Variation on a Theme, Book 6
Copyright© 2024 by Grey Wolf
Chapter 108: Babies? Beards?
Saturday, March 8, 1986
Amy, Jas, and I talked briefly in the morning. Nothing all that big was said, but it was very clear that Jas and Amy were closer than ever and Amy and I were doing great. I hardly thought she was the only girl who might fit in with both of us, but she clearly had a shot at fitting in very well indeed. Not something I would have predicted, but many things about Amy defied prediction.
Once we’d talked, we got up and headed to breakfast. Angie and Paige were up when we got there, already had food waiting, and didn’t seem surprised to see Amy. There was teasing, but very light and friendly.
Cammie and Mel joined in a bit later. They didn’t get any teasing, either, though I think that was Amy’s doing. They would have gotten a bunch if she wasn’t there, but it wasn’t Amy’s business.
Except ... it probably was. Girl talk, right? I wouldn’t have been in the least surprised if Amy either already knew or would know soon. She might not, because this was a higher level of girl talk, but I couldn’t reasonably guess at that.
Jas and I took Amy home after a bit. On the way back, and once home, we compared notes. She was thrilled about my adventures. For her part, the ‘date’ part of the date had, apparently, gone really well. Perhaps the most amazing part of that was that they’d had a lack of obvious common interests besides me. They’d apparently found a ton to talk about, though. Some of it was their not-so-common interests. Jas had found Amy’s project fascinating, and Amy found some of what Jas was learning in journalism equally interesting. They’d spent a while on their wildly divergent high school lives, too, and discussing their enormously different parents.
Jas’s thoughts on the conversation reminded me of the Bechdel Test. I wasn’t sure if that was even a thing yet, nor was I sure how to find out if it was. I could tell the insiders, of course, but there was little point to it. Still, their date was clearly an example of one of those conversations that would pass the test. One where the guy was the obvious subject of conversation, which might make it even more noteworthy.
Once home, their date had turned into sex. Lots of sex. Fingering, licking, a borrowed toy (thanks to Angie and Paige — not the huge one!), and scissoring. I honestly had no idea if the others did that. Probably? It had clearly worked for Jas and Amy, though.
Jas said that Amy didn’t know about Cammie and Mel. Yet. That could change without warning, though. That’s what I expected, so I wasn’t overly concerned about it.
The rest of the day was largely spent studying. I spent a while working with the CS Contingent on some of the newer material, and Angie spent a bit of time borrowing them for dating reasons. I also worked on political science. Business (in all of its forms) would be tomorrow.
This was it until after Spring Break for the major studying. Next week would be quiet, as would the week after Spring Break. The week after that would be another exam week. Three weeks after that, we would have our last exam week. The semester now felt as if it was rocketing along toward the inevitable ending.
Darla and I had, perhaps, kicked that can a tiny bit down the road. Anything could happen, but it felt right.
Amy? No need of any can-kicking at all. She was in our lives for a while to come. Maybe a long while.
Sunday, March 9, 1986
In between church and studying, we made our usual round of calls. Marshall was happy to know we would definitely be in New Orleans for at least three or four days. He promised to introduce us to Sandra, who was also staying in town over Spring Break. She could’ve gone somewhere, reading between the lines of what Marshall said, but had decided to stay since he didn’t have the money to go traveling. There were some hints that she was considerably more well off than the Briggs, but that didn’t seem to matter to either of them right now.
It might never matter. Whether or not Marshall ever played on Sundays, I felt confident he was going to do well at whatever he did. Lawyer, very likely, but sometimes plans change. He had both the brains and the personality. I could see him as a slightly flamboyant trial lawyer. He had the skills to lead a jury wherever he wanted them to go. Or, perhaps, he would be a judge or the like, using those skills to work with other judges and manage his courtroom.
Curtis and Marsha were also happy we were visiting. Their having us, Marshall, and Sandra over for dinner seemed likely. Curtis was, pretty much, Marshall’s mentor, and I had a feeling he’d turned into Sandra’s mentor, too. That boded well for a lot of things, really. Curtis and Marsha were both excellent judges of character and would have balked if Sandra wasn’t someone they thought was right for Marshall. Subtly, but they would have balked.
When I spoke to Lizzie and Janet, I wished Janet a belated happy birthday, which she appreciated. They had finalized their wedding date: July 19th. That was potentially awkward in terms of France, but we had a number of ways to make it work and I didn’t see any issues there. Having the date blocked off was good, and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world in any case.
It sounded like many of their plans were coming together. They had all of the major services (baker, photographer, videographer, floral designer, caterer, hotel, and rehearsal dinner venue) booked, had their invitations designed and at the printer, and were busily figuring out what else they needed to get done. Janet’s wedding gown had been picked, and Lizzie was nearly certain about her tux. No one got any hints on the wedding gown.
Bridesmaids’ dresses were also in the works. Cammie was nervous, but would manage. Something pink and poofy was the nightmare, but Janet would almost certainly be doing that. If she was, the bridesmaids couldn’t be. Right?
We all assumed that was right, anyway.
Dave Mayrink and Caroline were heading to Cozumel, Mexico for their Spring Break. That sounded like a pretty big outing, and I wished him a great vacation.
Gene and Sue and Amit and Sheila had their Spring Break a week after ours. Gene and Sue would be in New Orleans. Amit and Sheila, meanwhile, were heading up to a bed and breakfast in Maine. It sounded very romantic to all of us.
Grandmother and Professor Berman were happy at home and feeling good. They were very much looking forward to seeing us this summer. We were, too!
Jess was doing great, if slightly nervous about her final episode of ‘St. Elsewhere’. We assured her there was nothing to be worried about, but she knew that. It was the same as the proposals: low chance of failure, but high stakes. Aside from that, her classes were going well. She was still in regular contact with Michael J. Fox, and said he was off filming some movie. She hoped it was the one where he would get together with his future spouse. I hoped so, too, but agreed with Laura’s guess that this might be a touch too early.
Monday, March 10, 1986
This time, I dropped by the Hullabaloo Cafe late in the day, after my last class, but before the evening rush hit. That gave us a few minutes to talk.
“I hear plenty of good things from Jas,” I said.
She giggled and said, “There were plenty of good things to hear.”
“No specifics.”
“A pity! The specifics were wonderful.”
Trev said, “You are all weird. I highly approve!”
Amy and Trev exchanged a high-five.
Amy said, “I know what we’re doing for our date. Another kids’ movie.”
I chuckled and said, “That sounds good.”
“This week it’s ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’. One of my EE friends told me they were showing it. It’s weird thinking of them as friends, but they are friends, not just ‘project teammates.’”
“Friends is better.”
“Friends is much better,” she said, nodding and smiling.
“I liked ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ when I last saw it,” I said. “I’m definitely in favor.”
That ‘last time’ was in the 2010s, but who’s counting? Well ... me, I suppose.
“Do you think Jas would be interested in joining us?” she said.
“You could ask,” I said, smiling.
“Maybe she should ask me,” Amy said, smirking a bit.
“Maybe she should. I...”
She said, “If you suggest it, she will.”
“Nah. The thing is, I can make it clear that it’s about the movie and only the movie. Because, otherwise, I know she would want to go.”
“That makes it a bit more reasonable. I’m fine with that.”
“It’s the sort of thing she would probably like. We both like a lot of things, and it is a classic,” I said.
“It is!”
We kissed, and then I headed off home.
When I told her, Jas was quite happy with the movie choice and said she would ask Amy out tomorrow. Three-way dates were a new thing, but a good one!
There was a message waiting from Paula when I got home. She had an updated draft ready. I would go pick it up and we would look over everything during Spring Break. Assuming we didn’t find anything (or anything big), we should be able to get things notarized after spring break.
I called American Express after talking to Jas. It turned out that I could add her as an authorized user to my card. The card would have her name, but it would all be the same account.
I got them moving on it. Of the enormous number of things Jas could do to make my life miserable, running up charges with American Express ranked extremely low on the list. On the other hand, making sure she could purchase whatever she needed was a very good thing.
We jumbled things around so that tonight was a Paige night. That made everyone happy, most definitely including Paige and me. We compromised on one round of fairly rough pounding and another round of warm and gentle lovemaking.
We somewhat messed that up by including quite a bit of baby-making teasing into that second round, which kept encouraging things to get harder and rougher. We held off, though, which made it magic.
After we were done and all cleaned up, she said, “You know you’re tempting me to stop my birth control, right?”
She was giggling a bit, so I figured she wasn’t completely serious.
“Oh, am I?”
“Gettin’ all fat. And horny,” she said, giggling some more.
“You might kill me. And Angie, and Jas,” I said.
She giggled and nodded.
“I might! A hornier Paige maybe would be life-threatening!”
“One day we’ll find out.”
She stretched, then said, “Um. So. That’s ... an interesting thought.”
“Oh?”
“We talked about you and your ex-wife never having sex.”
“Yeah,” I said.
“I have to ask: was it having kids?”
“No...” I started, then hesitated.
“What?” she asked when I didn’t continue.
“Um. So. Make that a maybe?”
“You’re confusing me.”
“Well, first, it’s a no, in that we had a number of opportunities after the kids where we had good privacy, weren’t too tired, all of that. Honestly, starting when they’re sleeping through the night is almost certainly kinda awesome.”
She giggled and nodded.
“There are so many confounding variables, though. She had a hysterectomy along the way, tied directly to why we couldn’t have kids naturally. Nothing life-threatening, but her innards were just not cooperating at all.”
“Sucky!”
“And she refused to do hormone replacement therapy. There are pros and cons, and I certainly didn’t push, so ‘refused’ might be strong, but ... that might well have killed an already weak libido. Who knows?” I said.
“Also sucky. So why is it still maybe?”
“Well ... there’s the initial rush. We meet, we’re courting, we’re living together. Sex happens.”
“Duh!” she said.
“Then we get married and have a fight 24 hours in about sex.”
“I remember that story.”
“But ... we’re not dead. Sex happens. There are at least three more seriously memorable fights over sex that ... I just shouldn’t rehash now. No point,” I said.
“Blah!” she said. “If I’m ever fighting over sex, I’m ‘New New Paige’ and that one’s sucky.”
I chuckled and hugged her, nodding.
“Anyway, so ... still, we had sex. But I kinda do think that, somewhere in there, sex stopped being about ‘fun’ or ‘intimacy’ or ‘togetherness’ and turned into ‘procreation.’ Like ... that’s why we were doing it. Some therapy, some treatment, some new thing. Then ... gotta get those sperm in there.”
“That is how it works!” she said, giggling. “But, no. I get it. You make it about procreation, and then there’s ... stuff. Babies, little kids, less sleep, travel, all that. Big life change. And after that, it just never starts back up. It’s sort of not about having kids, but ‘having kids’ is still tied to it stopping.”
“That’s where I was going, yeah.”
She cocked her head a bit, then said, “I really don’t think any of us is going to do that.”
“Me, neither. But our attitudes are totally different. It’s ... well. It’s probably not good for me to just poke at my ex-wife. Sex wasn’t the root of our problems, and even if our sex life had been awesome, that would’ve just put a band-aid on the problems.”
“A very nice band-aid,” she said, giggling.
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