Sam’s pictures.”

“Memories of the wholesome date anyway,” Skylar suggested slyly.

“Oh, I have pictures to remind me of what happened after that as well,” Zofi smirked. “But I only let my closest friends see those. If tonight takes the turn I think it will though ... Well, perhaps you’ll qualify by morning. Won’t that be fun?”

Skylar sat back in her chair, letting Zofi chuckle. But then a moment later, Zofi frowned as she turned to me.

“Oh, I’m sorry darling.” Zofi pursed her lips with a little pout. “Am I putting pressure on you for whenever you and Skylar get around to having your first date?”

“Well I think this counts as our first date,” Skylar remarked with a shrug.

“Does this really count as a date?” I asked.

Zofi smiled. “True. Everyone’s dressed to impress with nice clothes, hair, and makeup. Well, Matty’s not wearing makeup, but you know what I mean.”

“Well if I kiss him all over, then he’ll be wearing my lipstick,” Skylar offered.

“By that definition, Skylar and I had our first date months ago,” I pointed out, remembering the ‘favor’ I’d done her for her brother’s wedding.

Zofi giggled and pondered philosophically, “We’re all having a good time together, getting to know each other better, with the understanding that at the end of the night we’re gonna peel each other’s clothes off and fuck each other silly, right? I think that certainly qualifies as a date.”

“Too right!” Skylar endorsed.

“Is that really the understanding though?” I asked her, eyebrows raised. “Is that really what you want to do at the end of the night?”

Skylar laughed. “My dear Matty. I know it’s your thing to be cautious and go the extra mile to be sure we’re doing the right thing, even when it’s patently obvious and right in front of your face. But I did not go to all this effort and work so hard to squeeze myself into this outfit with the intention of going to bed alone.”

“Good thing Zofi’s here then,” I quipped with a sly smirk.

Skylar smirked, but then she sighed, planted her elbow on the table, and leaned the side of her head against her open palm. Not for the first time, I found myself staring at her face – slightly unfamiliar without her usual eyeglasses. I felt like a small barrier between us had been removed, allowing me to catch a deeper glimpse of the true young woman behind her ‘mysterious older T.A.’ façade.

No more eyeglasses.

No more drab power suits in black, white, brown, or gray.

No more one-piece swimsuits or other outfits that covered up her curves.

She was letting me see her natural eyes.

She was letting me see her full figure.

She was opening up to me.

Swirling the remaining wine in her glass around and around with her other hand, Skylar took a deep breath and gave me a serious look. “It’s time, Matty. I’ve been drinking a little bit with dinner, yes, but I’m not drunk. You don’t have to worry about me puking all over you mid-fuck.”

I chuckled and nodded. “Good to know.”

“Wait, puking all over you?” Zofi queried uncertainly.

“I’ll explain later,” I muttered to Zofi before focusing on Skylar. “This is a really big change in our relationship, and I do have to ask: Is this really what you want?”

“You know it’s what I want. It’s time, Matty,” she repeated. “You’re a great friend. The best kind of friend I could’ve ever had. But now I need you to become something more.”

“What’s that?”

Skylar sat up straighter, folded both arms atop the table, and leaned forward so that her forearms pushed up her breasts and mashed them together. My eyes involuntarily yo-yoed down to her epic cleavage, and she waited patiently for my gaze to return to her surpassingly beautiful face.

“It’s time for you to become my lover,” Skylar stated huskily, with a world of longing and intensity in her voice.

I blinked and glanced at Zofi, who sat back in her seat with a little smile on her face. And I sighed when I looked back at Skylar, murmuring regretfully, “You deserve an epic, one-on-one, romantic date the way Zofi just described.”

Skylar shook her head. “I don’t need you to romance me with a special one-on-one date. I don’t need you to be my boyfriend. I don’t have time for a boyfriend. After tonight, I’ll still have to go back to my busy-busy life trying to be a full-time student while working a full-time job on top of being a T.A. - all while still being estranged from my family and old friends. The world has been beating up on me for a while, and none of those things have changed.”

I sighed and gave her a sympathetic look.

“I’m not asking you to make all of that go away. I just want you to be my friend, Matty. My friend...” she repeated before giving me a lopsided grin. “ ... with benefits. I want to keep carving out an hour a day here and there to hang out and talk to you and ... well ... let that beautiful dick of yours carve me out. I trust you, trust that you’ll still respect me in the morning. Goodness knows I need the stress release. Just ... make my problems disappear and shine a little light in my life.”

“He’s really good at that,” Zofi interjected.

“So I’m told.” She leaned forward and dropped her voice to a near-whisper. “But I don’t want to lie in bed by myself anymore, rubbing off to fantasies of the hot young man who can be strong and confident enough to satisfy a harem of ... what ... ten different girls? And yet be so warm and comforting enough to hold my hair back while I’m puking and then tenderly wash me off in the shower without even copping a feel. You’re an incredible man, Matty, and I’m so incredibly lucky you decided to be my friend. I knew you were special after escorting me to my brother’s wedding, but even then I had no idea HOW special you might be - how special you ARE to me. So you don’t need to ask me anymore if this is really what I want. You don’t need to play ‘safe Matty’ making sure you’re not taking advantage of me. It’s time, Matty. It’s finally time.”

I leaned back in my chair and raised my hand, calling out, “Check please!”

Last night, Skylar asked how many ways I’d imagined seducing her. The answer had been zero, in that I’d always imagined her seducing me. I’d mentally gone through dozens of different scenarios, some of them involving the two of us driving back from dinner. Maybe I was driving her in my minivan. Maybe Skylar was driving her Z/28.

But in none of those scenarios had I ever imagined driving Zofi’s dad’s Audi A8 while Skylar and Zofi sat together in the back seat, passionately clinched together in a wickedly hot lesbian liplock with their hands running all over each other’s body.

It just goes to show that you never really know what the future holds.

Not even in my wildest dreams would I have expected Skylar and Zofi to immediately hit it off, at least not like this. Maybe Zofi simply had a thing for busty blondes (I knew -I- did). Maybe Skylar had a thing for leggy brunettes (I knew -I- did). I knew Skylar was attracted to other women – her flirtations with Neevie were proof enough of that, not to mention her drunken makeout session with Izzy last night – and yet I was still surprised to find her so readily hooking up with a girl she’d literally met only hours before.