Chapter 41: A Little Experiment

School was out, it was the fourth of July weekend, and Warren, Sophia, Jessie, and Crash were headed up to Maine. Crash's uncle had a place up there, and, since he was not going to be using it for these two weeks, the foursome rented it. It was a cabin, on a lake, and they were looking forward to it. Convincing Jessie's parents and Crash's mother took some doing, but they managed.

It was big, for a cabin. There was a large room occupying the whole front half, which was a combination living room/dining room. Behind that, to the right, there was the kitchen. To the left, the one large bedroom. The bathroom was tucked in off the kitchen.

"One bedroom?' Sophia asked.

"Hmm. Uncle Dave said it slept four, which it does, but I didn't realize there was only one bedroom."

"There's a divider screen, though," Jessie pointed out.

"Hope it's soundproof," Warren quipped, earning a shove from Sophia.

"Aaah, fuck it," Sophia said. "We're all friends here, right?" She smiled.

They settled in, and then went out and bought some groceries and filled the fridge and cupboard. Warren and Jessie were the most enthusiastic about cooking, so they picked out a lot of the groceries. "Guess we get clean-up duty after the gourmands here wreck the kitchen with their culinary delights," Crash said to Sophia.

They had arrived on a Saturday, and were staying until a week from Sunday-over two weeks. Saturday night, the first night, the bedroom arrangements were a bit awkward-Warren and Sophia stayed on the couch until the sounds from the bedroom died down, and then went in. Sunday night, Jessie and Crash walked in on them in mid-boink, but Warren just waved them in and they went to sleep as Warren and Sophia finished up. Monday night, they all just ended up in there, in their separate beds, doing whatever.

Tuesday was a beautiful day, and Crash and Warren decided to take Crash's uncle's small boat out into the lake and do some fishing. Sophia and Jessie slept late, padded around the house a bit, and ended up on one of the two couches in the living room, sipping coffee, and chatting.

"I love this. I'm so relaxed." Sophia said.

"Yeah, you weren't relaxed last night," Jessie quipped. "You gave me such a headache I had to reach for the Advil, for chrissake. Are you always that loud?"

"Usually," she smiled. "Gets Warren going, you know."

"I'll bet. You guys really do seem to have a great sex life. Almost as good as Jason and I."

Sophia laughed. Then she got a little somber. "I hope it's good enough."

"What are you talking about?"

Sophia sighed. "I've told Warren to take some time and sleep around. He won't do it."

"WHAT?"

"Listen, I have previous experience. He doesn't. How can he know I'm the one if he hasn't tried anyone else?"

"Shit, Crash and I were both virgins before each other, and we don't worry."

"Yeah, but you had some experience. Maybe not fucking, but everything else. Warren had none."

"True. But I know what Warren means, though. I don't know if I could ever do it."

"Do you ever fantasize about it? With someone you know, or something?" Sophia asked.

"I can't think of hardly anyone that I'd want to do it with."

"Aha, Jess, you said hardly anyone."

"Well, I meant no one."

"You said hardly," Sophia grinned. "C'mon, Jess, confess."

"OK. There's one guy. Jason and I have actually talked about this. We asked each other, if you were going to have a fling with someone you know, who would it be? And I did have one name."

"OK, Jess, spill the beans."

"No way," she said firmly. "That is Jason's and my secret. I can't tell you."

"Jess, I'm your best friend. You can tell me."

"Oh, no, not this, especially not you."

Sophia looked at her friend, and then realization dawned on her. "It's Warren, isn't it?" She said with a smile.

Jesse looked at her in disbelief. Sophia continued, "Come on, why would you be afraid to tell me if it was anyone other than Warren?" Jessie stared at her friend, expecting her to be pissed, but she was plainly amused. "Admit it, Jess, you got the hots for my boyfriend!"

"OK, I admit it. It's Warren," Jessie said, blushing. Sophia just giggled. "If it makes you feel any better, Jason picked you."

"Really?"

"Yeah. And he was serious."

Sophia thought about that for a moment. "Since it's true confessions time, I'll tell you that I'd pick Jason, too."

"Warren?"

Sophia laughed. "We've never actually discussed it, but every time I tell him he should find someone else to experiment with, he makes a joke about you. I'll tell him to go find someone, and he'll say, 'But Jess isn't available' or 'Fine, what's Jessie's phone number' or something like that. Based on the evidence, I do believe he'd pick you."

Jessie thought for a moment. "Assuming you're right about that... We've got two weeks here. It's only the four of us. Only we will know what goes on between these walls." She took a deep breath, amazed at what she was about to say. "Maybe we should pick a night while we're here... and swap."

"JESSICA REIDEL! Are you SERIOUS?"

"Yeah, I do believe I am."

"Are you telling me that you want to sleep with my boyfriend?"

Jessie smiled at Sophia and said, "Only if you sleep with mine."

Sophia sighed. "Jess, this is not the type of thing that you drop on me at eleven o'clock in the morning."

"Soph, tell me the whole idea doesn't turn you on, and I'll drop it."

Sophia sighed. "OK. So it does. But what will it do to us? To our friendships? To our relationships?"

"If it's consensual and agreed on by everyone, why should it do anything? Look, I'm secure enough in my relationship with Jason. I know you and Warren are just as secure. I am not going to go to bed with Warren and then get all swoony over him. Listen, I love Warren. He's my second favorite guy in the universe. And based on your descriptions I would fully expect spending the night with him to be utterly fantastic. But I'm not in love with him. I'm in love with Jason."

"Look," she continued, "you know how I would look at it? I am giving my very best friend and my boyfriend a gift-each other, for a little while. And you would be doing the same. Just for fun. It would be fun, I do believe, for all of us."

Sophia smiled. "OK, I have to admit, it does sound like it would be fun. And deliciously wicked, to boot. All right, I'm in. IF..."

"If what?"

"If we can convince our guys. I don't know if Warren will go along with it."

"We'll just have to ask them."

Jason and Warren traipsed in in mid-afternoon, all happy with a bucket of fish. "DINNER!" Warren announced proudly. Jason chimed in, "Are we good, or what?"

Jason was the best at cleaning and de-boning fish, so he handled that, while Jess and Warren drummed up a recipe. It turned out to be wonderful.

The girls waited until the meal was done and they were all lingering at the table to bring up the topic at hand. Warren led them into it, actually.

"So, what did you ladies do all day while we he-men were out capturing the supper?"

Sophia giggled. "Oh, girl talk."

"What about?' Crash asked

"Sex, what else?" Jess quipped. "If you must know, we were discussing fantasies."

"Sophia tell you about hers, me ravaging her while she's tied up on top of the third base dugout at Fenway Park?"

"WARREN!"

Jessie laughed. "Nope, she didn't mention that particular one."

Sophia smirked at Warren. "Well, his is to do it in the middle of the ice at the Olympics. With a full crowd. And a panel of judges."

"Doling out the 5.9's and the 6.0's, of course," Warren quipped.

"Of course," Jess agreed. "No, actually, we weren't talking about where. We were talking about who. Jason and I have had a discussion-if I released you for a day, who would you want to sleep with? That's what we were talking about."

"JESSICA!" Crash was mortified. "You TOLD her?"

Jess just nodded. "Did you tell her WHO?" Jess nodded again. Jason glanced sheepishly at Sophia, and then buried his face in his hands. "I think I am very embarrassed."

"And I think I missed something," Warren interjected.

"Well, War, Jason told me who he'd want to sleep with if I released him for a day. And the answer was Sophia." Jason buried his head further in his hands, groaning.

"Oh," Warren said. "Is that all? Doesn't surprise me in the least."

Everyone glared at him. "It doesn't?" Sophia asked.

"Naaaah. He's had the hots for you since the day he met you. What am I, blind?" They all chuckled, and Crash looked at Warren in obvious relief. Then he grinned at his girlfriend. "Tell him yours, Jess."

"Oh, mine was also Sophia." Warren looked at her in stunned disbelief, then caught the gleam in her eye and started laughing. "No, seriously, Warren. Mine was you."

"I think I'm flattered. Mine would be you, too."

"And mine would be Jason," Sophia added.

"What an interesting conversation," Warren said. "We've all now established that we wouldn't mind jumping in the sack with each other's significant other." Everyone laughed.

"Right," smiled Jess. "So, what Sophie and I were talking about was-let's do it."

"What?" Warren asked.

"Let's swap. One night while we're here. Tonight would be fun."

Jason and Warren stared at the girls, then at each other, and then back at the girls. They still didn't quite believe what they had heard.