Chapter 35: Saturday Evening: Discussion

The look of shock on Vanessa’s face quickly morphed into a smile. “In that case, I’ll join Kara.” Vanessa stood up and started to follow closely behind Kara. “I know it’s probably just my insecurities talking, but...”

“We weren’t just being nice; you’re welcome to join us for the event tonight if Rosa’s okay with that. Depending on what we end up getting up to, you’re even welcome to join us in the party. Although, the scene with Rosa will need to be just with the three of us ... assuming that she doesn’t want to change her mind on that too. But considering how sure she sounded Friday, I think that’s unlikely to change.”

“Oh, that’s okay. I’m okay with experimenting a bit with you three. But I’m not sure I’m ready to do that in public.” Kara nodded her head before opening the drier door. “Are you going to be wearing the same sort of stuff as you did earlier to this discussion?”

“Heck no! Well, that’s true for Allison and myself anyway. We’ll probably stick with our usual long skirt and shirt. No panties or bra to get lost during the party, and much less clothing to take off when it’s time to get naked.”

She handed Vanessa the warm pair of jeans. “I might need to get a skirt or two. I wasn’t sure that I’d want to be naked now that I don’t have to be, but...”

“You’ve gotten used to it. Allison and I have too. Although, I’m having a hard time seeing you giving up on bras.”

Vanessa laughed, lifting her breasts up with her free arm. “Not as long as I have these. Don’t get me wrong; it’s refreshing to be bra-less for periods of time. But I’m not about to go burning or getting rid of mine like you might be tempted to.”

“I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought of the idea once or twice over this week. But they are still useful for SOME things. I’m just no longer going to subscribe to the idea that I HAVE to wear one whenever I leave the house. I mean ... who cares if my nipples are more likely to show through my shirt?”

Vanessa’s laugh grew louder. “It’s funny that you’re assuming you’ll have a shirt at all!”

“Again, only if I have to. But if when we get there, some of the women are bare chested, then I’m joining them right away.” Like I’m sure Allison will too.

Thank you my love. Vanessa and I will be upstairs momentarily. “That should be the last of our laundry.”

“How about the other items in the drier?”

“Oh, those are Mom’s. I’m not sure if she’d want them brought up too, and I kind of don’t want to handle them if I don’t have to.”

Vanessa grabbed a small, nearby basket and loaded the remaining clothes into it. “You don’t help with the laundry?”

“Mom has always claimed that particular job.” Kara held open the door to the ground floor and stepped to the side. “You do?”

“My sister and I take turns doing it. The clothes, anyway. Mom tends to handle the sheets and towels.” Vanessa glanced at the kitchen doorway. “Should I leave the basket here, or bring it upstairs?”

Kara started to open her mouth as Clara stepped out through the doorway. “Oh! You didn’t need to do that. I was planning on taking care of that once we finish cleaning up.”

“It’s no trouble. It didn’t make much sense to leave some of the laundry downstairs when we were bring up the rest of it.”

“You can leave it in front of our bedroom door. We left the bedroom in a somewhat messy state this morning.”

Vanessa laughed again. “I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think it is, but sure.”

“Actually” Kara started as they stepped onto the second floor “it’s probably pretty ‘bad’. While the walls are decently soundproofed up here, they don’t cut all of the sound. And I suspect there’s a bunch of toys out that she’s used to having to hide.”

“That makes more sense. Which one is their door?” Kara pointed at the furthest one down the hall. “Okay. I’ll just drop this off and join the rest of you in your bedroom in a moment.”

“Sounds good.”

Kara quietly stepped through the open door to a dressed and smiling Allison. “What’s Vanessa dropping off?”

“Mom’s part of the laundry from earlier.”

“Without being prompted?” Emanuel asked.

“Yeah! You don’t sound surprised though.”

“That’s because that was one of my major jobs around the house when I became old enough to actually help. It’s a good thing too; after she passed, dad stopped caring about the laundry after awhile. If I needed clean clothes, it was up to me to make sure they were clean.”

“Is that a shared cultural thing between your mom and hers, or just a coincidence?”

“In this case, definitely a coincidence Allison. I have friends who are from a similar background to mine, but have never done a household chore in their life. At best, our moms are just kind of similar to each other. I’m sure I could find common points with either of yours and her eventually.”

Kara pulled the skirt up, then slipped on the button down shirt. “Probably. Our moms must have had something in common to stay together as long as they did.” She finished messing with the last button as Vanessa stepped into the room. “What is it?”

A gentle blush spread over her face. “I’m not sure why, but for some reason walking in as you finish dressing is kind of arousing. I’d think the opposite would be true.”

“Except that you’ve probably seen Kara naked more often than dressed lately” Emanuel started to reply. “And while I obviously find her birthday suit very attractive, there’s something special about how she looks in a skirt and a button down.”

“You’re only saying that because I only ever used to wear either when I had to.” She turned to Vanessa. “You might have noticed that I have maybe two dresses in my closet, and about as many skirts. ‘Girly’ clothing didn’t really fit my old persona.”

Vanessa began to quietly put on her own clothing. “Then why do you have the ones that you do?”

“Because I insisted she have at least one of each just in case she needed one. One never knows when a situation will come up that doesn’t allow for jeans and a t-shirt. Besides that” Clara paused from the doorway “skirts and dresses have their own advantages.”

“Like the ability to have a quickie without needing to get undressed?”

“You really are insatiable Allison” Vanessa laughed. “But I think it might be fun to...” she started, pausing as her face seemed to force a nervous smile “well...”

Clara grinned. “Pretend you’re not paying attention and act all surprised when your lover ‘sneaks up’ on you, lifts up your skirt or dress a little, and bury himself deep inside of you?” She scanned their surprised faces. “None of it would actually be a surprise, of course. Not if you’re negotiating properly. Or was it something else that surprised each of you?”

Kara glanced at Allison and Vanessa. “I think Allison might not be used to how freely we talk about sex yet. And if I’m reading Vanessa correctly, the idea is no doubt still very new.”

“Or maybe” Allison replied as Vanessa began to open her mouth “part of it is that she finds the idea somewhat appealing. I know I do.” She giggled as Vanessa attempted to look away, the blush returning even brighter. “There’s no need to be bashful about it.”

“I’m just not used to talking about stuff like this like you’re talking about the weather. That’s all.” Kara joined Allison and Clara as they raised an eyebrow. “Okay, fine ... that is one of my fantasies.”

Clara walked over to her, resting a hand on her shoulder. “You don’t NEED to share as openly about such things if you’re really not comfortable doing so. But you also don’t need to be ashamed of doing so either.” The ringing doorbell suddenly caught their attention. “That’s probably Rosa. But, before I head downstairs, let me just say that as much fun as that position can be, I only sometimes am interested in it.”

She quickly turned around and headed toward the stairs as Vanessa started to open her mouth again. “Okay” she finally began as Clara disappeared from their sight “I think I understand most of why your mom said what she did. But why did she share that last bit?”

“I’m not sure” Kara began as Allison looked carefully around the room. “There are sometimes that I don’t understand my mother. And to be honest, even I don’t know everything about what they’re into in the bedroom. Honestly, that’s okay with me.”

“You know more than most people our age would be comfortable knowing darling” and I honestly am starting to think that’s a good thing.

Oh? Why?

Assuming we are able to make this work, I want to have kids some day. And I think it’s high time that parents start recognizing that their children being exposed to things isn’t a bad thing. While I’m sure Manny will do his best to support me in not hiding sex stuff from them, I still get the sense that you’ll be the really reliable one for that.

If so far is any indication, then I’m going to be the one who tends to agree with you more quickly.

Emanuel ‘chuckled’. One of us needs to be the voice of caution.

As long as you can work out how not to be TOO cautious.

“Uhm ... did any of you think to warn Rosa about your mom’s inclinations?” Vanessa asked.

Allison smiled slightly. “Last night, when she dropped us off after the munch.”

Vanessa shook her head softly. “Knowing the possibility and seeing it yourself are two very different things.”

“While you’d usually be right” Kara began “I don’t think that will be an issue with her. First, Mom invited her in. And second, she’s among the people in my Improv class that was excited to do the scenes this week naked.”

“You’re damn right!” Rosa echoed from the doorway. “And I’m going to suggest to Ms. Elren that we continue to do so. Can I assume your support with that?”

Kara’s mouth stretched into a huge grin. “If you weren’t going to make the suggestion, I was planning to. Maybe not for the rest of the semester, but certainly for the foreseeable future.”

“Awesome!” Rosa turned to face Vanessa. “Are you sure you want to join us at the discussion and party tonight? I’m not opposed to one more passenger, but Kara didn’t suggest that you had any real interest in any of the this sort of play.”

“At first I didn’t. But Kara and Allison gave me the chance to try a little of it, and I might be kind of curious to try more. Maybe.” She glanced at Emanuel, then Kara and Allison. “And the discussion sounds like something I really shouldn’t miss. Not if I want to seriously explore where things could go with us.” She paused, glancing Rosa up and down. “Is that sufficient for you?”

“Yes.”

There’s something she isn’t saying out loud.

Yeah, I got that feeling too Manny. Kara focused on Rosa for a few moments. If I’m seeing her aura correctly, I’d say that she’s nervous about something that’s either going to happen or might happen later, and is projecting it onto Vanessa. Your guess is as good as mine what that is though.

We won’t know if we don’t ask. “Are we all ready to go?” he asked, glancing quickly at the alarm clock. “I’d rather not be late for discussion.”

Kara nodded her head in time with Allison and Vanessa; Rosa’s slightly wavering smile returned as she turned toward the doorway. “Okay then, let’s go!” Rosa darted toward the stairs; Kara took off after her a moment later.

You forgot your socks on the bed darling.

Oops. Can you bring them downstairs with you?

Of course.

Some moments later, Rosa stopped suddenly at near the front door, panting heavily. “You’re surprisingly quick. Do you get a lot of practice doing this sort of thing?”

“Yes she does” Allison began from somewhere behind her. “What can I say? I like being chased.” She grasped the socks that started to slide of her shoulder. “I’m not feeling a lot from your shields darling.”

“I think I might be getting used to them a little. But if you wait just a little bit, I’m sure that will change once we’re actually on our way.” Kara gasped softly as she bent forward to deal with her socks and shoes. Never mind the waiting.

“Remember to bring your phone!”

Kara glanced down at her skirt, then groaned. “Don’t worry darling; I slipped it into our toy bag.” She turned to Rosa. “Do you know how to get where we’re going tonight?”

“Yes. Even if Mrs. Foster hadn’t given directions to me yesterday, I’d still be fine. My folks gave me a set too.” She glanced around at the four of them. “Are you all ready?” Kara nodded her head in time with Allison and Emanuel. “Excellent! I’ll make sure to get them home safe Mrs. Foster.”

“Call me Clara. Mrs. Foster makes me feel old.”

Rosa nodded and opened the door, quickly stepping outside. “So, my car is a little bit on the small side. Do you want to ride up front with me Vanessa? If not, that’ll probably mean you’ll need to get a bit comfortable with whoever is in the back.”

Vanessa laughed nervously: Kara watched the tension drain from her face as Allison’s free hand slipped into hers. “Oh, I’m okay with that.”

“Even if Emanuel chooses to be up front?”

Vanessa glanced at Kara, who nodded her head in response. “Uhm ... you see, the truth is...” she glanced back at Kara, a subtle blush barely visible in the fading light.

Kara smiled softly at her, then focused on Rosa. “What Vanessa was trying to say before her nerves got the better of her is that she shared a shower with Allison and myself earlier. So I don’t think being next to each other in the back seat is going to be terribly weird.”

“Besides” Emanuel began, holding the back left door open “I’ll be in the back too. I think Kara should be up front with you.”

“Me too” Allison smiled “especially since she’s been the one thinking about the scene you want later.”

“Oh! You have ideas?”

Kara sat down in the front passenger seat and smiled. “I have one at the moment. If you don’t like it, I should be able to come up with something appropriate by the time to party starts. Are you okay if we go over the boundaries we talked about yesterday?”

“It feels silly, but we probably should. Give me a moment to punch the address into my car’s GPS and then we can do just that.”

“Your car has built in GPS?” Vanessa asked incredulously.

“Yeah. My folks decided to ‘upgrade’ to their current car, and passed the old one down to me. The GPS is one of the earlier ones, so it sometimes screws up in ... interesting ways though, so I have some paper directions as backup.” Kara watched her fingers dance across a small screen in the dashboard for a few moments. “That should do it. So, what do you have in mind for later?”

Hey, is that nervousness I hear in her voice?

Definitely, sweetheart.

“Uhm, if you’re having second thoughts, we don’t have to play tonight. You can change your mind if you want to.”

“I kind of...” Rosa began to stammer as she merged onto the highway “well, it’s like this. I mentioned to my folks that we’d talked about doing a scene tonight, and my dad was concerned since I don’t really know any of you all that well. And the more I thought about what he said, the more nervous I’ve become about tonight. But at the same time I’m still interested too, and my imagination’s been going crazy coming up with possibilities for your plan. Does that make sense?”

“Totally. Those nerves are a huge part of why I want to make sure we’re on the same page concerning boundaries before I even think about proposing my scene idea. If I’m remembering correctly, you’re comfortable with knife play, simple impact, and the kind of play we were somehow able to get away during Improv.”

“Yeah. And a good fucking would be nice too.” She glanced back at Emanuel. “Uhm ... not with a flesh and blood penis though. Not until I’ve had a chance to complete the cleansing I need to from the situation with my ex.”

“That works for me. There are only three girls I’d want to go that far with anyway.”

“Obviously your gir ... oops, I mean spouses. But who is number three if I may ask?”

Vanessa sheepishly raised her right hand somewhat. “Me.”

“But not right away. I don’t think that would end very well, and I want our first time together like that to be right.”

“I can be patient for a bit longer I think. Hopefully Laura’s timeline for the renovations is correct though. I’m not sure I can wait much longer than that.”

“So that’s why you’re so interested in going to the discussion tonight! I ... never mind. We have more important things to talk about right now.”

“Indeed. Do you still want to be double teamed?”

“As long as its just you and Allison with dildos, yeah.”

“The venue allows that?” Vanessa exclaimed with surprise.

“Only because they don’t have a liquor license” Kara replied with a smile, then turned back to Rosa. “That only leaves our boundaries then, I think. Nothing’s changed since yesterday, but to be clear...” she paused for a moment “Allison and I are comfortable doing the knife work; Manny and I are comfortable using floggers, and they’re willing to spank you if you want that.”

“Good. I worried that one of you might have changed your minds. I don’t know that I could have found one person who’d be interested in everything otherwise.”

“We’re lucky that with everything we’ve experimented with lately, at least one of us seems to enjoy what one of the others is interested in. I imagine that’s a benefit to having more than two people in a relationship.”

Rosa nodded her head as she exited the highway. “You don’t need to try to be everything for the other person.” She paused, glancing at Vanessa. “I’m just curious, and you don’t need to answer this if you really don’t want to ... are you okay sharing Emanuel’s time with the two of them? Especially considering how complicated making time for each other could be with my ex.”

“I’m not entirely sure, but I won’t know if I don’t try, right?” Rosa nodded her head. “I can’t speak for the time thing yet either.”

“That’s a large part of why we’re all going to the discussion” Emanuel began. “The three of us have some ideas about how to deal with some of the complications, but so far haven’t really run into any significant ones. And as good as the information from books can be, I’d rather hear from people who’ve experienced some of those directly, and how they’ve handled them.”

“And you two have to see how tomorrow goes as well. That might help” Allison added.

“Tomorrow?”

Vanessa grinned, a hint of nervousness in the smile. “We have a date tomorrow.”

“Oh.” Rosa turned to Kara. “And you two will be okay while he’s out on a date?”

“We have one of our own planned. So far Manny and Allison have had a few, but we really can’t call ourselves a trio if we don’t do couples type things as well.”

“That makes sense. I hope you have something planned, and aren’t just going to wing it.”

Allison shook her head softly. “We’re taking a dance lesson. I assume your ex always just winged it.”

“Yeah. The only planned ‘dates’ he ever really did were meet ups to have sex. Not that I minded the sex; I’m pretty fond of the idea. But it was a little like pulling teeth to get him to do anything else. That probably should have been my first clue that what he said wasn’t what he really believed. I might have avoided quite a bit of pain if I’d been paying more attention.”

“And I never should have considered dating Pamela. But I did, and I’m fortunate that I escaped her trap.”

“I’d love to hear more of that story, but I think we got off topic a little” Rosa began. “Kara, what is your idea?”

“Can I assume you don’t want everything spoiled?” Rosa nodded her head. “Okay then; in the simplest terms possible I was thinking the interrogation of a caught double agent.”

Kara watched a huge grin quickly appear on her face. “Oh! How much resistance did you have in mind for the spy?”

“That would be mostly up to you. Enough to make the scenario interesting at least though.”

“I love the idea! What nationalities?”

“Details like that are need to know, and I don’t believe you really need to know that yet.”

Rosa turned the car into a sparsely filled parking lot, studying Kara’s face for a few moments as she pulled into a free spot. “If I’m reading your face correctly, you can’t give many details anyway. This is going to be like class, isn’t it?”

“Heavily improvised, yes. But I have already chosen the nationalities.”

“Then this should be a lot of fun! And if part of me needs to be focused on the acting, any head space I do go into will probably be pretty shallow.” She started to open her door, then looked back at them. “Any changes to the safe words we discussed?”

Allison shook her head. “Nope. Considering how complex this is already, we should stick to the basics for this.”

Rosa glanced at the car’s dashboard. “We have a little bit of time before the discussion starts, but maybe we should head inside.”

Allison looked over at Vanessa, then back at Rosa. “Yes. Especially since Vanessa wasn’t with us yesterday at the munch.”

Vanessa glanced nervously at the old factory in front of them. “Is this Roberta person nice? If I do want to stay for the party, and I might be at her mercy...”

“From everything that we experienced at the munch, I’d say so” Emanuel started. “But if I were in your shoes, I’d probably want to wait until after the discussion’s over to talk to her.”

Rosa shook her head softly. “Unless I misunderstood some of what we discussed yesterday, I think that particular transition might be busier than now. At least we know she’ll have some new member information on hand today.”

“Hopefully the fully organized packets” Allison agreed.

“That’s a lot to hope for” Vanessa started, stepping nervously through the steel doors. “Unless you three had some part in their creation.”

Kara pushed the button for the elevator, then quietly stepped through the open doors when it arrived a few moments later. “Not this time. Her wife Colleen had already made the suggestion several days ago.” A bell ‘dinged’ as the doors began to open again. “I’m not sure one day would really be enough time for them to do everything they wanted to do though.”

“It was tight dearie” Roberta’s voice floated over from a nearby table “but we managed. Who is your friend?”

“That’s” Allison started, closing her mouth quickly as Emanuel’s hand quietly rested on her shoulder.

“I’m Vanessa. I suppose I’m somewhere between a friend and a partner ... well, with one of them, at least. How close to the latter is uncertain at the moment.”

“Well, tonight’s the perfect night to be here then! We tried to make sure as many of the significant views on multiple relationships are represented on the panel.” She glanced over all five of them. “I trust one of them told you about the party that’s going to follow it.”

“Yes ... I’m not sure if I’m comfortable with staying for it though. Especially since I don’t know how much it’ll actually cost.”

“Double what members would pay.” She glanced down at her wrist. “We do require each person to be vetted, but there’s time to start that process if you’re willing to answer a few questions for me.”

“Even if I’m not sure about staying for it?”

“There’s no harm in getting vetted now. Worst comes to worse, you won’t have to go through it again the next time you do want to stay for a party.”

“If you’re sure it’s not a problem ... I don’t want to prevent you from doing your job here.”

“That’s reason enough for me to say yes” Colleen called from behind Roberta. “You don’t find that kind of respect just anywhere these days. Besides, I have...”

“I’d be a fool to ignore my wife’s suggestions on matters like this.” Kara watched Colleen shoot Roberta a glance; followed by Roberta shaking her head softly. “I forgot to actually tell you how much the party costs, didn’t I?” Vanessa nodded her head. “Twenty dollars for non members, ten for members.”

“Uhm ... in that case I can’t stay” Vanessa began, her face showing a hint of disappointment. “I definitely don’t have enough cash on me.”

“If you really want to, we do have some flexibility on the...” Roberta began to reply, stopping as Emanuel flashed a quick, knowing smile. “What are the rest of us not privy to at the moment?”

“Clara included enough in what she gave me before we left to cover you too.”

Did you just forget to ‘tell’ us about that, or were you also trusted with a secret?

The former, Ally. She gave me an envelope while you three were finishing getting dressed, and mentioned it then.

Kara smirked as Vanessa’s jaw dropped slightly. “She didn’t have to do that!”

“No dearie, she didn’t” Roberta smirked “but I’m not surprised that she did. Just let me know if you decide you want to stay after the discussion is finished”. She turned to the rest of them. “I can take your payment now if you want; and your toy bag is small enough that you can probably just slip it under one of your chairs.”

Emanuel reached into a side pocket of the bag and pulled out an envelope. “Thirty total, right?”

“Yes. Unless Clara is also paying for Rosa too.”

Rosa shook her head, handing a twenty to Roberta. “No, I’m covering myself tonight.”

“Hold out you hand then” Roberta started, grabbing a stamp from the table. “We’re still small enough that measures like this aren’t strictly necessary, but it makes the jobs of our volunteers a lot easier.” She nodded at Colleen, who quietly took the bills from Emanuel’s hand. “Next, you three.”

Kara flinched slightly as the stamp pressed into her hand, then glanced down, smiling. Is that a smiley face with a gag?

I believe so darling. That’s a clever little touch.

“One last thing” Roberta started, handing Emanuel a thick packet. “Your new members packet and membership cards.” She turned to Vanessa. “If you do decide to stay for the party, there are two things you do need to agree to before we can grant you access to the space. If you have a cell phone, you’ll need to check it with the person at the door to the space. If your parents need to reach you, they can leave a message and one of the staff will inform you of it at the first reasonable chance they have if you wish. If you want a picture taken during any part of the party, there are several staff members who can take one for you at any of the marked locations.”

“What about if an emergency call needs to be made? And why the rules?”

“The safety volunteers have access to phones if something does happen, and will only use them in emergency cases. We just instituted the rules to better protect the privacy of anyone in the play space.”

“Oh ... that makes sense. Okay.”

“Then you’re good to go. The discussion space is through the second door on the left. Restrooms are a little further down.”

Emanuel glanced down the hall as they started towards the door. So, I can see the usual ‘men’ and ‘women’ signs on two of those doors. But I can’t make out what the third door says.

I think it reads ‘whoever’. A gender neutral option I imagine. But for some reason I feel like I’d be more comfortable using that one than I would if I had to use the boys room at school again.

I agree, my muse. Maybe it’s because the Association seems to take security and safety more seriously than the school does?

And we don’t have to deal with Program rules and RRs this time around either. That makes a world of difference too.

“May I ask what you three are sharing this time?” Vanessa asked.

Allison looked up at her, a brief look of surprise on her face. “Manny noticed three bathrooms in the hallway; one of them appears to be gender neutral. Kara and I were just remarking how we’d probably be more comfortable using that one than the boys room at school again.”

Vanessa nodded her head, a slight smirk on her face. “Me too, actually. I didn’t mind the bathrooms themselves, but I wasn’t really crazy about the additional rules we had to follow this week.”