Chapter 57: End of the Summer, Part V

August, 1983, Chicago, Illinois

"Seriously?" I heard Stephie say from the door to my room.

I chuckled, "Yeah. I was going to do some more work. The more I get done before Monday, the better, and Sunday is going to be busy. I won't have Labor Day weekend to work because I'm going to DC to see Tatyana and her family."

"I got a better idea for what to do. Turn those things off, turn me on, and then let me sleep with you tonight."

"Hmm," I smirked. "Computers or sex. That's really a difficult choice!"

"If you say computers, Yankee, I'll know you're a liar!" she declared with a silly smile.

"Come on in," I said with a grin. "Peach juice has a much stronger attraction than programming!"

I turned off the computers as Stephie took off her clothes and stretched out on my bed. I undressed slowly, causing her to grumble and tell me to hurry up. Standing by the side of the bed, I looked at this young woman who was squirming for me! I'd had many girls, but it continued to amaze me that, even with all my baggage, they would want me!

"Damn you Yankee! What's taking you so long?"

"Hmm, this is a new problem for me, I can't seem to find the right button to turn on!"

"Aaaarrrgh!" she shrieked, grabbed my hand and pressed it between her legs. "It's right there! Right where you left it!"

Laughing, I tumbled on to the bed with her, kissing her before sliding down and spending a long time between her legs, enjoying the juices that ran from her pussy, and licking her to multiple orgasms. Eventually, I stopped, and we had an athletic romp that resulted in fantastic orgasms for both of us. When we finished, I pulled Stephie into my arms to cuddle so we could fall asleep.

"Thanks, Yankee," she whispered. "That was the best! I love your tongue in me like that!"

"You're welcome, Peaches," I said. "I told you I like peach juice!"

When we woke up on Saturday, I went for my usual morning run and came back to my room. Stephie followed me into the bathroom and stepped into the large shower with me. I was a bit concerned that she was going to fall right back into our old routine and ultimately make a mess of things. I figured I had to say something to her.

"Stephie, are we falling back into the old routine already?" I asked.

She sighed, "No, it just felt right to come in here with you after we made love last night. I won't try to stay with you every night. Remember what I said about an arrangement?"

"I do. Did you want a specific night or just kind of play it by ear?"

"I don't want to get in your way, so let's play it by ear. I hope it's OK if it's kind of random."

"Yes, that's fine. I just don't want to have you decide by inertia."

"I know. I promise I won't. By the way, I never told you what Emily said."

"I can imagine, but go ahead."

"She told me I was a greedy bitch because I was breakin' up with you AND makin' love with you the whole time, so she couldn't get any!"

I chuckled, "I can just hear her, too. Emily needs to find a boyfriend!"

"That's what I told her. I think you spoiled that poor girl until she can meet some college guys. She thinks the High School guys are worthless. I think when she gets to college, she'll be fine. She did threaten to come to Chicago for school!"

I chuckled, "I think she's going to be disappointed if she does. Emily was fun, but she can't hold a candle to you!"

Stephie smiled, "Thanks, Yankee."

When we got out of the shower, I let Stephie know I needed to call Karin. She headed downstairs, and I made my call, then went downstairs myself. After breakfast, Penny and her mom arrived for Penny's lesson. She remembered most of what we'd gone over the previous week, so after a quick review, I set her on a programming exercise and talked to her mom.

"Did Penny ask you about coming over to use the computers more often until she gets hers?" I asked.

"Yes. Bart and I are OK with it, so long as she's not bothering you and your housemates. I hear that there are four computer majors here."

"Julia, Cindi, and I are CS majors, and Katy is a double-E with a CS minor. Plus Dave, that's Julia's boyfriend, who's here on the weekends a lot."

"I told her there were limits. Homework first, which she said you had already told her was a requirement, and she has to be home by her curfew, which is 9:00pm."

"We can handle that. The house is more or less full of people. Stephie and I aren't here on Tuesday and Thursday evenings because of karate, but otherwise we usually finish dinner by 6:30pm."

"OK. No more than twice a week and no more than ninety minutes. School starts in two weeks, so I don't want her to get into a habit of being here too much and I don't want her to wear out her welcome."

"Mom!" Penny whined.

Alice and I both laughed.

"Just get back to your lesson, Penelope!" Alice said.

"Mom!" Penny whined even louder. "You know I HATE it when you call me that!"

"Her name is Penelope Margaret," Alice said with an evil smile. "You won't believe how her dad and I came up with the name!"

"Mom!" Penny protested even louder.

"Her dad and I were fans of Wacky Races and Penelope Pitstop was his favorite character. We were watching that when my water broke, so he suggested the name and I agreed. We call her Penny because he called her 'Pretty Penny' just like Peter Perfect called Penelope Pitstop in the cartoon."

"And the middle name?" I asked with a grin.

"Penelope Pitstop was meant to be the same character as 'Maggie DuBois' in the movie The Great Race, so it just seemed perfect to call her Penelope Margaret. Wacky Races was based on The Great Race."

"I saw that movie in fifth grade at the YMCA. They had a Summer outdoor movie, and they showed that one Saturday. I remember laughing pretty hard during that movie."

"It's a good one. It's one of her dad's and my favorites."

"It seems as if you're on good terms with him," I said.

"Reasonably so. We both changed a lot from college and things sort of fell apart. We both want to be involved in Penny's life, so we put that stuff behind us. We both remarried and we're both happy."

"Thanks for like totally embarrassing me, Mom! Why do you have to tell that story?"

"Why are you embarrassed, Penny?" I asked. "I like your name."

"Really? I think it's dumb!"

"Penelope is a cool name," I said. "In fact, I think I'll call you that from now on!"

I winked at Alice, though Penny couldn't see that. Her mom smirked, though Penny couldn't see her, either.

"Oh God, no!" Penny begged. "Please don't!"

"Finish your program, Penelope!" I chuckled.

"Arrggh!" she groaned, turning back to the TRS-80.

"You've got her number, Steve," Alice said quietly. "She's usually in control and she's going to positively HATE you for that!"

"I doubt it," I said quietly. "I needle my friend Melanie a lot and she gets frustrated, but she doesn't hate me. It's like we're brother and sister."

"It'll keep the princess off balance, so that's a good thing," Alice said with a smile.

Penny completed the exercise, and I checked it, and showed her a couple of things that she'd done wrong and explained why. She caught on pretty quickly and corrected the errors that I'd identified. When she finished, we saved her work to a floppy disk that I wrote her name on and then I walked her and her mom to the Door.

"Thanks, Steve," Alice said. "Penny is really enjoying this."

"You're welcome!" I said. "I'm glad to hear that. I'll see you next Saturday, Penny."

"I think I'll come over on Wednesday, if that's OK," Penny said.

"It should be. Just come after 6:30pm, OK?"

"Sure! Does Mom have to come with me?" she asked.

"That's up to your mom, Penny. I'm sure that Stephie and Elyse will be here, and probably the other girls, too."

"If the other girls are here, that's fine. But if they aren't, you have to come home Penny," Alice said.

"Why?! That's not fair!" Penny grumped.

"Maybe not," I said, "but those are the rules, Penny. Your mom made them and they make sense."

"Adults are SO dumb!" she whined.

"Penny, do you want me to tell you that you can't come here?" Alice warned.

"No! Sorry," Penny said quickly, but it was clear she didn't mean it.

Alice appeared to just let it go. They left and then I went upstairs, changed into my gi for karate class, and went downstairs to wait for Stephie. She was ready a few minutes later, and we walked to class together.

Class was uneventful because I wasn't working on anything new just yet. I was still rusty from the Summer so Sensei Jim had me working on my purple belt kata, punches, kicks, and blocks, rather than on the ones I'd need to know for the brown belt. Stephie was working on the same things because she was trying to get her purple belt, so we worked together.

After class, we walked home and said hello to Kathy and Kurt, who had arrived while we were out. I went upstairs and showered and Stephie went to her bathroom to do the same. When I had dressed, I went downstairs to hang out with my friends. Because Julia, Katy, Jackie, and Cindi were living with me now, they were going to be here for our usual Saturday study periods, as well as the Sunday get-togethers. This week, though, Dave, Julia, Stephie, and I were going to Michigan for the race on Sunday.

Given the number of people who would be in the house, I'd decided that Saturday and Sunday lunches would be self-serve sandwiches, chips, and drinks. I let everyone know that was the plan, then grabbed my lunch and went to the study room to see Jackie and Jeremiah. Like they had been the other day, they were hunched over the drafting table. I saw more sketches of the house, but this time there was one with a completely redesigned front porch.

"What's with the different porch?" I asked.

"Hi, Steve," Jeremiah said. "Well, to be honest, we think this looks better. Jackie says it wouldn't be too difficult to modify what you have now to look like this, though we have no idea what it would cost."

"Interesting. I like how you have it wrapping around the sides instead of only covering half the front. That would be totally cool. I wonder what it would actually cost to change it. I'm not sure if there are any ordinances about changing the outside of the house."

"I can ask my dad about both the cost and the ordinances," he said. "But we'd need an architect to sign-off on plans."

"I can get one of my professors to sign-off on it if you really want to do it," Jackie said.

"You guys work it up," I said. "If I can afford it, we'll do it in the Spring. I really like it."

"Thanks," Jackie replied. "But Jeremiah gets most of the credit. He's a natural."

"I'll leave you guys to it, then. Dinner's at 6:00pm."

They already had turned back to the drafting table, so I walked around to find Dave and Julia in the sunroom and let them know the plans for Sunday. We'd be leaving no later than 5:00am and preferably about 4:45am.

"Can I use the second guest room downstairs?" Dave asked, confirming my suspicions that they hadn't quite made it to that point yet.

"Of course!" I said.

I went upstairs to my room and turned on my computers. I set the alarm on my clock radio for 4:00pm and settled down to work. The sound of the alarm jolted me to attention. I saved and shut everything down and went to the kitchen to start making dinner. Just before 6:00pm I carried platters of fried chicken and corn on the cob into the dining room. Stephie had set the table and Dave had set out wine and filled everyone's water glass. I asked Jackie to bring the mashed potatoes and gravy from the kitchen and walked around, calling everyone for dinner.

There was lively conversation during dinner and when everyone had their fill, Eduardo offered everyone sherry from a bottle that he'd brought with him from Spain. When we all had our glasses, he offered a toast to the new school year and everyone took their first drink.

"Our first family meeting is called to order!" I said after we drank the toast.

"Now you're David Berg?" Katy smirked.

"Who?" Stephie asked.

"He has a cult in California called The Family of Love," Katy said. "They recruit guys through something they call 'flirty fishing' where cute girls go out and entice guys into the cult with sex."

"You got that backwards, Katy!" Kurt chuckled. "It looks more like Steve recruits girls through sex!"

"Not me!" Katy declared firmly.

"We know, we know," Cindi replied, rolling her eyes. "Give it a rest, Katy! You don't have to say that every time!"

"ANYWAY," I said over laughter. "We do need to come up with some ground rules or this is going to be a nightmare. First off, for those who live here, I put up a laundry sign-up calendar on the door to the laundry room. If you sign-up, you've reserved the washer and dryer. If nobody has signed-up, you can use it, just make sure you'll be done before any reservation time. Pretty simple. Everyone provides their own laundry soap and stuff. You can leave it in there, just make sure you put your name on it.

"Second, I plan to cook dinner just as I did at the apartment. I plan for it to be at 6:00pm. If you can't make it, there will usually be some leftovers, but no guarantees. Leftovers are first-come, first-served. I also set aside space in the pantry so anyone can keep stuff there. Again, just put your name on stuff. Same goes for the fridge and deep freezer. For breakfast and lunch, everyone is on their own. Any questions?"

"No, Dad!" Julia laughed.

"Hah!" I said as everyone joined in the laughter. "I guess I did sound a bit imperious, but I don't know any other way to say it."

"You're fine, Steve," Julia said. "I'm just teasing."

"The next one is a bit trickier. All of you know, or have heard, about my practice of using the sauna naked, and I mean naked, not just no clothes with a towel wrapped around me. Out of deference to some of the more tender among us, I'm talking to you, Katy O'Connor," I said with a smirk, "on weekends the rule will be towels or bathing suits, at your option. Nobody will be totally naked. All other times, it's at the discretion of each person. So if delicate girls like Katy," I smirked again, "don't want to see me naked, she'll have to stay out during the week."

"Asshole!" Katy growled, but then she smiled.