Chapter 66

“Just because something bears the aspect of the inevitable one should not, therefore, go along willingly with it.”
—Philip K. Dick, The Transmigration of Timothy Archer

“TWENTY-SIX DAYS,” Desi whispered just before she licked my ear. We were in the cafeteria with our girlfriends arriving and I sprouted a boner.

“Are you teasing our boyfriend, Desiree?” Beca asked as she slid in next to me and put her sack lunch on the table. We’d all read the cafeteria menu and no one wanted to participate in the all-beige meal. Who serves mashed potatoes, turkey, and gravy with a side of macaroni and cheese? Desi walked around the table and took a seat opposite me. It was a strange cosplay for today. Her shirt was buttoned all the way to her throat but it was so tight there were stressed gaps between the buttons. When I looked at it more closely, I realized the shirt was actually cut to emphasize the gaps. I had no idea who the character was.

“Just reminding Jacob that this is our birthday month,” she said. “I have twenty-six days of virginity left.”

“We don’t have to do it on the exact day,” I mumbled. I groused about it a little, but the past two months of teasing had me more than ready to penetrate Desi’s virgin cunt. I’d do it when we got to her house to study after school tonight if it was up to me.

That was weird. I had no cross country practice tonight. The final seven had been chosen to compete in sectionals Saturday and I wasn’t among them. Livy, of course, was, but she had a volleyball game tonight, then she’d train with the cross country team the rest of the week. I’d get to most practices to encourage the team, but I needed to focus on a couple of my classes for a while. I’d done poorly this morning on a Latin vocabulary quiz.

“You know Jacob doesn’t want to just do you behind the stadium on lunch break, don’t you?” Rachel asked. “Believe me, you want the first time to be relaxed and in a big bed after he’s showered you and oiled your body all over.” I think it was Livy who moaned.

“I know,” Desi sighed. “I just get so excited thinking about it that I wet my pants. You aren’t going to back out, are you, Jacob?”

“No, but Rachel is right, sweetheart. I don’t just want to bang and run. If we can arrange it, I’d like to spend the night with you. Whenever it is that we’re ready.”

“Oh yeah,” Joan said. “Even part of the night. You’ve got to find a way to get Jacob for a sleep-over. Have you had a whole night with anyone, Jacob?”

“Um ... I...”

“I mean other than Emily. She has special abilities none of the rest of us have. Like living in the same house.”

“Right...”

“Jacob and I spent two nights together in Indianapolis. We just didn’t do the consummation part,” Desi said. “And my parents were fully aware that only one bed was used. Even the night Emily was with us.”

“Cross country, volleyball, and basketball are going to kill me and I’ll die a virgin,” Livy said.

“Really?” Brittany asked.

“Well, not literally. Sort of a theoretical virgin. As in not having had Jacob and Rachel in my bed ravishing my body,” she admitted. We’d ravished her body a couple of times, but we weren’t going to have intercourse in the back of the car. Not the first time.

“We’re working on it, baby. I’ve got a plan,” Rachel said. We all looked at her but she just made a zipping motion across her lips.

“Anyway, Daddy wants some time with you tonight,” Desi said. Then she blushed. “I mean ... Not like that. Just that it’s going to cut into some of our study time this afternoon. He’s fabricating a costume piece for you for Fort Wayne PopCon.”

“When is that again?”

“The weekend between Christmas and New Year’s. Mom and Dad haven’t told me what they’re planning for us but it’s going to be big.”

As soon as we walked into the house, Riko ordered Desi to the basement for a first fitting and conducted me to the garage. Riley had bright lights over a workbench where he was bent over something that stunk to high heaven.

“Riley! Jacob is here. Remember to make sure the glue is dry before you fasten it to him!” What the fuck? Riko ran back into the house and went to join Desi in the basement sewing shop.

“Jacob! Good! Come here. And don’t mind what Riko said. The glue is quick drying and all set up. I’ve just got the fiberglass under a curing light to make sure everything is set. What I need is a mold of your left arm. Do you expect to put on a lot of muscle before Christmas?”

“Uh ... no, sir. I don’t plan on any major body sculpting. What’s up?”

“We’re putting together spectacular costumes as Rias and Issei from High School DxD. It’s the first time that we’re working real special effects into the costumes.”

“I haven’t watched that. What kind of effects?”

“You, Issei, have the sacred gear of the Red Dragon Emperor embedded in your arm. Oh, you are a devil, by the way, and Rias is the devil master of your team. When you engage your sacred gear for battle, you get various stages of armor, from just your left arm all the way up to a full red-armored dragon with wings. We’re not going that far. This year. We like the bits that show your human body with the dragon summoned. So, mostly, your costume will be an ordinary schoolboy. Black slacks and tennis shoes, red T-shirt, open school shirt and jacket. For some reason, Issei is the only high school student who doesn’t button his shirt and wear a tie. Go figure.”

“Rebel bad boy, enthralled to his devil queen. Got it.”

“King. The Gremory household is not based on pre-defined sex roles. The devils base their teams on chess pieces. Rias is the King. Akeno is her queen. You are her pawn. She’s used up all eight pawn positions to acquire you and shows you that the pawn is the most powerful piece on the board.”

“O-kay. Sounds like I need to watch the show and learn to play chess.”

“Wouldn’t hurt. Mostly, you’ll need to learn to be a boob-crazed teenage idiot. Shouldn’t be too hard.” Oh, shit. Riley’s daughter had big boobs and liked to show them off. I couldn’t believe he was so casual about it. I had no idea what to say. “Hold out your left arm and let’s see if I need to make adjustments before we fill it with foam.”

I held out my arm, thankful I was wearing a short-sleeved shirt. The inside of the prosthetic was scratchy but it was plenty roomy. Riley was quite a craftsman and I could see that the armor was scaled on a flexible frame so that it would move comfortably with my wrist. He made a couple of adjustments, trimming a piece here and there to make it move smoothly. Then he handed me a jar of vaseline.

“Grease your left arm thoroughly. All the way from your elbow to your fingertips. This foam has been known to rip the hairs off a head, not to mention skin.” With that kind of warning, you better believe I greased thoroughly. He inspected and then mixed ingredients right in the cast. As soon as they were mixed, they started to expand and Riley shoved my arm down into the mess. I fought off a moment of panic as I felt the pressure build around my arm. No! Nothing is collapsing on me. It’s just pressure on my arm!

“It’s a ... weird feeling,” I said, forcing calm on my breathing.

“Yes. I almost didn’t get out of it the first time I did a casting. Tried to do a hump for the Hunchback of Notre Dame in college and didn’t have an assistant. It solidified while I was bent over in position and I couldn’t straighten up. I wandered around the school administration building in my underwear, hunched over like a madman until I found someone who would help pry it off of me. Wouldn’t you know, I’d find the college president? Took part of my skin with it when he peeled it off. It was a bonding experience.”

The next part of the procedure, in fact, was getting the thing off me. I was a little worried when he pulled out a hot knife and began slicing away pieces of foam that stopped me from getting in and out of it. He was really careful, though, and it never touched my skin. At last, he managed to wiggle and pry the device from my arm.

“This isn’t the final. We’ll have a couple more fittings before the end prosthetic is complete. But if this goes well, it will be an entrée into the producer’s office. Like so many others, they’re talking about a live action DxD. It’s cutting edge stuff since there are so many battles with monsters. There are so many possibilities,” he said. “I’m assuming it won’t be a problem for you to be in my daughter’s presence for a while.”

“Um ... I really like Des. I mean ... Please don’t think that I’m just here to use her or something. She means a lot to me.”

“If I didn’t believe that, I wouldn’t be fitting this prosthetic to you,” he said. “Jacob, we—Riko and I—might seem strangely cavalier about your relationship with Desi. She told us before you were out of eighth grade that you would be her lover after she turned sixteen. That wasn’t a number we imposed upon her. She came up with it. She set the rules. As far as we knew, you scarcely knew each other in junior high. At first, we treated it as a kind of elaborate fantasy, but then she opened bidding for her virginity and announced that you had won. It was later that night we discovered you were hit by a bus.”

“That was ... a really hard time for me, sir.”

“Well, it was very difficult for Desiree as well. Her appearance changed rather drastically over the summer and she was distraught when you returned to school because you didn’t recognize her. We watched as her distress turned to determination. Jacob, you can always say no when the time comes ... Desiree said you developed the rule that no one is forced to have sex. We have no way of knowing what the future holds. I don’t think Des has thought out what comes after sex. But as long as this is what she wants and as long as you respect her wishes and her character, Riko and I aren’t going to stand in the way of your union. We might even be convinced to help facilitate it.”