Chapter 8: The New Normal

August/September 1981, Chicago, Illinois

When Elyse and I woke up, I went for my run. When I came back, she’d showered and had changed the sheets on my bed and sprayed air freshener in the apartment.

“It really smelled like us, and not in a way I want Kathy to notice!” Elyse giggled when I thanked her for cleaning up.

Kathy called while I was making breakfast. She said she’d be at the 55th Street station about 9:20am according to the schedule. I told her I’d meet her there. Elyse and I finished breakfast, and I started a load of laundry while she swept the floors. I took the trash out and then we scrubbed the bathroom.

“Did you check for blonde hairs in my room?” I teased.

“Well, given that I changed the sheets and pillowcases, I don’t think there’s a concern!”

At about 9:00am, I walked to the train station to wait for Kathy. The train was basically on time and when she stepped off, she ran about a car-length to get to me, dropped her bag and gave me a big hug and a ‘very happy to see me’ kiss!

“Hi!” she said with excitement, taking a step back. “It’s really nice to see you again!”

“I’m happy to see you too!” I replied. “How was the train ride?”

“Boring! I read all the way down! I have a ton of reading to do for my English class,” Kathy said.

“That’s the same thing Elyse said. I tested out and boy, am I glad! But I don’t think that English classes at an engineering school are nearly as tough.”

“Probably not,” Kathy agreed.

“You don’t mind if I go to my karate class at 10:00am, do you?”

“Karate? Cool. Can I go with you and watch?”

“I’m just a white belt. I don’t do much yet, but sure, come watch. It lasts about an hour.”

We walked back to the apartment, and I showed her my room. She dropped her bag on the floor, saying she’d unpack later. She went to talk to Elyse, whom she’d met a couple of times at my house at parties, while I quickly changed into my gi.

“OK. We have to go because I don’t want to do extra exercises for being late!”

Kathy and I headed out and Elyse simply said goodbye without adding her usual “Honey” to the end. After class, we went back to the apartment, and I showered. I was a bit sad that Elyse wasn’t helping me, but I knew that wasn’t possible. When I finished, I went to find the girls sitting on the couch chatting.

“Lunch?” I asked.

“Absolutely!” Kathy said.

I made Cream of Broccoli soup and sliced some bread and cheese and set them out, along with Cokes for everyone. We ate, and the girls chatted more, getting to know each other. When we finished, Elyse and I cleaned up while Kathy pulled out her homework. We joined her a short time later. I turned on the stereo to B96 for some background music and started working on my program for CS200. I was a bit miffed that I had to work in my room, but when I remembered that I’d saved $400, that feeling quickly went away.

Around 3:00pm, I made some tea, and we all took a break.

“How often do you think you’ll visit, Kathy?” Elyse asked.

“Most weekends, I think. I hope that won’t bother you,” Kathy answered.

“No. I knew about it before I got here. Steve was totally up front about it.”

“He’s that way about everything. How well do you know him?”

“Pretty well, actually. I met him at a wedding two and half years ago. We dated a bit last Fall, before he met Kara. After that, we got together as friends.”

“Dated? He never mentioned you, really.”

“Well, I guess dated might not be the right word,” Elyse said. “We went on one date, made out, then both decided to back off. From then on it was more just two friends going out together. Obviously, I didn’t see him as much once he and Kara were steady, but we kept in touch. Then, when Jennifer told him she wasn’t coming to Chicago, we agreed to share an apartment. It was something we discussed when he first came home from Sweden, but we knew it probably could only happen if something happened with Jennifer, which it did.”

“He actually handled that really, really well, according to Bethany. Do you know her?”

“Yes. She asked me, and I quote, ‘to take care of him’ in Chicago.”

Kathy looked questioningly. “Oh?”

Elyse went on as if she hadn’t noticed Kathy’s unsaid question. I wondered where this was going, and she continued.

“Oh yes. I’ve been taking good care of him. He’s turned out to be an excellent cook, so I let him practice his skills daily, and he does clean up after himself pretty well. I make sure he does his homework and ensure he makes his weekly calls to his friends,” she said with a straight face. “So other than needing insulation for the wall between our rooms, to muffle his snoring, he’s turning out to be a good boy to babysit.”

She managed to hold her composure through the whole speech, but then we all broke up, laughing.

“I’m kidding, of course,” she went on. “In reality, she basically wanted to make sure he had a close friend he could talk to and depend on. I guess she talked to you, too, because she said historically he’s always had a close friend and a lover. She was his close friend when he was with Jennifer, and then his lover, but then his best friend when Kara was his lover. She told me that in Sweden he had his friend Sofia and his lover Pia. So I guess she signed you up for the lover role and me as the friend.”

Kathy laughed, “That’s how I understand it, too. He and I have known each other since 7th grade. We both had crushes on each other, but never acted on them. Him because he was afraid to, and me because I didn’t want to upset the other cheerleaders. I was stupid. I ended up with a horrible first time and two years of lousy, and I do mean lousy, sex. Then I had a chance to be with him and I was stupid. Fortunately, he forgave me and gave me another chance. We are REALLY good together that way. But the crushes are gone and we don’t see a long-term future together.

“I know Kara will be here next year, and Steve and I will just be friends again. Between now and then, I’ll look for a boyfriend. He’s pretty cool about it and if I happen to find the right guy, he won’t complain if we end our physical relationship. I’m not sure how well you know him, but he’s the most understanding guy there is and a great friend. Well, when he’s not acting like a shithead!”

“I see you’ve been talking to Joyce,” I chuckled.

“Yeah. At your last party. But what she said is that you stopped acting like a shithead when you and Kara started dating seriously. Everyone agrees that Kara has been good for you. You belong with her.”

I agreed, but I didn’t want to hurt Elyse’s feelings when I couldn’t talk to her forthrightly because of Kathy being here.

“Thanks, Kathy. I do have more homework to do. We can talk more at dinner and after.”

We set our mugs on the table and I headed back to my room to work on the program, Kathy sat at my computer desk to do some math homework and Elyse stretched out on the couch to read. By 5:00pm, when it was time to start dinner, I had a working program. I printed it out, though I’d need to make a few modifications before I typed up the punch cards in the computer lab. The PASCAL on the TRS-80 had a slightly different syntax than the one on the UNIVAC. I shut everything down and went to the kitchen to prepare dinner.

About 6:15pm I served veal Parmesan, penne pasta, green beans, and a tossed salad.

“You amaze me every time you cook, Steve,” Kathy said. “I’ve eaten at your house a couple of times at parties and it’s always good. This is nothing short of amazing.”

“Thanks. It’s something I really enjoy doing. Elyse lets me cook, and she does the dishes in return, though I usually help her, anyway.”

“Well, tonight you aren’t! I’ll help her,” Kathy said.

When we finished, the girls cleaned up and chatted quietly. When they finished, they asked to go for ice cream, so we walked to the shop that Elyse and I had discovered. Unfortunately, I’d been unable to find a better one closer to the apartment. It wasn’t that it was bad; it was just that I’d been spoiled by Graeter’s back home. We took a round-about way back to the apartment while we ate our cones.

“So, this will be the pattern for the semester?” Elyse asked. “You coming for the weekends?”

“I think so, unless something comes up for either of us. Also, I am going home with you guys for Labor Day.”

“Cool. It’ll be good to have you around. As nice as Steve is, it’s good to have female company to talk to.”

“I agree,” Kathy said. “And it doesn’t bother you that we’re sleeping together?”

“No. I have earplugs!” Elyse smirked.

Actually, unless I completely misjudged, it would be more like Elyse putting her ear up against the wall than putting in earplugs!

“Do you guys want to see a movie?” Kathy asked.

“What did you have in mind? We saw Body Heat last night,” Elyse answered.

“How about An American Werewolf in London,” Kathy suggested, “It’s had excellent reviews.”

We agreed to see the movie and when we got back to the apartment, I checked the Tribune and saw that it was playing at Water Tower place and that we could make the 9:30pm show if we left right away. We headed downtown and by the time we sat down, the trailers were already rolling. I put my arm around Kathy and she snuggled close. Out of the corner of my eye I saw that Elyse didn’t react, so I felt OK. We all enjoyed the movie, which ended up being a combination of horror and comedy, almost slapstick in nature.

As we walked back to the car, we all linked arms, Elyse on my left and Kathy on my right. I was happy that Elyse was OK with that kind of affection. I assumed that because it looked more like friends than lovers, she was OK with it. I was sure she’d have simply dropped my arm if she’d had an issue. We headed home and for the first night since she’d been in Chicago, Elyse went to her bed without a kiss, and slept the whole night. Kathy and I went to my room and made love before we fell asleep.

On Sunday, I woke up early as usual and ran and showered, then made breakfast while the girls took turns showering. I enjoyed the thought that they could have saved on water by showering together, but I knew that neither was into that much closeness!

After breakfast, I made my usual call to Karin.

“That’s so cool. I assume that was Swedish?” Kathy asked.

“Yep. I call Karin on Sunday mornings. I’ve been doing that for the past year, since I arrived home from Sweden. It lets me stay in practice, which is good. I talk to Josh from time to time as well, but at this point, we’re speaking more English than Swedish. I’m hoping by the end of the year he’ll be speaking Swedish all the time. He got a head start because I taught him quite a bit before he left.”

“What are we doing today?” she asked.

“That’s up to you,” I said. “What do you want to do?”

“I figure I should leave around 3:30pm to catch the 4:00pm train, which gets me back to Northwestern by 6:00pm. If Elyse doesn’t mind, I’d like to take you to your room!” she giggled.

“I don’t mind at all. Go fuck him senseless!” Elyse said with a grin.

Kathy took my hand and led me to my room. We were quickly naked and in bed, kissing and touching.

“Can we talk a minute?” Kathy asked.

“Sure. What’s up?”

“I just don’t want to make Elyse uncomfortable. Is she really OK with us being here?”

“Yes. Very much so. Or did you think she’s jealous and want to invite her in?” I chuckled.

She smacked me on the shoulder, “No! I only do that with Bethany! Even that’s a stretch, but I know you like it, so I do it, but I can only go so far.”

“Sorry, I was just teasing. But it is true, Elyse is OK with this. Really.”

Kathy said nothing, leaning in to kiss me deeply. She pushed me onto my back, straddled me and proceeded to ride me hard, wildly moving her hips, raising her body up and slamming down on me. She had a couple of small orgasms before I fired cum deep into her pussy. She bent down, and we kissed until my dick softened and slipped from her. She slid down and began licking and sucking me, and a few minutes later I was hard for the second time. She mounted me and once again rode me hard until I came. We kissed for about fifteen minutes and then she slid down again and we had our third round. I was spent when I fired the last spurt of cum into Kathy. She moved off of me to lie next to me.

“Would you lick me, please?” she asked quietly.

It didn’t take a lot of energy to do that. I suckled each breast for a moment, then kissed down to her shockingly red patch of pubic hair and began kissing, licking and sucking her clit. I pressed a finger into her sodden pussy and two minutes later she groaned, bucked her hips and came, her pussy grasping my finger tightly. I moved back to kiss her and pulled her to cuddle me.

“Thanks,” she whispered. “I need a nap!”

We dozed for about an hour, then got up and showered together. We dressed and went out to find Elyse sitting on the couch, reading. I started making lunch and Kathy went to sit on the couch. After eating, we went for a walk in the park, heading back home just in time for Kathy to gather her things so we could walk to the station. We waited on the platform for the train to arrive.

“Thanks for having me over! What time should I be here on Friday to head home?”

“As early as you can. Bethany should be here by 3:30pm. Her last class ends at noon.”

“So does mine. I’ll be here by 2:00pm. Do you want me to come every weekend? Is that too much?”

“You’re welcome any time, Kathy. If you want to come Friday night, that’s fine, and even stay until Monday morning if the train schedule allows.”

“I think I’ll just come on Saturday mornings and go back on Sunday afternoons most weekends, unless there’s something special you want to do. That way we both have our Friday free to go out, go to parties, that kind of thing. We don’t want to totally miss out on college life!”

“Sounds good to me. I’ll just meet you for the same train on Saturday unless I hear from you.”

“Let’s just figure three weekends a month. I’m sure stuff will come up that we both need our Saturday or Sunday free. We’ll play it by ear.”

“You don’t need to beat around the bush — if you want to go on dates, go on dates! You and I have an arrangement that works for both of us at the moment. When it doesn’t, we’ll look at it again.”

“That’s why I love you,” she said with a smile. “You’re understanding and flexible. Thanks.”

I saw the train round the bend, so I pulled Kathy into my arms and kissed her. The train slowed to a stop and, with a wave, she stepped into the car and sat down. I waved back and waited until the train pulled out of the station. When the train was out of sight, I turned and walked back home.

I opened the door of the apartment to find Elyse lying naked on the couch. I quickly shut the door and kicked off my shoes.

“Elyse!” I chuckled.

“Do you know how horny it made me listening to you two? I rubbed myself to three orgasms! I hope she left something for me because I insist that you get your clothes off and fuck me, Mister!”

I stripped off my clothes and went to the couch. She had planned ahead and already had a towel under her. We kissed a bit, then fucked hard and fast on the couch, our bodies slamming together frantically. I didn’t have a lot of cum left to give, but it seemed to be enough to satisfy her.

“Let’s take a bath,” Elyse suggested.

I got up and led her to the bathroom, where we soaked in a bubble bath for about forty minutes. We said very little, but she sighed quite often as I held her and she snuggled against me. When the water had cooled, we rinsed off, dried ourselves and dressed. I grabbed a couple of Cokes and we sat on the couch.

“So, this past week, is that pretty much how it’s going to be?” I asked.

“If you’re happy, then yes. Though we do have to use my toys from time to time.”

“Yes, I’m happy. I didn’t realize how turned on you would get from me and Kathy having sex. Were you listening on purpose?”

“Are you kidding? I was on my bed as soon as she took you in there! I probably had my finger in my pussy before she had you naked!”

I just shook my head. This girl was indeed a sex maniac, as she herself had said.