Chapter 5: The Peanut Butter Test

Katherine sat at the small table in her apartment’s kitchen, staring with numb horror at the object in her hand. It wasn’t particularly big, just a few inches by a few more inches, nor was it particularly heavy. But it filled her with an unaccustomed mix of dread and excitement.

“C’mon, out with it,” said her mother as she placed two mugs of hot chocolate on the table, “what did they give you that’s so terrifying?”

Wordlessly, Katherine handed the card over. Her mother looked at the writing on it, cleared her throat, and started to read out loud.

“Let’s see... ‘Miss Yolanda Mason hereby requests the pleasure of your company... ‘“

She then read quietly to herself until she got to the end.

“So this is how you kids invite people to sleepovers these days? Man, do I feel old. This is seriously fancy.”

“She said that, since I’ve never been to one before, she wanted to do something special. She wanted me to have something to remember it by.” Katherine replied.

“Aw, that’s sweet of her. What a lovely gesture.”

“Well, Yolanda’s like that.” Katherine shrugged.

“Wait. I don’t think this is handmade,” her mother observed, examining the invitation closely, “this looks like it was done in a print shop or something. Now, that’s impressive.”

Katherine sighed.

“Yeah. She’s a bit like that too.”

That was certainly true. Yolanda’s parents were successful entrepreneurs in some profession that Katherine had no hope of understanding. So far their youngest daughter had managed to avoid becoming a stereotypical ‘rich brat’, but she was certainly happy to spend money if she felt the need.

But that wasn’t Katherine’s concern. Yolanda’s sleepovers were the stuff of legend amongst her friends. It wasn’t unusual for Mr and Mrs Mason to be working away from home over the weekend. So Yolanda took advantage and had the girls over most of the time. She always attended church on Sunday, something which took Katherine by surprise, so the group had free rein of the house for a day and a bit.

And with the girls being so fond of being sexual with each other, this led to the sleepovers almost inevitably involving very little clothes and lots and lots of sapphic intimacy.

Or, as Terri called it once, ‘just one big, no-holes-barred, fuck-for-all’.

And it was this that Katherine found herself invited to. Admittedly Yolanda had stressed that sex didn’t always happen on her sleepovers. There were other things to do at her house and, she insisted, the group shared other interests than just that.

But Katherine wasn’t wholly convinced. She knew that there was a good chance that something would happen the weekend after next. What she didn’t know is whether she wanted to be there or not when it did.

“Mum ... what do you do if somebody...” Katherine faltered to a stop. She loved her mother but there was just no way, if Katherine said what was on her mind, that her mum would understand. She decided to try a different approach.

“How do you deal with it if somebody you’re friends with likes peanut butter ... and you’re not sure that you do?”

Nice one. Katherine thought to herself. Real smooth. Nothing suspicious about that at all.

“‘Peanut butter’?” her mother echoed. “Is this a drug thing? Are there going to be drugs at this?”

“No, Mum, no.” Katherine hurried to assure her. “I meant, like, actual peanut butter. What if somebody makes, I don’t know, some toast or something and everyone’s eating it. But you’re not sure you want to but maybe you do. And either way you don’t want to be the awkward one who isn’t joining in. So ... what do you do?”

“Are you sure this isn’t a drug thing? Because this really sounds like a drug thing.”

“No, Mum.”

“Or is it to do with alcohol? Have your friends started drinking yet?”

“NO, Mum.” answered Katherine, a little exasperated. This wasn’t going the way she’d hoped.

“Boys, then? Are there going to be boys there?”

“Mum! There won’t be any boys!” Katherine shook her head in an emphatic no. That was one thing she was definitely certain of.

“Well, if you say so...”

Katherine’s mother scratched her chin in thought.

“It’s a tricky one.” she said after a moment. “You should never let other people make you do what you don’t want to do, that’s obvious. But you and I both know it’s not always that easy. You want people to respect you but you don’t want them to think you’re not a team-player either.”

Katherine nodded in agreement. That was pretty much what had been going through her mind. She was worried that she’d feel obliged to join in if things got heavy. She honestly didn’t know if she wanted to or not so she was anxious about the reaction if she said no.

“I think,” her mother continued, “that the important thing is to stay true to yourself. If you don’t want to eat that peanut butter, then don’t. If your friends think any worse of you because of that then screw ‘em - they’re not your real friends and they don’t deserve you.”

Katherine found herself repeating her mother’s words under her breath as she stood in front of Yolanda’s house a few days later. No matter what happens, she reminded herself, I won’t be made to do anything I don’t want to do.

She pushed the doorbell and, after a few seconds that felt like hours in the warm Friday afternoon sun, the door was opened.

“Katherine!” Yolanda cried with glee. “You made it!”

“Hiya.” Katherine said weakly.

“Did you have any trouble finding the place?”

“No, no. Not really.”

The only trouble Katherine and her mother had on the journey was fighting a sense of disbelief. Every single property they passed on the estate was large, fancy, and looked very expensive. To the Pearson family, who were careful to count their pennies because they didn’t have many to spare, it was a whole new world.

“Well, come on in. Everyone else is already here.”

Katherine waved goodbye to her mother, who made a phone gesture with her hand to remind Katherine to call if there was any problem, and then followed the other girl indoors. As she walked, she heard her mother’s car tyres on the gravel drive, and she tried to swallow her nervousness. She could cope. She would get through this.

“You can put your things there.” Yolanda directed, indicating a small pile in the corner of the hallway.

Katherine obeyed and, as she was adding her bag and pillow to the collection, was gratified to see that at least one person wasn’t taking this weekend too seriously. Katherine had put a lot of effort and time into choosing a pillow case that people wouldn’t make fun of her for. In the end she’d borrowed a light grey one belonging to her mother. Simple, neutral, and safe.

But, sticking out of the pile, was a pillow that was anything but simple and neutral. It was fluffy, adorned with cartoon characters, and brightly, almost garishly, coloured. Katherine smiled to herself.

Good old Terri, may she never grow up.

Yolanda opened a pair of doors leading off the hall.

“Look who I found.” she declared, beckoning Katherine through.

Katherine walked in and found herself in a spacious lounge. Against the far wall was a large fireplace with an equally large television above playing a music video. Facing this were three sofas (large) arranged in a ‘U’-shape. On the arm of one of these was perched Claire, watching the TV and idly swinging a leg in time to the music. The sofas surrounded a low, rectangular coffee table (surprisingly not quite so large) and it was on the floor either side of this that Terri and Fiona were sitting.

They were playing some sort of board game that Katherine didn’t recognise. Terri’s back was to the door and didn’t see Katherine walk in.

“Kat!” Fiona waved enthusiastically and then, as soon as Terri turned to look, quickly moved some of the pieces on the board. “How ya doing?”

“Erm ... good, I guess?” Katherine replied as the other two girls said their hellos. What else was she supposed to say? It had only been a few hours since she had last seen everyone at school.

To Katherine’s intense relief, her friends hadn’t dressed up for the occasion. She had chosen the most inoffensive top and most unremarkable pair of jeans that she owned and it looked like the girls had just thrown on whatever made them comfortable.

Fiona and Claire were both in jeans as well, although Claire’s blonde hair was hidden beneath a baggy hoodie. Terri was wearing some sort of yoga crop-top and pants combo that was close-fitting enough to put unwelcome thoughts into Katherine’s head. She was also barefoot for some reason, which was even more distracting. Yolanda, meanwhile, looked smart in a designer skirt and matching blouse. But then, looking smart was what she did. Katherine wasn’t sure Yolanda even knew what casual clothing was.

“Tha kitchen’s tha other side of tha hall an’ tha loo’s over there.” said Fiona as she pointed vaguely, her attention back on the game. “Help yerself if ya need anything.”

“Thank you, Fiona,” Yolanda replied in an annoyed voice before addressing Katherine, “I was about to say that. But yes, there’s soft drinks available and we’ll be ordering some food in later. In the meantime, just make yourself at home and relax.”

With that, Yolanda left the room, saying that she was going to use the bathroom.

But I’m not at home. thought Katherine. I know how to relax at home. What can I do here? This isn’t my house! Do I sit? Do I stand? What do I do??

Then a shocked voice broke into her thoughts.

“The hell?! How did you do that? I was beatin’ you by bloody miles!”

“Ya just haven’t got the skills, Te.” came the calm reply.

“Bugger that. Set ‘em up again. Katherine, you’re playin’ as well. Come and pick a colour.”

Uttering a silent prayer of thanks to the fates, Katherine walked over to the coffee table in the centre of the lounge, sat down, and did her best to join in with the game.

As the minutes passed, and the afternoon slowly became the evening, Katherine did indeed find herself relaxing. Despite her misgivings and concerns, it was just like being with the girls at school. They talked, they laughed, they sang along with the songs on the TV, they all just ... hung out. They weren’t really doing anything in particular, they were simply spending time enjoying each other’s company.

As for Katherine, her worries that she wouldn’t know what to do soon vanished. Her friends made sure to include her in whatever they were doing. Not in a pitying way, but in a way that suggested they genuinely cared about her.

Katherine’s very first sleepover was proving to be a very pleasant and calm experience with no nudity or lustful behaviour at all.

But that started to change as the evening drew on and people started to get hungry.

Food was ordered, food was delivered, and food was devoured.

As they ate, Fiona reminisced about Claire trying to answer the door in the nude on a previous sleepover just because she had a crush on the delivery driver.

“We had ta rugby tackle her ta stop her. I went ta get tha food an’ kept hearing her swearing through tha kitchen door. I couldn’t stop laughing. The poor wee gel with tha pizza must have thought I was crazy.”

“Yet another reason to have let me do it then. I bet we could have gotten a discount too.”

“Yeah, right. I’m sure they do a ‘horny eejit’ price plan.”

“You never know until you try.”

It was though a valve had been opened and all the sex talk Katherine’s friends had been holding back came rushing out.

As they nibbled their starter, they talked about swimming naked in the pool outside and screwing each other on the pool chairs.

As they chewed their main, they talked about orgasm races and trying to see how much of the staircase they could get Terri to squirt over.

As they munched on their desserts, they talked about Fiona’s anal experiments in the kitchen and the various household objects they’d put inside each other.

None of it was really aimed at Katherine. The girls weren’t trying to impress her, or at least she didn’t think they were. They didn’t seem to be implying that she should join in. These were just things they did when they were together so it was something they talked about.

But it was something that was slowly setting her mind on fire. As much as she tried not to let it affect her, she couldn’t stop the mental images. And she couldn’t stop the nameless feeling of wanting that was building inside her.

It got so bad that Katherine found herself surprisingly disappointed when Fiona revealed the movie she had brought for everyone to watch ... and it turned out not to be porn. Katherine didn’t even like the stuff but the urgent signals she was getting from her crotch was messing with her brain. She found herself even wondering if she dared trying to make herself cum in the toilet across the hall.

“It’s a fecking classic. Best fillum ya will see all this year. Trust me.”

“It’s in black and white, Fi.”

“Aye. So?”

“Don’t you ever watch anything from this century?”

Damnit, Claire, stop arguing. Katherine shouted in the privacy of her own head. The sooner the thing starts, the sooner it ends and the sooner I can try to sort myself out.

Thankfully, as the opening credits faded, and the story began, Katherine was able to focus more and more on the screen. And less and less on the distinctly wet patch she could feel on her underwear.

The movie was an old one, made back in the day when Hollywood thought that men always wore suits and women always looked insanely glamorous. The plot was simple, almost painfully so. Just one woman on a quest to find her first kiss before she hit the ripe old age of 30. In Katherine’s opinion, it was slow, basic, and more than a little sexist. But she could see why Fiona liked it. Her Irish friend had made no attempt how much she enjoyed looking at the female form and every woman in the movie, especially the main character, was soft-lit, flatteringly made-up, and impossibly beautiful.

The five girls watched sitting on the three sofas in the centre of the lounge. Fiona and Claire shared one on the left side of the room, on the first part of the ‘U’ the furniture was arranged in. Yolanda had the next sofa to herself while Katherine and then Terri occupied the third. This meant that the shorter girl’s bare midriff was constantly in Katherine’s peripheral vision but she tried her hardest to ignore it.

About midway through the story, just as the main character was having what seemed to Katherine to be a very melodramatic argument over nothing that mattered in the slightest, Terri got up to get a drink. She returned a few moments later with a glass of orange juice, having earlier declared that she’d had enough unhealthy stuff for the day, placed it on a coaster on the table, and sat back down. As she did so, she folded her long legs underneath herself and wound up with the very tips of the toes on one of her feet just touching Katherine’s thigh.

The contact was marginal at best. Just the smallest, tiny fraction of touch. If a physicist had been passing by at that exact moment, they would have spotted the atom-thick gap between the two girls and declared it to be no contact at all. But there was no handy physicist there for Katherine. She could barely sense anything through her jeans anyway. But she could still just about feel Terri’s touch.

And it burned. Oh, it burned so badly.

Katherine did her best to concentrate on the story being played out on the screen above the fireplace but she couldn’t escape the feeling of Terri’s body touching hers. Before long she was desperate for the movie to be over. For the whole night to be over. Just so she could go home, lock her bedroom door behind her, tear her clothes off, and maybe, just maybe, finally get the release her body had been aching for.

Finally, thankfully, the movie wound to a close. The main character kissed her one true love, much to Katherine’s jealous annoyance, and the television proudly declared it to be The End.

“There’s no credits?”

“I told ya. They used ta put them at tha beginning.”

“Oh god ... is that why that took so long?”

“That wasn’t long. Credits now are so fecking long nobody watches them. This way was so much better.”

Katherine automatically looked to her left, focusing on the overheard voices. Yolanda was delicately chewing on some leftover dinner while Fiona and Claire started a friendly argument about the merits of modern movie-making.

’Friendly argument’. Now there’s a phrase I never thought I’d use.