Chapter 54

After knocking politely on Tessa’s apartment door, Nick took a moment to stretch his right arm over his head, hoping to shake off the stiffness brought on by the winter cold. He wanted to stretch both, but his left arm needed to stay perfectly still to balance a cardboard drink case filled with four unique, differently potent cups of coffee. A few seconds after knocking, the front door opened.

“Nick, I’ve told you a thousand times, you don’t have to knock,” Sydney said, stepping aside to let him in.

“It’s the polite thing to do!” Nick insisted. “Besides, what if something weird is happening? Maybe there’s something you wouldn’t want a passing neighbor to see, I don’t know.”

“Oh, well, I suppose Tessa is tied up naked on a Saint Andrew’s Cross and Riley is pouring honey all over her ... Do you think the neighbors would find that weird?”

Looking over to the living room, the only room such an event would be playing out, Nick saw no such thing. “Uh, what? There’s nothing like that happening. Plus, I hear the shower running, and at this hour that has to be Tessa.”

Sydney chuckled before playfully pointing accusingly at Nick. “Ah, but my story didn’t seem the least bit strange to you! That’s proof that you’re here so frequently that knocking is pointless!”

Quietly laughing at Sydney’s ruse, Nick pulled out a cup of coffee and handed it to her. “You raise a good point, but we both know I’m not going to stop any time soon. Now here, I got your favorite drink, extra chocolate and everything.”

“Yes! You’re the best!” Sydney threw her arms around Nick and kissed his cheek before happily grabbing the drink and walking back to the kitchen. After taking a sip, she grabbed a set of tongs and continued tossing the bacon and sausage sizzling on the stovetop griddle. Her long brown hair, cleanly tied back in a simple ponytail, bounced back and forth as she quietly moved in time with whatever song she had stuck in her head. Nearly as tall as Nick, Sydney was forced to duck under several open cabinets as she moved around the kitchen, but she did so with effortless grace.

Nick placed the rest of the drinks on the counter, taking one for himself and happily opening it up. Behind him, shuffling out of the second bedroom, Riley appeared; the other member of Tessa’s polycule. Her long, strawberry-blonde hair sat in a terribly disheveled state, and she held her thin glasses in her hand as she rubbed her eyes. Her pajamas were a size too big, and her top had shifted so heavily it was extremely obvious she wasn’t wearing a bra.

Turning to greet Riley, Nick made sure to avert his eyes as he pulled out another cup of coffee. “Morning, Riley. Picked up your drink for you!”

“Fuck yeah, coffee time!” Riley mumbled. She leaned against Nick as she gave him a lazy hug, and he took the opportunity to adjust her pajamas. “And you stop me from falling out of my clothes? I don’t know if I should be flattered or insulted. What, you don’t want to check out these bad girls? What if I was purposely trying to flash you and get my chance to finally see what all the fuss is about?”

“I know you weren’t, because I’ve seen you flash me nearly a dozen times,” Nick countered. “Perhaps all that exposure has let me build up an immunity.”

Behind Nick, Sydney laughed. “Oh come on, an immunity to tits? That’s not possible and you know it.”

Riley took a swig of coffee before shuffling over to the kitchen. “Sydneyyy Nick won’t appreciate my heaving bosom, no matter how many times I shove it in his face or invite him to the monthly orgy! Make him stop!” she whined playfully.

The two girls kissed, both of them now giggling as they saw Nick’s face turn red. “Clearly he’s gay, and all the sex he has with Tessa is an elaborate ruse to throw us off.”

“Yup, you caught me,” Nick said flatly, taking another sip of his coffee. “I’m completely repulsed by the feminine form, and my last five girlfriends have all been paid actresses. I can’t have the guys thinking I’m gay, can I? They’d be all like ‘Oooh do I look good in this shirt? What shampoo should I use? Do you have a boyfriend?’ and that’s simply too much positivity in my life.”

Nick’s dry sarcasm broke, and soon all three of them were laughing. The jokes continued for another minute or two before the bathroom door finally opened and Tessa walked out, makeup freshly reapplied. “Hey, who said you could start roasting Nick without—Ooh, coffee! Gimme gimme!” Tessa greedily cracked open her drink and chugged a third of it, all while continuing to adjust her clothes following her shower.

“Morning, Tessa,” Nick said with a soft smile, kissing her cheek as she leaned into him.

“Morning, dork,” she said back, smirking before kissing Nick properly. “So, what all did I miss? Anything juicy?”

“Well—” Riley’s eyes lit up as she talked, but Sydney cut her off.

“She doesn’t mean your tits, Riley,” Sydney muttered.

“Come on! That was perfect and you ruined it!” Riley protested.

Sydney laughed before looking at Tessa. “Nick only got here a few minutes ago, and we accused him of being gay because he didn’t take the obvious opportunity to ogle our beautiful girlfriend’s naked chest.”

“Okay, but are you?” Tessa asked, turning around slightly.

“You, of all people, should know the answer to that, Tessa,” Nick said.

“No, that’s not what I—” Tessa sighed in frustration. “I meant, like, do you like guys? I don’t think I’ve ever asked that before.”

“Huh,” Nick paused for a moment, thinking over the question. “I wouldn’t be against dating a guy, but it’s never really come up. Most of the guys I know just feel like good friends, and I like that. Guys also tend to socialize differently, so maybe it just feels more natural to date girls? I don’t know, that’s a good question. I’ll have to think about it.”

“Okay, but even if you don’t like guys,” Sydney started, “You know you’re allowed to date other people, right? You’re a part of this polycule, and we all have several different partners. No one would bat an eye if you walked in one day with a mysterious hickey or something.”

Huh, that’s right.

“I guess I never really thought about it before. I’ve never been in a polycule before, so I’m not used to looking at the world like that,” Nick said. “Oh, speaking of polycules, though, we need to compare schedules for next week. Some of my plans changed, and I wanted to see if Tessa was free, but I don’t want to steal her away from orgy night or whatever.”

“You know, it would be easier to remember the date of orgy night if you showed up!” Riley said, her persistence continuing to amuse Nick.

“Nah, I’d just get in the way,” Nick said. Once his phone was out, he opened his calendar and checked his free days against everyone else’s. It looked like he’d be able to get an extra night with Tessa, and he immediately began assembling a list of possible activities for the evening.

Of course, they’d probably just end up fucking all night.

Nick’s sex life had changed dramatically after discovering Amara was a succubus. At the time, he’d been between partners and had fallen into a reliable routine of exercising to relieve what little pent-up sexual tension he had. His libido had never been out of control, thankfully, and his dry spell hadn’t been a point of frustration for him.

In the months following that night, however, sleeping with Amara had become as essential as eating and drinking. Practically every visit between them led to sex in some form, and with all the extra drama present, the sex itself had faded into the background, a casual way for two friends to blow off steam. What he hadn’t expected, however, was how shocking a change it would be to remove Amara from the equation.

She was now dating Vee, and the two of them had agreed to be monogamous. While Nick was immensely happy for them, and genuinely couldn’t remember ever seeing Amara happier, he’d been forced to confront a significantly changed libido. After spending months having a literal succubus cater to his every sexual fantasy, it had taken some effort to readjust to a regular sex life.

It certainly helped that Tessa was just as sexually frustrated as he was, but she had other partners to think of as well.

He felt extremely silly that he hadn’t thought of looking for other partners before now. It wasn’t a bad idea, but for Nick, it presented a very specific problem; he tended not to find people sexually attractive until he’d gotten to know them. Random hookups might be a great solution for Tessa and her polycule, but the thought of sleeping with someone after doing nothing but sharing a few drinks made Nick uncomfortable.

Still, it was hardly a problem that demanded attention now. He wasn’t Amara, whose sexual urges were so important that she literally turned feral if she went too long without feeding.

Nick was eventually pulled from his idle thoughts as Sydney started handing out breakfast. He considered himself extremely lucky that he continued to surround himself with girls that loved cooking, and the different trains of thought began to intermingle as he picked away at his food.

What about Riley or Sydney? They’ve been pretty open about finding me attractive, and the convenience of dating someone already in the polycule would be nice...

There would be no decisions made this morning, as Nick preferred to think things over before jumping in. Instead, he happily tore into breakfast before leaving the apartment hand-in-hand with Tessa. The two of them talked about the polycule, the monthly orgy, and their mutual frustrations with Amara being monogamous before finally parting ways to get to class. Despite Tessa’s bluster, Nick knew she wasn’t actually angry at Amara. She would never admit it, but on rare occasions, Nick caught her looking at Vee and Amara not with jealousy or frustration in her eyes, but honest-to-goodness compersion.

For Nick, the excitement of returning to class had faded after the first week. He’d been worried that starting school again would feel pointless after staring down so many life-or-death scenarios, but thankfully that hadn’t come to pass. He still enjoyed his schoolwork, he loved seeing all his old friends again, and it was nice to slowly discover his new routine after months of dramatic shakeups.

On occasion, he found himself staring idly at other students, trying to convince himself they looked attractive. It was an experiment he’d ran countless times before in an attempt to tweak his sexuality towards something more conducive to one-night stands, but the results were always the same. No matter what frame of mind he put himself in, strangers just weren’t appealing, at least not in the way one might expect from a college student. Sure, he found it easy to appreciate someone’s aesthetic, but that was the extent of his fancy.

After hours of classes, during which Nick found himself a bit more wired up than usual, the time finally arrived for today’s workout. His brisk pace carried him quickly across campus, eager to see him arrive at the Athletic Center. Halfway through his journey, the bells of D’Ambray Chapel rang out across the campus, and Nick couldn’t help but stop to appreciate the distant view of his favorite building.

The chapel was further south, in the center of the Arts Campus, but thankfully, its height made it easy to spot. Depending on how one measured it, the chapel was technically the tallest building on campus. However, because the Arts Campus sat at a lower elevation, the school considered the football stadium the tallest structure, a fact that never ceased to frustrate Nick.

A multitude of gorgeous stone pointed arches surrounded the many windows of the chapel, with a larger arch in the center holding the main entrance. The door itself was a decadent, rich dark wood lined with iron accents, and it was original to the building. Atop the chapel sat an immaculately designed pointed spire technically taller than the football stadium. Surrounding the spire were thin columns and a multitude of smaller spires, all serving to accentuate the immaculate centerpiece. Near the top of this spire, exposed for all the campus to see, was a massive bell that, while not the source of the hourly chime, was still a breathtaking visual.

After a minute of appreciating the chapel, his phone buzzed with a text from Caleb.

Caleb: Yo where you at?

Berating himself for being late, and for allowing the D’Ambray Chapel to distract him again, he quickly texted a reply before breaking out into a light jog.

The sound of squeaking shoes and rhythmic thumping filled Nick’s ears as he approached the last curve of the track. Leaning into the turn slightly, the familiar tingle of sweat appeared down his back as he kept running, his feet repeatedly kicking off the synthetic floor underneath him. A cheer rang out from the nearby basketball court, and he smiled as he listened to the revelry; it was nice to hear students going about their daily routines.

After crossing the finish line, he slowed his pace to a comfortable walk and began pacing back and forth. He brought two fingers to his neck, checking his pulse while keeping his eyes on a nearby clock.

“Looking pretty good out there, Nick!” Caleb shouted, slapping Nick on the back to congratulate him.

“Eh, my heart rate’s not where I’d like it,” Nick muttered. “My workout schedule fell to shit over the break. Granted, it’s not like I wasn’t getting any exercise, but...”

Caleb nodded slowly, recognition in his dark brown eyes. He had dark skin and short, incredibly curly black hair, and wore loose-fitting gym clothes with bright red running shoes. As one of the students who’d stayed on campus over Winter Break, he was one of many members in the freshly christened AV Club, though Nick had known him since high school. “It’s better when you’re running on your own terms, right?”

As both the boys laughed, Nick reached for his water bottle and took a long sip. Just as he finished, another guy approached them, gasping heavily as he finished the last curve of the track. His form was terrible, and looked even stranger than usual due to his relatively lanky build. His short, messy brown hair was drenched with sweat, as were his dull gray gym clothes, and he crossed the finish line with an overly dramatic look of misery on his face. He slowed down quickly, jogging over to Caleb before leaning down and placing his head on Caleb’s shoulder.

“Fuck ... so much ... running...” Sean gasped, his voice raspy and exhausted.

With a playful smile, Caleb placed a gentle hand on Sean’s back and encouraged him to stand up. “Hey, you did great out there. Now c’mon, make sure you’re walking around, cooling down is just as important as warming up. You want some water?”