Thirty-five

THE FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL wasn’t that great. Yeah, Dennis did expect everyone on time the day after New Year’s and he gave me a dirty look when I walked in five minutes late. Bree had saved a seat for me and both she and Amanda gave me a sour a look as well. Justin kept his head down and took lecture notes. They all brightened significantly, though, when I handed them their invitations to the posing party.

As soon as Coach Fredericks started running, I realized I hadn’t worked out at all in the past two weeks. It’s not like you lose all your conditioning in two weeks, but I could tell I was going to be sore.

Literary Criticism is a lot different than Critical Reading! We were going to go through a lot of theory in this class, but Professor Strait expected us to apply it to some pretty difficult texts. By Tuesday night’s racquetball practice, I was already beat. We had two new members of the club and I needed to get on top of things fast. Sandra’s boyfriend, Walt, had decided to use racquetball as his off-season conditioning. Somehow, Bree had enticed a feisty little Asian cheerleader named Rachel to join the team. Rachel was the shortest person in my immediate sphere outside of the boys. She didn’t top five feet and was what the cheerleaders called a ‘flyer’. She’s the one they threw in the air and then caught. Bree admitted that she wanted to play, and became a player/manager. Racquetball was looking good for the winter competitions.

Rio and Whitney attacked me as soon as they saw me on campus. Squeals of delight and writhing girl-flesh pressed against my body are always a high-point of my day. But they didn’t push their boundaries. I handed each girl their official invitation created by Melody. Their eyes popped when they read that the Saturday night party would be formal!

“I need a dress!” Rio screamed.

“I didn’t bring anything like this to campus,” Whitney protested.

“Ragstock,” I suggested. “Get something that you can iron and throw on that makes you look incredibly delicious.”

“Ragstock?” Whitney said.

“You would make any rag look sexy,” I said. “Remember, the purpose of wearing a formal is to be able to—how’d you put it, Rio?—have it accidentally fall off.”

“Oh, shee-it,” Whitney drawled. “I’m gonna to cream mah panties.”

“There’s a solution to that,” Rio said. “Don’t wear any. That’s what I do.” It was the first time I saw Whitney speechless.

I worked on the estimates for the memorial Tuesday night. Kate came in and perched on the arm of my chair.

“You did good, Tony,” she said. “You did it right.”

“Hmm? What?”

“Handling Wendy this morning. I would have blown that one. We’d still be in there with me trying to make her make a decision,” Kate said. “You led by example and never gave her a direct order then you tossed it right back to her to make a decision between just two things. I was mad at you for a while before I realized how happy she was.”

“Kitten, you know so much more about this than I do,” I sighed leaning against her. “I didn’t even think. I just started handing her the stuff. I was shaking all the way to campus.”

“I love you.” It was a simple affirmation, but just the sound of her voice sent shivers down my spine.

“Will you help me, Kate?” I asked.

“With Wendy? Of course!”

“Yes. But what I was asking was for help with the memorial. I feel so out of my depth; I don’t know what I’ll do. That painting was never meant to be eighty feet wide.”

“You’ll have to do another one,” she said. “The estimates for the project don’t depend on what you are painting; just on how much paint and time it’s going to take. We can figure that out and then you can come up with the design when you are sitting in the studio with a big canvas in front of you.”

“That’s what I need, isn’t it?” I said. “A big canvas that’s the same proportions as the wall we’re going to paint on. The subject is the same, but the presentation is different. Thank you.”

“Right. What kind of paint do we use on an exterior masonry wall?”

By Friday night, I was a zombie. I’d been up most of the night every night either working on the estimates and proposal or on my homework. I was up at six each morning in order to make it to my seven-thirty class. It hadn’t taken long for Wendy to decide that if she didn’t have class until ten that she didn’t need me to drop her off at seven. Even my morning coffee was alone.

Kate moved down to her room on Tuesday and that night it was just Lissa, Melody, and me in the big bed for the first time in as long as I could remember. By the time I crawled in, they were asleep, and they were still asleep when I dragged my sorry ass out of bed.

We had family dinner without the boys. Jack got back the day after New Year’s and Molly had taken the boys to his house after school on Friday. I felt like I’d hardly seen them all week and now they were gone. We finished a quiet meal and I excused myself to go to bed. It must have been about half past seven. I was asleep before eight.

I woke with my hard cock pointed at empty air. No Lissa spooned in front of me. Arms were wrapped around me from behind, though. I turned slightly and saw the halo of fuzz around Wendy’s head. We were the only ones in bed and for a moment, I thought it must be late and everyone else was up. The house was quiet. I rolled toward Wendy and looked over her shoulder to see if they were on the other side.

“With Kate,” she mumbled sleepily.

“Oh.” I fell back. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb your sleep, Tiger.”

“‘Sokay. Cuddle.” I held her in my arms and fell back asleep.

I was eventually awake enough to function Saturday afternoon, so I managed to get the setting the way I wanted it downstairs. I was counting on my fingers how many people we had and making notes about the positions I wanted everyone in. Saturday night was seriously just going to be a party with everyone circulating and enjoying themselves on the set. During the party, I’d be making mental notes on who was where, who was doing what—or who—and how people circulated. Periodically, I’d be snapping pictures. We’d be playing music and encouraging people to dance. The theme Whitney had suggested was “Bacchanalia.” People would start arriving at eight. It would be a twenty-four-hour posing party.

I didn’t really figure I’d do any sketching until eleven or midnight, but having the party “on set” would get everyone comfortable with their surroundings. People started arriving before I was dressed and I had to head for the bedroom before everyone saw that I was still in sweats. I needed a shower and a shave and my tux, so thoughtfully provided by Lissa. It would be fun. Yeah.

Lissa came in and woke me up about nine.

“Tony? Darling? Oh god, Tony, have you even showered yet?” Lissa asked. She, of course, looked divine. There was nothing Ragstock about the gown she was wearing.

I groaned as I opened my eyes and tried to sit up. The last I remembered, I’d sat on the foot of the bed to put my socks on. I apparently fell asleep. My feet were hanging over the edge and my legs were numb.

“Can I just go to bed now?” I mumbled. “I can’t walk.”

“Come on, darling,” Lissa prodded gently. “I’ll help you get dressed. At least your hair is short enough no one will notice you slept on it wet. I don’t think. Come on. Pants next.”

“Let’s just go to bed and cuddle up with each other and see if anyone misses us at the party,” I complained.

“Shirt. Let me fix the studs,” Lissa continued as I put my arms through the sleeves and she started to button me up. “Studs for my stud. Where are the cufflinks?”

“They should have been with the studs. Aren’t they on the dresser?”

“Let me tie this bow for you,” she responded, pulling at the tie.

“How’d I get so lucky to have a fashion maven lover who could dress me?” I asked. I tried for a kiss, but her fingers were right at my Adam’s apple and I couldn’t move forward.

“I’ll get you a cup of coffee,” Lissa said. “I know you had a rough week, Tony, but you know how much everyone has been looking forward to this. You suggested the date, remember?”

“I should have waited a week. Is everyone back from PCAD even?”

“Sandra is practically living with Walt and he had to be in class Tuesday just like you did. Amy is hanging on Thor and Sonia—well, mostly on Sonia—like they might disappear if she lets go. And Melody and Kate live here. Were you expecting someone else?” Lissa asked.

“Wait. There’s, like, umpteen people coming to this party and only five of us are from PCAD? Doesn’t it sound a little strange that all our friends are suddenly at SCU?”

“It’s the same five that were at the party last spring and you haven’t been around PCAD making friends this year. You’ve been at SCU. Of course, you are going to have more friends there.” Lissa started toward the door but turned to look at me. I was just staring into space.

“Tony? What is it, hon?”

“I’m feeling a little lost and overwhelmed, I guess. I’ll snap out of it. Did you say coffee?”

“On the way. Get your shoes on.”