Chapter 28: Turnabout and Epiphanies

The worst part about Lynne Sullivan was that she was so fucking nice. It was just impossible to stay bitchy at her.

Her brother Jeff had managed to lift Annie up out of her sulking a little bit and talk her into coming out of her room, but this meant facing Lynne again. And as Annie tried to apologize to Lynne for her behavior, Lynne simply took it in stride as if nothing had happened. She was so understanding, so patient, and so forgiving, it was practically sickening. Annie had a lot to feel depressed about, but Jeff and Lynne poured on the charm and the cheer, pulling her out of her sour mood.

They started by offering her a mani-pedi, an offer which she couldn't refuse. Seriously, she couldn't refuse it. She tried, but they insisted, pulling out the tools from Lynne's purse and tackling her from both sides. Annie soon came to the conclusion that their determination, their obstinance, their pure single-mindedness on grooming her wasn't just for her benefit; it was to keep their minds off of where Joey currently was. Annie was scared enough for him just reading about Psi-Clone, but they grew up under his horror and had actually met him before, so they had much more reason to be terrified. So she relented and let them focus on her. They scraped and filed and trimmed her nails while chatting with her. Jeff at one point asked how Annie kept her feet so soft, which brought up the awkward answer "I don't use them." At another point, Lynne made the strange remark that she couldn't understand how one person could trim their own toenails, a comment that baffled Annie so much she couldn't figure out how to even ask about it.

After doing a marvelous job on her nails, they pulled out their guitars and sang and played for her, urging her to sing along. When it soon became apparent that Annie just could not sing, first they tried a little voice training, and when that got nowhere they handed her a guitar and taught her the three basic blues chords. "All you need to play the blues is three chords and something to whine about," Lynne told her.

"I'm a paraplegic Asian Jew. I can whine with the best."

They soon had her doing some simple strumming, building a beginner's blues rhythm with noticeable awkward gaps between the chord changes. C, then F, then C again, then up to G, then F, then back to C. Lynne played along with her, picking complex flourishes to accent Annie's simple strums, and then she launched into a song she wrote called "The Over Privileged White-Boy's Blues," a song all about civil unrest, ecological destruction, starvation, disease, injustice, and how none of this really mattered because the singer was wearing the wrong brand of shoes.

Annie could see what Joey saw in Lynne. She was sweet and kind and funny and quirky on top of all her other obvious attractions. She couldn't really blame him for being attracted to her. And she tried to convince herself that this was all right, that it was just experimenting, and that she, Annie, should experiment as well. Every once in awhile she would find herself admiring Jeff's firm body and wondering what it would be like to crawl over him, but she also noticed the times when Jeff touched her, whether doing her nails or helping her position her fingers on the neck of the guitar, there was nothing; no sense of magic, no sense of a deep connection, no special warmth. It was nothing like what she got when Joey touched her.

She wondered if Lynne felt it too when Joey touched her. She wondered if Lynne fully appreciated what it was Joey did for her. Annie got that answer when they finally returned from Purgatory.

First there was the relieving phone call from Tricia, telling them that the meeting was over and everyone was still safe and alive. Jeff and Lynne immediately both became very nervous and anxious, and they paced the apartment as they waited for their return. Annie noticed how odd it was that they would eagerly turn their attentions to her to help her in times of need, but they wouldn't help each other. Neither one took a dominant position. Neither one became the comforter for the other. She couldn't quite figure out their relationship. It was almost as if they didn't have one.

All three of them startled at the sound as Quantum Knight, Tricia, and Joey reappeared on their balcony, and both Lynne and Jeff jumped up as if to run into his arms. Annie saw them both hesitate, and Lynne was the one to run up and grab him while Jeff stood some safe distance away, just trembling. And when Joey told them what he had learned, that Psi-Clone did not place any commands in their mother, and that their mother made a choice on her own to have them, they both collapsed into tears. Lynne hung on to Joey and buried her face into his shoulder and cried while Jeff sunk onto the couch and rested his face in his hands, digesting this. Quantum Knight gave Joey a final congratulations for a job well done, and took her leave.

"You would have been proud of him," Tricia said to Annie.

"I am," she answered simply, watching the young girl melt into her lover's arms. Joey held Lynne close and caressed her as Lynne just clung onto him, drinking in his touch. Annie could see her reveling in his contact, and watched him with a growing sense of dread in her heart as he whispered words of encouragement to this girl. Lynne just nodded in her sobbing.

Jeff, still sitting on the couch, gestured with one hand and Lynne's purse obediently slid across the room towards him, startling the dog. He dug into his sister's purse without even consulting her, pulled out a cell phone, and started dialing. Lynne paid him no attention; she simply held onto Joey tightly and cried onto his shoulder. Annie and Tricia watched as Jeff, teary eyed, spoke on the phone with a voice of strained relief.

"Mom?..." His voice cracked as he spoke. "Hi ... No, I'm okay. I just wanted to ... I just wanted to say I miss you."Annie clutched at her heart and felt a lump grow in her throat as she listened in to his half of the conversation. "No, nothing's wrong, and I'm okay. And I don't do that anymore ... No, I'm with friends. I'm safe..." He sniffed and wiped his eyes, and Annie felt her eyes tear. She could barely hear the tiny concerned voice squeaking from the phone. "I um..." He hesitated answering a question. "Yeah, but it was something good." Jeff's body shook. "I just, learned stuff, about him ... I know I shouldn't, but I ... I know. I just wanted to say, I love you."

Annie shuddered and felt a tear roll down her cheek. She saw Lynne clutch onto Joey, squeezing him tightly.

Jeff continued on the phone. "No, I don't need to now. I'm good where I am. I'm making friends, but I do want to on Thanksgiving. Can I bring someone? ... He. It's Joey Harper." He smiled at the response. "Thank you ... Um, no. I just wanted to talk to you ... I will. Um, I gotta go ... Thank you. I love you too, Mom ... Bye."

He cut the connection, and dropped his head into his hands, weeping. Annie wiped her own tear away, and saw Lynne becoming more animated, reaching up and caressing Joey's face and whispering to him. Joey glanced at his two roommates and waved at them with a subtle "Can you leave us alone?" gesture. Annie's heart jolted at the sight.

"Come on, Annie. Let's give them some space."

Annie didn't fight it. She simply hung her head in surrender and let Tricia turn her chair and push her towards the door. As Tricia pushed Annie into the hallway, she turned back. She could see Lynne gazing at Joey with reverence and adoration, and Jeff still sitting on the couch.

"Jeff?" Tricia gently called to the boy. "I think they would like to be alone. Would you want to come along with us?"

He startled at the suggestion, and gave her a momentary look of panic. "Um..." he started, unable to answer.

"It's okay," Joey said. "He can stay if he wants."

Tricia raised an eyebrow in surprise, and glanced back and forth between the two boys. "Really?"

Joey nodded. "It's all right."

Tricia considered this. "You sure? It's no trouble. We'll take him to lunch."

"It's fine. Thanks. I actually want to talk to him."

Judging by the way Lynne was clinging to him, Tricia didn't buy it for a moment that he was interested in doing much talking. "Well ... okaaay?" She took a step back towards the door, and then gestured towards the bedroom which had the condoms. "Make sure you use the..." she started.

He nodded again. "I know. Thanks, Tricia."

She gave Jeff and Joey one more puzzling look, nodded, and shut the door behind her.

They were finally alone. Joey and Lynne stood holding each other, her soft and warm body tightly pressed up against his. She stared into his eyes, trembling and tearing. Her soft breath bathed his face, and he drank in her delicate and distinct feminine musk. Her dark tear-filled eyes pulled at him.

"I was so scared," she whispered.

"It's okay. It's over."

"Thank you."

"Lynne, stop talking."

They pulled each other in and kissed, and he dived into her essence. Her warm lips pressed into his. Her soft body moved into him. He could feel the push of her full breasts into his chest, and her arms wrapped tightly around his neck. Joey pulled her in snug, spreading his fingers across her back and exploring her warm, loving body. He could feel the strap of her bra under her shirt, and her torso expanding with each heavy breath. She tilted her head to one side, grinding her lips into his, and her sweet tongue was soon pushing into his mouth, licking, inviting, and tasting him.

Even though her arms were up high about his neck, he could feel other surges of pressure as she released her telekinetic power. Streams of invisible fingers spread and pushed and explored behind, across, and below, evoking tingles of pleasure that lit and rippled through his spine. She started pushing her body forward into him in waves, thrusting into him with an unmistakable message of desire and invitation.

His erection grew for her steadily, and as he kissed down her cheek, she gasped and threw her head back, opening her neck to him. "Yes," she hissed, and he kissed and licked down the slope of her smooth neck, tasting her sweet skin. She was breathing heavily, her chest expanding into his with each breath. He reached down and slipped one hand under her shirt, touching her bare flesh with his fingers, and he probed her. The sparks ignited from his hands, casting odd shadows as they spilled to the floor. But the Omegaplasm only oozed like a slow molasses into her, impeded by a thick fog of resistance.

"Let me inside you," he said between kisses.

"Yes," she whimpered, and she pushed her body forward into him. She opened her legs slightly and ground her crotch into his thigh, and he could feel the waves of pressure ripple over his hardness. "I want you."

Lynne was now his entire universe, and Joey pushed her body back, steering her into the wall. With her back now supported, she opened her legs wider, and Joey repositioned and pushed his erection straight in between her legs, rubbing and dry-humping into her. She moaned and rocked her mound into his hard cock. They kissed hard and deep, with mouths fully open and tongues battling and licking. And yet through all of this, the Omegaplasm barely moved, barely soaked into her skin. The sparks spilled uselessly onto the floor.

"Open up to me," he begged.

"Take me!"

It was strange. Everything about her body and her actions showed she was opening to him, yet the Omegaplasm could hardly make a dent into her. She was kissing him, pulling him, grinding into him, demanding him inside of her, yet the energy flow stopped at her soft skin. "I want you," he gasped between kisses. "I want all of you."

On that admission, Lynne kissed him with sudden surge of desperate hunger and intensity, sucking his tongue deep into her mouth and clawing at his head. He could feel the rippling waves of forces push upward, pulling on his shirt, lifting it. She was panting and thrusting, cravenly devouring him, and pulling him with her arms and her mind.

The soft forces behind him changed, surging in strength and texture. Joey could feel warmth from them now, and a roughness that defied simple telekinesis. Then he felt the warm breath on the back of his neck, and his spine tensed as he realized what was happening. Jeff was pressing into him from behind.

He instinctively pulled his mouth off Lynne and cringed under Jeff's sudden presence. "Wait! Wait! What are you..." he started.

Jeff slid his strong hands around Joey's frame, pulling into him, and leaned his head down to his neck. The hot breath on his neck made Joey wince. "You're going to like this," he said, kissing him on the neck.

"Wait! StoMmmmm" Joey tried break free, but Lynne surged forward, planting her mouth over his, silencing him with a smoldering kiss. Jeff's big hands slid over his pecs and down his stomach, and he surged forward. Joey jolted as he felt an erection poke into his buttocks.

He thrashed instinctively in revulsion, grabbing hands and pushing bodies back. "WaitWaitWaitSTOP!!!" He managed to extract himself from the two bodies and jump away from them. "What are you doing?"

They looked at him with a hurt bewilderment. "What's wrong?" Lynne asked. "You said you wanted all of me."

"I didn't want THAT!"

They jolted at the word. "Joey, it's ME." Jeff said.

Joey stepped further away from them, distancing himself. The sense of violation from the close contact of the male body still lingered in him, sending chills through his spine. "I know," he said. "It's just that, I'm not ... I'm not into dudes."

"Well, I'm a boy. You knew that."

"Yeah, I know that technically..."

"Well what were you expecting?"

Joey paused. "A girlfriend."

They scoffed at him. "Well, you got that too," said Lynne. "What's the matter?"

"I told you. I don't like guys."

"What do you mean? You don't like me?"

"No, it's not that. I like, I just don't like..." He shook his hands and head in frustration. "I like you as a friend," he said, gesturing first to Jeff, then to Lynne, "and I want you as a girlfriend, okay?" They stared at him in mortification. "I mean, I want to hang out and play video games and football and go girl-watching with you, and I want to make out with you."

Jeff spoke. "But I can do all that! I'll do all of that with you."

"I don't want to make out with Jeff."

"Joey! I don't want to be two different people to you!"

"I know."

"You said you accept me!" said Lynne.

"I do!"

"So what's the problem?"

Joey stared at them in bafflement. "I'm STRAIGHT! I'm hetero! I like girls. I don't want to do it with guys."

"Why not?" asked Jeff.

"It's just, you know, it feels, ick..."

"It's just hands, and lips, and bodies. It's touching and pleasing. It's all the same!"

"No, it's not the same. I don't want to touch your junk, okay?"

"Why not?" asked Lynne. "You touch yours, don't you?"

"That's different."

"Oh come on, how is it any different? You know how to play with a boy. You must do it all the time yourself, unless you've got someone else doing it for you. Do you?"

Joey hesitated, and steered the conversation into a different direction. "The difference is when I'm doing it by myself I'm thinking about a girl. Usually you. I don't know how YOU do it. What do you do? Just go to an empty room, look at yourselves and admire this hunk and babe until you get yourself all hard and juicy for yourself, then grab bodies and start humping?"

"Yeah. How do you do it? Don't you use a mirror or something?"

"No. I imagine. I'm a single body person. I don't have this girl side to play with. When I'm doing it I'm pretending that this..." he said, holding up his right fist, " ... is somebody else. I'm not getting turned on by looking at myself naked."

JeffLynne screwed their faces up as they processed this, and Joey continued. "Look, maybe this is one of those things you don't understand because you have two bodies, but you like both boys and girls, right?" They nodded. "Well, it's probably because both sides are straight, and Jeff wants girls and Lynne wants boys."

They shook their heads. "No, I don't feel like that," said Jeff. "I don't have half-desires for people."

"Maybe that's because you merge all that desire together. Or maybe you really are both bisexual. I don't know, but me? All I know is I don't have a girl side inside me that wants to rub up against guys. The idea is just disgusting to me."

Their faces fell. Joey could see the pain in their eyes. "Don't say that," said Jeff.

"I'm sorry. But that's how it works for me. That's heterosexuality. Look, I like you a lot, but when it comes to sex, I don't want to touch Jeff. I just want Lynne."

"No, that's bullshit. I don't buy that." Lynne picked up. "I've seen the way you look at me, BOTH of me. I've never seen disgust before. I've only seen interest." Jeff took over. "I've seen you watching me, and wanting me, and then you would talk to me and tell me jokes and make me laugh, trying to get close to me. So now you're telling me that you didn't want both of me?"

Joey sighed. "Give me a break. All that time I thought you were two different people. I was watching Jeff because I liked him and wanted this cool guy friend to hang out with. And I was watching Lynne because I wanted this hot girlfriend to make out with. But I was never looking at Jeff and thinking about how hot he was and how to get into his pants." He paused. "Look, I thought you were two different people, so I had two different desires for you. But you're really one person, and you have one desire for me. And I think because of that, you're thinking I must have one desire for both of you."

Tears rolled down the twin's cheeks. They stared at him, and they shook, crying.

"I'm sorry," he said to them.

Jeff wiped his eyes. "You know, for my whole life, I've searched for someone who I could just be myself with. Who I could open up to, who would accept me. Someone I wouldn't have to hide anything from. Someone I didn't have to pretend to be two different people for." The Lynne side spoke. "I want someone who I can show myself to, to let out all I can do, all I can feel, all the love I have. And now I've found you. I want to be myself with you." The Jeff side spoke again. "I don't want to be half a person around you, I don't want to pretend. I want to be me. I want you to want me the same way for all of me. So you have to tell me, am I asking too much?"