Chapter 37

On Thursday afternoon, I sat in the cafe thinking about Stephanie. Her presence in the house required some adjustments. The Siblings tried to be circumspect about sex, but Stephanie did not make it easy. I woke up every morning when she opened my bedroom doors; whatever Sibling spent the night opened their eyes to Stephanie staring at them from the papa-san chair. It precluded any early morning action, which was slightly frustrating as I usually woke up horny.

Stephanie did not want to have anything to do with Nancy, the psychologist, and vehemently protested the first couple of days. I let her argue herself out, and then told her to get in the car. I had to drive her to Susan's house every morning, but she got the message that I considered the sessions non-negotiable.

Her mood swings were flash storms that exhausted everyone but me. Unfortunately, those mood swings brought the first clash of wills between Stephanie and me on Thursday morning.

Janet spent the night and was needling Melisa about being put through her sexual paces. Both were spoiling for a fight so quickly devolved into a humorous argument about which one I fucked better. Stephanie threw a glass into the sink shattering it and spooking Melisa and Janet. They tried to apologize to Stephanie, only to have it interrupted by the sound of my glass hitting the sink. My toss was from farther away with a higher arc resulting in a stupendous crash. Stephanie almost jumped out of her skin. Doris Alex ran into the room looking worried.

"The Brotherhood can afford plenty of glasses if those weren't to your liking," I said looking at Stephanie. "To be honest, I prefer plastic but Siblings prefer fine, pretty things. Breaking them until they get me a couple of manly glasses could work though."

She ran towards the door.

"Stephanie!" I said harshly to freeze her. "They're hurting for you. I don't expect you to be friendly, but politeness is something I insist on."

"They don't understand!" she said with tears in her eyes.

"No, they don't," I agreed. "It doesn't mean they deserve your rudeness."

She nodded slowly and walked out of the room with her head high.

"You didn't have to be so hard on her," Rachel said.

Whatever connection Rachel and Stephanie made when the redhead arrived deepened in the ensuing days. Rachel made a small attempt to curtail Melisa and Janet's argument when it started, but had been drowned out by the girls' enthusiasm.

"Don't let her abuse you," I told her.

"That's my business, David," she replied in a hard voice.

"Stephanie is my business, Rachel," I said. "She will suffer the consequences of your excessive kindness."

"You want me to be mean to her?"

"No," I answered. "Just don't drown her in tolerance."

"She was raped, David," Rachel said angrily. "You're a man; you couldn't begin to understand what that does to someone."

I left the room rather than reply. I should have stayed; maybe I would not have been as hard when Stephanie made the same accusation.

Nancy sat down across from me in the cafe.

"Hello, David," she said stealing a bit of lettuce from my tray.

"You're a head-doctor," I said. "Could you tell me what it is about a man's food that a woman finds irresistible when she has something as tasty on her plate?"

"I could," she said with a raised eyebrow, "but then I would have to kill you."

I laughed at the seriousness in her voice.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Of course," I said sitting back.

"Why haven't you introduced your body to mine?"

"Not the question I was expecting," I admitted.

"You were thinking I was going to ask something psychological," she said dismissively. "I really don't want to know what goes on in your head, David."

"Oh?"

"I know why I want you and that's all I need," she said.

"So why do you want me?" I said.

"You're a Brother," she replied. "I have no ambition of my own, but a Brother makes me feel like I have to do my best. Without the Society, I would have ended up a lazy administrative assistant for a mid-level manager in some mediocre company."

I nodded.

"If you're worried about me trying to psychoanalyze you while we're doing it, you can forget that too!" she said. "I burned all my personal notes on your psych-eval. If you're broken, I'm the last person that wants you fixed. There's no reason for you not to fuck me."

"That wasn't why I haven't accepted your invitation," I said honestly.

"Stephanie?"

"Yes."

"She thinks I'm the enemy. She will think you are on my side if we get together," she said with a sigh.

"Don't you agree?"

"That which I know and that which I want have a death-match in my head everyday; unfortunately, neither will stay dead for long," she admitted with a smirk. "It doesn't help that I'm not getting through to Stephanie either."

"It's been less than a week," I pointed out.

"There's no connection between us," she said. "We might have to bring in someone else if she doesn't open up soon."

I sat quietly for a minute.

"Stop trying to save the Sibling, Doctor," I told her.

"I don't understand."

"Yes, you do," I said getting up. "Help Stephanie mourn the loss of who she was. Hold her hand while she finds out who she is now."

"You make it sound so easy," she said in a voice edged with disrespect.

"Be careful, Doctor," I said dangerously. "Speak to me like that again and it won't be just an hour a day that you will spend with Stephanie. I have a feeling you would not enjoy being there for every nightmare Susan holds Stephanie through."

There are days when everyone tries their very best to annoy me and I was wondering if shooting the next shithead philosophy student that said 'But in the Star Wars universe... ' was really such bad an idea. I sat in the cafeteria contemplating philosophical purification with thoughts of my home situation interrupting regularly.

I understood the emotional roller coaster Stephanie was riding. I could also understand that the Siblings, especially Nancy, were not coping well with the injection of reality that Stephanie represented. I was sure Stephanie would lash out at her new housemates regardless of my instructions; eventually a Sibling would strike back.

"You don't look happy," Sandra said sitting down on my left.

Emily took the seat to my right. When Rachel sat across from me, I started to feel surrounded.

"David, I know this is hard to believe but smiling isn't a crime," Rachel said teasingly.

She was the only person I ever met who got amusement out of poking me while I was annoyed. Everyone else either ducked or tried to stroke me out of it.

"Let me take a wild guess," Rachel continued. "You didn't have any writing classes today so it can't be Miss 'broke up with the love of her life six months ago and STILL hasn't gotten over it' poetess. That means someone in your philosophy class posed that wonderful question..."

"What if this were the Star Wars universe?" Emily offered cutely.

I turned to look at her. She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me in for an open-mouthed kiss.

"Feeling better?" she asked breaking the kiss.

I adjusted myself and looked at my tray. Sandra decided that was a reply in the negative and dragged me over for a kiss of her own.

"Now do you feel better?" she asked when the kiss ended.

"Why would he feel better after you kiss him but not me?" Emily asked a little annoyed.

"Experience, sweetie," Sandra said with false cattiness.

"Hmmm," Emily said. "Maybe I should get a sample of how you kiss for myself to see what I can learn from it."

Sandra was shocked and then became visibly excited as she considered Emily's rejoinder.

"Excuse me!" Rachel said perilously. "I am talking to David!"

The three of us turned towards her. Her blue eyes were in what Janet would have called the 'Deadly Laser' mode. Sandra and Emily bowed their heads in capitulation and remained silent. Looking at Rachel, I got the feeling that the girls' interruption was the problem and not the kissing. The rest of the meal was one of the strangest experiences in my non-relationship with Rachel. I watched them leave fifteen minutes later.