Forever Yours
©2025 Elder Road Books - Lynnwood WA
Chapter 21: Building Memories
Henry cheated. At least, that was his assessment of things. Instead of cooking, he ordered a Thanksgiving meal for eight from the local co-op. It came complete with turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie.
Lisa still helped in the kitchen to make sure everything was hot before their friends arrived. Henry went to his parents’ house for folding chairs and they decided to serve the dinner on paper plates. No one was planning to spend the afternoon washing dishes.
There were nine at the table instead of the expected eight. Kaitlyn took Henry seriously when he suggested she could invite her golf friend, George. She’d given him enough notice that he could get another chair from his parents’ house. Kaitlyn sat next to Henry at the table, but George seemed especially enamored of Chastity. He’d also brought a couple of bottles of wine, which was appreciated since all the others except Kaitlyn were under twenty-one.
“We’re not discussing business at this party,” Luke said as he raised his glass, “but we would be remiss if we didn’t congratulate Henry on pre-releasing our software to EMEE for final tests before release. It will be in the market in two weeks. Congratulations, Henry.”
Everyone cheered.
In keeping with the statement of not talking business, though, that was all that was mentioned.
“Here’s to Chastity’s twentieth birthday, Saturday,” Henry said. “May this be just the beginning.”
“To our hosting couple, Henry and Lisa,” Isobel said.
“Uh ... We’re not a couple,” Lisa said. “I just rent an apartment. Henry’s a couple with Kaitlyn.”
“Oh. That was what I meant,” Isobel backed things up. “I meant we’re guests in your home. I mean...”
“We get it, Isobel,” Chastity said. “Here’s to Henry and Kaitlyn. May you have a long life together. And now on to pumpkin pie.”
There was a lot of shuffling around to clear the table and reset with pie plates and plastic forks. Henry had a pot of coffee ready for those who wanted a cup. He already had an entire cupboard of coffee mugs that just seemed to continue to grow.
He put an arm around Kaitlyn as he poured. Josh was given the honor of serving the pie, but Lisa was standing by with two cans of spray cream topping.
“Want to spend the night tonight?” he asked. “I’ve never had a girl stay over in my apartment.”
“Except your roommate,” Kaitlyn said. “I’m not feeling well. I’m going to ask George to take me home. I’ll see you tomorrow night and we can just have sex if you want.”
“That’s not the only reason for us to get together,” Henry said. In fact, they’d only connected that way once since their first time.
“I know. But it’s too cold to play golf. See you tomorrow, babe.” She isolated George who seemed disappointed to have to leave the party early and managed to get Chastity’s phone number before they disappeared.
“What are you doing now that the UI is finished?” Josh asked Lisa as they sat around Thursday afternoon.
“As soon as the app was out the door, Henry switched me over to cleaning up the company website. It needs it,” she laughed. “How about you?”
Henry had brought Josh on board to review his code during the past two weeks. There had been a lot of testing each other for ability and trust. Henry had never had anyone actually look at his code before. He thought he trusted Josh, but it was still a big step.
For Josh’s part, he didn’t want to offend Henry by questioning calls or routines, but he wanted to show his worth, as well. He admired Henry, not so much because he was a brilliant coder, but because he had such interesting vision as to where his development could take them. Josh was ready to hitch his wagon to that rising star.
“He’s got me reviewing code for a search engine and I’m getting to add a few features I’ve always wished I had in my own search engine. Just getting started of course,” Josh said. “Uh ... I’m not ... I mean ... Would ... Would you be interested in going out sometime? I know we’ve all got finals coming up in two weeks, but if you need a break, we could hang out ... I guess.”
“Yeah. That would be okay. Don’t expect much, though. I’m probably going to get out of Dodge as soon as my last final is over. I like it here and all, but I need a break,” she said.
If ‘hanging out’ turned into an actual date, Josh would consider that a big win.
“I’m not very good at relationships,” Henry sighed as he lay in bed with Chastity Saturday afternoon.
Chastity started laughing.
“Hey, it’s not funny. Seriously, what should I do?”
Henry’s date with Kaitlyn on Friday could only be described as a little flat. They went out to a movie, had dinner, went back to her apartment, and fucked. Then he said goodnight and went home. He liked Kaitlyn. She seemed to be turned on enough, even though he didn’t think she came when he ate her. But she seemed to have a set routine of positions and how long to stay in each one. She scowled at his use of a condom. When he’d come, she made noises like she was having an orgasm, but then hustled him out the door as soon as they were ‘done.’
“Well, you could probably start by not having sex with me. I mean, I hope you don’t choose that. But I’m not your girlfriend, remember? What we have is between you and me. I don’t care who else either of us is involved with,” Chastity said.
“Would that still hold true if you were madly in love with someone and decided to settle down and get married?” he asked.
“Yes. But please don’t tell me you plan to settle down and get married to Kaitlyn. I don’t see any chemistry between the two of you.”
“I like her.”
“Ye-ah. So, what’s the problem?”
“I don’t seem to be able to really get her engaged. I mean, I think every time we’ve had sex, she’s faked her orgasm. She could just tell me that I either just don’t turn her on or I’m doing something wrong,” Henry complained. He settled his face between Chastity’s thighs and started licking the way he knew she liked.
“Oh, goddess! Yes,” she said. “I was hoping we were getting to this part of the conversation. If she doesn’t have an orgasm when you do this, it’s because she doesn’t want one. Oh, yeah. Keep that up. Yes, inside. I’m ... How do you get me there so fast? I’m ... Don’t stop. Yes!”
Henry didn’t let up until she pushed at his head, her usual signal that she’d had enough. He rolled away and just held her while she caught her breath.
“Oh, fuck me!”
“You don’t fake that when you’re with me, do you?” Henry asked.
“You’re entirely too unsure of yourself. Did all your testers fake having their computers blown up when they tried to hack the site?”
“No. That would be pretty hard to fake. And what would the point be?”
“Exactly. What would the point be in faking the one thing I enjoy about sex?”
“You only enjoy cunnilingus?”
“With you. I mean, I like fucking you, too. But I only enjoy getting eaten by you. I don’t even let any other guys try anymore. They just get frustrated. And so do I. I might let a girl go down on me, but that’s different. So, let me tell you: If she isn’t getting off on you eating her, she doesn’t want to. Or there’s some kind of deep hidden psychological block against her enjoying sex. That’s always possible, too. Maybe she was told from the time she was a baby that good girls don’t enjoy sex.”
“Hmm. I suppose. How did you get past it?” he asked.
“Who says I did? I don’t do sex for pleasure. If you’re not going down on me, I know how to work the controls myself. And don’t think I don’t like fucking you, too. I do. It’s fun. But I don’t do it to come. I do it because it’s you. Other guys? I do it for the stack of hundreds they leave on my nightstand.”
“I wish it was better for you.”
“It will be, eventually. We’ll all be making money hand-over-fist in the company when the software releases and I’ll retire from escorting. Another year and guys will start looking at me like I’m too old.”
“You’ve got to be kidding! This is only your twentieth birthday!”
“That means old guys can’t hire me so they can have sex with a teenager. You have no idea how things really are.”
“You’re right about that. You know I’d do anything for you, don’t you?”
“And you’re doing exactly what I want. Now while all your drool is keeping my pussy wet, why don’t you get a condom on and slide in for a while.”
Time between Thanksgiving and the winter break rushed by. In the last two weeks of classes, Henry had four research papers due. Then there was a week of final exams. All six of his classes had objective exams, meaning there were no essays. There were a few short answer questions that were to be answered in less than one hundred words, but professors tended to stay away from even these. All their exams had to be graded and turned in before they could start their own holiday breaks.
EMEE reported favorable results from their pre-release testing, indicating they had installed the optimization AI on all their company computers. They had not yet installed it on servers, pending further testing. Henry heartily agreed. The software was slated to release the eighteenth of December, coinciding with the end of the semester.
In the midst of the end of semester rush, Henry had to talk to Gallitzin Marketing Solutions—or rather to Darla Gallitzin at the agency. Luke and Isobel had interviewed the agency as they sought someone to handle promotion for the new product. They provided all the corporate information necessary, but Henry had to supply the product information.
“The idea of installing an AI on my computer just raises my hackles,” Darla said. “Tell me why I should trust this one?”