Chapter 36

By Monday, Amy and Toby were beginning to see the shape of the week to come. There probably wouldn't be a big blow-off party Friday night, due to the Homecoming dance -- but several couples would want to use the clubhouse for after-party assignations. Adults, on the other hand, were shaping up to be something they were going to have to deal with all week long...

Donna and Mac wandered over to see Amy and Toby at lunch -- and indicated that they wanted a private talk. Amy and Toby were happy to oblige -- in fact, Amy opened with, "I hear your mother might want to join the club..."

"Really?" Donna blinked in surprise. "Where did you hear that?"

"Iris Lezynski -- Misha's mother," Amy related. "Something about a run-in with Mac's dad..."

Mac actually blushed. "That's something we wanted to talk to you guys about," Donna related.

"Yes?" Amy was all ears -- in fact, she and Toby were listening at a level deeper than that...

"They're both busted," Mac explained. "Pop wandered over to Donna's house a couple of weeks ago, and, well, when Pop sees a woman he wants, he's pretty good at convincing them to want him back. One thing led to another and they had a lot of sex. Apparently, they had a REAL good time -- but Pop is a bachelor and he's used to playing around, and he's decided that Donna's mom has tentacles -- and, frankly, maybe she does..." Mac eyed Donna to see if she would take exception, but she didn't. "Anyway, Pop won't go near her -- but from what I can tell, he's already addicted, and it's killing him..."

"Mom's the same way," Donna related. "I think she might want to try another guy or two to prove to herself whether it is or isn't Mac's dad, but she knows better."

Mac chuckled. "I've listened to them both and I think it was a case of love at first feel, if you're into AC-DC. But they're older and both of them have been burned..." At Toby's look of incomprehension, he shared a glance with Donna and explained, "We're both ... mistakes, I guess. Donna's mom raised her alone and Pop got me because Mom couldn't do kids. Neither of them was married -- or even in love. Sex got them into trouble." He shook his head. "I've talked to Pop about this and he's absolutely superstitious -- he thinks Noreen is Mother Nature's way of getting even with him for all the women he's passed on."

"Is he bad that way?" Amy asked, knowing the answer.

"No, not really. Women just slide off him, like Teflon. A relationship will go five or six dates, max, then he and the woman will agree that it just isn't what they're looking for and part company. I don't think I've ever seen one hold a grudge. He's not the 'four Fs' type -- he just never found one that got under his skin -- until now..."

"So now the real thing shows up..." Amy mused.

" ... And he's scared spitless!" Mac finished.

Toby turned his attention on Donna, who took over. "Mom just, I dunno, zipped it up or something. She didn't date, and if she EVER slept around while I was a kid, I didn't see it. She's got my butt -- maybe that kept them away..." Mac reached down and squeezed Donna's ass and she smiled up at him. "However it worked, Mom just put men away -- until Harmon. Then she apparently fell all over herself to get under him..."

"Pop probably handled that," Mac interjected. "He's SMOOOOTH!"

"Yeah, well, once they got going, she didn't let go..." Donna noted. "Once wasn't NEARLY enough!"

Mac nodded. "Both of them have been burned over birth control, and Pop was religious about it. It was habit, you know? He didn't even have to think about it -- it was like Step Thirteen in a typical seduction -- put on the rubber. But he didn't, with Noreen -- FOUR TIMES! Noreen was just as bad -- once they'd screwed it up the first time, she told Pop the damage was done and not to worry about it -- AND HE DIDN'T! THAT is what scares him, more than anything else. BOTH of them know better, having learned the hard way -- and BANG! They're trying to have kids!"

Toby eyed the pair. "What do you think should happen?"

Mac shrugged. "Pop should stop hiding from Noreen and get it over with."

"Well, we stand a good chance of getting Noreen in the door of the club, I think," Amy opined, "with Iris pushing. What about your father, Mac?"

Mac shrugged. "He's been too picky -- which means he's hard up..."

"We'd like to meet him..." Amy noted.

"Maybe..." Mac shrugged.

"If we were to do the dark room thing -- no, that won't work. They'll talk and figure it out too soon," Donna mused.

"What would your mother do?" Amy asked.

"Probably nothing," Donna guessed.

"So if she was in the room but not allowed to talk and Harmon came in... ?"

"Oooooo! I LIKE IT!" Donna gushed.

"We could keep Harmon quiet, too," Toby offered.

Mac eyed Donna. "No, I think Noreen would be just as happy knowing who she was dealing with. We only need to keep Pop in the dark -- until it's too late, anyway." Donna nodded thoughtfully.

"See what you can do," Amy directed, "We'll support you and make it work. Mac, for your dad, it's just anonymous sex. Donna, we'll see what your mom wants. You may want to talk to Misha, since Iris is in on things. Iris can deal with her without getting into the whole adults versus kids thing."

"Okay." Donna nodded and led Mac off, discussing the idea quietly with him.

At lunchtime, Tyrone caused a major sensation by the simple expedient of walking up behind Cindy Simpson, leaning down, and kissing her neck, "Hey, Baby."

"Sweetheart! How come you didn't call Sunday?" Cindy replied. You could hear the question from clear across the room, due to the deathly silence.

Tyrone settled next to her. "I figured you needed some quiet time after Friday night and Saturday, Baby."

"Okay." Cindy kissed his cheek.

Beverly turned to Tyrone, "Where's O--?" She shut up when a hand descended upon her shoulder.

"Looking for me, Babe?" Otis rumbled.

"Of course, Lover!" Beverly peeled his hand off her shoulder so she could kiss it. "Mama says hi." Otis settled to Beverly's right in front of the startled eyes of the other four cheerleaders, among others, and pulled Beverly against him for a kiss.

The morning had been tough on Cindy and Beverly. Everybody knew there was a website out there that showed them fucking six or eight guys -- black guys -- and apparently getting off on it. Cindy and Beverly had related the official version of the cover story to probably forty of their closest acquaintances -- but to anyone who HADN'T heard it, one look at Tyrone and Otis was validation of their worst suspicions -- which was one reason the pair had stayed away during the morning. Tyrone and Otis wanted the official version to take root, if possible -- not that there was much hope of that. The girls had just given most of the briefing to the cheerleading squad -- with the notable exception of Mary Vargas, who was seated at the team table -- with Gina Blaisdale on one side of her and Ray Thinnes on the other. Now, Cindy more or less finished it with, "Tyrone and Otis showed up and rescued us! They swooped in and we were out of there! They're heroes!"

"I'll just bet," Carla Giordano whispered under her breath. Gabby Cardoza snorted softly. Both of them knew without any forensic examination of the evidence being necessary that two of the cocks in that video belonged to Tyrone and Otis. But they smiled and nodded for Cindy and Beverly's benefit, each thinking that there was no good reason to suck up to the pair any longer. The other two cheerleaders -- Mindy Frankel and Lucy O'Donnell, were perky but vacuous blondes who would believe that the sky was green if Cindy said so.

"You know, Baby," Tyrone murmured, seeing which way things were headed, "Things are gonna be tough for a while. Nobody is gonna believe that things went down that way until they see that Otis and I have turned over a new leaf. Maybe you ought to try to mend some fences with the team..."

"Yeah. I'd been planning to, anyway." Cindy pecked Tyrone on the cheek. "I'll be right back."

Otis nudged Beverly. "Go with her, Babe. Be nice." Beverly nodded and gave Otis a peck and followed Cindy off.

Tyrone took the opportunity to reach out with his feet, curling them behind the bare calves of Carla and Gabby and exerting his will, murmuring, "You need to go easy on Cindy and Bev -- they had a rough weekend. You probably wouldn't want to get sucked into that mess..." Both of them blinked and moved their legs, but the seed was planted.

Meanwhile, Cindy approached the team table -- diffidently, which was a departure for the blonde cheerleader. Singling out Anita -- which caused some hackles to rise around the table -- Cindy said, "Hey, Anita -- I'm real sorry for that thing in the bathroom. I was out of line. I know you'll probably never forgive me, but I just needed to get it out there. I'm not interested in Tad anymore -- no offence, Tad -- so there is nothing you need to worry about from me, okay?"

"Well, uh, okay..." Anita eyed Cindy as if she'd grown an extra head.

Cindy looked around generally. "Look, I know I've been a shit, okay? I got my head shrunk pretty good over the weekend..."

"Looked like you got stretched a little," somebody mumbled.

Cindy blushed and hung her head. "That, too. Clearly, I'm not at the top of the heap anymore. Even if you guys won't put up with me, I hope you'll let the other girls on the squad back in..."

Tad and Damian shared a glance, then picked up Bobby and Clint with their eyes. Damian shifted his glance to Toby, who nodded the merest fraction. Frank screwed up his face when he got called on to vote, but shrugged. The thing went around the table for about ten seconds before it came back to Damian, who deferred to Tad. Tad pursed his lips. "Okay, you and Beverly are on probation. The other girls are welcome. I'm thinking that if your boyfriends are around to keep you out of trouble, things should be cool." There was a rumble of agreement; in some circles, lugging Tyrone and Otis around was going to be like a ball and chain for Cindy and Beverly -- they would never recapture the way things were -- or even make an approach...

"Oh! Oh, that's great!" Cindy bubbled. "They're real nice guys, you know!" That got some rolled eyes around the table, but it was going to be good for a laugh, anyway... "Thanks a LOT!" She dashed back to the other table, bouncing in her excitement, Beverly in tow.

Toby took the opportunity to get everyone's attention, Amy in support. "Look, guys, I know what some of you are thinking, but trust me, all four of them are going to be on their best behavior -- and we actually owe Tyrone and Otis a favor, so let it ride."

"He's right," Damian noted, Terence nodding in the background. "Cindy and Beverly didn't get whacked by accident, you know? We wanted it that way and somebody made it happen..." Heads nodded all around the table. "Make a hole and let 'em in."

It took bringing in another table, but they settled the six new arrivals. Amy was careful about seating Tyrone, making sure he wasn't in direct contact with any of the other girls. Between them, they noted the effort Tyrone had gone to with Carla and Gabby and tuned it a bit, then Amy reached in and basically shut off Tyrone's powers, with the exception of those women he was already established with -- including Carla and Gabby and Cindy and Beverly and the girls' mothers -- well, there was a list. New conquests were curtailed, however, until they could get a better handle on Tyrone -- but of course, he retained his pheromones.

One important side conversation involved Beverly and Mary Vargas. "What happened to you?" Beverly asked quietly.

"I said something to Gina and she asked around and nobody on the team had set up anything for you guys," Mary murmured back. "They whipped up something at the last minute for me and Gina advised me that wherever you guys were going, the team didn't know about it, so I should hang back. I'm glad I did..."

Beverly looked over at Toby. "What did you do?"

"Nothing," Toby lied. "I never intended to do anything. Sorry. I didn't see any reason to -- we weren't interested in you the way you were. Did you talk to anyone else about it?" While he asked, he deliberately made both Cindy and Beverly's memories fuzzy about that detail. "Maybe someone overheard you or something. How were you contacted?"

"IM," Cindy replied.

"Jeez!" Toby rolled his eyes, "EVERYBODY knows your IM! It could have been ANYBODY!"

"Yeah..." Cindy sighed.

"What's up?" Pete Phifer asked.

"Okay, this is all between us, right?" Toby leaned forward. "Look, Cindy and Beverly weren't just kidnapped. They thought that we had arranged an initiation for them, like we did for Gina. Only..." he shrugged.

"Yeah, wasn't us," Pete muttered. "We were all at the after game party..." Of course, Pete was right, as far as it went -- Damian and Toby were the only team members aware of what went on, and Lon and Sally and Randy actually handled everything. Bernice knew, too, but again, she wasn't on the team ... She and Randy were present at the table, but she knew better than to say or do anything. Randy squeezed her hand under the table; Bernice decided that she would lie until her face turned blue to get Randy to continue doing things like that. Randy's acceptance was still low-key -- but it was there; he wasn't advertizing the relationship, but he wasn't hiding it, either. Given her reputation, Bernice wasn't complaining.

Tyrone was prepared to accept what he'd heard at face value; he and Otis had already noted that their contact with the mystery group had been during football practice. No, someone else had it in for Cindy and Beverly -- which wasn't a problem for him; he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. For the future, she was under his wing -- but they'd gotten what they wanted from her, anyway.

At practice that afternoon, Clint plopped beside Terence and said, "Have you seen it?"

"What?"

"Cindy and Beverly's little video."

"Parts of it," Terence replied.

"It was GREAT! It's EXACTLY what I want for the Bitch!" Clint hissed.

Terence eyed his friend in shock -- Clint's tone was positively venomous! But then, the Bitch was Clint's underlying problem, wasn't she? "Talk to Toby. He knows something, I bet."