Chapter 252: Bikini and Car Shopping

Monday, June 20, 2005

The four of us had the kitchen to ourselves. We discussed what to do today. Thinking that all the parents would presumably shortly be going to their respective jobs gave me the idea of immediately calling Mom to tell her that I'd be bringing Carol home and to ask if there were any chores we should do during the day, because it was VERY important to earn as many brownie points with Mom as possible in the next few days.

After explaining to Carol that I'd be taking her home, but just so she could get fresh clothes, I called Mom and said what I'd planned.

Mom was happy to hear from me, and she did give me a list of little jobs to do. Nothing major, but you've got to expect jobs when you ask for them. Mom also asked me what we were going to do today.

"We haven't decided yet. Other than Aikido tonight, the whole day's wide open. That's the wonderful thing about summer. That, plus girls in bikinis."

"What's Carol going to do?"

"I don't know; I haven't asked her. Shall I put her on?"

"Yes please."

Mom and Carol nattered away for a while. I was amused to hear Carol say, "I don't know. He slept with Ava in the study." Carol was amused too; she rolled her eyes at me.

I also heard Carol say, "I don't have any plans either. That's the wonderful thing about summer. That plus all the sales they have at the stores, haha." Carol poked her tongue out at me that time, then resumed, "I'm having breakfast with Julia and Ava. Can I stay with them please? We have good fun together."

I'd barely started making a humorous comment when, #1: <Don't make Carol laugh when Mom's listening. It might make her suspicious. Or even more suspicious.> So I subsided.

After she hung up, Carol volunteered, "Mom asked me what time you went to sleep. It wasn't up to her usual standard of subtle. She said I should do some chores at the same time as you, and then the four of us can do whatever we want."

Ava checked in with her parents, saying several very nice things about me, Julia and Carol. After hanging up, she said, "I'm free today too. Can I spend it with you guys please?"

I answered quickly (to beat Julia), and in a determined tone of voice, "I'm absolutely determined to start summer the way it should carry on. That means I'm insisting on spending today with beautiful, sexy and very nice girls." After a moment's pause, I added, "So naturally you're included Ava. I'd be very disappointed if you couldn't join us."

"Kiss Ass," accused Julia.

I defended myself, "Have you seen Ava's ass! It's wonderfully kissable. For a very obvious reason, that reminds me of the thong bikini on my computer. Julia's always telling me that I should google things more, and I couldn't think of anything better to google than sexy bikinis. There are heaps of online stores, but the computer was very wise to pick that one to show us, as it's got some of the best products. It's in Australia, and delivery time is a week and a half, if I remember correctly." (i.e., if it was the same in this dimension. Maybe Australia was farther away here, haha.)

^-- "What I'd like to do is buy one bikini for each of you. We should do that IMMEDIATELY after breakfast, as every day lost is a tragic, irrecoverable waste of summer. If they look as good in reality as they do online, then I'd like to order a large assortment of other bikinis from them. Different sizes, colors and sexy styles. Maybe from two or three different stores to get plenty of variety. We'd keep them at the mansion, for any girls who visit to use around our pool. I think that's an EXCELLENT plan. Do any of you want to remain my friend by agreeing with me?"

It's good to have loyal friends, as they all agreed it was a VERY excellent plan, especially for me. Julia added, "Because I'm so small, that style of bikini doesn't suit me. I'd be better..."

I interrupted, "Oh dear. How long have you had such a severe memory problem, Julia, that you've forgotten that I'm a male? What would any male prefer: to see you in a stylish swimsuit that matches and complements your body structure in a flattering, fashionable manner, or a bikini that's damn near the same as your being stark naked?"

"Haha," x 3. My girls knew me so well that none of them needed to state the answer. There was NO doubt.

I knew that Julia believed she'd look better in another style of suit (God knows why, but she truly did believe that). I was impressed by her giving in to my wishes so easily. She's a very good girlfriend.

Julia said, "It'd be good for Mark and me to spend a couple of hours looking at cars today. We could get down to a shortlist, so we can decide on which one to buy tomorrow."

"We'll buy one tomorrow?" I checked.

"I can't think of any reason to delay. Can you?"

"Ahh, no. It's just going out and spending a humongous amount of money on a car so quickly is somewhat scary. Dad always spends ages looking at cars before he buys one, and I feel uncomfortable buying one without him looking it over carefully first."

"Has he always bought secondhand cars?"

"Yes. Mom and Dad have never been able to afford a new car before."

"He's wise to be careful, in case he gets a lemon. We're buying new. If it's got any faults at all, you take it back and yell at them to fix it. I've got information on every model's resale value, their safety and reliability reports. It'd be a waste of your father's time for him to look over a brand new car, especially at the price level we're looking in. Plus it'll be a good experience for you to make up your mind and to buy it on your own."

"On my own, except for you."

"The final decision will be up to you. It's your car and your money." [I must have been even more flustered than I thought, because I believed her. Maybe Julia even believed Julia at this time, but when it came time to make the final decision, she couldn't stop herself from 'contributing' to it. After all, cars are hugely important to a person's image.]

Julia continued, "With having to place Mark's emergency bikini order, his and Carol's chores at home, and some car shopping, that'll be the morning taken care of. How about we do something after lunch that I can invite lots of the girls from school to. While Mark's doing chores, I'll call as many as I can, to invite them to wherever we decide. That'll get the 'Mark is back in town' ball rolling."

The very first idea that popped into my head for what to do with lots of the girls from school was to meet them at the Aquatic Center. I didn't bother trying to think of a second idea. I said, "Here's my idea for the afternoon. And when I say 'my idea', I really mean 'my absolute command'. We go to the Aquatic Center. That way as many girls as want to can come and go informally without any problems. It also means I get to see lots of sexy girls in bikinis, which is quite a good thing too..."

"Good idea, Mark," agreed Julia. "You can wear one of your Speedos. Very few of the girls have seen you that undressed, so they'll be overwhelmed by how good your body looks."

#3: <Oops. Oh well, I guess no plan is perfect. It's a relatively small price to pay for seeing lots of girls in bikinis. Even if not many of ours come, there'll still be heaps of others there. Plus we get an ideal opportunity to practice our very important sight blob ability.>

"Okay Julia. I know it makes you happy to parade me around, so I'll wear one of those silly Speedos. Is my Egg website still active?"

"It was last time I checked, and Lily has never said that it might stop one day. Why?"

"Because I want to suggest one change to your plan. I'm not really in the mood for anything intense these days, including getting involved with intense girl-chasing. Mainly because of the kidnapping and your father's slow and scary recovery. Maybe I'll change in a few days or weeks, or maybe only when school restarts, but for now what I most want to do is unwind, not get wound up about anything. I would like you to phone Alexis, Pat and Katelin, to tell them we'll be at the Aquatic Center from 1pm or so. Then when we're upstairs on that very important bikini business, put a new document on my website saying I'll be at the Aquatic Center today from 1 and everyone is welcome to join us. Any girls that are conscientiously checking the site will see it and come if they want."

"Good idea, Mark! I like it..."

"There's a nuance you'll like even more. Just put the bare details in the new document, and do NOT put any comment about calling around other girls to let them know. When we're at the pools, and presuming any girls do turn up, we should ask each of them how they knew about it. They might've been there by coincidence, or they saw the site, or a girl who saw the site called to tell them. We want to find out who..."

"I LOVE IT! Girls with that attitude are EXACTLY what we're looking for. I'll ask Alexis and the others not to tell anyone, because they easily might, and that could spur those girls into calling around. We don't want any of them to be given that idea. Once we've identified the generous girls, we'll make a big deal about them..."

I went back to eating my breakfast, letting Julia happily prattle on about the obvious. Julia finished with, "That's a much better plan than I had, Mark. You're getting very good at these things. Even better than I was, this time."

"I was inspired by laziness. I didn't want a big, intense scene, so I didn't want you to call around to create one. The rest was fairly automatic. Especially because I'm perfectly happy to spend time with just my three favorite girls." I waved my hand to indicate the three girls here, in case any of them were in any doubt. Saying I was "perfectly happy" with just these three was somewhat of an overstatement. I'd prefer some more pretty girls turn up, but I didn't prefer it so much that I wanted any sort of hassle about it. I didn't even want to think about Julia being hassled by it. I truly did want to unwind.

Carol unhappily said, "I don't have a good swimsuit. I'd feel embarrassed to be..."

"In that case, sweetie," I interrupted, "when Julia and I are car shopping, how about you and Ava go swimsuit shopping?"

I saw the reaction on Julia's face, so I added to Julia, "Just as my buying a car by myself will be good for me, Carol's buying a swimsuit without you will be good for you, haha. Let Carol choose her own. Something that she's comfortable wearing in Corvallis." To Carol I said, "I'd suggest you don't get something excessively sexy Carol - not that there is any such concept as 'EXCESSIVELY sexy' - but it's mostly up to you. Get whatever you want. We'll go to an ATM on the way home, and I'll get some money for you."

"I've got enough money Mark..."

"And I've got MORE than enough, so you're getting some of it. Don't make me spank your bottom in the middle of the Aquatic Center."

Carol laughed, knowing that was a joke rather than a sexual tease.

I asked, "Is that okay with you, please Ava?"

"It'll be fun. I'll come to help you with your chores, then I'll take Carol to my place to pick up what I need, then we'll hit the stores and meet somewhere for lunch later. Carol's fun to go shopping with, especially because she's so beautiful."

Carol blushed happily.

#7: <It's amazing how many reasons there are for girls to blush. We blush when we're embarrassed. That's it; just the one reason. How on Earth can girls get a perfectly straightforward physical reaction so confused that it comes into effect during some good as well as some bad emotions. That's just silly!>

#5: <To be more accurate, "It's inconsistent." Like one or two other female traits.>

I'd had a little idea, and couldn't resist saying, "Julia, you said I should choose a car by myself. Maybe I should do that by myself this morning, so you can help Carol choose her swimsuit after all."

Julia's mouth opened, then paused. Clearly wanted to say, "Are you crazy! I couldn't leave you to make a decision like that alone." But she'd already painted herself into somewhat of a corner on that issue. After a couple of moments' panic, Julia regrouped then started with her excuses, "I like being with you, Mark. Plus you'd be bored going from lot to lot by yourself, so I'll come to keep you company. And now that I think of it, it's easier for me to read my notes and research, so I need to come."

"Thanks Julia. I appreciate that."

Julia looked relieved. I prevented myself from looking amused.

Vanessa and Prof came in to talk with us, before they went to work. The academic year was over, but they had inboxes full of stuff from their absence.

They talked briefly about their work, about getting OSU prepared for my studies, and the most important thing, Vanessa saying, "I'll be contacting the realtors to start the negotiation process. It'll likely take several days before we know whether there'll be a mutually agreeable price on the Peoria Road property, so don't expect anything to happen for a while."

"Good luck!" I wished, with total sincerity.

The first job upstairs was bikini shopping. I had two computers plus Julia's was in the room too, so it would obviously be much more efficient and sensible for each girl to use a separate computer to find which suit she'd prefer. They crowded around the one computer and discussed almost every option the store had.

Naturally I was right in the middle of them, frequently and confidently giving them the benefit of my opinions. Which, in my opinion, was the only opinion that mattered. These bikinis were for me after all. For the first time in 3A's life, I actually enjoyed clothes shopping. Probably because these were barely clothes, and were clothes that would make the girls look almost bare. I was sorry when we finished choosing.

The ordering process caused me a moral dilemma. I was in charge of the typing because the bikinis were for me after all. When I typed in the item code for Carol's wonderful choice (I'd helped choose it), I followed it by specifying the size as "L". (By the way, I was typing by hand. I'm not sure why, but it seemed best to do that in front of Ava, even though I'd done some typing during Carol's Nipple Power game.)

Julia said, "Carol's probably a Medium, Mark."

"Even with her WONDERFUL breasts?"

"Haha, yeah, even then. What was the size of the special occasion dress that you bought her?"

"Oh, I thought you'd forgotten about that."

I'd thought about it yet again not even an hour ago, when I'd gotten Ava to cup Carol's breasts from behind. For some reason, that'd reminded me of the dress. I was itching to take Carol and Julia out for a special occasion (I didn't care what), but it'd probably be a bad idea to do that before Mom and Dad consented to our marriage. If Mom saw Carol in that dress, my motives would be highly suspect. Or perhaps that should be, "my motives would be confirmed."

"I can't wait to see it," complained Carol, the girl I was making wait to see it.

Julia said, "I'm concerned that you might have gotten the wrong size dress. Maybe Carol should try it on now, to make sure before the special event. That way there'd be time to fix any problem."

"Good idea," agreed Carol.

"Unnecessary idea," I said. "I'm happy with the size. Don't you have any faith in me? Didn't I just help you choose the perfect bikinis?"