Chapter 25: Plan Ahead

Four half-naked college girls confronted Dave when he looked up from his reading on a Saturday afternoon in April.

Rachel leaned down and kissed him. “I love you,” she whispered. “And I want something – WE want something – but that’s not why I love you. I mean I’m not buttering you up in order to get your approval. That works on my dad, but I’m not that calculating normally. Well, I might be, but we have a request, as a group, so we were hoping you’d kind of say yes, but I still love you even if you have to say no, but I hope you’ll say yes. I love you whether you say yes or...”

Dave was laughing and interrupted the babbling brook. “RACHEL, what do you want? NO! WAIT! Let me guess.” He paused and looked at the four girls. They were not displaying their looks of lust as they might in a few hours later in the evening.

He spoke, “My first guess is that you want to hold a Graduation Party here in the core next month and invite your friends from school.”

Clarisse laughed.

Ashley stamped her foot. “Did you hear us talking? You knew! Did Heather tell you?” She glared at my youngest wife.

Dave shook his head. “I didn’t hear you and Heather said nothing. I was going to ask you four whether you wanted to hold some kind of celebration. That’s why it was my first guess. Did I burst your bubble?”

Rachel said, “No, but can we – can we?”

“Are you Circle members?”

The four chimed, “Yes,” in unison.

“And there’s no notice on the white board announcing that someone else is using the patio and core for some other event on the night you want to hold this party?”

“No,” Rachel said slowly.

Dave shrugged, “Then I guess you could put up your notice to reserve the date, and start making plans. Do you want Bobbie’s assistance, or that from other members of the Circle? Are we invited or is this a private event?”

Clarisse said, “Oh, this is a wide-open event. We made a list of those we’d invite from outside the Circle, and between the four of us we have about eighty names. Most are other students, but there are a few faculty who are on our list. Some of them might bring dates, but others are in the same clique, so will come as a group.”

Ashley had cooled down. She spoke enthusiastically, “We want to make it super casual – a pool party.”

Heather added, “With dancing. We were thinking of getting a DJ to help with the music. We can’t afford a band. We’d do food – picnic kind of stuff, too.”

Rachel said, “I’ve been going to school for over a decade with some of the people we’d invite; they’re old friends. Moreover, many of them will be around in the future, so we’re building bridges. Many in our group are computer science majors.”

Dave asked, “What’s the ratio of guys and girls on your guest list?”

Clarisse said, “I think it’s pretty close to even, maybe slightly more men. A better question to ask is how many of them are attached, and the answer to that is not too many. The groups we’ve hung out with have been kind of nerdy, but not entirely.”

Rachel said, “Some of us are ... errr ... kind of hoping to stimulate some of the guys to ask us out on dates and to enjoy a physical relationship with us. Anything we’ve been doing with them up to now has been big group dates rather than any kind of couple-ups or hook-ups.”

Dave nodded. “Ah, so there might be some sneaking off into the bushes for wild and abandoned sex if things get stimulated enough.”

The four girls looked at each other. Rachel said, “We know the rules, kind of. We’ll let it be known that anybody expecting full-blown sex had better of had a very recent test and be able to prove it upon arrival. It’s not just us. The university puts out periodic emails and such reminding those in dating situations to keep up to date. The clinic does a lot of tests for free for students, so it’s not been a big deal.”

Dave’s eyebrows went up. “You manage the situation. We don’t want any of you to end up in quarantine because you got carried away.”

Heather said, “I’d like to think we’re all smarter than that, but we know what you mean. We don’t want to break any rules either. Has anyone else in the Circle ever had a problem?”

Dave shook his head, “Not to my knowledge. With so much activity of a sexual kind in the neighborhood, I don’t think anybody else has been inspired to do anything outside the group. You four and Christie, however, don’t have any equals near your own age in the Circle.” He laughed, “It’s a good thing you all like older men.”

Heather went and kissed Dave, “We LOVE older men. In fact, some of us might like to make love to an older man right now. Could we coax you up to the big bed right now?”

Dave smiled, set his papers aside with a book on top so they wouldn’t blow away if a breeze came up, and led the quartet of barely dressed women to his home. Even as he walked, he could feel the surges of lust in his groin.

Mike found Dave on Sunday afternoon and interrupted his reading. “I need a few minutes of your time for some thing that’s a mix of business and pleasure.” He sounded serious.

Dave marked his place and closed his book. “Sure. What’s up?”

Mike looked around the patio to be sure no one else would hear what he had to say. He began, “You know I run Circle X Productions, and you know that Alice, Emily, and most of the other women in the Circle have done some videos that I’ve put up on my website. A few have let me distribute their vids on a wider scale, so they show up on some of the review and preview sites, often as clips of the whole video.

“This has all been fun and a bit of a lark for everyone, but I got something in the mail yesterday that I didn’t read until this morning that puts things in a different league, at least it could.”

“What do you mean?”

“Have you ever heard of the AVN Awards?”

“No. What are they?”

“AVN is the Adult Video News. The publication does for porn kind of what Billboard does for the rest of the movie entertainment industry. Further, once a year usually in January they hold what they call the Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas. It’s a chance for rich fans to meet and greet their favorite porn stars. Moreover, on the last night of the Expo they hold an awards ceremony, kind of like the Oscars. They give out awards to various production houses and porn stars.”

Dave posed, “I think I see where this is going.”

“So, in the letter I got, they would like to add the names of Alice Angel, Emmie Cox, Kat Kuntry, and Mike Harder, along with Circle X Productions to the ballot that their members use to vote for award winners. That might mean, should the votes carry them that far, that Alice, Emily, Kat, and-or I might end up getting awards and want to be in Vegas to accept them at the Expo. My question is, what do you think I should do? Should I let our names go forward? The voting takes place in late summer I think.”

Dave chuckled, “Nice problem to have, and it speaks to how well and carefully you, Kat, and Clarisse do what you do to put the films together. Let’s see if we can get an informal board meeting together.” Dave reached for his cell phone.

Dave already had a Group defined as the Circle Board, so he texted them. ‘Any chance you could come right now and meet with Mike and me for an informal discussion about a unique situation. Might require formal board action, but you decide when you get here. On patio.’

Dave heard two phones at the other end of the patio buzz with the text. He had a quick reply from Ty – ‘There in 5’ and a similar response from Jack. A couple of minutes later the whole Circle board sat around the table with Mike and Dave.

Julie was the treasurer; she asked, “What’s the deal?”

Mike repeated the explanation he’d given Dave a few minutes earlier. Everyone listened. Ty commented that this was a nice problem to have. Jack asked whether any of this would create exposure for the Circle in any way.

Mike said, “The exposure would come about the following ways, I think: first, winners become celebs and get some notoriety, but that’s mostly a west coast phenomena. There are requests to go on tour – visit strip clubs and tout your videos, too; so more visibility and travel. The videos get increased visibility on all the production and preview websites, but that lasts about a year and then dies out as the next year’s winners claim their spotlight. There’s also the likelihood that any winner will be asked to do more videos at higher pay, and there’s the possibility of doing merchandise deals.

“If we can limit things to that level, I don’t see the Circle getting much if any visibility. I may be missing something but that’s all I can think of. If any of you see something else, please speak up. I don’t know whether to allow us on the ballot or not. I have to respond by the end of the month.”

Wendy stated, “I see no problem. Put all the names forward. It sounds like it’s good for your business. It’ll help you attract talent and money. Go for it.”

Julie balked, “Since my sister is on the list, I should recuse myself, but since this is informal and only an expression of opinion, I agree with Wendy.”

Jack shrugged, “Go ahead and put all the names and your company forward. We’ll deal with any fallout when and if.”

Dave spoke, “I agree with Jack, but I’m kind of in the same situation as Julie.”

Ty declared, “Mike, none of us see an immediate problem. Facial recognition by someone around town or at work appears to be the biggest liability. Talk to each of the nominees here and see what they think. If anyone wants ‘out’, so to speak, don’t put their name forward, otherwise have at it.”

Mike said, “Thank you all for listening and sharing. I’ll keep you posted, and I’ll go talk to Alice, Kat, and Emily right now. The informal meeting broke up.

A minute later, Dave saw Mike talking with Alice and Emily at the other end of the patio. He saw Kat come out of her house and join the threesome. There was some happy squealing and clapping sounds from the small group, obviously overjoyed that their videos and Kat’s editing had been good enough to at least deserve consideration as award-winning performances.

Just as Dave finished his briefcase work for the weekend and had packed away everything so he was ready to start work the next day, a pair of hands covered his eyes from behind. A husky female voice, obviously disguised, said “Guess who?”

Dave laughed, “Female. Friendly. Uses hand lotion. Smells good. My guess is ... Grace.”

“Oh, poo. How’d you know? Did you see me sneaking up behind you?”

Dave chuckled and pointed at the glass door a few feet away. The reflection of everything going on in the pool area showed on the door.

Grace said, “Then you saw I brought a friend.”

“Ahhhh, Nurse Ratched.”

Lisa reacted to his taunt. “You know very well it’s Nurse Taggart, and I’ll remember your remark the next time I have to give you an enema.”

Dave stood and gave Lisa a hug to counter his sarcastic remark. Lisa was anything but a Nurse Ratched. She was a very pretty forty-year-old with light brunette hair. She was trim, but the scrubs he’d seen her in previously hid all of her assets that had now mostly been revealed. This time she was in ‘civilian’ clothes: she had curves, shapely legs, delicate toned arms, and she wore a little makeup to impress. Her long hair was no longer back in a ponytail to keep it out of the way; she had let her hair down and it hung past her shoulders.

Lisa also had on jewelry that complemented her looks: a sexy choker, large hoop earrings, a diamond tennis bracelet on one wrist, and a sparkly watch on the other instead of the functional delivery room black digital watch. She also wore a sexy anklet. Dave had always thought an anklet signaled something sexual, such as a willing participant, but he knew that was a lone fantasy of his.

“Oooooh, I’m so scared;” Dave crooned as he stood to more formally greet the two women. “Welcome. Please join me. Can I get either of you something to drink? I’m going to have a wine cooler.” Both women accepted, and he disappeared for two minutes behind the bar.

As they sat, Dave asked, “You just here visiting?”

Lisa said in a light tone, “This is the only place I know I can come and see nine of the babies I helped birth and care for before they went home. Grace just showed me the nursery and I got to meet some of the babes and moms again.”

Dave commented, “We have a couple more headed your way in August. Nancy Mason and Erin Harnett will be coming in, maybe even on the same night.”

Lisa teased, “And you’re the daddy?”

Dave nodded, “I am. We were all playing together in mid-November, and that seemed to be the time their eggs had their little antennae up looking for happy sperm to mate with.”

“Well, I look forward to seeing them deliver. You have quite a harem here.” She smiled and gestured towards the gaggle of women at the other end of the pool.

Dave and Grace both stiffened and looked at each other. He nodded for her to speak.

“Errr, Lisa, I need to correct a misconception. There is no harem here. That would imply ownership or possession. We go out of our way to avoid references to things like that. For instance, we don’t ask ‘permission’ of a partner to do something; we make them ‘aware’ of what we intend to do, and in so doing we invite any commentary they might make about it.”

Lisa was taken back. “Oh, I’m sorry. I was kind of teasing, mainly because I know that so many of the babies here in your Circle might have Dave’s genealogy, so to speak – and now you tell me that two more are in process.”