Chapter 15

I rushed to the staircase when Sam opened the door with another copy of my key. Shit! I looked around. Where had I left my keys? No, where had Alex left my keys? No, that wasn’t the problem I needed to address first. I rushed to the railing. Sam flinched to see me.

“Heads up!” said Max. The boots flipped by my ears and hung off my shoulders. She giggled behind me.

“Oh, OK.” Sam left her fuzzy winter boots on the third step above my soaked sneakers and Max’s steel-toed giants. “Look, I’m not really sure this is the right place for me to be.”

“The fuck it isn’t.” Max stuck her head out around my elbow as Sam took the turn off the landing and climbed the last three steps. Max pulled the boots off of me. “Now put these on.”

“I’ll take your coat.”

“I’m not staying that long,” Sam rebuffed me. She turned around and sat her butt down on the floor, her feet reaching down the stairs. She took the boots one at a time from Max, who watched with reverence and excitement. This was happening ... This magic thing was happening!

Sam’s right foot went into one boot, then the left. Her face didn’t change. I sighed, relieved that the world worked as worlds do. I hadn’t realized that denial of miracles was such a pillar of my worldview. She zipped up the right boot ... Still nothing. Then the left.

“Holy shit! It really worked...” I said in awe. Max saw it too: Sam was back.

Sam was boiling excitement. Her lips cocked up and her hands shot in the air. She hopped up and spun. The heels clicked on the floor as she ran back up the last two steps and stood before us.

“I am so sorry! I’ve been a bitch!”

“No, you haven’t.” I shook my head. She was being manipulated. She wasn’t to blame.

“How’d you feel before the boots?” Max questioned. She turned to me and hit my chest with her knuckles. Her smirk was redoubled in her eyes. “I thought you were going to take the lady’s coat.”

“Of course,” I smiled. I accepted, gracefully, pink earmuffs and matching mittens. Those I handed off to Max, before I stepped around Sam and slid the coat down her arms. I could feel the iron in her shoulders. She was standing much taller than she had been a few minutes earlier. Her heavy winter coat slipped down. She was so beautiful. She had such a perfect figure. I was struck that she was wearing the same light sweater and jeans she had been wearing in her dorm room, though the jeans were zipped up now.

“Sam? Don’t just stare at the hunk,” Max said.

“What? I’m not staring, I’m undressing him with my eyes. Big difference!” Sam smirked. I flashed her a grin and grabbed a hanger from the closet.

“How did it feel when you came over?”

“Wrong,” Sam said. “Thank God it’s alright now.”

“OK, that’s less than detailed.” Max shook her head. She blinked and nodded. I started to walk back to them but Sam’s eyes flitted about the room.

“Did Alex have real cocoa on that list of hers?” Sam asked.

“You know she did,” Max answered.

I frowned. I tried to appreciate the generous, flamboyant, expensive gesture. I tried not to find the groceries and amenities to be an invasive act of demeaning charity. I tried to focus on the girl. Okay, yeah, that worked ... I forced the positive to the surface. The negative niggled in my guts. I wasn’t used to people doing things for me.

I put on the kettle. Sam flipped through my cupboards to find said cocoa and accompanying marshmallows. Max grabbed a spray can of whipped cream. I was then grabbed, ejected from my kitchenette, and sat down in my armchair.

“How was your date?” Sam asked Max.

“You know, I didn’t even realize it was one until after!” The engineering student laughed at herself. I watched their denim-clad butts move back and forth as they filled mugs I had not owned when I had purchased the condoms that stood next to my keyboard. I had thrown those haphazardly on the bed. Great, just what I had wanted Peter to see when he brought his little girl over.

Wait! Would I rather he think that I wasn’t taking precautions with Alex? That I didn’t care about her safety and health? That I--

“Of course you didn’t, you couldn’t see the look in his eyes,” Sam countered Max. “I was so jealous when you left.”

“Why? He looks at you the same way,” Max replied. She smiled, and brought me a mug.

“Thanks,” I said. A big spiral of whipped cream melted in the steam. Chocolate flakes were sprinkled on top. I’m sure there were marshmallows underneath. Oh well, I was going to get diabetes from all of their sweetness eventually, no sense in waiting.

“It’s hot. Don’t burn your tongue,” she warned.

“Yeah, she’s got plans for it soon,” Sam grinned. She hurried over and sat down on the coffee table. Max settled down next to her.

“What were you jealous of?” I asked Sam as I let the drink cool.

“Oh? Yeah ... I, um, wanted to feel like I did when I was here last. I was certain that I never would again.”

“Ouch.” I frowned. “I would’ve done whatever it took to keep you from that misery.”

She considered that seriously, then nodded. “Yeah, you literally would.” She grinned. “God,” she elbowed Max, “we are so lucky.”

“It’s not just luck.” Max smirked. After her first sip there was whipped cream on the tip of her nose. I grinned, lunged my head forward, and slurped it off. She was giggling. Sam immediately scooped up a dollop with her own nose and leaned in to me, expectantly.

I shook my head. “I just tagged Max. She’s it, now.”

“Oh, I, um--” Sam never finished her thought. Max snapped forward like a rattlesnake, engulfing Sam’s entire nose. Sam shrieked in surprise. I was laughing when Max came back with whipped cream on her triumphant smirk. I managed to move my knee and avoid the splash of Sam’s spilt cocoa.

“Oh crap! I’ll get a towel!” Sam made more of a mess as she rushed to put her mug down. I was still laughing. The cocoa had cooled enough so that I wasn’t about to be scalded. I sipped my cocoa. Max pushed the mug higher. She made certain there was something on my nose. I grinned at her. Sam dropped down and started wiping up the spill with a paper towel.

“Well?” I dared Max.

“I’m not it,” she said, sipping her cocoa without nasal involvement.

“You’re up, Sam,” I said and touched her thigh with my toe to catch her attention.

“OK, I’ll...” She saw my face: hers was soaked in nervous worry, but mine was adorned with silliness. We both felt better when she laughed. She rose to her knees, kissed my nose, and then stuck her tongue out at me as she moved to stand. I snatched the cream off the tip of her tongue.

“Ok, geez, let me throw these out.” Sam hurried away with her cheeks flushed red. I grinned at Max who was smiling.

“Hey, Gene, I got a question.” Max was blushing like Sam. She locked on my eyes and I got the feeling she was forcing herself.

“Fire away.”

“Did you like watching me kiss Sam?”

“When did you guys kiss?” I frowned.

“Just a second ago!” Max poked me with a laugh. I looked to Sam; she frowned, shrugged, and shook her head.

Max rolled her eyes. “Like this.”

Sam had just sat back down when Max grabbed the brunette’s head and dove in. Sam’s gray eyes went wide as her shaking shoulders stiffened. Max wrapped her lips around Sam’s nose and slipped off, smiling. The redhead settled back and looked at me.

“Do I like watching you kiss like that?” I asked.

“Like ... guys like lesbians, right?” She flicked her eyes at Sam but dropped them when she looked back to my face.

“Oh! Don’t worry, Max. I’m not going to push you into something that isn’t you,” I tried to assure her, but she had a strange frown, one I saw whenever I asked her to set limits. “How do you feel about this stuff, Sam?”

“I’m not either. I’m not going to push you into something that isn’t you,” Sam said. She reached out and grabbed Max’s hand.

“I gotta start somewhere,” Max said to Sam. “And Alex and I have been best friends forever. We practiced kissing before but ... This wouldn’t be practice.”

“This won’t be practice.You’re worried how it’d feel to full-on make out with Alex?” Sam asked. Her hesitation killed her smile. “I don’t want you to be uncomfortable. I volunteer as tribute.”

Sam looked away as her cheeks flared.

“That’s sweet,” Max said to Sam.

“Don’t worry about that kind of thing,” I reached over and took Max’s hand. “I’m not going to stand between or break you girls apart in any way. If--”

“Did you like me kissing Sam?” Max asked more clearly and directly.

“Yeah, it was cute.”

“OK, cute’s fine.” Max gave Sam a calculated look. “What’d be hot?”

“Hot? Oh my god! Your date! Should I take off?” Sam motormouthed. I looked to Max.

“We’re both staying tonight,” Max said. “Alex loaded up the washroom with extra toothbrushes and proper body wash and shampoo.”

“So we just need to buy more bedclothes?” Sam asked.

“No, we’re good, actually. We’ve got more sets of sheets and stuff than you’d think in the closet,” Max answered for me.

“OK, time out,” I said. Which was good. I had managed to finish off my hot chocolate and had an excuse to gather my thoughts as I walked over to the sink to put down my cup. “Max, Sam, this thing with everything and the boots. I don’t need to be bought or performed for. I don’t want you to be anyone you’re not.”

“What are we not?” Max asked.

“Pretty sure you’re not gay,” I suggested.

“Definitely into at least one guy!” Sam grinned. Max nodded.

“Yeah, what’s gay? It’s us girls and you, the boy.”

“You were just asking about getting hot with Sam.” I walked back. I flopped down in my chair. Max got off the table and flopped down on my lap. She wasn’t a heavy girl but she could fall fast. She laid into my chest. I teased my fingers into her hair.

“Dude, we already did four to a bed,” she reminded me. “Team Girlfriend isn’t Maxine Monday Thursday, Alexa Tuesday Friday, and Samantha Wednesday Saturday.”

“Sunday’s free? Calling dibs,” Sam announced. I smiled at her.

“Look,” I grabbed Max’s face and both of us were smiling so I squeezed a bit and deformed her lips. I brightened. Her eyes sparkled. My fingers pushed up the corners of her lips into a bigger grin. I looked over and smiled for Sam, not for Alex. I stopped my fingers from actually hooking into Max’s cheeks - I didn’t know the rules of the ‘exactly that close’ game. The best way to learn any game is by playing it, but what if asking for an explanation ruined the mood? Max wanted me to teach her. “I think you wanted and deserved a little one-on-one romance. That’s what tonight was for. I admit, I’m not the best at romance, but it doesn’t usually involve an extra brunette.”

“Yeah, Max,” Sam agreed as I let go of Max’s jaw. “Alex and I figured you’d need a bit more of a firm hand to overcome your neuroses and get down to business.”

“And then the boots.” Max waved that off. “Me and you are going to need a recharge every day or so. He has to go to work; we have to go to class. There’s not enough day in the day to carve it out for just me.”

“I’m glad you’re thinking about everyone,” I said. “Are you thinking about yourself?”

“What about me?”

“This is going to be your first time, right?” I asked. “What did you want to happen?”

“Warm blankets and lots of kissing.” She shrugged, blushing.

I smirked at her.

“Oh! I can help! I can bring more body heat to warm up the blankets! And more kissing, too!” Sam rushed out her words until she glowed with pride.

“Maybe the kissing. Your hands and feet are always cold,” Max teased. Sam flipped the redhead the middle finger.

I was stuck. The plans had gone awry. Discussion wasn’t illuminating anything new. I did have warm blankets. I grabbed Max once more and turned her face to me.

I kissed her. She seemed shocked for an infinitesimal of a heartbeat. Then she grabbed my head and rolled herself back so I ended up folded weird but kissing down onto her soft lips. I ran my hand over her arm from the elbow to her shoulder. I let go of her jaw and cupped the back of her skull.

She was eager. We had kissed before. We had snuggled, and petted, and joined two more naked girls in bed. Max didn’t know what to do with her hands. She was trepidatious, and only reaching forward with her fingers. It felt like I was being caressed by a T-Rex. I didn’t know what to do with myself; Sam crossed over and urged me up.

“Ah! Damn...” Max murmured as she slid off of my lap and onto her feet. She looked worried at me. “It’s a good ‘damn’. I mean, the kiss was great. I, um, I wasn’t ready to stop.”

“Go to the bed, he won’t be wrapped around you like a hunchbacked python that way.” Sam walked by my bed and grabbed the blankets and sheets and pulled them back. The bed had been made. I had done it. I don’t usually do it, but I was getting into the habit after that first night with the three of them. I admit, I had a moment of panic that maybe Alex had made the bed when she and her father had filled my fridge.

“Wait! Wait! Wait!” Max pleaded as I had taken her hand and one pace to the bed. She was looking at Sam’s legs. “I better have a pick-me-up, just in case.”

I didn’t like that. I thought of a porn star who wouldn’t shoot the scene without a snort of cocaine first. I immediately regretted thinking of Max as a porn star. I subsequently enjoyed the idea of making porn with Max. I sort of hated Winter or Faye, but I couldn’t bring myself to feel anything but attraction and affection for Max.

“What if you wear one and I wear the other?” Max asked.

They were above-the-knee leather winter boots with a stiletto heel. They were hot; I was looking forward to getting a firm grip on the heels and pushing someone’s toes behind her ears. I smiled at that idea.