“Siobhan would approve the extra hours for me. And you’re Professor Joska’s favorite. I’m sure he’ll approve. We could do it together, all four of us.”
“Are you kidding?” Trip blurted. “I’m taking twenty hours already, and I had to argue with Joska to get him to approve it.”
“So? Drop a class and take dance with us instead.”
“Is she serious?” he asked me.
“Sounds like it,” I said. “And it’s no use fighting, dude.”
“Says you! She isn’t my girlfriend.”
“Yeah, but your girlfriend has to take the class, and since misery loves company…”
“When’re we gonna have time?” he snapped. “On top of school and everything else, we have to keep an eye on the boarding house. Yeah, it’ll be finished soon, but then we have to do the planning and prep for Susan’s renovation. That’s a lot of extra work. Besides—”
“Dude, chill out,” I said calmly. “Extra work’s never bothered you.
Aren’t you the one who wanted to work through the Fourth of July last year.”
“That was different!”
“How?” Wren asked.
Her voice was deceptively mild, but Trip wasn’t so upset that he missed it. He surveyed us and realized he was going to lose, one way or another. To his credit, he decided to do it gracefully.
“Yeah, all right,” he said. “I’ll talk to Joska on Monday.” He shot me a glare. “But you’re coming with me. Christy’s right, you’re his favorite.”
“Coulda fooled me,” I snorted.
“You are,” Christy insisted. “And if he won’t approve it, I’ll ask him. No one can resist me. I’m too cute.”
“Yeah, you are,” Wren said. She smiled at Trip and wearily rested her head on his shoulder. His glare didn’t soften, but he automatically put his arm around her.
Sorry, I told him with a look. I owe you.
He nodded and eventually relaxed his jaw.
“So it’s settled?” Christy said. “We’re all taking Dance.”
“That was a really mean thing you did to Trip.”
Christy and I were in the privacy of our bedroom, but I still kept my voice down. She looked up from her nightly routine.
“So? He deserved it,” she said. “He expects Wren to make all the sacrifices, while he gets to do whatever he wants.”
“He makes sacrifices. Trust me. You know what she’s like, how she has to be in charge. Besides, it’s their relationship, not yours.”
“But she’s my girlfriend. Everyone said so.”
I decided to change tacks. “Choose your battles. I was easy to convince.
Besides, I already knew you wanted to start taking dance lessons.”
“I wasn’t sure you remembered,” she said.
“I remember everything where you’re concerned.”
“What is it you say? Touché?”
“Mmm hmm. So I don’t mind taking the class with you, especially if we can do it with Wren. But Trip’s different. He’s pretty focused—”
“And the rest of us aren’t? Why’s he so special?”
“He isn’t,” I conceded. “But he’s trying to get an Architecture degree and a Business minor. That’s a pretty big deal, and he has to argue with Joska every quarter to get permission.”
“So Wren’s just supposed to give up what she wants because Trip has a plan? What about her plans? She’s trying to graduate and get a job. That’s more than the rest of us.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” I said. “So… why’re we fighting?”
“How should I know? You started it.”
“I felt guilty for making Trip change his schedule.”
“And… um… maybe I was annoyed,” she admitted. “At Trip, I mean.
Now that you and I’ve gone all the way, he acts like he gets to sleep with me, no questions asked.”
My eyes widened in surprise.
“Yeah. You probably can’t tell, but I can.”
“Ah, now I get it,” I said. “Wren wants us to become swingers—”
“And Trip thinks we will—”
“But you aren’t sure—”
“No,” she said, almost too soft to hear. “And I don’t like it when—”
“He treats you like a sure thing, an easy lay.”
“For the record, I’m not an easy lay, thank you very much!”
“Ha! You can say that again.”
“I’m not an easy lay.”
“I deserved that.” I gathered her in my arms and kissed her forehead.
“Now I understand what you were doing tonight. You were pushing back, showing Trip you’re still in control.”
“I don’t know what I was doing,” she admitted. “I just know that he annoyed me.”
“Note to self, don’t annoy Birdy.” I pulled back and looked down at her.
“Your mother called you that. This weekend. When I was talking to her after you and Brooke went off to talk about us.”
“She does that sometimes,” Christy said. “She’s normally very proper, like my nana. She calls us by our full names too.”
“Your Boston nana? Your mom’s mom?”
“Uh-huh. But every once in a while Mom or Nana will call me Birdy, usually when I’ve done something really silly.”
“I don’t know what made me think of it,” I mused. “Just… sometimes you seem like Birdy. Or Bunny or Little Bit or Sunshine.” I chuckled. “I have more nicknames for you than all my other girlfriends combined.”
“All your past girlfriends,” she corrected.
“Ha! And I’m supposed to be good with words?”
“You’re good with them most of the time.” She hugged me tight and pressed her face to my chest. “Thank you for understanding about Trip. I never gave him permission to control me.”
“Can anyone control you? I mean, for real?”
“You can.” She looked up and met my eyes. “I’m serious. You can do anything you want.”
“So… if I told you to have sex with Trip?”
“I’d do it. But I know you won’t. You respect me. That’s why I let you control me.”
“A relationship is like a building,” I said. “If you lay the foundation right, it’ll last forever.”
“Well, you certainly laid me right. And I’m hoping you’ll do it again.
Over and over.”
“I plan to. So let’s talk about that…” I thought for a moment. “Why don’t you wear your bodystocking tonight?”
“Ooh, I like that one. It makes me feel all sleek and sexy. And you like it
’cause it’s crotchless.”
“I like it ’cause you’re in it. Now, finish your lotions and potions. I’ll be waiting in bed.”
“I’m ready,” Christy said from behind the half-open closet door. She’d gone in there so I wouldn’t see her wriggle into the bodystocking.
I set my book aside and scooted to the center of the bed. “Me too.”
She stepped into view and turned off the closet light. The bodystocking was a second skin, so she didn’t need the backlight to show off her figure.
Instead, she wanted the light from the bedside lamp, which highlighted her nipples through the sheer black fabric and cast a shadow along her bare slit.
A distracted part of me marveled at how she used light and shadow without even thinking about it.
“Wow,” I said, “that’s sexy.”
“Thank you. You’re pretty sexy yourself, especially in your birthday suit.” She climbed onto the bed and crawled toward me. Then she nudged my legs apart and settled on her stomach between them. “Hello, Mr. Penis. I missed you today, but we had to do our school stuff. You understand. I’ll make it up to you, though.”
“He was hoping you would. As a matter of fact,” I added, “he wants to talk about something.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. He’s hoping you’ll learn how to deep throat.”
“Ooh, that’ll be fun!” She shifted her attention from him to me. “Only, I
don’t know how. I mean, duh, the ‘deep’ part is obvious. The ‘throat’ part gets a little scary, though. Don’t get me wrong, I’m willing to try, but…