Chapter 25

Phil was going over notes for the following week when he heard the familiar tread of people ascending the stairs. Despite the fact he faced four midterm exams the following week, a smile crossed his lips.

He heard the women before he saw them, the lilting laughter and higher-pitched voices engaged in animated conversation. They didn’t knock but just walked in, their hands filled with eco-friendly reusable bags from the grocery store.

“I’ll get the rest of the stuff from the car,” Phil offered.

“What’s left?” Hailey asked him.

“I don’t know,” Phil admitted. “But three women and a mall? I’m betting there is something given that you’re only carrying groceries.”

Hailey hooked his arm and led him back to the kitchen.

“Where do things go?” she asked him.

“Wherever you want to put them,” Phil said. “I learned I don’t need to keep that far cupboard kosher so anything can go anywhere. There is no method to the madness.”

“Hopeless,” Tiffany said.

“My thoughts exactly,” Katelyn chimed in.

“So do I need to get things from the car?” Phil asked again.

“The mall trip wasn’t for buying,” Hailey informed him. “It was for returning. Tiffany and I bought some things over the past few months that we took back for the cash. Have a seat, Phil, while we put things away. We want to talk to you about some things.”

“Uh-oh,” Phil said. “That never ends well.”

“Don’t be so dramatic!” Hailey said with a laugh. “OK, here’s what we talked about. As you know, for two of us money is tight or is going to be tight pretty soon.”

“And for one of us it was always tight,” Katelyn said with a smile. “That would be me in case you didn’t get the memo.”

“Yeah, I got that,” Phil said.

“We’re not comfortable with you paying for everything,” Hailey continued. Phil watched her butt as she stretched to put something on an upper shelf. She hadn’t dressed in her finest clothing for a trip to the mall. She still looked pretty but she hadn’t put on an effort to have everyone look her way.

“They’ll take away your ‘Man-Catcher Club’ card for even thinking that,” Phil pointed out.

“That’s one club we don’t want to be a member of,” Tiffany cut in. “That’s what my mother sent me here to join. We want to carry our own weight.”

“We want to help out on all the living expenses here,” Katelyn said. “We all have enough money that we can contribute to the rent, utilities and food.”

“Now, wait,” Phil said.

“No, you wait,” Hailey interrupted. “It needs to be this way – not just because it’s fair but because we need it for our peace of mind. We want you to let us know how much you paid before we came along. What is the rent here?”

“It’s paid,” Phil said.

Hailey gave him a glare.

“I was going to live here with or without you,” he said. “There is no increase in my rent because I have guests. Besides, my parents paid for a year already. The rent is taken care of.”

“Fine!” Tiffany said. “I can see your point on that one. How about the utilities? The water bill is going to go up and so is the electric bill.”

“The sewage and garbage are tacked on to the water bill,” Phil said, resigned that it was going to be this way. He’d put their money into a fund somewhere and give it back to them at some point. “It’s been $42 a month since I moved in because I’ve never exceeded the minimum water usage. I’ve never even come close.”

“You’d have more friends if you showered more,” Katelyn said with a laugh. She seemed to realize what she’d seen earlier in the day and colored slightly.

“Yeah,” Phil said. “The electric bill runs about $75 a month. It was more in the winter because I have electric heat but it’s never been more than $100. In the fall it ran about $75 because I don’t like air conditioning. That’s about it. I spent about $130 a month in bills. I’m willing to let you guys share any overage. Is that fair? I’d be paying the $130 whether you were here or not.”

The three women shared a glance before Hailey spoke again.

“Only if we pay for the food,” she said. She crossed her arms under her breasts and they lifted under her T-shirt. Phil wondered if she knew the effect the movement would have on guys. He decided she probably did.

“My food bill is going to go down!” Phil insisted. “I went out almost every day. I ate at the Student Center at least once a day. You’ve seen my pantry. There was no food in there. That’s why. You probably spent less to feed us for the rest of the week than I would spend in three days.”

“All the more reason to let us do the shopping,” Tiffany said. She tried the crossed-arm look, too. She didn’t have Hailey’s impressive bosom but it still did interesting things to what she had.

“I’m not going to win an argument against the three of you,” Phil said.

“Four of us,” Hailey said. “We talked it over with Molly, too. She’s going to chip in on food and bills, too.”

“Well, gee, now I get to battle all four of you on every issue,” Phil said, shaking his head. “That makes it all better.”

“Not every issue,” Hailey said, sitting on his lap. If the elevated bust was stirring, having that same bust pressed against his chest was extraordinary. “Just this one. We know you have money. We don’t care about that. We don’t want you to think that we’re only friends with you because we’ve found ourselves in dire financial circumstances.”

“Or continue to find ourselves in dire financial circumstances,” Katelyn added. “That would be me and Molly, in case you didn’t follow.”

“Got that,” Phil said. “I don’t think that. If I even considered that I’d toss you all out on your butts. We certainly wouldn’t be sitting here chatting about this. I choose my friends carefully. My best friend is a guy named Scott Finley. He goes to State with his girlfriend Lisa Chen. They’ve been together since 10th grade. His dad works two jobs to support him and his two brothers. His mother moved out years ago.

“He has never – not ever – accepted a penny from me. I tried to pay for the limo for Prom last year. Not a chance. He got a part-time job to pay his portion. Lisa is the same way. She’s the sweetest girl I’ve ever met – who hasn’t been in this room today.”

He’d caught the raised eyebrows from the dining room’s other occupants.

“We’re friends in spite of my money, not because of it,” Phil continued after the eyebrows had resumed their original positions. “I offered to pay his way to Spring Break if he would come home with me two weeks ago – so I wouldn’t have to give Hailey a ride. He wouldn’t hear of it.”

“Have you called to thank him?” Tiffany asked.

“For what?” Phil asked before his brain engaged. “Oh, no. I haven’t. I’ll do that when he gets back from break. Thanks for reminding me that I have him to thank for my good fortune.”

“Nice save,” Hailey said, narrowing her eyes at him momentarily before smiling and giving him a kiss.

“Look, if I thought for a second your friendship came with financial attachments, we wouldn’t be friends,” Phil declared.

“I understand that,” Hailey said. “I think we all do. We don’t want to feel like we’re beholden to you.”

“That I understand,” Phil said, nodding. “And I appreciate that part of your explanation best of all. OK, I’ll agree. When the bills come in next, I’ll calculate the increase and let you know. We’ll split the food bill five ways. I’m still going to want to eat out once in a while. I need the grease in my system. I’ll also want to take you on dates. I guess we can go Dutch if you insist but there are some places I’d like to take you that are pricier than pizza and a movie. My family has a box at the theater in the city and I enjoy some of the off-Broadway productions. Am I allowed to plan things like that?”

“Yes,” Hailey said. She would love to go to the theater. Her mother wasn’t interested in it and her previous dates had preferred the aforementioned pizza and a movie – or fucking in the backseat of their car.

“That includes all of you,” Phil said, taking in the other occupants of the room. “I’m not talking about dates but if we all hang out in the summer I’d like to be able to plan some weekend excursions if we can all get away. I’m not talking a private jet to Paris but if we want to go rafting or take a train ride to historic Leesville, I want to be able to book if it’s something I think you’d like to do without worrying about Katelyn robbing a liquor store to pay me back.”

“Off-track betting,” Katelyn corrected. “Liquor stores take credit cards now. There’s very little cash on hand. If you want a big score you hit an OTB.”

“Good to know,” Phil replied. “So can we agree that say, once a month, I can treat my friends to something fun or educational or frivolous without getting a ton of shit from you?”

“Once a quarter,” Tiffany offered. “I think that’ll be as often as I’m comfortable with it.”

Phil frowned but nodded.

“OK, once a quarter but with a caveat: If any of you see something that would absolutely make your year, you tell me,” Phil said. “I don’t want to hear about it after the fact or catch you gazing longingly at a web site two days before the event. Deal?”

Again the trio exchanged glances.

“Deal,” Katelyn said. “Now, I hear you three have plans for Spring Break.”

“Oh, shit!” Phil said. “I meant to ask you the other day if you wanted to join us. We started playing...”

“Around,” Katelyn cut in, glancing at Tiffany. She would throw a fit if she knew Phil had helped Katelyn on her trek. “Yeah, I know. As soon as I took off your pants you were gone for good. I have that effect on guys.”

“Excuse me?” Hailey asked.

“Oh, you know how it is,” Katelyn laughed.

“She’s kidding,” Tiffany said. “For some reason she doesn’t realize that a high-level priestess has the ability to track other players anywhere in the world. She was trying to hide the fact that Phil has been helping her. I guess she’d rather face your wrath than mine. Now she gets both – and she dragged Phil into the line of fire, too. Nice friends you got there, Warner.”

Katelyn shot him a sorrowful glance but Phil laughed.

“Yeah, I helped her along,” he admitted. “I didn’t play the character but I told her what might be coming up.”

“Don’t tell me,” Tiffany said. “You’ll have to plead your case before the high priestess. She’ll probably make you both lick her boots or something. She’s kinky that way.”

“Anyway, would you like to spend the break with my family and us?” Phil asked.

Katelyn laughed.

“We’ve already planned out our itinerary,” she said. “Hailey asked me two days ago if you’d spoken to me. She saw we had ... a connection, I guess.”

“What about Molly?” he asked.

“She’s going to the beach with her cousins,” Hailey informed him. “I spoke to her this morning.”

“Oh, OK,” Phil replied. “Well, you three are free to do whatever you want. I have a few things that will take up some of my time. If I can join you, I will, but a lot of times I probably won’t.”

“What’s going on?” Hailey asked. “Are you working that week?”

“No,” Phil said. “Well, yes, but I’m not being paid. SouthPointe’s Spring Carnival is the last Saturday we’re there. I agreed at Christmas to help with the final details on a few things.”

“Oh, that’s sweet,” Hailey said. “Well, you have three draftees who’ll help you. We didn’t plan anything that can’t be changed. It was mostly things like running into the city to check out a museum or two, maybe back to that club you took me to. That was fun. I thought we might get the ‘Children of the Cornbread’ together for a picnic but if you have the festival we can change that.”

“We can delay it until summer,” Phil pointed out. “We’ll be back there in May and most of them will still be in school until June. It will give us some time to plan it out and make sure everyone can make it. We’ll have Proms and Senior Picnics to contend with before school ends and college visits for the juniors afterward. We’ll get in touch will some of them and find a date that works. I’ll make sure we have time to visit the apartment while we’re there. I think it has four bedrooms but I don’t remember for sure.

“That will let everyone pick out their bedrooms and I can see what we need to furnish them. Katelyn, would you like to look for summer work in the city? It shouldn’t be too difficult. I know poli-sci majors don’t need internships but there are tons of places that will be looking for summer help. Most of them pay pretty well and we can keep the expenses to a minimum. We should probably just plan to stay in the city Friday night. You can store your stuff there, Hailey, if you want.”

“That might work out,” Katelyn said thoughtfully. “Summers here suck. The town dries up when classes end. My twerpy brother is old enough to take care of himself so my mother shouldn’t object. I’ll see if I can look around this week to see what might be available. Thanks.”

“If it doesn’t work out, this apartment is paid for through mid-August,” Phil said. “You can make this your home if you’re stuck here.”

Phil noticed that Tiffany’s face had gone even paler than usual.

“What’s up, Tiff?” Phil wondered.

“Uh, could I stay here this summer if I’m in town?” she asked.

“I, uh, well, sure,” Phil said. “Are you planning to stay here?”

“I don’t want to go home,” Tiffany replied.

“Of course not,” Phil said. “I, well, I assumed you’d be in the city with us. I was going to talk to you this weekend. A company that does our advertising is always looking for summer workers. I wasn’t sure where you were in your studies. They do ad campaigns but they also design window signs for supermarkets and things like that. I wanted to see if that was something you might like to do before I made any calls. I’d really like it if you were nearby this summer.”

Tiffany’s eyes misted. She had been sad when she thought Phil’s summer plans for everyone didn’t include her. Now she understood that he not only wanted her to be around, he was already making plans to ensure she was.

She pushed Hailey out of the way and hugged him tightly.

“Hey,” Phil said softly when he heard her sniffles. “Sorry if I’ve done something wrong.”

“No,” Tiffany said through her tears. “It’s just ... everyone has always treated me as a hindrance. No one has ever made it a point to include me.”

“That’s in the past. You’re always included,” Phil said. “We like you. You’re as much a part of everything as anyone else.”

Phil and Hailey repeated their morning activities that night and both fell asleep wrapped around each other. Phil made sure he locked the bathroom door before draining his bladder. He heard the doorknob rattle.

“Hurry your ass up!” Katelyn yelled through the door.

“Go piss in the sink,” Phil responded. “I’m going to take a shower.”

“I’ll pee in the hallway,” Katelyn threatened. “I’ll go pee in your bed.”

Phil flushed, collected his toothbrush from the holder that had miraculously appeared the night before and grabbed the toothpaste. He would brush his teeth in the kitchen sink. Katelyn was hopping from foot to foot outside the door.

He pretended he was going to tickle her but she danced out of the way. Hailey had heard the byplay in the hallway and picked that moment to shoot out of the bedroom and into the bathroom.

“Thanks, I gotta go,” Hailey said as she passed.

“No!” Katelyn screeched. Hailey laughed and re-opened the door. She followed Phil into the kitchen. He realized that the only article of clothing on her body was a thin T-shirt. He saw her pert bottom peeking out of the bottom and he watched with rapt attention as she brushed her teeth. He noticed that her breasts did a little dance under the shirt when he leaned forward to rinse his mouth. As soon as Hailey was finished he grabbed her around the waist, sat her on the table and kissed her. They were still at it when Katelyn came through.

“Oh, gross,” she said. “I have to eat on that table. I don’t want Hailey’s skanky ass where I put my food.”

“I’m not wearing panties either,” Hailey giggled. “You get my skanky ass and my skanky twat. I’m going to make sure you know when we fuck on the table, too.”

Phil lifted Hailey off the table and patted her butt.

“Why don’t you get dressed and see if Tiffany is awake,” Phil said. “I think we need a family discussion.”

Hailey giggled again but Katelyn rolled her eyes. A few minutes later Tiffany came out wearing clothing that covered less than Hailey’s T-shirt covered.

“It’s like living in a nudist colony,” Katelyn remarked.

Tiffany didn’t answer. She just scratched her butt before she leaned forward in the fridge to get a bottle of water. Then she sat the same butt down where Hailey’s had been moments earlier.

“Now you get my skanky butt, too,” she told Katelyn before hopping off the table and heading back to the room to put on shorts.

Katelyn just sat and shook her head.

“Those two,” she remarked. “The thing is, Alexandra and Chelsea are even worse. Alexandra probably would have put my fork up her snatch. Chelsea probably would have licked it afterward and replaced it. Alexandra guards her cherry like the vaults of Fort Knox but she’d let a bum fuck her in the ass if the mood hits her. I know you’ve been told about the things she’s done with Hailey. That’s gross enough but I’m not sure Chelsea isn’t worse. She’s going to make a play for you. She doesn’t want anything that someone else doesn’t already have and she’s not shy about how she gets it. Just be watchful.”

“I will,” Phil agreed.