Nine

I GREETED GUESTS at the door as they arrived, and each one was sexier than the one before. I suppose I should start with my own getup. I was dressed as Spartacus. I really didn’t have any choice in the matter. My women had presented the costume to me before Melody left for Boston and made me try it on. Then they proceeded to try to get me to act like the character and ‘take them all’ like slave girls. Make me suffer some more! They decided I needed to be oiled in order to make it look right and Lissa had done the honors before I came out of the bedroom. She followed soon after and was almost unrecognizable. She had a black, waist-length wig on and a black dress that fit her like a glove. The plunging front neckline went all the way to her navel. Her tits must have been glued inside so they didn’t pop out. If Gomez had ever seen this Morticia, it would have been a different kind of TV show.

Kate and Wendy were both adorable and sexy as hell in matching French maid costumes, complete with garters, stockings, and French-cut bikini panties. The first couple to arrive was Patrick and Noelle James dressed as Batman and Catwoman. They pulled off the sexy couple routine, even though Patrick needed the padded suit and Noelle filled out the Catwoman outfit a little more than I remember from the movie. They were barely in the door when Princess Leia showed up. Not the demure Princess, but the one where she’s dressed like a slave girl for Jabba the Hut. And she was a lot taller than I remembered from the movie. Whitney could sure make that outfit look good, though. Right behind her, Rio seemed to be wearing just a dressing gown—a really elegant one that you might think of as from the 40s or 50s. But she wouldn’t tell me who she was supposed to be.

Eric showed up with a total fox beside him. He was dressed in an Elizabethan outfit, complete with rapier and codpiece. It was evident from the tall, elegant Elizabethan girl that accompanied him that they were Romeo and Juliet.

“Wow, Eric. These are great costumes. Where did you get them?”

“Oh, we borrowed them from the theater. I should say my lovely date did,” Eric grinned. Eric with a woman? And this girl was a knockout. Slender, and sexy, and about the same height as Eric. She let her eyes drift down as if she was shy—or maybe she was checking me out.

“And who is this unbelievably beautiful woman with you?” I asked. “Sorry, I don’t recognize you.”

“Oh, you would if you really saw me.”

I almost passed out. That voice wasn’t a woman’s voice.

“Um ... uh ... you sound familiar,” I said.

“You’ve just never seen me in drag. Usually I’m trying to look all macho so Amy doesn’t get upset with me.”

“Kevin?” One of Amy’s best friends was a gay guy she went out with so they could both pick up dates last year.

“Yeah. Amy introduced me to Eric at your birthday party last month. We kind of hit it off.”

“I had no idea,” I said. “And god! You look beautiful. Sorry, Eric. I don’t mean to be ogling your date. It’s just ... Wow!”

“It’s okay, Tony,” Eric said. “You can just think of Kevin as one of the girls. He happens to have the deluxe package, though.”

“You’re going to get hit on by straight guys all night, Kev,” I said.

“Mmm. Sounds like it could be fun,” he said with a little wiggle. I swear it was a girl under his dress. They laughed and moved on.

“Damn it! It’s your fault, Ames!” Amy spat at me.

She’d grabbed my hand and dragged me out to the deck. It was pretty chilly out there and we stood under the shelter of the eaves so we’d be out of the rain. With me in my Spartacus outfit and Amy as Xena, neither of us were really dressed for this weather.

“What’s my fault, Ames?” We each called the other Ames.

“Everything. You make it look so easy,” she said. I could feel her shudder and I pulled her close to me as the floodgates opened and Amy started crying. Shit. I couldn’t say I warned her. Now what?

“I’m sorry, Ames. God, I’m so sorry.” It was really all I could say. I was sorry. I tried to warn her that having a three-way relationship wasn’t as easy as it looked. But we all loved each other and would do anything for each other. I just didn’t think that was what her relationship with Thor and Sonia was like. They were inside—Sonia dressed as Aphrodite and Thor as ... well ... Thor.

“Tell me about it, Ames.” I said softly.

She was quiet for a long moment before she choked out the words.

“He wants me.” Ouch. “That was never part of the deal. We were both going to share Sonia. But how can he want me? I’m a lesbian. He’s got Sonia. How perverted is that?”

“Hey, Amy,” I comforted. “It’s okay. Look, it’s not about you being a lesbian. How could he not want you? You’re beautiful, sexy, smart, playful. What’s not to want?”

“But I’m a lesbian!”

“That governs what you want, not what other people want. Shit, Amy. I still get a boner every time I think about the kiss you gave me at the pajama party. And, yeah, I know you’re a lesbian and I’d never think of crossing the line with you, but I still get turned on by you.”

“You do?” She started to pull away from me but I held on.

“It’s just a male anatomy thing. He’s not pushing you to actually do anything, is he?”

“Um ... actually ... yes. That’s what pisses me off. He wants me to trade places with Sonia when we’re teamed up on her. He wants his hands on me. He wants his fucking cock in me,” Amy said.

“Shit. The idiot.”

“Why doesn’t it work for us like it works for you?”

“Well, because that was never an issue with us. Lissa and Melody are both radically bi. They love each other and they both want me. And Kate ... well, it’s different with Kate. She simply doesn’t distinguish between men and women. It’s all about the connection with her,” I said.

“You mean if I want it to work, I have to let him fuck me?”

“Ames, letting a man—any man—fuck you would destroy you. That’s not making it work.”

“But I love them.”

“Them?”

“Yes. I love Thor. He’s nice, funny, talented, considerate, handsome. I just don’t want his boy-parts.”

“Amy, you’ve really got to talk this out with them. Tell them they have to listen while you explain about you. If Thor can’t accept you for who you are in the way you need to be accepted, he can’t love you,” I said. I just hoped I was right. If one of my women—any one of them—said she loved me but we couldn’t ever have sex, would I be able to respect that? Shit.

“Thank you, Tony,” she said, giving me a big squeeze. “I wish you had a pussy.”

“Some days I wish so, too. Maybe I can borrow one.”

“Okay, I give up,” I said.

We were sitting in the living room. There were only about a dozen of us left. All of a sudden, I felt like I’d really wasted my first year in school. I had lots more friends at SCU than I did at PCAD. We were all trying to guess what Rio’s dressing gown costume was supposed to be.

“So, who or what are you supposed to be. Not that just showing up in a dressing gown and not much else isn’t sexy and all,” I added. But she had told us that she had a specific character in mind and none of us had come up with an answer that worked. Rio stood up and stepped in front of me. She struck a sexy pose that looked a little familiar. A painting. Which was it? Her robe began to slide down off her shoulders and was barely kept from falling to her waist because it caught on her nipples.

“I’m Hélène Fourment,” she said, waiting for us to get it. I didn’t. “Some artists. She married Rubens in 1630 and was the model for The Feast of Venus and The Three Graces. I’m your next model,” Rio said. “Like she did for Rubens.” Now I recognized the pose. Of course.

“You know that won’t work,” Bree said. “I tried the same move in a hotel in Tempe.”

“I tried it in his dorm room last spring,” Sandra added.

“I tried it at the posing party,” Kate added.

“I tried it downstairs in September,” Wendy said, giggling.

“Lissa tried it in front of an entire classroom,” I laughed, getting what was going on.

“As far as we know, the only one it ever worked for was Melody,” Lissa said.

“Wait!” Walt said. “Women just stand up in front of you and take their clothes off? How cool is that?”

“It does happen,” I said. “I’m an artist.”

“Well, go ahead, Rio,” Walt said. “Let’s see if it works this time.”

Rio was sufficiently deflated that she pulled the robe closed and sat back down.

“Well, how was I supposed to know,” she said. “It was worth a try. And I thought all you artists would know.”

“You go, girl,” Whitney said. “I wish I’d thought of it.”

“I tell you what,” I laughed. “We’ll have another posing party after everybody is back from the holiday. I remember that scene you were posing. Why’d you choose Rubens?”