Chapter 56: Finishing Freshman Year

April/May 1982, Chicago, Illinois

I made very good time driving back to Chicago, assisted by the radar detector, and arrived at my apartment before 6:00pm Chicago time. As usual, Stephie and Elyse were sitting on the couch when I walked in.

“Well, another fantasy up in smoke!” I teased.

“Get your mind out of the gutter, Yankee!” Stephie exclaimed, getting up to hug me. “Did you have a good weekend?”

“I did. How about the two of you?”

“Same as always, though I didn’t have a date on Saturday and Sunday when Kurt, Kathy, and Warren were here,” she complained.

“Poor baby,” I replied, feigning sympathy, which earned me a smack on the arm.

“Did you two eat?” I asked.

“Nope. We assumed you would cook!” Elyse declared with a silly smile.

“Ah yes,” I moaned, “the two princesses lounge around while the manservant does all the work!”

“You know, I COULD sleep on the sofa, Yankee!” Stephie teased.

“The other thing I’m good for,” I said with faux annoyance. “Sex. You two just can’t accept me for who I am, a strong, independent man! All I am to you two is a sex object and a kitchen slave!”

That last sentence was said with a faux whine, and when I’d said it, I couldn’t keep a straight face and burst out laughing, as did the girls.

“Not bad, not bad,” Elyse said. “But you’re pretty good with the mop and vacuum as well!”

“I do have to say, Yankee, that I don’t know too many guys who are as handy around the house as you, both in and out of the bedroom!”

“And whom do you have to compare me to, Peaches?” I asked with a smirk.

“You know what I meant!” she said, stamping her foot.

“Forget it, Stephie,” Elyse said, shaking her head, “you can’t win a verbal sparring contest with him. He should forget computers and go into law. Can you imagine him as a lawyer?”

“He’d never lose a case!” Stephie said.

“Not true,” I countered. “As I once told Melanie, only criminal defense law is worth practicing. And the best criminal defense lawyer on the planet will lose better than 90% of the time. The system is rigged against the defendant to the point where juries have been co-opted as tools of the state, rather than a defense against it.”

“Politics, then,” Stephie suggested. “You seem to know your stuff.”

“I do,” I agreed, “but I’d lose. Politics is a bidding war where you use other peoples’ money to bribe enough people to vote for you. I’d lose that bidding war because my first thought on all of those things is that the government is too damn big and needs to get smaller. Can you imagine my campaign platform? There’s a reason the Libertarian candidate for president got 0.5% of the popular vote!”

“Hmm,” Elyse said thoughtfully. “OK. Multi-millionaire with a house full of concubines!”

“It’s an idea,” I replied with a sly smile. “Probably not a good one, but it’s an idea! I just don’t see Kara agreeing to something like that.”

“Well, then dump her!” Elyse suggested. “Stephie, would you be OK being his wife and having me and Kathy and a few other girls living with us?”

Stephie smiled, “I jus’ might!”

“Enough!” I chuckled.

The girls went back to their reading, and I prepared dinner. When we finished eating, the girls did the dishes while I did laundry and then sat down to do some homework. Stephie had helpfully turned in my Calculus homework on Friday and gave me the problems that were due on Monday. I also spent a bit of time updating the betting programs and making some improvements that Richie had asked for. When I finished, I made a cup of tea and sat on the couch with Stephie to drink it. When I finished, we all headed to bed.

“Care to join us again, Elyse?” I asked as we walked down the hall.

Both girls laughed.

“I told you he’d ask!” Elyse said.

“You did!” Stephie said with a smirk. “Sorry to ruin your fantasy, Steve, but you’re stuck with just me.”

We got ready for bed and climbed in under the comforter.

“So were you just funnin’ or were you serious-like, Yankee?”

“I was teasing. I realize how big of a step that was for both of you and I appreciate it. I won’t tease you any more about it.”

“Elyse and I talked about it and we both agreed it was weird and uncomfortable. It’s OK to tease, but just don’t get your hopes up for a repeat.”

“I have no hopes, Stephie. Remember my view on sex — I do what makes the girl happy.”

“And you do that very well. In fact, I’d like a demonstration, please!”

We made love and after a short period to recover, I did my best to honor Stephie’s request to fuck her brains out. When we finished, we cuddled together and fell asleep. When I woke in the morning, I started to get out of bed to run, but Stephie had other ideas.

“I know how you can get some exercise, Yankee!” she smiled, throwing the comforter off her body.

I returned to bed, and we had a repeat of the previous night.

“Now, wasn’t that better than some old boring jog?” she giggled.

“Missed me while I was gone, did you?”

“Damn straight! Twice last night and twice this morning! I think that’s our new plan for the next three weeks, Yankee. I’ll throw in the odd blowjob here and there as well! I got to git my fill a’forin I head home for the Summer!”

We showered, ate breakfast, and headed to school.

Nothing special happened at school on Monday, and the evening was spent as usual — dinner, homework, and then sex. Tuesday morning at home was a repeat of Monday, and when we headed to school, I went to meet Jackie for coffee.

“Thanks for coming to my birthday party!” I said.

“I’m glad Stephie invited me. Do you think I could hang out with you guys from time to time?”

“Sure. I’ll be back in July with Kara, so if you want to come and hang out with us, you certainly could. During the school year, my friends you met at the party, Kathy and Kurt, come most weekends, and Bethany and Gene come down from Madison every six weeks or so. Stephie will still hang out with us when Kara is here.”

“Wait! Stephie and Kara know about each other? And they’re cool with it?”

“Cool might not be the right word, but Kara tolerates the situation. I have a long and crazy past. I’ll clue you in on something now, because you’ll find out if you hang out more with us. Kathy, Bethany, and Elyse and I all have a history. And yes, I’m implying what your raised eyebrow is suggesting!” I grinned. “And yes, Kara knows I’ve been with all of them in the past. Kara and Bethany are pretty good friends and they helped me through some tough times.”

“Let me get this straight,” Jackie said. “You are friends with a bunch of ex-girlfriends, your girlfriend Kara is cool with that, you are sleeping with Stephie and Kara knows about it, AND Stephie knew about Kara before you guys started going together? Who the hell are you?”

“Oh, it’s more than that, Jackie,” I chuckled. “I’m good friends with all my ex-girlfriends. And Kara knows most of them. We hang out with them quite a bit when I’m back in Milford.”

She shook her head, “Amazing. I don’t even talk to Bill, and when he and I were going together, his ex-girlfriend was about as mean as possible to me.”

“I’ll also warn you, if you hang out with me, you’re probably going to end up naked around other people at some point!” I chuckled.

“What?!” Jackie gasped, her eyes wide.

“Just a fair warning. I’m partial to saunas and prefer the Swedish practice of everyone being naked. I’m also pretty relaxed about nudity and sex, and I tend to accumulate friends who think that way as well, though with some of them it takes time for them to loosen up.”

“You sound like some kind of ‘free love’ hippie from the 1960s!”

“Think about that for a moment. Is that true?”

She smiled, “Actually, no. Otherwise you would have taken me to bed long ago and probably more than once!”

“And I would have enjoyed it!” I said with a smile. “Anyway, for me, it’s about having a healthy view of nudity, sex and love. Something I distinctly didn’t get from my mom.”

“Hanging around with you sounds like it might be quite the adventure!” Jackie observed.

“If you ever meet my friend Josh Richards, you can ask him about that. He has quite the story to tell!”

“Wait, you and a guy, uh, you know?” she asked, blushing slightly.

I chuckled, “No! Absolutely not! I just helped set him on the course for adventure.”

Jackie laughed hard, “What are you, the Love Boat?”

“You’ll fit in with my friends if you get those kinds of references. I remember you got the one from Urban Cowboy as well.”

“It sounds like it’ll be an experience! Could I come over Saturday or Sunday and hang out?”

“Sunday is probably better because on Saturday we usually study and do homework.”

I gave her directions to get to the apartment using the State Street El, and when we finished our coffee, we headed to class. Stephie and I met after class and because we were both done for the day, we went back to Hyde Park to eat lunch at home. I spent the afternoon reviewing my katas for the orange belt test I would take on Thursday, and then worked on my term paper. I was happy how it was shaping up and I’d be able to hand it in a few days early. Elyse arrived home late in the afternoon with Warren in tow. They were going out to dinner to celebrate his birthday, and then he’d be spending the night. Stephie and I exchanged a look and smirked behind their backs.

Stephie and I decided that we’d go out for Chinese food after I took my karate test because I didn’t want to eat a lot beforehand. We had a light snack before class and then, after a quick shower, we walked the six blocks or so to the Chinese restaurant and had a nice meal. When we arrived home, Elyse and Warren were already there, and the door to Elyse’s room was closed.

“Sounds quiet,” Stephie smirked.

“You know what? It’s still early. Why don’t we go look for a VCR? We can give Elyse a bit more privacy.”

“Spoilsport!” Stephie exclaimed. “But OK.”

We headed to the Venture department store and checked out the options. I preferred the Beta format, but in checking the video store, the vast majority of movies they had to rent were in VHS format. My parents’ recorder was a Betamax, and I’d liked it, but it simply didn’t make sense with wanting to rent movies. I bought a JVC VHS mid-range recorder/player unit and a box of five blank tapes. We took the unit home, and I hooked it up. On Thursday, I’d get a membership from the local video store and we’d be able to rent movies.

“Stephie,” I teased, “you know they make cameras for these, too. Maybe we could make our own movie!”

“You are a nut, Yankee! I could just see somebody finding that tape, making lots of copies of it, and selling it!”

“Maybe I’d sell it, Peaches! We could get rich!”

“Count me out, Yankee!” she giggled. “We may fuck each other silly, but it’s not a spectator sport!”

“Well, let’s at least test it by recording something from the TV.”

I tore the cellophane wrapper from a tape, removed it from its cardboard sleeve and inserted it into the machine. I pressed record, waited about 30 seconds, then pressed stop, then rewind, then play. We saw the images that had been recorded and I was satisfied I had it set up correctly.

“Well, nothing left to do now except head to bed!” Stephie said.

We did as Stephie suggested and had our lovemaking session, then fell asleep.

Wednesday was a typical day with nothing out of the ordinary, except for Warren being there for breakfast in the morning. He’d pretty much gotten over his discomfort with the casual way we treated nudity and sex, and actually walked to the bathroom wearing just a pair of undershorts. I pulled Elyse aside and told her she should get him a robe to keep here. She thought that was a good idea.

On Thursday morning, after our usual routine, Stephie headed to class, and I headed to the computer lab for my morning session as lab assistant. I was busy this morning with a number of Freshmen taking CS100 or CS200 and trying to complete the more complex homework assignments that came towards the end of the semester, and one desperate student from my C-programming class who was having serious problems with his project. I spent two hours tutoring him on most of the concepts that had been covered in the course and trying to get him to see the problems he was having, mostly relating to pointers, but he had real trouble. By the end of my session, he’d made a bit of progress, but my prognosis was that he didn’t belong in computer science any more than I would belong in a band or on a football field.

After lunch on Thursday, I went to Hermann Hall to wait in the Hub for Becky. When she arrived, we walked to The Governor’s Table and ordered coffee and pie as we had the first time we were there. I had brought a printout of the user manual that Krista had started writing for the veterinarian software and went over it with Becky. I told her that she really would need a computer to start using and learning the software and she said that her dad had offered to buy her one and that she’d take him up on the offer. She could purchase it on Saturday with her credit card once she talked to him. After finishing our second cups of coffee, we headed back to campus and then Becky got into her BMW and drove off.

When Stephie and I got back to Hyde Park, we walked to the video store and I took out a ‘Family’ membership and listed Kara, Stephie, and Elyse as my family. We checked the selection of videos, then headed back to the apartment. The evening went according to our plans — we had a light snack, then went to the karate class, where I passed my orange belt test with flying colors. Stephie felt that my achievement should be rewarded with an emphatic lovemaking session.

Friday and the weekend went as usual, with Jackie joining us on Sunday. It was another nice day, so we had a picnic lunch in the park and Kurt and Warren tossed a football around while Stephie and I sat cuddled under a tree and Elyse, Kathy, and Jackie read. We had a nice dinner together and talked about plans for finals week. Kurt and Kathy would come next weekend and then come for a Friday night celebration dinner once exams were done. When they were ready to leave, Kurt and Kathy offered Jackie a ride back to IIT on their way to Northwestern.

After everyone had left, Elyse, Stephie, and I relaxed in the living room.

“Steve, is it safe to assume I can have a ride back to Ohio with you?” Elyse asked.

“Of course. I’m taking Stephie to the airport on Saturday morning and then I’m heading out. You’re welcome to ride along, or I can stop here to pick you up because it’s pretty much on the way. You’re also welcome to come here anytime during the Summer. I’ll be gone until mid-July and after that Kara and I will be here. If you want a ride back, I can probably arrange for Kara and me to visit her parents before school starts.”

“I probably won’t come back until school starts, but thanks for letting me know it’s OK to be here during the Summer.”

“Of course! Also, my friends Katt and Mikael will be here for three days late in July.”

“You have a super busy Summer, Yankee,” Stephie said. “Are you going to be able to come to Talladega?”

“I think so. I can let you know for sure when I get back from Sweden and things are set with Kara. I already discussed it with her and she was OK with me going with you, as a friend, of course.”